Throughout Billy Graham’s ministry, he stressed the importance of training and discipleship. These disciplines were at the forefront of many evangelism conferences, including Amsterdam ‘83, Amsterdam ‘86 and Amsterdam 2000. In The Journey of Faith tour at the Billy Graham Library, you can hear testimonies from some of the evangelists who participated in these conferences in the World Aflame gallery. One of those featured is Aileen Coleman, who was a missionary nurse at Annoor Sanatorium in Mafraq, Jordan.

Read more about Aileen Coleman:

Seventy years ago, the Lord called Aileen Coleman from Australia to become His ambassador in the Middle East. Courageously defying cultural norms in a male-dominated culture, she and Dr. Eleanor Soltau founded the Annoor Sanatorium for Chest Diseases, a missionary hospital that saves lives from tuberculosis while preparing the way for the Gospel to be heard. Aileen’s father back in Australia had wanted her to become a teacher, but she followed the bigger plans of her Heavenly Father, moving thousands of miles away to a different continent to become a missionary nurse in Mafraq, Jordan. There she dedicated her life to one of the world’s most challenging mission fields—the nomadic, tent-dwelling Bedouin tribes east of the Jordan River, who trace their lineage to Abraham’s son Ishmael. Aileen felt called by Jesus’ parable of the lost sheep: “It is not the will of your Father who is in Heaven that one of these little ones should perish” (Matthew 18:14).

When Aileen and Eleanor founded the tuberculosis hospital in 1965, they began sharing the hope of the Gospel with patients who were hospitalized for lengthy treatments. As they worked to save lives from TB, God gave them favor to share the hope of eternal life in Jesus Christ.

Aileen spent the last 70 years of her life serving in the Middle East, until she died July 9, just weeks before her 95th birthday.

Because of the limitations of preaching the Gospel in places like Jordan, only Heaven knows the full fruit of her ministry. “In many circles, our ministry might not be considered a success story,” she once said. “But in obedience to the Father, we have sought that one lost sheep.” Aileen was blessed to see the Gospel take root in the hearts of several patients, as well as some of the orphans she helped raise.

“Heaven will be fuller because of Aileen,” Franklin Graham said at her 89th birthday party in 2019. He described her as “a tough-as-nails missionary” who never shied away from the challenges of serving as a Christian woman in a culture dominated by men.

Learn more about the role of evangelism in the lives of those who attended the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association conferences by taking The Journey of Faith tour. Book a free tour today.