Mary Ann Jacobs

Mary Ann Jacobs comes from South London, and has ministered in Istanbul, Turkey for the past 25 years. She has been involved in strategic church planting and secular and Christian business in Turkey and is a member of the Istanbul Protestant Church Foundation, which has grown from one small church plant to being the umbrella organisation for 10 fellowships in the country. With a population of 85 million and less than 10,000 evangelical Christians, Turkey is one of the least reached countries on earth.

Mary Ann is Regional Leader for People International, responsible for multinational teams working among Turks, Azeris and other Muslim peoples in Eurasia and the South Caucasus. She also heads the consultative body for leaders of mission groups in Turkey. She has a passion to see people changed by coming to know Jesus as their Saviour and Lord, and for society to be transformed as the gospel works through it like yeast.

Fluent in Turkish, she’s just started learning Spanish to help the growing number of Latino workers feel at home in People International. Mary Ann says the best antidote to the stresses of mission leadership is the welcome home every day she receives from her four cocker spaniels!