The Light Being Sent

SEPTEMBER 12, 2023   |   3.5 MINUTE READ
ZANDER KAPPO, CREATIVE ACCESS GLOBAL WORKER

Due to the sensitive area this global worker is serving in, we are using the pseudonym of Zander Kappo in order to protect his identity.

It was the interrogation we knew was coming. This wasn’t a formality or a warning.

The person on the other side of the table uttered words that made darkness hang in the room.

“Ten days.”

We had ten days to move out of the country we were serving in. We’d been there for six years, and just like that, we had to pack up our lives and leave.

Where would our children go to school? Where would we find a church family to take us in? And could we still minister to Muslims as we had been?

Those were questions we had to put in God’s hands. All we could do was pray and hope He’d provide.

As we crossed the Mediterranean Sea, our hearts and minds couldn’t have predicted what God would do next. We couldn’t have imagined how the last six years and our current displacement was going to launch us into a new season of ministry that would have incredible impact.

Painting One

An isolated Islamic city without access to the light shining above.

Darkness hangs over Muslim communities. That deep red is almost like a cloud that blocks the sunlight. The crescent atop the Mosque reaches into that darkness, but it never fully exits it. It’s as if a canopy has been draped over the community, and the Gospel can’t break through.

The light of the Gospel wasn’t present in the new community we found ourselves in. Many refugees from the very country we were kicked out of found themselves displaced, too.

We felt their pain. We, too, had just been kicked out and were in a place that was not our own. We knew their language, though. We also asked for ingredients at their markets that only someone who is one of them would know. And this caught their attention.

Suddenly, they saw us as one of them.

In this moment, the canopy sprang a leak. Light, like water, found the hole and began rushing through it.

Painting Two

As the wave washes over, the barrier isolating the city is broken. Missionaries can now come in with the light.

The dark hue has taken on a slightly lighter shade. And at the same time, the canopy that once kept the light out has ripped open. From top to bottom, light begins to rush in.

The crescent that once rose into the sky is no more. Something new is emerging. Something different. But it hasn’t quite formulated yet.

Muslim communities often associate God with judgment or punishment. This light that is beginning to pour in brings with it grace. A grace that has been sought after by so many, but never found.

There’s a woman who is an immigrant here in our new community. As we began to work with her, we realized how our story of being pushed out of her country allows us to relate with her. Our story and our God allow us to show her what grace looks like in human form. The hurt we experienced turned into privilege that opened doors for the Gospel to be shared. It’s this incarnational ministry that Jesus showed us—one that moves into someone’s neighborhood and takes on their pains and struggles—that allowed us to begin scraping back the darkness. 

It’s here where the story begins to change. It’s here where the seeds of transformation begin to take root. It’s here where not only single lives are transformed, but the bend in the river turns ever so slightly so that generations to come will go from grace to grace as they love and worship the true God.

Painting Three

Now that light has entered, the darkness begins to break. From there, those who are transformed are now sent to share the light in other places.

The darkness has been cast out. Replacing it is light, and not just a light—but fire. This fire has ignited in the hearts of new believers who for the first time have grasped onto the grace they have so desperately been searching for.

What was once a crescent is now replaced by a cross on top of a church, stretching into the sky. What was once a single community is now two communities, multiplying and increasing in numbers.

We find ourselves using art to break down barriers. Our studio is not overtly Christian, so anyone from any background feels comfortable in this setting.

If you’ve ever shared coffee with a Muslim brother or sister, the custom is to sit on the same side of the table, not looking at one another so as to not directly confront your friend. And in a similar way, while we paint, our back is often to those we are with, allowing us to share truths that may feel new and challenging, all in a culturally sensitive way.

God called us. He called me—a long-haired, young, rebellious youth—to be a missionary. He called my wife. And now He’s called our children to take part, too.

And what we see is that at one time the light could not get in, and then it broke through the darkness. Now the light is going forward. The flame can’t remain in one place—it’s always being sent.

Light has entered, lives are being changed, and the light is being sent to new places.

This is Missions

This is what we long for all over the world. We desire for communities that do not yet know Jesus to encounter Him. To be transformed. And for they themselves to now spread that light. It’s God’s plan of expanding His family by including every people group.

ACTION STEP:

PRAY: Join the Luke 10:2 Challenge by setting your alarm to pray every day at 10:02 a.m. that God would send more missionaries to places that have never heard His Good News. By praying, you are making holes in the darkness so that the light can pour in and lives can be transformed.

GO: Could God be calling you to shine His light in dark communities? Check out our opportunity map to see where you can step out in faith!