January to March 2018

The peace of Christ

Lord Jesus, I, Adna, declare my faith in you as Lord, Redeemer and Saviour. I ask you to dwell in my heart and forgive my sins. Please give me your peace and the rest you promised to give to those who come to you. Help me to love you and to know you more and more. Help me to grow in obedience to your Word all my life. Hold my hand and lead me to the light and I will be faithful all my life. Amen. (Adna, Libya)

This year we proclaim the message God has given us for all Arab world seekers and believers: Do not be afraid. Instead of living in fear of what might be, or indeed what is taking place, Christ offers peace to all who come to him.

For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility.(Ephesians 2:14 ESV)

The statistics: January to March 2018

Our online ministry consists of an Arabic language website, various social media pages and a number of apps. We pull together all the stats from these different sources and divide them into low, medium and high levels of engagement. The higher the level, the greater the depth of interest.

Low engagement

These numbers are healthy and remain fairly consistent when compared to the last quarter. We’re not looking to increase them because we want genuine interest in the gospel and personal contact. It’s the medium and high levels of engagement that really tell us how we’re doing…

Medium engagement

On the whole, these figures are consistent with the final quarter of 2017. We had a lot more new web and social media subscribers this quarter because we finally made it onto Instagram.

High engagement

We’re happy to see that the number of active contacts, face-to-face meetings and new believers remains at healthy levels. Our response team do a wonderful job in nurturing those who have questions about Christianity.

The people behind the stats

Many of those who professed faith in Christ this quarter spoke about the peace they experienced in knowing him. We were particularly struck by this message from Hamza* in Saudi Arabia…

Peace and Christ’s love. Truly, I don’t know where to start, but let me be honest with you… I was born a Muslim. I prayed and fasted during Ramadan, and I even went on pilgrimage. I am 54 years old and I always heard that Islam is a religion of truth. One day, I had a chance to watch a debate between a Muslim and a Christian. In spite of the fact that I am not educated, I watched the show until the end. My heart and my mind were telling me that everything the Christian said was true. So I decided to find out more about Christ. And I discovered that the Christian faith is the real true faith.

One day I discovered a story of a lady from my country who was persecuted because she embraced the Christian faith. She was the reason for my full conviction about the truthfulness of the Christian faith. So I decided to give my life to Jesus. I believe in him as my Saviour and the Saviour of all humanity. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to declare my faith. And thanks to all the workers in Maarifa, who provided me with all I need to know!

We’ll be sharing more about Hamza’s story next month, so look out for that.

Prayer always needed

We continue to be amazed by what God is doing among the peoples of the Arab world region, but we cannot do what we do without your prayers and financial gifts. Please continue to lift us up in prayer, particularly as Ramadan approaches. You may want to take a look at this month’s Breakthrough, which includes specific prayer points for our ministry during Ramadan.

*Name changed to protect identity.