though being suffered, with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel”
[Oct.14.2022] An analysis was presented that though Evangelical Christians in the Middle East are facing pressure from Muslims and orthodox Christian denominations, the number is increasing significantly in some Arab countries.
According to the British Christian Today (CT), the MENA Evangelical National Councils were held at the Azlun Baptist Center in the north of Amman, Jordan’s capital, from the 26th to the 28th of last month. The meeting is a big event held by the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) after it established a new regional branch, MENA.
Basem Pekri, the head of the Egyptian Fellowship, estimated that about 3 million were evangelicals out of about 20 million Christians in Egypt. “Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is in the process of officially recognizing the church building as a sacred space,” he said. “The evangelical camp is gaining support from the president.”
On the other hand, Rev. Maher Fooad, the head of the Iraqi Evangelical Church Association, said at the meeting that “the Iraqi government has refused to approve Baghdad’s Little Evangelical Community of 5,000 people,” adding that some traditional church leaders and Iraqi officials describe evangelicals as “a danger to Iraq’s national security.”
“Eight evangelical churches in downtown Baghdad are on the verge of being closed,” Fooad said. “Since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, two million Iraqi Christians have left their homeland.”
Christians have been expelled from many Arab countries, including Iraq, but this has been a catalyst for opening new homes for Arab evangelicals elsewhere. Qatar and the UAE have been 2 main such places.
Government leaders in these two countries allow freedom of assembly and worship to evangelical refugees who have fled from countries where freedom of religion is very limited. In this way, European Arab communities have also flourished.
High-level evangelical leaders praised the evangelical churches in the MENA region for being trained as an organization. They also said in unison that evangelicals in the Middle East are still in an infant state and that they are in the same pioneering state as the first apostle’s church 2,000 years ago (Source: Christian Daily Comprehensive).
You know, brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not without results. We had previously suffered and been treated outrageously in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in the face of strong opposition. (1 Thessalonians 2:1-2)
Thank You, God, for using Christians and evangelical communities in the Middle East to spread the gospel in another country, even though they have suffered a lot in their homelands. May the kingdom of the Lord be firmly established in the Middle East through them, who are true free men and citizens of heaven who worship the Lord, even though they were refugees of faith due to persecution. Also, pray that the work of life like the first church will take place on this land through the dedication of evangelical leaders who take care of and train them.
Prayer 24·365
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