Also on Tuesday, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification system released an alert saying “the worst-case scenario of famine is playing out in the Gaza Strip.” You don’t have to look far to find photos and stories of the people living this reality.

Tom Doyle, president of Uncharted Ministries, talks with Christians on both sides of the war. Here are their perspectives.

“We hear of Israeli Defense soldiers praying for people in Gaza.‘We want to get rid of Hamas,’ they say, ‘not the innocent people,’” said Doyle. “That’s a story you wouldn’t see on the news, but it’s real.” 

Doyle said many areas of Gaza have plenty of food, but many others have no food getting to them. Uncharted works with the Baptist Church in Gaza, which is distributing aid. But even for those who are able to receive provisions, it’s not so simple.

(Photo courtesy of Uncharted Ministries)

“As one of the Muslim-background believers told us: ‘We have two enemies. The first is Hamas, and the second is everybody outside of our tent, because people are stealing our food,’” said Doyle. 

Palestinian believers have chosen a different goal: “Some of them had a chance to leave during this war, and they chose to stay to spread the gospel,” said Doyle. “Can you imagine having a family and choosing to stay when you have young kids in the midst of the war?”

Pray for the safety and well-being of the Palestinian people, especially the children, and for the believers in Gaza to endure the difficult circumstances. Pray for the spread of the Gospel in Gaza, and for the believers who have chosen to stay and minister to their fellow Palestinians.

“We’re praying for the believers there through all of this, that they survive,” says Doyle. “They’re caught in the middle of it.”

Header photo of Gaza Strip courtesy Jaber Jehad Badwan via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Uncharted Ministries’ Tom Doyle says, “There are three above-ground churches in Gaza. There’s a Catholic church, a Greek Orthodox church, and a Baptist church.”

Following the attack, Pope Leo called for “an immediate ceasefire.” In Qatar, truce talks between Israel and Hamas have stalled after two weeks, with each side blaming the other.

“They’re just not even close, really, on negotiations. A peace settlement has been offered many times to Hamas, and they’ve rejected it,” Doyle says.

“It’s a messy situation, but we pray there’s going to be a breakthrough and a settlement for peace sometime soon.”

Meanwhile, starvation is spreading in Gaza. The UN says one in three people goes hungry for days. Uncharted partners with the Baptist church in Gaza to distribute food and help people find shelter.

“There are Muslims who have become believers, and so they are the secret church,” Doyle says. “There are groups all over the Gaza Strip. We’re trying to help them as they’re going through difficult times living in tents.”

Pray for a breakthrough in the ceasefire negotiations.

“We’re just praying that God would intervene and there would be a peace treaty that would stick,” Doyle says. “We pray the hostages would be released, and the poor people in Gaza who have endured this for almost 700 days now, could have a better life.”

Learn more about Uncharted’s work in the Middle East here.

Header image depicts Gaza war damages circa 2023. (Wikimedia Commons)

During that fateful visit, the pair came “face to face with Muslims that had come to Jesus and were willing to die for Him.”

Doyle says, “We just started writing [their stories] down on yellow legal pads to get every detail right, and then [we began] telling them in churches. Suddenly, we were writing books about what God was doing.”

(Photo courtesy of Sajimon Sahadevan/Unsplash)

Recently, “a great film crew got the fire to put these ‘God stories’ on film,” Doyle says.

In a few months, “it’ll be all ready to go. Jo Ann and I tell the stories, but then there are people acting out these stories from the books – these miraculous visitations and rescues by Jesus.”

Uncharted Ministries works alongside believers and churches in the Middle East to bring the Good News of Jesus to Jewish and Muslim communities. Learn more about Uncharted’s work here.

“We get there (to the Middle East) a lot during the year. We bring Bible tours in; we bring mission teams in, [and we] do a lot of humanitarian work,” Uncharted co-founder Tom Doyle says.

The Lord is moving in miraculous ways to transform hearts and lives. “God’s doing much with Jews and Muslims today,” Doyle says.

“The world’s a mess; the evil is over the top. Does that slow down the progress of the Gospel? No, absolutely not.”

Now that you know, how will you respond? Doyle describes three ways to activate your faith and step out of your comfort zone.

The first phase is easy, and everyone can do it. “Number one is prayer. Pray for the strength of the Church in whatever form it meets Him,” Doyle says.

“Because of security, many churches had to go underground in Saudi Arabia, the Gaza Strip, and Afghanistan. Now, we have churches totally above the ground: cyber churches.”

The next step requires a little personal sacrifice for the sake of helping others. “We have ‘first response’ initiatives through Uncharted,” Doyle says. Learn more about giving here.

“We’ve been able to help a lot of Ukrainian and Russian believers amid the war; [we’ve helped] Afghan believers with underground things happening with the Gospel there.”

