Local pastor instigates ministry to Muslims
by Elisa Boschman

Born into a nomadic tribe in Sudan, Wagdi Iskander was raised as a devout Muslim with no knowledge of what Christianity was, yet was taught to mistrust and hate Christians.

He was exposed to the Gospel at university in Sudan but this only increased his hate and led to his choice to join with others to persecute Christians.

After university, he accidentally broke a Muslim Law and was punished through being ostracized from the Muslim community for a set amount of time. He began to wonder how he could find forgiveness and when one of the Christians he had persecuted at university sought him out to once again tell him the Good News, Iskander’s heart was ready.

Now the persecution from the Muslims turned on him and he eventually was imprisoned and sentenced to death.

Through what can only be called a miracle straight out of the Bible, he escaped and fled the country to join Operation Mobilization. God was clearly guiding him and he eventually found himself at a Bible College in Alberta that protected him from deportation and gave him the opportunity to feed the hunger where he had to know Jesus Christ. Only the Holy Spirit in Iskander could prepare and guide him for what came next.

With his heart now burdened for the Muslim people to know this forgiveness and love from God, he started a church for the Arabs and Muslims in Calgary and two in Edmonton.

And still his burden to spread the Good News was heavy. He knew of huge refugee camps in Europe filled with people from the Middle East and went there to start a ministry to them that continues to this day.

He then realized the need to help others understand the Islam faith and Muslim people and through seminars and preaching, this ministry spread around the world to India, Australia and the underground church in the Arabian Peninsula.

At home in Canada, Iskander became aware of the many Muslims who had converted to Christianity (approx. 5,000), and without a Christian background were searching for solid Biblical teaching. God gave Wagdi a vision that he knew could only be achieved through complete faith.

He saw a training centre where MBB’s (Muslim Background Believers) from a variety of different nationalities could come to live and study to gain a firm Biblical foundation as well as discipleship training in order for them to effectively reach and disciple members of their local community.

The challenge seemed daunting but with great prayer and financial partners, this vision became a reality when the Al Hayat Centre (meaning “life” in many languages from the Middle East) opened in June 2011, the only one in North America. In a way that only God could do, this school is at the same college that rescued Iskander.

An example of who is coming to this school is found in a young Arab woman who came to know the Lord through a university ministry. When she shared her faith with her family, they rejected it and tried their best to imprison her in their home to keep her from Christians. She secretly met Iskander through other MBB’s and fled home and all she knew was to come to the Centre. Her family has now completely rejected her and she looks to the body of Christ to be her family.

We are the body of Christ and there is urgency for the North American church to educate themselves about Muslims and their Islam faith in order to dispel the fear that is found in our culture.

Iskander feels it is very important for us to know and communicate that the Lord our God is the one true living God. From his experience around the world with MBB’s he knows that they find it confusing and disheartening to hear some in the church say that the god of Islam is the God of Christians. They are being persecuted for saying Jesus is God, so how the can the two gods even be similar? They have experienced the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ and treasure the true living God.

The Muslims around us need our prayer and friendship so they too can live in this truth.

For more information on the Al Hayat Centre, visit their website at www.alhayat.ca.