Missions Catalyst 01.05.11 – World News Briefs

In This Issue: Partnerships in Africa and Nepali Scriptures for your Mobile Phone

  • ZIMBABWE: Sharing the Gospel in Partnership with Others
  • PHILIPPINES: Agutaynens Prepare for New Year
  • EGYPT: House Converted to Mosque to Prevent Church Services
  • NEPAL: Pilot Helps with Unique Bible
  • THAILAND: “One Is Not Enough”
  • UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Missionaries Honored
  • EVENTS: Additions to the Missions Catalyst Calendar

Missions Catalyst is a free, weekly electronic digest of mission news and resources designed to inspire and equip Christians worldwide for global ministry. Use it to fuel your prayers, find tips and opportunities, and stay in touch with how God is building his kingdom all over the world. Please forward it freely!

World News Briefs, edited by Pat Noble, are published twice a month.

ZIMBABWE: Sharing the Gospel in Partnership with Others

Source: Lausanne World Pulse, January-February 2011

Even though Jesus was God on earth … he ushered in the Kingdom of God in partnership with others, by calling a band of disciples to accompany him in his ministry of word and deed, and then sending them to share the gospel with the world – two by two, in groups, and as a community.

This power of partnership was never more visible to me and our small team from the U.S. than it was during the [September 2010] Mission Africa outreach to Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe. Mission Africa asked 21 international evangelists to engage in missions in various African countries in partnership with local African evangelists.

Zimbabwe has been through great trials in recent years. We never stopped at traffic lights due to the risk of being “car jumped.” During a recent food shortage some people were reduced to eating cow dung. In the midst of this environment our team found some of the most joyous, light-bearing Christians we had ever encountered. It was an honor to work alongside these pastors bringing the message of hope in Christ.

By God’s grace, over 1,000 people committed their lives to Christ for the first time! We witnessed healings, the driving out of demons, and the repentance of sinners. God’s love, power, and grace were palpable. Along with the apostle John we can say, “We have seen it and testify to it” (see 1 John 1:1).

>> Full story. Find several other articles about Africa-focused ministry partnerships in the January-February edition.

PHILIPPINES: Agutaynens Prepare for New Year

Source: New Tribes Mission, December 31, 2010

The Agutaynens [a tribal group in the Philippines] go to great lengths to make sure their homes are well prepared for the New Year. They make sure all containers of rice, sugar, coffee, and water are full. This, they believe, ensures that these things will be plentiful in the New Year.

At midnight, they’ll turn on their radios and start their motorcycles and fire up their generators. This makes a lot of noise, but it’s not about the noise. They believe that if the radios and motorcycles and generators and other mechanical things are running at midnight, they’ll run well through the New Year.

Hundreds of Agutaynens have listened to evangelistic Bible lessons but only a few have placed their faith in Christ. These believers are learning that their hope lies in Christ. Pray that they continue to grow, and that the changes in their lives draw many to Jesus.

>> Full story.

>> See also Worth the Wait: Philippines Celebrates New Tagalog Bible (Biblica).

EGYPT: House Converted to Mosque to Prevent Church Services

Source: ASSIST News, December 9, 2010

In an effort to end any hope of Coptic Christians using the Church of St. Mary and St. Michael in Talbiya for prayer services, the Giza Governorate converted a house facing the church into a mosque overnight.

According to the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA), the new “Ekhlass” mosque was converted secretly Thursday evening when a cloth sign was hastily hung outside a four-story house.

AINA said it was used on Friday morning, when over 3,000 Muslims prayed there, despite the presence of a large mosque [nearby]. It was reported that the owner of the house, which is still under construction, donated it.

“Of course the new mosque did not have to get a building license [and] local council or state security permission, as is the case with churches,” said Coptic activist Mark Ebeid.

AINA reported that due to the minimum distance required by law between a church and a mosque, Copts view this conversion of the house into a new mosque “as a trick on the part of the government to make the completion and use of St. Mary’s Church an impossibility.”

