North Africa
Of the 95 million people in North Africa, only a handful worship the Lord Jesus Christ. We seek to uniquely cross barriers, proclaiming the gospel where Christ is not known. We aim to accelerate placements of personnel where they are most needed by developing partnerships with like-minded organisations. We envision expansion through missional businesses, Professionals in Mission, and bringing in consultants for transformational development in the most vulnerable segments of society. Not only do we aim to establish ministries in coastal urban and rural centres, but we are trusting God to bring the gospel south to the peoples of the Sahara Desert.
North Africa
Of the 95 million people in North Africa, only a handful worship the Lord Jesus Christ. We seek to uniquely cross barriers, proclaiming the gospel where Christ is not known. We aim to accelerate placements of personnel where they are most needed by developing partnerships with like-minded organisations. We envision expansion through missional businesses, Professionals in Mission, and bringing in consultants for transformational development in the most vulnerable segments of society. Not only do we aim to establish ministries in coastal urban and rural centres, but we are trusting God to bring the gospel south to the peoples of the Sahara Desert.
Communities where He is least known
Urban unemployed youth
In one country, 33 per cent of those under 30 are unemployed and over 40 per cent of university graduates are unemployed. One graduate said, “An unemployed is not a person … Society itself does not accept him.”* We create businesses that hire young people, equipping them as productive members of society. We model and speak of Christ, demonstrating how Christ can transform lives in workplaces.
People in need
In North Africa, the poor are usually those most steeped in Islam. Education and capacity building can be keys to open minds to creative ideas, while love and encouragement open hearts to meet the Saviour. We partner with those whose vision is to be agents of transformation by coming alongside local initiatives.
The arts and media
We believe in the power of arts and media to impact society deeply. Truth that comes through popular music can be highly influential. We are exploring how music and visual arts can be avenues to glorify Christ.
Nomads
Among the 99 ethnic groups in North Africa, 25 are nomads or have segments of nomadic people. Very few workers bring the gospel to them. Working with nomads is challenging, requiring creative solutions in housing and ministry methods.
*Breaking the Barriers to Youth Inclusion, p. 24, World Bank 2014
Prayers
Pray for ministries to launch in two more North African countries this year.
Pray for more workers from all over the world, including business people, professionals, interns and skilled labourers.
Pray for the Holy Spirit to prepare hearts and give dreams and visions to many.
Pray for that our workers will keep in step with the Spirit and remain undistracted by this spiritually hostile environment through the guidance of the Good Shepherd.
Pray for creativity, perseverance, wisdom and investors for our business people.
Pray for perseverance and love for our workers, as they encourage people to move from tension and jealousy to grace through discipleship.
Related stories
Related stories
Economic and spiritual hope for North Africa
Missional business creates avenues for work and relationships to people in need
Opening doors through business in North Africa
Language and culture education business creates employment and ministry opportunities.
Java method "com.sun.proxy.$Proxy82.getFileEntryByUuidAndGroupId(String, long)" threw an exception when invoked on com.sun.proxy.$Proxy82 object "com.liferay.document.library.internal.service.DLFileRankDLAppLocalServiceWrapper@4bb8d9e1"; see cause exception in the Java stack trace.
