Building friendships over tea

In February 2024, OM launched a REACH school for Turkic-language speakers in the Caucasus, in Georgia, on the coast of the Black Sea. Although Georgia is a predominantly Christian country, it is surrounded by Muslim neighbours. Many of the school’s first students were believers from a Muslim background from Azerbaijan, Georgia’s neighbour to the southeast.

As a REACH student, Solmaz* spent part of her time in the classroom in Georgia and part of it sharing the good news of Christ in her home country of Azerbaijan. One day, she travelled with Hevva,* a fellow REACH student, to a city in western Azerbaijan to apply some of the discipleship skills they had learnt.

Solmaz and Hevva met with a woman named Fidan,* who had requested a Bible from OM through social media. The three women sat in a café, drinking coffee and talking about Jesus. Fidan was already a believer, but she did not have her own copy of the Bible. She gladly received Solmaz and Hevva’s gift of a New Testament — and their gift of friendship. There are very few believers in Fidan’s city, which made this time of fellowship particularly sweet and encouraging for Fidan.

The next time that Solmaz and Hevva visited, Fidan invited them to her house and prepared tea for them. In Azerbaijani culture, tea is very important. No house visit or event is truly complete without it, as tea symbolises hospitality and an invitation to fellowship.

Fidan poured five cups of tea — for her two guests, her two daughters and herself. In Azerbaijan, the host first pours strong tea from a teapot. That concentrated tea is very bitter. Then, she pours hot water from a tea kettle to dilute the tea in each guest’s cup. Along with this, she serves something sweet — sugar cubes, candy, biscuits, cake, honey, or jam — to balance the bitterness of the tea.

While drinking tea, Solmaz and Hevva opened the Bible and began to study it with the women. Focussing on one passage, they discussed what it taught about God, humanity and themselves. Then, they made plans to share what they had learnt from that passage with others. They also sang together and discussed starting a youth ministry in that region, which Fidan was open to hosting in her home.

During the following months, Solmaz met with Fidan and discipled her family. Over many cups of tea and conversations about Jesus, their friendship grew deeper. When they had first met, Solmaz could tell that Fidan’s heart had been wounded. But after several meetings, she saw that Fidan’s heart was healed. The Living Water had refreshed her, washing away all bitterness and bringing in sweetness and joy.

Now graduated from REACH, Solmaz remains in contact with Fidan online and hopes to partner with Fidan and her family in their city in the future.

Please pray for the Lord to raise up more disciple makers in the Caucasus — to send into the harvest, to share the hope of Jesus with those who have never heard and to disciple those who are isolated.

*name changed