'Exactly what God wants' – A Lebanese Christian leader on blessing Israel and its neighbors

Henri Aoun, a Lebanese Evangelical Christian, joined Joel and Lynn Rosenberg on a recent episode of Inside the Epicenter, the podcast of The Joshua Fund.

In much of the Middle East, and increasingly in the West, support for Israel is assumed to come at the expense of the Arab world.

Henri Aoun rejects that choice. He once oversaw the national ministries of Life Agape – the regional arm of Campus Crusade for Christ International – in every country from Morocco to Afghanistan. This past year he joined the board of The Joshua Fund, founded by Joel and Lynn Rosenberg 20 years ago under the banner, “Blessing Israel and Its Neighbors.”

Asked why he agreed to serve at a stage of life when he is trying to slow down, Aoun pointed to Scripture.

“You want to see Israel being blessed, the Israeli people, the Jewish people being blessed, but you don’t want to neglect the neighbors, because that’s what God taught us from the very beginning in the Old Testament,” he said.

He cited the Torah’s command to love the stranger in the land, and King Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the Temple, which asks God to hear the foreigner who comes seeking Him. “We believe that blessing Israel along with the neighbors is exactly what God wants us to do,” Aoun said.

His affection for the Jewish people is personal. As a struggling student in the United States, he said, the person who helped him most was a Jewish man, Harvey Kushner, who “took me under his wings.” He described growing up “loving Jewish people, loving Arabs, loving Armenians,” adding, “The Kingdom of God is not one single people group.”

Joel Rosenberg, who is Jewish and a follower of Jesus, said Aoun was the first Arab Evangelical leader he and Lynn ever met, as newlyweds more than 35 years ago. That friendship helped shape the ministry’s conviction that love for Arabs, Iranians and Muslims belongs alongside love for the Jewish people.

Rosenberg recalled that conviction being tested at a dinner in an Arab country hosted by an official responsible for 33,000 mosques. In front of cabinet ministers, the host asked how Rosenberg could be Jewish and believe in Jesus. Rosenberg called it “a Henri Aoun moment,” crediting his friend’s example with giving him the courage to answer.

Aoun also offered a faith-rooted view of the region’s upheaval. “God does not cause the war, but He uses the war,” he said, describing displaced people who are now hearing the good news.

The call to bless Israel and its neighbors carries particular weight for Aoun, whose native Lebanon remains a front line in Israel’s security. Joel Rosenberg stressed the importance of praying for peace between Israel and Lebanon, and for the Lebanese people to be free from the influence of Iran and Hezbollah.

Lynn Rosenberg framed the episode with Romans 1:16, which calls the Gospel “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the nations.”

Aoun is expected to join The Joshua Fund’s Epicenter Summit in April 2027.