Arab World Media: Summer 2023 Update

Elias is the youngest in a family of six in North Africa. Having grown up happily in a devout and loving Muslim family, Elias loved Islam. With that deep love for his religion and a hunger to know more, he began asking questions. But no one had answers that satisfied him. So, he began looking for God online and found different media ads and websites. This led him to Jesus.

“When I accepted Jesus Christ, 100% of my life was changed.”

After Elias accepted Jesus as his Savior, he found living out his new faith challenging. The government of his country forbids him to share the gospel or attend church in a building. In fact, the government wants locals to believe that there are no Christians in their country. So, many believers meet secretly in house churches.

Elias shared, “The hardest thing is I didn’t want to lie. I had to keep my faith. But at the same time, I had to be careful about what I was saying.”

Elias has been encouraged by other believers and says he has gained a new, big family. He now serves with Pioneers, sharing the Good News with others seeking Jesus online. Elias wanted to show people it is possible to be a Christian in this nation.

“I believe there are many, many people like me. They are searching, and they want to know God, and they’re online.”

Being a Christian in North Africa comes with many risks. So, when Elias meets with people he gets a lot of questions. Some seekers believe that if they become Christians, they will face lots of persecution. They expect to be stopped in the street or have problems with the police.

Elias reassures new believers that he was once in their shoes. He will walk alongside them as they experience hardships in their journey. That’s why he uses a local number to contact seekers—so they know he is also in the country.

A growing team of digital responders

God is using digital media strategies to equip church planters and create a ripple effect in hard-to-reach places. With your support, four more digital responders have joined the team and are fully trained. We now have 12 digital responders spreading the light of life. This has enabled our team to engage individuals seeking truth in a deeper way and make disciples of Christ whose faith will last.

Media impact

More than $540,000 has been given by donors! This means that…

• 1,008,324 Arab world Muslims engaged with our online content, exceeding our goal of engaging one million.
• 12,648 people have been in active contact with our responders, exceeding our goal of dialoguing with 12,000 men and women.
• These efforts have led to 336 people coming to faith in Christ, and we still have three months left to meet our goal of 360.

Progress on video production

The team has made significant progress on videos designed to engage more Arab women. One video campaign has already started. A video series focused on healing from trauma will be ready for distribution by the end of 2023.

We have created six new video campaigns and increased ad production. That has tripled the response of those reaching out to us for the first time. However, work in two countries continues to present challenges. Security has become an increasing concern. Although our team has been busy adapting to the current situation, our desired expansion has not occurred. Please continue to pray with us for the people in these two countries.

Thank you again for your steadfast prayer and ongoing partnership in our ministry. It would not be possible for people to hear the gospel without your support.