Metin courageously shares the gospel with people living on both sides of the law.
In addition to his church planting ministry, in 2019 Pastor Metin began a prison ministry to reach convicted criminals. Türkiye has the highest incarceration rate and the largest prison population of all Council of Europe [CoE] member States. Currently, the official number of men and women incarcerated is more than 300,000 — which is about one-third of all CoE prisoners. (Metin asserts that Türkiye’s figure is actually closer to 400,000.) He pointedly asks, “Who will reach them with the gospel?”
Metin’s goal has been to send at least one Bible and other Christian literature to each of Türkiye’s 405 prison libraries and to establish personal contact with prisoners seeking to know about Christianity. When Kadir, a prisoner, saw Metin’s contact information included with the Bible he picked up from the library, he requested a personal visit. The bus ride from Metin’s hometown to the prison where Kadir was fulfilling his sentence took 12 hours. Recounting Jesus’ parable of going after 1 lost sheep while 99 are already safe in the sheepfold, Metin says traveling such distances is worth it. “Normally, only one hour is allotted for prisoner visits,” he explains, “but in this case, the judge permitted me to spend four hours with Kadir” to explain the gospel and pray with him.
On the flip-side of the law enforcement spectrum, up to 15 police officers regularly come to Metin’s church services. In the aftermath of an attack on a church service in the country’s premier city of Istanbul earlier this year, police are assigned to gatherings of church fellowships in the country’s few dedicated church buildings or rented storefronts. Ostensibly, the police presence is intended as a form of protection, but it can also serve to monitor the Christians’ activity in this country that is the least-reached with the gospel in the world. Whatever the reason, Metin is pleased to preach in front of the officers on duty. Recently, Officer Gökhan approached Metin following the worship service. “I’ve never seen people who aren’t related to each other love each other like this,” Gökhan said, amazed at how the Christ-followers treated each other and intentionally encouraged one another. It prompted him to ask Metin for biblical counseling on some issues facing his family.
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