Middle East/North Africa (MNN) — Some of the world’s most difficult places to follow Christ are in the Middle East North Africa region or the MENA. Program for Theological Education by Extension, or PTEE, trains church leaders in these countries.
“Last year, we concentrated on reaching new countries [with] no church, no leaders,” PTEE Executive Director Victor Sadek says.
“New people began to study [with PTEE] in Sudan, Uganda, North Iraq, and countries in North Africa. We had 78 new classes begin, and 619 students.”
PTEE offers recognized theological courses for Gospel workers in the Arab world. More about that here. By studying online, believers can avoid unwanted attention, which often leads to persecution.
“We have many, many people asking to join our courses,” Sadek says.
The ministry’s holistic approach allows leaders to serve their churches and communities and train others for service. Having Arabic coursework and national facilitators makes PTEE a natural fit for Arabic-speaking believers.
In 2021, “we had to translate courses into [the] Kurdish language, which is needed in some countries like North Iraq. We also [translated] the course, ‘Come Follow Me’ [from] English into Arabic,” Sadek says.
(Photo courtesy of PTEE)
Gospel workers see two primary goals on the horizon for 2022.
“In 2022, we are going to put all our courses in a mobile phone study by creating some videos and some interviews,” Sadek says.
“We need people who will lead us in creating this new method of learning through mobile.”
Pray the Lord will bring PTEE the workers and the funding it needs to complete the mobile study project. Pray also for PTEE team leaders as they plan for an in-person gathering.
“We are planning this year to invite leaders from these (new) countries to have a face-to-face gathering in our school [to] encourage them and to train them more. [To this point,] we have been contacting them through Zoom,” Sadek says.
Header and story images courtesy of PTEE.
