Conference for Arabic-speaking Christians

This past weekend, May 6-8, our church hosted a conference for Arabic-speaking Christians in Paris. It was mostly led by our arabic-speaking fellowship that meets at the church every Sunday evening. Most of these believers come from Egyptian descent, and so they speak an Egyptian dialect of Arabic. However, this weekend we hosted people from many different arabic-speaking countries, and so the conference was in Arabic and French.

It started Saturday afternoon and lasted until Sunday evening, while stopping for our regular Sunday morning worship. We provided childcare downstairs, and so we saw about 130 adults attend on a daily basis and about 40 children downstairs.

This conference was the first of its kind in Paris, and was actually a very risky endeavor. Many ex-Muslims that come from Muslim states are wanted by their government, since it is illegal to convert to Christianity. Many live a life of secrecy because of the danger they could face from their home countries. We had to alert the police of this conference so that they would be aware of the danger that could have threatened many of these people. However, despite the risk, the Lord immensely blessed the boldness shown by these believers, and over 10 Muslims gave their lives to Jesus! People were encouraged to bring their Muslim friends, and so this is how we saw Muslims give their lives to Jesus. The conference also united arabic-descent Christians in Paris and many more meetings and conferences will be planned in the future directly because of this event. Please keep the Muslim population of Paris in your prayers and pray for these Arabic-speaking believers that they would have the courage and boldness to continue on the narrow road they have chosen.