NEITHER TURK NOR GREEK

by Damianos Papadopoulos

This Easter, I spent ten days in Turkey and visited churches in four towns named in Revelation: Ephesus, Smyrna, Sardis and Pergamos. The purpose of the trip was to make contact with Turkish believers on behalf of Greek evangelicals. We soon realised that believers are the same, whatever their race.

My grandparents were converted by missionaries working in Turkey. In 1922 thousands of Greeks died when the Turks drove them into the sea. The church members at Smyrna often weep when they think about what their forefathers did.

Open-air evangelism is not allowed in Turkey, but we were able to go out into a park in Ankara and demonstrate some gospel conjuring to our friends: other people could see the tricks and hear the message too!

I believe this was one of the most educational trips I have ever made. As we stopped at garages and shops along the way, we were struck time and time again by the spiritual thirst of these people. Despite their Muslim background they were eager to hear about our faith, and we were able to leave gospels with many of them as a parting gift.