The Emerging
Turkish Church
Ryan Keating
As I have been reflecting on the character of the
emerging Turkish church, my thoughts are divided between traits which I think
characterize the church as it exists today, and directions that represent where
I think the church would like to go. I have described three examples of each.
The Turkish church is today characterized by:
1) A generation
of modern church fathers.
During the first 25 or so years of evangelism in
Turkey, beginning in the 1960's, there emerged a group of Turkish men who rose
to maturity as pioneers in a nation which had never known a "Turkish
church," during an era marked by political turbulence. Some of these men not only persevered, but
began to take responsibility for the spiritual needs of their country. And new believers began to see them as
fathers, a role which they willingly embraced.
Over the past 25 or so years these men have come to be seen in a role which
seems parallel to the one that the early church fathers had. Today, I see the character of the church as a
reflection of the character of these men who still serve as leaders. I could
count 6 or 8 men who would fit this profile.
Their names are often mentioned in churches around the country, their
sermons and books are quoted, their advice is sought out, and they are often
maligned and brought into debates or conflicts as voices of authority.
It is a sobering truth that there is not an evident
second generation of church fathers in Turkey.
It seems that the church is already aware of this, and we have been
spending much of our energy re-imagining
leadership issues for the future of the church.
2) A high
degree of national unity
From inside the church it is difficult to miss the
presence of conflict, scandal, and debate that asserts itself on the agenda so
often. However, I am also struck by
degree to which the Turkish church still acts as one entity. Several ministries seek to serve the whole spectrum
of Turkish congregations, offering training, camps, publishing, radio, and
television without stark distinctions of denomination or ethnicity, preferring
instead to distinguish areas of ministry geographically. TEK, the Turkish
Evangelical Association doesn't represent all of the Turkish churches, but it
does represent most of them, and there is no competing, or even parallel
organization to TEK. I take all of these
to be encouraging signs of a unity which is not perfect, but still
characteristic of the church in Turkey. Another anecdotal but significant sign of unity is the Turkish
hymn book, which is used almost universally in Turkish churches. As new worship songs are written or
translated, they are assigned a number and included in the next edition of the
book. There have been five updates so far, including more than 600 songs.
3) A
reconfiguration of Turkish national identity
The existence of a growing number of converts to
Christ in Turkey has brought about a new way of understanding what it means to
be "Turkish." The Ottoman Empire had been a Muslim empire, and while it included dozens of nationalities Islam
was the unifying characteristic of the empire.
With the emergence of the Republic of Turkey, turkishness became the unifying characteristic of the new nation,
but early architects of the republic still understood Islam as an inseparable
dimension of Turkish identity. However,
now there are thousands of Turks who have chosen to follow Christ; there is a
community of Turkish Christians. I
think it is difficult to underestimate how significant this is for Turkish identity. These men and women love their country as
much as they did when they were Muslims, and they are undoubtedly still
Turkish. They represent a way of
thinking about Turkish national identity apart from Islam for the first time in
more than 1,000 years. There is still uneasiness among the public and in the
media about the reality of Turkish Christianity, but there is no denying its
existence any longer. It used to be very
difficult to change the line on one's identity card that designated religion, particularly
if one were trying to change it from Islam to Christianity. In fact, it was
once true that changing one's gender on the national identity card was easier
than changing one's religion. Today,
however, thousands of Christians have made that change and it is no longer the
scandal that it once was.
The Turkish church is also a church in search of:
It was among the basic theological and practical
concerns of the apostle Paul to explore what it means to be both Greek and Christian. Similarly, it has been one of the driving
concerns of the Turkish church to explore what it means to be both Turkish and
Christian. The church bears the marks of
its disciplers from other nations, and Western church trends still have a
disproportionate influence on the agenda of the Turkish church. Today, issues
of contextualization are hotly debated in Turkey, and the Turkish contribution
to the discussion is usually to advise caution and moderation in reaction to
Western strategies for contextualization in Turkey which are sometimes seen as
extreme. Still, Turkish leaders are
asking critical questions about how to express faithfulness to Christ in
genuinely Turkish ways. Many churches
try to maintain a reasonable ratio of Turks to foreigners in their meetings,
which sometimes means asking foreigners not to attend. Every year, at "Christian"
holidays, there are discussions in Turkish churches about what it means to
celebrate in Turkey. Believers feel a
draw to celebrate the birth of Christ, and his resurrection, but there is
uneasiness about how they should be celebrating. Similarly, they are sure that they don't want
to celebrate traditional Islamic holidays, but these are the times of year when
their children are on vacation from school, and their relatives are gathering
for family meals and ceremonies. How
should they respond? The church is in search of cultural authenticity. It is a Turkish church and it is seeking
genuinely Turkish expressions.
Ethnic Christian minorities such as Armenians and
Greeks have been traditionally recognized by the Turkish government and given
limited rights and privileges in Turkey.
Turkish Christians have never had the same kind of official recognition
since there was no category for such a group of people. However, in recent years the church has
sought greater levels of official recognition and an increased voice in the
public square. Many churches are now
registered as "associations" or "foundations" and are
pursuing their legal rights in those capacities. The Turkish Evangelical Assocation now has
official legal representation and there are dozens of law suits pending around
the country over issues related to the church.
Turks hostile to Christianity often find ways to make accusations
against foreign or local believers and this has led to an increased
visibility for the church and a sense of precedent in Turkish courts about
defending religious expression for Christians.
This year there were a few Turkish Christians who ran for political
offices, and Turkish Christian perspectives were voiced on dozens of news
websites, newspapers, and television programs.
6) Maturity in
Ministry and Mission
Nearly every congregation in Turkey depends on the
spiritual and financial contributions of foreign workers. And there is very little sense of a grass
roots passion for ministry in the church.
There are a number of signs of developing maturity, but I think the
general picture shows a church which is still in its infancy. There are many more Turks in positions of
leadership in churches and ministries than there were even just a few years
ago, and ministries like Filipus and Hasat are consistently equipping Turks for
positions of influence. However, it seems that nearly as many Turks leave the
church every year as are baptized into it.
And there is still a sense that the impetus for evangelism and
discipleship depends on the foreigners, who are regularly trying to stir up
interest in ministry among Turks.
Of course there are genuine exceptions to this trend,
but I think we need to look toward a time when there is a genuine swell of
passion for ministry in the Turkish church.
And our consistent, long term prayer is for the emergence of a Turkish mission
movement, that the Turkish church would be taking seriously its role in the
Great Commission, and that Turkish missionaries would be making disciples in
the nations.
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