Following Jesus comes at a cost for many believers from a Muslim background. Mariam (name changed), who met Jesus after fleeing war in Syria, shares what it cost her, and why she has no regrets.

As a schoolgirl in Syria, I had many Christian friends. I wondered why they always seemed happy. I come from a strict Sunni Muslim family, and it always felt like there was anger, not happiness. My mum used to tell me that I need to pray, and to clean myself before prayers, because if I didn’t, I would go to hell. I wanted to know more about God and why God treats us this way.

My mum knew that I had Christian friends, so she removed me from school. At 15, I couldn’t leave my house, and my mum wouldn’t let my friends visit.

Escaping but still trapped

When I was 19, my family wanted me to get married. I accepted because I wanted to stop being confined at home. Yet, my relationship with my husband was built on force. I was told that no matter what happened, I must obey and listen to him – that’s what Islam said. I had no freedom. I asked God, “Where are you? Why do you allow these things to happen to me?”

When the war started in Syria, my husband left me alone. My children and I stayed with my parents until he phoned saying he was in Lebanon and wanted me to come.

In Lebanon we lived in a dirty, windowless place, with rats, and mould that made us ill. We had very little electricity, and it was cold. I was not allowed to leave the house. My husband used to beat me and do whatever he wanted because my parents were not there. Our neighbour noticed our circumstances and she convinced my husband to let me go to get some help from an organisation nearby.

The place I went to for help was amazing. I saw people praying and worshipping, and knew it was a church. I told them about our situation and they came to my house and prayed for us.

“I advise you not to read that”

When my husband found out about their visit, he washed the floor with salt water, believing this would cleanse these unrighteous people and spirit from the house. He saw the Bible they left and said, “I advise you not to read this because it is not true.”

I always listened to him because I feared him, so I covered up the Bible. I told the children not to touch it, but every time I looked, I found the Bible open. I would ask the kids, “Who touched it?” and they would say, “We did not.” It felt like the Bible opened by itself so I could see it.

“You are mine”

I decided to start reading the Bible. I got to Matthew 5, where it says that we are the salt of the earth. I kept repeating this verse, because it just got to me. Then I heard this voice in my head saying, “My daughter, you are mine.” This voice spoke to me three times, and it had a softness and peace. I will never forget it. It was the first time I felt somebody talking to me with love, care and kindness.

I went to the church and told them my story. They said, “Mariam, this is the Lord talking to you. The Lord is calling you to serve him. He calls you his own daughter.” I started secretly going there as much as I could. During one meeting, they prayed for me and told me, “You need to take Jesus as your saviour.” I said to them, “If Jesus is my freedom, then I am ready to take him.” I took that decision and I have never regretted it.

I used to be angry and unhappy. After believing in Jesus, God gave me comfort, rest and patience.

Losing my family

Once my husband saw the Bible open with my notes. He tore it, and beat me badly in front of our children, saying, “Instead of reading this wrong and false book, you should read the Qur’an.” I told him the Bible told me about a God who gives me love and mercy. He started beating me again. When my parents heard about it, they were very upset. My mum said that unless I went back to Islam, I wasn’t her daughter anymore.

My husband gave me a choice: Jesus or the family. I chose Jesus. I lost my mum, my dad and my children. I’m a new person with Jesus, but it was very difficult.

When we went to court, the judge gave me custody of the children and my husband could visit. One day he took the children and didn’t bring them back. Three days later, the kids phoned and told me they were back in Syria. My mum told me to go back and reconcile with my husband, even though he had married again.

“I got to Matthew 5, where it says that we are the salt of the earth. I kept repeating this verse, because it just got to me.”

I cried, “Jesus, I love you and I want to be with you. But why this is happening to me and these children you gave to me?” I tried every way possible to get my children back, but with no success. I asked Jesus to help me carry this burden because I could not do it myself.

Finding my calling

I love my children; they are my whole world. Yet when they were taken away, God used me. I started serving with the church, discipling local groups and working with children.

The church introduced me and some others to [CMS partner] TN, who told us that God has a plan and a calling for us. I had never thought about that, but since I was young, I always dreamed of being a teacher. As a child, my family told me that I could not do much because I’m a woman, but TN increased my passion to serve the Lord. Their training gets people to start being creative, to take initiative, to think about how they are going to change their life and how they’re going to reach others.

As well as working with children and young people, I lead a service for women from a Kurdish tribe, 80 women in 10 groups like house churches. I preach the gospel. I am a missionary.

This is what God has opened up for me.

