The EBF together with mission partners helps start new Baptist congregations among Arabs who are receptive to the Gospel. Several indigenous workers are involved in this society transforming ministry in Jordan. It is a special joy to witness God’s love in action!
Baptists in Jordan
The Baptists of Jordan have developed a multifaceted ministry for the needy people, including a clinic, women centre, vocational training, non-formal education for refugees, relief ministry and widows’ ministry. An instrumental role to assist the needy in the community plays the medical centre in Zarka, which last year treated about 30 thousand persons, 2/3 being the Syrian refugees. God’s love and the gospel message are shared with the needy.
Rev. Suheil Madanat is the current President of the Baptist Convention in Jordan and he also pastors the First Baptist Church of Amman. There are 23 local Baptist churches in Jordan with a total membership of about 1500.
Church planting in Assalt
The Baptist Convention of Jordan has started several new congregations and this work is coordinated by pastor Samer Batarseh. Some of these mission projects are being facilitated by EBF Mission Partnerships and one of them is in Assalt (Al-Salt) - western part of the country, along the road from Amman to Jerusalem. The church planter Bahij has written in his reports:
2018
Regular services are held, the main one on Wednesday evening, the attendance is about 45. Youth service is on Saturday, with an attendance of 30, teens are around 20 in number, and kids of Sunday school are 30 and more. There are a couple of bible study groups and a plan to start one more. Several persons are preparing for baptism in the near future and one couple will be married soon. There are three leaders involved in teaching and preaching. We offer theological courses for them and opportunities for practical training. Besides this, we send them to conferences, where they can gain more knowledge. Recently, four of the youth leaders were sent to a conference to be trained in evangelism to teens and came back very encouraged.
2019
There was a decline in attendance, so we arranged a fellowship with a potluck dinner which was successful, as the Arab people love it. The gathering gave an opportunity to chat and worship God, which encouraged all. Following that, a Sunday School teacher took the advantage of a day off and took the kids out for a whole day. It was a great joy to see those cute kids running around, playing and having fun. Teenagers are very demanding and the strategy of ministry among them need to be changed.
2020
The Youth organized a Christmas event in the church building with the message about salvation and Christ is the Savior. They invited a speaker and arranged for some fun time and a fellowship over dinner. The number of presents was about 50 and several were new, for the first time attending an evangelical church. This was possible without any restrictions, as it happened before the pandemic. We have 5 new couples and a new ministry will be started focusing on the young generation, as we think that among them are future leaders. Since last year we tried to get more awareness of our people in regard to giving, and praise God, things are improving.
Mission work among Egyptian immigrants
There are many migrants in Jordan, mainly the refugees from Syria and the workers from Egypt. Magdi has finished theological training at JETS in Amman and has since been involved in planting a new congregation for the Egyptian immigrants in Zarka, Jordan. Here is a couple of excerpts from his reports:
2018
We do visits on weekly basis. We distribute the team members into groups, sometimes two groups and other times three groups. We gather and pray first, then we start our visits. There are visits to the families that my wife and I do every week. There are four people that are ready for baptism. I am currently teaching them about baptism.
2019
We started a Bible study activity in the district of Jana'a, one of the neighbourhoods of the city of Zarqa, with a group of 10 people. The ministry in this district is difficult and in need of prayers. We managed to start a Bible study group in an area called Masoum, which is also in the neighbourhood of Zarqa. They are eager to learn the word of God and we explained the way of salvation to them. We work on their discipleship and pray that the Lord will strengthen them. We had ministers from Egypt and God used them amongst us. Many people attended these services and we saw the salvation of 8 new people. They all attend our church meetings regularly and have a zeal for the life of faith. We also baptized several people recently.
2020
We were able to lead our normal activity until March 2020. When the Covid restrictions were imposed in March we organized online meetings and returned to face to face meetings in June.
Pray for:
Churches to be able to reach out with the gospel and to disciple the new believers;
God’s protection and provision for the believers during the Covid-19 pandemic;
Training of new generation leaders for the church in Jordan;
The community centre in Zarka, that God will use it as an instrument of His grace.
Planting new churches together! For the glory of God!