Nathan Brown said: “Julian had some CMS missionaries from the Middle East visit his church some month’s back and they were speaking about some of the hardships faced by taking Christ to this part of the world. One of the biggest was feeling alone and isolated from other Aussie Christians – so we thought it would be cool to go and visit missionaries working in some of the more remote parts of the world to encourage them, check out what they are up to and lend a hand if possible.”
Both Nathan and Julian had developed a plan for the motorised journey where they will: ‘Travel to Nepal to pick up locally manufactured Royal Enfield motorbikes, then ride their trusty steeds through India to Pakistan, across Iran to Turkey, then down into Syria.’
There was a trial run where both Nathan and Julian conducted a two month around Australia sortie visiting Bush Church Aid workers where Julian said: “The reception we got in some of those places was incredible. Their faces just lit up when they saw you. We could really see the value in encouraging churches that are struggling in numbers.”
Along with the trial run there was also a research trip to Sydney which involve meeting with Iranian exiles, mission agencies and most importantly – motorbike mechanics. The bikes they will be riding on the Enfields are simple, ‘rugged’ vehicles that have remained essentially unchanged since the 1950’s.
Both people recognise the huge undertaking where Julian said: “We’re not trying to re-enact ‘Motorcycle Diaries’. Riding for the sake of riding is ultimately a pretty selfish thing. But we’ll be visiting people who really know what it is to be persecuted. A lot of them live in predominantly Muslim countries and it’s a real pressure not to ‘bow down’ under that.”
Supporters will be able to follow Nathan and Julian’s efforts to encourage Middle Eastern Christians through a blog starting soon on Sydneyanglicans.net.