“This is your daughter”

In summer 2023, nine years after losing my children, I was shocked to receive a message: “Mum, this is your daughter. Please talk to me.” I couldn’t believe it. I asked her how she had found me. She had been looking for me for three years on social media and found somebody who knew me and gave her my number.

My daughter told me she loved and missed me, and begged me to come and get her. As she was now 18, my ex-husband wanted to get her married. I went to one of the pastors of the church and asked for help to bring her back to me.

She was able to escape and come to me. She told me, “Mum, I used to pray every day and say, ‘God, why did you take away my mum?’ I used to see you in my dream, coming out from a white wall wearing a white dress and telling me, ‘I’m going to bring you home.’”

“Don’t give up”

My passion is to work with women who have been through similar experiences. I tell them the story of how my daughter came back. And I tell them that through all the hardship, God is still at work, God will bless you and God will use you. For a long time, I was by myself. It was very hard, but the Lord was my backbone, which made me not give up and lose hope.

When I talk to these women, I tell them that they need to trust the Lord because he will take them through the pain. My message is that you need to allow Jesus to come in your life because he will give you joy. So don’t give up. I had always been sad, but the Lord gave me this smile and this happiness that I can share with others. I’m a new creation because of Jesus – and that is the message I want to tell everyone.

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Dr Harvey Kwiyani, leader of the Acts 11 Centre for Global Witness and Human Migration at Church Mission Society, reflects on the opportunities of migration and why mission and migration have become his life passion

Since Acts 11 is central to the work we’re doing at CMS around mission and migration, let’s look at the context. In Acts 10, Peter had been in Cornelius’s house, present for the dramatic arrival of the Holy Spirit. He then has to explain to people why he was in a Gentile house, eating with Gentiles. After he shares his account the leaders say, “Now we see that God has given the grace of salvation to the Gentiles.” It’s a conversion from seeing Gentiles as unclean to seeing God at work among them.

Straight after, Luke takes us to Antioch. Due to persecution of early believers in Jesus in Jerusalem, many had to leave. They found refuge in other cities around the Mediterranean – some in Cyprus, others in Antioch, the third largest city in the Roman empire. Antioch was on a trade route between East and West, a hub that connected the world. It was a multicultural, multi-religious city. If you worshipped the emperor, you had your own religious community. If you had come from Jerusalem, you had your synagogue. If you’d come from Egypt, you’d have Egyptian temples.

In this place the believers from Jerusalem began to preach to Gentiles. As Gentiles converted, it didn’t work to join Jews in the synagogue, but they couldn’t keep on going to their old temples. So, they began meeting together as a diverse group to worship this Jewish Messiah. The name “Christians” emerges because of this unique gathering. All other groups worshipped with people from the same background – Christianity brings together people from different parts of the world, different cultures, different races, different languages.

And that’s the story behind Acts 11: a faith shared through migration.

Carrying Christianity

Christian migrants moved from Jerusalem, not necessarily because they wanted to. As they moved, they shared the gospel wherever they were. Likewise, the new CMS centre is about Christians on the move, sharing the good news with people they meet along the way.

Why is this important? Because a great deal of what we call mission today really depends on migration. And in many ways, it always has.

Historically, the era of mission agencies is quite short: about 500 years. The church has been around for 2,000 years; in the first 1,500 years Christianity expanded through Christians migrating from one place to another who took the gospel with them. My hope is that today, when we think about mission, we will think about Christians on the move.

Migration in Scripture

To really understand the story of the New Testament, we must understand that key events happen in the context of the Jewish diaspora. When Jesus appears, many Jews had been living out of Palestine for a while. Some had remained in Babylon, some had been scattered to Rome, and at the time of Pentecost there were more Jews living in Alexandria than Jerusalem. The day of Pentecost happens in a context of people on the move. That day, the displaced Jewish diaspora comes back to Jerusalem; Luke describes the presence of devout Jews from every nation on earth.

Pentecost is about these displaced peoples coming together when the Spirit is given, and I believe that these really are the first missionaries. Many key figures – Paul, Barnabas and John Mark – are children of the diaspora. Together they cross boundaries to evangelise Gentiles.

Migration really shapes the Old Testament as well, with the call of Abraham, the Exodus and Babylonian captivity. The Bible is a story of migration: it’s about God being with God’s people as God’s people move from one place to another.

Migration past and present

In the 1800s, 60-80 million people left Europe and moved elsewhere. Of those, a few thousand were missionaries, but a lot of them were just European Christians, carrying their faith with them. European mission agencies played a role, but we often don’t realise that the global Christianity we see today is to a great extent a result of European Christian migration. Thanks to migration, we can rejoice that Christianity is present in every country in the world.

