At the same time, Maarifa, Arab World Media’s Arabic evangelistic website is launching a major evangelism campaign, focused on the same countries. In total, ten countries will be introduced to the claims of  Christ, in twelve months (TC12).

Please join us as we pray for spiritual breakthrough in the Arab world, with many people hearing and responding to the message of the gospel. Please intercede for workers in these countries who will play a vital part in discipling and mentoring seekers and new believers.

Your partnership in prayer is vital to the impact of this evangelistic campaign.

Stirred to pray?

You can join the TC12 (ten countries in twelve months) prayer initiative, and receive monthly updates by emailing Marie on prayer@awm-pioneers.org.

Pray with us for many Arab people to receive the priceless gift of salvation in 2012.

RELATED SITES
ARAB WORLD MEDIA

Samuel inspires me. The Old Testament prophet lived in extraordinary times. He saw the Ark of the Covenant handed back to Israel. He witnessed God rescue His people from certain defeat. He even anointed two monarchs. At every stage, Samuel remained loyal to God, the nation’s true King.

Today, we can see this resolute faith in Arab believers. Despite politics or opposition, we are hearing reports of our brothers and sisters in Christ planting churches in North Africa and the Middle East. We can learn much from these family members who step out in faith and courageously call others to follow the King of Kings.

We may feel uneasy about the new governments taking charge of Arab nations. But, Samuel’s example should stir us to pray prophetically. We know that God ultimately honours men and women who are after His own heart (1 Samuel 13:14).

Let’s take our lead from Samuel. Let’s not shrink back and despair. Now is the time for all God’s people to be full of courage and faith.

NB. This article has been adapted from the May 2012 issue of awmlink, AWM’s free quarterly magazine.

What Others Have Said…

This morning, I read through, from cover to cover, an edition of awmlink. I am just writing to tell you that I was very impressed with the consistent high quality of all the articles in it. Great job!!’ Don

Please pass on my regards to the editor, and anyone else involved in this month’s awmlink, I thought it was ace’. James

Not in the UK? You can sign up to e-link our monthly email updates via our KEEP INFORMED page.

From 20 July, Muslims worldwide will spend a month earnestly praying and fasting in the hope of revelation.

What a brilliant opportunity to cry out daily to our loving Heavenly Father to powerfully reveal Himself in Christ. Many believers from Muslim backgrounds point to an encounter with the Lord during Ramadan as the start to their conversion story.

Join the 30-day prayer movement by requesting the 30 Days prayer guide at only £2.20 each including p&p (available to UK and Ireland residents only*). You can also order multiple copies of this excellent resource for your church or prayer group.

Email Marie at mariep@awm-pioneers.org with your UK or Ireland mailing address to place your order. Postage costs may vary for bulk orders.

*Live outside the UK & Ireland? Contact your nearest 30-Days national office to order your copy at the best mailing price for your country.

Syria is hurting

The situation in Syria becomes more desperate every day. The nation is on the brink of civil war and the region is fearing the worst. We pray for the best long-term solution to the complex crisis but also seek to practically help those caught in the crossfire today.

You can help
Your gift will equip Christians in the country to take urgent supplies to the hurting and vulnerable Syrian people. Our partners work with different relational networks to international aid agencies and are not affected by political associations.

You can give simply and securely today by going to our ONLINE GIVING page and selecting SYRIA APPEAL in the projects drop-down menu.

The Egyptian press has largely praised his charismatic leadership of Egypt’s ten million Copts. His death comes at a tense time in Egypt as it appears that the country’s national identity is becoming more closely bound to Islam. Muslim-dominated parties are poised to take control of the government.  While the previous leader, Hosni Mubarak, made attempts to protect Egypt’s Christian minority, Christians are feeling increasingly vulnerable amid attacks on churches by hard-line Islamists.

Death of a Statesman
Pope Shenouda is recognised internationally as a statesman who struggled, often unsuccessfully, to protect the Christian minority in the majority Muslim nation. Many are quoting his famous saying ‘Egypt is not a country in which we live, but rather Egypt lives in us’.

Egypt has lost a great symbol of national unity. He has been a big barrier against internal extremism and external intervention.
Egypt’s Al Jumhuriyah (an Egyptian News Agency)

A Bible-lover
According to the Egyptian Bible Society, Pope Shenouda was a great advocate for the Bible, promoting it as the ‘foundation’ and ‘focal point’ for Christians.  His fostering of the Bible in the Coptic Church was a factor in the growth of Bible work in Egypt.

Egypt’s Christians consider themselves the true Egyptians, as Christianity preceded Islam in Egypt by 600 years.  Christianity went to Egypt with Mark, the writer of the Gospel, and Egypt’s Christians look to Mark as the founder of the Coptic Church.  Most Copts live in Egypt, but many thousands live in North America (over 200 parishes) and in other Arab countries.

