Call2Prayer March 2022: The Women of MEM
/Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?”
John 4:28-29
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In His life and teaching, Jesus demonstrated only that women were, and are, worthy of dignity, honour and respect – an attitude that was certainly unheard of in biblical times, and one that even in our Western, postmodern society, sadly still isn’t realised to the extent that it should be. Jesus’ gentleness, acceptance, and non-judgement of the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4 was so radical that we read even His disciples struggled to comprehend it.
In many parts of the Middle East today, the rights and values placed upon women remain more archaic and oppressive than we’d like to believe. Even in cases where legal rights have improved, socially, women are often treated as second-class citizens, seen as the property of husbands and fathers, instead of valuable in their own right.
The 8th March marks International Women’s Day, and the whole of this month is marked in the United States as Women’s History Month. So much of our work not only seeks to support women in the Middle East and North Africa across different life stages and communities, but would not be possible without the women of MEM. Across our various teams, the women of MEM work tirelessly to see lives transformed through media across the Middle East and beyond.
Join us in lifting up our various women’s projects and the women of MEM in prayer this month!
We give thanks and pray for Oasis: Thank you Lord for the finances that were raised through our Christmas appeal, to help reach more women in the Gulf through social media. We pray that You would strengthen our Gulf team and interns as they prepare for the launch of this new online space. We pray for the women across the region who will encounter their work, and we pray that they would find hope and home through this initiative. We pray that You would already be going before, preparing and opening minds and hearts to receive seeds of biblical truth.
We give thanks and lift up Blossoms: Father, we thank you that because of Your faithfulness and the generosity of our supporters, two Blossoms courses were able to run in 2021, supporting 43 Sudanese refugee and local women in North Africa. We thank you that they learned for the first time the importance of emotional expression and mental health. We pray that You would continue to work in the hearts and lives of each of these women, revealing Yourself to them as You did to the Samaritan woman at the well. We pray also for the provision of more Blossoms workshops to be held in 2022, so that more women have the opportunity to find emotional freedom.
We give thanks and pray for Nisa’a: We thank you Lord that in 2021 Nisa’a Women’s magazine managed to reach thousands of women through its online platform through lectures, articles, campaigns, and social media. We thank you for the work that our Nisa’a writers and editors are doing to raise awareness of the many issues facing women in the Middle East and North Africa, and to speak messages of worth and hope. We also thank you that, despite the pandemic, a number of in-person workshops and gatherings were able to take place last year. We pray that You would continue to bless and provide for this ministry, empowering our volunteers, contributors, and readers to realise their true value potential as those created in Your image.
We lift up our anti-trafficking initiatives: We give You praise for the 40 NGO workers that were trained by us last year in anti-trafficking awareness, and for the 63 young men and women who attended our two filmmaking camps and produced their own anti-trafficking films. We pray that the skills and knowledge gained by these individuals might be used by You to raise more awareness of the trafficking of women and girls in the region, and be a force for positive change. We pray that these individuals will be able to further educate others with what they have learned. And we pray ultimately Father, for Your compassion and mercy to reach the women and girls caught in slavery in the region. Please, gracious Lord, will you grant them freedom, power, and divine peace. May Your light shine in the darkness, and may more and more people across the region recognise the importance of protecting the vulnerable.
We praise you for newer initiatives taking place in the field: Father, we praise You that You are enabling new initiatives in North Africa that seek to address many more issues affecting women in the region. We thank you that last year, our team were able to develop and run workshops educating NGOs on the needs of women during maternity and childbirth, and that 259 vulnerable families were impacted through this. We pray for the team’s plans to run specialised workshops for victims of sexual abuse this year. We pray that You would guide them, and our partner organisations working alongside, in the development of these workshops. We pray that the funds required to resource and run these workshops would be sought, and that You would already be at work in the lives of those You want to help heal and restore through this initiative.
We praise you for all the women of MEM: We lift up each of the women, both staff and volunteers, across our teams and give you great thanks for them. We thank you for their hard work and passion to bring unstoppable hope to the people of the Middle East. We pray that You would bless each of them in their callings, and that each of them would know how valued, loved, and special they are in Your kingdom!
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"And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord."
Luke 1:45
