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Encountering a Christian on the streets of Turkey

By Leo Thorne O

n the Sunday before the BWA meetings began, my wife and I looked forward expectantly to worship at the St. Polycarp Church with its ornate frescoes.

We soon discovered that we needed local help, which soon

came from Thomas Mustafa, the shoeshine man at the street corner. We could not miss the beaming, joyous smile covering his face as he raised his arm and pointed out Polycarp’s Church just across the street from his brightly shining, brass-coated, shoeshine box. His first words to us were, “Hallelujah, Hallelujah!!” as he hurriedly escorted us across the street. To our dismay, the church was closed tight, the front door locked and padded. Speaking in almost perfect English, this Turkish man suddenly remembered that the church is not regularly opened for worship on Sundays, and when closed some of its members worship at St. Ann’s church nearby. Thomas said, “I will take you to where the church is meeting.” We could not dissuade him. He left all his wares unattended and open to the sky at that busy street corner and took us to the church a couple blocks away. The service was already in progress, so he opened the door, ushered us in, and he returned to his trade. My wife and I experienced the brief time of worship at St. Ann’s Roman Catholic Church, but we decided to return to our “Hallelujah shoeshine man” to thank him for his unselfish act of kindness. For the next 90 minutes or so, we sat on his makeshift stools and shared some precious moments in wonderful conversation. It turned out that Thomas was the name he chose when he was

baptized in the Bay of Izmir three years earlier. Ali, now Thomas, had become a born again Christian. Thomas became one of the 200 known Protestants in Izmir. There is only one Baptist church in Izmir with about 40 members. Izmir has a population of about 3.5 million. There are only four Baptist churches in all of Turkey

“

JOY in life is knowing Jesus.”

which has a population of around 76 million. To find a Christian on the street in Turkey is like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack. What a God moment this was for us on the streets of Turkey, outside Polycarp’s closed church! Thomas’ path to Christ was remarkable. A visiting businessman

from the United States came regularly over a brief period of time to have his shoes shined, and while Thomas was doing his work, this businessman was sharing the Gospel with him. Thomas had never before heard about God’s love for him in Jesus Christ, and about God’s call to us to forgive our enemies. “Jesus sometimes asks us to do some hard things,” he reflected. Since that time, Thomas has been attending a Christian church in the area with his wife and four children who later became Christians. Thomas’ father from whom he had learned his trade gave Thomas three months to decide, either to reclaim his lifelong religious tradition and remain in the comfortable family home in which he lived with his own family, or to leave home. Thomas chose the latter. “I can’t leave Jesus,” he said. Today he lives with

Inside the Saint Polycarp Church, the oldest church in Izmir

his family in a small, two-room apartment without electricity or running water. He awakes very early in the morning and goes to a near-by building about a quarter mile away to fetch water for his family for the day, before he leaves for work on his bicycle. “Jesus would want me to care for my family,” he stated. A group of tourists from China happened to pass us by as we sat there on the street. Thomas paused and greeted them in Chinese. He speaks four languages, having picked them up from tourists who stop to have their shoes shined or who stop to purchase trinkets like hand-made doilies, or earrings, or bracelets, and so on, made by his wife to supplement their meager income.

He then pointed to the “For Sale” sign on his shoeshine box.

“I have been shining shoes since I was ten years old. I cannot read and I know no other business. But I must sell it now to move my family to a better place.” With tears rolling down his cheeks, he said, “My greatest joy in life is knowing Jesus. Three years ago my life changed. I am so happy. I do not have a decent house for my family, but we have Jesus, and we are all happy.” He constantly prays for the conversion of his parents, he shares his faith with people from his own country, and he does not miss an opportunity to talk about Christ with tourists from all over the world as they stop by. We hugged and prayed and praised God on our rickety stools

knowing we were in the spiritual presence of Christ. It was not easy to walk away from that God moment and our new-found brother in Christ on the streets of Izmir, a wonderful “Hallelujah” moment it was.

Leo Thorne is associate general secretary for Mission Resource Development with American Baptist Churches USA, vice chair of the BWA Communications Advisory Committee and a member of the BWA Commission on Doctrine and Christian Unity.

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