Baba (Arabic for Father, or Pope) Shenouda, as he was known, was born into a Christian family in Assuit in Upper Egypt in 1923.  He was called to the ministry as a young man when he read a Bible verse in the window of the Bible Society in downtown Cairo.  He loved the Bible and is reported to have memorised most of it.

Location: Loughborough

We are a fast growing mission movement with over 2,000 Christians from different countries involved in church-planting teams among unreached people groups.

We are looking for an experienced Accounts Officer / Book-keeper to fill a key full-time position within AWM UK’s office.

You will have:

• a heart for Christian ministry and be comfortable working with others in a team context.

• experience in office and accounts administration, preferably with a charity, and carry an AAT qualification or equivalent.

• excellent IT skills, including knowledge of Excel, Word, database and accounting software.

It is a genuine occupational requirement that you are a committed Christian who is in full agreement with the aims and goals of  AWM.

For job details and an application form, email sueb@awm-pioneers.org or call Alasdair or Sue on 01509 239525

Application deadline: 16 March 2012

The Arab League is set to send another mission to Syria, aided by the United Nations.

But, there is already a mission in Syria. This is a mission of men and women who are seeking to share the real solution to Syria’s problems: God became flesh and lived among us.

Today, men and women who are called by Jesus are living in Syria and sharing the gospel. Some of them are from Syria and some from other countries. Some have lived in Syria for a long time and others for only a few years. 
 
Two of these women recently met a young Syrian woman who is a modern feminist Muslim.  Her heart is broken with the unfairness and ugliness of the current unrest. Pray for open hearts to the claims of Christ.

Armed with the Word of Life
UK Foreign Minister William Hague has insisted that the UK will not arm the rebels. AWM’s Area Leader for Syria is enthusiastic about the possibilities of placing teams across Syria who will be armed with the Word of God. There are many communities desperately in need of the salt and light that comes with those who belong to Christ and are compelled by His love.

Take time and pray
Pray for hope. Syria’s young people are without hope and even the best university graduates have trouble finding a job unless they are well connected.  

Pray for justice. The violence may be limited to certain towns and neighbourhoods, but many live in fear of ‘collective’ punishment.

Pray for peace.  Violence is into its second week in Homs and many have died.  Pray that individuals and groups within the army would choose not to fire.  Pray for the rebels, that they would lay down their weapons.

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 4:7

Mum and Dad had just died. Their deaths were awe-inspiring because they were ready to meet Jesus in heaven. Many of my Muslim friends came and shared heart-felt condolences, which they are so gifted in doing. Some prepared wonderful meals to honour me. How precious these women have become! They went far beyond sending a sympathy card or having flowers delivered. They cried and sat with me. But one thing they could not do was bring hope in my bereavement.

The very mention of death terrifies the average Muslim woman. Tala** created a beautiful homemade sympathy card for me but she left a blank where the word death should be inserted. She could not bring herself to write the fearful word. Because my heart was so full of emotion after the deaths of my parents, words came tumbling out. As I spoke about our beautiful heaven, I watched the women in amazement. Their reactions seemed to say, ‘Tell me more’. And I did.

Captivating

The words in Revelation 21:3-4 and 22:3-5 about heaven capture the women’s hearts without fail. This has proven to be one of the best ways to get a spiritual conversation going. For example, Aswad’s** full-term baby boy was born dead and her grief was beyond bearing. She did not have a Bible in her language. But I had her read verses on heaven from Revelation and she could not stop reading.

Then she responded, ‘We believe when a baby dies, he will bring us fruit in hell.’

I could not believe it. She had already destined herself to hell and was at least comforting herself that her baby would come and bring her fruit. I explained that Jesus could take both her and her baby to heaven. She wanted so badly to believe that but dejectedly repeated, ‘Well, we believe…’

More than ever, I was determined from that point on to keep talking about heaven. Many Muslim women admit to fasting and praying for the departed soul of their loved one to reach heaven. There seems to be an underlying belief among many that prayers and sacrificial fasting will lead to a safe arrival, and perhaps even influence Allah. There is also hope that this religious devotion will be merited. I like to respond by using powerful verses of Scripture to affirm that the crucified and risen Jesus is the One who can safely bring us to heaven, the longing of every Muslim woman’s heart.

In conclusion, I discovered that applying my convictions about my calling, Scripture, prayer, sin and heaven, significantly shaped me into a more effective witness to Muslims.

