Georges River Region: Arabic pastor prays for medical ministry miracle

The Rev Mourad Omrani (not his real name), an Arabic minister in the Georges River Region, can’t say where the medical centre is that he meets in with four Arabic speakers for Bible study.

The ministry is so fraught with cultural dangers that the decision to commit to Christ has turned husband against wife for at least one lady in this Bible fellowship group.

“She offered her daughter an earring with the form of a cross on it. Her husband divorced her because of it.

“This is the problem when people from non-Christian Arabic backgrounds accept Christ. They are completely rejected by their family.”

Being an Arabic pastor is more than a full-time job for Mr Omrani.

“It is hard when people call at any time and say they need some help. But these people need the Christian fellowship. They need to know they are being loved and accepted. My whole week is spent running from one person to another to be with them, pray with them and share God’s love with them. I try to meet them where they needs are, so that they will be open to listen to what I say and hear the Gospel.”

Mr Omrani says there are struggles in explaining the gospel to Arabic speakers who don’t come from a Christian background.

“In Australia, men from Arabic backgrounds don’t know how to behave as a man, and wives, with the freedom they have here can abuse the system.”

“Many wives say to their husbands, ‘If I leave this house the government will take care of me. I’m not here to serve you.’ It’s hard to explain to them the headship of Christ to the church and the position of the church to Christ and how that affects their marriage relationship with their husband.”

Mr Omrani says some Arabic people think that committing to Christ means changing their cultural identity.

“Every time they ask ‘I don’t want to change my culture or my identity’; and to all of them my answer is, ‘No, you are Arab and you stay an Arab. When I share the gospel, I want to help fix your relationship with God.’ God has given them an opportunity to be saved and this is what I share with them.”

Mr. Omrani was invited to travel in a war torn Islamic country in order to equip converts for ministry and encourage them in their daily walk with Christ. These converts; because of where they live; do not have the same problem as the non-Christians living in the west.

Mr Omrani hopes advancements for the gospel are assisted in the Bankstown deanery through the Bankstown Food Festival held last month. With assistance of a Christian Arabic businessman and others they organised an Arabic tent with free coffee and chocolate with assistants wearing Arabic clothes, singing Arabic hymns and sharing the gospel with passers-by.

Mr Omrani says more workers are needed to minister to the Arabic community and says there is particularly a need for retired Christian school teachers.

“If they can tutor in science, maths or English and help families academically, Arabic families will love to see that.  I provided a family a Science tutor for their son and helped him pass his exams. The father asked why Christians do that. Then I was able to open the Bible and share the gospel with all the family and now this family has a Bible in their house, and I am still praying that the seed planted in their lives will produce fruit of eternal salvation.”

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