For years, national voter turnout has been low, plagued by cynicism and apathy. However, this week, more than 56% of registered Iraqis showed up at the polls.

“I’m surprised by that number!” remarks Samuel with Redemptive Stories. “We had heard that this would be the lowest turnout of them all, but it seems like the number is actually the opposite. This might be one of the highest.”

Samuel believes that the voter turnout number points to a deeper shift in Iraq.

“It means that people are beginning to trust the government. It means they want their voice to be heard. It means that things are uniquely stabilizing.”

A church in Baghdad. (Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

That’s a big deal in a country that has endured decades of conflict and instability. Still, Samuel warns believers not to assume calm will make life easier for the Church.

“When stability occurs, it gives space for the authorities to look for other sources that will bring instability,” says Samuel. “So that could begin to, again, add a microscope to the work of the Church in the overall sphere of Iraq.”

As final election results are expected next week, pray for God’s will in Iraq.

Samuel asks, “Pray that the Church will continue to stand as a beacon of hope – no matter who is in charge of the government or who is in power – that it would not only stand as a beacon of hope, but it would continue to be a light that goes out from the Church.”

Header photo: An Iraqi woman votes in 2010 election. Image courtesy of DVIDSHUB (www.flickr.com/photos/dvids/4417086779/), Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic | Flickr

Among those “some” is FMI, which strives to empower indigenous church planters around the world. Today is an exciting season of growth for them as they build partnerships with church planters in three new countries: Malawi, Saudi Arabia, and Morocco.

“We do work in predominantly Muslim-dominated countries [and] cultures,” says FMI’s Patrick Anthony.

“However, if we take one step back, our mission is to work in places [where] it’s difficult for the church to grow and expand because of persecution and or poverty. A lot of times that is in a Muslim context. But not always.”

In Morocco and Saudi Arabia, FMI is still in the networking phase. Anthony says this takes time. For example, when believers in Malawi reached out to FMI to ask for training, several years of conversations followed. Only recently was FMI able to host the first training conference with a network of pastors, which was received with great joy.

FMI empowers indigenous church planters around the world. (Photo courtesy of FMI)

“In a ministry like FMI, trust between leaders is essential, because you’re dealing with people in very hard situations. A lot of them are dealing with some level of persecution,” Anthony says. “They need to trust you and, and vice versa.”

Once that trust is established, the pace can abruptly switch from conversation to dynamic action. 

“They [church planters] have such a heart for their country. They want the necessary support, whether it’s training or whatever it might be. They want ministry to happen. So once they trust you, they want to be off and running,” says Anthony.

Pray for wisdom for FMI as they connect with believers in these new countries — especially Saudi Arabia. 

“How we try to expand into new countries wherever we go — in particular in places like Saudi Arabia — is [by] trying to follow prior contacts,” Anthony says. 

“[In Saudi Arabia] it’s going to be more conversations over tea, more network sharing. The first big goal for us is trying to identify potential leaders, people that could oversee a network of church planters in a country.”

Pray that FMI will effectively help church planters share the gospel and strengthen other believers. (More on FMI’s work here.) Pray also that young Christians will stay in these nations even when it’s hard. Church leaders in Morocco are seeing many of the next generation leave and not return. 

“Pray for job opportunities. Pray for [young] people to be willing to stay in their country or return to their country after university,” Anthony says. 

Header photo of the Hisma Desert in Saudi Arabia is a representative stock photo courtesy of NEOM/Unsplash.

Stories of people’s lives being transformed through Jesus are exciting and encouraging, but we don’t always get to hear back about how someone was changed by hearing the Gospel. Helen Williams of World Missionary Press says that’s something ministries and individual Christians all have to deal with—not knowing the full impact of ministry. She says we’re just called to trust in God’s timing and plan.

“I think that we as people, particularly in ministry, have a tendency to want to see results and perhaps see results… and we need to lean on the Spirit. The Lord said, some plant, some water, and God gives the increase. If we look at the Word as a seed that is planted—we know some seeds come up quicker than others, and some take a little bit more tending. And if we just trust that the Word is the seed and that God will give the increase, I think it will help us not to become discouraged and not to maybe look for instantaneous things.”

