Open Home, Not an Open Heart
Posted May 20,2010
DAKAR, Senegal — For Ibrahima Dieng it is not about the words he hears, it’s about the things he sees. And in many ways, Dieng doesn’t see a lot of difference between Islam and Christianity.
Dieng is a Muslim who serves as a driver at the Baptist Guest House in Dakar. Over the past ten years Dieng has seen a lot of Baptists come and go. Missionaries and volunteers share the Gospel with him as he drives them between the airport, guest house and ministry locations, but he has never felt led to embrace Christianity.
“He’s open to the things we say to him,” said IMB missionary Ann Verlander, who worked closely with Dieng for many years. Their relationship is so close, in fact, that Dieng calls her Mama. “I trust him with my life,” she said.
“I’ve been many times in conversation with him,” she continued, “and I would tell others to go ahead and share the (Gospel) story with him again, but he doesn’t seem to want to make a commitment.”
Dieng’s supervisor at the Baptist Guest House, missionary Guy DeMars, said: “His heart is so tender and sensitive to the needs of others. His home is always open, but not his heart. Ibrahima has resisted the Gospel message for years. However, he knows the truth. It is my prayer that Ibrahima will submit to the one who will never reject him – King Jesus.”
For Dieng, however, it’s not what he hears from Baptist missionaries that impresses him, it’s what he sees. “I see from the missionaries that we are on the same path,” he said. “I see that from the help they give to the population, whether Muslim or Christian. They do it for all and not just for Christians.” Dieng believes helping someone in need is required of both religions — Islam and Christianity.
It is difficult for this soft-spoken man to discuss abstract concepts like faith and Christian love. For him it is all about faith in action, and he can tell the missionaries love the people by the things he sees them do. It’s their actions and not their words that speak loudest for Dieng.
In particular, he is impressed with medical volunteer teams who unselfishly give their time and resources to help the people of Africa.
“They love the people and they help us,” Dieng said.
Many who meet Dieng believe he is a Christian. He admits that and seems pleased about it. “We are all human,” he said. “We all come from the same God, and I know God is one. We all come from Eve and Adam. So what’s the difference? We must have good relations and respect one another.”
People see a lot of good in Dieng, so it’s easy to mistake him for a Christian.
“Ibrahima is a man committed to his family,” said Verlander’s husband, Larry. “He is a friend, a loyal employee, a man of integrity, honesty and trust. He is a tenderhearted man and a servant in the truest sense. These qualities would seem to indicate a fine Christian husband, father and man, but he is a Muslim.”
For Dieng, when push comes to shove, Islam is the correct path. It came after Christianity, so it should be the religion to follow. Christianity is not to even be considered, according to Dieng.
Stan Littleford, IMB strategy team leader for the city of Dakar, asked, “How much time [should] we spend with someone like Ibrahima? Our strategy is to present the Gospel to as many people as possible. If they are not responsive, we move on.”
Littleford said attention must be given to those who are genuinely seeking to know God. “Think of those who have never heard,” he said. “Can we keep going back to those who repeatedly hear the message over and over again?”
Littleford is quick to say, however, that unresponsive Muslim friends and acquaintances are still visited a couple of times a year to see if they can be ministered to.
While Dieng believes those of one religion shouldn’t tell those of another religion what to believe, he doesn’t mind having the Gospel shared with him by those who know he is a Muslim, especially by the missionaries and volunteers he meets through his work as a driver. He sees it as one friend telling another friend good news.
“They say, ‘Ibrahima, you are my real friend and we have a relationship. You have your way that you follow and I have mine.’ They say to me, ‘I would be so very happy to see you in my religion,’” Ibrahima said.
“This is good,” he continued. “You see, tomorrow when we die, I know they don’t want to go (to heaven) without me. They pray to God to help me.
“But from my side, I do that for them.”
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