Mike Kuhn - November 2020 Update

Evangelical Presbyterian Church

Mike Kuhn currently serves in the International Theological Education Network as a specialist and consultant. Mike’s ministry focus is discipleship and spiritual formation among both Arab Christians and those who have come to Christ from a non-Christian background. Read more about Mike’s work in the following update:

Having taught at the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary (ABTS) for six years, I developed friendships with students from all over the Arab world. Lebanon was and continues to be a unique place in the Arab world, where Christ-followers from many different backgrounds can come for theological and spiritual formation. Our ABTS students came from across North Africa and the Middle East. Those friendships are foundational in my current ministry with the International Theological Education Network (ITEN). A couple of those connections have borne fruit in this time of global pandemic.

One student from Egypt who I’ll call Nour (not his real name) now works with a dynamic mission agency. The group is indigenous, sending their workers into many North African and Middle Eastern countries. My student asked me to take a few Zoom sessions with about 70 laborers to discuss the topic of discipleship in the Muslim context. I had taught discipleship as a course at ABTS and thought extensively about the topic over nearly 30 years of discipleship ministry, but it was a relationship with this student plus the push of COVID-19 to work online that made these sessions a reality. I’m grateful to God for these connections and for the chance to contribute to a burgeoning movement of mission in the Middle East.

Another fruitful connection was a friend from Sudan who I will refer to as Tawfik. Tawfik is a very bright student in Lebanon, but he had a prison record from Sudan. His prison time was not for a felony or a crime, but for his strategic involvement in Christian ministry in a country led at that time by an Islamist president. We were a little concerned about what might happen when Tawfik returned to Sudan. Happily, the Islamist ruler of Sudan has been deposed and democratic reforms are beginning to take hold in the country. Tawfik’s ministry is blossoming. He has asked ITEN to partner with him to form the “Sudan Discipleship School.” It is an innovative approach whereby select leaders from across the country will study using the ABTS online curriculum to develop as servant-leaders.

These two initiatives are perfectly aligned with ITEN’s objective which is “training trainers who will equip their own people to live on mission for the glory of God among the unreached.” Personally, the initiative allows me to engage in Arabic with former students as they build their own ministries, contributing to the Kingdom of Jesus in their homelands. I couldn’t be more excited!

Thank you, Outreach Foundation, for your partnership with me and with the EPC’s ITEN in these efforts. I am profoundly grateful!

Please feel free to get in touch through my email:

eastwestconnect2@gmail.com.

Mike Kuhn