A Christian couple and their young family – passionate about the Gospel that brings freedom to the captive – dedicated their lives to the service of a strictly-Muslim country in North Africa.
In the wake of 9/11, when New York’s Twin Towers were toppled by Islamist fanatics, some of their fellow American Christians thought their venture most unwise.
But Stephen and Emily Foreman were sure of God’s call and knew that true followers of Christ had to take up their cross – effectively die to the claims of this world for a higher cause.
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Working for an NGO to help address poverty in the country through training people, including prisoners, in practical skills, they earned the huge respect of both the people and their government.
But the al-Qaeda terrorists were not impressed, and Stephen was brutally gunned down in the street one day, leaving behind a devastated widow and four children.
However, as the early Church Father Tertullian said, the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church. Stephen’s death was not the end of their mission, with many more subsequently being impacted by their sacrifice.
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As is often the case, it was the family’s readiness to forgive his murderers that proved of lasting fruit. As Emily relates so powerfully in her vivid account, she and her husband, in their commitment to follow Jesus, had already died to their own desires and dreams.
We died before we came here, the title of the book she wrote (published by NavPress in 2016 and available from 10ofthose.com), says it all. The saying is attributed to James Calvert, missionary to the cannibals of Fiji, and Stephen had lived by these words.
He was fearless. Only days before his death, perhaps with a sense of its imminence, he urged his friend Amir: “We must obey God while we still have breath…”
Afterwards, in a statement to journalists, his best friend said: “His life was not taken; he gave his life.”
His widow and family were not only able to forgive his murderers, who were subsequently caught. They returned to the desert country they had come to love, and continued the work Stephen had started, showering the poor and disadvantaged, including prisoners, with the love of Jesus, and seeing many new disciples.
God had worked in many miraculous ways to promote the work they were doing. One expat Christian, a taxi driver and refugee from a neighbouring country, wanted to respond to Stephen’s appeal for help in their prison work. But, presumably in his timidity, he thought he was too late as others rushed forward to offer their services.
Then, on a visit to friends away from the city, a pastor stopped mid-sermon to say he believed there was someone there whom God wanted to give the desire of his heart.
On his return, the first passenger he picked up had just been released from prison, where he served a sentence for shooting an American and his daughter in their car at the beach. The family had come to talk to their assailant in prison, brought him food and clothing, and had offered him forgiveness.
Understandably, he now wanted to help others in prison. The forgiving nature of Jesus’ disciples had made a big impact, as it always does.
Another man engaged in heated arguments in defence of Islam. But Stephen persevered with him. And then he had a dream of a man in “bright white”. He wondered if it was Jesus, and in time he too became a disciple.
Stephen has literally left his mark in that country. The mayor of the city where they were based presided over the unveiling of a plaque in his honour – at the very place where he was gunned down. It was inscribed with the words “God is love” in English, French and Arabic.
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