Day: October 7, 2015

More than 100 million Christians face daily persecution for their faith. Will you pray for them on November 1 and 8, 2015?

In This Issue: Praying for the Persecuted

1. SYRIA: Christian Workers Persevere, Receive Crown
2. INDIA: Pastor Beaten Unconscious
3. CENTRAL ASIA: 21st Century Media Strategies
4. WORLD: Genuine Concern or Misleading Skepticism about the Syrian Refugee Crisis?

Greetings,

Christian persecution is getting some mainstream news coverage, lately. The International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church less than one month away, but you still have time to prepare. You might start by downloading Open Doors’ latest annual report on Christian persecution, The World Watch List. See also the new Paper.li publication World Evangelical Alliance’s Religious Liberty Commission is using to curate news of the persecuted church around the world. If you like apps, search your store for WEA RLC to get the news on your mobile device.

I recently had a conversation with someone about homophobia. Very early into the conversation I realized we were working with different definitions. I suggested the element of fear was required (hence phobia) but he thought it meant anyone against homosexuality. I said this would make them anti-homosexual, not homophobic.

That conversation, though, along with the recent shootings in Oregon, got me thinking about when and why Christians are persecuted. Would it be helpful to talk about Christophobia? Let me know if you think the concept is helpful.

Do the following stories have something in common? A fear of Christianity? Can you suggest helpful ways to respond?

• Six Churches Torched in Tanzania (World Watch Monitor)
• Ethiopia: Christians Arrested for “Spreading Hatred” (Worthy News)
• Nepal Rocked by Church Bombings amid Constitution Crisis (BosNews)
• Wild Accusations Torment Christians in Laos (Christian Aid)

This issue has a few more stories about the persecution of Christians, but keep reading: we have some good news, too.

Blessings,
Pat

Source: Christian Aid Mission, October 1, 2015

At several steps on their path to death by beheading and crucifixion last month, 11 indigenous Christian workers near Aleppo, Syria had the option to leave the area and live. The 12-year-old son of a ministry team leader also could have spared his life by denying Christ.

They stayed because they believed they were called to share Christ with those caught in the crossfire, [the leader] said.

The 41-year-old team leader, his young son, and two ministry members in their twenties were questioned at one village site where ISIS militants had summoned a crowd. The team leader presided over nine house churches he had helped to establish. His son was two months away from his thirteenth birthday.

In front of the team leader and relatives in the crowd, the Islamic extremists cut off the fingertips of the boy and severely beat him, telling his father they would stop the torture only if he, the father, returned to Islam. When the team leader refused, relatives said, the ISIS militants also tortured and beat him and the two other ministry workers. The three men and the boy then met their deaths in crucifixion.

» Read full story, details of which are also included in a larger story, Christians in Syria Struggle to Survive amid Terrors (Morning Star News).

» See also Egyptian Land Dispute Threatens Inter-religious Flashpoint (World Watch Monitor).

Source: Morning Star News, October 5, 2015

A pastor in Madhya Pradesh state is recovering after Hindu extremists last month beat him unconscious and left him in a pool of blood, sources said.

About 20 Hindu extremists in Fattiguda, Jhabua on September 10 kicked, punched, and beat with a club pastor Ajmer Singh Damor of Shalom Church, after storming into a prayer meeting at the home of Tihiya Vasunia, church leaders said.

Most of the Christians at the gathering scattered and escaped harm, but the Hindu extremists also abducted church member Dilu Katara and beat him before releasing him later that evening. Katara received hospital treatment for abrasions and internal injuries. The assailants also beat Pastor Damor’s wife, Runita Damor, but she was able to flee with her 18-month-old baby, said the Rev. Sam Francis, an area Christian leader.

Yelling that all Christian worship meetings must cease, the assailants destroyed household items and slaughtered one of Vasunia’s goats, church leaders said.

» See full story with picture.

» For another story from India that might touch someone looking for a place to serve, watch a powerful video just under 13 minutes long on India’s mental health crisis (VICE News).

Source: International Mission Board, September 15, 2015

“Jamilya” perches on a boulder, the highest spot on the mountain pass leading to her home beside a glacial lake. When she holds her cell phone just right, she gets a signal strong enough to call her family in the village five hours away.

“Rahat,” living in another isolated corner of Central Asia, doesn’t have running water, but he keeps a computer charged using a solar panel atop his family’s felt yurt. During his summer break from university, he spends evenings messaging his friends and watching pirated movies on the Internet.

Evan has spent the last 10 years trying to get the gospel to people like Jamilya and Rahat—Central Asians who are isolated behind physical, political, and spiritual barriers. For a long time he wondered, “Why isn’t something really cool happening?”

When two years ago, a co-worker showed him a website created for the purpose of making Scripture available in the language of the Central Asian people group Evan is trying to reach. To his surprise, the site was getting 1,000 hits a day.

By the end of the first year, nearly 25,000 Scripture downloads were recorded. Workers recognized they needed a full-time team comprised of members “passionate about seeing people get access to the Bible.”

Evan explained, “We aren’t using other evangelism tools; we are just connecting with people, trying to get them reading the Bible and then corresponding.”

“Our vision is that when people get access to God’s Word and begin reading it, that’s going to transform lives,” he said. “Cool things start to happen when people get access to God’s Word.”

And that’s exactly what Evan is seeing among this hard-to-reach people group.

» Read full story, which is quite encouraging. See also Short Films Open Hearts in the Middle East (The JESUS Film Project).

Source: INcontext Ministries, September 2015

An email currently circulating Christian networks calls for an “explanation” for a number of assertions regarding the Syrian refugees arriving in Europe from war-torn destinations. The email reads as follows:

“Can someone please explain the following regarding the Syrian refugees arriving in Europe from worn-torn destinations?

1. How come they all seem to have endless supplies of money to pay the people traffickers?
2. Most appear to have working mobile phones.
3. Most appear well dressed and fed and do not appear to be suffering the effects of malnutrition.
4. Most of the refugees are men of military age.
5. Why are other Muslim nations not helping their fellow Muslims (Saudi, Kuwait, U.A.E., Indonesia to name a few)?
6. How come the two boys and their mother drowned off the Turkish coast can be returned for burial to the place they fled so quickly, what I believed to be IS-held territory?

“Could it be they are being paid to come to Europe as a way to increase the Muslim population and get IS fighters embedded in Europe? We all know life is cheap from an IS point so the loss of a few lives along the way has no meaning for them as long as it benefits their cause.

“Just a thought.”

» Read INcontext’s response to these assertions (which they see as quite misleading) and their recent report in World In Motion.

» See also a couple of great videos: The Refugee Crisis: Time for Some Perspective (IRIN) and The European Refugee Crisis and Syria Explained (In A Nutshell), and also IRIN’s Humans of Syria where you can meet some of the professional people now called refugees. The Brookings Institute has some stats that might surprise you. Check out Much Ado About Nothing? The Economic Impact of Refugee “Invasions” and Is the Refugee Crisis an Opportunity for Aging Europe?

Finally, I am excited about some cool ideas about reaching refugees coming from the Mobile Ministry Forum. Read about them in Can We Offer Hope in this Refugee Crisis?