We are overjoyed to share with you the community building and restorative work happening in the South Sudanese refugee camps in the Gambella region. In an area that is often overwhelmed by challenges and under resourced, there is a fledgling hope for healing.

For more than a decade, leaders of the Eastern Upper Nile and Nasir Presbyteries of the Presbyterian Church of South Sudan have been divided. The two administrations built a figurative wall between them. They had given up on each other. But God never gave up on them.

When an individual lives far from home and family, it can be challenging to find a sense of belonging or an anchor for the complexities of life. There are many barriers to this, but one is language. The simple act of communicating is suddenly difficult.

So, what happens when an individual like that gets access to the Bible in their heart language (native vernacular)? The Bible Society of the Gulf sees it regularly. Lives are changed.

“You remembered us.”

These powerful words were spoken by a believer from Central Asia in acknowledgement that we not only returned to visit but also told of ongoing prayers for Central Asia within our churches.

The words acknowledge something else; they have, at times, felt forgotten.

Being a Christian in Central Asia is challenging. With a population estimated around 83.7 million, only about .3% are evangelical Christians. Believers face increasing persecution from authorities and ever-present social pressure from their communities. Most Central Asian countries are constitutionally secular, and Christians often encounter discrimination or even violence. Moreover, conversion to Christianity from Islam is illegal and can result in being rejected by one’s own family or expulsion from one’s community.

Most students, whether just starting out in school or nearing the end of graduate school, look forward to summer vacation. It is a chance to take a break, get some much-needed rest, or catch up on all the things that get pushed to the side in the midst of the rigors of academic pursuit.

For a Master of Divinity student at Evangelical Theological Seminary of Cairo (ETSC), summers look a little different. Rather than a break, summers are a time for internships, or as ETSC describes them, “the classroom of life.” Summer internships provide an intentional opportunity for students to take what they learn in the classroom and apply it to ministry.

The Outreach Foundation has partnered with Novus Foundation in Warsaw, Poland, since the outbreak of war in Ukraine. Leaders Piotr and Stasha Nowak, and Pablo and Aneta Montano are engaged in full-time theological training of church planters while also providing professional counseling to war refugees, cancer patients, and others. They recently shared two stories that exhibit the impact of their work.

Estimates are that more than one million people are currently displaced in Lebanon. Most are from southern Lebanon, having been forced to flee the latest hostilities. Many went to Beirut, but 50 miles north, people in the town of Tripoli saw waves of displaced people arrive.

The National Evangelical Church of Tripoli, one of the churches in the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon (NESSL), sought ways to offer relief. At the same time, the Compassion Protestant Society (CPS), the diaconal arm of NESSL, discerned how local churches could respond meaningfully to the growing humanitarian needs of the crisis.

In the hard neighborhoods surrounding Comas, Perú — where extortion, prostitution, and drug trafficking shape daily life — children grow up with few role models and even fewer opportunities. When two 11-year-olds were asked, “What do you do for fun?” their answer was heartbreaking: “Breaking into houses and stealing.”

Into this reality, the Reflejo team has stepped with the hope of Christ.

Two days. Two locations. More than 400 women.

It was a busy weekend in early May for some of the staff of the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon (NESSL) as they traveled to Syria for two, one-day women’s conferences. The events were something of a regional mini retreat, a glimpse of the larger gathering that occurs each year in Lebanon.

In total, these spring gatherings brought together more than 400 women; the first in Latakia and the second near Homs, both locations in Syria. Under the theme “standing firm with unwavering courage, God is forging a new path,” the conferences were time for women to connect, to share stories, to worship, and to pray.

The rainy season is finally over in Tete Province, which means work is getting underway on big improvements at the Holistic Evangelism Project’s Leadership Training Center (LTC).

Seminars are held at the LTC, which was built about 10 years ago and consists of a church, a dormitory, a kitchen, some latrines, and a well and water tank. God has blessed the program with increasing attendance each year, and it has outgrown the original LTC. Now underway, stage two of the building’s construction will add a skills training hall, a fellowship hall (where seminars will be held instead of in the church), a guest house for seminar facilitators, a new kitchen, another well, and some bathrooms.

Outstanding in their field…literally. The Chongwe church planted roots in a field, and now, through faithful prayer and gifts from The Outreach Foundation supporters, their efforts are yielding fruit.

This Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP) Zambia Synod congregation began as a prayer meeting launched by the Mtendere Church, 28 miles to the east of the capital city, Lusaka. After planting the seed of the Gospel through evangelistic efforts, they witnessed a harvest of two prayer meetings with 25-50 members at each.

When you wake up on Sunday morning and begin getting ready for church, you probably don’t think, “I’d better pack a lunch—it’s going to be a long drive.” And as you sit down for worship, you likely don’t wonder, “Will I understand the sermon today, or only understand half of it?”

But for many believers in northern and central México, these are weekly realities. Some travel hours to reach the nearest Presbyterian congregation. Others sit through services in Spanish even though their heart (primary) language is Otomí, Mixtec, Tzeltal, or another indigenous tongue — and understand only fragments of the message.

This is why our partner, the National Presbyterian Church of México (INPM), is working diligently to plant new churches in underserved regions and to establish congregations where indigenous believers can worship, learn, and grow in their heart language.

For more than a quarter century, Namumu Orphanage Center welcomed children in Jesus’ name to their campus in Siavonga, Zambia. Many of these little ones lost their parents due to the AIDS epidemic. Through the years, the children were nurtured and educated. They worshiped and learned God’s Word. Eventually, they graduated, equipped to pursue life and a career.

Then things changed. Many African countries, including Zambia, now recognize that living with extended family or foster parents is essential for the growth of a child. Though the leaders of Namumu welcomed this new direction, it also brought them to a crossroads. Should they close their mission or transform it to meet the continuing needs of children?

Lebanon, a country that has endured armed conflict and hostilities for three generations, experienced a sharp intensification of violence in the past two months. Beirut and other parts of the country experienced devastating strikes and intensified military activity, including repeated evacuation orders and widening geographic impact. It has triggered large-scale displacement across Lebanon.

Despite the difficult circumstances, Compassion Protestant Society, the diaconal arm of the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon (NESSL), has courageously responded to the crisis in a manner that is both operationally realistic and faithful to its calling.

It’s hard to teach with your back against the wall, but that’s exactly where educators found themselves in the cramped and crowded classrooms of the John Laing School – a Community School of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP) in the Synod of Zambia. More than 200 eager learners were squeezed into three 5x5 meter (about 16x16 feet) rooms. The only place for the teacher to stand was against the chalkboard. Such tight quarters make education almost impossible.

Many of the rural villages (kebeles) in the fertile central highlands of the Shewa region are not accessible by car or truck – the only option is to trek for hours by foot or horse. The Oromo people in these villages are mainly Muslims or practice Waaqeffanna (an Oromo traditional belief system). For the past several years, Reverend Teferi Berkassa has led a team of evangelists attempting to reach the Oromo people in these far-flung villages. Evangelists pack all their belongings on horse-drawn carts and trudge miles on dirt paths to reach a village.

Azerbaijan sits at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, where East meets West, and the ancient meets the modern. With more than 10 million people, it is officially a secular state, yet around 97% of the population identifies as Muslim, mostly Shia. Christians are a small minority — roughly 3–5% of the population — and Protestant believers are just a tiny fraction within that. Into this landscape, God is quietly building a community of faith.

“The drums of war have returned to our doorsteps once again. The sounds of sirens, missile explosions, panicking neighbors, and children crying ring louder and longer. We have been here before… Our skin is thicker now, and our nerves are adapting with each passing day. Yet something about this moment feels darker than anything that came before,” wrote Musalaha’s Executive Director Daniel Munayer at the end of March, amid the region’s rising hostilities.
 
That context of hostility isn’t exactly new for Musalaha, which works in both Israel and Palestine. They’ve been operating in such a context for some time. But, as Munayer reflects, somehow this time feels darker than anything that has come before.

Since the closure of the Strait of Hormuz due to increasing hostilities in the Middle East, media outlets have featured stories of tankers set ablaze, supply chain disruptions, and skyrocketing oil prices. Those are real stories with real consequences for individuals, families, and businesses around the world.

But they aren’t the only stories that need to be told.

Because the ships aren’t ghost ships. Each vessel is staffed by individuals with families – even children – at home. These civilian seafarers, many with no military training, boarded the ships and set on their journey as if it were any other ordinary trip. They didn’t know more than a month later they’d be forced to drop anchor on the front line of a geopolitical confrontation in which they are powerless.