In the last six months our Arabic ministry has expanded greatly, and the refugee crisis has also brought it close to home. Also, we are now partnering with more Arabic ministries than ever before, and we are really excited about seeing thousands of Arabs giving their lives to Jesus both in Europe and the Middle East.
Since August we have donated over 7,000 copies of Arabic translations of Colin’s books to churches and ministries working with refugees in Europe. In September, in one European city, hundreds of books were given out to nearly 500 ex-Muslim refugees who have given their lives to Jesus.
The situation in the Middle East might seem dire, but it has been the atrocities perpetuated by the Islamic State that have been turning Muslims to Jesus in large numbers. What the devil meant for evil, God is using for good!
Many refugees have already accepted the gospel in their homeland as they have watched Christian programmes on TV or accessed Christian teaching via the internet, but until becoming refugees they have lacked the opportunity to be part of a local Christian church. In one European city, a former Islamic State soldier who had blown up a church in Iraq was baptised by the very pastor whose church he had attacked!
In another European city every imam refused to participate in a debate with a well-known Christian apologist. But one did. Soon after that, his daughter fell ill. Half of her body was paralysed, and her heartbeat rose to 240 beats per minute. She was about to die. In despair, the imam prayed to Jesus.
The daughter recovered immediately. The imam realised that the god he had prayed all his life had done nothing to help him, but Jesus whom he had been fighting against had been willing to heal his daughter straight away. He is now a Christian.
There seem to be five main reasons why Muslim Arabs are choosing Christ: supernatural dreams and visions about Jesus; falling in love with Jesus when they read the Gospels; healing miracles; practical love expressed by Christians; and disillusionment because of the Islamic State.
It seems that we are witnessing the beginnings of a seismic spiritual earthquake that will change the spiritual landscape of the world in decades to come.
In 2005 God gave us a vision of four combine harvesters that would soon begin to bring the Middle East to Christ: satellite TV, internet, small groups in home churches and large evangelistic events. What has become evident is that those combine harvesters are now all at work, and hundreds of ministries are working together to bring the harvest in. What is particularly encouraging is that much of this work is now led by ex-Muslims, who burn with zeal to bring their brothers to Jesus!
If you want to know more about this vision, please read 12 lessons from fulfilled vision.
The Arab church is discovering the importance of discipleship, and Colin’s teaching materials that have been translated into Arabic have been well received both in Europe and the Middle East.
We have also seen that the general principles of ministry we have learnt through cell vision are mostly applicable in the new Middle Eastern churches, as there men disciple men and women disciple women, and new churches gather mostly in small group setting. Pray for us, as our work is expanding rapidly in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East!
The Christ4Arabs meeting that we are hosting in our church on Saturday 4 November is but a small, visible part of this mostly invisible, underground work.
It seems that the God-given Arab Spring is finally arriving, as the new Arab Church consisting mainly of ex-Muslims is rising!
This article was published originally in the November 2017 issue of Revival Times.
You can connect with Marko on Twitter @markojoensuu and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mpjoensuu/ or by visiting markojoensuu.com.
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