Traveling to Jordan, Israel, Egypt or other nations in the Middle East might seem dangerous if you listen to the nightly news. Prudence would dictate that only “professionals” would dare to travel to these crowded cities and chaotic villages.
However, Uncharted Ministries does the opposite! Uncharted invites the next generation into God’s redemptive work for the nations.
Inviting younger generations into God’s story
Tom and JoAnn Doyle, founders of Uncharted Ministries, first began bringing their teenage sons and daughters to the Middle East as a way of expanding their view of God and showing how He was dramatically changing lives in these faraway countries. The visits were very impactful in unique ways for each of their children. Two of their sons, Tommy and Josh, were so taken with the work among Muslims and Jews that they left their jobs and joined Tom and JoAnn in the ministry!
“Son, pack your bags. We’re going to Egypt!”
In my role at Uncharted Ministries, I travel to Egypt a few times a year working with our team there. I invited my 19-year-old son to accompany me on a recent visit to that ancient land.
We traveled to various parts of the country visiting home churches, worshiping alongside Nile River fishermen and praying with widows clad head to toe in black who would be completely alone if not for their local church.
The bilingual members of Uncharted’s Egypt team translated our English into Arabic as we spoke in many home churches. We read God’s Word aloud and reminded ourselves that Egypt’s importance in Scripture runs deep.
On the mission field, everyone preaches!
After a few days of listening to the short sermons I shared with the home churches, my son was willing to take a turn at preaching. Most preaching in the western world seems to be left to the professional theologians and trained preachers.
But in a small Egyptian home church my teenage son was qualified to share the Word and preached his first short message, translation and all. He beamed upon saying the last “Amen” and it was a moment he and I will never forget.
Were any of our messages worthy of recording on a podcast and broadcasting to a wide audience? No, not at all. But in a humble home church with a dirt floor, the Holy Spirit provided the exact words to unite Americans and Egyptians around that which we all agreed to be true: God is good. His Word is true. He is on our side. He is relentless in His love for His people.
We realized that when the people of God sing, read, laugh and pray we are joining in the same holy rhythms and practices that those who came before us learned from the disciples who learned them from Jesus! And soon a church service in Egypt looks and sounds and feels like home.
Who in your life needs to see the front lines of the Gospel?
When we only get our information from the nightly news, things look quite bleak. It seems as if the church is limping to the finish line, losing more people along the way than we are gaining. But that simply isn’t true!
More Muslims have come to faith in Jesus in the past twenty years than in the previous 1400 years! And more Jews have come to know Jesus as the Messiah in the past 20 years than in the previous 2,000 years!
When we follow in the footsteps of Jesus we are led not to places of safety and comfort but to the very front lines of the earthly and spiritual battles between good and evil. Could the Lord be leading you to minister in His Name in a part of the world where He is not yet worshiped?
Would you consider inviting your son or daughter or possibly younger sibling, relative or friend to join you in spreading the Gospel in the Middle East?
Let’s invite the next generation into the grand adventure of God’s kingdom work!
To help support the work of Uncharted Ministries click here:
