The hospital, the miracle and the impossible secret
First things first: don’t tell anyone about your new faith. It seems counter-productive, even counter-Christian, but it’s the tough choice that many new believers have to make in order to stay safe – and to help bring more people to Christ. Read on to find out how.
Ahmat* came to Guinebor II hospital (G2) because his father had badly broken his leg. They’d tried to get help elsewhere, but that had just ended up making it worse, and now he needed surgery in order to fix the damage that had been caused. Doctors at G2 told them they would have to wait for his leg to heal, and then it would have to be broken again to set the bone properly. A day’s drive from their family home in southern Chad, G2 became home to Ahmat and his father for around five months as they waited for his leg to heal.
Ahmat and his family knew they would get a high standard of healthcare at G2, but they may not have expected the hospital’s dedication to spiritual and pastoral care too. G2 is openly and proudly a Christian hospital, and prayer and evangelism form a huge part of the hospital’s ministry. Every bed comes with a New Testament on a shelf beside it, and they’ve recently had a delivery of Bibles in Chadian Arabic – the first of their kind. BMS World Mission worker Bethan Shrubsole and her colleague, Pastor Berihun*, go round to all the patients and offer to pray for them. Bethan, who is also a music therapist at the hospital, writes songs about Jesus that she sings to anyone who’ll listen. That’s how she met Ahmat – and it’s where he began to learn about his Saviour.
“I used to take my guitar and play with a group of children,” says Bethan. “Ahmat came and sat with us, and he would translate because the children only speak Arabic, and I was speaking French.”
Bethan slowly began to get to know Ahmat. When she and Berihun went to Ahmat’s father’s room to pray with him, Ahmat was really interested. He began to come and speak with Bethan and Berihun a few times a week, and they would read the Bible together and talk about Jesus. When it came time for his father’s surgery, Berihun and Bethan prayed for him again. And that’s when something miraculous happened. Kalbassou, BMS’ Hospital Director and surgeon, took the cast off and found his leg had healed properly, and they wouldn’t need to do any surgery. “Kalbassou said it was a miracle,” explains Gareth Shrubsole, Bethan’s husband. “No-one had expected that.” And it was this display of God’s miraculous healing power that led Ahmat to come faith in Jesus.
Once his father returned home, Ahmat stayed in N’Djamena, close to the hospital, with an aunt and uncle. Bethan was able to keep discipling him over WhatsApp. She and Kalbassou went to visit him, and while they were there, they met his cousin, who had a terrible case of tuberculosis. “The day before we saw her, she’d had a coughing fit that they thought was going to kill her,” says Bethan. So she and Kalbassou prayed for her, and she was able to come to G2 a few days later. After having a few weeks of treatment, her lungs had largely cleared up – which has led her to faith in Jesus.
Sadly, this isn’t the end of Ahmat and his cousin’s stories. When their families found out about their new faith, they kicked them out. It’s a tragic reality, knowing how joyful Ahmat is in his faith, but it’s not surprising. Bethan and Gareth have stories of local pastors who can only minister to new believers in secret, of a man whose family had him put in prison because of his faith. It’s why Berihun advises people not to share their faith with their families when they find new life in Jesus, at least not straight away – there’s no telling what could happen. “The aim is to keep them in their families,” says Bethan. “Not to hide their faith forever, but to slowly get their parents and their aunties and uncles acclimatised to it.”
“You want family members to say, ‘There’s something different about this person, I like the way this person is behaving, what is the cause of this change that I’m seeing?’” Gareth adds.
“The change in the person speaks for itself, and then the gospel follows up as the reason for it.” But many new believers, like Ahmat, find it impossible to keep their new faith a secret. And while it can lead to much heartache if their families can’t accept their new faith, BMS workers on the ground are there to help them process what’s happened and find new community, so that they’re never alone.
Bethan catches up with Ahmat regularly, and wonderfully, he and his cousin were able to find other places to stay in N’Djamena. Ahmat is in touch with other local Christians, and Bethan is there to help answer as many of his questions as she can. But Ahmat’s journey isn’t over, and he and other believers like him still need our support and prayers. So many BMS supporters raised money for G2 last year as part of our Operation: Chad appeal, which is why we hope you’ll be inspired by Ahmat’s story and want to share our 2021 Harvest appeal, I Will Stand.
This year, we’re supporting courageous Christians living the gospel, no matter the cost. Stand with our brothers and sisters across the world and help bold believers be equipped to share the gospel, wherever they are. Encourage your church to hold an I Will Stand service, and you can help create a world where no-one has to hide their faith ever again.
*Names changed.
Words by Laura Durrant.
