Cleft of the Rock Ministry Center

Cross-cultural work in Muslim communities can be incredibly challenging! To be effective and avoid burnout, both cross-cultural workers and local believers need support as they serve among least-reached people.

Cleft of the Rock Ministry Center helps keep workers on the field in countries where ministry is especially difficult by offering retreats and other services. Located in the forested mountains of the Middle East, Cleft of the Rock Ministry Center provides a safe place where workers and local believers can be restored. In quiet, peaceful surroundings, they can pull back from ministry and the stress of living in places that are hostile to followers of Christ. Through Cleft of the Rock, they receive teaching, counseling and rest, and they return to their places of ministry better able to serve.

Since it was founded by Christar workers in 2010, this center has restored and equipped Christian workers from throughout the Middle East and Central Asia through counseling, cultural orientation and team building, as well as group and personal retreats. Prior to COVID-19 Cleft of the Rock served approximately 3,000 individuals annually; but by God’s grace, in 2023 it more than doubled this number, welcoming 8,000 people.

Though the workers who staffed Cleft of the Rock were deported from the country, the ministry center continues to operate and serve workers and national believers with onsite national staff. The founders of Cleft of the Rock hope to sell its present facility and reopen in a nearby country in the Balkans that hosts numerous cross-cultural workers as well as many nationals from country where it is currently located.

Your gift to Cleft of the Rock will help workers and local believers continue to serve and thrive in hard places! And, as they are able to minister more effectively in these communities, more least-reached people will hear and embrace the gospel.

Specific Needs:

• $75 provides a one-night retreat for a single worker.
• $150 covers a one-night retreat for a family serving cross-culturally.
• $1,000 covers the cost of a one-night conference for up to 50 people.
• $10,000 provides coal and firewood for heat throughout the winter.

Participate by Praying for the Cleft of the Rock Ministry Center:

• Pray that the ministry center will have a good reputation in the community and be a light in a dark area.
• Pray that Cleft of the Rock’s unbelieving national staff members will come to know Christ and that those who do know Him to be strengthened in their faith.
• Pray that workers and national believers who use the site will be refreshed, renewed and able to go back into the field with new vision.
• Pray for the sale of the present facilities to go through and that a new facility will be located.