Today migration patterns have shifted. Now we see the rest of the world moving in all directions. It is critical for us to know that 47 per cent of migrants in the world today are Christians, much higher than any other faith. And that’s just people who have crossed international borders and first-generation migrants, not counting subsequent generations. We should also consider people who are moving from one part of a country to another.

As in centuries past, Christians are again moving from place to place, taking their faith with them.

With the Acts 11 centre, we aim to give sustained attention to this issue of Christians migrating and bringing their faith. Christians can be involved in mission wherever God sends them. This is a significant shift from how we normally think about mission: as a movement mostly of Westerners to the rest of the world.

Looking at Africa, the missionary movement there is being driven not by mission agencies but by churches. Churches are responding to their members who find themselves in a city elsewhere in the world, then realise, “There are quite a few of us. We can start a church and our headquarters in Nigeria will send us a pastor.”

We need to pay attention to that, and to create resources that help receiving countries to begin to think differently how to engage with Christian migrants. There’s a lot of potential for research and learning, for mission agencies, for the Church, for everybody to have a sense of what God is doing.

The Acts 11 centre is the start of a very important conversation, which will probably change the way we talk and think about mission. And I’m delighted that we can do that here at CMS.

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Nine indigenous leaders recently graduated from CeFA (Centro de Formación Anglicano, or the Anglican Formation Centre) in Ingeniero Juárez, Argentina.

Over the past year, these nine students have grown in knowledge, ability and confidence.

One student, Jorge, says, “Through this training we realise that we have strong foundations, our faith has a firm base and a structure.”

CeFA was established last year to train indigenous leaders from across the Diocese of Northern Argentina for ministry and mission in their communities.

This first cohort of nine students completed the course without missing any classes all year, despite some having to travel more than seven hours every fortnight to reach the centre.

All the students have studied in their second language, Spanish.

This centre helps to meet the need for training identified through a CMS-facilitated Indigenous Mission Congress, and CMS has funded training places.

The leaders trained here will play a vital role as indigenous people take the lead in mission across northern Argentina.

Vicar General Daniel Lescano commented, “We really feel very blessed by everything that happened this year.”

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This autumn, CMS staff were delighted to receive a visit from one of our youngest supporters.

In September, the CMS fundraising team opened a heart warming letter from Harry, aged five, explaining that he was donating £45 to mission partner Nicci Maxwell in South Sudan.

He wrote: “Each week, my mummy and daddy give me some money and I decide how much I’d like to save, how much I’d like to spend and how much I’d like to give to charity.… I’d like to send my money to you so you can help the people you’ve met.”

In his letter Harry mentioned that he’d especially like to be able to hand over his gift in person. When he arrived at the CMS office in Oxford, with his parents and sister Isla, CMS staff learned more of the story behind Harry’s special gift.

Harry and Isla choose each week how to split their pocket money between pots for spending money, savings and charity.

As summer approached, the family looked into where they could donate the money that was building up in the charity pots.

They wrote to their church to ask if the church could suggest any possible charities that the children might like to give the money to – and the church gave them information about different causes that they supported.

Harry and Isla’s church supports Nicci Maxwell, a CMS mission partner who provides medical care to babies and children in a hospital and refugee camp in Juba, South Sudan, as well as training and supporting local paediatric teams.

Harry was inspired by the idea of helping children who are sick and don’t have access to medicines and care like children in the UK. He decided to give the money to Nicci’s work.

Nicci commented, “I confess to being moved to tears when I read Harry’s lovely letter that his dad emailed to me. I was amazed that a five year old boy wanted to send his saved pocket money to help children in South Sudan. Harry’s generosity will bless so many struggling families in Juba.”

While at the office, Harry got to meet Victoria Summers, personnel lead for Africa, who supports Nicci and other mission partners all over Africa, and the finance team, who are making sure the money gets to the right place.

Harry and his family also had a look at some items from the CMS archive, including old collection boxes and a teapot dating back to the very beginning of CMS in 1799.

Harry still buys toys and sweets with his spending money, and is learning all about saving up for the future – but he is also making a difference for children living thousands of miles away.

Thank you Harry!

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Rt Rev Martin Gordon, the bishop of Goma in DR Congo, says many people are choosing to follow Jesus in the midst of conflict.

MIDNIGHT MASS on the BBC

Martin Gordon preached at this year’s traditional Christmas Eve service broadcast live on BBC One.

You can watch it now on iPlayer.

by Martin Gordon

If there’s one archdeaconry that has suffered in recent years it is Nyamitaba. This is one half of the huge territory of Masisi that has been on the frontline of the conflict between the government and the Rwandan-backed M23 rebels for the last three years.

