Because of Jesus: Sharing the Gospel in the Middle East

Sharing the Gospel in the Middle East can be dangerous. But God works in incredible ways to reach His people.

Sharing the Gospel. 

What comes to mind with those three simple words? Street evangelism? Handing out tracts? Bible studies? In many countries around the world, these methods of sharing about Jesus aren’t legal, and can be very dangerous. 

But it doesn’t mean that the Gospel isn’t being shared in those places.  

Titus* and Mary*, recently retired to the States, spent their adult lives living in and sharing the Gospel in the Middle East. They lived in multiple countries, building relationships, and meeting people in many different spaces. They walked alongside and encouraged believers who were pursuing Jesus amidst hardship and opposition.

Although it could be challenging to share their faith openly, sometimes the Lord brought incredible opportunities for them to begin friendships with locals, and to share the Gospel with them along the way. 

Mary reminisced about a time when she was taking a walk with a colleague. They were in a wide, grassy area and saw a group of local Arab women sitting on the grass. Mary greeted them and the women invited them to sit and talk.  

One of the women had questions about religion, and within the space of five minutes, Mary had been able to share the Gospel with her.  

“It’s because of Jesus in us that they wanted us in their homes.”

Another of the women, Fareeha*, asked Mary to exchange phone numbers with her. Several months later, Mary and her colleague were able to touch base with Fareeha again. They built a friendship and Fareeha even invited them and their husbands to her home to meet her husband and family. Over the course of their friendship, Mary and other believers from her team were able to share with Fareeha the Good News about Jesus. Recently, Fareeha invited them to celebrate with them at her daughter’s wedding. 

As Mary looked back on these encounters, she remembered something important. These women could tell that the followers of Jesus were different. There was something about them that drew them in and made them want to know more. Mary said, “It’s because of Jesus in us that they wanted us in their homes.” Those open conversations and opportunities to share the Gospel are so important in a part of the world that has such a small percentage of followers of Jesus. 

Across the Middle East and North Africa as a whole, the population is approximately 430,960,000. This includes 593 people groups, 444 of which are considered unreached (The Joshua Project). That means that in this region of the world alone, there are 364,362,000 people who have never had a chance to hear about Jesus. And the hardest part is that many of these people will never even have the opportunity to hear the Gospel because they will most likely never encounter a single Jesus follower.  

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:37-38). As Mary and Titus shared, there are open hearts in so many hard-to-reach areas. The harvest IS plentiful. But the laborers are few. 

As followers of Jesus, we are part of the call to go out and share the Good News of Jesus all around the world. There are so many places where people are hungry for hope. Hungry for something more than what they know. And we who have knowledge of that hope are called to share it.  

If the desire to share the Gospel in the Middle East (or another region) is on your heart, connect with TEAM today. Our mission coaches would love to share more with you about the opportunities that are available around the world to share the love, hope, and Good News of Jesus.  

*Names changed to protect privacy