Population:
10.12 million
Evangelical population:
0.27%
People groups:
20
Unreached people groups:
13
Jordan
With Christianity dating back to the first century A.D., the country east of the Jordan River and northeast of the Red Sea now has a population that is 96.3 percent Muslim. Of the 2.3 percent who identify as Christian, 61.8 percent are Orthodox and 18.4 percent Roman Catholic, with Protestants making up 10.7 percent.
The official language is Modern Standard Arabic, but most native Jordanians speak a dialect known as Jordanian Arabic, and English is the de facto language of business and has co-official status in schools and universities.
Native missionaries operate a theological seminary that has trained Christians for work in 19 Arab countries, as well as most of the evangelical pastors in Jordan. The seminary needs assistance to cover tuition for trainees and to help support graduates as they begin church planting in countries with high poverty and persecution.
Ministry leaders also seek help to cover costs of an online training program to help Muslim-background believers plant house churches in Islamic countries. Also sought is regular support for missionaries working in multiple native ministries. A ministry that trains leaders from countries throughout the Middle East helps equip children’s ministry workers and house-church leaders to reach their respective countries with the gospel.
Jordan has a high number of refugees, including Syrians, Iraqis, Lebanese, Yemenis and Libyans. One ministry provides Syrian and Iraqi refugees with aid, and its Christian school serves traumatized refugee children, including special teacher aides for those suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. This ministry thus provides a huge help to the children’s families. Workers need assistance for this ministry, which opens the doors for them to share the gospel with refugee families. A counseling and discipleship center for traumatized refugees also offers vocational training such as skills in sewing or hair dressing.
Sources: Joshua Project, Wikipedia
How to Pray
for Jordan
Pray that leaders will continue to be trained online or otherwise for badly needed leadership in Middle Eastern countries.
Pray that growing signs of persecution of Christians in a country that has long lived peacefully with Christians would come to an end.
Pray that refugees would put their faith in Christ and find freedom to practice their new faith.
More stories from Jordan
Refugee Mother in Jordan Overcomes Heartbreak
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.
Help Send Christ’s Love to Refugees in Jordan
Refugees from Syria, Egypt and Iraq have experienced the love of Christ for the first time through native Christian workers. A Syrian refugee mother received help caring for her two disabled children and her newborn twins, and she was deeply touched when a worker visited her with treats for her children.
Provide Medical Care for Refugees in Jordan
The needs of pregnant women and infants are growing among Syrian refugees suffering from conflict and displacement. With limited resources, native Christian workers are meeting the vital health care needs, both physical and emotional, of the mothers and infants.
Help Train Church Workers in Jordan
The pandemic helped a seminary develop its online programs for church leaders and others being trained to expand God’s kingdom throughout the Middle East.
Help Transform Lives with the Gospel in Jordan
A young man who served as an assistant to the leader of a mosque came to a local ministry’s church to argue with congregational leaders about Christianity. Later going through severe hardship, he had a dream that Christ was bearing his pain and had transformed His suffering on the cross to glory.
Provide Aid to Refugees in Jordan
Meeting the urgent needs of Syrian and Iraqi refugees for food, clothing and medical care, local ministry workers specialize in helping children; they recently opened a school in a refugee camp for 20-25 students, as many children are unable to read and are not allowed to go to Jordanian schools.