That same day (29 January), military leaders associated with his administration suspended the nation’s 12-year-old constitution. It could take up to four years, al-Sharaa has said, to hold official elections, and up to three to draft a new constitution. They also declared that all military factions are dissolved — including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. 

It’s a fragile time to say the least. 

Fadi Sharaiha with the MENA Leadership Center says his concerns remain despite the promises of Syria’s new leaders. “You know, in four years you could do whatever you want in the country,” he says. 

To him, actions speak loud, and he says al-Sharaa has acted by appointing only people from his own party to lead.

Another concerning point for Sharaiha and others came early January, this one affecting the children of Syria. 

“They want to change some of the books, the textbooks for schools, the curriculum,” he said. The changes in the amendment would remove any positive mention of the al-Assad regime and revise certain facts, with a strong Islamic leaning.  

“Now we don’t see so far [them] putting Christians in jail or anything. But it’s tough what’s happening,” Sharaiha says. 

Yet in all the news of Syria, remember that God still has the Good News for the nation.

MENA Leadership Center partners with more than 132 ministries throughout the Middle East and North Africa.
(Photo courtesy of MENA Leadership Center)

“God loves the people of Syria — all of them — and He wants people to come to faith in His Son, Jesus Christ,” Sharaiha says. 

That’s why your prayers right now matter. Would you stop whatever you’re doing to pray for Syria? Remember them this week. 

Then, praise God for keeping the door open for training Syrian leaders. The MENA Leadership Center has been able to continue reaching Syrian Christians through their online courses, Sharaiha says. 

Learn more about MLC’s mission and vision here. 

Header photo courtesy of ErikaWittlieb via Pixabay.

Fadi Sharaiha with the MENA Leadership Center says, “The Middle East and North Africa is full of people that need Jesus, full of people that are dying without hope. Basically, [in] the Middle East and North Africa around 90-95% of the population are coming from a non-Christian background.”

(Photo courtesy of Muhammad Adil/Unsplash)

While that’s the bad news, there is good news.

David Garrison wrote the book titled A Wind In The House Of Islam. Garrison has studied the Muslim movements towards Christianity across the Arab world and shared the findings in his book. He defined a Muslim movement as at least 1,000 Muslims baptized into the Christian faith.

Sharaiha shares from Garrison’s research: “In the 11th to the 13th century, we had no [converts to Christianity from a non-Christian background]. The 14th to the 18th century, we have two movements [of people coming to faith] – 2,000 people.

“What is really great is that what is happening only in the first 12 years of this century – 69 different [non-Christian] movements to Christ. This is great! This is the hope that we have! The Lord is at work in the Middle East and North Africa!”

As more non-Christian background believers reach their own families and communities, it has a domino effect. The Gospel is spreading in the Arab world, despite opposition.

“Today, by the way, I know more pastors by the name of Mohammed and Ahmed than James and Mike – even in Canada!” adds Sharaiha.

The MENA Leadership Center fuels this Gospel movement with various trainings for Christian leaders. For example, one of their programs is called How To Design A Digital Course, offered in Arabic and English. At least 80 Christians have taken this training and used their new skills in digital course creation to reach over 10,000 people.

Istanbul, Turkiye (Photo courtesy of Levi Meir Clancy/Unsplash)

“The other course we have…is Psychological First Aid. After the earthquake that happened in Syria and Turkey, we thought, ‘You know what, let’s see what is happening.’ We connected with our partners on the ground, and asked, ‘How can we help you? How can we support you?’

“They said, ‘If you can just do a course on trauma healing, this will be great.’ And we did that…. We had around three different interventions of those courses or those webinars or seminars, and we had a great number of people coming.”

Pray for more open doors and opportunities to share Jesus Christ across MENA. Ask God to give believers wisdom and boldness.

You can learn more about the MENA Leadership Center’s ministry here!

Header photo courtesy of Ali Arif Soydas/Unsplash.

