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We are right now in the consolidation phase of bringing our people together in West Africa. There are tens of thousands of Muslim Background Believers in this area. The largest CM community in the region is the network among the Fulani in twelve states of the Sahel zone. Please pray especially for B., the apostle to the Fulani people and for his network of over 1600 communities. Please pray also for peace in this region. With the UN peace keeping mission to Mali not likely to survive and Nigeria’s upcoming presidential election accompanied with rising ethnic tensions the turmoil in the region is not likely to disappear soon. We are right now in the consolidation phase of bringing our people together in West Africa. There are tens of thousands of Muslim Background Believers in this area. The largest CM community in the region is the network among the Fulani in twelve states of the Sahel zone. Please pray especially for B., the apostle to the Fulani people and for his network of over 1600 communities. Please pray also for peace in this region. With the UN peace keeping mission to Mali not likely to survive and Nigeria’s upcoming presidential election accompanied with rising ethnic tensions the turmoil in the region is not likely to disappear soon.
Pray that the ongoing protests in Iran would unite the people of Iran to demand freedom from the Islamic dictatorship they are suffering under. There are efforts to instrumentalize the protests for ulterior goals. Some see the protests as a matter of the Kurds revolting against the Iranian state in a bid for independence. Others depict the revolution as an act of emancipation by the women of Iran. It needs to be understood that the younger generation all over Iran wants change. They are fed up with a suffocating Islam that makes them slaves of the system. This is something that is being experienced in the whole Islamic world. People are turning away from Islam in a way that is unprecedented.
Pray that those who are disillusioned with Islam would find the truth in Christ! There is now a seven digit number of converts to Christ in Iran, with just as many Iranian followers of Christ outside the country! Pray that God would unite and strengthen His body of Iranian believers to be an effective witness so that they can be the salt and light for their people and country.
Thank the Lord with us for a remarkable fact-finding and vision casting visit we had to Southeast Asia. The Lord is doing miraculous things there, but the adversary is fighting back hard. Pray that the victory Christ won on the cross of Calvary would become evident to the forces of darkness in the Indo-Malayan region. Thank the Lord for all the faithful and capable witnesses who are spearheading a huge disciple making movement there. Pray for protection over and for acceleration within the movements. Pray that we at CM would be able to learn from and serve these movements.
Please continue in prayer for our brother Diaa in Libya, who is appealing his verdict for blasphemy and apostacy. May the Lord Jesus himself be close to him in prison, strengthening and comforting Diaa in his hours of doubt and temptation by the evil one. May our Lord Jesus Christ stand with him and the relatively small community of believers in Libya in a very special way, protecting and blessing them!
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Continue in prayer for our brothers and sisters in Somalia and Somaliland who are suffering in prison because of their loyalty to Jesus Christ. One sister just had her sentence for apostacy meted out for five years. It would be so easy for them to recant and enjoy freedom. But they know that true freedom exists only in Christ. This is something our believers from a Muslim background understand and appreciate in a very deep way. Pray also for our media ministry to Somalians worldwide, that the liberating Gospel of Jesus Christ would free the Somali people from their bondage to Islam.
Uganda has seen a spate of aggression against MBBs during the last year. Several converts, especially former Muslim functionaries, have been murdered after their public conversion to Christ. Evangelists have been manhandled and severely injured after discussing with Muslims. Pray that the appeal of the Gospel to Muslims in Uganda would increase and that the dams would burst, bringing a flood of converts into the fold of the good shepherd.
In our last prayer bulletin we mentioned that CM was doing a Christmas campaign in Turkey. We provided jackets, shoes, and toys for the refugee children of MBB families mainly from Syria and Iraq. The children, numbering about 1200 from Arabic and Kurdish churches were overjoyed for the support we could provide! A heartfelt thank you to all of you who made it possible to bring such joy to our brothers and sisters. Please keep these families in your prayers!
Pray for this new year 2023, that it would be a milestone in establishing the regional conferences and structures of CM. We covet your prayer! “Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear” (Isaiah 59:1). Rejoice in the Lord always with us for His great mercies and loving kindness!
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