Day: December 3, 2014

In This Issue: People of the borderlands

• MIDDLE EAST: Praying for Syrian Refugees
• AFGHANISTAN: South African Christians Killed by Taliban
• PAKISTAN: Eldest Son Witnessed Parents’ Deaths
• BANGLADESH: Two Pastors Charged for Proclaiming Christ to Muslims
• WORLD: Looking Back, Looking Forward

Greetings,

I’ve been thinking about borderlands and the unique ministry opportunities they create. With this on my mind I came across the engaging speaker/adventurer Suchitra Vijayan. Since I am preparing for a trip to South Asia, I listened intently to her talk on Citizenship, Identity, and Conflict in South Asia’s Borderlands.

As I began looking for stories for this edition of Missions Catalyst, the borderlands theme kept popping up. Some stories refer to political borders but others are about climate change borders, disputed borders, closing borders, new borders being tested, etc. Take a look:

• World’s Strangest Land Grab (Uzbekistan and Afghanistan)
• Abandoned in the Borderlands (South Sudan)
• Depression Casts Cloak of Infertility over Kashmir Valley
• Closed Borders and Live Ammunition: How Syria’s Neighbors Are Starting to Treat Refugees

One thing the inhabitants of changing borderlands have in common is that they lack what makes the place they live a home. In a post on this topic, blogger Richelle Wright shares a list of things a home should be (borrowing from the book The Nesting Place):

• A place to connect
• A place of authenticity
• A place of comfort
• A place of rest
• A place of joy
• A place of contentment

What a great list of things to pray for those in the changing borderlands.

What does all this about borderlands have to do with what I am calling a fourth era of Protestant missions? I believe we are entering a season of opportunity the church has not seen before now. Email me if you’d like to discuss it.

Blessings,
Pat

Pat Noble has been the “news sleuth” for Missions Catalyst since 2004. In addition to churning out the news, she is working to create a SWARM (Serving World A Regional Mobilizers) in Northern New York using the NorthernChristian.org website. You can connect with her at www.whatsoeverthings.com.

Source: The Syrian Circle

If you don’t understand what’s going in on in the Middle East, you’re not alone. This video explains the basics in about 90 seconds.

The Syrian Circle is a prayer movement surrounding Syrian refugees, starting with 31 days of prayer in December. Ways to be part of it include subscribing to email updates, following the movement on Facebook or Instagram, and reading and writing on the prayer wall.

» Visit the website.

» See also Dispatch from Aleppo (World Watch Monitor).

Source: INContext Ministries, November 29, 2014

Our hearts are broken. We have lost a dear friend, a faithful worker, and a precious soul-mate. Werner Groenewald and his two beautiful children, Jean-Pierre and Rhodé, were killed in a Taliban attack in Kabul on Saturday, November 29. Hannelie, his wife, was not at home during the time and survived the attacked but lost everything.

Three gunmen and suicide bombers stormed the compound where Werner and his family lived in Kabul on Saturday, exchanging fire with security forces before leaving Werner and his two children dead. Six other hostages were rescued after the afternoon attack while one Afghan worker also died in the attack.

A Taliban spokesman said in a statement that it was targeting “a secret Christian missionary and foreign invaders’ intelligence center.”

How do we express our deepest empathy and condolences with the family members who now have to face the reality of losing a son, a brother, a husband, and two children in one horrific incident of terror? What words or theology can relieve the pain?

Like Jesus at the grave of Lazarus, we can only weep.

» Read full story.

» See also Taliban Murder Four Humanitarian Aid Workers in Kabul (World Watch Monitor) and SA Doctor Still in Afghanistan after Family Killed (News24).

Source: ASSIST News Service, November 27, 2014

Shahzad Masih, 26, and Shama Bibi, 24, were burnt alive for alleged blasphemy on Tuesday, November 4, in a brick kiln in Kot Radha Kishan of Kasur district, 31 miles from Lahore.

Shamim Masih, writing for the British Pakistani Christian Association, says that the eldest son of the couple, who witnessed the horrendous murder of his parents, has described what occurred.

He told the journalist, “Very early in the morning, the [brick kiln] supervisor, along with a few other men, came to house and took my parents with them. We were so scared. They started beating them with sticks and slapping them hard, so we started weeping and ran after our parents.

“Soon after, my uncle, Iqbal Masih [Shahzad’s brother], came out of his house to inquire about the incident, but they didn’t listen to him and locked up our parents in a nearby room, while all us children kept on weeping and we remained with our uncle in his house.”

» Read full story, which includes disturbing details about these deaths. It also describes the underlying religious tensions in this village and what has happened to the family since this event.

» Also read about Pakistan’s FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas) and how minority groups are fleeing: Pakistani Sikhs Back in the ‘Dark Ages’ of Religious Persecution (IPS News).

Source: Morning Star News, November 24, 2014

On November 9, police arrested [two] pastors and 41 [other adults with their children], including Muslims, who were listening to proclamation of Christ at a rented house in Nabinagar village in Lalmonirhat District, 300 kilometers (186 miles) northwest of Dhaka, after at least 100 Islamists disrupted the meeting and began “jabbing” at the church leaders’ faces, sources said.

The 41 people who were detained along with their children were released that night; the pastors of Faith Bible Church of God were not released on bail until November 17, charged with “hurting religious sentiments” and luring Muslims to convert by offering money. The church leaders deny both charges.

“We did not tell anything to anyone that might hurt religious sensibility,” one of the released pastors, Arif Mondol, told Morning Star News. “We did not offer any money to anyone to be converted to Christianity.”

» Read full story.

» See also Christian School Attacked in Bangladesh (ASSIST News Service) and read about the borderland islands or Sundarbans of West Bengal, India, in Women on the Edge of Land and Life (Inter Press Service News Agency).

Sources: various, via Pat Noble, December 2014

This is the time of year my mailbox is full of predictions for next year, summaries and analysis of the past year, and various ideas on how to have a better body, future, job, or whatever in 2015. Maybe we’ll share some of these in upcoming editions. But a few to pray about:

Vision of Humanity just published its 2014 Global Terrorism Index.

Which countries give the most? The answer might surprise you. See Charities Aid Foundation’s World Giving Index 2014.

Every five years the people of Nepal (and many from the borderlands of India) perform a ritual that they hope will bring them good luck in days to come. Last Friday, what is believed to be the world’s largest animal sacrifice ceremony began. As you read about this tradition, pray for the people who participate.