From our correspondent
3 minute read
There are now nearly 30 people on ministry teams reaching out to refugees, who need virtually everything.
We know that our God is a great God and what He is doing is always great. We are so thankful for the privilege of working with Him and being used by the power of the Holy Spirit.
One crucial requirement for growth in the Middle East region is training for nationals, equipping them really well, opening their eyes to the Great Commission. We have to take the gospel and reach out to our near-neighbours and communities. We have found that when we depend on western missionaries they often stay from six months to five years, or until they have to leave the country – which can sometimes be through expulsion or evacuation. The need is for people who will remain in country no matter what happens to them. So, we have developed a new training called M3:14, which is from Mark 3v14.
We’re equipping our people to be involved in mission and in the past three years we have trained more than 140 people, mostly from the Middle East. We praise God that there are already many stories of these people using their training.
Even before the current conflict started there were millions of refugees in the country and there was a felt need to invest in the refugee communities.
There are now nearly 30 people on ministry teams reaching out to refugees, who need virtually everything. One team started trying to cover their basic needs, distributing food and clothing; now they are able to take mobile clinics into areas where refugees are living in order to provide medical care. While people are waiting to see the doctor, they take the opportunity to show the Jesus film and provide literature and books. They make the most of every opportunity to serve the refugees.
Another new team has a definite call to work among refugees. When the Team Leader, Bashir*, was talking about the team with me, he made the comment that they were open to receiving contacts from our media ministry. That very same day, Adnan*, a media contact living in Bashir’s city and a refugee from a country in the Arabian Peninsula, had said he wanted to meet someone face-to-face! What an opportunity! I urged him to make contact straightaway, but initially he was reluctant and wanted to pass the contact on to a colleague in his team, but I encouraged him that he should do it himself. After much encouragement he made contact with him, and they arranged to meet in a coffee shop. For a Muslim to meet a Christian he must be brave and as you can imagine there was fear and anxiety on both sides when they first met.
Surrounded by others in the coffee shop, Bashir opened up the Gospel of John, at which point Adnan said he had already read that and spoken to the media team about it. He was ready to become a Christian. So, there and then, in the coffee shop, they prayed together, and Adnan was born again. It had been Bashir’s first experience of meeting a media contact. They even agreed to meet the following week – with both bringing their wives! By week five Adnan’s wife had decided that she wanted to follow Jesus, like her husband. They continue meeting week-by-week, sharing fellowship, prayer and Bible study. One sad thing is that Adnan and his wife had told their family in their home country that they had become Christians and they immediately froze their bank accounts so they have no access to any money. We are helping to meet their basic needs. But it is so wonderful to see how God is working among refugees.
There has been a significant growth in the number of new believers from a Muslim background over the past few years, together with a significant number of house fellowships being formed, and also in the number of local workers. We praise God for all of these but must admit that the local infrastructure is not yet ready as the growth has been so fast. This is something to really pray into as we continue to have a vision for the future to go into new areas where there are currently no believers, and to offer real and relevant training to locals who are so keen to be used by the Lord.
*Names changed to protect identities.
