Jordan (MNN) — The country of Jordan boasts over 9.4 million citizens. But only around 8,000 of them are evangelical Christians. Of those, 20 percent fall between the ages of 15-24: that’s almost 1,600 young believers.
Young Jordanian Christians are vastly outnumbered among their peers. When they have faith questions, it’s easy to feel alone.
The Program for Theological Education by Extension (PTEE) operates as a para-church ministry, providing evangelical education for Christians throughout the Arab world. They recently launched a youth initiative in response to the need they saw in Jordan.
(Photo courtesy of PTEE)
One PTEE leader* says, “We realize that many different young people have questions and they have problems. So we thought about receiving them in our building of the Bible school and try to make for them a night [showing] a movie film or a night for discussing their ideas and their problems from different backgrounds.”
A Christian youth program like this is timely. “There are many questions in the mind of young people in the area here about the truth of the Bible, about the difficulty of coronavirus here, and what will be in the future,” he says. “There are many, many difficult questions to young people and they need the Church to answer.”
Additionally, because of COVID-19 shutdowns and social distancing, many young people in Jordan don’t have many outlets.
“They didn’t have [a] place to go or activities to do. So we thought starting this program really could help our youth and our young people to be refreshed and to have a place to discuss future problems and future questions.”
PTEE is facilitating these meetings with young Jordanian Christians every other week. Sometimes they watch a film and discuss it in light of the Christian faith. Sometimes it is a time simply for asking questions and conversation. Whatever it looks like, every gathering is spiritually significant.
(Photo courtesy of Roxanne Desgagnes via Unsplash)
Through this youth initiative, PTEE hopes to prepare tomorrow’s Church leaders in Jordan and raise up a Christian generation with a firm biblical foundation.
For other believers looking to help in some way, “They could really give us some ideas on how we could reach out to these young people from the neighborhood here and around the area, how we could really encourage them,” the leader says.
You can learn more about PTEE and how to support them here!
If you would like to support this program, click here to donate to PTEE and mark your gift for youth.
Meanwhile, please pray for our young Jordanian brothers and sisters in Christ. Ask the Lord to gird their faith and connect them with fellow believers. Pray for PTEE’s new youth initiative to create a strong community of mutual support within the Jordanian Church. And ask the Holy Spirit to stir spiritual revival in Jordan.
*Name withheld for security purposes.
Header photo courtesy of Roxanne Desgagnes via Unsplash.
