Tom Doyle with Uncharted Ministries says mainstream media narratives push us to choose sides: Israelis or Palestinians? Jews or Muslims? Yet there’s another option for followers of Christ — indeed, more than an option but a divine allegiance.  

“There are a lot of ministries and a lot of people — and we’re included — talking about what’s going to happen the day after the war. Israel doesn’t want this to go on forever. Palestinians don’t, obviously. I think people need to see that the Body of Christ has no boundaries,” Doyle says. 

“For believers, it’s dangerous to take our worldview from the news, because we’re the Body of Christ. We belong to the Kingdom of God, and there are bigger things going on than this war.” 

Uncharted Ministries works with believers across the lines drawn in the Middle East. Doyle says that even in the devastation today, Jews and Muslims are coming to Christ.

“I think we will look back one day and say this was an awakening. It was a horrible thing, the war. Think of all the people that have been killed just even on October 7, 2023 and then as Israel goes into war in Gaza and back and forth,” Doyle says. “But I think we will look back and say, amazingly, God did something [in line with] Romans 8:28, for He can work all things out to the good of those that love the Lord.”

He adds, “We want to see as a result of this horrible time, people that we meet in heaven one day that say, ‘I came to faith in Christ in the worst time in Gaza history’ — or Israel’s or Syria’s, because the Lord is so present, and He’s moving so powerfully.” 

Three calls to action

This Kingdom mindset doesn’t remove the controversy and chaos in the Middle East. But it does reframe it for followers of Jesus. Whatever you think about what’s going on, please take action.

“Number one, we pray for peace. As believers, we pray for all human beings. We want to see Palestinians stop suffering through this. We pray for the Jewish hostages that are still being kept. There’s so many people groups that are affected,” Doyle says.

Photo courtesy of Artem Beliaikin via Unsplash.

“Two, I think this is a wake up call for us in the West that the return of the Lord could be closer than we thought. If you look at Ezekiel 38 and some of the nations that are lining up and what’s happening, it could be [soon].” 

Number three, Doyle says to pray for one more surge of awakening to the gospel across the globe. When that happens in the Middle East, it will make people marvel.

“I’m telling you, if the world can see Jews that love Jesus and Muslims that have come to faith in Christ [who are] reconciled, [who] can love each other, and in some places even worship together — that is something they will never get over, because most people think that is an absolute impossibility,” Doyle says. 

“But then God says, ‘Is anything too hard for me?’ We know [reconciliation in Christ is] possible. We see it in places. We pray for more of that, and when we see it, it’s going to show the world peace can triumph over hatred and it really comes from the Prince of Peace.”

Header photo from October 2023: Israeli pastor and a Palestinian missionary praying over the Gaza Strip from Israel. They love each other as brothers in Christ and they love both people groups. (Photo, caption courtesy of Uncharted Ministries)

Earlier this week, the ICC’s top prosecutor accused top Israeli and Hamas leaders of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

“It’s a moral equivalency issue that’s really not fair,” Uncharted Ministries’ Tom Doyle says.

“Hamas is a terrorist group. They tried to commit genocide; Israel goes in to get Hamas, and now they’re accused of war crimes.”

The United States immediately condemned the ICC announcement, stating:

We reject the prosecutor’s equivalence of Israel with Hamas. It is shameful. Hamas is a brutal terrorist organization that carried out the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and is still holding dozens of innocent people hostage, including Americans.

Three judges will review the charges and decide whether to pursue a case. Even if ICC judges issue arrest warrants, Israel’s Prime Minister and Defense Minister won’t face immediate prosecution. However, they could be arrested during travel to an ICC member nation.

“There are some nations where that could happen to Israeli leaders, so they need to be careful,” Doyle says.

Residential buildings destroyed during the first week of intensive bombing by Israeli aircraft.
(Wikimedia Commons)

Meanwhile, conditions in Gaza continue to deteriorate. After six months of war, believers have little choice but to leave.

“They’re tired; many people are saying, ‘We’re finished. We can’t live this way anymore,’” Doyle says.

“I was just talking with a Christian leader in Gaza, and he said that there were 900 known Christians in Gaza; now it’s down to 700. They expect that it will be cut in half, at least to 450.”

Pray for the war in Gaza to end. “Pray [for] a massive heart change, that the Gospel will spread through Gaza, and people can see there’s a better way,” Doyle requests.

Support Gospel workers in the region through Uncharted here. “We hope when it’s safe to go in, and the war’s over, that the Gaza Baptist Church will be rebuilt and be a beacon of light in the Gaza Strip,” Doyle says.

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Mohammed Ibrahim/Unsplash.

