MENA (MNN) — Rita el-Mounayer with SAT-7, a Christian satellite television ministry, knows children are the future; and those in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region are no exception. Working amidst child refugees of the world, she says it’s vital to remind youth they are not alone.
“People are losing a lot of hope in their countries’ education future, so they tend to give up,” el-Mounayer says.
SAT-7 staff point kids to Christ while standing in their shoes, as many ministry team members have personal experience with displacement or refugee status. El-Mounayer recalls her own experience growing up in Lebanon:
“I was not a refugee, but I was displaced many times, and all I wanted was for somebody to tell me there is hope.”
Praise God that the hope of Christ knows no bounds! Please pray that it will reach MENA’s young people before the increasingly radicalized messaging of their cultural environment takes hold. If the Gospel is not preached, el-Mounayer says we lose.
“We lose this generation that is becoming so confused between the message of extreme hate and the message of extreme love,” she points out.
Primarily through social media platforms, SAT-7 ministry team members routinely take questions from young people about the love and forgiveness of God.
“They ask us, ‘Love? God is love?’ They ask us, ‘Forgiveness? We should forgive people who hurt us?’ And we’re very honest when we answer that it’s really not easy – especially in the Middle East when there are many enemies around. But people feel and respect this honesty,” she says.
After connecting with youth via social messaging apps, the ministry’s next step is to connect them with a viewer support team.
“They try to connect with the people. They try to answer their questions. They try to pray with them. And then at the end, when we feel it’s safe – specifically their safety – we connect them to a local church or underground church,” el-Mounayer says.
Please pray for much spiritual fruit from SAT-7’s ministry to children. Learn more about their work here.
“We are on our knees praying because we really believe that it’s not our work at the end,” el-Mounayer says. “It’s the work of the Holy Spirit.”
Courtesy of Ahmed Akacha via Pexels. Featured image courtesy of Oussama Ben Slama via Pexels.
Header photo: Courtesy of Oussama Ben Slama via Pexels.