We spoke with Kate Michel from Radio-TV 4VEH, The Evangelistic Voice of Haiti and a ministry partner of Trans World Radio. The organization is based in northern Haiti.

Michel says, “I’ve been involved in Haiti for more than 20 years. I’ve seen it better in Haiti. My husband is from Haiti, from Cap-Haitien. We are excited about some of the things we see going on in Haiti. It’s not all bad news by any means. Certainly, that’s what people hear often but there are so many beautiful things in Haiti [and] so much potential.”

Haitian family (Photo courtesy of 4VEH)

4VEH broadcasts a variety of Gospel-based programs in Haiti on radio and local television — everything from prayer requests and agriculture tips to Haitian soccer games and holiday celebrations.

It may seem simple, but Michel says these programs bring people together and celebrate what’s good in Haiti!

“Haitians love soccer. Everybody’s a big soccer fan in Haiti. In the past, we had those programs on the radio, but now we do local television and we’re able to broadcast those programs live of soccer games,” says Michel.

“So we’re able to connect people, maybe Haitians who left Haiti 20 years ago. All of a sudden, they can watch their local team on Facebook Live and just be reconnected with their heritage and feel proud about being Haitian.”

4VEH also ran a program celebrating 200 years of Cap-Haitien, the historic capital in northern Haiti.

“There’s so much history and richness in the culture in Haiti, and just being able to share that with Haitians so that they can know that they can be proud of who they are and maybe be a part of Haiti’s future as well.”

Please pray for the Gospel to change hearts and lead to lasting peace in Haiti. Pray also for Christian workers in Haiti fostering beauty and hope to be spiritually encouraged in ministry.

Header photo of sunrise over mountain in Haiti, courtesy of Cole G/Unsplash.

The barrage of devastating news out of Syria can leave viewers and responders with a dizzying sense of compassion fatigue.

(Photo courtesy of Adrian Swancar/Unsplash)

Compassion fatigue can be defined as “the feeling that you have no more empathy left to give.”

Samuel with Redemptive Stories says, “It’s a coping mechanism that we have in the West. We’d like to be able to disconnect from some of those things, and that’s a natural human response, because we can only take in so much pain. So to be able to engage with this, it requires effort. It requires intentionality. It requires engagement.”

An antidote to compassion fatigue is meaningful engagement in the story with eyes to see how God is moving.

There is some good news coming out of Syria as Samuel describes how God has used Syrian believers as His ambassadors to quake survivors.

“The Church responded with compassion. They responded with togetherness across denominational walls, and an ecumenical spirit that really showed what the Church is supposed to be in times of crisis,” says Samuel.

“They gave of their own resources before they even had resources from the outside, which, again, if anyone who knows the understanding of the realities of Syria, not many people have much right now.”

Praise God for activating His Church in Syria! It’s already producing a harvest of righteousness.

Samuel says, “There’s continuing to be an openness, particularly among Muslims and people of different faiths, as they see the church respond.”

(Photo courtesy of Horizons International)

We’ll end on a good story Samuel shares from Syria:

“There was a young lady, she’s 17-years-old and she was in the earthquake and her parents were in the other room. She got down on her knees as soon as everything started shaking because she knew she couldn’t get out. As she got down on her knees, she began to pray.

“The whole building collapsed. Her parents were able to get out with her younger brother because they were in the front and they got down the stairs, but the top roof collapsed onto her room.

“As she says in the story, there was this man dressed in white that actually caught the beam and placed it on the ground. She was actually able to be protected under this building’s space. As she was sitting there praying, she saw this man standing there.

“She’s a believer and she understood Who this was that had protected her. But she wanted to make sure everyone else knew, and so she was beginning to tell this story to all of her friends — Muslim and Christian — about this man all dressed in white who protected her and saved her. I’m sure that God is going to do some amazing things in that young lady’s life.”

Header photo courtesy of Ahmed Akacha/Pexels.

Defeating Fear

Daysi Russell says many believers might hesitate to participate in ministry work because of the lies they believe.

