Five Love Languages Seminar Well Received in Middle East

In a volatile nationalistic city in the Middle East, missionaries are always looking for God-inspired ideas that will create fresh openings for the gospel. A recent initiative saw some encouraging results.

Having weathered the usual police obstructiveness, permissions were finally granted for a “Five Love Languages” seminar to be held at the local cultural centre. The seminar was designed to help build positive, healthy marriages and families. The 11th hour approval required rapid distribution of promotional material less than two days before the event. The resulting attendance however, was an encouraging 200 people.

The speaker was a well qualified national believer. He presented the material with sensitivity, while allowing the Biblical basis for the principles of the book to come through. Kiwi WECer Kathy wrote, “Everyone we spoke with really enjoyed the seminar and found it helpful. They asked lots of questions in the question time too. The topic of family relationships is obviously something that people are really interested in.” Likewise the response to the resource table was very encouraging with large numbers of New Testaments, books, and videos eagerly taken home – not to mention the ones given out before the seminar to inquisitive police!

Even though the emcee forgot to encourage people to leave contact details, 18 people registered their interest in more information. The young believer collecting these details was particularly encouraged by the enquiries. She recounted how in 2002 her sister had requested follow-up after a similar Christian outreach. Her sister hadn’t responded to the gospel, but she herself became a follower of Jesus as a direct result of this contact! In light of her own experience she encouraged these WEC church planters not to underestimate what God can do with through such beginnings. Not to mention the many others in whom early sparks of interest were ignited that night.