Christmas Day is almost here. For most of us, our homes will be beautifully decorated with festive lights, tinsel, and baubles. We have put up several decorations here at our Arab World Media office, including a special tree in our prayer room. And it has been named the Emmanuel tree.

Why?

The Emmanuel tree is adorned with colourful cut-out cards shaped into stars, circles, and pentagons. On each decoration is an Arab name and country. There are 380* in total, representing the 380 new believers from the Arab world who have come to Christ through our ministry this year!

We give God the glory for these new Christians who will be celebrating Jesus as Emmanuel for the first time this Christmas! Each time we walk past the tree at work, we can read a tag and pray with thanksgiving for the new believer whose name we see. It’s exciting stuff.

The Arab men and women on our tree come from 26 different nations. They live in North Africa, the Middle East, and the Arabian Gulf. Some are refugees from Iraq and Syria who are now living in Turkey. Others are Arabic speakers of the diaspora in Europe, Asia, and America.

You are not alone

You will remember some of the testimonies that we have shared with you throughout the year – from Mauritania, where Abu* was hungry to read God’s Word, to the Arabian Peninsula where Marya* was trapped in her own home, desperate for hope. We have been encouraged by the way that Syrian refugees like Rita* have found freedom in faith, and how the Father is calling the most unlikely of people, like the Hajj tour guide, Bady*, into his saving grace. Our theme for 2019 was God’s promise, You Are Not Alone. We can indeed testify to the truth of the name Emmanuel – God is with us and the Arab world.

Thankfulness and praise

God has blessed our ministry, thanks to your perseverance in prayer throughout 2019 for the Middle East and North Africa. He has heard our petitions, and we are now witnessing a spiritual harvest. Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts.

Together, we invite you to join us in giving thanks to the Lord this Christmas, for his amazing grace at work across the region. We praise Christ for his redemptive sacrifice of love, now bringing hope to more than 380 Arab people as new followers of Jesus. Pray with us that the Holy Spirit will continue to work miraculously in hearts and minds across the Arab world, to draw others into the kingdom.

Have a happy and blessed Christmas.

*380 new believers as of 18 December