Reproducible Churches

Our family was sick over Thanksgiving but at least we spent time together. Heidi and Anna visited from Colorado. Sam is looking for full-time work. He was the assistant coach on the youngest 3 kids' cross-country team. They are now playing basketball. Henry & Nehemiah ​can't beat me in ping-pong... ​nor cornhole... ​nor airsoft. Petra is working part-time at a retirement home.

I have been affiliated with the Jordan Baptist Convention since we lived there in 2015. The vision statement of the JBC is “to glorify God by planting reproducible churches in Jordan, the Arab world, and to the end of the earth.” However, if you look at our 22 Baptist churches in Jordan, none of them are actually reproducible for 97% of the population of the country. If a Jordanian or Palestinian Muslim began following God according to the Bible, he could not reproduce a public, church building. The vast majority could not even consistently attend such a church due to persecution from the government, the community, even their own family. However, they could consistently attend and reproduce a private, house church. Pray for Arab believers from a Christian background to plant churches that are reproducible for all Arab believers in all Arab countries.

This resource is helpful to find how many times a particular Greek word is used in the Bible.

Where is Afghanistan?

Before my trip to the Middle East in September, Henry and I spent 4 days in New York City. Most meaningful to me was the visit to the 9/11 memorial. On that date in 2001, I began asking questions like, "Where is Afghanistan? What do these people believe about God?" The Lord began to burden our hearts with unreached people who had never heard the gospel. In 2004, we ended a wonderful 8 years of full-time ministry and moved our family of 7 to Jordan... then Sudan... then the US... then Egypt... then the US again... then Jordan again... now back to the US again. Along the way, 3 more kids were born, along with many failures, much grace, and many friendships deepened. Please pray for these "iron sharpens iron" friendships through lots of video chat, voice messages, and texting over the next 2 months before I visit them again in January.

Would you please watch this 3-minute video about missions to the unreached?
Great 3-minute video here about how teenagers should handle dating.

Awwal Marra

My wife & I were on a date night, strolling a park, when I saw a Sudanese man dressed in Islamic garb. What?! We knew there were Sudanese Christians in our city but Sudanese Muslims?! I greeted him and he took me to a pavilion with 25 men dressed just like him! They are all refugees from a region called Darfur, where genocide was taking place in the early 2000s. They were gathered for the Islamic holiday Eid Al Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice. I was introduced to the community leader (shaykh) and sent home with enough food to feed our family 2-3 meals. 

This past Sunday, on my second visit to the leader's home, I was able to explain the gospel and answer the common objectives Muslims have. When I asked him if this was the first time in 8 years of living in our state that he has had a faith conversation with a Christian, he said in Arabic "awwal marra", which means "first time". Would you pray for Abdulaahi, his family, and the community he leads? Would you also pray that God would give you opportunities to engage in gospel conversation with immigrants or students from unreached people groups?

Here is a wonderful way to get your family or small group thinking about missions to the unreached.

Give Until It Hurts

How can I be faithful to write to you without again including an opportunity for you to financially support either this ministry or this ministry, both recommended by a senior SB mission leader who lived in Yemen? Would each of you who are reading this choose one of these two ministries and give something that you would consider to be "sacrificial" (Mark 12:41-44)? You may not think that you are rich but compared to these precious Arab image-bearers of their Creator... you are. God has blessed us Americans so that we can be a blessing to others. But we need to be able to discern between our needs and our wants. 2 Corinthians 8:9, 13-15 says, "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake, he became poor so that you by his poverty might become rich.... For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness. As it is written, 'Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack.' "

Before summer, we prayed for work opportunities for our 3 youngest kids and God provided. Petra is working fast-food and hopes to begin a cleaning job when she gets her driver's license soon. Henry is working in concrete as he did last year. Nehemiah is working two half days on a farm & looking for more work.

A Cup of Cold Water In Jesus's Name

Ramadan has begun. Muslims believe that fasting during this month will erase sin. Would you click here to pick a country and a 15-minute prayer slot, then forward this link to your Christian friends? 

Financial support in missions doesn't always accomplish what we hope to accomplish. I've often had to ask myself questions like, "Does my Sudanese brother visit me because he is truly interested in planting churches among Ms, or does he want to immigrate?" or "Did my Egyptian friend genuinely click 'agree completely' with my online points about house churches or is he looking for financial support for his ministry?" When we missionaries don't have the linguistic or relational success we hoped to have within the first few years overseas, it is tempting to turn to the one thing we can do... partner financially with nationals. But that has its own challenges. So when I am asked by an Arab brother to connect him with financial partners, I send him the Arabic version of this.

Yet as I mentioned in a past e-newsletter more than a year ago, we certainly have a biblical precedent for cross-cultural financial support in times of crisis. Humanitarian organizations are rightly investing in refugees from Ukraine, who are "barely reached" with the gospel at 4% evangelical. Yet how much more should we the church support gospel-centered relief work for Yemeni Arabs (0.00% evangelical) who have endured civil war for years? This ministry was recommended for funding by a senior SB mission leader who lived in Yemen for 25 years and has been a friend for the past 10 years.

I'm not a Baptist but....

...I think they got it right when it comes to church government. When I read Scripture, I am persuaded that the congregational form of church government (church decides) is more biblical than the presbyterian form (elders decide) and the episcopal form (the bishop decides). Of course, all churches would agree that Christ Himself is the true head of the church. As I talk to Arab brothers, it seems that one of the major barriers to them planting a house church is related to the issue of authority. From whom should they get permission to do so? Should they be formally ordained by a registered denomination, or is it enough to receive the informal blessing of other Arab pastors whom they know? Should they follow their evangelical cultural norm of a single pastor, or is it more biblical to have a plurality of pastors/elders? If the congregation has ultimate decision-making authority, what does it mean to "obey" and "submit to" the elders? This article has been helpful in answering some of those questions so I had it translated to Arabic and share it often with Arab brothers.

