In a Country Not Their Own
A West African refugee’s journey to a new start through the gospel
“In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.”
—Proverbs 16:9
To get from Joseph’s* home country in West Africa to the city in southern Europe where he first met Alliance workers over four years ago, you have to travel almost 3,500 miles—and that’s if you go the way Google Maps recommends. Joseph didn’t go that way, though.
I don’t know every step of Joseph’s journey, and neither does the Alliance worker who told me his story last summer when I visited him and his team to learn more about their ministry among African refugees. What I do know, though, is that Joseph ended up in that southern European city after traveling hundreds of miles north into a neighboring country and getting sent back by border authorities. While his journey may not have played out the way he planned, God was with him each step of the way and made more of his frustrated plans than Joseph—or anyone else—could have envisioned.
Glimpses of the Gospel
Having grown up in a country where Christians are outnumbered nearly five to one by the majority religion, Joseph knew little, if anything, about Christianity until he was a teenager. He first started to learn about the Bible through believers on a soccer team in his hometown. He played with them on land belonging to a church. Joseph was drawn to these outsiders because of their inviting attitude toward him. Others in his community had not always shown him the same kindness or acceptance. For most in his hometown, tribal identity meant everything, especially when it came to selecting a spouse. Joseph had flouted cultural tradition, however, by getting romantically involved with a young woman who didn’t belong to his tribe. Eventually something even more damaging to his reputation happened: Joseph and this young woman were suddenly expecting a child together.
Joseph’s early interactions with Christians were appealing to him in part because, when their conversations turned to the gospel, he discovered freedom from shame and guilt he couldn’t find in the teachings of his country’s majority religion. He had been brought up to believe he had to earn his admission into heaven by doing good deeds. After getting a woman pregnant outside of marriage, he struggled to believe he could ever do enough good to counterbalance the wrong he had done. Through the little he had learned about the Bible, though, he was beginning to realize his view of the afterlife—and of God—had been wrong. He began attending services at the church where he played soccer. He was ready to embrace a new life as a follower of Jesus, a life rooted in God’s grace and forgiveness instead of taxing religious obligations and trepidation over eternal punishment. By doing so, however, he understood that he would once again trespass beliefs and traditions his tribe held sacred.
Joseph was ready to embrace a new life as a follower of Jesus, a life rooted in God’s grace and forgiveness instead of taxing religious obligations and trepidation over eternal punishment.
Fleeing Africa
When his family members found out he had started going to church, they threatened to kill him, and he fled to Europe as an asylum seeker. Because Joseph had attended school in English throughout childhood, his initial plan was to travel through continental Europe and start afresh in the United Kingdom. The route he took along the West African coast and into Europe is treacherous, but he had soon traversed more than 3,000 miles of this journey.
As he headed north through the final country that stood between him and his intended destination, he often slept in public spaces. He had no other option. One day, he heard worship music playing at a church across the street from the spot where he was staying. Burning with a desire to know more about the belief system that had captured his heart in Africa, he stepped inside and sat in on the service. He understood the local language well enough to follow the pastor’s sermon and converse with members of the congregation. When he spoke to the pastor, Joseph still had so many questions about Christianity. Like the Ethiopian eunuch in the Book of Acts, he had been earnestly seeking spiritual truth but still hadn’t been guided to salvation. At that church he stumbled upon enroute to the United Kingdom, the gospel finally became clear to him, and through the witness of believers who had been put along his path at just the right moment, he surrendered his life to Jesus.
Joseph never made it to the United Kingdom, though. On the last leg of his journey, he was thwarted by border authorities. Because asylum seekers in Europe are not permitted to cross international borders without prior authorization, he was sent back to the southern European country where he had first entered the continent and filed paperwork. The law required him to remain there until further notice. It was a devastating setback for Joseph, who was not fluent in the local language of the country where he would be living.
Yet, God continued to plant people along his path to guide him toward spiritual maturity. One of those was Brian,* the Alliance worker who told me Joseph’s story last summer.
