The world has watched dramatic events recently unfold in Tunisia, Egypt and now Libya. Although many tourists and missions workers have fled Egypt and currently are staying clear of the North African nation, Christian workers there and in the region are asking Western Christians to “run toward Egypt,” according to a recent Baptist Press report.
Believers familiar with the scene see this as an unprecedented open door for Americans to come and serve alongside national Christian workers. “So instead of stepping back in fear, we need to step in and roll up our sleeves and get in the fields white unto harvest,” one worker was quoted as saying.
The report goes on to say that the gap between Christians and Muslims, which had been widening over the decades, is now “slamming together” as a result of men from both faiths standing together to protect their homes from looters during the recent uprisings.
Other ministries are also echoing the call to greater Christian involvement in Egypt and throughout North Africa and the Middle East. In a recent Mission Network News story, Jason Woolford with Christian Resources International commented on what he sees as unique windows of opportunity for gospel advancement in these countries. “We definitely have short windows—or it would appear that we could have a short window—to get God’s Word there.”
Woolford’s organization ships crates of Bibles and other Christian materials to a network of believers in these countries for distribution to pastors and individuals desiring to learn more about Christianity.
In the news yesterday were reports of four Americans killed by pirates after their boat the Quest had been captured last week off the coast of Somalia. Christianity Today is reporting that two of the four killed, Scott and Jean Adam, were a retired couple who spent most of the last decade sailing the world distributing Bibles. Scott Adam is a graduate of Fuller Seminary and he and his wife Jean were members of Santa Monica’s Catholic Church in Santa Monica, California.
According to a Reuters story, the kidnappers were in negotiations with a U.S. Navy ship that was following the pirates when the killings occurred.