For many years, no one came to faith in Jesus.
We pressed on and continued praying, sharing about Jesus, and serving our poor Muslim neighbors through our humanitarian programs.
Now, by God’s grace, we are seeing Him work clearly and powerfully in the hearts and minds of our Muslim friends and neighbors! We are so excited, blessed, and astonished as we look at the numbers.
At the end of every year, we examine our statistics to take a more objective look at our ministry. This year, statistically, has been stellar.
We have seen over 2,600 people have come to faith in Jesus in recent years. Three hundred of those came to faith this year.
Over one thousand people are in regular Bible studies, a 16% growth from last year.
Almost two hundred of those who have come to faith are now leading others in studying God’s word.
Behind these encouraging numbers are real people with real testimonies of God’s grace working in their lives. Many of those accepting the Lord have stories of healed marriages, conflict resolution, and freedom from the grips of poverty.
Fatima had heard many good things about our humanitarian organization and wanted to participate in one of our community development programs. Her husband forbade her at first, but he eventually relented as his wife’s insisted that her participation could provide some solutions to their material poverty. Little did Fatima know that she would also encounter the rescue from her spiritual poverty.
From our first meeting with Fatima, she was hungry to hear about Jesus. Soon she started meeting with one of our colleagues to study the Bible, and today she is in a relationship with Christ!
“Pray for my husband,” Fatima continues to admonish us. “He knows nothing about spiritual things. God needs to open his eyes to the wonderful and true gift I have found in Jesus!”
There are also stories of people whose lives continue to be extremely difficult after coming to faith in Jesus. Many struggle to find food each day; others are fighting serious illnesses; some have been kicked out of their families and face daily persecution. But these men, women, and youth continue to follow Jesus faithfully.
Sadly, not every new believer has remained faithful. Tucked in between this year’s encouraging numbers of growth are those who fell away for various reasons—because of the cares of the world, or on account of persecution, or because of spiritual roots that did not grow deep. It reminds us that there is a very real spiritual war raging around us and that the evil one is relentless in trying to cause these new believers to stumble.
But God is far more powerful, wise, and loving. He will have His way!
Pray for all the people behind these numbers as they are in the middle of this intense spiritual conflict every day. Pray they would continue to read God’s word and grow in faith and love for Christ.
**This account comes from a long-term worker. Names and places have been changed for security.**
Original article: FrontiersUSA.org/blog/article/a-stellar-year-a-2015-field-report