Last but not least, you can “go on a Bible tour. When we go to the Middle East, you’ll get a chance to get off the beaten path, see the great Bible sights, and then meet believers from a Muslim background who love Jesus,” Doyle says.

“To meet modern-day saints who are risking their lives for the sake of Jesus – nothing compares to that.”

Header image depicts a street scene in Jerusalem, Israel. (Photo courtesy of Dave Herring/Unsplash)

Uncharted’s JoAnn Doyle tells a story of one visit to a Muslim Bedouin tribe. She says the tribe welcomed the Uncharted team with a lavishly decorated tent, a feast, and music.

“It was beautiful! They had fruit and dates and…Arabian coffee and they were singing for us and dancing. It was just absolutely incredible. They had all their handmade art for us on display and they were just entertaining us with such beautiful Arab hospitality. It was a truly joyous celebration.”

(Photo courtesy of Mostafa Meraji via Unsplash)

However, Doyle noticed it was only men and young boys who greeted them. They learned the Muslim women were hidden away in a black tent far off from the festivities. So Doyle and a few other ladies from the team went towards the tent.

“As we get close to this tent, my heart just shattered in 100 pieces. That black tent was surrounded by a chain-link fence. They were locked behind a chain-link fence. They could hear all the music and the celebration going on, but they weren’t even a part of that.”

Some of the women came out from the tent and invited the female team members behind the fence.

“All of them were shrouded in those black niqabs, head-to-toe covered in black. The only thing peeking out was their pretty brown eyes.”

Doyle says, “We had no one to translate, but we communicated with that language of love and pretty soon that shyness fled and they were flipping up their niqabs so that we could see their faces. They wanted to be seen.”

(Photo courtesy of Mohammad Moniruzzaman via Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bacillus/)

The Uncharted team plans to continue visiting this Bedouin tribe and the team’s ladies will continue meeting with the tribe’s women. Doyle hopes this will flourish into building relationships and maybe someday sharing their faith in Jesus.

Doyle’s heart for Muslim women is apparent by Psalm 31:12-16 which she says reminds her of these women:

I have been forgotten like one who is dead; I have become like a broken vessel. For I hear the whispering of many — terror on every side! — as they scheme together against me, as they plot to take my life. But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, “You are my God.” My times are in your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors! Make your face shine on your servant; save me in your steadfast love!

Doyle says, “That is what we’re praying — that we can go back again and again to reach those sweet, precious women that are stuck behind that veil, behind that dark shroud of Islam.”

(Photo courtesy of Uncharted Ministries)

You can also connect with Muslims right where you are! Now is a great time to reach out to your Muslim friends and acquaintances. Ramadan, a Muslim holiday of fasting and prayer, begins on Thursday, April 23. Doyle says you can ask Muslim friends how you can pray for them leading up to Ramadan.

“Remember, they’re praying to a god that’s not answering their prayers so they are anxious…. They’re not going to turn down your prayers.”

Then, when social distancing is no longer necessary for the COVID-19 pandemic, Doyle says you can host a Seen gathering with Not Forgotten at your church, small group, or in your community!

Doyle says, “We will inspire you [with] what God is doing in the Muslim world and we will give you a little bit of…Islam 101. Then we will give you a big fat challenge, and that is to go out and engage those Muslim women. But we’ll show you how to do it and we’ll even take you to go out and do it.”

Click here to learn more about Not Forgotten!

“We don’t always have to go across the ocean, because the Muslims are right here in our own backyard. So our first response is let’s start reaching the Muslims right here. Let’s start engaging them with the love of Jesus right here.”

Header photo courtesy of Majid Korang Beheshti via Unsplash.

Not Forgotten, a division of Uncharted Ministries, sees this searching for freedom as a first step toward finding ultimate freedom in Christ. However, the journey is a long one.

Recently Iran licensed 2000 additional morality police for the purpose of enforcing public conduct codes, especially for women. But what prompted such an action?

Morality Laws

Since the 1979 revolution in Iran, strict codes under Sharia law have been an every day reality. These cover a variety of topics, many of which are moral topics. Women went from relatively great freedom, to having every move watched and evaluated. Suddenly wearing a head covering was mandatory for all Iranian women; and it was enforced.

Now it is a symbol of oppression that many women are rebelling against.

(Courtesy of Hamed Saber on Flickr https://bit.ly/31lN6By)

Iranian women abroad and at home are condemning the headscarf and those who endorse it. One recent example was Shohreh Bayat who oversaw a match at the Women’s World Chess Championship without the scarf. Now she is afraid to return home, concerned that the country or her family will make an example of her.

A Spiritual Issue

Joanne Doyle with Not Forgotten explains the situation.

“Sadly, what we see happening, what really took place in 1979, when the revolution took over in Iran, [was] these women have been silenced. They have been pushed in the darkness, they have been cloaked in veils by force, and they are finally saying ‘Enough, enough.’”