(Photo and header photo courtesy of World Missionary Press)

We can accept that perhaps further down the line, something we said or a Scripture booklet we shared will open someone’s eyes to the hope of the Gospel. But perhaps what’s harder to accept in ministry is the limits to what we can do.

All over the world, ministries are struggling to keep up with the demand. Organizations reaching out to refugees, for instance, are having trouble meeting the plethora of physical needs as they share the love of Jesus.

For World Missionary Press, the demand comes from ministries sprinkled around the globe who simply never have enough materials to hand out to the people they’re reaching out to.

Their contact in Argentina, for instance, wants to increase shipments of Scripture Booklets and Spanish New Testaments by 30 percent. He is expanding ministry into Bolivia and Paraguay. Already, they receive about two million pieces of literature every 12-14 months.

Williams says that would require an additional shipment during the same time period. It’s a huge task, but not an uncommon one. In all the major ministry projects World Missionary Press supports (Williams says about 81), contacts run out of materials quickly. People are hungry for the Gospel, and the materials go just like that.

“We have no lack of business. We’re trying to produce as many as we can and get them out as quickly as we can because the Spirit’s working around the world.”

The fact that World Missionary Press can’t keep up with the demand for Scripture is a good sign—people are eagerly accepting the booklets and even if they don’t read it right away, God can use that tool down the road to draw them to himself.

Williams says at the end of January, they already had a list from nations around the world with requests totaling 88 million pieces of literature. You can help fulfill these requests.

(Photo courtesy of World Missionary Press)

First of all, you can help with physical needs. When you financially partner with World Missionary Press, you’re enabling them to give materials away for free to missionaries around the world. If you’d like to give, click here or contact World Missionary Press, here.

You can also be praying:

“We need wisdom, we need strength, we need just to know how to increase production and to wait on the Lord and yet not sit on our hands but just do what he gives us to do and use the funds that we have the best we know how.”

Williams also asks for prayers that they would have patience as the requests roll in:  “We want to do so much and yet practically, there’s only so much we can do. And we need to rest in that—that the Lord will provide in his time for his way.”

And finally, she asks you to pray for funds to be provided, and that the team will have a sense of urgency and constant state of preparedness as new requests come in and new connections are made.

USA (MNN) — Yesterday, we talked about the United States Presidential Election and our nation’s crisis of hope in its wake. Ron Hutchcraft of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries challenged Christians to be known, not “by our political affiliation or by our anger or by our anxiety,” but by our hope in Jesus Christ.

According to Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, hope is used in the Bible meaning, “To trust in, wait for, look for, or desire something or someone; or to expect something beneficial in the future.”

When we meditate on hope and trust in God’s sovereignty, it frees us to have thoughtful conversations laced with truth and love. It frees us to turn attention off ourselves and see our hurting neighbor. And it frees us to choose actions and words that share the hope we have in Christ.

Today, we want to look at some tangible, real-life examples of how we can be ambassadors of Christ’s hope to others.

Because deciding to embrace hope and express it to others is one thing. Actually choosing actions and words that are based in hope and reject despair with the people in our circles can be difficult.

Hope in… Our Hearts

Before we can effectively communicate hope and joy to others, we need to take a look inward, says Hutchcraft. And, first and foremost, hope comes with immersing yourself in God’s Word and being open to the Holy Spirit’s conviction.

“To bring it back to the least common denominator — How is my heart? How am I? I think if we encumber our Jesus-identity with baggage, be it some kind of political identity or we become known for things we are against rather than the Jesus we’re for, we actually poison the well.”

Hutchcraft says when we bring it back to our identity in Christ first, it refocuses our priorities on God’s mission.

“Our job is always to lift people’s eyes out of the moment and towards our Jesus.”

Hope on… Social Media

The next area of our lives we can display hope is often the area where we have the least self-censorship: social media.

Our posts feel safe. They feel bold. But often we forget about the friend or family member reading our words on the other side of the screen.

“Facebook is a battlefield right now,” Hutchcraft says. “It’s a political battlefield and it’s a very opinionated battlefield. The fact is, like on social media, in our everyday demeanor with people, we ought to be the person who lives like we know Who is really in charge. Whoever is in the White House, God is on the throne, and there is no doubt about that.”

