To present day
As we consider the present day, there are still remarkable things that God is doing in the region through people whom He calls into His service. Our God is the God of the extraordinary, and He uses ordinary people like you and me to establish His Kingdom, here on earth as is in heaven.
We honour those whom God calls to minister among Arab peoples both in our history and today. These dear brothers and sisters in the faith would describe themselves as ordinary people. They are simply making a choice to follow what they sense God is calling them to which happens to be sharing the gospel in this particular region.
I was recently on a team call with one of our workers. Matthew* had a very tough year in 2020 for personal, family and ministry reasons. It was truly inspirational to hear how he remained dependent upon God working in and through Him. He is serving in a church-planting team in his North African city alongside local believers. He is also leading a team in Bible translation of the New Testament into both written and audio formats. They have selected a dialect more commonly used for the less educated in his context, and they have chosen to partner with local people, both national believers and non-believers in the community, on this long-term project.
As I consider the region and the peoples to which so many of us have been invited to give something of our lives towards, I look towards the next decade with great anticipation. There are a variety of stories of people across North Africa, the Middle East and the Arabian Peninsula reviewing previously held assumptions of Islam, asking questions of the Christian faith and encountering Jesus Christ.
Our God is the God of the extraordinary, and He uses ordinary people like you and me to establish His Kingdom, here on earth as is in heaven.
Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your gifts. It is a joy to partner with you in this gospel endeavour.
May we see more breakthrough during this year and in this next decade as more churches are planted through local believers. I’m praying that more indigenous people groups encounter the living Word so that streams of living water might refresh these dry lands and provide living hope to Arab peoples.
*Name has been changed for security reasons.