For most of May, I was in the Middle East. I was able to visit friends in Nazareth for the first time since covid began. Therefore, I was also able to connect with brothers in Irbid in northern Jordan before traveling down to Amman. Please pray for continued conversations online with both old and new friends. I was unable to visit Sudan last month. Especially, pray for brothers there who are all struggling economically & socially.

You're In Charge

I was in Nazareth for 3 days for the first time since before covid. Then I was in Jordan for 5 days. I am in Beirut now for 3 days. I will be in Egypt for 6 days and then Saudi for 4 days. Would you ask the Lord to raise up reproducing churches of gospel-centered Arab families?

We all need counsel when it comes to parenting. A Jordanian couple in full-time ministry with whom we were friends when we lived there called me last month. Their older kids are doing well but their younger son was not submitting to his teachers at school. The mom said she found herself yelling at him sometimes. After asking questions and listening for 30 minutes, I suggested that they read chapter 4 "You're In Charge" of Shepherding A Child's Heart and each write 2 obedience points to apply to their parenting. I was a little concerned that the dad might not follow through but he actually shared 3 obedience points when we met the next week online! We talked about the difference between discipline and punishment. This family is loved and respected by many in the evangelical community of Jordan. Pray that they would be "strict but kind" to quote the dad. Have you and your spouse ever considered asking an elder in your church for parenting counsel? Sometimes just expressing the problem out loud and answering a few of their questions is enough to help us see it more clearly.

Hell's Best Kept Secret

When leaving the airport in Sudan, I saw two younger guys who were wearing shirts from American universities. I assumed that they were both Muslims so I took a seat beside them to engage them in conversation, hoping to share the gospel with them. Turns out that one of them actually grew up at the evangelical church where our kids attended a children's ministry years ago! He and I connected online yesterday and had a wonderful conversation. He told me that he listens to Christian teaching online so I asked who he listens to most and he said, "Ray Comfort", famously known for street evangelism and a sermon called "Hell's Best Kept Secret". He said that most of his friends are Muslims and he is learning how to respond to their objections to the Bible. Would you pray for this brother, that his apologetics would lead to his Muslim friends having a more thorough understanding of the gospel? I'm looking forward to meeting his parents when I return to Khartoum. Would you also ask God to give me opportunities to befriend more younger, teachable brothers in the Middle East?

A helpful perspective on Ukraine/Russia here.

What Counts?

What counts? What really matters? According to Galatians 5:6, "the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself in love" (NIV). Let's think deeply about that.

 
I am writing this from the airport in Amman, Jordan after visiting Egypt, Sudan, and Lebanon also. I was not able to visit Saudi because the embassy website did not clearly explain that those who enter Saudi within 2 weeks of visiting Egypt must quarantine for 5 days. (Sense a little bit of agitation?!) But it was a great trip. I was able to meet with approximately 80 guys. Some had to cancel or do it via Zoom due to covid cases and the largest snowstorm in Jordan in 7 years!

There were demonstrations in Khartoum against the Sudanese military who appears to be disrupting the transition to a democratic government. During the largest demonstration, eight people died. From the Nile Theological College, the smell of tear gas was strong and we could hear people screaming. Please pray for peace, justice, and stability in Sudan.

Not Going Alone

I leave soon for 3 weeks in the Middle East. I'm traveling alone... but there are a lot of people "going" with me. Roger is going with me because he gave me a used laptop last month. Charlie is going with me because he gave me his old iPhone. Holly & Alex go with me because they let me use their Delta buddy passes. The teachers at the classical school are coming too. They help my wife educate 3 of my kids while I'm gone. Ron, John, and Steve go with me as the elders of our house church, overseeing my family and my ministry. Each of them checked up on me two weeks ago when they learned I had covid (only mild symptoms.) Steve, David, and Steve are going with me because they have been so influential over the years in developing me as a missionary. Approximately 40 of you are going with me since you have financially supported us over the past year. Approximately 80 of you are going with me because you receive the daily prayer texts with the names of brothers whom I will meet each day of my trip. My closest companion on this trip will be my wife, who will homeschool, crack the whip, teach at school, cook, handle bills, feed chickens, and help me stay connected to the family daily online. Would you pray that even in my sometimes laser-focused engagement of Arab brothers while traveling, I would recognize that many people have a role to play in me being there... and that I would be thankful?

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Most Arab Christians are Coptic, celebrating Christmas on January 7.

The Kiz fam is looking forward to Christmas. Then I'll be in the Middle East for a few weeks. Lebanon is experiencing one of the worst economic crises in recent history. Sudan experienced a military coup two months ago. But I will most likely visit both, as well as Jordan, Egypt, & Saudi. Nazareth is questionable due to travel restrictions to Israel. Would you ask God to raise up local shepherds/elders in each of these locations who are modeling gospel-centered families and reproducible church planting?

Some friends in the Middle East are requesting Arabic-speaking biblical counseling online, especially for some believers from countries where there are very few Christians. Would you ask God to give me wisdom as I begin to connect with several potential online counselors, mainly Egyptians?

Do you make New Year's resolutions? Regardless of what season it is, grace-filled accountability helps all of us repent of sin, or simply develop better habits. For the past few years, I've been using the app HabitShare. Would any of you brothers prayerfully consider downloading the app to share habits between the two of us? You can try it out first without sharing habits with others.