Over the past decade, the picturesque town of Interlaken, Switzerland nestled between the lakes and peaks of the Bernese Alps, has seen a remarkable shift. The volume of visitors originating from Gulf nations has grown substantially. In response, local hotels and restaurants have adapted, encouraging their staff to learn Arabic and offering customers prayer mats and halal menus.
But the most powerful response has come from the Church.
OM in Switzerland launched the Salamu Aleikum Project (SAP), meaning “peace be upon you” in Arabic, to reach these visitors with the love of Christ. Led by Hermann and his wife Beatrice—who spent years ministering in the Arabian Peninsula—SAP partners with local churches in Interlaken and Zell am See, Austria, another popular destination for Gulf tourists.
In 2018, Hermann received a call from a friend in Interlaken: “Hermann, we’re overflowing with Arabs!” The town held a special place in his heart as it was where he spent summers as a teen. He gathered a team and headed there. “It felt like Joshua and Caleb scouting the land,” he said.
That initial visit sparked something big. By 2024, 75 believers from 12 nations had joined the outreach in Interlaken.
Each day of the outreach is structured into three parts:
No experience is required, and the outreach is conducted in English. Participants have ranged in age from 18 to 90!
Hermann explains the approach: “We always go out in teams of four—two pray while two engage. The next day, the roles switch. Even those who are nervous at first eventually step out in faith after seeing God move.”
The team sets up a book table with free Christian literature in Arabic and hosts open-air showings of the Jesus Film in Arabic. Each showing begins with a group of Swiss men and women playing the alphorn, a traditional instrument that draws curious tourists. Then, the team prays and shares.
SAP partners with five local churches, and during the second week, team members visit these churches to share testimonies of what God has done.
The outreach has changed lives—not only of those being reached, but also of those doing the reaching.
One participant Hermann remembers vividly was an Egyptian man married to a Canadian woman.
“He was always telling me, ‘Put me in prayer,’” Hermann recalled. “So I went to him and said, ‘Brother, you’re Arab—why aren’t you out speaking to people?’ He said he couldn’t, so I placed him with the Jesus Film project, since it’s less interactive. He was just sitting and watching the film.”
Hermann continued, “A man from Saudi Arabia was sitting beside him with two children—a three-year-old daughter and a six-year-old son. The son kept asking his father questions about the crucifixion, saying, ‘Look, they did crucify Jesus.’ But the little girl was getting scared, so my dear Egyptian brother comforted her. And in that moment, something came over him—a kind of love he had never felt before, because he had always hated Muslims.”
“Can you believe that? He came to a project focused on Muslim outreach, yet he hated them. But I understood—based on how Egyptian Christians are treated, it made sense. That’s why he fled Egypt for good. But through this project, he was transformed. Now, he loves Arabs.”
The Salamu Aleikum Project is a beautiful example of how God uses ordinary people in extraordinary ways. Through prayer, boldness and love, lives are being transformed in the heart of the Swiss Alps.
Would you consider praying for this ministry, or even joining a future outreach? The harvest is plentiful, and the workers are being equipped!
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