(Photo courtesy of Wycliffe USA)

“One of the biggest things is fear,” she says. “[People] are afraid they’re not qualified. They’re afraid they’re not good enough or worthy enough. I think that’s a lie of the enemy that keeps people from living out their calling.”

However, by being intentional and surrendering to God, Christians can avoid falling into this cycle of fear. In the article, Wycliffe outlines four disciplines and four practices to help believers engage in their calling to reach the nations.

The four disciplines – prayer, learning, simplicity, and community – help Christians live lives dedicated to Christ and therefore be willing and able to listen to His voice.

The four practices – mobilizing, sending, going, and welcoming – are all valuable ways the church is called to spread the Good News, though at some points in life people might be led to focus on one over the others.

Russell says that of these four disciplines and four practices, the importance of prayer stands out for her.

“Prayer is foundational to our work. We can’t do this on our own, and whether we’re here in the U.S. or on the field, we strive to make prayer a significant part of our daily life. The Word says, ‘Then you will call to me and come to me and pray to me and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart’” (Jeremiah 29:12-13).

Stepping Out in Faith

Working through these disciplines and practices can be challenging, but amazing things can happen when you step out in obedience.

“When people say yes to God, one of the most important things is to do the research, and God is going to open up the doors in such amazing ways,” Russel says. “God has gifted and given people opportunities to learn and to grow in areas that are useful for kingdom work, so the first step is taking that step of obedience, then he’s going to open up the doors.”

(Photo courtesy of Wycliffe USA)

God continues to open doors even during the pandemic. When one translation group found themselves short-handed, Wycliffe connected them with believers who spoke the language, allowing the project to move forward. Even if you don’t speak another language, there are still plenty of ways to serve and connect with Wycliffe.

“At Wycliffe, we’re passionate about encouraging everyone to connect with us. We have hundreds of opportunities to serve or even volunteer. Wycliffe needs all kinds of people with various skills to contribute to this mission, and particularly in the season of COVID, there are still a lot of opportunities to work remotely,” Russel says.

Visit Wycliffe’s website to learn more about how you can pray and serve.

Header image courtesy of Annie Spratt via Unsplash

Several ministries like Global Disciples work with near-culture missionaries – believers who are local to the areas they serve. Global Disciples supports near-culture workers in 59 countries who train and equip churches to make disciples for Jesus among least-reached people.

Galen* with Global Disciples says in the midst of COVID-19, they are still seeing God move.

(Photo courtesy of Global Disciples)

“We’re a bit unique among mission organizations that are reaching the least-reached because the members of our team in Africa, Asia, and Latin America all serve in their homelands,” Galen says. “So we haven’t faced the challenge that many groups have in deciding with the disciple makers and church planters whether they should come back home during this global crisis because they’re already home! It’s a beautiful thing, really.”

Several countries already require creativity in missions work because of government restrictions or intense local persecution. In these countries, believers are already used to sharing their faith over the phone or the internet because face-to-face meetings can be dangerous.

“One of our facilitators in north India said, ‘As we meet people, as we hear from them on the phone, there’s a real fear. It’s like people are on a quest for who can save them from this pandemic virus.’… They’re having the opportunity to talk with people who are putting their faith in the gods and goddesses of India within Hinduism — but talking with them about the God who brings hope.”

Training taking place on a Nepali mountaintop with Global Disciples. (Photo courtesy of Global Disciples)

Of course, Global Disciples isn’t completely unaffected by the current pandemic. Travel is obviously restricted. They have postponed eight annual equipping events for the year and moved staff gatherings to virtual meetings.

However, Galen says it’s not stopping the Gospel. The coronavirus may be multiplying and spreading, but it’s nothing compared to the viral spread of Christ’s hope and love.

“We talk a lot about [disciple] multiplication, and much of that happens on the ground. So we miss the interaction that we’ve had with each other when we’re together face-to-face but the primary work continues to go on to the level that it can in each one of those countries where our workers are involved,” he says.

