Recent activities by the Evangelical Alliance of Arabic Speakers in Europe
The increasing number of migrants from Arabic speaking countries in Europe has over the years become at the same time an opportunity and a challenging mission field. The urgent need to establish a network connecting the Arabic speakers ministries in Europe with the Middle East and North Africa to form an alliance that represents these ministries in Europe and that unites their Christian missions work in Europe led to the emergence of the Evangelical Alliance of Arabic Speakers in Europe (EAAS-Europe). EAAS-Europe is an affiliate member of the EEA.
EAAS-Europe seeks to proclaim the Good News, the Gospel of Salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ, through the faithful preaching and teaching of the Bible, which we believe is the inspired and infallible Word of God. EAAS-Europe aims to encourage and support Christian missionary work and church planting, serving alongside existing national churches, in the countries of residence through formal or informal partnerships where possible. Our goal is to work together, providing and sharing resources, supporting and serving one another, based on trustful relationships. EAAS-Europe supports Arabic speaking people in finding a home in local churches in Europe. We help emerging Arabic Churches and those which need strengthening, advice and support. Furthermore, part of our work is assisting the indigent and people with special needs, especially those who have arrived in Europe during the Coronavirus crisis. These people need not only humanitarian but also spiritual aid.
During the times of the Coronavirus pandemic the EAAS-Europe leadership team tried to keep in touch with each other as much as possible. We met weekly on Tuesdays digitally on Zoom, prayed together and heard from each other. Our cohesion was and is very important to us in order to survive in these difficult times.
Some of the recent activities by the Evangelical Alliance of Arabic Speakers in Europe include:
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A strategic gathering with about 70 Arabic speaking pastors in Bonn in November 2021.
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An evangelistic campaign in four European countries in March 2022 for which I was joined by Samuel Farouk from Egypt who served us in praise and worship. We spent three days in Paris/France, four days in Milano/Italy, five days in Sweden (Stockholm, Södertälje, Eskilstuna) and six days in Germany (Wiesbaden, Bonn, Berlin, Pforzheim). During this time, many people have found their way to faith.
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A leadership training for new Christian believers from different backgrounds in April 2022. In the conference, we dealt with practicing church leadership, pastoral care and church planting with the aim of enabling participants to actively work in their local churches.
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The big EAAS-Europe Leadership Conference from 11-14 August 2022 under the title “Perseverance and constancy in the face of challenges”. The Coronavirus pandemic, which lasted for more than two years, and the war in Ukraine affected the whole world, the church and every individual servant around the world negatively. Therefore, the slogan of the conference expressed both our current situation and our present and future need. During our time together, the conference guest speaker Rev. Read Adly placed emphasis on the character of Joseph (Genesis 49:22-26) as a likeable and successful role model in steadfastness in the face of challenges.