----
FTL stack trace ("~" means nesting-related):
- Failed at: #assign fileEntry = dlAppLocalService... [in template "20101#20128#1371264" at line 117, column 25]
----
1<style>
2 .no-style-img{
3 width:100% !important;
4 }
5 .extra-style-oppoturnity{
6 border: 1px solid #dadada;
7 box-shadow: 0 2px 4px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.25);
8 display: flex; display: -webkit-flex;
9 display: -ms-flexbox;
10 flex-basis: 25%;
11 -webkit-flex-basis: 25%;
12 -ms-flex-preferred-size: 25%;
13 flex-flow: column nowrap;
14 -webkit-flex-flow: column nowrap;
15 -ms-flex-flow: column nowrap;
16 flex-grow: 1;
17 -webkit-flex-grow: 1;
18 -ms-flex: 1;
19 margin-bottom: 1em;
20 padding: 1em;
21 }
22
23
24 @media screen and (max-width: 1080px) {
25 .extra-style-oppoturnity{
26 -webkit-flex-basis: 45%;
27 }
28 }
29
30
31</style>
32<#if entries?has_content>
33<h2 class="text-center">Where we serve</h2>
34<div class="sim-opportunity-content-container">
35<div class="go-content-container tab-pane" style="display: -webkit-flex;-webkit-flex-flow:row wrap;-webkit-justify-content: space-between !important;justify-content: space-between;">
36
37
38 <#list entries as curEntry>
39 <#assign tags = curEntry.tagNames />
40 <#if tags?seq_contains("country")>
41 <#assign url = currentURL />
42 <#assign currentPageIndex = url?last_index_of("/") />
43 <#assign mainArticle = url?substring(currentPageIndex) />
44 <#assign currentPageIndex = mainArticle?index_of("?") />
45 <#if (currentPageIndex > 0) >
46 <#assign mainArticle = mainArticle?substring(1,currentPageIndex) />
47 </#if>
48 <#assign mainArticle = mainArticle?lower_case />
49 <#assign assetRenderer = curEntry.getAssetRenderer() />
50 <#assign article = curEntry.getAssetRenderer().getArticle() />
51 <#assign articleKey = article.getResourcePrimKey() />
52 <#assign docXml = saxReaderUtil.read(article.getContentByLocale(locale)) />
53 <#assign abstract = docXml.valueOf("//dynamic-element[@name='Small_Summary']/dynamic-content/text()") />
54 <#assign selectedImage = docXml.valueOf("//dynamic-element[@name='Small_Image_URL']/dynamic-content/text()") />
55 <#assign highlightMap = docXml.valueOf("//dynamic-element[@name='highlightMap']/dynamic-content/text()") />
56 <#assign squareImage = docXml.valueOf("//dynamic-element[@name='thumbnailImage']/dynamic-content/text()") />
57 <#assign title = docXml.valueOf("//dynamic-element[@name='name']/dynamic-content/text()") />
58 <#assign region = docXml.valueOf("//dynamic-element[@name='Regions_Sel']/dynamic-content/text()") />
59 <#-- PhuongNQ: Upgrade to 7.2
60 <#assign viewURL = assetRenderer.getURLViewInContext(renderRequest, renderResponse, '') >
61 -->
62 <#assign viewURL = assetPublisherHelper.getAssetViewURL(renderRequest, renderResponse, assetRenderer, curEntry, true) />
63 <#-- PhuongNQ: Upgrade to 7.2
64 <#assign articleURL = viewURL + '?countries=' + curEntry.getTitle(locale) + "&Regions_Sel=" + region />
65 -->
66 <#assign articleURL = httpUtil.addParameter(viewURL, 'countries', curEntry.getTitle(locale)) />
67 <#assign articleURL = httpUtil.addParameter(viewURL, 'Regions_Sel', region) />
68 <#assign titleURL = article.urlTitle />
69 <#if mainArticle != titleURL>
70
71 <div class="card text-center d-none d-md-block" style="margin:1em;">
72 <div class="opportunity">
73 <div class="opportunity-title">
74 <p><img src="${selectedImage}" width="100%;" style="min-height:223px;" /></p>
75 <a href="${articleURL}"><h3 class="text-center">${title}</h3></a>
76 </div>
77 </div>
78 </div>
79 <div class="media d-none d-md-block card" style="width:100%;margin:0; padding: 5px 0; border-top:1px solid rgba(150,150,150,0.15);">
