Team Meeting 2 — Summary

Flights & Logistics

After a stressful week watching prices spike from $1,200 to $1,800 out of Charlotte, Delta dropped to $1,000 per person out of Asheville. Brandon booked seven team tickets. The trip is on — same dates, no changes needed.

Who We're Going To

Ben Virgo is the lead pastor of Victoria Park Community Church in East London. He's been there 16 years, church-planting on a council estate in a neighborhood that is 90% Bangladeshi Muslim. The area can feel more like the Middle East than London — that's not an accident, and it's exactly why we're going.

Ben is tired. His people are tired. They're doing faithful, costly work in a place where almost no one else is working — and they're doing it with almost no outside encouragement. That's what we're walking into.

Dan Byrd is an IMB missionary embedded with the church. His specific focus is Queen Mary University — one of the largest universities in London, less than a mile from Victoria Park. He runs Bible studies there and is actively reaching international students, including a young man from Afghanistan.

We're not going to change London. But we are going to step into what God is already doing and hold up the arms of the people who live there.

The 10/40 Window

The 10/40 window is the geographic band between 10° and 40° North latitude — running across North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and East Asia. It contains the largest concentration of unreached people on earth.

The problem isn't resources. There are enough people. There's enough money. It's a spiritual warfare and intentionality problem.

Here's why London matters: there are roughly 300,000 Middle Eastern and Arab people living in greater London right now. You can preach the gospel to Muslims in East London — and through them, their families back in the Middle East hear it too. London is a gateway.

Understanding Islam

Brandon walked us through the basics — not to make us experts, but so we're not caught off guard and we can engage with compassion and clarity.

Core Beliefs

• Allah is the one true God — no Trinity; absolute, sovereign, unapproachable
• Muhammad is the greatest prophet, surpassing Jesus
• Jesus is acknowledged but only as an earlier prophet who got some things wrong
• The Quran is the only trustworthy scripture — the Torah and Bible are considered corrupted
• Angels and spirits exist — robust spiritual world
• Allah alone determines who enters heaven; no assurance of salvation, even for Muhammad

The Five Pillars

• Five daily prayers (salat)
• Almsgiving to the poor (zakat)
• Fasting during Ramadan (sawm)
• Public profession of faith: "There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet"
• Pilgrimage to Mecca once in a lifetime (hajj)

Why the Trinity Matters Here

When you remove the Trinity, you're left with one alternative: a god who needs you. A god who created out of need, who requires worship or will crush you, who cannot experience love or glory without you. That's the God of Islam in practice.

The Trinitarian God of Christianity needs nothing. He has eternally experienced love and glory within himself — Father, Son, and Spirit. He doesn't invite us in because he needs us. He invites us in because love overflows. That's the heart of the conversation we want to have.

How to Actually Talk to People

Most of the people we'll meet are culturally Muslim — just like most Americans are culturally Christian. They may be devoted but haven't thought deeply about the theology. Debating doctrine will shut the conversation down fast.

What opens it: genuine curiosity, love, asking about their family and their hopes. Islam is a word meaning "submission" — it's all doing, all checking boxes, no assurance. When you ask someone what they actually long for — peace, belonging, security — that's the door. We offer not a better system, but a relationship with the living God.

Start with the cross. They believe Jesus existed. The question is: was he just a prophet who underachieved before Muhammad — or did he actually accomplish something? What did he accomplish? And where is our peace?

What We're Actually Doing

The Situation on the Ground

Tensions between the Muslim immigrant community and the broader population in London are at an all-time high. Selective justice, cultural friction, and the difficult reality of high conversion costs within Muslim communities have created a charged environment.

The cost of leaving Islam — especially in close-knit Bangladeshi communities — can mean losing your family. Brandon shared the story of a young Egyptian woman who came to faith through missionaries, eventually told her family, was threatened, and escaped the country with almost nothing. That's the stakes Ben's church is praying to be ready for when a conversion happens in their neighborhood.

We're not going in with political opinions. We're going in as people of love, aware of the spiritual warfare underneath the surface.

What God Is Doing

There is a real, documented movement of young people returning to historic Christianity in England right now — 25 and under, hungry for something true, something with a foundation, something that holds. Everything around them is shifting and they don't know where to turn.

London is also where the nations come to study. Somewhere around 25 current world leaders were educated at universities in London. The students at Queen Mary and across the city will go back to their countries. The gospel that takes root in London doesn't stay in London.

Prayer Requests

Ben gave us four specific things to pray as we prepare:

Before We Go

• If you haven't submitted your passport info, do it now — Brandon still needs several from the team
• Deposits are due by end of March
• Final logistics meeting coming — packing, schedule, practical details
• Start praying through the four requests above now, not just on the trip
• Read up on Islam if you want — Brandon can point you to accessible resources