MENA (MNN) — Don’t miss it. With all the news of growing conflict in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), God is at still work. You just won’t hear it from your average media outlet. That’s why we bring you coverage from local Christians and ministries on the ground.
Fadi Sharaiha with the MENA Leadership Center says, “The Middle East and North Africa is full of people that need Jesus, full of people that are dying without hope. Basically, [in] the Middle East and North Africa around 90-95% of the population are coming from a non-Christian background.”
(Photo courtesy of Muhammad Adil/Unsplash)
While that’s the bad news, there is good news.
David Garrison wrote the book titled A Wind In The House Of Islam. Garrison has studied the Muslim movements towards Christianity across the Arab world and shared the findings in his book. He defined a Muslim movement as at least 1,000 Muslims baptized into the Christian faith.
Sharaiha shares from Garrison’s research: “In the 11th to the 13th century, we had no [converts to Christianity from a non-Christian background]. The 14th to the 18th century, we have two movements [of people coming to faith] – 2,000 people.
“What is really great is that what is happening only in the first 12 years of this century – 69 different [non-Christian] movements to Christ. This is great! This is the hope that we have! The Lord is at work in the Middle East and North Africa!”
As more non-Christian background believers reach their own families and communities, it has a domino effect. The Gospel is spreading in the Arab world, despite opposition.
“Today, by the way, I know more pastors by the name of Mohammed and Ahmed than James and Mike – even in Canada!” adds Sharaiha.
The MENA Leadership Center fuels this Gospel movement with various trainings for Christian leaders. For example, one of their programs is called How To Design A Digital Course, offered in Arabic and English. At least 80 Christians have taken this training and used their new skills in digital course creation to reach over 10,000 people.
Istanbul, Turkiye (Photo courtesy of Levi Meir Clancy/Unsplash)
“The other course we have…is Psychological First Aid. After the earthquake that happened in Syria and Turkey, we thought, ‘You know what, let’s see what is happening.’ We connected with our partners on the ground, and asked, ‘How can we help you? How can we support you?’
“They said, ‘If you can just do a course on trauma healing, this will be great.’ And we did that…. We had around three different interventions of those courses or those webinars or seminars, and we had a great number of people coming.”
Pray for more open doors and opportunities to share Jesus Christ across MENA. Ask God to give believers wisdom and boldness.
You can learn more about the MENA Leadership Center’s ministry here!
Header photo courtesy of Ali Arif Soydas/Unsplash.
