Mentoring and Equipping the Global Church to Reached the Least Reached
While attending Bible college in the Boston area, God used a spiritual conversation with a Moroccan gas station attendant to burden Ralph’s heart for Muslims. Because of this gentleman’s passion to convert Ralph to Islam, and because of his polemic arguments that were difficult to answer, Ralph was driven to learn more about Islam and how he could reach his new friend. After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, anger, fear, and mistrust of Muslims grew across the U.S. and the world. This only deepened Ralph’s burden for Muslims, and his desire to see them come to embrace Jesus – the Prince of Peace.
In 2005, Ralph and his family moved to a predominantly Muslim region of East Africa where they served in church planting and development for thirteen years. During this time, Ralph and his wife Sandra were part of a church planting team focused on a particular part of their city plagued by radicalism, drug abuse, and crime. They helped to start a community center which focused on the youth of the area, serving as a beacon of hope to help the local people address some of their most daunting challenges. Through this ministry, Muslims are being introduced to Jesus – and several have already said “Yes” to His call to follow Him.
During their time overseas, Ralph was able to complete two apologetics degrees online through BIOLA University – both geared toward his interest in Islam. Since 2019, Ralph has served as WorldVenture’s Global Muslim Initiatives Coordinator, using his experience and training to encourage and equip God’s people to love our Muslim neighbors well and to bear fruit among them.
Currently, WorldVenture is implementing a “Tri-Strategy”, which prioritizes the strategic engagement of unreached people groups (UPG’s) in cities across the world through a 360-degree approach that strives to see Gospel impact in every segment of society. As part of these efforts, Ralph is providing leadership to assist our global efforts in identifying and engaging Muslims in each unique context. By religion, Islam has more unreached people groups than any other faith.
Through globalization, modern technology, and other factors, Muslims can now be found in almost every country around the world – presenting unprecedented opportunities like never before.
If you’d like to book a consultation or training (either in-person or online) to help your ministry, team, or church engage Muslims in your area, you can contact Ralph directly at r.thompson@worldventure.com.
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