Today, that mission happens in more places than just face-to-face. It also happens online, creating opportunities and challenges for Christians. 

“Today, people spend a huge part of their lives online. For many, social media is the first place they go when they’re looking for answers, encouragement, or community,” says Rana Fakhouri, the Recruitment and Enrollment Director at the MENA Leadership Center. 

The MENA Leadership Center recently trained more than 30 leaders from the Middle East and North Africa to use social media more effectively for ministry. 

“We offered this training because many Arabic-speaking ministries have a powerful message, but they haven’t always had the tools to communicate it effectively through the digital platforms,” says Fakhouri. 

In a world built around “like, share, subscribe,” well-crafted Christian content filled with truth can draw people toward eternal things of God and away from the trivialities so often present on social media.

(Photo courtesy of Brett Jordan/Unsplash)

“Here at MENA Leadership Center, we see social media as an incredible opportunity to share the hope of Christ with people who may never walk into a church,” says Fakhouri. 

“We wanted [participants] to create content that builds trust, adds value, and ultimately points people to Jesus.”

The two-session, virtual training on July 6–7, 2026, received positive feedback. More than 30 leaders from six countries, representing 17 different ministries, learned how to: 

• identify and write for their target audience
• understand the 10 essential building blocks of social media content
• generate content ideas
• use AI tools without losing the human touch
• and more

“Many shared that they finally felt confident creating social media content because they now had a clear strategy how to do it, and they know the framework instead of guessing what to post,” says Fakhouri. 

This training is only one topic of many that the MENA Leadership Center has offered, guiding Christians toward wise and effective gospel ministry. You can be part of that work through prayer and financial support. 

“Every donation allows us to equip more ministry leaders, more pastors, more Christian communicators to share the hope of Christ more effectively in their communities,” says Fakhouri. “So every prayer and every gift really makes a difference.”

Learn more and connect with the MENA Leadership Center here. 

Header photo courtesy of the MENA Leadership Center. 

“Israel really supports like a multinational, multi-faith community in its country, and we are all witnesses to that,” he says. 

In late April, two incidents brought a surge of attention to Israel. One was an Israeli soldier destroying a statue of Jesus in southern Lebanon. Another was a Jewish man attacking a French nun in Jerusalem.

Shifman points out that the Israeli government took swift action and condemned both events. 

“That Jewish man [was] in prison for a month,” he says of the IDF soldier in Lebanon. “You can’t use the word ‘persecution’ in that case. That was kind of a one-time thing.”

In the Jerusalem incident, the man who committed the attack was “charged with assault causing tangible bodily harm motivated by hostility toward a religious group,” The Times of Israel reports. 

“When you see the whole video of this attack on that nun — basically, there were Jewish people actually protecting her, helping her, and restraining that man actually from harming her further,” says Shifman. 

Where pressure does come from

Although Israel’s government and broader society do not systematically persecute believers in Christ, Shifman clarifies that pressure does come from some religious Jewish communities. 

Groups like Yad L’Achim openly oppose what they call “missionaries and cults.” From their perspective, their actions protect Jews. But Shifman says that, from the victims’ perspective, their actions are questionable. Some instances can even turn into a court case over individual rights and freedoms. 

Because of the influence of groups like Yad L’Achim, Messianic Jews may lose jobs or business contracts, or face other forms of social bullying.

“The religious groups basically control all the spheres of life of the Israeli society, I would say this way. Like the birth, the death, the wedding, you need to get a blessing from the rabbi,” says Shifman. 

“They can make a phone call to your boss or to your company, and say, ‘This gentleman or this lady is a believer in Jesus, and we don’t think that she should work at your company, because you are a faithful Jew.’ They can print out your picture and post it on the streets of your neighborhood and tell everybody that you believe in Jesus, and you betrayed your country.”

This kind of persecution happens in many different places, Shifman says. Even so, believers have direct channels to report serious concerns to Israeli authorities. “Praise the Lord for that, and thank them really,” he says. 

Prayer for the bigger picture of Israel

“We’re just a month-and-a-half after one of the most devastating wars in the history of Israel with Iran. It’s pretty heavy on people, you know. It’s still hard for them to get back to their life,” Shifman says. 

Rising crime rates among youth are also deeply concerning.

“Some young guys have been killed by other young people, and it’s just within Israeli society. That’s another terrible thing that is taking place,” says Shifman. 