Some of these lessons, were fleshed out once again when Manal**, my North African sister, surrendered her life to Jesus. She was baptised and moved in with us for loving care, safety and in-depth discipleship. Her most apparent spiritual growth took place after I shared my own journey of dealing with sin and finding God’s deliverance and grace.

* Joy has spent more than thirty years ministering to Muslims in the East and the West and shares further insights on her personal blog.
**Names have been changed to protect identities.

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TEACHING THE REALITY OF SIN

‘Why don’t the women respond more to the red page depicting the cross in the Wordless Book**?’

I lamented to my husband. ‘Perhaps,’ he replied, ‘it’s because they don’t understand the black page depicting sin well enough.’

Could it be? I did talk about sin but I really had always wanted them to understand the blood of Jesus shed on the cross.

A spiritual battle

It was my turn to share the gospel on the women’s ward of the mission hospital in the Islamic nation where we were serving. I decided I would try to explain sin more clearly. My legs began to weaken and I got very nervous. As I stood before about seventy-five patients and relatives, something ominous was happening. I was shocked to find that there was no black page to explain sin. I asked others to try to find it but they couldn’t either. Eeriness settled in. I put the book down in front of me for a few seconds and then went to pick it up and it was gone. No one had moved it. So I looked for something black to use as an object lesson.

As soon as I was done, my eyes saw the book lying where I had put it down. Still no black page. I was shaken as I returned home. I fell into a chair strangely exhausted, holding the book in my hand. As I opened it, the black page fell open and I heard inaudible demonic laughing. That day will never be forgotten because I learned a very important lesson. If we want women to understand and appreciate the value of the cross, they must hear a clear explanation about sin.

The turning point

It has taken me a long time to learn how to explain sin to Muslim women. There is little comprehension about the holiness of God in Islam. Almost every sin of their own can be justified as being legitimate. Someone else’s sin is a different matter. I have found that if a Muslim woman does not get a clear understanding and conviction of her sin, and yet accepts Christ, she will most likely fall away with time.

A turning point in seeing Muslim women begin to grasp an understanding of sin came when, after giving doctrinal explanations of sin that seemed to fall on deaf ears, I began to share stories of sin and shame in my own life. Initially I was reluctant to share such information, largely because I was afraid they would not want to associate with me, or might spread what I shared so that doors would even close to me as a result.

I was amazed to realise that deep down I really wanted to leave a good impression.

Hesitantly I began to share my own stories. Suddenly, Muslim women could relate to some of the things evidenced in my sinful nature or even a sinful stronghold where I had needed deliverance or mistakes I had made. The good news was that I could move on to declaring a Saviour – His saving and transforming power, forgiveness and grace. Especially powerful has been the mention of my own sins of lying, cheating, jealousy, hatred, anger, desires for revenge, a family line of occultic involvement, hypocrisy and rebelliousness. I also share our family mistakes in raising our children. All too often, we leave the impression that we are good. Since they want to project the same image, the issue of sin, so important in understanding the cross, is left untouched or not understood. My Tunisian friend understood sin very clearly and came under conviction. Even though she has had her share of trials and testings and even been weakened by them momentarily, one thing she knows is that she has a Saviour who died for her sin. Now the cross looms large for her.

*Joy has spent more than thirty years ministering to Muslims in the East and the West and shares further insights on her personal blog.
**The Wordless Book refers to a short booklet that outlines the gospel using symbols and images.

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Khadija** had a serious liver disease, and the doctor had advised her against getting pregnant. She now carried a baby and was desperate. This should be interesting, I mused. She is one of the most conservative women I have met. I let her know that I would pray in the name of Jesus, and asked if that would be okay. She agreed, and so I weakly prayed for a miracle. After all, I had not learned how to do this in church. Khadija swiftly requested, ‘Now pray a second time and put your hand on my stomach.’ This woman is desperate, I concluded. Soon after the encounter, I chided myself for being so weak in faith and spiritual authority. A few months passed and I was called to the hospital.

Khadija was close to losing the baby and wanted prayer again. However despite the scare, a beautiful healthy boy was delivered some time later. Khadija helped me reach a turning point. I came to understand the power of praying on the spot with Muslims. During thirteen years of ministry, I had assured many women that I would pray for them, which I tried to do, faithfully keeping my word. It was quite a different matter to pray with them and to do it boldly in the name of Jesus. At first, I felt joy and surprise, discovering that Muslim women yearned to be prayed for. And it continues to amaze me now. I watch people sit quietly in wonder and awe, often wiping away tears. Seldom do I witness this in my own culture. Many of my strongest experiences of the presence of God have come when I have prayed with Muslim women.

* Joy has spent more than thirty years ministering to Muslims in the East and the West and shares further insights on her personal blog.
**Name has been changed to protect identity.

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