Bearing Fruit and Growing in Maturity: A Report from Turkey

Confluence is a global family of churches, and today, we’re sharing a report from members of the Confluence family who have spent the last decade church planting in Turkey. For them, this was been a year of unexpected hardships and unprecedented growth. Read the blog below to find out how the Turkish church is bearing up under pressure and how we can continue to pray for our family there.

April 1, 2020, was a big day for our family here in Istanbul, Turkey. If we hadn’t been in a strict virus-related lockdown, we would have celebrated loudly and with many friends. That day marked exactly ten years since we set out from New Frontiers Church in Portsmouth, NH. Many of you know us and know this story. You recognize us even if we aren’t including our names here for security reasons. Many of you have shared in and supported our vision: to see a grace-based, Bible-believing, Holy Spirit filled, Turkish church started. We cannot thank you enough. Our stories are your stories. We share the vision.

The vision was not just a church in Turkey, but a Turkish church. Consider what that means. It is a church that reaches Turkish people in ways that make sense to the Turkish culture. A church that celebrates holidays in ways that mean something to Turks. Speaking Turkish is a non-negotiable, but not just the language; also the idioms, inside-jokes, and the references that everyone knows. A Turkish church cares for Turks, showing love as they receive love. (Hint – there is a lot more hugging and hand-holding). Amidst all this, we wanted to raise up Turkish leaders who care for their new brothers and sisters in Christ. Beyond that, our hope was to see Turkish pastors, teachers, evangelists, and prophets emerge; people who could cast the vision to start more churches and reach more people.  

We had so much to learn.

And we have learned a lot. After two years in Turkey, we launched our church. We spoke reasonable Turkish, enough to share the gospel. God worked and we saw our first person believe at our first Easter service! Although it wasn’t ever easy, we grew. More people believed in Jesus. We put in two Turkish elders, both of whom were saved in our church. More and more of our decisions were made by Turkish people. Then, as we neared our 10-year mark, two things happened that would test us.

First, over the past year, many foreign missionaries in Turkey have been sent away from Turkey. This means that many support structures have been stripped away from the church. The most mature believers are gone, and the Turkish church must fend for itself much more.

Second, the COVID-19 crisis has deeply affected Turkey, through sickness, quarantine, and the economic results. It has also impacted our church. A quarter of the families in our church lost their ability to work due to the pandemic.

But this is a praise report, not a cry for help! The response of the Turkish believers to these tests has shown a healthy church built on a strong foundation. Your prayers and support have not been in vain. As so many others have, our church moved online during the pandemic. Our Sundays are well-attended, and our online prayer meetings attract more people than when we met face-to-face.

To care for unemployed church members, the church leaders decided to have a bank account where people who could still work would deposit any extra money they could afford to give, and each week whatever money was given would be equally distributed to any member who couldn’t work due to the virus. Our church is made up of about 40 households, and for the past six weeks, there has been enough in that account each week to totally support six families who would have had no other income. We expect to be able to continue supporting them for the foreseeable future.

Praise God! For the first time, it is our Turkish brothers and sisters who are leading in giving. Our Turkish leaders are reaching out to our members, encouraging, and caring for them. The crisis has brought to light a healthy Turkish church that looks like Jesus in the darkness.

And, we want to do so much more. We have a young Albanian man who we believe is ready to start another site in a suburb with 600,000 people, about half an hour from our main building. We want to see more Turkish churches that shepherd God’s people all over this city of 20 million, and this country of 80 million souls. We want to see our church continue to grow in maturity and size in its current location.

However, even as God’s kingdom is taking root, Satan is working against us. Every week, more foreign missionaries are forced out. One of our leading couples, who were on the original church planting team, has already been told to leave by the government and will probably have to go before the end of the year. Our visa is up for renewal in July, and we don’t know if we will be allowed to stay.

Also, the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are yet to be seen. Can the church continue to care for its members? Can we make wise decisions that keep us viable and visible? Can we reach out and share the gospel, while continuing to shepherd the people within?

Will you pray with us about these things? Whether we must go or are able to stay, may God’s Turkish church continue! May He work through our dear Turkish brothers and sisters, and may His Kingdom come in Turkey, just as it is in heaven.