Exclusive stories from the mission field
Mina, a 22-year-old Yazidi girl, was only recently reunited with her family in Iraq after being captured by the Islamic State years ago. She arrived at the tent camp, where her family now lives, in an ambulance, her hands and feet broken by the constant torture and beatings. She suffered from severe epilepsy and was bedridden for an entire year.
Two indigenous families in rural Mexico had no inkling of God’s existence until they heard audio recordings of the Gospel of Mark in their tribal language. “When listening to our audios in their language, something changed in them,” the leader of a native ministry said. “These families have changed their way of being and thinking.” The two families recently put their faith in Christ and have begun attending church services.
On Friday, September 8, a 6.8-magnitude earthquake shook the ancient mountain town of Marrakech and five other provinces in Morocco, flattening homes and triggering landslides that buried residents alive. The death toll has now exceeded 2,900 as rescue crews work to dig through the rubble. More than 5,500 people were injured in the strongest earthquake to hit the region in over 120 years. Indigenous ministries are standing by to receive and distribute critical aid—like food, water, medicine, and tents—to the many citizens who are now displaced and homeless. Your urgent support is desperately needed! This is a huge opportunity for Christians to share the love and hope of Christ in this closed, Islamic country. You can help reach the people of Morocco with your gift today!
The family of a man in northern Africa dying of a liver disease had already planned his funeral when a native Christian worker went to pray for him. “Our worker went by faith and laid hands on him and prayed fervently by faith, asking God to be honored and glorified in his life,” the leader of the native ministry said. The patient’s vital signs began to improve, but soon the village elders sought to ban the worker from the area.
A Syrian refugee mother in Jordan had no money to treat debilitating illness, much less her children’s schooling, and they asked her why they couldn’t learn to read and write like other kids. Bombings had driven the family of nine from Syria, but not before dust and other pollutants of war had exacerbated her asthma.
“My condition continued to worsen as I suffered severe chest pains and struggled to breathe,” Rojda* said.
Her face riddled with anxiety, a Muslim woman told members of a Bible study group in Syria that her son had a high fever, and that she could not afford any medical care. She had heard that the Christians prayed, and she asked if they would pray for her son. “You know that we pray to Jesus, right?” the group leader said.
Five failed rainy seasons have resulted in the worst drought in 40 years, killing livestock and decimating crops. Millions of people in Africa are on the verge of starvation and death. You can save lives with your gift today to get emergency food in Jesus’ name to people who are barely surviving. Indigenous ministries are on the ground in the regions most affected and are standing by to receive funding. “Many people, like the elderly, children, and lactating mothers are dying silently in their homes due to starvation.” -ministry leader in Uganda
A young woman from Afghanistan who came to faith as a refugee in a Middle Eastern country feared her husband would divorce or kill her if she took off her head covering. Removal of her hijab would reveal that she had left Islam, and the leader of a native ministry prayed with the young mother of two children about her fears and shared Scripture with her. “She came back to us wanting to be baptized, showing us that she was indeed growing in her faith,” the leader said, adding that he asked her what her husband might do if he heard she were baptized.
Native Christian workers assisting a refugee mother in Greece had learned that two of her three children were lost somewhere near Greece’s 132-mile border with Turkey. When she went to police to report them missing, they put her in jail for lack of legal documents and sent the 5-year-old, autistic son with her to a children’s hospital. “The situation was very bad, and the woman was very frustrated,” the ministry leader said. “The autistic child, who was very much dependent on his mother, was asking for her and didn’t eat anything.”
A crowd of murderers, thieves and other violent men, women and minors in Mali were incarcerated uneasily in the same prison when guards called them into the courtyard. An officer told the inmates that Christians had come from hundreds of kilometers away to give them advice, and to please listen to them. The hardened faces softened as the native Christian worker spoke of disobedience, sin and salvation. The worker knew this might be the only chance the criminals from different tribes had of hearing the gospel, the ministry leader said.
