We are continually thankful for all who partner with us in cross-cultural gospel mission. Through prayer and regular financial giving, this partnership is helping plant gospel seeds around the world. Could you give generously by 30 June, to see more people around the world find lasting hope in Jesus?

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W & S live and serve together with their young son in the Middle East. S previously worked in the Middle East, which enabled her to develop her language skills and begin building relationships and learning culture. W is in his first term of language learning and cultural acquisition. Together they work with a team that supports new gospel workers. As W’s Arabic has improved, he has become more involved with a refugee school operating under the oversight of their local church. He has since become close with two young teens MA and SF.

MA is more outspoken than SF and more devoted to his majority faith. He is extremely interested in discussing religion, and when asked about what he has been learning, shared:

“I didn’t spend any time with Christians before coming to this school. Now I am studying from the Bible and learning things from it. I now know that it is from history. It happened in history. I would like to keep learning from it.”

For SF, belonging at school has impacted his identity and reshaped his relationships. He shared with W:

“We are all family together. Loved. The boys and the girls, we’re family. We are family in one team.”

In the Middle East, female cross-cultural gospel workers greatly outnumber male workers, despite the male-dominated culture in which they serve. W is enthusiastic about the opportunities school provides to share Christ’s love with outsiders. He sees results in the young men he works with and in their families, who invite W into their homes and send their sons to church, because of the trustworthy relationships they have built.

W has repeatedly been struck by attitudes of those around him to revenge and forgiveness, and has needed to diffuse situations in which he has shared of Jesus’ command to love enemies and forgive as we are forgiven. Another key difference lies in the idea of lasting hope, and a question W asked the boys about this. He explains:

“I’ve realized that the idea of hope, sure and certain hope, doesn’t seem to compute in this culture. I had to retranslate ‘hope’ to say ‘certainty’ because hope, no matter how I spun it, always seemed to mean ‘I wish for…’ And certainty can’t really be applied to salvation – here they would say ‘if God wills I will go to heaven’.”

CMS are committed to W and S serving long-term in the Middle East, allowing them time to build trust with local people and gain insight into culture and language. As W reflects on his first term on location, he is deeply thankful for the support of the CMS fellowship, and asks for your continued prayers:

“Thank God for the opportunities we get here. Praise him for the good reputation that our church and school have built up over many years. Thank God that he can use us wherever he puts us despite the challenges, despite our weakness. Pray for the kids at this school to know the real Jesus.”

In addition to your regular financial giving, would you prayerfully consider a generous gift to the CMS Lasting Hope Appeal by 30 June? Your support will enable us to confidently send and support CMS missionaries as together we work to see a world that knows Jesus.

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We are so thankful for your joyful support. Through the generosity of people like you within the CMS fellowship, God’s word is being proclaimed to people around the world and by his spirit many are finding lasting hope in Christ.