“Just in the last couple of days one of our facilitators in China where they have been accustomed to working virtually just did a two-day training for a couple dozen of our trainers who are using virtual conversations and prayer, to equip their disciple makers to go out and make disciples. The multiplication has been amazing.”

As believers around the world spend time in quarantine, we can also spend time in prayer for one another. For Global Disciples, Galen offers these prayer requests:

• Pray for creativity and wisdom as Global Disciples supports near-culture missionaries in restricted nations.
• Ask God to meet the ministry’s financial needs.
• Pray for this pandemic to open hearts to Jesus — especially in least-reached areas.

If you would like to support near-culture missionaries through Global Disciples, click here!

*last name omitted for security purposes

(courtesy of Global Disciples on Facebook)

This diverse environment means American Christians don’t have to go overseas to reach the nations with the Gospel. We can be a global witness right in our own backyards.

Joshua Harrison with Audio Scriptures Ministries admits it’s not easy. “I think that reaching across language barriers and cultural barriers is always going to be a challenge. But that’s a challenge that does face us right here and now in our own neighborhoods.

(Photo courtesy of Audio Scripture Ministries)

“We are called to bring the Gospel to those around us, regardless of your thoughts on the political situation, regardless of your thoughts on where you could serve better. God has placed you where you are right now with spheres of influence where you can bring God’s Word.”

Ministries like ASM make it easier to share God’s Word in other tongues — without ever taking a language class! Their audio recording teams complete more and more Scripture translation recordings every year. Those Scripture recordings are freely available on apps by groups like Scripture Earth, Wycliffe Canada, and Global Recordings Network.

Harrison says, “Our Latin America Director Jim Loker met someone at a cell phone shop and discovered that this was a native [Mam] speaker [from Guatemala]. They had recorded his language. This man’s face just lit up when he saw that he could play [the Bible] in his own language. He said, ‘I must write, I must call my family and tell them about this back in [Guatemala]!’

“You don’t have to learn everyone’s heart language. You can just point them to God’s Word in their own heart language.”

In your neighborhood or on your travels, you can ask the Lord to connect you with people who would enjoy hearing God’s Word in their heart language.

(Photo courtesy of Audio Scripture Ministries)

“If you find someone who is not a native English speaker, just boldly ask them, ‘What language do you speak? Where do you come from?’ Introduce yourself! When you find out what language they speak, find the resources that are available. You can contact us or there are a lot of good phone apps with audio Scriptures you could download…and listen to right there.”

You can also connect friends with ASM’s audio Bible players. ASM even sees people send audio Bible players to family outside the US or take them on their own missions trips.

“Reach out to us. We’ll be happy to equip you with the tools that you need in your neighborhood [or] that you need on your trip or your church mission trip. We want to help you be able to share God’s Word in audio.”

As ASM equips the Church for the Great Commission, Harrison asks, “Pray for the funds for more audio Bibles as well. The hunger is great and…in many cases, these audio Bibles function as laborers in the harvest field. We’re so blessed to have good tools.”

Between praying, giving, going, and sharing, there are several avenues you can take to have an eternal impact in the lives of others.

Header photo courtesy of Audio Scripture Ministries.

It's here in this remote village that a Vision Beyond Borders team got creative. Knowing thousands of people were now gathered into a large community, they began to pray. The team wanted to share the Gospel with as many people as possible.

VBB's contacts in the country work to translate and record God's Word in each of Nepal's 153 dialects. They then carry the audio Bible to remote villages on Sabers, digital hand-wind players preloaded with recorded Scripture in an mp3 format.

Most villagers in these remote areas of Nepal have never heard the name of Jesus Christ, but they hear the Gospel for the first time on the Sabers. Such was the case in a remote Himalayan village where teams sought a way to share the recordings en masse.

Suddenly, the team had an idea to broadcast the audio Bible through a local radio station. The station's workers agreed, as they had never encountered something like this before. The station was reportedly so enthralled to have something in their own language that they didn't question the program's content.

