In this episode we meet Naomi, a young Brit who has dedicated her life to sharing Jesus with Muslims in Africa. What happens when a friend's roof is blown off in storm? Will God provide? Should Naomi give her the money for it? How should she deal with bats living in her bathroom?! How did some of the new believers from a Muslim background show Naomi what it really means to obey and boldly live out the teachings of Jesus in their context? How should she deal with some of the men in the neighbourh...
Jan 19, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 54
In this episode we hear from J, who spent 11 years with his family in Northern Iraq living amongst the Kurds. We discuss ISIS (aka Daesh / the Islamic State), the connections that the Kurds have with the ancient Medes (as mentioned in the Bible), eco-tourism and archaeology, and the role that statehood (or lack of it) has for the Kurds. We also discuss the Californian, Roger Cumberland, a missionary to the Kurdish people who was martyred in 1938. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Cumberland NB...
Jan 05, 2024•48 min•Ep. 53
44 years ago there were only a few hundred believers in Iran from a Muslim background. Now the number is estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands ! Iranians (or Persians) are coming to Christ in amazing ways all over the world - not only in diaspora communities, but also inside the deeply conservative Islamic Republic, in spite of the country's strict laws against owning a Farsi bible and sharing the Christian faith with others. Often Christian leaders have been arrested, interrogated, and i...
Dec 02, 2023•34 min•Ep. 52
In this episode Matt interviews 'Hope' who, with her family, has lived and served in 4 different Middle Eastern countries over the last 30 years. Hope talks about how her Middle Eastern experiences have brought a greater understanding of the original context of the Bible, how she uses stories to bring good news to her Muslim friends and neighbours and how God's Word has sustained her and encouraged her to keep persevering even in her first decade of not seeing much fruit and through expulsions a...
Nov 18, 2023•53 min•Ep. 51
Emily’s husband, Stephen, had given her a well-read copy of Foxe’s Book of Martyrs on their first date. And a few years later, while they were serving in Northern Africa, he was shot and killed by Al Qaeda terrorists. In this episode Emily shares some of her story, describing the love and mission that God had given both her and Stephen for the people of that part of the world, the tragic loss she and kids experienced when Stephen was killed, and her experience of and trust in the ongoing grace a...
Oct 27, 2023•1 hr•Ep. 50
Indonesia contains more Muslims than any other country in the world – more than 230 million. And that’s why José, a young man from Latin America, decided to join a Frontiers team there, because the need is so great. In this episode José shares about the challenge he faced to get his church to understand God’s global vision and their role in it, the joy of being mentored well in his preparation time and some great stories from his first 4 years on the field. What happened when his friend interrup...
Oct 14, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 49
Although we at Frontiers believe that Jesus is worth risking everything we have: our comforts, our hobbies, our wealth, our careers, our reputations and even our lives – we also are strong believers in supporting our workers on the field well and helping them to navigate the traumas, conflicts or disappointments they might face. In this episode Matt chats with Harriet who heads the Member Care team at the British office. She and her husband lived in West Africa for many years and raised their 3 ...
Sep 28, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 48
In this episode we meet Cynthia Anderson, a YWAM missionary, speaker, trainer and author of a brand-new book called The Multiplier’s Mindset which tackles some of the main paradigm shifts we need to adopt if we are to catalyse Disciple-Making Movements. Cynthia spent decades pioneer church-planting in Nepal & India, where, after years of frustration and self-doubt, she saw hundreds of new believers and many movements to Christ emerge. She has also developed a video training course for those ...
Sep 15, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 47
In this episode you'll hear some incredible stories from Jeremy, a brother from Ethiopia. His life was one of loss, anger and drugs until he discovered Jesus. He then became a teacher and a pastor in the church, and later an elected official in the local government. And then his life direction changed again when God called him to reach out to Muslims in his country. He was very resistant to this idea, not believing that a Muslim could turn to Christ, and it didn't start well. For 2 years he saw ...
Aug 01, 2023•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 46
How do 2 people with no particular overseas 'calling' end up living and raising their family for many years in the desert?! In this episode we meet John, who’s been serving the poor in North Africa for 15 years. We talk about some of the challenges that he and his wife have faced adjusting to North African culture, the false dichotomy of ‘salvation or social transformation’ and working with the marginalised, whether that’s vulnerable women, nomads, or the disabled. He also shares how he got into...
