Middle East
Middle East: Shepherding and Discipling Arabs
By Chady el-Aouad
I am honored to live in the Middle East in these days where we believe we are going to see the vision of Jesus Christ unfold before our very eyes. In this strategic time, we are going to trample the last strongholds stopping the advancement of the gospel of Christ in this region of the world. I truly believe that all the prayers and the labors of the previous generations were not in vain. We are going to reap the end-time harvest of all these sown seeds. Just as revival started in the Middle East, it will surely end here, and then Jesus will come back.
In 1999, the Lord led us (five people) to start the Abundant Life Church (ALC) in one of the poorest suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon. Back then, no one in the country believed that anyone could grow a church in Beirut beyond 150 people, the largest size of any church in Lebanon at that time. The Lord instructed us to build an influential church that would govern the spiritual atmosphere of this region and invade the religious mentality, pattern, and spirit. As we followed the leading of the Holy Spirit, we began to see tremendous results.
Only a few years later, we became one of the largest churches and movements in Lebanon. We adopted the principle-of-twelve strategy without knowing anything about it. However, the Lord led me to meet Pastor Larry Stockstill and the Bethany team to get to know more about the vision and to see Pastor Larry’s heart for souls. Full of the vision, I returned to Lebanon, immediately joined Surge, and started to implement the vision at ALC.
Since then, we have held more than 35 Encounter Retreats, attended by more than 700 people. We have had 15 Schools of Leaders and more than 65 cells established. To God be all the glory! More than 600 people attend our church services regularly, and the Lord has made our church “the head of the spear” in terms of shepherding and discipling souls.
The Lord led us to organize summer conferences each year, where we bring people to be refreshed and to receive the vision of spreading the Gospel and planting churches (house groups or cells). In these five-day conferences, we also pray for them to be empowered and filled with the Holy Spirit and to receive a burden for the vision. The first year, we had only 20 people at the conference. This year, more than 650 people attended, coming from all over the Arab world and the Middle East: from Syria, Iraq, Jordan, the Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Ghana, Kuwait, Armenia, and, of course, from Lebanon. We even had Kurds in attendance, as well as other groups.
As the Surge zone leader for the Middle East, my heart, vision, and desire is to see new leaders raised up and trained to bear fruit and invade the Middle East with the message of salvation, hope, and peace. For that reason, we believe God will help us establish a training center for young people in Lebanon. Lebanon has always been the door to the Middle East, geographically and naturally, in business, education, media, and tourism; and we believe God will use Lebanon as the door for salvation to the Middle East.
Surge in the Middle East is now conducting conferences all over the region, sending people on mission trips, and using Christian media to impact our area with the Gospel and to impart the burden of winning souls, planting churches, and fulfilling the Great Commission. We have taken missions trips to Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Armenia, Cyprus, and to many confidential places as well. Many Schools of Leaders have been started to train hundreds of new believers to become cell leaders and eventually church planters. And many new churches have started already in Syria, the Emirates, Iraq, Egypt, and other nations. To God be all the glory!
Locally, we are starting to send teams all over Lebanon; we already have a group of people in northern Lebanon and another one in southern Lebanon. The Lord also gave us a vision to go to 12 areas of Lebanon and plant 12 Bibles as a prophetic act, believing that His Word will surely establish our nation and be the pillar of the new Lebanon.
I believe the Middle East is a very unique region that cannot be compared to any other region in the world. It is the least reached for Christ and also the most fanatical and religious spot on this planet. It is the last stronghold to be conquered for the Gospel. Consequently, we need to think about a new model and a new strategy, since the classical church-plant model has not proven valid. The Lord is giving us wisdom to change some terminologies and some strategies, plus some creative ways to achieve our goal to present a clear, understandable Gospel to the Arabs. Our dear Muslim brothers and sisters are so hungry to hear the truth and deserve to hear the Gospel and become disciples of Christ.
Our vision at ALC and through Surge is to become a training center for leaders. We have a heart for God and much love for the harvest of Arab souls. We will continue to impact and influence people all over the Middle East to see this vision come to pass and to reach every home in Lebanon and the Middle East for Jesus. We will continue to grow stronger and stronger, with God’s grace. May His kingdom come and His will be done, and may the name of Jesus Christ be glorified and lifted up over every nation in the Middle East.
