International (MNN) — God has commissioned all of His people to be on mission whenever and wherever they live. He calls some to go where it’s hardest to follow Christ.
Among those “some” is FMI, which strives to empower indigenous church planters around the world. Today is an exciting season of growth for them as they build partnerships with church planters in three new countries: Malawi, Saudi Arabia, and Morocco.
“We do work in predominantly Muslim-dominated countries [and] cultures,” says FMI’s Patrick Anthony.
“However, if we take one step back, our mission is to work in places [where] it’s difficult for the church to grow and expand because of persecution and or poverty. A lot of times that is in a Muslim context. But not always.”
In Morocco and Saudi Arabia, FMI is still in the networking phase. Anthony says this takes time. For example, when believers in Malawi reached out to FMI to ask for training, several years of conversations followed. Only recently was FMI able to host the first training conference with a network of pastors, which was received with great joy.
FMI empowers indigenous church planters around the world. (Photo courtesy of FMI)
“In a ministry like FMI, trust between leaders is essential, because you’re dealing with people in very hard situations. A lot of them are dealing with some level of persecution,” Anthony says. “They need to trust you and, and vice versa.”
Once that trust is established, the pace can abruptly switch from conversation to dynamic action.
“They [church planters] have such a heart for their country. They want the necessary support, whether it’s training or whatever it might be. They want ministry to happen. So once they trust you, they want to be off and running,” says Anthony.
Pray for wisdom for FMI as they connect with believers in these new countries — especially Saudi Arabia.
“How we try to expand into new countries wherever we go — in particular in places like Saudi Arabia — is [by] trying to follow prior contacts,” Anthony says.
“[In Saudi Arabia] it’s going to be more conversations over tea, more network sharing. The first big goal for us is trying to identify potential leaders, people that could oversee a network of church planters in a country.”
Pray that FMI will effectively help church planters share the gospel and strengthen other believers. (More on FMI’s work here.) Pray also that young Christians will stay in these nations even when it’s hard. Church leaders in Morocco are seeing many of the next generation leave and not return.
“Pray for job opportunities. Pray for [young] people to be willing to stay in their country or return to their country after university,” Anthony says.
Header photo of the Hisma Desert in Saudi Arabia is a representative stock photo courtesy of NEOM/Unsplash.
