The following is an update from Sharif A., who is laboring as an evangelist for Salam Church in an undisclosed Middle Eastern country. Recently, his ministry to Muslim refugees has stirred up trouble with the secret police. This week he has been called in five separate times for questioning. Please pray for his preservation and encouragement.
Iraqi Refugee Ministry
This month our team has been conducting home visits to encourage various refugee families from Iraq. We share with them from the Bible and encourage them to attend the church meetings. Many of them contact me almost daily to visit them because of their state of anxiety, despair, and fear of the future. They have passed through very difficult situations in their country and have left everything behind. I have been working to form a team of volunteers to help us manage all the relief supplies: food, clothing, blankets, and diapers.
A great blessing this month has been the formation of two new Bible study groups among the Iraqi refuges. One is with Pastor Abu Munahid and his wife, and the second is with me and my wife. We visit them weekly to encourage them and care for them in all respects, and they have sensed the love of Christ in us practically. We also pray for them and their needs. They are regularly attending the meetings at our church. We are using the church bus to take them from their homes to the church because they live far away.
The Church Ministry
I have been blessed this month to help with the pulpit ministry of the church, where I have prepared several sermons about the family, God’s plan for marriage, and the qualities of a virtuous woman. My desire is to encourage the members of the Church to put God first in their lives and to teach them how to manage their families biblically.
We have also been encouraging members to join in the weekly prayer meeting at the church. We want to stir the church’s members to pray with one heart for the ministry in the church, its needs and demands.
Syrian Refugee Ministry
This month we visited many new families to deliver the message of Christ’s love for them. We listened to their tragic stories, encouraged and prayed for them, and provided them with food boxes, clothes, and blankets.
One of my most encouraging visits this month was with a Muslim man, Abu Uday, and his family. I had already visited them once before, and when I called to announce a second visit, he was very excited. We talked and prayed for them. Abu Uday told me that he had felt joy and peace since we had visited them the first time. Please pray for them and other families like them.