Islamic Ministry: New Opportunities to Share the Gospel
As director of the GCMM Arabic/Islamic Ministry department, I want to express my deep gratitude and appreciation to all our loyal supporters and friends this past year, and as we continue serving in 2023. Thanks to you we are reaching millions of people for Christ around the world—too many who have never heard about Jesus Christ, through 18 satellite channels, internet sites, and social media.
A new vision to reach the Islamic world
God has opened a new, amazingly great opportunity to serve in North Africa. We have been developing new projects with a new focus to reach the Islamic nation’s most unreachable area(s) and planning ahead for the future as well.
In this context, relating to North Africa, I had the opportunity to travel there at the end of January. The main purpose of the trip was to portray what life was like for those who converted to Christianity from Islam. Some were unable to travel, whereby interviewing and filming their life-stories was done on location rather than at our studio headquarters in Europe. I met with pastors and leaders from North African churches. We discussed the challenges believers in the communities are encountering, particularly when practicing their faith.
It was apparent that the challenges were much more than we had understood them to be.
Many have converted from Islam to Christianity, but are often found lacking in areas of discipleship and leadership. In order to help those who have come to faith in North Africa, more teaching about faith in Christ is needed. Also, how to live out their newly found faith without fear in their own community.
Pastor Brunson imprisoned for the sake of Christ
While in North Africa, GCMM’s Arabic ministry team crossed paths with Andrew Brunson, where they heard his powerful testimony of being falsely accused and imprisoned in Turkey.
Brunson is an evangelical pastor, who lived in Turkey for 25 years and was the lead pastor in a small Presbyterian church in the city of Izmir.
Pastor Brunson and his wife Norine served Syrian refugees in Turkey as well. In October 2016, the Turkish authorities arrested Brunson and accused him of spying, for helping terrorist organizations and assisting in Turkey’s unsuccessful coup in 2016. He was even threatened with a 35-year sentence and imprisonment. Pastor Brunson consistently denied the charges against him.
“Let it be known,” when he wrote from prison in 2018, “I am not in jail for any wrongdoing, but because of who I am, a Christian Pastor. I believe it is truly an honor to suffer for the sake of Jesus Christ as many have done before me.”
Pastor Brunson shares, “My two years in prison were marked with what I would call the ‘silence of God’, and I had no sense of His presence. My earlier experiences of closeness with Him were so rich and tangible. The departure of His presence was because my heart was so closed to God. I felt a deep sense of woundedness. I was the only Christian in the prison, and the only Christian I was in touch with during those two years was Norine, my wife. I was very lonely and isolated in my faith. I prayed for peace a lot. But I didn’t feel true peace. The grace of God brought me forward, but the strength and determination to find peace and joy were harder to attain than I thought they would be.”
Now that Pastor Brunson has been freed, he wants to see church leaders informed, for effective leadership for the benefit of everyone in the area and for all nations. I feel this is a worthy effort.
The aim of the Arabic Ministry of GCMM is to produce at least 1,000 programs in several different languages this year so that through them we can reach as many Islamic nations as possible. I believe that together we can achieve this goal.