“Please pray for healing. We know that the healing comes from Lord Jesus, who can heal your body, heart, spirit, and your soul. They need that restoration and recovery after this post-war period. People are anxious.”

Pray for the gospel of Christ to spread even to those who oppose it. Shifman says his team at TWR Israel is going through the same physical, spiritual, and emotional challenges as others in Israel. They need God’s healing, but at the same time, they remain on mission.

“They are eager. They still want to share the good news of Jesus with their neighbors and with other Jews in the country, including the religious ones,” says Shifman.

Learn more about TWR Israel here.

Header photo: Steeple in Jerusalem, Israel. (Photo courtesy of Jonny Gios/Unsplash)

Dee Peterson is the director of discipleship at Prisoners For Christ. She believes that some of the strongest emotions surrounding incarceration have to do with forgiveness: Some inmates feel there is none left for them. 

“When the human soul is feeling that they can never be different, they cannot be restored, that who they are at that moment, that that’s it, that is how they will always feel, that’s who they will always be… That is just a dire hopelessness,” she says.

(Stock photo courtesy of Harry Shelton via Unsplash)

According to the United States Department of Justice, the number of suicides in state and federal prisons increased 83 percent between 2001 and 2019, totaling 4,500 people. Each one of those men and women could have found life in Jesus — the only way to truly reckon with their pasts and face their futures with hope. 

Prisoners For Christ enters this battle for hope not only with in-person ministry to inmates. The staff and volunteers in their literature department mail out more than 4,000 Bibles and biblical resources to reach prisoners each month.

It’s work that’s worth the fight. One inmate wrote back to PFC saying he had decided to end his own life but then had picked up one of their special-edition Bibles. 

“I wanted to see what the Bible says about suicide,” he later wrote to PFC. “I couldn’t find anything, so I started just flipping through the pages. I stopped at the addiction and trauma section, and my attention was directed toward the end of it, where it said, ‘No matter how unloved and worthless you feel, God loves you and values you highly. God has good plans for your restoration. God has the power to transform any life. I am rooting for you. Blessings, Sister Dee.’

“Sister Dee and Prisoners For Christ were used by God today to save my life,” he wrote. 

“Talk about impact,” Peterson says. “We were blown away by it and encouraged and just so grateful to God that He uses our ministry.”

If you know a prisoner, connect with PFC today. Prison chaplains or family members of inmates can request biblical materials to be sent to their loved ones. These resources include booklets, books, devotionals, Bibles, Bible studies, and even a special newspaper called Yard Out, created by inmates for inmates.

(Image courtesy of Prisoners for Christ)

If you want to help more inmates find hope in Christ, consider financially standing with Prisoners For Christ to cover the cost of postage and new biblical resources.

“[Prison ministry] transforms people at their lowest point in life. To be a part of that is a huge privilege, and it’s important,” says Peterson. “And that’s not just one life. That has the potential to affect generations of families. That’s a mom or dad who leaves prison or jail a changed person.”

Learn more about PFC’s work in the United States and around the world here. 

“We know that the Lord is working. We can’t even fathom everything that He is doing, but we know He is good and He transforms lives,” says Peterson. “No one is beyond that forgiveness and redemption. No one.”

Header photo courtesy of Hasan Almasi via Unsplash.

A Pattern in Scripture

David Bogosian with the Alliance for the Unreached says this truth is especially forefront in the story of the Magi in Matthew 2. He says, “These are people that are following a star they know so little, and yet God is reaching them where they are to take them where they need to go. What I love about that story is God is shining light through what we call general revelation, and this is the smallest light that they have. Yet God uses it to bring them from a very far away place to where Jesus is being born, and the Magi become the first group of people to worship Jesus… You’ll see this as a theme throughout the Gospel story, that the most unlikely people – the people that aren’t supposed to get it – are being drawn to this light that God is bringing into the world.”

Photo is a representative stock image courtesy of Pixabay.

Bogosian says Jesus’s move to Egypt as a young child further pictures God’s plan to draw in the nations. He provides some redemption for Egypt as it protects the Messiah amid Herod’s murderous decree.

A Call to Learn About Christ

These portions of the Christmas story give a larger context to Jesus’s mission. Christmas Day commemorates the longed-for arrival of the Messiah, not just for Israel, but for the world. Bogosian says Christmas provides an opportunity to expand our mission. It’s a time to ask God to use the celebration to bring people to know Him.

