February 2010 - New Believers
It is exciting to hear from ReachAcross members in various locations in the Arabian Peninsula that they are currently meeting with several new believers. One group of Muslim-background believers who meet regularly for fellowship and discipleship has doubled in size in the last year. It is difficult for such believers to meet together openly or to express their new faith publicly. Please remember them in prayer.
January 2010 - Midwives set off for South Asia
Despite closures of several main airports in the UK due to snow, two English ReachAcross midwives and a doctor friend found a window of opportunity to set out to the foothills of the Himalayas in order to serve in a Christian hospital which reaches out to the local Muslim population by providing much needed medical services. Set in a beautiful mountain valley, the hospital is staffed mostly by Christians from elsewhere in this predominantly Muslim country. The locals are all Muslim and are mostly quite poor materially. However, they are aware that it is Christians caring for them and sometimes take the opportunity to ask about our faith, buy a Christian tract, or ask for prayer.
December 2009 - Family prepares to join our team in the Middle East
For one English ReachAcross family, Christmas was made all the more exciting by the fact that in the middle of all the festivities, they were also trying to dispose of nearly all their belongings prior to taking only a few suit cases to their new home in the Arabian Peninsula. The husband and wife will both be involved in learning the local language while also teaching at a language school set up to help the local people learn English. Hundreds of adult students benefit from the school each year. Teaching is an excellent way of building friendships and can often lead to having opportunities to share one's faith.
In what is considered by many to be the hottest country in the world (by average annual temperatures), our unihockey ministry is thriving! The local youth have really taken to this sport in recent years and a league has been established. Two short termers are helping to run the project this year and will hopefully continue until the summer break in 2010. This ministry is based in the Red Sea Region and is an excellent opportunity for any French-speaking young adults to take on as a gap year activity. November 2009 - Unihockey
October 2009 - ReachAcross Autumn Conference
Our Annual Autumn Conference was held at a Christian conference centre near London. This was a fantastic opportunity for fellowship with others who have a heart for Christian work among Muslims in the UK and overseas. The main guest speaker had over forty years of experience in such work. He spoke with passion and insight into our relationship to the Lord, to our fellow Christians and to the people among whom we minister. There were presentations from recently returned short-term ReachAcross personnel who spoke about their evangelistic and medical ministry in the Middle East, the Red Sea Region and South Asia. All in all a fantastic weekend!