The VBB team signed a contract with the radio station, agreeing to broadcast the Sabers' content twice a day for 10 days, during peak hours in both the evening and morning. As a result, some 150,000 people heard the Gospel in their heart language!

Pray that  those who heard the Message would repent and turn to Christ for salvation.

Because of Nepal's extremely low adult literacy rate–56% according to UNESCO, audio Bibles are one of the most effective ways to share God's Word with villagers and help them understand its meaning. VBB contacts find that the Saber's unusual nature as a hand-wind tape recorder draws attention.

Out of curiosity, villagers listen to the recording of the entire Gospel. VBB says the Holy Spirit then draws these unbelievers into a relationship with the Living God.

Pray that these recordings will especially touch the hearts of Nepalese young people. According to Operation World, most of Nepal's youth live in rural areas, where education and opportunity are hard to come by. Illiteracy is widespread, and young people are vulnerable to exploitation of all forms: drug trafficking, sex trafficking, HIV/AIDS, and political or religious radicalization.

You can learn more about this VBB ministry and help send more Sabers to remote villages by clicking here.

A youth worker from a church in Aleppo sees the moment in Syrian history as "God's grace." "We as a church were too focused on ourselves, on our own congregations. It seems that we needed the civil war to leave the four walls of our church building and help those in need outside our congregations."

He sees Aleppo as the place God wants him to be. But the war came too close to him and his family, which forced them to flee. "A rocket hit our neighbor's house. The explosion damaged our house as well. We already were thinking about leaving because my sick parents couldn't get the medicine they needed in Aleppo."

His father, mother, and their six children fled to a coastal city in Syria. When sharing about the situation in his country, he gets choked up, but the tears are soon replaced by a big smile.

"I believe and see that God is at work in the country. God made churches come out of their four walls. In the past, we only had our choirs, our activities for the members of the church. Now, I see churches reaching out and working together to make a difference in the country. They are coming out of their comfort zone."

Pray that through the violence, Christians will continue to reach out to those in need. Ask God to give Christians the strength as they minister during such a difficult time.

It's been a difficult year for news since last Easter.

But this Easter weekend, Ron Hutchcraft reminds us of some Good News, what he calls "the breaking news of all time:" Christ is risen.

And it's time to share.

Hutchcraft says every Christian is represented by one of the biblical figures at Easter. "We are all in the story."

For instance, says Hutchcraft, "Mary Magdalene represents that person who loves Jesus so much that they're loyal to Him when there seems to be no hope."

Mary's loyalty to Jesus, even in His death, allows her to see Jesus like no one else does, says Hutchcraft. Mary is the first one to see the risen Lord.

A second type of believer is Peter. "He's the person who's failed Christ," says Hutchcraft. People who have failed Jesus and feel there is no way back are represented by Peter.

Third are believers who are secret disciples of Jesus. Joseph of Arimathea was a member of the Sanhedrin who hid his faith in the Christ for fear of persecution.

Finally, there are Christians like Thomas. "He's the one who missed Jesus even though he'd been around Him for years," says Hutchcraft.

But by Easter Sunday, Mary saw Jesus' face and told others she had seen Him. Peter was sought out directly by the resurrected Christ. Joseph donated his tomb for Jesus, identifying himself permanently with Him. And Thomas cried out to Jesus, "My Lord."

Although they all came from different circumstances, once Jesus rose, these four all had something in common: they proclaimed the name of Christ.

Whichever one of these followers best represents you, this Easter season, respond by sharing the Good News. Hutchcraft Ministries can help.

"We want to help you know what your hope story is and how to tell it. We want to help you know how to get started in a natural way; a prayer you can pray every day that is virtually guaranteed to open doors for you; and how to explain what Jesus did for you in non-religious words that today's lost person can understand," says Hutchcraft.

The ministry even has a booklet specifically on Easter. To view "72 Hours that Rocked the World," click here. For all other faith-sharing information, click here.

Listen to Ron Hutchcraft's 10-minute inspiring Easter message on the topic of in this story here.