However, saying “God is on the throne” is not meant to shut down posting or tweeting about hard topics, like wisdom in voting, or how policies affect our nation. But remembering our true hope in Christ can positively influence the tone of our posts, so we don’t comment from a place of desperation… which could lead us to say harsh things.

“Do we have concerns? Yes. Are we concerned about some of the dark currents in our culture and some of the dark clouds on the horizon?… Yes, I’m concerned about all those things. I live in that world. I’m not floating in another sphere somewhere,” states Hutchcraft.

“But by the same token, I know that my personal life and my family is anchored in a God who has been there for people through every empire, every ruler, every dictator, every depression, every recession, every war, every battle.”

Hope in… Conversations

So how can we, as Christians, respond when speaking with fellow believers who seem overwhelmed by fear and dread of the future?

Hutchcraft encourages us to a look at Psalm 11:3-4b: “When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do? The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord is on his heavenly throne.”

If you are searching for a handhold of hope to share in conversations, that verse is an encouraging reminder. “A lot of people feel like things that have never moved are moving now. But, here we go again, whoever is in the White House, God is on the throne.”

Hope in… Witnessing

Something that a large number of believers find difficult to do is explain their faith in God to someone who is not a Christian. But it shouldn’t be that way. And our culture desperately needs loving, hopeful witnesses for Christ.

“We already know that our culture is moving from sort of pro-Christian to post-Christian to now increasingly anti-Christian. The public platforms for the Gospel may be increasingly restricted. But 78 percent of the people who come to Christ do it through a relative or a friend. It’s because of a believer they know. And yet some have estimated that 90 percent of believers never tell about the hope they have. So those people are going to be lost because of our silence.”

Here’s one tangible way Hutchcraft says you can approachably share your hope and faith. And it doesn’t involve going door-to-door.

It simply involves listening to people, and then caring in the best way someone who knows God can: by praying for their needs.

Hutchcraft shares, “Over the years, when people have talked about the bad news from the doctor or the struggle in their family or their worry over even what’s going on in the world, I have — as prompted by the Lord and when there’s a private moment — said, ‘I’m going to be praying for you. I want you to know that, because that’s what I do when I’ve got concerns like this, or someone I love does. I take it to the most powerful person there is. By the way, would you mind if I started right now? Could I talk to God right now about what you talked to me about?’ I’ve never had anybody turn me down.

“When you do that, you are literally embodying the hope in your heart. And many times when I’ve opened my eyes, I’ve found tears in theirs because they’ve never heard their name in a prayer, and they’ve certainly never heard anybody talk to God out of their heart. You just had your relationship with God in front of them. You just had your hope in Jesus right there in front of them.”

Materials

If you’d like materials to learn more about boldly sharing your hope in Christ, check out Ron Hutchcraft Ministries on their website!

“Our ministry is committed, and my book, ‘A Life That Matters’ is all about this. Our training series, our 13-step video small group curriculum is about how an everyday believer can become a rescuer of the lost people around them. This is a passion of this ministry, to help God’s people be motivated and equipped to be the rescuer on their ‘stretch of beach’.”

You can also check on Ron Hutchcraft’s blog here.

Hutchcraft reflects, “I believe the individual believer is going to be, and is already, the primary messenger of the Gospel of Christ. Not a program. Not a website. Not an evangelist. Not a pastor. It’s going to be the everyday believer in the world where lost people are day-after-day. Guess what? We’re right back to the beginning of missions.”

(photo by http://epsos.de/Simple-Safe-FOREX-Trading-Strategy-Advise)

Int’l (FHH) — This time of year, it’s sometimes hard to know how best to express one’s charity.

Barry Gardner with Food For The Hungry gives some helpful tips on how to give around the Christmas season, without the guilt.

There’s the bell-ringer outside the store (always able to make me feel guilty, even if I gave yesterday). Celebrity-sponsored tel-a-thons on television. The walk-a-thons, ski-a-thons, bike-a-thons for various diseases. If your e-mail or postal mailbox is like mine, it’s stuffed with once-a-year “friends” who plead with me to start giving to help solve at least one of the world’s problems.