80
81 <a href="${articleURL}" class="pull-left"><img src="${squareImage}" style="max-width:75px;"></a>
82
83 <div class="media-body">
84 <a href="${articleURL}"><h4 class="media-heading">${title}</h4></a>
85 </div>
86 <a href="${articleURL}" class="pull-right" style="margin-left:auto"><img src="${highlightMap}" style="max-width:75px;"></a>
87 </div>
88 </#if>
89 <#else>
90 <#assign url = currentURL />
91 <#assign currentPageIndex = url?last_index_of("/") />
92 <#assign mainArticle = url?substring(currentPageIndex) />
93 <#assign currentPageIndex = mainArticle?index_of("?") />
94 <#if (currentPageIndex > 0) >
95 <#assign mainArticle = mainArticle?substring(1,currentPageIndex) />
96 </#if>
97 <#assign mainArticle = mainArticle?lower_case />
98 <#assign assetRenderer = curEntry.getAssetRenderer() />
99 <#assign article = curEntry.getAssetRenderer().getArticle() />
100 <#assign articleKey = article.getResourcePrimKey() />
101 <#assign docXml = saxReaderUtil.read(article.getContentByLocale(locale)) />
102 <#assign selectedImage = docXml.valueOf("//dynamic-element[@name='Small_Image_URL']/dynamic-content/text()") />
103 <#assign squareImage = docXml.valueOf("//dynamic-element[@name='Square_Pic_URL']/dynamic-content/text()") />
104 <#assign map = docXml.valueOf("//dynamic-element[@name='map']/dynamic-content/text()") />
105 <#assign title = docXml.valueOf("//dynamic-element[@name='banner_text_content']/dynamic-content/text()") />
106 <#-- PhuongNQ: Upgrade to 7.2
107 <#assign viewURL = assetRenderer.getURLViewInContext(renderRequest, renderResponse, '') >
108 -->
109 <#assign viewURL = assetPublisherHelper.getAssetViewURL(renderRequest, renderResponse, assetRenderer, curEntry, true) />
110 <#assign region = docXml.valueOf("//dynamic-element[@name='Regions_Sel']/dynamic-content/text()") />
111 <#assign titleURL = article.urlTitle />
112 <#if mainArticle != titleURL>
113 <#assign articleURL = httpUtil.addParameter(viewURL, 'Regions_Sel', region) />
114 <#assign dlAppLocalServiceUtil = serviceLocator.findService("com.liferay.document.library.kernel.service.DLAppLocalService") />
115 <#assign dlUtil = serviceLocator.findService("com.liferay.document.library.kernel.util.DLUtil") />
116 <#assign jsonDlFileEntry = jsonFactoryUtil.createJSONObject(map) />
117 <#assign fileEntry = dlAppLocalServiceUtil.getFileEntryByUuidAndGroupId(
118 jsonDlFileEntry.getString("uuid"),
119 jsonDlFileEntry.getString("groupId")?number) />
120 <#assign mapURL = dlUtil.getDownloadURL(fileEntry, fileEntry.getLatestFileVersion(true), themeDisplay, "") />
121
122 <div class="opportunity-container d-none d-md-block extra-style-oppoturnity" style="margin:1em;">
123 <div class="opportunity">
124 <div class="opportunity-title">
125 <p><img src="${selectedImage}" width="100%" style="min-height:223px;" class="no-style-img" /></p>
126 <a href="${articleURL}"><h3 class="text-center">${title}</h3></a>
127 </div>
128 </div>
129 </div>
130 <div class="media d-md-none" style="width:100%; margin:0; padding: 5px 0; border-top:1px solid rgba(150,150,150,0.15);">
131 <a href="${articleURL}" class="pull-left"><img src="${squareImage}" style="max-width:75px;margin-right:10px;"></a>
132 <div class="media-body mt-auto mb-auto">
133 <a href="${articleURL}"><h4>${title}</h4></a>
134
135 </div>
136 <a href="${articleURL}" class="pull-right mt-auto mb-auto" style="margin-left:auto"><img src="${mapURL}" style="max-width:75px;"></a>
137
138 </div>
139
140 </#if>
141 </#if>
142
143
144
145
146 </#list>
147 <div class="d-md-none" style="width:100%; border-top:1px solid rgba(150,150,150,0.15);"></div>
148 </div>
149 </div>
150</#if>