Hassan Nasrallah (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons | Khamenei.ir)

Yet, after acknowledging the war’s expansion in a Friday speech, Nasrallah stopped short of adding Lebanon to the fray. Nasrallah is a leading voice in the military alliance established by Iran to counter the United States and Israel.

Meanwhile, analysts fear rising tensions in the West Bank could open a third front in the ever-expanding war.

Partners in the Middle East tell A3’s Joe Handley, “They worry that a larger regional war might break out. We pray that God would bring peace to Israel and the ensuing Middle Eastern region.”

Alongside Israel and the Gaza Strip, countries in the region impacted by the war include Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Turkiye. A3 began partnering with church planters and pastors in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region a year ago.

The ministry feels the war’s impact at a personal level. Handley says, “We have colleagues not just on the ground but in the thick of it. In one case, the husband who was involved in church planting in one of these areas took a trip out of the country. [His] family is trapped inside the Gaza Strip.

“As Christ followers, we’re all supportive of protecting Israel and…also the heart heritage of our faith. That said, there are believers in every single one of these countries and they are impacted, so praying for their peace is paramount.”

(Photo courtesy of Jeremy Jap/Unsplash)

A3 supports their partners’ efforts in tangible and spiritual ways. “Our main goal is equipping and empowering leaders in the midst of persecution,” says Handley.

“Pray for the safety of these folks on the ground because the Church wants to be the hands and feet of Christ in the midst of the crisis. They know that the Gospel goes hand-in-hand with acts of kindness, so they’re on the front lines serving.”

You can support A3’s ministry here. Currently, with a matching grant, every donation will be doubled up to $1 million! Help A3 train and equip Christian leaders for Gospel work.

Header photo depicts the Hezbollah flag flying behind a tank. (Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

The top U.S. official will also “talk about what additional resources we can give them,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said yesterday.

Speaking to reporters traveling with him in Brussels, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed that a “small group” of U.S. special operations forces are helping their Israeli counterparts with planning and intelligence in operations against Hamas.

On Sunday, a retired four-star U.S. Army general told MSNBC’s “Weekends With Alex Witt” that the U.S. would likely come to Israel’s defense if the conflict escalated beyond proxy fighting to involve countries like Iran or Syria.

According to The Institute for the Study of War, Israeli forces currently face a triple threat from Islamic militants supported by Iran. Military analysts describe the dangers posed by Hamas in the south, Hezbollah in the north, and Hamas allies in the West Bank.

Uncharted Ministries’ Tom Doyle adds militants in neighboring Syria as another possible threat.

“The terrorism there’s [on] all sides [from militants] that are possibly going to attack Israel. If that happens, it goes from a war to a regional war,” Doyle explains.

“That’s a big step because when a regional war happens, the big nations start lining up, and we already know who will line up with whom.”

Uncharted Ministries partners with believers inside Israel and the Gaza Strip. More about that here.

No matter what happens next in the Israel-Hamas war, “Jesus is still on the throne, and we’re hearing miracle stories already about divine interventions,” Doyle says.

“When the dust settles, we’ll be able to bring forth all the stories about what Jesus did.”

Missile explosion in the Gaza Strip in conflict between Israel and Hamas.
(Wikimedia Commons)

For example, Doyle describes how one young woman trapped in a Palestinian area found freedom. “She was by herself, hiding under a bed for two days,” he says.

“Terrorists beat on the door several times looking for people, and miraculously, God orchestrated [a way] for her to get out of that area into Jerusalem.”

Some Muslim-background believers in Gaza tell the Uncharted team, “Even though the fighting was in their apartment buildings, they’ve survived!”

To protect the individuals involved, we cannot describe every detail. However, there’s enough information to reflect the faithfulness of our Lord.

Consider sharing these hope stories the next time you discuss current events with a neighbor.

“We, as believers, need to be the salt and light of Jesus because we have a chance to set the tone right now,” Doyle says.

“Talk about the miracles that are happening today, and bring the light of Christ to the conversation. Don’t get political on all this; be the body of Christ and reach out to people.”

Header image depicts the territory involved in the current Israel-Hamas war. (Wikimedia Commons)

Israel is expected to launch a ground incursion, and it cut off electricity, food, and fuel to Gaza yesterday. A formal declaration of war on Sunday followed the deadliest raid on Israel’s territory in 50 years.

On Saturday morning, “2,000 terrorists walked out of the Gaza Strip into Israel, then started kidnapping and killing people. Nobody knew what was happening. That was at the end of a Jewish holiday, and it was Shabbat,” Uncharted Ministries’ Tom Doyle says.

“We haven’t seen anything this massive since the Yom Kippur War in 1973.”

Christians suffer on both sides as the death toll continues to soar. Learn how Uncharted Ministries partners with believers in Israel and the Gaza Strip here.

