What is the Cost?

On the post Update: Welcome Lodgy KateKing90 Asked in the comments,

I am reminded of John 16:33, ‘In this world you will have tribulation. But take courage; I have overcome the world!’ Praying that your church sites would see the Lord overcoming their tribulation and feel his hand raising them up over the turbulence. Praying for peace between the church and those who oppose her. Can you share any more about the site and what is going on where people are specifically opposed to building the church?

I am interested by your question because yes there is a specific answer to your question. (however, I will obscure some of the details of the answer just to protect the people who are involved.) The reason I find your question so interesting is that it lends itself to a greater question that we seldom face as Christians in the States.


The question really becomes what is the cost of following Jesus? What would you give up to follow Jesus? Is there a cost that is too high for you? What is it that, if Jesus said to you give “that” up, you would reply, “I’m out, that is too big of a cost.” These questions answer your question because here in Northern Africa the cost of following Jesus is high. And though in Senegal we benefit from a country that has a freedom of religion that is not to say that it is simple to follow Christ.

I will answer your question by showing several different situations where the Christians here in Senegal face persecution. This is specifically true when they leave the religion of their parents and family to follow Jesus. There are many factors in play to prevent the growth of this thing called the Church.

(By way of a further disclaimer I will not be sharing details of specific peoples so to prevent accidentally “doxxing.” Also, I don’t have permission to share every story that I would like. So, I will talk about things that have happened and patterns that people experience when they become disciples in a way that protects their privacy while allowing you to learn about real costs to following Jesus.)

There are several domains that opposition present themselves, we will look at three: family, spiritual, and political.

Family

Family, and loyalty to the family, are guarded virtues here. In all domains people share their lives together. You would never have an old folks home in Senegal because the family is supposed to take care of each other. And of course, religion is integrated into every aspect of this family loyalty. When someone realizes the beauty of Jesus, and leaves their family religion to become His disciple, this is most often seen a direct assault on the unity of the family.

What does family persecution and opposition look like in these instances. Often when the report that someone has left the family faith to join Christianity, the family will hold a reunion. Members of the family from all over will come back into town (even if they are oceans away) so they can, as a family, put pressure on the new Christian family member.

One person who recently put his faith in Jesus was excited to participate in his new church community. He had volunteered his gifts to help the church move forward. His family called just such a reunion. As a family they forbid this young believer from entering the church building or participating in their community. The pressure was so significant that he is no longer a part of the church.

In another such reunion, the family brought a young woman to the police with the hope that the fear of imprisonment would turn her. She was not arrested because she had committed no crime but the threat, the fear, and the hurt existed all the same. There are numerous accounts of families seriously pressuring the new believers. Almost all Christian here can tell a story similar.

I heard one account of a young believer where his friends jumped him. They knew he was skilled in martial arts. He won the fight, but the friends reported him to the authorities as having attacked them and he landed in prison for two years. When you put your faith in Jesus often you will lose your closest and most important support structures.

Finally, there is also the use of positive opposition. They will say to the new disciple. “If you stop
following Jesus, and return to your family religion, we will find you a nice paying job, a big house, and a new wife.” This is another tricky form of persecution because it forces you to measure the value of your faith in Jesus over the benefits of family favor.

Spiritual
Here we find an intersection of life often misunderstood or ignored by in the West. However, spiritual persecution here is real. Many people devote their lives and deaths to the spiritual leaders here who serve as an intermediary between the devotee and the spiritual realms. They have “authority” to communicate with the gens and spirits on their behalf either for good or for ill.

One young man started to participate in the church and the feticheur said he was going to be cursed with pocks if he continued to attend. And not too long after he began to attend, he found sores on his body. After a few short weeks he was not seen again in church. I do not know why someone I this situation disappears, but I suspect that there is a felt safety in the spiritual power you once knew, so you abandon the real power of the Holy Spirit.

