Month: June 2017
BOOK: New Release about the Global Refugee Crisis
Source: William Carey Library
A Better Country: Embracing the Refugees in our Midst, by Cindy Wu. William Carey Library, 2017. Paperback; 98 pages.
This study aims to help Christians in the US think theologically and practically about the global refugee crisis. It’s set up as a workbook for personal or group study but could also be used as a reference work, being particularly strong on data, with history, facts, charts, quotes, etc., and sources carefully cited. Includes up-to-date lists of refugee advocacy and assistance organizations as well as recommended books, articles, simulations, and documentaries (20 of them!) about refugees.
» Purchase from Amazon (or elsewhere) for $11.99.
» Readers might also be interested in two other new books related to world mission: Break Open the Sky: Saving Our Faith from a Culture of Fear by Stephan Bauman, and Reaching the Unreached: Becoming Raiders of the Lost Art by Peyton Jones. I haven’t read either of them yet. If you do, please let me know what you think.
PODCASTS/AUDIO BOOKS: Missional Audio
Source: Engaging Missions and Top Tier Audio
Looking for sources to inspire your mission and evangelism efforts? Take a look at Missional Audio, a new website promoting ministry-oriented podcasts and audio books. You may also be able to help them populate it with any of your favorites that they haven’t found yet or tap into their resources to help produce your own audio book or podcast.
FREE DOWNLOAD: Praying Practically for Missionaries
Source: I.K. Hadinger
After nearly 20 years living and ministering cross-culturally, this missionary wife put together a thoughtful and gracefully written 25-page printable booklet answering a question often heard from pastors, church leaders, missions committees, or others who sincerely ask, “How can we pray for our missionaries?” Much as our missionaries and their situations vary, these prayer points would be suitable for almost any of them.
» Download Seven Ways in Seven Days: Praying Practically for Missionaries (for free, but donations are accepted). Learn more about the author.
VIDEO: The Story of God, the World, and You
Source: The Gospel Coalition
“If I could sit with an unbeliever today and watch a gospel presentation, we would watch this,” says John Piper. What do you think? It’s drawn from Glen Scrivner’s 2014 book of the same title. (See 20 quotes).
» Watch the video 321: The Story of God, the World, and You.
BOOK: An Asian Harvest
Source: Asia Harvest and Monarch Books
An Asian Harvest, by Paul Hattaway. Monarch Books, 2017. 320 pages.
Paul Hattaway was a high-school dropout from New Zealand—homeless, hungry, and lonely—before he found faith. But once he encountered the love of God and read the Bible, Paul never looked back. The rest of his life has centered on making sure all the people of Asia have Bibles of their own.
His ministry, Asia Harvest, has provided more than ten million Bibles to persecuted Christians in China alone and sponsored hundreds of Asian missionaries. Directed by God to stop speaking and focus on writing, Paul researched and wrote the books Operation China, Peoples of the Buddhist World, Back to Jerusalem, The Heavenly Man, and more.
Though this book communicates the vision of Asia Harvest well, it does what the most effective mission biographies seem to do best: It focuses on Paul’s spiritual journey. Even readers who have never been to Asia or supported work there can find inspiration for their own lives in Paul’s story.
» Learn more or purchase from Amazon (or elsewhere) for $11.66.
EVENTS: July Conference, Courses, and More
Source: Missions Catalyst Events Calendar
July 2-12, Refresh! (Thailand). Retreat for cross-cultural workers provided by Heartstream Resources.
July 2-15, Manarah (Detroit). Training in ministry to Muslims provided by Christar.
July 3 to November 5, Perspectives on the World Christian Movement Course (online). Provided by the Perspectives Study Program.
July 9-14, ABIDE (Joplin, MO, USA). Re-entry and debriefing for singles, couples, and families provided by TRAIN International.
July 9-14, Check-IT-Out Vacation 2017 Conference (Waxhaw, NC, USA). For IT professionals and students to explore using their skills in support of Bible translation. Children’s program available.
July 11, Crisis Management Workshop (San Diego, CA, USA). Provided by Crisis Consulting International.
July 12-14, Field Security Seminar (San Diego, CA, USA). Provided by Crisis Consulting International.
July 18-21, Thrive Retreat (Beaver Creek CO, USA). For North American women serving cross-culturally.
July 19, The Missionary’s First 30 Days (online). Webinar from Sixteen:Fifteen.
July 22-29, ReBoot Re-entry Program (Kitchener, ON, Canada). For returning missionary kids, ages 17-20, transitioning to life in Canada.
