SEND International Launches Muslim Ministry Campaign
DETROIT, Mich. (PRWEB) May 10, 2016 -- People don’t have to look much farther than the nightly news or their Facebook feeds to find information that could prompt fear of Muslims. But one SEND worker who has spent more than a decade living in Muslim communities says, “Muslims are people who care earnestly about loving God. Let’s live among them, and let’s seek God together with them, and let’s show them the truth of who Jesus is.”
Of the 2.4 billion people in our world who have little or no access to the gospel, 1.7 billion are of Muslim background. Like people everywhere, they face the greatest need: eternal life and hope through Jesus, the Jesus who loves them and gave his life for them. The new SEND Hope and Light initiative, launching in May, will present people with several pathways toward sharing Jesus’ message of hope and love.
Many of the world’s Muslims lack health care, education and employment opportunities. Some of them have fled conflict, but carry with them fear, questions, a crisis of faith as violence racks their communities.
SEND teams already are engaging Muslim peoples in eight locations spanning four continents. Two teams are forming now to serve additional communities in Eurasia and Asia. And we are partnering with other groups to engage eight more communities.
SEND missionaries often start by meeting basic needs. Computer training, literacy classes, help in childbirth, the gift of a goat, prayer during a time of crisis — these are the stones that build bridges of trust and serve as altars of remembrance of the tangible love of Jesus. As people see this love displayed through Jesus’ followers, and as they come to consider us trustworthy, we can begin sharing stories and truth from the Bible.
One Muslim man, whose wife was recently supported during childbirth by a SEND worker, faced criticism from some of his friends. “Look around you,” he told them. “Who is helping you? Is it the mullahs? No, it is the Christians!”
The fact that this man even knows a Christian worker is rather remarkable. On average, there is only one Christian worker for every 405,500 Muslims living today. About 80 percent of Muslims live outside the Middle East, opening opportunities all over the world to engage them.
SEND offers three opportunities to get involved in this outreach.
Pray. To help people pray specifically, SEND is launching the SEND Hope and Light enewsletter with updates and prayer requests from our teams serving Muslim peoples.
Give. Support specific needs and projects engaging Muslim peoples.
Go. SEND provides dozens of opportunities for long-term or short-term work within Muslim communities.
People can explore these opportunities, find educational resources and sign up for the SEND Hope and Light enewsletter at send.org/shl.
SEND International is an interdenominational faith mission agency with around 600 missionaries in more than 20 areas of Asia, Eurasia, Europe and North America. SEND’s mission is to mobilize God’s people and engage the unreached in order to establish reproducing churches. SEND members are multinational and are recruited and sent from sending offices and partner agencies around the world. For more information on SEND’s mission and ministries, visit http://www.send.org.
Ann Walters, SEND International, https://send.org/, +1 (248) 477-4210 Ext: 168, [email protected]
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