Jul 13, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 45
What can we learn from the early Celtic Christian saints who brought the gospel to Scotland and Northern England: St. Patrick, St. Aidan, St. Columba & St. Cuthbert? These were the wandering & worshipping monks & missionaries , the peregrine pilgrims , devoted to prayer, justice and sharing the good news amongst the pagan tribes. And what about the Early Church Fathers & Mothers or the Nestorians who travelled deep into Asia? Matthew Burden, our guest in this episode, is the auth...
Jun 29, 2023•57 min•Ep. 44
In this episode we hear from 'Latif and Fatima' who grew up as Muslims in London in immigrant families. They share about their arranged marriage (how they got engaged without ever having spoken with each other and how they found the relationship difficult and full of conflict for a long time), their journey to faith in Jesus, the traumatic rejection from their close family members and the grace and goodness of God they experienced in the midst of that. They also talk about how the Lord clearly c...
Jun 15, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 43
Andrew Brunson has never been connected to Frontiers, but he joins us as a guest for this episode to share his incredible story of persecution and perseverance. Accused of terrorism by the government, he spent 2 years in Turkish jails from 2016-2018, following more than 20 years serving as a missionary and pastor there. He talks about the terrible suffering he and his family endured and how he almost lost his faith in the goodness of God, as his incarceration went on and on. But he also challeng...
May 31, 2023•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 42
11 years after receiving a call to do gospel work in the 10/40 Window, Ria was still in her home country, having a very successful youth ministry, but having almost given up on the dream of working among the least reached. But then she heard a Frontiers worker asking for more people to come and do sports ministry in the Muslim world, and that was the prompt that God used to reignite the calling she had received years earlier. In this episode you'll hear what Ria's first year has been like, movin...
May 18, 2023•57 min•Ep. 41
How did Cate go from working in HR in the city of London to a life involving treading cow dung for fuel, trying to milk a cow, sleeping on a mat and washing clothes in the river in Tajikistan?! How did she cope with living in a society in which women are regularly married off at 15 or 16 years old, beaten by their husbands for any perceived wrongdoing and have no option but to live a life of domestic servitude under the strict authority of the mother-in-law? Some are called to start charities, t...
May 04, 2023•48 min•Ep. 40
In this episode Matt talks to Ben, who is currently studying at London School of Theology. He spent his childhood years in Mauritania, Mali and Sudan, before moving up to the North of England. And a few years ago, aged only 19, he spent 9 months on the Greek Island of Lesbos, working in the infamous Moria Refugee Camp with a group called Eurorelief. Moria was the largest refugee camp in Europe until it was burned down in September 2020. It was called the worst refugee camp on earth by one MSF wo...
Apr 20, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 39
In this episode you’ll hear the amazing story of how Noor, who grew up in a Palestinian Muslim family, came to faith in Jesus through a dream, online chat rooms and a bible that someone gave her. At one point, she had to flee the Middle East and seek asylum in the UK, which was a very traumatic series of experiences. Now she serves as an evangelist in London, but her dream is to go back to the Middle East to be Christ’s ambassador there and to make disciples. We discuss the asylum seeking proces...
Apr 06, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 38
Matt talks with the author and blogger, Mark Meynell, who currently serves as the Director of Langham Preaching (Europe & Caribbean). Mark was previously on the senior leadership team at All Souls, Langham Place, has served in theological education in Uganda and, until recently, was Chaplain to several government departments/offices. In this episode Mark shares very frankly about the PTSD and depression he has suffered, particularly following some harrowing experiences in Uganda. We discuss ...
Mar 16, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 37
The growth of the church in Asia over the last 100 years (as well as in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa) is something to rejoice in. The Philippines is one such country, where remarkable transformation is happening, with the result that many Filipinos are now responding to Jesus’ call to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. In this episode we meet Barnabas, a Filipino who has served in multiple countries in South-East Asia in various roles: going, praying, sending, mobilising, overseei...
Mar 02, 2023•46 min•Ep. 36
This week we meet 'Keziah', a Californian girl who moved to Jordan to live among poor, illiterate, nomadic Bedouins for 8 years before relocating to the Arabian Peninsular, where God called her and her husband to reach out to highly educated, wealthy elites. These two different locations meant exchanging a world of sheep, goats and camels for skyscrapers, SUVs and designer clothes. But the task remained the same, to invite Muslims, with love and respect, to follow Jesus the Messiah. It was a par...
Feb 02, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 35
In one of the most strict Islamic societies on earth, where the Ayatollah-led government enforces Sharia law and morality through the infamous Islamic Revolutionary Guard, an unprecedented movement to Christ among ordinary Iranian Muslims has been happening for the last 40 years. In this episode Matt interviews an Iranian lady called Mariam. She tells how, through dreams, through the Word of God, through satellite TV and through the people of God, she and several members of her family came to fa...
Jan 19, 2023•47 min•Ep. 34
In this episode we hear from a lady who has been working with Syrian widows for many years in the Levant. These are widows who fled the war in Syria, having witnessed the brutality of ISIS first hand. You’ll hear stories of deep friendship, of community transformation and, most importantly, of ladies finding the love and hope that Jesus offers. Other topics covered include primary and secondary trauma, burnout, the dark night of the soul, and the devastating martyrdom of a new believer. For a C...
Jan 05, 2023•55 min•Ep. 33
A team of guys headed into the Middle East to watch some football, but also (and far more importantly) to share the gospel with fans from the many Muslim nations represented in the tournament, most of whom will never have met a follower of Jesus. Ben, Mike and Matt reflect on the adventures they had, the unique opportunities that this World Cup presented, Arab hospitality, the very real challenges and opposition that they faced and many wonderful gospel conversations. Qatar is a country where ev...
Dec 22, 2022•48 min•Ep. 32
After growing up and studying in France and in the UK, Jonathan worked for Tearfund for a while before sensing the call of God to move to South Lebanon, to serve the Palestinian refugees community and to share Jesus. He tells the story of how he narrowly escaped the bombing of Beirut airport during one of the conflicts between Hezbollah and Israel, as well as how a mysterious man gave him intel to help his friends on the ground get out. He also talks about a wonderful emerging movement to Christ...
Dec 11, 2022•55 min•Ep. 31
When 10 Muslim boys decided to steal some papaya from a Korean missionary in Northern Ghana, a chain of events started that led Rahman and many others to become followers of Jesus. In this episode Matt meets Rahman and hears his story of coming to Christ and the impact that it had on his family. This is why Jesus sends us out, even commands us to go. (Matt. 28:18-20) Topics in this episode include: the fear of hell, TaeKwonDo, polygamy in the church, contextualisation and syncretism. Rahman is a...
Nov 17, 2022•58 min•Ep. 30
In this episode Jono shares about the years he and his family spent in Jordan & Lebanon. Jono met about 700 taxi drivers over several years living in one city and he had around 400 gospel conversations. But he faced the same objections to the good news again and again: "You believe in 3 gods. The Bible is corrupted. Jesus is only a prophet..." This led him to create a fantastic series of short animated videos - a funny and challenging story of how 4 Muslim guys find out about the Jesus. Such...
Nov 03, 2022•50 min•Ep. 29
We continue to hear from Benjamin - a South Indian who, along with his wife, has spent many years proclaiming the good news of the kingdom to Muslims in North India, thousands of miles from home and family. What happens to Ben when a Christian in his town insults the local Muslims and it gets into the newspapers? How was running a chicken farm beneficial to Ben's gospel ministry?! Why did Ben's friend, who used to laugh at him whenever he prayed, suddenly become interested in the gospel? These a...
Oct 20, 2022•40 min•Ep. 28
In this episode you'll meet Benjamin - a South Indian who, along with his wife, has spent many years proclaiming the good news of the kingdom to Muslims in North India, thousands of miles from home and family. We discuss the huge needs and particular challenges of India - the world's second most populous nation and second largest 'Muslim' country in the world, where there is only 1 gospel worker for every million Muslims! We discuss some of the colonial missions heritage, the problems of non-res...
Oct 06, 2022•48 min•Ep. 27
**WARNING** This episode contains some harrowing stories of violence against women, so is not suitable for younger children. We continue to hear stories from Afghanistan & Pakistan in this episode - this time from Roxanne, whose husband Jeff was interviewed a fortnight ago. Roxanne shares her experiences in the land of the Taliban: the deep friendships that she made, the incredible miracles that she experienced and the many tears that she shed. What happened to the lady who was so poor that ...
Sep 22, 2022•55 min•Ep. 26
Jeff, a photographer, (& Roxanne, who we'll be hearing from in our next episode) have been on church planting teams in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan & India. They have decades of experience and some jaw-dropping stories of God's power and protection. What happened when an Afghan young man's father came to kidnap him and send him to to his death as a Jihadi on the frontlines, because he had become a follower of Jesus? What happened when a extremist group came to attack a evangelistic ...
Sep 08, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 25
