From Israel:
M: Years ago we prayed that the Lord would open the doors in the Middle East (ME). Now we are in a season of unparalleled access to people never before open to the gospel! People are not only moving across borders, but the internet is also providing a lot of access. A friend of mine is discipling an imam online. Let us pray for the right people to go through the open doors and that in our worshipping and serving together – Israeli, Arab, Iranian, Turk, and Kurd – people will be intrigued and will ask, “What are they doing together?”
D: When I think about the ME and about Isaiah 19, I also think of Romans 15:20. The Lord called Paul the Jew to go and reach the unreached people and he connected them to the church in Jerusalem. Today the Muslim world is a huge area of unreached people and it’s now easy to get access. We are praying for workers in the harvest. When you put the Christian in between opposing forces, you can pull people into God’s story. Our model is Luke 10, going out 2 by 2. We need people, but the right people. Discipling is never easy and we want to see the gospel take root in people’s lives.
J: Here in the ME we need to watch and see where the Father is going … and then grab on to the train of His garment! I am an outsider here and that is my gift. I can go places that others can’t. God has chosen Israel to be a blessing on the earth [Is 19:24] and we have helped Israel provide heart-saving surgeries for many children in Gaza. Now Gaza’s leaders are not allowing any children out. But Kurdish Muslims have hearts wide open to God … and to Israel. Now there are 13 Kurdish Iraqi children in Israel having life-saving surgeries. Dr. U. is excited about creating whole new connections from these personal relationships. God is fulfilling His promise to Abraham, “In you all the nations of the earth will be blessed.”
From Jordan:
S: I was raised in a nominal Christian family, but my mother sent us to a children’s meeting at a Church of God. I became an aeronautical engineer, but I am now full-time at the Jordan House of Prayer. I met some Americans who had a 3 hour prayer meeting for Jordan and the ME in their living room everyday. Our biggest obstacle was the Church. It was not only new and foreign. but it was hard for people to acknowledge God’s purposes for Israel. But we had a breakthrough in the summer of 2016. Now JHOP has a beautiful facility with a guesthouse. Our opening meeting just happened to be on Yom Kippur, so I said, “Let’s pray for Israel.” We pray to be able to reach out with with the love and beauty of Jesus until His return.
From Turkey:
A. in Dyarbakir: People in the ME have read the Koran and have studied Islam and many have become atheists. They also have a negative “hearsay” knowledge of Christianity. When we first started our ministry, rocks were thrown at our church. But hearts are changing. People see what ISIS has done and what Christians are doing.
So when people do come to church, we start at the beginning, from Genesis. But we don’t get to “know” people in church. It happens in homes. Jesus walked with people and discipled them, so we assign everyone a friend/counselor to walk with them on their journey, hopefully, to faith. We disciple them where they are. And if people are not being discipled, we send them out of the church. But it all has to be done in love. Love leaves a great impact. I am Kurdish, but our church is neither Kurdish nor Turkish. We want people in our church who are servants – so we as leaders must model servant leadership, not the big “effendi” that we know in our culture. There is a lot of destruction in the ME, but also a lot of opportunity. We distribute about $10,000 a month and our mercy ministries are changing people’s attitudes towards Christians, and towards Israel.
S in Istanbul: I came to the Lord 11 years ago and just last year my father, mother and a cousin came to faith! But people can only come if we share the Word. We are planting churches and discipling people in Istanbul and Ankara, but I have lots of family in the east of Turkey where there are no churches. I am ready to go.
From Cyprus:
J: It was hard to understand when my [American] family and I were expelled from Turkey. But I found that the ministry in Diyarbakir continued very well by local believers. And after we moved to Cyprus I found that Cyprus is a microcosm of the ME and it’s a place where we can do exactly what we’re called to do! Here we can easily gather people together from all around the ME. Turks, Jews, Shiites, Sunnis. We run a discipleship school, a place where disciples (not just believers) get a huge vision. We train them and then send them home to preach the Gospel.
From Iraq:
F: When God called us from Malta to go to N.Iraq he gave us a vision of a wheel with a hub. Along the edge of the wheel were the different (usually fighting) people groups in the ME. And He was calling some of us to move towards towards Him in the center in worship, prayer and training together. Then He sent us back out to the people. It was a continuous, seamless movement, coming into the hub, and going back out discipling.