“[Many of our] friends in Israel are saying, ‘I have a cousin, I have a nephew that is missing or got called up into the military, and we don’t know where they are,’” Doyle says.

“In Gaza, there’s an underground church of Muslim background believers we’re praying for [because] we haven’t heard from them.”

A rocket hit a vehicle in Rishon Lezion.
(Wikimedia Commons)

Analysts fear the war will spill across borders. Iran and its proxies praised the incursion on Sunday. “We’re praying that the northern border holds as Hezbollah is trying to attack Israel,” Doyle says.

“Hezbollah is armed to the teeth in Lebanon, and they’re also financed by Iran. Iran is the major player behind this [present conflict.]”

We cannot alter the current events in Israel. But we know the God who holds the nations in His hands. Pray for the war to end.

“It’s easy to choose sides and say things against the other side, but God loves Jews and Palestinians. There’s room in His heart to love them both,” Doyle says.

“Pray for [no further] loss of life on either side. Pray that the Lord would intervene, bring calm into this region, and keep it from spiraling into something worse than it already is.”

Find more prayer suggestions here from International Prayer Connections.

Header image depicts the remains of the Sderot city police station. (Photo by Yoav Keren/Wikimedia Commons)

To make things more difficult, Israel controls the airspace overhead and the waters offshore. Yousef AlKhouri of Bethlehem Bible College, who grew up in the Gaza Strip, explains. “There are many goods that are not allowed to enter Gaza, or, like vegetables and flowers, to be exported out of Gaza. These are the main exports from Gaza. Gaza is also on the Mediterranean Sea, so its economy relies heavily on fishing. However, Israel controls the water and doesn’t allow fishermen to go past six miles, sometimes only three miles.”

“According to many international organizations, for good fishing to happen, it has to be over 12 miles into the sea or ocean.”

AlKhouri’s family only gets four hours of electricity daily, and drinkable water is in short supply. He says, “I have two nephews and one niece. The oldest is nine years old. And the youngest is four years old. Neither has experienced in their lifetime 24 hours of electricity or clean tap water. In fact, the statistics say that 50 percent of Gaza children wish not to live.”

Pray for the healing and hope of Jesus in Gaza.

(Header photo courtesy of Marius Arnesen, CC BY-SA 3.0 NO <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/no/deed.en>, via Wikimedia Commons)

Uncharted Ministries’ Tom Doyle says he and his wife JoAnn met Shareen two decades ago in a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. “Later, we were privileged to pray with her to faith in Christ,” he says.

You can read Shareen’s full story in the Doyles’ book, Women Who Risk.

Following Jesus in the Gaza Strip is not easy, and it’s even harder when you feel alone. Like many Muslim-background believers, Shareen was the only Christian in her family for years.

“When someone comes to faith in Christ, we automatically assume there’ll be more [who also turn to Jesus for salvation] …but it doesn’t always happen in our timing,” Doyle says.

One day, everything began to change. Shareen’s family members started turning to Christ one by one.

“When we told her story [in Women Who Risk] and people started to pray, dominoes started to fall. Through this one believer, her husband came to faith, then her sister; the children, her (Shareen’s) parents, her husband’s parents,” Doyle says.

“It’s God’s divine domino effect!”

The movement didn’t end with Shareen’s family. Today, “we’re hearing about people from a Muslim background coming to faith weekly in Gaza. It’s super dangerous there, but they are willing to count the cost,” Doyle says.

Connect with Uncharted here to learn more.

“Jesus is moving in places like Gaza, but it is not easy for the brothers and sisters. They’re like the Thessalonian Christians – immediately they were persecuted, but they stood strong,” Doyle says.

“We need to pray for them.”

Praise God for the changes taking place in the Muslim world! Pray new believers will grow in their knowledge of Christ.

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Bradyn Trollip/Unsplash.

For those who came from Ukraine, the conflict in the Gaza Strip brings back haunting memories.

“Here’s an email we received: ‘I’m watching the news, and it’s scary. In general, I’m not sure. What should I do? I don’t feel comfortable in this situation. To be home in Ukraine was not as frightening as being in this foreign country of Israel,’” Uncharted Ministries co-founder Tom Doyle says.

“Here is a Ukrainian that immigrated to Israel, [going] from the frontlines of that war to the frontlines of the Gaza war.”

Earlier this month, Israeli air strikes hit several targets in the Gaza Strip. In response, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group fired more than a thousand rockets toward Israel.

“A lot of Holocaust survivors there that we work with made it through World War Two, and then they’re under attack (in Israel). They were in bomb shelters for a couple of days,” Doyle says.