“And here’s the other awesome thing about Christmas is that this is an opportunity for us to invite people into the story. And this is what happens all over the world. In many of these contexts that are hostile to the Gospel, they’re actually open during times like this to learning, ‘What is this thing called Christmas?’. Because we make a big deal about it, right? And people are curious, ‘What is this?’. It’s a great opportunity, one of the best opportunities we have throughout the year, to tell people about who Jesus is and why He came into the world.”

Reaching the Unreached

The Alliance for the Unreached motivates the Church to continue the task of sharing the Good News, at Christmas and every day.

(Photo is a representative stock image courtesy of Andreas Böhm via Pixabay.)

“There are still billions of people who have never heard. There are still 7000 unreached people groups where the Gospel has never gone,” Bogosian says. “They can’t celebrate Christmas with us, but one day, they will. And we believe that could actually happen in our lifetime, in our generation, if Christians all work together. If we join hands with God’s people who are nearest to these people groups, we can see the Gospel accelerate in our generation.”

Please pray for Christians in persecuted and hard to reach places as they share the good news of Emmanuel, God with us. Pray also that God’s people around the world would use the Christmas season as an opportunity the hope that they have because of Christ.

If you want to learn how you can help support the Alliance for the Unreached, click here.

Header photo is a representative stock image courtesy of Bejamin Alanis Ibarra via Pexels.

Sarani grew up battling serious heart problems that made her very weak and sapped her energy. Life was difficult for Sarani and her parents.

Sarani and her manger coloring scene. (Photo courtesy of Mission India)

Raina Miller with Mission India says, “The family spent every rupee they had on her treatments, and nothing was working. Her mom tried going to temples and praying to their gods, desperate for help — and of course, none of it worked.”

Then Sarani was invited to a Children’s Bible Club run by Mission India. There, she heard stories about Jesus, and especially how He healed the sick. Those stories stayed with her.

“So her Bible Club leader…encouraged her to pray, and Sarani prayed her very first prayer,” says Miller. “It was just the simple words, ‘Please, heal me.’ This time she was praying to the God who hears, not to idols and visiting temples and doing rituals.”

What happened next surprised everyone.

“Within two months, her strength returned — after a lifetime of these heart problems! Her physical heart got stronger, and her heart was also changed by the love of Christ.

“She had joy again, and she was so grateful to Jesus for healing her that she received Him as her Savior.”

Today, Sarani’s faith is spilling over in creative ways. She recently drew a Christmas manger scene — and Mission India turned her artwork into something families around the world can enjoy.

(Photo courtesy of Mission India)

Miller says, “We actually turned it into a coloring page so that kids here in the US and their families can color it together. You can download a copy, print it off, make as many copies as you’d like, and you can color along with Sarani to celebrate with her!”

Download Sarani’s Christmas manger coloring page here!

While Sarani’s story is joyful, it’s also a reminder of the spiritual need in India.

“There are millions more children like Sarani who have never heard of Jesus, and they’re still waiting for hope.”

Mission India is inviting believers to respond through prayer and giving during a year-end matching challenge.

Miller explains, “If you’d like to give toward the matching challenge, you can go to missionindia.org/double, and every gift you give toward 10-Day Bible Clubs will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to December 31.”

Please pray that more children in India would hear the Gospel and experience the hope Sarani found in Christ.

Header photo courtesy of Mission India.

FMI’s Patrick Anthony says this Christian leader has made several trips into various Muslim-majority communities still recovering from a devastating earthquake two years ago. On one recent visit, he distributed clothing to children in a remote village.

“They said they were doing this in the spirit of Christmas, that it’s because of really Christmas that they were giving these gifts to the kids,” Anthony says. “It was fascinating because the kids didn’t know what Christmas is.”

Children in Morocco. (Photo courtesy of Andrea Nieblas/Unsplash)

The local families in these villages are Muslim “by ritual.” However, they are unfamiliar with Islamic teachings, much less the Christian message of the Gospel.

The ministry leader told them, “God commands us to love all people. It doesn’t matter where we come from. He wants all to receive salvation.”

When he shared the Christmas message of Jesus with kids and their families, they asked him to come back.

Anthony says, “They want to know more about this Jesus. The children asked him, ‘Well, who is this Messiah? Is he Santa Claus?’

“He explained a little bit. But he also has to be careful, especially on his first visit, because there are spies for security forces and things. That’s common in Morocco.”

