Dear Friend, My father often said that the three most important ingredients of successful evangelism are prayer, prayer, and prayer. We are deeply grateful for friends like you who provide the vital prayer support so necessary for our Search for Jesus internet outreach ministry. We are also grateful for your financial gifts which enable us to keep the outreach continuously available to anyone, anytime, anywhere, who is searching for eternal Truth.

God does use your prayers and gifts. The Bible describes a period of great harvest when “the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47, ESV). That’s an equally good description of what God is doing today through Search for Jesus. We could even say He does it “hour by hour”—people are constantly exploring the Gospel on our Search for Jesus websites, and more than 200 every hour on average, day and night, indicate that they are making a decision for Christ. They connect with us from every place on earth, even from places where the Gospel cannot be shared openly.

You can visit our prayer support website, searchforjesus.org.uk/pray, and watch live as decisions for Christ are reported. Jesus said, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (John 6:37). We rejoice to see those words being fulfilled day after day in countries all over the world. To God be the glory!

Franklin Graham
President

“Belief in God isn’t permitted in our household.”

I want to build a relationship with God.” That was the message Marissa,* an older teen, left on one of our Search for Jesus Websites. “I’m not allowed to go to church, and I’ve never really learned about God or the Bible. I want to. “Belief in God isn’t permitted in our household,” she explained. “Nonetheless I’ve always believed that God was real, I just [don’t know] how to properly believe in Him.”

She signed up for Know Jesus, our free online course for people who want to learn more about following Christ. Each person who enrols is matched with a discipleship coach, one of our carefully trained volunteers who answer questions and offer spiritual encouragement online. Marissa was connected with a discipleship coach called Eliza, who learned that her new friend was articulate, a deep thinker, and had a heart wide open toward God. Marissa wanted to know how to pray (“Do you have to use certain words?”) and how to seek forgiveness for her sins (“I hope that I can be forgiven … I’m not sure how all that works”). She wanted to learn about the Bible (“I don’t have one, nor am I allowed to, but I’ve heard that I can read it online”). She asked Eliza for help understanding John 3:16.

When Marissa was seven or eight years old, she got to attend a children’s event at a church. The desire to know God was planted in her heart and never left. Now a decade later, God was using the Search for Jesus ministry to fill that desire.

As she soaked up more and more truth, Marissa asked Eliza to explain again how to be saved. “Do I just ask Jesus to be my Saviour or is there more to it?” Eliza went back over what the Bible says, then asked if Marissa had taken those steps. “Yes, thank you!” came the enthusiastic reply.

Marissa completed the Know Jesus course, growing in the Lord as she went along. At the end, she warmly thanked Eliza. “I have learned very much from you and I am encouraged to keep learning!

He wanted to turn to God, but …

Mike* was a rudderless teenager, drifting through school as he experimented in the many forms of sinful pleasure available to him in today’s culture. When the sin began to weigh on his conscience, he thought it might help to get closer to God—but with no church background, he had no idea how. That’s when Mike discovered our peacewithgod.org.uk website. He connected with one of our experienced volunteer email coaches, a mature believer, and started asking questions.

The coach explained God’s offer of forgiveness and His plan of salvation, but Mike had some tangled ideas to work through. He wanted very badly to accept what God offered while holding onto his sinful lifestyle. He agreed the Bible could be trusted, though he kept searching for ways around some of what it told him to do. He struggled to grasp the concept of faith. Yet the Holy Spirit was tugging on his heart, and Mike returned every few days with another question. This went on for many weeks.

Friends from our coach’s church joined in prayer for Mike’s salvation, and the day finally came when, in repentance and faith, he gave his life to Jesus Christ as his Saviour and Lord. From then on, the tone of his emails became strikingly different. He communicated with joy and wrote about the changes he could see in his life. Our volunteer mentored him on praying, Bible reading, and walking with the Lord. Occasionally he’d admit to slipping into his old ways, but he learned how to seek restoration with the Lord.

The coach gave advice on finding a church, and about two months later, Mike wrote to say he had settled in a church and was getting baptised. Today he still checks in from time to time to request prayer or ask the coach a discipleship question. “I am so thankful for the Search for Jesus ministry,” says the volunteer, “and for the opportunity to help people let God change their night into day. To Him belongs all the glory!”

“Need God and Jesus”

Last month a Hindu man from India visited our peacewithgod.org.uk website and entered a four-word message: “Need God and Jesus.”

One of our more than 700 online coaches responded. The man explained that he recently had a dream in which he was told to read the Bible. He had just finished the New Testament and came to our website with questions. “Is Jesus God? How can He be both?” “Is God everywhere?” “Can you talk to God?”

He said he wanted to do what God wanted him to do, so the coach asked if he’d like to know how to become a follower of Jesus Christ. The answer was a swift yes, and as the online conversation continued, the Hindu man turned to Christ in repentance and faith. “Thank you, and I thank Him to have you here,” he wrote, asking that we pray for him to “become more serious and not ignorant” in his walk with God, to “keep connected and close to Him.”

How you can participate

PRAY: Every minute of every day, someone in the world is actively exploring the Gospel through our Search for Jesus ministry—it might be a teen down the street or someone in a country hostile to the Gospel message. Pray for these people, remembering to ask for God’s protection for those in areas where coming to faith in Christ can be dangerous.

VOLUNTEER: We are looking for 50 volunteers to become online coaches in either our chat, email, or discipleship roles. These roles allow volunteers to engage with people online who are asking questions about Jesus and encountering the Gospel. Our volunteers share the Gospel, answer questions, and guide new believers through online discipleship courses. We also encourage those who have indicated decisions for Christ to connect with a church local to them that we have partnered with. If you are interested in volunteering or partnering your church with us, please go to searchforjesus.org.uk to find out more.

GIVE: Your gift is vital to keep this outreach effective and available for people everywhere who search for truth, even where the Gospel cannot be shared openly. The ministry is now active in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Arabic, and we are preparing to expand to Chinese.