July 22-29, New Wilmington Mission Conference (Western Pennsylvania, USA). Annual, week-long multi-generational mission conference; a tradition for more than 100 years.
July 24-26, Crisis Management Seminar (Auburn, AL, USA). Learn how to develop a competent security and crisis management program.
July 27, Security Orientation Workshop (Auburn, AL, USA). Provided by Crisis Consulting International.
July 25-29, TOTAL It Up! Taste of Translation and Linguistics (La Mirada, CA, USA). Provided by Wycliffe Bible Translators.
July 26-28, North America Refugee Roundtable (Dallas/Fort Worth, TX, USA). From the Refugee Highway Partnership.
July 26-28, Entrepreneurial Readiness Workshop (New York City, NY, USA). Sponsored by the Global Enterprise Network, a ministry of The Navigators.
July 28-30, Entrepreneurial Readiness Workshop (Minneapolis, MN, USA). Sponsored by the Global Enterprise Network, a ministry of The Navigators.
» View the complete calendar. Please let us know about mistakes or omissions. For more about a specific event, contact event organizers.
A Message That Must Be Heard | World News Briefs
Reading God’s Word in China. Image: Voice of the Martyrs (story below).
In This Issue:
- EUROPE: Is God Reviving Europe Through Refugees?
- ALGERIA: Believer Faces Blasphemy Charges
- ARMENIA: First Scriptures in Armenian Sign Language
- MUSLIM WORLD: A Message That Must Be Heard
- CHINA: Bible Smugglers Arrested, Deported, and Banned
QUOTABLE
“Looking back, I believe the need for Bibles in China was so acute in the 1980s that if the Body of Christ had failed to unite to provide God’s Word, the state of Christianity would be markedly different from what it is today. Each Bible was like placing a log on the revival fires blazing throughout the country. When the final page of Church history is written, the forty-year revival in China may go down numerically as the greatest revival in history.”
— Paul Hattaway, An Asian Harvest (autobiography). Asia Harvest has provided some 10 million Bibles to persecuted believers and supported hundreds of Asian evangelists among the unreached.
EUROPE: Is God Reviving Europe Through Refugees?
Source: Sam George, Lausanne Global Analysis, May 2017
In December 2016, I had the opportunity to witness first-hand what God is doing among and through the refugees in Europe. I travelled through ten cities in five countries over three weeks visiting many refugee camps, as well as churches and missions agencies working with them. A month before, I visited three cities in three other countries. Over this period, I interviewed many refugee ministry leaders in Europe in order to assess and study the desperate situation and the response of God’s people to it.
It was amazing for me to be present at meetings where hundreds of refugees turned to Christ. I visited several fellowships and churches that have baptized hundreds of refugees. One church in Germany had baptized over a thousand Syrian and Kurdish people over the previous six months. At our own meetings each night in different cities in Greece and Germany, we saw almost all of the refugees present responding to the gospel. There are over 100 Arabic-speaking churches across Europe, some predating the crisis and others started in response to it. They are not only very engaged with the issue, but also highly effective on account of their linguistic and cultural proximity to the refugees.
Only God could have turned such a desperate situation into such a mission opportunity, and what is happening lies beyond the strategic planning of any church or mission agency.
» The UNHCR’s annual Global Trends report, released this week, reports that the world’s forcibly displaced population remained at a record high. Use and share their “Trends at a Glance” summary as well as further analysis.
ALGERIA: Believer Facing Blasphemy Charges
Source: Missions Network News, June 5, 2017
Some of the most dangerous regulations [believers in Algeria face] are the strict blasphemy laws. “The blasphemy laws are used often against people who are expressing their views and religious beliefs on social media,” says [Miles Windsor of Middle East Concern].
That’s how Slimane Bouhafs ended up with a five-year prison sentence.
Bouhafs, a 50-year-old Christian who was formerly Muslim, was convicted of blasphemy on September 6, 2016. According to Windsor, “He was accused of insulting the prophet Mohammed” when he proclaimed his faith on Facebook. Since September, his sentence has been slightly reduced, but Windsor says the government has stubbornly resisted or ignored many of Bouhafs’s appeals.
“We can lobby human authorities, but the most powerful authority that we can turn to is the Lord,” says Windsor.
» Read full story, as well as more about Slimane Bouhafs and his experiences (Open Doors).
» Morning Star News just published a new report about developments regarding blasphemy laws in Pakistan. Evidently the government-run Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) began sending text messages to all mobile phone users warning that “uploading & sharing of blasphemous content on Internet is a punishable offence under the law” and providing a government email address for reporting such content.