Doyle continues, “One thing I’ll add is, this is really more of a spiritual issue than it is a political issue. Although it, you know, plays out on the political field, it really is a spiritual issue.”

And the issue is not just in Islam. Doyle reflects on Genesis 3 where God punished Adam and Eve for their willful sin against Him. At this time He also punished the devil. “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15 ESV).

Doyle elaborates on that verse, “But I think specifically his attack is against women. Because that verse in verse 15 in chapter three goes on to say that the offspring of woman would bruise his head and destroy him. And of course, the offspring is Jesus. And so that’s why the battle is really more specifically against women. And that’s why it’s more spiritual than it is just political.”

Join in Prayer

So the battle rages on. Iranian women stand up against the lies that they are less than, and those who dare to defy the social regulations are punished. It can feel hopeless, but God is a God of hope.

Doyle encourages people to pray for Iranian women. “And I would also pray for these year women trapped in Islam in Iran, so many of them that are seeking to be brave and bold and to speak truth are being persecuted, being sent to prison and we know a lot of the prisons Evin prison for example, in Iran, they are notorious. They are horrific. The torture that people endure is horrible. So pray that God would surround them and protect them so that they have the opportunity to respond to faith in Jesus Christ.”

Pray also that God would work in the dreams of Iranian women. Many Muslim background people have come to Christ after meeting Jesus in dreams and visions. Pray that God would reveal Himself to women trapped in cycles of fear and pain and show them the only path to true freedom is found in Jesus.

Learn more about Not Forgotten here.

Header photo courtesy of s1ingshot on Flickr https://bit.ly/2RSy3fI

Tom Doyle with Uncharted Ministries and a Middle East advisor for e3 Partners says he was in Jerusalem with his wife on a ministry Bible tour when the announcement was made.

“We were doing some ministry with Palestinians and Jewish people in Israel. So we were going to bed, it was late at night and we had to get up for an early flight. But my phone just started going off and people said, ‘President Trump is making the announcement.’ So we turned on the TV and saw some of the Israelis celebrating; we actually saw a big huge electric kind of sign on the wall and at first, it looked like the Western Wall. But it was the Tower of David which was right outside our hotel,” he shares.

“So we went down there and just kind of wanted to get a feel for what people were thinking. There was, of course, a celebration of Jewish people in Jerusalem. Obviously, not so much for Palestinians. It was quiet in Bethlehem.”

Like the wildly differing reactions to the announcement in Jerusalem, responses to the move have reverberated around the world – both joy and outrage.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the decision by President Trump as a critical move towards peace in the region. But Muslim leaders from 57 countries condemned the US’ recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, since Palestine also claims the major city as its capital. Riots in Jerusalem resulted in the arrests of at least 77 Palestinians.

“It just underscores the fact that Israel is the place where it’s an intersection of history, the Bible, religion, and politics. They just clash head-on day-after-day. And so we saw it again in full force with the announcement. Even though Israel has pretty much treated Jerusalem as their capital and has their commencement there and major government offices, for the United States to recognize it as the official capital of Israel is a strong statement.”

Doyle says the natural assumption is that there will be backlash against Jews in Israel and around the world. And it’s an accurate assumption since Jews have indeed been attacked in the wake of this announcement.

“Vastly, around the world, we’re seeing anti-Semitism rise up and people are angry about this.”

But, Doyle also points out, people may not realize that Palestinian Christians are actually suffering some of the worst backlash.

“Radical Muslim groups like Hamas or Islamic jihad in Gaza see Christians as soft on Israel. So if you’re a Palestinian and you’re living in Gaza…you may disagree with some of the things Israel has done, you may say they retaliate too hard or whatever, but as a Christian you’re not motivated to go out and kill Jews – which that is standard for Hamas, Islamic jihad, some of the groups that are present there…. So our Palestinian workers that we worked with said, ‘Please, pray for us. This will not be easy for us.’”

So how can other Christians around the world approach this multi-faceted issue with wisdom and compassion?

“We say this at Uncharted: We love both sides. We believe that Israel has a right to exist, that God called them back, he predicted that in the Scriptures, and that legitimately they have been given back this land. That doesn’t mean it hasn’t been horribly hard for Palestinians. Many Palestinian believers we work with actually had land that was lost when Israel became a nation. So we just say this: We want to love the Jews. We want to love the Palestinians. God’s heart is big enough to love them both.”

Ultimately, Doyle encourages, “The only solution is Jesus. And of course, the listeners of Mission Network News would expect us to say that. But we’re involved with a lot of things in Israel and the Middle East, and none of the peace plans are going to please both sides. They’ll have to give up something, both sides. It’s going to be difficult and really the only one who can bring them together is Jesus. It’s been delightful to work with Jewish believers and Palestinian believers who love each other and who work arm-in-arm. They had barriers between them, but it’s just a great thing to see that the Gospel really solves everything.”