It seems to me that spiritual persecution is effective and powerful trap for people. The force they put their trust in for so many years was their source of security. Eventually they find a balance with the spirits. They do not want to upset the balance. In many ways it feels safe.

Photo by Ricardo Gomez Angel on Unsplash

Telling someone to change faiths is like telling someone to jump out of an air plane slowly going
down and trust that the shoot will open. “Yeah it may be a good idea to jump out of the failing plane but right now I feel that the plane is safe. I don’t know about this parachute.” When you decide to jump there is a terrifying moment between the old and new where you are waiting for your chute to open. It is the same spiritually.

Yes, there is a certain security in the plane because it hasn’t crashed, yet. The parachute must be trusted. There are many people who try to jump from the falling plane without ever letting go of the door. Though they may want to believe in the salvation they have in Christ they are afraid to let go of the feeling of security they have now.

There are countless examples of people who are at odds with the spirits and they fall ill. Or their crops fail, or their plans crash down around them. There are many examples of families who fall ill when their patriarch puts their faith in Christ. Also, there are many examples of missionaries whose families face illness, depression, anxieties, etc. when they start to find success on the field.

The power of the spirits is real and capricious. Just like the power of a lion whose back is broken in a trap. Yes, the fore paws are still powerful, and his jaws can still move and kill, but the hunter has already won. It is a scary leap (to mix my metaphor) to trust the hunter over the lion.

Political
This is one may be easiest to understand to a western audience. This is where the people, traditions, and cultural systems and structures put pressure against the Church.

I felt this when trying to get my residency permit. At one step along the way, a man who had the authority to stamp my paper, a well-respected man of the community, made clear to me he did not want me starting a church in my home. He did not want there to be drums, singing, and loud noises disrupting the peace in the neighborhood.

Bear in mind there are loud speakers that sound the call to prayer at 5 am every morning in the neighborhood. Later that week there was a huge group of people banging drums from sun up to sun down to celebrate a local soccer victory (I think), and endless other sources of noise.

The opposition came in the form of an unjust double standard. Not a huge thing to me, but my language partner made sure I correctly labeled it as a form of opposition. Small yes, but opposition to the faith yet and still.

To circle back to the question that started this post political persecution can be found in rumors, gossip, half-truths and all out lies. For example, a church wanted to build a building in a nearby village. Progress was going very well until some people seeded rumors to halt the progress. The local authorities were told that the workers and suppliers where not being paid for the project. It is easy to stop progress when you know that the Christians want to operate in an open and honest manor. After accusations like these, it is difficult to restore the name of the project, which must happen before it has a hope of reaching peoples heart and souls for the Good News.

Take away

Where do we go from here? It is simple to say, “oh just pray for the church here.” Yes, and amen and I am going to say that. But first: The church here in Senegal has something important to teach you so listen to them. The cost to follow Jesus here is HIGH. People give up everything; family, power, influence, security, safety etc. to follow Jesus.

For the longest time being a Christian in the US was easy and cultural. You sometimes would gain more than you would lose for associating with the church.

When we invite people to follow Jesus in the US, we sometimes treat it as a choice between MacDonald’s and In and Out Burger (the easy answer being In and Out.) However, the choice to follow Jesus costs so much more here and I believe will soon cost more in the US and in the majority of the West as well.

I am humbled by my brothers and sisters in Christ here who gave up all to follow Jesus.

I came to give my gift of teaching the church. Instead they have taught me, and I have much more to learn.

Pray for the Church
- Pray that the church can be the authentic spiritual family that supports one another when the biological family pressures, forsakes, and abuses the Christ follower.

-Pray for a clear manifestation of the Spiritual power of God that humiliates the purveyors of fetishes and spiritual lies.

- Pray that God would confound the tricks of the enemy who would seek to undermine the voice of the Church through political leverage and lies.

- Praise and prayer: The building project was able to continue but now they are waiting on resources.

- Finally, pray that your local congregation will grow a deeper sense of the cost of following Jesus Christ, and live differently.