But what motivates me to take action? What makes me respond to that e-mail, to call a phone number, or send back that letter? How do you choose?

If you’re like me, deciding amongst the competing voices comes down to three things when giving.

1. The first thing I look at is whether the charity is focused on problems I think need solving. For example, if I’m motivated to bring clean water to the poorest people in Africa (or Latin America or Asia), I’m going to be giving to that particular cause, regardless of how many cute pictures I get of needy dogs at the local animal shelter.

At this time of year, Food for the Hungry (FH) helps its donors understand the breadth of projects that we’re engaged in. They hope that there’s something in that list that each donor might find attractive. That’s the reason they have a catalog and appeals for various causes. But more than informing you, they hope they inspire you.

2. The second thing I consider is the charity’s values. It’s possible to do the right things for the wrong reasons or in the wrong way.

A charity might have a good program, but without sharing my values, it won’t count for much. So if I have a choice between a secular charity and a Christian one working on a similar problem, I always go for the one that shares my religious commitment. I think the Christian organization will more completely share the spirit of why I gave, hopefully with a witness to Christ–the Hope who inspires us all.

3. The last thing–but not least–I consider is trust. After I make my gift, my control ends. Will the organization follow through on its promises? Will my money be kept safe? Will the organization act responsibly toward my intended recipients, people like me, made in the image of God?

Based on those three principles, sorting the mail or e-mail isn’t so hard. I depend on charities to be instruments of my heart. When I can trust them to do the right thing for the right reasons, it’s easy to give my money away and partner in doing good works, just like Christ commanded.

Lyndsey: Maybe just start off by explaining how you came from Sudan to America and just the process of being a refugee, especially since World Refugee Day is coming up.

Emmanuel: I started out in Sudan, born in Sudan. Our country has been in civil war for many years right now. So when the war broke out, all the refugees in the area I was in, we fled to Kenya…in 1992 right by the border. We lived there for a couple of months, and then we got moved to Kakuma where we stayed for eight years as refugees. We lived in Kenya for eight years, and life was not easy. It was tough. So when the United States decided to bring us over, everybody was excited and we went through the paperwork, and that’s how I ended up here.

Lyndsey: That first day, your village was attacked wasn’t it?

Emmanuel: Yeah, the village was attacked. And before we came to Kenya, we went to different villages. If the war breaks out in this one little village, then we’d walk miles and miles to the next village in another city. We’d stay there for a couple of days, and later on the enemy would still catch up with us and attack us again, and the whole village would start running again in a different direction until we made it to Kenya.

Lyndsey: You’re the oldest, and you have three younger siblings. Could you talk about that experience of having to kind of be the one stepping up? Where were your parents at the time?

Emmanuel: That time was really, really difficult…. At that time, my dad was in the army of Sudan, and my mom was somehow in the second village when the war broke out. We kind of lost her from there. I just ended up with my three siblings and my uncle who was around at that time. Isaac was really little (my younger brother), so sometimes I had to carry him on my shoulders and try to carry food and water at the same time, and it was not really easy….

Lyndsey: So then you were traveling around, you made it to the refugee camp; what was it like at the refugee camp?

Emmanuel: It was just like going to the woods. You know some people go take a walk in the woods? That’s how it was…. There was no house, there’s no water system, nothing. So we had to start from there. It was just like almost starting from the beginning…. We’d sleep under the shade [and] the trees, then wake up tomorrow and try to find water.

Lyndsey: So how did you eventually hear about the possibility of leaving the camps and making it to the United States?

Emmanuel: …We had a refugee camp leader that had communication with the United Nations and the Kenyan government. So whenever they had a meeting and the American government would tell them something, they would come and announce it…on a microphone to make it loud.

Lyndsey: So you got registered, came over to the United States, and then how did life for you change?

Emmanuel: Life was really shocking because just coming from where we came from where you don’t live under authority or house rules, it was really difficult. We came here and got put into families that already had their family structure. For us it was extremely difficult because first of all you have to build trust and be able to trust that person. Once you get the trust down, you start to obey a little bit more and listen to them a little bit closer than you would to other people. That was a long process, but after we got it down, it became easy. But going to school was hard, too, because the American kids would kind of make fun of you either in the class or in the basketball gym. So it was a lot of things that we went through.