Even so, interest is growing — and so is opportunity. Trust is forming. Conversations are beginning. The ministry leader hopes to return soon, continuing both aid distribution and deeper discussions about who Jesus is.

An alleyway in Morocco. (Photo courtesy of Mathieu Gauzy/Unsplash)

Anthony urges prayer “for the villagers, people who have never really heard about Jesus. They know nothing about Christmas. Pray for their eyes and ears to be open to the Gospel.”

You can also bless FMI’s ministry with tangible support. “Morocco is one of our partner countries,” Anthony adds. “So funds can be given for Morocco to cover tangible resources, and we can help those ministry leaders purchase some of those relief needs.”

Pray for boldness, protection, and wisdom as ministry leaders reenter these communities. Ask God to use simple Christmas gifts to spark eternal transformation.

Header photo: Mountains in Morocco. (Photo courtesy of Imane/Unsplash)

*Editor’s note: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the Christian ministry partner is supported by FMI. He is not an FMI partner, simply a friend of the ministry.

November is Native American Heritage Month, and you may not realize that Native Americans were the first mission field in North America. However, “as far as missions are concerned, we’re doing better all over the world than right here with the First People of our land,” Ron Hutchcraft of Hutchcraft Ministries says.

“After 400 years of missions, only four percent are estimated to have a relationship with Christ.”

(Photo courtesy of On Eagles’ Wings)

Native communities don’t connect with Jesus

Many Native people see Jesus as “the white man’s God,” especially when so much loss – land, language, culture, and lives – was carried out in the name of Christianity. Yet Jesus is deeply relevant to the Native experience. “Jesus was not a blonde-haired, blue-eyed guy like we see in some paintings. He was a tribal man,” Hutchcraft says.

“If you asked Him, He’d say, ‘I’m from the tribe of Judah.’ Our Native Americans would say, ‘I’m Apache, I’m Sioux, I’m Cherokee, I’m Choctaw,’ or ‘I’m Seneca.”

Along with tribal heritage, “He lived on land occupied by others – the Romans. He was from a place that people thought, ‘Nothing good comes from there.’ Some people may say that about Native communities,” Hutchcraft says.

“Jesus was also a victim of gross injustice, as many Native Americans have been.”

A rising movement

These connections are transforming Native young people through Hutchcraft Ministries’ On Eagles’ Wings outreach. More about that here.

Summer of Hope 2025
(Photo courtesy of On Eagles’ Wings)

“I have had the privilege of watching Native young people who are not only survivors, but more than conquerors, as they have told their hope story on that reservation basketball court. They have shown a boldness that would shame many of us,” Hutchcraft says.

“With a deep spirituality that the Creator has built into them, an understanding of suffering and injustice and abuse, and with the warrior spirit – when all of that comes under the Lordship of Christ, fasten your seat belt. They are a force,” he adds.

“They are hope with skin on.”

Hutchcraft Ministries’ Warrior Leadership Summit and On Eagles’ Wings Leadership Center focus on discipling Native young people to become pastors, missionaries, and youth leaders for their own communities. Here’s how you can help.

Header image depicts a painting by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, c.1912-1915, titled The First Thanksgiving, 1621. (Wikimedia Commons)

The nearly two-year war is only one of many current events dividing people across the world. 

“We are so polarized. ‘If you are not 100% with me, then you are 200% against me,’” says Fadi Sharaiha with the MENA Leadership Center. “This is not right. We need to talk. We need to discuss.”

How should the global Church respond to events in Gaza? Sharaiha first acknowledges the evil in this war. Neither side is innocent. People are dying on both sides, and Hamas still holds 48 hostages.

“In the midst of the whole evil that is around us, I believe that God is still worthy of all the blessings and all the glory,” he says. 

“I [also] want to acknowledge the need for us to go back to the basics and remember what Jesus said about peacemakers: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God.’ We are called to love our enemies.”

(Photo courtesy of Nathan Dumlao via Unsplash)

Sharaiha says believers don’t have to understand every aspect of the war in order to respond the right way. He studied the history of the conflict between Israel and Palestine at the United Nations University. Even after receiving lectures from different leaders, not everything was clear to him. 

“But you need to get the Bible. You need to get ‘Who are we? What is our identity?’ We are called to be peacemakers. We are called to love our enemies,” he says. 

Talking about peace is premature in the midst of active war. But one day, people with great wisdom will have to begin that restorative work.

