A Digital Newsletter from Living Stream Ministry
The work of translating this ministry into Arabic began in the late 1990s, when a couple migrated from the US to the Middle East to live and serve there for the Lord’s testimony. The Lord graciously gave to His recovery the wife of this couple, who is a native Arabic speaker with a good education in the language. The husband, realizing this gift, picked up the burden for them to go to the Middle East to be sown into the earth there and to see what fruit the Lord would bear through them. For over twenty years they have labored in three countries that would seem to offer only hard ground for the Christian faith. The sister translated steadily, and the brother labored to get her translations typeset, printed, and into distribution. Through their labor the following titles were available as of 2015: 16 books (11 by Witness Lee; 5 by Watchman Nee) and 33 booklets (15 by Witness Lee; 18 by Watchman Nee) as well as most of Brother Nee’s New Believer’s Series. Some of these titles are also offered for free distribution online by LSM (mass.ministrybooks.org) and by Rhema (rhemabooks.org).
Through much fellowship and prayer with the responsible ones in the work and the local serving ones in Cairo, the Lord opened a definite door for the Arabic publication work in Egypt in 2018. A clear vision was imparted into these local serving ones for the Arabic publication work.
In 2016, through the refugee crisis in Europe, the Lord accelerated the need for ministry publications in Arabic and Farsi as hundreds of thousands fled from the Middle East to Europe. Many of us in the Lord’s recovery rose up to pray, to give, and to go, in order to meet this need. Living Stream Ministry helped by providing new publications in Arabic and Farsi for the new believers in Europe. Around the same time the Lord raised up new seekers for His recovery through the distribution efforts of Rhema in Egypt. These young seekers eventually benefited from the full-time trainings in India, London, and South Africa, and were fully captured by the vision of the Lord’s up-to-date recovery. Then, in 2018 Living Stream Ministry picked up the burden to participate in the Cairo International Book Fair (CIBF) for the first time. Serving ones from LSM went to Egypt for this event and also fellowshipped with these young serving ones to see if there was a way for the Lord to have additional Arabic publication work in Egypt. Through much fellowship and prayer with the responsible ones in the work and the local serving ones in Cairo, the Lord opened a definite door for the Arabic publication work in Egypt in 2018. A clear vision was imparted into these local serving ones for the Arabic publication work. Some of them felt burdened by the Lord to give themselves for this purpose in addition to their church life in Cairo, and those who did not feel to serve directly in translation picked up the burden to support this work with their prayers and practical help as needed. “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” (2 Cor. 5:15).
So, in October 2018 a second literature center for Arabic publication work was registered, this one in Egypt, under the name of Al-Jadwal Al-Haii (meaning ‘Living Stream’; AJAH for short) for the purpose of translating and distributing LSM publications in Arabic. Through this arrangement, a legal standing with the local government was established for AJAH to participate in international events in Egypt and in the Middle East, such as CIBF.
In fellowship and coordination with LSM, the labor at AJAH focused from 2018 through mid-2020 on translating new ministry titles into Arabic with a view to: 1) meeting the spiritual needs of the Arabic-speaking saints in the local churches, including the church in Cairo, Egypt; 2) providing these riches to the Lord’s seekers and lovers who read Arabic, mainly through contacts at CIBF; and 3) preparing the translators for the translation of the New Testament Recovery Version into Arabic. By the Lord’s mercy, the Arabic publication work in Cairo has been able to produce several new ministry titles, including several volumes of Life-study messages, which have proved to be quite attractive to Arabic readers.
By the Lord’s mercy, the Arabic publication work in Cairo has been able to produce several new ministry titles, including several volumes of Life-study messages, which have proved to be quite attractive to Arabic readers.
In August 2020, through much prayer and support from the Body, the Lord accomplished the goal of preparing translators for the Recovery Version in Arabic, and this crucial work of translating the New Testament was begun.
In August 2020, through much prayer and support from the Body, the Lord accomplished the goal of preparing translators for the Recovery Version in Arabic, and this crucial work of translating the New Testament was begun. Four of those serving in the Arabic literature work have consecrated their next five years for this project and are now working steadily on it. At the time of this writing, the first three Gospels, with outlines and footnotes, are almost completed. May the Lord keep the consecration of these serving ones fresh, and may His grace bear them on to the final publication of the New Testament Recovery Version in Arabic in early 2025, as planned.
While the priority of the publication work is the Arabic New Testament Recovery Version project, we can testify that the Lord is gracing the Arabic translation team to continue producing new titles in Arabic on the side. Through the fellowship there is an ongoing translation work of some of the titles related to the vital groups for the churches to be brought fully into the God-ordained way. And the Lord is adding new translators who are working on ministry materials that will benefit all the Lord’s seekers and lovers who read Arabic. The publication work in Cairo also takes care of both the oral and the written translation needed for the two LSM semiannual trainings, so that the saints can get trained and constituted with the present ministry. AJAH also translates the materials for the yearly Cairo International Conference, usually held every January.
As mentioned above, AJAH also participates in the Cairo International Book Fair every year as the registered exhibitor for LSM. This is an incredibly significant event for Egypt and the Middle East and is considered a strategic channel for the word of this ministry to run throughout the region. During this event we have the legal standing to make the ministry of the age available to Arabic readers of every persuasion and to the Lord’s seekers whom He sends to our booth. This year during the first two weeks of July we participated in CIBF and offered the titles previously produced by our fellow-laboring couple and those recently produced by AJAH, including the Life-studies of John and Genesis. While the restrictions due to the pandemic limited the crowds that normally attend CIBF, our contacts with new ones, Christians and non-Christians, were not abated at all. Indeed, this was the most successful book fair for us to date.
We thank the Lord for His supply to His saints for the carrying out of this labor thus far. By His grace many saints have been praying and many have been giving for the Arabic publication work over the past decades, and it is very clear that the Lord has been using the prayers and the gifts to intensify the publication work in this language. Without His supply in the Body it would have been impossible for this to happen, and we give all praise and all thanks to Him for it.
During this event we have the legal standing to make the ministry of the age available to Arabic readers of every persuasion and to the Lord’s seekers whom He sends to our booth.
And they sing a new song, saying: You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for You were slain and have purchased for God by Your blood men out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made them a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign on the earth. (Rev. 5:9-10)