The Journey into Discipleship
Brian first visited Joseph about a year after he had been taken back to southern Europe. Brian and his family were also new to the region. They were drawn to southern Europe because of their desire to connect with African refugees like Joseph and welcome them into their home for meals and Bible studies. Imbedded among many who had never heard the gospel, attended church, or even been befriended by a Christian, they expected to spend most of their time evangelizing those who were unfamiliar with and even hostile toward Christianity. They had no idea they would meet their first disciple less than a week after they arrived. They also didn’t know the apartment they were renting was within a few blocks of the place he was staying.
Joseph and Brian had a mutual acquaintance—a missionary with another organization—who had met the young man soon after his return to the region but had lost touch with him when he was relocated to a makeshift apartment for recent immigrants. This mutual acquaintance had learned of Joseph’s newfound faith in Jesus and was eager for him to not be isolated in his spiritual journey. He passed along his address to Brian but could not provide a phone number. Joseph didn’t have one. As Brian soon learned, Joseph didn’t have many other things people in the West often take for granted. He had no electricity, no central heating, and virtually no privacy.
His building was not originally designed for human habitation. It had been repurposed to address the housing crisis among the local immigrant population. Joseph lived with several other men in a room that was more like a cubicle. Its walls were made of thin, flexible boards just tall enough to prevent the men from peeking over into the adjoining rooms when they stood at full height. Without electricity, they relied on gas lanterns for lighting and gas heaters for warmth.
Joseph had no idea anyone was coming to see him that day. When Brian showed up unannounced and uninvited and started talking about Jesus, Joseph was astounded. Even when he had been pushed to the margins of society, he had never escaped his Creator’s notice. God had brought a messenger—a native English speaker at that—to teach him what he had desired to know since fleeing Africa: how to live as a follower of Jesus.
Even when Joseph had been pushed to the margins of society, he had never escaped his Creator’s notice.
Brian wasn’t sure how far along Joseph was in his understanding of God’s Word, so he started with the basics. As he guided his new disciple through Discovery Bible study materials, frequently welcoming him into his apartment to share meals, he was impressed with Joseph’s grasp of God’s grace and his eagerness to put biblical teachings into practice. Recognizing that followers of Jesus should demonstrate generosity toward the poor, for example, he questioned why many Christians seemed to overlook the needs of the homeless in their communities. At Joseph’s insistence, their discipleship sessions would sometimes lead them to the streets of a nearby city, where they would hand out food to people begging and sleeping on the sidewalks. And Joseph didn’t stop there. He would often hug them, sit with them, and talk to them about his faith in Jesus. He was showing a level of boldness Brian would have expected out of a much more seasoned disciple.
Greater Things in Store
By the time I visited southern Europe and learned of Joseph’s journey to faith and discipleship, he was long gone. He had finally gained authorization to travel more freely and had moved to another region to find steady work to support his daughter back in Africa. Because of the prayers and generosity of the worldwide Alliance family, Brian carries on his work among others like Joseph seeking safety, financial stability, and answers they can find only in God’s Word. Over the last four years, Brian’s vision and heart for his ministry have outgrown his apartment. During my visit, he showed me around a building he and his team are renovating into a ministry center that will house mentoring, tutoring, and fitness programs for refugee youth. You can play a vital role in advancing this project by giving here.
Although Joseph has moved on, the impact he made on Brian and others in southern Europe has not been forgotten. One homeless man, I was told, still asks about Joseph when Brian visits the city where they walked the streets during their discipleship sessions. I imagine the man sees thousands of people every day as he sits by a busy bridge in the city and begs. Joseph was one of the few who stopped to talk to him. That’s what the man remembers. That’s what makes him say Joseph and Brian were “different.” They showed kindness to a stranger, the same kindness Joseph experienced from Brian and other followers of Jesus on his long journey from Africa.
His search for a new start in Europe may not have gone the way he expected, but it led him to the greater things God had in store for him—salvation, spiritual growth, and eternal rewards. Brian and Joseph may not share a meal or walk down a street together again until they reach heaven. When they are reunited there, I’m convinced each will be received with the same gracious words from their Savior: “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Matt. 25:35). And with those words, they—alongside many other members of God’s scattered flock—will inherit the Kingdom prepared for them since the creation of the world.
*Names changed
About the Author
John Bils is a fundraising and campaign writer at the National Office of The Christian and Missionary Alliance. He holds a bachelor of arts in English from Ohio State University and lives in Reynoldsburg, OH.