Population:
254 million
Evangelical population:
2.3%
People groups:
374
Unreached people groups:
230
North Africa
From the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in the West to the Red Sea in the East, North Africa is ethnically, culturally, and linguistically distinct from the rest of Africa. The Sahara Desert comprises much of North Africa, excluding the fertile regions along the northern Mediterranean coast and the Nile River in Egypt and Sudan.
Arabs from the Middle East conquered the region between the A.D. 600s and 1000s, bringing the Berbers and Egyptians who inhabited the area under Arabic and Muslim culture. Today, the population of this vast region is almost entirely Islamic. In most North African countries, sharing the gospel, holding a church meeting, or even owning a Bible is illegal. Believers risk imprisonment and physical harm, including death, for openly practicing their faith.
Christian Aid Mission assists indigenous ministries based in six North African countries. These ministries are wisely and strategically discipling, training, and equipping believers to plant churches in their communities.
One ministry is providing online church-planter training to Muslim-background believers from a particularly restricted country. They are also reaching seekers through their website and social media, following up with all who express interest in the gospel and connecting them with their on-ground team for discipleship.
Since the Arab Spring revolution, youth in North Africa have faced difficulties. Multiple ministries are reaching this vulnerable population through sports, leadership development programs, and vocational training. They have opened Christian kindergartens to reach both children and their mothers, in addition to holding conferences for families where the gospel is shared. Multiple ministries provide educational assistance to poor children. An indigenous ministry is finding success in sharing the gospel through its Christian primary school in a 99.5-percent Islamic nation.
Other ministries throughout North Africa request help to provide for the needs of persecuted believers who have lost jobs or whose families have rejected them because of their faith, for poverty-stricken refugees who fled from war and terrorism. Missionary support, Bibles, training, transportation, and gospel tools like projectors, musical instruments, computers, etc., are also among the most needed resources for effective outreach in North Africa.
How to Pray for North Africa
- Pray that God would open the eyes of people in North Africa to the fallacy of Islam and lead them to Jesus Christ.
- Pray for great wisdom and courage for indigenous missionaries sharing the gospel in areas where doing so might cost them their lives.
- Pray that new, Muslim-background believers would stand firm in their faith and be discipled in God’s Word.
More stories from North Africa
Care For The Abused And Mistreated in North Africa
After suffering years of sexual abuse at the hands of different men, a young woman was completely broken. She hated who she had become, and her relationship with God seemed damaged beyond repair. But when she finally accepted the help of a native ministry that runs a shelter for abused women, her life began to change.
Help Missionaries Disciple Believers in the Middle East/North Africa
Though a woman and her family were followers of a native religion, they attended a local church, learning about God’s love and receiving care when they requested it. When the woman’s husband became ill and they were unable to pay their electric bill, she cried out to God for help. Shortly thereafter, two church members came to their home, prayed with them, and gave them the needed funds.
Comfort Those Who Are Persecuted in North Africa
A young man who is a believer in Christ zealously shares his faith in his country. But his family is Muslim, and when his mother requested that he help her buy sacrifices for several Islamic holidays, he was uncertain how to respond. When he asked a native ministry leader for help, they prayed together, and he chose to leave his home for one month. When he returned, the situation was better, but his experience with his family is not unusual.
Share Jesus With Disheartened People in North Africa
When refugees flooded the region, many businesses inflated their prices. A native ministry stepped in, providing free supplies and taking a group of refugees on a short boat trip where they shared the gospel and taught them about their new city.
Comfort The Downtrodden in North Africa
After the mother of a 17-year-old girl refused a young man’s proposal to her daughter, he raped the girl in revenge. He was sentenced to prison, and the young woman’s family beat her repeatedly, a common practice in a culture in which the girl is often blamed in instances of sexual violence.
Strengthen Church Leaders For Spiritual Warfare in North Africa
Eight young Muslim men were recruited from their villages by jihadists and spent more than a year involved in terrorism activities. But they soon realized their error in judgment and fled. When they happened upon Christian workers, they received Bibles in their native languages, and all chose to follow Jesus.