Excitement is in the air as the AWF EMERALD (Europe & the Middle East) Region prepares for their Annual Conference of 2019 in Frankfurt, Germany. The theme is “Living the Fourfold Gospel”. Our brothers and sisters will be sharing experiences, learning from one another and encouraging each other. Let us pray that this event will be a huge blessing to those participating and that it will reach many lives.

Located between Iran and Saudi Arabia, the country of Kuwait is receiving a new Alliance Church. It is an extension of the Christian and Missionary Alliance's work in Syria. The church's first pastor will be Reverend Basil Homsi, who was ordained by Reverend Edward Awadbeh. We thank and praise the Lord for all that He has done. Please pray for the Syrian church so it remains strong and faithful.

They came from far away and today they are the part of the first Alliance church in Finland. In 2018, the Grace Montagnard Alliance Church got the official recognition from the Finnish government and conducted a celebration worship on October 27th, with 130 people attending the service.

With over 40 years of experience and dedication to God’s work, Michael Baraniak is the new president of the C&MA Church of the UK.

The new president of the C&MA Church of Jordan and the Holy Land, Rev. Bashar Nimat, has a motto: “Living a devoted life for Christ requires growth in the Christian character through discipleship.” Elected in March 2018, he desires not only to see people getting saved but live a fulfilled life for Christ.

Rev. Munther Shahatit attended the 12th graduation of the Christian Alliance Institute of Theology (CAIT) in Beirut, Lebanon, in June 2018. The ceremony brought back memories.

During his recent visit to Erbil, Rev. Shahatit met with Rev. Joseph Francese, pastor of the C&MA Church of Baghdad, in Iraq. He received the good news that the church is growing and continues to share God’s Word.

The C&MA Church of Erbil is bringing many people to Christ and expanding its reach as those new believers are returning to cities formerly occupied by ISIS to start a new church.

The Alliance in Germany is focusing its effort to reach Arab speaking immigrants and refugees from Muslim background in Berlin and Koblenz to Christ.

Rev. Munther Shahatit is the newly appointed Regional Coordinator for the EMERALD (Europe and Middle East) Region. Rev. Munther is an ordained pastor and a leader of the C&MA of Jordan and travels the whole region to provide professional trauma counselling and trainings. He is replacing Rev. Arie Verduijn who asked to step down due to his growing ministerial responsibilities in the local church.

The Alliance church in France is building a new vision for the future and has just started a grassroots movement among its churches to develop that vision. Please pray that God will provide clarity and bring the Alliance churches there closer together for His glory.

The ministry of THE ALLIANCE MANCHESTER (TAM) is growing with new workers joining from the Alliance World Fellowship family. This growth requires finding a new venue. Philip Margesson and Juan-Carlos Parodi will journey to Lima, Peru in April to report on the ministry in Manchester and promote TAM projects to current and potential partners. Please pray that God will protect them as they travel and continue to bless the ministry at TAM.

The Middle East is the cradle of Christianity but nowadays is dominated by the strong presence of other Abrahamic religions. Europe is the birthplace of the Western Church but nowadays is a secular post-Christian society. Proclaiming Christ in this region has been a great challenge but the Alliance churches there are sensitive to the opportunities that arise. Please pray for the requests sent by our representative from the EMERALD (Europe and Middle East) region.

Rev. Edward Kwong and Rosa Chan are reaching out to the Chinese community around the Cambridge campus in Great Britain. Their work goes from teaching English, to classes about everyday matters, like marriage and parenting. Their ministry is blooming and far from over.

The Alliance in France had its Annual General Meeting on March 10th and it was a time of blessing and encouragement for all those involved. The Alliance in France has grown from four churches to 39 churches in 40 years, and three new Chinese churches are seeking to join in 2018. Please pray for wisdom and renewal of the national leadership in France as they seek to guide the church through continued growth.

The C&MA Jabal Amman church in Jordan has been working with these people since the 1990s and offers assistance to around 1000 families.

After 6 years of learning the culture, scouting out locations, preaching at local churches and planting seeds, the Daleva family celebrated their first public church service in Portugal this year.

Preaching Christ in the midst of red hot irons; that is what Héctor Peñafiel, an Ecuadorian evangelical pastor, master welder, husband and father of five children, and resident of Tione di Trento, a region of Trentino’Alto Adigio, does daily by his example.