“The governments right now are really calling on both Israel to stop, and Hamas to surrender the hostages and surrender their weapons,” he says.

Even when the fighting ends, a different battle will continue in people’s hearts.

“I am very concerned about people dying today, but also I’m concerned about the one who did not die, next year,” Sharaiha says. “They will be filled with so much hatred, agony, trauma. That’s why we need to make sure that we are preaching Jesus to those people.” 

In the complexities of the Israel-Hamas war, please pray that the Church will be a peacemaker. Pray that the gospel of peace in Christ will reach more people in Gaza and Israel. Pray for the MENA Leadership Center, as it plans training courses that will one day equip leaders for trauma healing and refugee ministry. 

Header image is a stock photo courtesy of Marek Studzinski via Unsplash.

Kurt Rovenstine with Bibles for China explains, “Proselytizing kids in China is against regulations and policies, and it’s pretty closely monitored.” 

Whether you’re a Christian or a Chinese Communist Party member, it’s clear why kids are so important: “You affect kids, you change a generation,” says Rovenstine. 

Christians want the next generation to know Jesus personally. The Chinese government has different goals. This summer, officials in Shanghai trained kids to reject the religious groups the government has deemed illegal or xie jiao (“evil cults”).

(Photo courtesy of Jerry Wang via Unsplash)

Bibles for China works legally in China, without opposing the government. But Rovenstine says the situation calls for prayer and action. 

“Anytime there’s a challenge, God equips His people with creativity, opens doors and creates avenues for the gospel to move forward in spite of what is inhibiting it,” Rovenstine says. 

Today, Bibles for China is printing children’s Bibles in Mandarin outside the country, plus other resources. These can be carried into China by hand.

“I had an email [recently] from the gentleman that took some of our children’s Bibles. He’s been sharing them with people that are headed back to China, and they’re taking them back two and three at a time,” Rovenstine says. This method isn’t a problem because the Chinese government “is just trying to make sure they’re not being printed and distributed in mass.”

Pray that every Bible and resource reaches the right family and child at the right time with the good news of Christ!

Pray that God will open the eyes of kids being taught false things about God. Pray that they will look for truth and find it in Scripture. 

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

What she found there changed her life.

Aneliya at summer camp. (Photo courtesy of Valentin Lupashko/Slavic Gospel Association)

One evening during worship, Aneliya came forward in tears. She prayed, and believed in Jesus as Lord and Savior. Later, she shared her story with a pastor — a story marked by pain and abandonment.

Aneliya’s father was drafted to the front lines of Ukraine. Not long after, her mother found another man and left the family, walking away from her two children. Aneliya and her younger brother now live with their elderly grandmother, trying to process trauma far too heavy for their young shoulders.

“She told me that this camp saved her,” the pastor reported. “She experienced spiritual renewal and found hope again.”

According to Eric Mock with Slavic Gospel Association (SGA), Aneliya’s story represents the hope many young people found in Christ this summer.

“These stories are of young kids saying they did not know of the love of God. They did not know they could go to heaven. They did not know of the grace of God. They were angry and confused, and now they walk away with hope,” Mock says.

But this ministry took place against a backdrop of war. “The war zone of Ukraine is getting more violent…. The nights are getting worse, the missiles and the drones are constantly coming in and harassing families,” Mock says. “In fact, we were told by one family that when they go to bed at night, they know that they’ll be awakened at 1:30, at 2:00 in the morning, often for four to five hours, and the sirens are blaring [while] they’re in shelters.”

For churches in Ukraine, the response may seem surprising. “What would you do if missiles and rockets were raining down every night?” Mock asks. “And their answer is this: ‘Well, what we’re going to do right now is we’re going to hold a summer camp.’”

(Photo courtesy of Slavic Gospel Association)

That commitment to Gospel service and encouragement is exactly what SGA exists to support. “The joy that we have is to serve the churches in these embattled countries who are faithfully ministering in their community.”

As summer camps wind down, local congregations are already preparing for the next outreach.

“We might think we’re done with summer camp. We can relax,” Mock says. “They’re already thinking of Christmas outreach. They never stop planning and prepping and ministering to the people in their communities.”

Pray for Aneliya as she begins attending church, and for many more young people across Ukraine who need the peace only Jesus can bring. Ask God to strengthen local churches as they continue year-round discipleship in the face of exhaustion, loss, and war.

Header photo courtesy of Valentin Lupashko/Slavic Gospel Association.