Believers from Arab and Jewish backgrounds break social norms when they gather together to pray for their countries. More about that here. “Pray for believers on both sides of the fence. The enemy would try to divide the body of Christ; we have to fight against that,” Doyle says.

“We can even send letters to the believers on the frontlines. If they (readers) want to send something through Uncharted, we can get words of encouragement to them.”

Pray the Ukrainian Jewish woman who contacted Uncharted’s partners will place her faith in Christ.

“The woman that sent this letter is not a believer but is getting very close to coming to faith in Christ. We should pray for her,” Doyle says.

“She’s seen that the only hope for reconciliation and change is in Christ. She’s seen that as she’s come to Israel and saw (Christian) brothers and sisters that live in harmony. There are Jews and Arabs that get together and pray in Israel.”

In the header image, a family from Zhytomyr, Ukraine arrives in Israel after fleeing Ukraine on March 6, 2022. (Photo credit: Chabad.org/Wikimedia Commons)

Additionally, Iran’s growing influence through proxy parties in the region cannot be ignored. “You’ve got Hezbollah from southern Lebanon. In Gaza, you have two terrorist groups that hate each other, Hamas and Islamic Jihad. They’re both funded by Iran,” Uncharted Ministries co-founder Tom Doyle says.

“Hamas is the ruling government in Gaza. Islamic Jihad has no political aspirations. They want one thing: to agitate and destroy Israel. That’s the reason they exist,” he continues.

“Iran is [working] behind the scenes, stoking the fires of war. If Iran is ready to attack Israel and send a nuclear-tipped missile, then stirring up the proxy militias to make it a regional attack makes sense to them.”

Meanwhile, in Gaza…

The situation in Gaza is complex. There are few winners in a centuries-old land war pitting two ideologies against each other – Judaism and Islam. A third ideology – Christianity – often goes unseen.

“Muslim background believers are serving Jesus in Gaza,” Doyle says.

“They (believers) are caught in the middle of the war between Israel and the terrorist groups. It’s just awful what they’ve been through.”

Yet, hope remains. God is working on both sides of the fence. Uncharted partners with believers in Palestine and Israel.

(Photo courtesy of hosny salah/Pixabay)

“There can be true reconciliation. We know of Jews who formerly hated Palestinians that have come to faith in Christ [and] are praying for their brothers and sisters in Gaza. The same thing with the Muslim background believers,” Doyle says.

“Only Jesus can do that; no peace treaty, no foreign power intervention.”

Uncharted exists to connect believers in the West with their Christian brothers and sisters in the Middle East. Learn more here.

“Pray for the new believers in Gaza. All of them have PTSD from being in the war zone. Yet, they are standing strong in their faith, and they know the answer is not politics or war, or any of that,” Doyle says.

“They know true reconciliation first comes with God through Jesus, and then with each other through Christ.”

Pray Palestinians will believe in and trust the Lord. Only He – not the government – can provide the hope they so desperately need. “Hamas raised all the prices in the grocery stores as they’re getting ready for the kids to go to school, showing that they really don’t care about their people,” Doyle says.

“It’s all about the money and the power.”

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Chuttersnap/Unsplash.

The underground Church is struggling. “Most of the people we work with in Gaza only have electricity for half an hour [to] an hour a day,” Tom Doyle of Uncharted Ministries says.

“A friend of ours sent a picture of her hair falling out in clumps, and we know it’s from stress and the constant threat of war.”

These believers won’t give up, though. They’re clinging to hope and strength that comes only from Christ, and it’s leading to Gospel opportunities.

“The fruit of the Spirit is something that the world can see, and it’s magnetic; that’s attractive to people,” Doyle says.

“[People say,] ‘Why would you even smile? You live in Gaza; why do you have hope?’ And they’re (believers) able to share the Gospel.”

One new believer came to the Lord only a few months ago, yet “he’s in deep (spiritual) waters already,” Doyle says.

“He said, ‘I have four new friends that I spend time with every day: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I’m in the Scriptures; I’m falling deeper in love with Jesus every day.’ He’s not focusing on the depravity of the situation and horrific conditions; he’s focusing on Jesus, and that’s why he has joy and passion and cares about others.”

Still, it’s not easy to live in Gaza, and these believers need your prayers. Pray for endurance, and ask the Lord to give them comfort. Pray they’ll connect with people who are searching for answers.

“We have some relationships that go back about 20 years there in Gaza. The(spiritual) ground [used to be] so hard; but within the last decade, there’s been a breakthrough and an opening to the Gospel,” Doyle says.

“Out of that desperation, people are calling on the name of the Lord. They have turned their back on religion; Islam was not providing answers or hope.”

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Chuttersnap/Unsplash.