Lyndsey: Did you see the Church step in and help you at this time?

Emmanuel: I think what really helped us out most, I would truly say, that going to the Sudanese church at the time and still maintaining our culture, read our Bible language, and sing in our own worship songs. It was really helpful in many ways. Even though we go to American churches, we go there for the family part and try to listen to it, but at that time our English was not that good, so it was really not easy to get all the words that the Bible was saying. But church is a big part of us becoming who we are right now. Even back in Africa or here, the church was a lot of help.

Lyndsey: And you were also really connected with Bethany Christian Services?

Emmanuel: Bethany really helped us a lot because when we came here, we were used to living in a group and able to visit people…. But when Bethany stepped in and gave us a place that we celebrate…things like that kind of bring us together, and Bethany did a wonderful job with that.

Lyndsey: Now you mentioned that you guys were separated from your mom back in Sudan. What were the circumstances behind finding her again?

Emmanuel: Finding her was not easy since we didn’t have any skills to do research. We just knew that she was alive because nobody told us she was dead. We just knew she was alive somewhere, but we just didn’t know where. Having family, you get to talk to them in Africa and they will tell you, “Oh I heard she was here and there.” But when we came to America, it was kind of difficult because being here, there’s no way you can really do research and try to find your person.

But God helped. When Janelle [the woman who was housing my sisters] went on a trip, she ended up in Australia. She met a Sudanese girl that she thought looked like my sister. She introduced herself and they talked. When [Janelle told] that girl, “I have Sudanese daughters, too,” and told her their names, the girl recognized the names and said, “They’re my cousins! Their mom lives here!” When I heard that, I didn’t believe it until Janelle gave me a phone number to call. When I called my mom, I talked to her on the phone, but I still had doubts because I didn’t know it was her until she started calling me with my little kid name–the name that she would call me when I was angry or not happy just to make me happy. When she said that name, I said, “That’s my mom.” …Without God, all this would not be possible.

Lyndsey: For families who are listening to this who are interested in possibly [providing foster care for] someone who’s been through the refugee situation, how would you encourage them to get involved?

Emmanuel: I would say it’s a great way to get involved. First, it’s not just for a person. It’s doing it for our God…. Most of the time, God will help through people, and if God touches your heart and you have an opportunity to get a kid from refugee, I would say go for it. You will learn a lot from them, and they will learn a lot from you. And most important, you are helping God’s people, too.

Lyndsey: And even just trying to understand the mindset of these kids coming from refugee situations, a lot of times it’s because of things like war. What kind of mindset do kids usually have when they’re coming from that situation?

Emmanuel: For my example, I would say when they’re coming from that situation it’s not just a really easy change. But if you’re able to get a kid from refugee, you have to be patient most of the time. First, English is not their language. There are a lot of English words that they might take wrong. For example, when I first came here and somebody tell me, “Please, go and get this,” I would not do it because back home in my country if you say, “Somebody, please,” it’s almost like ordering somebody to do something. So a lot of little things like that in English sound different.

Second, just really try to get to know them. If they’re willing to talk, listen to them. The thing that will be difficult with the family and that kid is trusting them right off the bat because they don’t know you. They might look different, you look different, but at the end of the day they start trusting you and you trust them, and all of the sudden you become one big family.

Lyndsey: Do you think you could take a minute and pray on air for refugees around the world?

Emmanuel: Right now?

Lyndsey: Sure, go ahead.

Emmanuel: Dear God, I just want to say thank You for this day. Thank you for the opportunity that You gave me to speak to the refugees today and other people that are listening. I just want to say thank You, God, and please help those that need help. Whatever the situation might be, Lord, You always know things that we don’t know. Coming from the refugee camp to places like America and many other places, it’s not easy. There are a lot of things that we give to You at once, but with Your help and Your power, Lord, everything is possible. I pray that You will give families that have feelings and hearts trying to adopt or help the refugees, please help them and give them the courage to do that because it’s not only that they’re helping the kids, but God, they’re showing Your Word. All that I pray in Your name, Amen.

If you're interested in refugee foster care with Bethany, click here.