>> Full story with picture. According to AINA, local rules stipulate that the distance between a church and a mosque be not less than 100 meters and have the approval of the neighboring Muslim community. More than one million Copts live in the Talbiya area without a single church to serve them.

NEPAL: Pilot Helps with Unique Bible

Source: Mission Network News, December 14, 2010

It began a few years ago when Mission Aviation Fellowship hoped to start a flight ministry in Nepal. “About a year and a half into the process things weren’t going very well,” [says MAF pilot Tim Chase]. “So my wife and I had to think. We asked, ‘Why did the Lord send us here?'”

It became clear to Chase when he visited the Nepal Bible Society. Chase says, “They wanted to have some electronic Bibles, but they didn’t have the ability to do it.”

Chase [who had worked for IBM for 10 years before joining MAF] says it took about nine months to convert files and customize software, but the project is now complete. Two new products were just dedicated: “A ‘Go-Bible’ [for mobile phones] and an e-Bible program that [allows them] to have the Nepali Bible along with a commentary and a dictionary, all in Nepali.”

After the [November 30 dedication] service, the enthusiastic crowd purchased 100 copies of the e-Bible on CD and another 70 on flash drives. The number has since climbed dramatically. Go-Bible is available via download from the NBS web site.

>> Full story with picture.

THAILAND: “One Is Not Enough”

Source: Baptist Press, December 16, 2010

Fireworks explode overhead. Green, red, and blue sparklers provide a magical backdrop as the golden dots begin to float into the distance.

It’s easy to get swept up in the magic and beauty of the moment, forgetting the real meaning – releasing one’s sin – behind this northern Thai festival called Yi Peng.

Mookjai spends most of the year making merit, or doing good works, for her various sins and wrongdoings. She takes food to the monks, but feeding the orphans is where she finds the most joy.

“You can never do enough merit,” Mookjai says as she picks up a lantern. Mookjai unfolds the mulberry paper, revealing a four-foot balloon connected to a bamboo frame. She lights the fuel cell, casting a beautiful golden hue on our faces. As we wait for the lantern to fill with hot air, she prays to Buddha, asking for a year of good health.

Mookjai’s lantern is ready. She places my hand on the bamboo frame to feel its gentle tug. It’s ready to ascend. She whispers another prayer to Buddha and slowly releases the balloon.

“I still feel heavy,” Mookjai sighs. “One is not enough.” She bends down and fumbles in the dark, searching for another lantern.

>> Full story with pictures.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Missionaries Honored

Source: Operation Mobilization Newsbytes, December 2010

An Abu Dhabi newspaper carried a surprising story about the positive influence of missionaries. In 1960, Sheikh Zayed asked a doctor to come and start a hospital in an oasis where medical care was not adequate. The first medical missionaries soon arrived to provide maternity care to pregnant women in the oasis. During the next 50 years they assisted in the successful birth of 90,000 babies.

The government was so impressed with their level of health care and concern for the people that they invested a further 300 million dirhams (about US$82 million) in the expansion of the hospital, to quadruple its current operations.

>> Read the full December edition of Newsbytes.

>> See also How Missionaries Transformed Abu Dhabi Healthcare (The National).

EVENTS: Additions to the Missions Catalyst Calendar

We’ve added more items on our Missions Catalyst calendar:

January 21 to 22 – Mission ConneXion Northwest (Portland, OR, USA). One of the largest annual church-based missions-mobilizing events in the Northwest.

March 19 – Vision 2011 (Lancaster, PA, USA). A student conference on world evangelization.

March 29 to 31 – Pioneers Church Partner Forum (Orlando, FL, USA). Agency connection point for U.S.-based pastors and church leaders. Free. Next one’s in November.

June 06 to 08 – Consortium on the Support of Indigenous Ministries (Columbia, SC, USA). An annual event. This year’s theme is “Partnership: Trends, Trials, and Triumphs.”

>> See the whole calendar.

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