An Afternoon in North Africa
By midday, the heat has settled over the city.
It’s summer in North Africa, and temperatures regularly climb well above 100 degrees. Our Frontline Experience (FX) interns have already spent the morning together studying Arabic—learning new words, practicing unfamiliar sounds, and slowly gaining the language they need to understand the people and culture around them.
But the classroom is only the beginning.
In the afternoon, they step out into the city. They walk the streets, ride in taxis, spend hours in coffee shops and parks, meet people, ask questions, and practice what they’ve learned. Their assignment is simple, though rarely easy: learn the culture, love the people in front of you, and look for opportunities to share the Gospel.
And sometimes, an ordinary afternoon becomes something much more.
One of our interns first met Aziz at a local music venue. There was nothing particularly remarkable about the encounter. They met, struck up a friendship, and eventually Aziz joined several of the interns at English Hour, an outreach where English lessons create opportunities for relationships and Gospel conversations.
Next came ultimate frisbee. The interns invited Aziz to join them for a game and paid for his taxi ride and entry fee—about six U.S. dollars. It was a small gesture but Aziz didn’t see it that way.
Surprised by their generosity, he invited them to visit his home about a two-hour drive away, near the foothills of the mountains, where ancient Roman ruins dominate the landscape.
Soon the interns were spending time with Aziz almost every day. He welcomed them into his life and introduced them to his friends. They went places together. They experienced more of North African life through his eyes. Eventually, he even brought them along to a family wedding.
They were doing exactly what we hope FX interns will do: living alongside people, learning from them, building genuine friendships, and waiting patiently for opportunities to speak about Jesus.
One of those opportunities came in a coffee shop.
An FX intern was sitting with Aziz and sharing the Gospel with him. Nearby, a young North African woman appeared to be listening to their conversation.
Eventually, the woman leaned in and asked a surprising question:
“Are you a Christian?”
“Yes!”
She then explained that she and her family were Christians too. But they had never met another Christian in the entire country. “There are no Christians here,” she said.
Here was a young woman following Jesus in a place where Christians can feel completely alone. She had entered a coffee shop that day with no expectation of finding another believer. Instead, she overheard a group of young adults talking with their North African friend about Jesus.
And then something beautiful happened.
This young woman, who only moments before believed her family was alone in following Christ, began helping explain the Gospel to Aziz. She translated as they talked, putting the Good News of Jesus into Aziz’s own language.
By the end of that conversation, two lives had changed.
Aziz came to faith in Christ.
And a young North African believer who thought her family was alone discovered that God had other people in her own country who loved and followed Jesus. Not just interns from the United States, but North African believers who have now invited her into their community.
A music venue. An English lesson. A six-dollar game of ultimate frisbee. An invitation to a home. A wedding. A coffee shop. A woman at the next table who happened to be listening. Only the Good Shepherd could have led His sheep down these paths and brought them to such green pastures and still waters.
This is the kind of work our FX interns gave themselves to this summer. They studied Arabic and learned about North African culture. They endured extraordinary heat and navigated an unfamiliar city.
But more importantly, they followed Jesus. Day after day, they stepped into the lives of people around them and trusted God to use ordinary conversations, ordinary friendships, and ordinary acts of generosity for His purposes.
And in a coffee shop in North Africa, we caught another glimpse of something we have seen again and again in more than 30 years of Frontline ministry:
God is already at work in the world’s difficult places.
View more Dispatches content below: