Questions about physical hunger inspired Jibril to find satisfaction for his spiritual hunger. Now he shares the Bread of Life with others.
Pastor Jibril lives in a desert city along Morocco’s southern border. He traveled 20 hours by bus and train in order to meet with FMI’s exploratory team and several other church planters from across the country as we consider developing partnerships in this Arab culture. Like virtually all Moroccans, Jibril grew up in a Muslim family. While the nation’s laws automatically called him a Muslim, his heart felt differently. One of his nagging questions concerned Ramadan, the month of the Islamic calendar when Muslims are required to fast from sunrise to sunset. Even as a child, Jibril used to think, “I’m fasting. And It’s so hot. Why does God enjoy this ritual? Why is God satisfied by my hunger?”
As he grew, Jibril was convinced that many Islamic teachings sowed fear in its followers, and he thought any God worth following would really be a loving God instead. After years of searching, he finally gained access to a Bible, read it, and was captivated by the account of Jesus forgiving a woman caught in adultery. Jibril found the God of compassion he was looking for. Helped by his new Christians friends to understand what he was reading in the Bible, Jibril placed his trust in Christ. Consequently, he was rejected by his family and, later on, Jibril’s own father informed the police about his ministry. Still, he said, God placed a deep desire in his heart for his family to know Christ. Since then, Jibril has been delighted to introduce his brother, sister, and mother to the Savior.
This was a common refrain among the varied stories our team heard from the Moroccan pastors: “Now I want my countrymen to find Jesus like I did. Now I want to see a church planted in every small city across Morocco.” According to the Joshua Project, Morocco’s population of 38 million people is only 0.11% evangelical Christian. Nearly 100% of its population is considered unreached, which means almost no one has any connection to a known follower of Jesus, a church, or has a Bible. It is a miracle that the men we met have discovered Jesus. Now these pastors are driven by a passion to see many more of their people who hunger and thirst for righteousness be filled.
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