For a long time my wife and I had the call to go to N Iraq, but it seemed impossible. First, it was Al Qaeda, then ISIS. But the door finally opened and we began with the widows and orphans in Mosul where ISIS held out the longest and there was much destruction. We are helping with food and other necessities. Just last night I got a text. One of the widows is asking for prayer! In Erbil we started a youth ministry (the first) with a soccer team. Now we have 3 youth ministries. Things are going so well that the government is asking us to do presentations at other events – and we always speak about our faith. Now we are getting ready to start discipleship schools. [Acts 6:1-4]
J: I am a former Muslim from a Hebron/ Jerusalem family, but I grew up in Jordan. I now live in the UK with my wife and children, but I am working in Iraq where we have a church of 3,000 people – mostly former Muslims. The government of Bagdad has given our team residency visas. They want to help us in our work! But every coin has 2 faces. The good news is God is moving. Although the country officially says, “Throw Israel into the sea!” many people (even in the gov’t) have asked me to help them visit Israel. The bad news? Iraq is the #1 country for corruption. When I ask for a receipt they respond, “How many would you like?”
Now I would like to introduce you to a friend I have known for 10 years. He is from a Sufi- Muslim background and has done more for Christ in Iraq than 10,000 Christians. He helped remove the category ”religion” from ID cards which was a big difficulty for followers of Jesus. He helps us distribute Bibles, and he even allows me to preach in mosques. I invited him to come and give his report on how things are changing.
D: Thank you for allowing me to come to your meeting. We are 40 million Kurds almost all Muslim, yet in 1988 our city was bombed by Saddam. Many people were killed and my mother and father were disabled. There are now 98 churches in Kurdistan and many started since ISIS.
As a Minister of Islamic Religious Affairs I visited Lebanon and while there I entered a church. When I saw their love something happened to me. After coming back to my country I started making changes. I was ashamed by some of our policies. First we cancelled the policy of paying people to convert to Islam. Our school books teach the alphabet with verses from the Koran about killing the infidel. Next year we are changing those books. Many Kurdish Muslims are already coming to the Christians and saying: “We were raised to hate the Christian and Jew but we don’t know why!” Although imams have been encouraged to preach against Israel we are now not allowing it. Just this year we went to our parliament and had an imam kicked out of one of the biggest mosques! At a recent book fair we had 200,000 anti-Israel books taken off the tables. Also, we now have Bibles and Christian books in all our libraries and universities.” People ask me, ‘Are you a Muslim, or a Christian?”’ I always say, “I’m from a prominent Muslim family. I’m a Muslim.” (But I have the love of Jesus in my heart!)
From Armenia:
As an Armenian I have always avoided Turks and Turkey. But I’ve learned that bitterness binds and forgiveness frees. By personal experience and our national history, I know that as we bless our enemy we will be blessed. Our spiritual father, St. Gregory was tortured by the king, thrown into a deep pit and left to die. For 13 years he survived (a Christian woman secretly fed him), and after the king went mad, Gregory was brought out to pray for him. Together, in 301 AD, King Tiridates and Gregory brought the message of Christ and the power of forgiveness throughout our nation. If Armenia could be changed in a day, so too can other nations! This is our hope.
From Iran and Turkey:
V: It has been 40 years since my new birth. After 25 years as a pastor of a church in Tehran, I was kicked out of Iran. I am now living in Turkey. A few years ago I had a heart incident and I thought I was dying. But I asked the Lord for a few more years to do his will. There are many refugees living in Turkey. They are tired, wounded, restless, and in need of the Father’s love. Many do come to the Lord, but many also end up in the West and get caught up in a materialistic lifestyle. There is amazing growth in the church, but it also needs to grow deep. My focus now is discipleship. Our goal is to train people to go and minister to others.
What are you learning in your ministries?
- We were drowning in needs; in short, we learned to surf!
- There is a fascination among Muslims with Jesus.
- Discipleship doesn’t happen only by teaching information but by walking alongside people and showing them how to live in His Presence.
Please pray:
- For the Lord to send workers into fields ready for harvest
- For more young people to hear: “Go, disciple, teaching all nations”
- That the Lord will multiply our offerings and ministries
- For the church to be holy and not allow corruption
- For a breaking of victim/entitlement mentality endemic in ME churches