When it seems like the problem is primarily a political problem, it’s easy to just focus on a political solution. And political solutions are, indeed, critical.

But when the problem is seen primarily as a spiritual problem, we should fervently pray for a spiritual solution.

“As believers, we have to elevate above the news, above the politics and realize that the physical war on the ground is just really a reflection of the spiritual war raging in the Heavenlies. That’s what this is about,” says Doyle.

“Pray that the Gospel just makes inroads within Israel, within the Palestinian communities. Because ultimately, that’s the solution. Talk about a one-state solution, a two-state solution — we’re talking about an eternal solution. And this is what’s so important is that people come to faith in Christ on both sides.”

Each year, the Orange Letter Campaign with Uncharted Ministries focuses on a specific group of believers suffering for their faith to send letters to – and these letters are from fellow Christians around the world.

Two years ago, they sent encouraging letters from believers to the widows of the Egyptian men who were martyred on the beach in Libya by ISIS. In fact, the Orange Letter Campaign was so named in honor of these men for the orange jumpsuits they all wore as they were led to their deaths for their faith in Christ.

Then in 2016, Orange Letter Campaign’s letters went to Syrian Christian leaders on the frontlines. The past few years, they’ve been able to send around 2,000-3,000 letters, and this year they’re hoping for even more!

This year, the letters will be going to persecuted North Korean believers who defected out of the country. Tom Doyle, author of “Standing in the Fire” and with e3 Partners, explains, “This year, we felt like our focus should be North Korea. We have a partnership with Voice of the Martyrs Korea and we know this that there is at least 100,000 believers in North Korea, which is phenomenal when you think about that it is the worst country in the globe to live as a believer…. There are at least 100,000 believers, but 30,000 of them are in prison.”

(Map of North Korea courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

North Korea has been at the top of Open Doors’ World Watch List for 14 years in a row as the country with the harshest persecution of Christians.

“So we’re writing letters to North Korean defectors, new believers that have come out of North Korea that we’ll meet with and encourage them. Also, Voice of the Martyrs and our new ministry, Uncharted, will be broadcasting into North Korea by radio to read some of the letters to believers there that have radios that hide at night and listen to Christian broadcasts coming out of South Korea.”

If you’d like to write a letter of encouragement to a North Korean Christian, you can send your letter in an email to info@unchartedministries.com. Or you submit your letter at Uncharted Ministries’ website here!

Doyle notes, “When you think about believers in North Korea, many of them know very little about their faith. So if people decide to write a letter, try to stay away from Christianese terms. They have no idea what those things are. But they know that Kim Jong Un is not God, that they’re searching for God, they’ve heard about Jesus. Some of them may even have smuggled Bibles in North Korea, and they meet privately — some of them in very small groups. It’s dangerous for them.

“But here’s the real story: the truth has set them free. Even in a terrible country like North Korea, they are free in Christ and we want them to know how much we love them and we’re honored to pray for them.”

(Photo courtesy of Open Doors USA)

Anyone from the Body of Christ can get involved, and it doesn’t even have to be a written letter! Doyle shares, “One thing that is just absolutely precious is that there’s a kindergarten in the US that they don’t write yet but they’re drawing pictures to take to the North Korean believers. So we’ve had everything from groups in rest homes all the way to kindergarten expressing their love and their prayers for our brothers and sisters in harm’s way.”

If you’re wondering if writing a letter even makes much of a difference in the face of all these believers have suffered and are suffering, Doyle assures that these letters really do have a significant impact.

“When we meet with believers, when we saw the faces last year of the Syrian leaders that had come out of Syria into Lebanon and we brought the letters to them, they were overwhelmed. There were tears.

“First of all, they didn’t think anyone even knew their plight. They didn’t know that the outside world knew that Christians were being crucified on crosses in Syria. So they were overwhelmed that there was this large family of God that stood behind them, that was praying for them.”

The leaders left feeling recharged headed back to the frontlines of their mission field. “They were recommitted to the point of going back into Syria to serve Christ knowing that they’ll probably be hurt, that they may die for their faith in Christ. But they said, ‘We know that the Body of Christ stands with us, so we go back in the power of the Holy Spirit and with the joy that our family is standing with us.’”

As you write a letter of encouragement to persecuted North Korean believers and pray for them, Doyle says we need to remember the spiritual battle at stake for their witness.

“I think no matter where we are in the world, Satan is going to try to stop us from coming to Christ. If he cannot stop us from coming to Christ, when we do come to Christ he’s going to try to keep us from growing. One of the ways he does that is to keep us from gathering. So we want the Body of Christ around the world to know that even if they’re alone, even if they’re studying the Bible in the middle of the night, they’re connected to a big family that prays for them, that loves them, that will spend eternity with them, and we want them to understand that.”