A kids’ club for local Arab children as well as Syrian Muslim refugee children started at a local church, with (initially) ten Syrian children. Within two months it grew rapidly to 66. OM team member ‘George’ saw that a number of the refugee children were unable to read or write and began teaching them literacy skills.
Afterwards, some of the children encouraged their parents to go to the church despite some of the adults’ objections. ‘These are great people and they talk about Jesus the Messiah,’ they said. A mother and her children were deeply touched by the teaching and outpouring of love they found at the church. Spurred on by what they were learning, they said: ‘We want to follow Jesus.’
Now 21 people are preparing for baptism.
Discipleship Bible Study (DBS)
The Discipleship Bible Study programme is really taking off with six different groups of Arabs participating in just one location. Many other DBS groups are springing up elsewhere in the Near East (Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq).
Meanwhile, the eighth training course for, mainly, local university students is under way, teaching participants how to answer effectively the common questions Muslims have about Jesus, how to share their Christian faith with Muslim friends and ways to pray with them.
‘So many of my dear friends are Muslims. I love them. But every time I tried to speak about Jesus, I felt stuck and cried,’ one student said of her experience before the training. She continued: ‘But as the course finished, I found that I can speak confidently with my Muslim friends. In fact, I have had the opportunity to pray with more than 20 Muslim women so far who were either sad, sick or simply needed some encouragement. I am so excited!’
