Jesus Light of the World Arabic Evangelical Church, Ottawa, ON

It was a wonderful blessing last March when the church hosted the Great Doctor Ministry in Ottawa. We had 500 in attendance, of which 270 were from a Muslim background. For the first time in Ottawa, we saw so many people from Muslim backgrounds attending a Christian event spreading the Word of our Lord Jesus Christ! In addition, we held three major events at our church — one in late spring and two in the summer.

In May, it was a blessing to have Dr. Edward Awabdi, leader of Alliance churches in Lebanon and Syria and Pastor of Damascus Jesus Light of the World Church. The church hosted a luncheon with a few pastors from different English-speaking churches in Ottawa. There Pastor Awabdi shared the news of the Christian believers in Syria and how much they have been suffering, mainly through persecution. Pastor Awabdi was also the speaker at our three-day retreat. He shared the Word from Nehemiah, concentrating on the suffering of the Syrians and how our Lord Jesus is giving them hope, strength, and victory.

At the end of July, we welcomed Dr. Farid Zaky, who is a well-known speaker from Egypt. The event lasted for two days, one of which was hosted at the church. We had a few people attend from different churches and God was glorified!

For three days in August, we had Yousef Riyadh — also from Egypt — share the Word of God with us. He is one of the most famous speakers in the Middle East. With all his fame, he remains one of the most humble preachers and a true man of God. The event was for three days and the topic was about the end of the world and Jesus’ second coming.

It was great to see new believers joining the church after these blessed events. We expect new members to be baptized and now we are looking at assigning a baptism date for 2018, praise God!

Richard Raya is Pastor of Jesus Light of the World Arabic Evangelical Church in Ottawa, ON.