Countries Where We
Assist Native Ministries
Overview
Since the civil war began in Syria in 2011, the people of the Middle East have suffered unimaginable hardship and loss. Millions of Syrians fled their homes when ISIS invaded their communities. They are now destitute, living in foreign countries like Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, and other places where they do not speak the language and cannot find employment. Likewise, millions of Iraqis fled their homes and headed for the northern region of Kurdistan.
Christian Aid Mission assists numerous indigenous ministries inside Syria and Iraq, as well as in the countries to which refugees fled. Away from their homes, where it was risky for them to inquire about the Christian faith, refugees have been talking with native missionaries about the gospel. Many have expressed disillusionment in Islam and interest in Jesus Christ.
Since ISIS was driven out of their self-proclaimed territory, many internally displaced people are returning to their towns and villages. Those who have become Christians are taking the gospel back to their communities, which have been closed to the gospel for centuries.
How You Can Make a Difference
Ways To Give
Evangelism & Discipleship
Since an indigenous ministry in Lebanon launched its audio outreach program in May 2017, hundreds of thousands of Kurdish people throughout Syria, Iraq, and Turkey have heard the gospel in their own language via radio and podcast. More than 14,000 people have called the ministry’s call centers to learn more about Jesus. The ministry is looking into setting up additional call centers to meet the demand. GIVE NOW to help evangelistic and discipleship ministries like this one in the Middle East.
Community Engagement
One of several Christian Aid Mission-assisted indigenous ministries in the Middle East caring for traumatized refugee children, a Christian school in Jordan is providing Iraqi refugee children with a haven of healing. Teachers at the school use the Bible as part of their curriculum and teach students English, which will give them a career advantage. Grateful that their children are receiving a quality education, parents are open to the gospel message shared by many of their children after school. GIVE NOW to help community engagement ministries like this one in the Middle East.
Compassion
Christian Aid Mission assists several indigenous ministries in Turkey that are reaching out to thousands of Syrian refugees in tent camps. Apart from providing for their basic needs, gospel workers are going tent-to-tent to sit with the refugees, listen to their stories and pray for them. They distribute food packages, bottled water, clothing, shoes, and baby formula for infants born to mothers too malnourished to nurse them. During the winter months, they distribute firewood, blankets, and heaters. The ministries are also reaching children through Arabic picture Bibles. GIVE NOW to help compassion ministries like these in the Middle East.
Exclusive Stories from the Mission Field
Christ Revealed to Truth Seekers in the Middle East
“Jesus saved your life,” the American soldier told Saif* after he was freed from an ISIS prison. Who is this Jesus? Saif wondered, and he vowed to find him. What he discovered transformed his life and that of his family. “I am Christ,” the man in Mahdi’s* dream told him, and he instructed Mahdi where to look to find the answers he sought. When Mahdi obeyed the command and met Christian missionaries who presented him with a Bible, he knew he’d truly been in the presence of the Lord.
Help Christian Leaders Befriend The Lost in the Middle East
The leader of a local prison admitted to a pastor that he had secretly taken one of the New Testaments the pastor and his co-workers delivered to the prison for the inmates. The man hoped that the pastor would discuss the Scriptures with him because when he read on his own, the words “brought him such comfort.”
Disciple New Believers in Türkiye
When a teenage girl told her family she’d become a Christian, they destroyed her Turkish Bible and forbade her from attending any church services. Refusing to renounce her beliefs, the girl marked a tree near her home with the sign of the cross and sits beneath it to read an English Bible, which her family cannot understand and therefore does not realize its value.
Share God’s Word With Seekers Of Truth in Syria
A devout Muslim woman was tasked by her family to intervene with a relative who became a believer after she delivered a healthy baby. Prior to the planned intervention, the Muslim woman attended several Christian meetings to gain a better understanding of her relative’s new beliefs and therefore be better equipped to bring her back to Islam.
Extend Grace To Refugees in Jordan
An African refugee with severe health problems came to a native ministry’s medical clinic, where he was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease so advanced that he had to have both legs amputated. When the disease attacked his kidneys, ministry workers connected him with specialized doctors.
Equip Church Leaders For Underground Evangelism in Iran
A man who once followed an ancient Iranian religion heard the gospel from a Christian worker and became one of the most influential leaders of the underground network of Christians in Iran.