A Safe Place in Troubling Times

“Are you a Christian”? Huda* asked a member of our team during an outreach event.

The young woman, who had recently emigrated from a Muslim nation, explained that she had met a Jehovah’s Witness who had given her a copy of their Bible.

While she knew that Islam was false, as she read the Jehovah’s Witness Bible, she felt something was wrong with it, as well. So, she stopped reading it.

Instead, she sought out and purchased an NIV Bible and began reading it from the beginning. When God connected us with Huda, she had made it to Numbers!

Your generosity to this ministry enables our teammate to meet with Huda weekly to study the Bible with her . . . just as it keeps the doors of the community center open so we can continue meeting more refugees like her!

This fall, in addition to our regular outreach activities, the center is hosting a new church plant and offering accredited theological education in English and our local language.

These enable our team to collaborate with local believers and to encourage them to develop a missions mindset as they grow in Christ.

In any given week, your gifts provide English conversation and philosophy groups, food and clothing programs, cooking classes, counseling, a women’s breakfast, and more.

Please join us in prayer:

• Praise the Lord for Huda’s interest in the Bible. Ask Him to draw her to repentance.
• Pray for the new church plant meeting in the community center to grow in number and in spiritual maturity.
• Ask God to guide others seeking Him into the community center.
• Pray that the gospel will shine through every activity, meeting, and service we do.

Thank you for giving and praying for this ministry, as we partner together to shine the Light of the World into the darkness where refugees in Europe live.

*Name changed

Birni* fled her home country with her family, seeking a better life in Europe. Sadly, their new life was little better than the situation they left behind.

They struggled in a barely inhabitable apartment. Birni’s two children needed clothes and other essentials.

But that’s where you stepped in!

Your generosity to this ministry provided clothing for Birni’s children. The family attends English classes at the community center, where they are learning essential language skills.

Additionally, Birni started attending a women’s group. After dropping their children off at school, the women gather to support each other. Your gifts feed these women a nutritious meal that many depend on due to their limited incomes.

Through all these activities, you have helped share the good news with Birni’s family and demonstrated Christ’s love during this difficult transition to Europe.

Please join us in prayer:

• Pray for Birni and her family to find safe housing.
• Ask God to open Birni’s family’s heart to the gospel, so they believe in Him.
• Pray that all the women in the support group will desire to read God’s Word and seek to understand it for themselves.

Thank you for joining us as we engage refugees and migrants in Europe. Your faithful gifts and prayers keep this center open and introduce the lost to Jesus.

*Name changed

Living as a refugee in a foreign country and feeling overwhelmed with four children and an unemployed husband, Ziri* turned to a believer she met through our team’s food program at “A Safe Place in Troubling Times,” our community center. As Ziri shared her frustrations and fears, the believer recognized that only Jesus could meet her needs. This believer sent Ziri a short video explaining how God loves her, and they met up for coffee the next week to discuss it. While Ziri and her family have not accepted Christ, she and the believer continue to talk, and our community center where they met has helped meet additional needs. Thank you for making this possible because of your faithful intercession and generosity!

God has called “A Safe Place in Troubling Times” to be a space for immigrants and refugees to experience love as they assimilate into their new life here in Europe. We offer numerous programs, including English classes, local language classes, mental and spiritual counseling, cultural events, and much more.

Our food distribution program was particularly successful in building bridges with refugees. Instead of simply giving away food, we partnered local believers with participating families for multiple trips to the grocery store over numerous weeks. Using this format, believers built relationships with refugees like Ziri in which they can both tell and show the good news. In this way, we minister to refugees’ physical, emotional, and spiritual needs.

We count on your partnership in prayer:

• Pray for Ziri and her family as they adjust to their new country and seek employment.
• Ask God to soften Ziri’s husband’s heart to the gospel.
• Pray Ziri’s family will respond to the gospel and accept the Father’s love.

Thank you for joining us in addressing the world’s greatest problem: lostness. Your gifts and prayers for this team enable us to reach immigrants and refugees in Europe with the good news. You are a co-laborer with us in the gospel, and we value your partnership!

*Name changed for security

Because of your generosity, we opened our community center to engage refugees and migrants in our community in 2021. This center serves as a catalyst for gathering people from North Africa and the Middle East (NAME). Since opening, we have offered English language classes for men, women, and children, and language lessons for learning the host language. We have hosted intercultural dinners and many one-on-one counseling sessions with trained trauma counselors.

Fall 2022 was our first semester to offer services through our center, and our team is learning how to use the center to reach NAME people in our community effectively. Because of your gifts, we are discovering and engaging an increasingly diverse group of refugees, and we are excited about the new opportunities to share God’s love.

This center provides us with greater validity in the community. Because of it, we can partner with other organizations, opening opportunities to engage additional communities of NAME people. The center also provides a “home base” to our team as we engage NAME people throughout the city and solidifies our presence in this context.

PRAYER REQUESTS:

• Please pray for the NAME people we engage through the center.
• Pray they will hear the gospel with open hearts when they come to the center and that many would believe.
• Pray for wisdom for our team so that we will use this new resource to reach many NAME people and follow the Lord’s leadership in using it effectively.

Thank you so much for your kindness, generosity, and partnership!

Many people in the Bible were doing ordinary, everyday things when God called them to serve Him in a special way. Is God calling you? Could He be leading you to serve Him among the peoples of Northern Africa and the Middle East? View the video.