Socio-economic realities in the MENA are not improving. In our Regional Brief for December 2018, we highlight issues of concern from Lebanon, Egypt, Mauritania, Sudan, Palestine and Iraq. Endemic corruption and the absence of reform in the educational system persists without any real transformation. Suffering and grief still knock at the doors of many people in our region. Slavery persists within our communities - in the twenty first century. Confronted with these issues, the Church in the region asks: Is education itself the solution? As suffering remains the norm, how must the church respond? Would it be better for the MENA church to develop a sound theology of suffering, rather than hope for its disappearance? Should we settle for a theology of suffering in the belief that evil is here to stay, or must we continue to resist evil and suffering in the hope that we can change reality? Our regional analysts attempt to answer these questions and ask many others for not only the regional Body of Christ, post-uprisings, but also globally in response to the unprecedented and widespread emergence of religiously-plural societies.