Celebrating a New Turkic-Arabic Field
With more than three billion people in the world living without access to the gospel (or more than 4 in 10), it’s vital that we are continuously sending more people to new places, to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.
That’s why, as Global Partners, we have felt the urgency to launch new mission fields in unreached areas of the world. And praise God that doors are being opened to do so!
We’re so excited to share more about Kethra, our newest field in the Turkic-Arabic Area.
Kethra is a location which is more than 99% Muslim, with very few Christians. Any current Christian missionary presence there is very small. Historically, this people group has been difficult for outsiders to reach due to a lack of permission to live there.
Strict religious laws (and punishment for breaking religious laws) have kept missionaries from entering the country — even as a marketplace multiplier.
It simply seemed impossible to get to this people group, let alone tell them about Jesus. Recently, some of the obstacles that have kept this country’s “doors closed” have started to fade, ultimately creating an openness among the people there.
99% of Kethra people are Muslim. *Stock photo
Now is the time to go!
Currently, we have five individuals who are appointed to go and start this new work, with two or three others prayerfully discerning how God might be leading them to join.
Luke*, a GP missionary leading the Turkic-Arabic area, shared:
“We are most excited about the opportunity to share the transforming work of Christ with people who have had almost no opportunity to hear the Gospel and to know that this good news is for them! There is a growing openness among the Kethra people to respond to Christ and we have the opportunity to start this new work where it once seemed impossible. We are catching glimpses of the impossible becoming a reality in this nation!”
Following their pre-field training, the Kethra team will arrive on the field to begin learning language and culture, while also networking and developing a strategic plan to reach the Kethra people.
Ultimately, the hope and vision for the Kethra people is summed up in the pseudonym that’s been given to them.
“Kethra is an Arabic word meaning abundance or plenty,” Luke explained. “Our prayer is that the Kethra people would experience the abundance of God’s grace that exceeds all that we can ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20).We envision a great multitude of Kethra people will be among those in white robes worshiping the Lamb (Revelation 7:9).”
While the open doors and new opportunity to go to Kethra is new, the prayer and the desire to reach this people group certainly isn’t.
Our prayer is that the Kethra people would experience the abundance of God’s grace. *Stock photo
Rev. Dennis Jackson, executive director of Global Partners, said he’s been praying for this opportunity for years.
“While I was the pastor at All Shores Wesleyan Church, we were working in a closed country nearby Kethra. Our dream and hope at that time was that perhaps one day, workers might enter Kethra as well. We prayed…and now that dream and hope is being met, and God has called a team to go.”
We enter into this next phase with Kethra eagerly anticipating all that God will do, while also knowing and understanding that the work there will be very challenging. It will take a lot of time, a lot of resources and a lot of prayer. We truly believe that it’s worth it, and that God is leading all of it.
The best way to support this new field is by joining prayer and support teams. If you’re interested in learning more or jumping right in, please reach out to info@gponline.org.
Please join us in covering the individuals who are going to serve Kethra in prayer.
“It is a spiritually dark place and they will need encouragement to know they are not walking this journey alone,” Luke explained.
Pray as they prepare to go and learn language, navigate a new culture, take leaps of faith, work as a team and are far from familiar networks. Pray that they will lean into how God is shaping them as vessels for his glory.
“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? (Romans 10:14-15a)”
*Name has been changed due to security guidelines.
Kethra is a pseudonym for this new field in the Turkic-Arabic area. The field has strict security guidelines to keep the missionaries and the work there safe.