Day: April 15, 2015

In This Issue: Religious projections and thought-provoking videos

1. WORLD: Growth Projections of World Religions
2. KENYA: “I Need God to Help Me Forget”
3. SOUTH AFRICA: Young Man Forgives His Father’s Murderers
4. BURMA: God at Work Among Soldiers
5. NIGER: She Found Jesus, Faced Rejection and Violence
6. INDONESIA: Muslims Make Marketing Push

Dear friends,

As I was working on this edition of Missions Catalyst I came across a Steve Saint talk which includes thought-provoking observations, statistics, and inspiration. See Let God Write Your Story (But What If We Don’t Like the Next Chapter?).

After watching that, I searched for more of his talks and found Sovereignty, Suffering and the Work of Missions, given long before his accident that paralyzed much of his body. Each of the talks is just under an hour long.

Blessings,
Pat

Source: Missiologically Thinking, April 6, 2015

[On April 2], the Pew Research Center released an extensive report on the future populations of different world religions. Though there is troubling information here, this is a fascinating work providing a sobering reality of our world. Here are a few of the projections [for] 2010-2050:

• In the United States, Christians are expected to decline from 76 percent to 66 percent of the population.
• In the United States, the unaffiliated are expected to increase from 16 percent to 26 percent of the population.
• In the United States, Muslims will outnumber Jews.
• In the United States, the Hindu population will double.
• Europe’s Christian population will decrease by 100 million.
• Europe’s Hindu population will double, Muslims will comprise 10 percent of the population, and the unaffiliated will reach about a quarter of the population.
• 4 out of 10 Christians in the world will live in sub-Sahara Africa.
• The global number of Muslims will nearly equal the number of Christians.
• The global Buddhist population will remain the same.
• The global unaffiliated will decline in population.

Such predictions are difficult to make with accuracy. However, this report should lead us to prayer, more intentional disciple-making, healthy questioning of our present structures and institutions, and the avoidance of burying our heads in the sand and ignoring the possible future.

» Read full story or the Pew report. Also note that the Center for the Study of Global Christianity offers a different analysis.

Source: World Watch Monitor, April 13, 2015

The chairman of Garissa University College’s Christian Union, who survived the April 2 Al Shabab attack in which 148 students were killed, has pleaded for prayer for the physical and psychological healing of survivors.

“Please pray for us… Many saw sights too horrible to describe,” said 21-year-old Frederick Gitonga.

“Pray for me too. I need peace of mind, strength, and wisdom. I am struggling with dreams that cause me to snap awake, then [I] cannot get back to sleep. I find myself remembering the horror of that day. The sounds and smells come back clearly.”

Gitonga explained how he had been up late the night before the attack, praying for one of the students under his care, that they would be able to truly forgive someone a wrong. The next morning, that student was dead, along with the other 21 Christian Union (CU) members who had attended early morning prayers.

Gitonga said the only reason he is still alive is because he had felt too tired after his late night to join in with prayers that morning. Instead, he decided to go back to sleep, only to wake to the sound of gunshots.

“My roommates ran out, leaving the door wide open,” he explained. “I felt a strong urge not to run, but to stay put. As I hid under the bed, I could hear the gunshots and screams of fellow students. I could [hear] them lying to women that they should come out since their religion does not allow them to kill women. When they did, they were all killed. I know of no single Muslim who lost their life.

“After some time things went quiet, but I did not move.”

The next thing Gitonga remembers is hearing two attackers enter the room.

» Read full story. See also Kenya Mourns Students Killed While Praying.

Source: International Mission Board, April 8, 2015

Eighteen-year-old Joseph Sambo laughed as he held his father’s hand. The two had spent the evening sharing secrets and talking about plans for the future. It was already after dark, so Joseph decided it was time to head inside.

Moments later, he heard yelling and turned back to see his father being held down and beaten by three men. Before he processed what was happening, he saw a gun pointed in his direction and was commanded to run. He found a nearby hiding place and listened as three gunshots were fired, followed by a deafening silence.

Joseph ran over to check on his father, but it was too late. He was already dead and the murderers had fled. With the death of his father went the death of Joseph’s hopes and dreams he had shared just minutes before.

“I asked, ‘Why God, why did you let this happen?’” Sambo, now 22, said.

» Read full story and watch related video (three minutes long).

Source Mission Network News, April 8, 2015

In Burma, God is drawing soldiers closer to himself in the midst of war.

Free Burma Rangers released a report saying attacks in the Southeast Asian nation are the [greatest] they’ve been since fighting renewed in 2011 after the 17-year ceasefire was broken. Karen News cited Human Rights Watch saying the conflict had led to more than 100,000 displaced civilians.

Despite the danger, a Vision Beyond Borders contact is putting her life on the line to minister to Kachin soldiers on the front lines.

The courage and compassion of this dedicated believer puts life in perspective, says VBB’s Dyann Romeijn. “Things in this life might be fatal, but they aren’t final. And it’s an example of a modern-day person living out that type of faith, that belief that what God calls us to is much more important than our personal safety.”

» Read full story.

Source: Godreports, April 8, 2015

Mounira came from a deeply conservative Muslim family in Niger. After she received Christ, her family abandoned her and her son Maoulé, leaving them homeless and friendless. Even her husband rejected her due to her faith in Christ, according to a report by International Christian Concern (ICC).

When he caught her reading the Bible, he seized the Scriptures from her hands and tore it to shreds. On Sunday mornings, he locked Mounira in her room to keep her from attending church.

One night, after he returned late from work, Mounira’s husband beat her to the point of unconsciousness because she dared to pray in a corner of their house. Her son, Maoulé, quickly called Mounira’s pastor, who rushed her to the hospital.

Even in the face of such abuse, Mounira’s faith never wavered. She holds verses such as Romans 8:38-39 close to her heart: “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

» Read full story.

Source: Charisma News, March 23, 2015

Muslims in Indonesia report losing one follower of Islam to Christianity every 15 seconds. That’s 2 million a year. At that rate, by 2035 Indonesia will no longer be majority Muslim nation. Muslims there are concerned about this trend and launched this campaign to help stem the tide of Muslim converts to Christianity.

» View full story and video and make what it discusses a matter of prayer.

» Editor’s note: The #SaveMaryam campaign began in 2012 and its websites don’t suggest recent activity. Have any of you seen an update?