The women huddled in to listen. One of them held my phone, its screen displaying the Arabic New Testament, and read several passages aloud. We had gathered to socialize and drink coffee together like we do every week. But on this day, our souls needed comforting. Fresh in our minds […]
Worshiping on the Wrong Side
“Water the ground of this city with worship,” God whispers to me. How do I do that? I wonder. I walk streets filled with garbage. Burst pipes often turn the streets into muddy swales. I look for dry patches and step over the garbage. How do I water this ground […]
Meeting a Muslim Beach Mom
A woman sat reclining on a beach chair, relaxing with her husband and enjoying the turquoise sea. She could have been any woman, from anywhere in the world. Except that she was completely covered in loose, flowing black cloth. Only her eyes were visible through a slit in the fabric […]
Faith Like a Child
As I handed a glass of tea to my Muslim neighbor, I opened my mouth to ask her about her family. “Here, Mom,” my seven-year-old, Moriah, interrupted as she walked into our living room and handed me a copy of the New Testament in the local language. “Why don’t you […]
3 More Rules of Honor-Shame Cultures
In last week’s post, I introduced how family, social capital, and aggression are used to manage honor and shame in some cultures. Here are three more unwritten rules for honor-shame cultures that help us better relate to Muslims and understand the logic that governs their cultures. 1. Cleanness reflects value. […]
3 (Unwritten) Rules of Honor-Shame Cultures
During my years in Central Asia, I always dreaded being pulled over by a policeman. No matter how much I tried to demonstrate my innocence according to all the traffic rules, the officer usually showed little interest in concepts like guilt, laws, or justice. Then one day, I saw a […]
Prayer for the Arab Gulf
The Arab Gulf—a region consisting of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates—is where Islam was originally founded. Today, 32 million Muslims live in the Arab Gulf. Throughout the entire region, there is still no known church or fellowship of local Muslim-background believers. And yet the […]
The God Who Sees Me
Emel looked at me in surprise. “Do you think God sees me? I mean, ME?” She looked at the phone in her hand and examined the words of Genesis 16 on the screen. I prayed silently as Emel read, all the while trying to keep a tight grip on the […]
Prayer for Chad
As a country of 10 million people, Chad is one of the poorest in the world. And yet, two million Chadians face another sort of poverty: a total lack of access to the Gospel. New workers are needed to help reach Chad’s 53 unengaged Muslims people groups. Fortunately, opportunities for […]
Continuing the Work Abroad from Home
An Interview with Joe and Helen Sending forth workers to the last frontiers of the Gospel requires the support of faithful senders—people like Joe and Helen of Mississippi. Joe and Helen have been giving faithfully to Frontiers since 1997. They served as missionaries in Brazil for more than two decades, […]