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As part of our ministry to international students, we sponsor junior officers from around the world who are attending the 4 month long International Maritime Officers Course at the nearby Coast Guard Training Center. Sponsorship involves getting to know these students on a more personal level, to help them realize that Americans are not at all like the images portrayed in movies and the world media, but rather normal people just like them and their families.
A couple of years ago, we sponsored two Muslim Officers from Indonesia. We were having a dinner party for them and some of the other students, and they asked if they could bring another Indonesian Officer who happened to be attending a different course at the Training Center. As we were talking in my office, he deduced from the aircraft pictures on the wall that I had been a Coast Guard Aviator, and disclosed that he was a helicopter pilot in the Indonesian Air Force. As we talked further, he revealed that he was also a Christian, one of the 5% minority of Christians in a predominantly Muslim country.
We invited him to come to church and Sunday School with us the next morning. As we were leaving for lunch, we noticed that he was in tears, and asked if he was okay. He responded that his tears were of joy, for he had never had the opportunity to worship the Lord with more than two or three others in his country. Attending a worship service with 300 others, followed by a Sunday School with 40 Christians discussing their faith had been overwhelming for him.
After he returned to Indonesia, ACCTS's Far East staff member had been able to connect with him to offer additional encouragement, and we have stayed in e-mail contact. At one point, discouraged by the challenges of serving the Lord in Muslim Military, he was contemplating separation from the service to pursue a career as a missionary. Via e-mail, we were able to offer counsel concerning the pros and cons of the decision, and to encourage him to seek the Lord's guidance beforehand.
He decided to stay in the Air Force, and is now an Instructor Pilot working to enhance standardized tactics, techniques and procedures for his service. He reports that there are now a few other Christians serving with him, and that he is optimistic about the future.
Last year we sponsored three officers from Sri Lanka, two Buddhists and a Christian. The Christian graduated as the Honor Student of the class, and is now playing a key role in the formation of his country's new Coast Guard. Although Sri Lanka is predominately Buddhist, about 6% of the population is Christian, and they have a strong Military Christian Fellowship (MCF). In fact, the next president of the worldwide Association of Military Christian Fellowships will be from Sri Lanka! Our student was not aware that his military had so many Christians because of the relatively small and isolated units at which he serves, so we were able to get him connected with the MCF leadership.
Although there are now MCFs in 140 of the world's 196 countries, many of them are quite small, and the membership often serves in remote areas with few opportunities for Christian fellowship and worship. That God is at work to resolve this however, is evidenced by the fact that when ACCTS was founded 40 years ago, Christians were known to serve in only 12 of the world's military services.
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