Türkiye (MNN) — In Türkiye, the Church is discovering how essential multiplication is for reaching more people with the Gospel.
Across Türkiye, pastors faithfully serve their communities, nurturing believers and guiding churches to maturity. As one congregation grows strong and vibrant, the next step — multiplying into new fellowships — can bring its own challenges. Still, many continue seeking ways to extend the Gospel’s reach to places where it has not yet been heard.
Patrick Anthony from FMI says, “One of the biggest challenges is finding those people in a country with a Christian population that’s so small in percentage.”
Türkiye’s Christian population is less than one percent. Though most Turkish Muslims are cultural rather than devout, the Church often feels isolated. Yet the need for hope and the Gospel remains great — a need made especially clear after the earthquake two years ago.
“Muslims were coming to faith in Christ,” Anthony recalls, “because of the way the Christian community was caring for them in the aftermath, compared to the government.”
Yet with the great need, there are not enough people. Anthony says FMI looks for pastors to work alongside who meet certain criteria:
- deeply rooted in their faith,
- grounded in Scripture,
- experienced in leading the Church,
- genuine in their relationship with Jesus,
- and most importantly, they understand the need for the Church to multiply and reach more people.
Bustling Istanbul Bazaar (Photo courtesy of Ugur Tandogan via Pexels)
Anthony explains that a true church planter is someone who can “raise up a church and mature and disciple a church for the purpose of those people’s spiritual health, and also the multiplication of the church.”
Encouragingly, this work is happening in some areas of Türkiye.
“They [Christian leaders] are in one neighborhood with hundreds of thousands of people, and they’re pastoring the only known evangelical church there. They’re praying and planning to plant another church in a nearby suburb — also with hundreds of thousands of people — and they don’t know of any evangelical churches there,” Anthony says.
Yet one challenge is that many areas remain unreached, and there is a growing need for strategic planning. In addition, Turkish law doesn’t allow the construction of new church buildings; believers must use existing structures or, when that’s not possible, rent office space. This reality highlights the urgent need for prayer!
Please pray for workers to be found, as the harvest is ready! Visit FMI to learn more about their work and the ways you can help.
Abandoned 18th Century Brick Church in Turkiye (photo courtesy of Meriç Tuna via Pexels).
