{"id":174,"date":"2020-11-16T09:34:19","date_gmt":"2020-11-16T09:34:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/?post_type=blog&p=174"},"modified":"2020-12-01T14:52:19","modified_gmt":"2020-12-01T14:52:19","slug":"it-starts-with-kindness","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/blog\/it-starts-with-kindness\/","title":{"rendered":"It Starts with Kindness"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Today, I am honoured to be serving as the regional secretary of IFES MENA. My journey to faith started when a group of French students extended their kindness to me, an international student from Tunisia. This is my story.  <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

Toward the end of my architectural studies in Paris, I happened to come across a book table organized by Groupes Bibliques Universitaires or GBU, the IFES movement in France. The Christian students there invited me to a series of lectures on Islam and Christianity given by Chawkat M, who at that time, worked with IFES in Paris and was in charge of relations with Arab and Muslim students. Initially, I decided to participate out of a desire to contradict the speaker and prove the theological superiority of Islam. However, I was surprised that despite my sometimes provocative questions, the Christian students always responded with such kindness. I was so struck by their courteous and gracious attitude that when I returned to Tunisia, I decided to bring one of the gospels with me. But the more I read the words of Jesus, the more questions I had.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

As these questions burned in me,\u00a0I\u00a0started to\u00a0write\u00a0them\u00a0in letters to my Christian friends.\u00a0I spent the next several months\u00a0sending\u00a0questions by mail (there was no email at that time)\u00a0and\u00a0waiting\u00a0two weeks\u00a0for each\u00a0answer.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

It was during this time that Chawkat connected me to a missionary couple studying Arabic in Tunis. I met with these new friends every Sunday evening to read the Bible together. Just months later, I decided to give my life to Christ. Life was peaceful until one day when my older brother followed me to their house. A few minutes after I entered their home, the doorbell rang and my brother was at the door. When my friend invited him to enter, my brother discovered the Bible lying on the table. He stayed for five minutes, explaining that he only wanted to know who his brother was meeting. Then he left.  <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

The next day, my brother visited me at work.\u00a0He\u00a0asked me\u00a0to cut off all\u00a0ties\u00a0with Christians and\u00a0return to Islam.\u00a0He gave me one week to reflect\u00a0before he would be obligated to share\u00a0the news with my\u00a0family. A week later, he came\u00a0back\u00a0for\u00a0my answer.\u00a0When\u00a0he didn\u2019t hear what he wanted, he returned home to tell\u00a0the whole family. That evening, our house was filled with shouting and crying as my father\u00a0kicked\u00a0me out of the house.\u00a0I\u00a0stayed\u00a0at my sister\u2019s house\u00a0for three days\u00a0before\u00a0she\u00a0also asked me to leave. She said\u00a0she could not go against the family’s decision.\u00a0A\u00a0co-worker also\u00a0contacted me to\u00a0say\u00a0that he had heard about my conversion to the Christian faith. He\u00a0explained that\u00a0he could no longer collaborate with me and\u00a0told me\u00a0to leave the office immediately.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

With nowhere to go, I called the missionary couple to ask what I should do. They connected me to a single missionary who offered a place to spend a few days. The following week, that missionary couple received death threats addressed to me from an Islamic group that my brother was involved in.  <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

On my way to church that Sunday, I encountered my brother and another person waiting for me just a few metres away. I ran for refuge in the church and was able to escape through an emergency exit onto another street. However, that evening, the church pastor, who was Swiss, came to find me and asked me to leave the country. He feared my life was in danger and told me that I had become a source of potential danger even for them. If the Tunisian government knew what had happened, the church would also be shut down. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

Within\u00a024 hours\u00a0of that conversation,\u00a0I\u00a0left\u00a0Tunisia\u00a0and took\u00a0refuge\u00a0at\u00a0a farm in Switzerland. During\u00a0my five\u00a0months there, I\u00a0reconnected\u00a0with\u00a0Chawkat\u00a0to see if\u00a0I\u00a0could study theology in France,\u00a0a\u00a0country I was\u00a0more familiar with.\u00a0Thankfully, God opened the door\u00a0and in\u00a0September 1987,\u00a0just months after deciding to follow Christ,\u00a0I\u00a0began\u00a0my theological\u00a0studies\u00a0in France.\u00a0Now, decades later, I am\u00a0honoured to serve\u00a0as a\u00a0regional secretary for\u00a0IFES to\u00a0help\u00a0pioneer student witness in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).\u00a0Praise God for the ways\u00a0he has grown ministry in my own \u201chome\u201d region, even in extremely difficult places. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

May He open new doors, may He equip and give us love and hope when we are involved with international students and may He sustain us.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"featured_media":175,"template":"","area":[73],"theme":[264,262,265],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIt Starts with Kindness - IFES Sobremesa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/blog\/it-starts-with-kindness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"It Starts with Kindness - IFES Sobremesa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today, I am honoured to be serving as the regional secretary of IFES MENA. My journey to faith started when a group of French students extended their kindness to me, an international student from Tunisia. This is my story.   Toward the end of my architectural studies in Paris, I happened to come across a book table organized...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/blog\/it-starts-with-kindness\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"IFES Sobremesa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-12-01T14:52:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/alvaro-serrano-hjwKMkehBco-unsplash-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/blog\/it-starts-with-kindness\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/blog\/it-starts-with-kindness\/\",\"name\":\"It Starts with Kindness - IFES Sobremesa\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-11-16T09:34:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-12-01T14:52:19+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/blog\/it-starts-with-kindness\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/blog\/it-starts-with-kindness\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/blog\/it-starts-with-kindness\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Blog\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"It Starts with Kindness\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/\",\"name\":\"IFES Sobremesa\",\"description\":\"Equipping for International Student Ministry\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/#organization\",\"name\":\"IFES Sobremesa\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/sobremesa-mark-v2.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/sobremesa-mark-v2.png\",\"width\":400,\"height\":400,\"caption\":\"IFES Sobremesa\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"It Starts with Kindness - IFES Sobremesa","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/blog\/it-starts-with-kindness\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"It Starts with Kindness - IFES Sobremesa","og_description":"Today, I am honoured to be serving as the regional secretary of IFES MENA. My journey to faith started when a group of French students extended their kindness to me, an international student from Tunisia. This is my story.   Toward the end of my architectural studies in Paris, I happened to come across a book table organized...","og_url":"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/blog\/it-starts-with-kindness\/","og_site_name":"IFES Sobremesa","article_modified_time":"2020-12-01T14:52:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/alvaro-serrano-hjwKMkehBco-unsplash-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/blog\/it-starts-with-kindness\/","url":"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/blog\/it-starts-with-kindness\/","name":"It Starts with Kindness - IFES Sobremesa","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-11-16T09:34:19+00:00","dateModified":"2020-12-01T14:52:19+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/blog\/it-starts-with-kindness\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/blog\/it-starts-with-kindness\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/blog\/it-starts-with-kindness\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Blog","item":"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"It Starts with Kindness"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/","name":"IFES Sobremesa","description":"Equipping for International Student Ministry","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/#organization"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/#organization","name":"IFES Sobremesa","url":"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/sobremesa-mark-v2.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/sobremesa-mark-v2.png","width":400,"height":400,"caption":"IFES Sobremesa"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/174"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/blog"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/area?post=174"},{"taxonomy":"theme","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sobremesa.ifesworld.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/theme?post=174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}