There have been times that the archdeacon, Venerable Nzamwita, has had to take shelter in the other archdeacon’s house in a safer part of the territory.

And each of the five clergy in his archdeaconry has had to flee their homes at one point, and many believers have been forced to hide in the forest and wait for the all-clear.

There have been other times when Ven Nzamwita has had to pay $80 to get to Goma instead of the usual $10. And this because the usual road which takes two hours by motorbike is blocked by rebels. And so, he needs to take a longer road and then cross the lake, paying danger money to motorbike drivers and a little something every time he comes across one of the ever-increasing number of road barriers.

But at the end of 2024 he came to give us such an encouraging annual report. He has managed to finish building the archdeacon’s house (only the ceiling remaining). They have put the roof on one of the churches, in Ngendambuye. And in Musangati parish they have focused on sharing the good news of the gospel which resulted in the baptism of 93 new believers not long ago. 

Pictured above are some of the new believers in Musangati, where the church is so full that the services need to take place outside. We were able to agree to buy a 20x25m plot of land next to the existing church for $1,000 where the believers will now enlarge the current church building. Over 60 more baptisms are planned in the archdeaconry on Christmas day.

Another great encouragement was that I recently had the joy of ordaining five clergy. Among them Rev Mukulu who leads our theology college, Rev Innocent, our main travelling evangelist to Walikale, Rev Barnabas, the leader of our main parish in Walikale, and Rev Nkingi, the leader of one of our churches in the camps.

We are seeing a real transformation in the students who are trained in our theological colleges. They have a greater sense of call to ministry. They take godly character seriously. And they have increasing competence in theology and ministry. The cathedral was packed for the service and the music and dancing was wilder than usual! 

Pray together

• Pray for all being baptised and the spread of the Gospel in the Archdeaconry of Nyamitaba
• For those newly ordained pastors and also for those who recently retired

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The post Sixty baptisms on Christmas Day appeared first on Church Mission Society (CMS).

We go with a CMS mission partner in Asia to a steadily growing church within a marginalised community.

So much rice-snack was prepared that all the space in the small kitchen and the next room was taken up – all chopped on boards, arranged in pots, and served onto plates, along with other snacks and drinks.

An hour later, it had all gone. The rice-snack ran out – and that was a good thing.

In these cramped back streets, the flat roof terrace is normally quiet. Amy (name changed) hangs out washing in the mornings; the clothes are dry before noon, and the roof is again empty and quiet – except for the noise of horns and engines from the main road into the city, only a couple of blocks away, and the sound of children playing in the street.

Tutorials on the terrace

Yet, on some afternoons Amy’s house is suddenly noisy. Recently, Amy started inviting children for tuitions and other activities. There is huge demand for after-school tuitions, to help children do better in their exams. In this community, many of the parents never went through school themselves. So, there is no way they can help their children with homework. And tuitions are not something the families in these streets could afford.

But Amy did get an education. And, since she began to follow Jesus, she has been wanting to make a difference. So, with her husband’s agreement, she started offering free tuitions. In the afternoons, many of the parents are still working, but with their parents’ permission these local children happily come on their own, or with siblings and friends.

Christmas for the community

Last Christmas, Amy wanted to do something special for the season, so she mentioned this to her fellowship. She is part of a new local-language fellowship, made up of people who have only recently begun to follow Jesus; and their fellowship is connected with an English-speaking fellowship which has been running for several years.

So, one special afternoon, people from both of these fellowships turned up with all the ingredients for enough rice-snack for dozens of people. They prepared rice-snack, cold drinks and tea, sitting on the floor to chop vegetables.

Soon, there were two dozen excited children on the terrace, enjoying stories, games, singing, dancing and, of course, the food. Adults joined too; some lingered to chat over tea. Unexpectedly, that vast quantity of rice-snack actually ran out – and that was a good thing.

Church at the edges

After Christmas, Amy carried on with tuitions at her home. Week by week, friends from her fellowship have helped provide snacks – on a smaller scale! In this region, some small churches and groups of new believers have experienced hostility, aggression and claims that it is illegal for them to meet (unless they are properly registered). But it is a blessing that this small, new fellowship has started out with some good relationships with the wider communities around them.

Local Christians have been supportive. The English-speaking sister fellowship provides prayer, encouragement, volunteers – and the helpful status of being part of an officially-registered organisation. The local-language fellowship has been able to meet early on Sunday mornings because another local church – believers who have migrated here from another region – has let them use their building for a very low rent. That church had been praying about outreach to local people, but were not sure how to make connections. This collaboration has been an encouraging answer to prayer for both the local-language fellowship and the migrant church.

