Communio Messianica Establishes 3,000 New House Churches

The number of Christians is particularly increasing in sub-Saharan Africa, Yemen, Iraq, and Syria.

Communio Messianica (Community of Christ/CM) has expanded by 3,000 house churches over the past five months, as reported by its Council Chairman, Harun Ibrahim, to the Protestant news agency IDEA. This international church movement, which caters to former Muslims who have converted to Christianity—referred to as MBBs (Muslim Background Believers)—now comprises over 16,000 house groups. According to Ibrahim, the majority of these groups are located in French-speaking Africa and the Sahel region, with more than 14,000 house groups in these areas alone. Despite the threat from radical Islamist groups such as Boko Haram, the number of Christian ex-Muslims is increasing in the sub-Saharan region. Ibrahim attributes this growth to the disillusionment many Muslims feel towards terror and violence, leading them to seek peace, hope, and life. Christianity is becoming increasingly attractive to many of them compared to Islam. Additionally, numerous media outlets are effectively spreading the Christian message, yielding fruitful results, Ibrahim explains. The number of converts is also rising significantly on the Arabian Peninsula, particularly in Yemen, Iraq, and Syria, among Kurds and Druze. "In these regions, even former fanatics are realizing that there is only one hope—the God of love who desires to save the world—Jesus," Ibrahim reports enthusiastically. Although CM anticipated a revival among Muslims, they did not foresee this level of quality and spiritual depth, he admits. In the coming years, the Council Chairman hopes that the number of Muslims finding Jesus will continue to grow. True to its name, CM aims to be a spiritual home for them, conveying the message: "You are not alone!" The idea to establish CM was conceived in 2015 at the 'Christian Persecution Today' congress in Schwäbisch Gmünd. Today, CM estimates that they have local contacts with approximately four million Christians with a Muslim background across 80 countries. CM is a member of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA).