In the heart of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Egypt stands as a beacon of both hope and struggle for Christians. With ten million believers – 10% of the population – Egypt hosts more Christians than all other MENA nations combined. Yet these brothers and sisters in Christ endure systemic marginalization, especially in Upper Egypt, where poverty and discrimination shape daily life. Labeled as dhimmis (second-class citizens), Coptic Christians face legal and social barriers that crush their dignity – even their children bear the weight of this oppression.
Government schools in Egypt’s poorest regions are places of despair. Classrooms overflow with nearly a hundred students, crammed onto bare floors, their lessons drowned in chaos. Christian children are often shoved to the back, near scorching windows, ignored by teachers who view them as unworthy of attention. Many leave primary school functionally illiterate, their potential suffocated by neglect. Parents, seeing no future in such “education,” pull their children out to work menial jobs or roam the streets. The result? A generation raised in hardship, stripped of education, purpose, and hope; vulnerable to exploitation and spiritual emptiness.
Amid this despair, Frontlines International partners with a transformative schooling project. Targeting the most marginalized Christian children, the program offers small classes (just 15 students) with dedicated teachers who provide rigorous instruction in core subjects like Arabic and math. But the real miracle happens beyond academics: these children discover their true identity. “You are princes and princesses of the King,” they’re told. Through Bible study, discipleship, and loving mentorship, their crushed self-worth is replaced with confidence in Christ. The results are undeniable. After three years, many students rise to the top of their regular classes – not just academically, but as leaders. One teacher shared, “We had a boy who couldn’t write his name. Now he reads Scripture aloud to his family.” The program’s holistic approach extends beyond the classroom; teachers visit homes, counseling parents and witnessing entire families transformed by the changes in their children.
The Ripple Effect
The project currently serves 6,000 children, but the waiting list stretches into the hundreds. The need is vast, but the solution is simple: for just $150, a child’s life can be radically redirected—from illiteracy to excellence, from shame to purpose. “This isn’t just education,” says a local pastor. “It’s rescue.”
How You Can Pray
- For Courage: Pray for Christian children to stand firm in their identity despite societal rejection.
- For Expansion: Ask God to open doors for more classrooms, teachers, and resources to reach waiting families.
- For Breakthroughs: Intercede for parents to value education and embrace the Gospel’s hope.
In a land where darkness tries to dictate destiny, this project is a defiant spark of light. Together, we can fuel it into a flame.
Something Greater
Nepal is best known for the highest mountain peak on earth, Mount Everest at over 29,000 feet (8848.86 m). This year over 1000 people will crowd the mountain between the beginning of April and the end of May in an effort to reach the summit. It is a dangerous endeavor. Over 200 frozen bodies litter the mountain. Climbers prepare for years honing their skills on smaller mountains before they undertake Everest. The cost to try is from $40,000 to $100,000 to spend two months in below-freezing temperatures and a few brief minutes at the summit, if you are successful.
Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit first in 1953. In a Forbes interview, Hillary said, “Clients are spending a large sum of money just to trek up our route, mainly so they can go back home and boast about it more.” Climbing is a welcome industry in Nepal that attracts adventurers looking to accomplish something “greater.”
What is not particularly welcome in Nepal is a testimony of the power of Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, in whose name salvation resides. Over 80% of the country is Hindu. Less than 2% is Christian.
Imagine believers gathered in a pastor’s home to pray, study, and sing. When suddenly local Hindu extremists surround the house, shouting abusively, demanding the Christians cease their worship, finally torching the home and burning it to the ground. What do you do? You move to a relative’s house where you continue to, quietly and humbly, pray, study, and sing while rebuilding the pastor’s home. You stay the course knowing that God is at work. You live daily prepared to respond to any who would ask “why?’ (1 Peter 3:15).
Christ calls us all to live as our Nepalese brothers and sisters on the frontline of Satan’s attack against His Church. Resolute. Confident in Christ. Given fully to God, all we have, all we own, all we are. Knowing we need look no further. We have found the Greatest. We boast in Christ alone.
