Galabeya

Three of our Filipus students are in Cairo right now. They spend a month doing ministry outside of Turkey as part of their training and this year we took the group to Egypt. Unfortunately, our Iranian students weren't able to get visas to go, so we took the three Turkish students and a fourth young man, Halil from Antakya. Halil is from an Orthodox Christian background and grew up speaking Arabic at home. We decided that he could be a real help to us as a translator so he joined the group. I went with them for the first month to help them get settled and it was a real privilege to see them adapt and engage with the people the had gone to serve.

During the first day the men wandered the city and noticed that many of the people wear a traditional Egyptian robe, called a Galabeya. The next day they decided that they wanted to buy them as well. We went to the market together and four of us bought robes and wore them for the next few days as we travelled around Cairo. After being with us in training for a year their instinct was to find ways to demonstrate and incarcate gospel among the people of Cairo. I was proud of them. When people discovered that they weren't Egyptian they received several compliments on their robes. When we went to visit the pyramids in our robes we were mingling with crowds of tourists wearing skimpy outfits and we stood out in a wonderful way. The employees complimented us and noticed that we weren't dressed like the rest of the tourists.

In the evenings the men have been finding opportunities to share carefully with people and the response to their presence has been astounding. Everyone they talk to is shocked that there is even such a thing as a Christian Turk. Egyptian Christians are often awed that Muslim background believers can be so open about their faith, since the situation in Egypt is so much more restrictive for Christians. For our students just to be in Cairo is an encouragement and a challenge to the existing church there.

There is a sharp divide between Christian background and Muslim background Egyptians. In fact there is usually a difference between the way that Christians and Muslims dress, talk, and behave... the more immodest clothing is usually on the Christians, for example. Egyptian churches are free to reach out to Christian background Egyptians but it is illegal for an Egyptian to change his religion, so outreach is very limited. We went to a wonderful Egyptian church service in downtoan Cairo and we were very encouraged. However, there was also an element of sadness as the men realized that there was nothing about the structure or content of the service that was oriented toward their Muslim neighbors. One of the students commented that "they obviously haven't taken your incarnation class."

I have been learning from my students what ministry for Turks in Cairo might look like. Many of the workers and believers are a bit apprehensive about the kinds of things that the Turkish students are willing to try, such as the galabeya, but I'm excited to see them continue to experiment. Our job, I explained to them, is to learn from the people who have been here ministering before us and to respect and obey them when necessary, but we also want to carve out a path for Turkish ministry in Cairo. What it will look like for a Latin American or North American to minister in Cairo is different from it will look like for a Turk to minister in that place. I'm convinced that the Turkish church has a unique and valuable contribution to ministry in Egypt.