And yet traditional Sunday services are not necessarily the most important meetings. More people are comfortable coming to people’s homes on weekday evenings for Bible study and prayer. So “house-church” meetings may well be the way forward for this growing fellowship – including meetings in Amy’s house. Being part of this movement has given Amy a new confidence to take initiative, both within the local-language fellowship and in making her home a centre for community connection.

CMS partners making it possible

These healthy connections between Christians of different communities cannot be taken for granted. Behind this fellowship, there is a background of prayer, outreach and collaboration over many years.

The fellowship started through the initiative of local CMS partners Philip and Lyla (names changed). I got to know Philip when I was teaching him five years ago – before they started this local-language fellowship. He is from a small town in a neighbouring region, born into a Roman Catholic family. Lyla is from the local community, born into a family of another faith; and her family became followers of Jesus when she was a teenager. By the time they married, he had studied theology, become involved in various ministries and moved to this city. She had worked for a Christian NGO in various locations. Together, they felt called to train and encourage young people, especially young pastors. Through this training and support, they have played an important part in planting 20 new churches – including Amy’s fellowship.

What I find encouraging about this fellowship is the infectious enthusiasm of those who have chosen to follow Jesus. Amy is used to running her home; but now, supported and encouraged by others around her, she is using her gifts in new ways and having an impact on many people – especially the local children and their families.

It helps that this fellowship does not depend on one authority figure; rather, they are encouraging people to get involved and developing a team of leaders with different gifts and roles.

As the fellowship grows in numbers, it is a challenge to work out how best to organise themselves. They could try to copy existing churches, with their kinds of services and meetings and structures, but moves in that direction have not been comfortable for them. At least for now, what seems to work best is small meetings in people’s houses. Jesus used to do a lot of ministry that way. It seems like he still does.

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In Ecuador, many assume that people with learning difficulties are not capable of much and so they are often written off. Jonathan is proving them wrong.

Thanks to mission partner Sharon Wilcox, Jonathan, 22, is reimagining a different future for himself, and starting his first paid job.

Sharon first met Jonathan when he was 11 years old, on her very first day of working for the Life in Abundance Trust (LIAT), founded by former mission partner Jill Ball, to support children with learning difficulties. While he was at LIAT, Jonathan learned new skills and heard about Jesus through Bible teaching.

Inspired by her time at LIAT, and recognising that as children with learning difficulties become adults they could use further support, Sharon founded the Orchid Project to help young adults learn life skills, and to continue learning about Jesus.

Work experience

Jonathan started coming to the Orchid Project in 2019. He learns a range of life skills such as cooking and cleaning, sports, and arts and crafts, as well as having the opportunity for spiritual growth.

With the help of Sharon and the Orchid Project, Jonathan was recently able to get work experience at a nearby hotel.

Initially he and some of the others from the project were just given simple work outside in the gardens, cutting back plants and collecting fruit.

Jonathan reliably kept coming and showed what good work he can do. As a result, the hotel invited him to help in the kitchens and with preparing rooms. He receives breakfast and lunch and is given an allowance for the work he does.

Sharing skills

Jonathan’s new skills aren’t just being used at work – his parents have noticed the impact at home too.

His mum explained to CMS mission manager in Latin America Paul Tester that Jonathan is calm, and enjoys talking and joking with the family. He also does more to help around the house than his siblings!

She said, “He sees the needs around him and then does what’s needed. He saves the money he earns and is generous with it – paying for others. He’s a busy young man now, he likes athletics and has won several medals.”

Paul Tester comments: “When I spoke with Jonathan and asked what he enjoyed at the Orchid Project he talked about talking, playing and joking with his friends there….

Man of prayer

“He mentioned that he started to pay attention to the Bible teaching when Pastor Rodrigo shared with them at LIAT and that spiritual growth has continued at the Orchid Project.

“His mother described how sometimes people ask him to pray at home and when he does it brings tears to people’s eyes.”

The Orchid Project is making a huge difference to whole families in Ecuador – with new projects starting in Cuenca and Quito as well as the original one in Santo Domingo.

Paul reflects, “As I spoke to the mums and dads of the young people, they told me of their surprise at what their children were now achieving.

Challenging preconceptions

“It has challenged preconceptions and enabled young people to do far more than they might have imagined. The word I heard them use most about Sharon was that she was an angel sent by God!”

Jonathan’s learning difficulties have limited what he can do, but through the Orchid Project he has discovered his God-given potential.

Jesus hasn’t written off young people like Jonathan, and nor has Sharon. Jesus never gives up. Neither should we.

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