Missions Catalyst 01.19.11 – World News Briefs

In This Issue: Stories from Africa and the Middle East

• MIDDLE EAST: Sharing Jesus with the Taliban
• LEBANON: Once Again at Crossroads
• NIGERIA: Bible Translator Kidnapped
• EGYPT: Caravan Festival of the Arts
• WORLD: Non-religious on the Run?

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.

Greetings!

Collecting news for Missions Catalyst for more than six years, I’ve noticed that this time of year tends to bring more than the normal share of persecution stories. I suspect this is due to the Christmas season. In varying degrees, Christians in Bangladesh, Iraq, Nigeria, Iran, Indonesia, Egypt, and elsewhere were hindered from celebrating the birth of Christ.

But this New Year I’ve noticed a flurry of stories of a different kind that I’d like to share with you: stories of interfaith dialog and solidarity. Since religion isn’t going away (as some previously thought – read the last article below), we desperately need to listen to each other. Pray this trend will continue. Your prayers are being answered. Here’s a taste:

Muslim Solidarity toward Iraqi Christians and Hizzbullah Gives Aid to Displaced Iraqi Christians (AINA)
Egypt’s Muslims Attend Coptic Christmas, Serving as Human Shields (various articles via The Long View)
Merriest Christmas in the History of Toba Tek Singh (from Pakistan, ASSIST News)
Muslim Leads Christian Procession in India (UCANEWS)

Blessed are the peacemakers!

Pat

MIDDLE EAST: Sharing Jesus with the Taliban

Source: Joel News International 757, December 14, 2010

“Peace is not the end of conflict and war, nor the result of so-called ‘peace talks.’ It’s rooted more deeply in inner peace with God and people around us,” says Anne Van der Bijl, the Dutchman better known as Brother Andrew.

[Asked, “How did you get access to the Taliban?” Van der Bilj replies:] “I just go there. I find out where they live and show up at the doorstep. They ask what I come for, and I tell them about Jesus. We’ve become way too diplomatic and careful in our approach. Next week I hope to visit the Taliban again. They now say: ‘Anne, this is your second home.’

“One day I visited a large, notorious Qur’an school where 90 percent of the graduates immediately join the ranks of the Taliban and al-Qaeda. A war factory of human weapons, targeted to wage war against the infidels. I arrived at a square where hundreds of these students waited in line for military exercise. The head of the school and a minister of the government gave a short talk, and suddenly the microphone was handed to me: ‘Anne, it’s your turn.’

“I was surprised as I only came to visit. … I told them about Jesus. I believe every Christian should be able to speak about his faith in Jesus unprepared for at least 15 minutes. It would be pity to waste such an opportunity.

“After my talk, the leader of the Qur’an school, also a high official in the Taliban and government circles, came up to me and said: ‘Anne, would you please come back and tell us more about Jesus, also to our graduate class?’ I asked the leader how many guys he had in his final class, and he said 1,300. This is an amazing mission field.”

>> Subscribe to Joel News for the full story.

>> Also read Afghan Taliban Ready to “End” Opposition to Educating Girls (Afghanistan Conflict Monitor).

LEBANON: Once Again at Crossroads

Source: Cry Out Now email, January 13, 2011

Once again, Lebanon is at a crossroads! Amid rising political tensions, 11 Lebanese ministers resigned, and as a result the country’s national unity government collapsed.

Cry out to the Father for:

1. The Lord’s intervention that the current political tensions may be treated appropriately without further escalations.

2. Wisdom for the Lebanese President General Michel Suleiman, and for Lebanese leaders that they may genuinely work towards the well-being of Lebanon and the Lebanese.

3. Our young generation! How can we convince them that their future is in Lebanon when our country seems to be caught in a vicious cycle that keeps taking us back to the same place that we so desperately want to leave behind?

4. Peace – his peace – in Lebanon.

>> Subscribe to Cry Out’s newsletter. See also: Lebanese Government Collapses (Al Jazeera) and Uncertainty Grips Lebanon (The Daily Star).

NIGERIA: Bible Translator Kidnapped

Source: The Seed Company, January 8, 2011

Friends, please join us in urgent prayer for our friends and colleagues in Nigeria. Stephen, one of our key translation team members for the Tarok project, was kidnapped in Jos on December 16. Stephen’s wife has heard from him twice in very brief conversations which his captors allowed. While it is encouraging to know there has been recent contact with Stephen, his situation remains extremely critical.

Please intercede with urgency for Stephen, his family, the Tarok translation team, and also for Stephen’s captors. Please also join us in prayer for the country of Nigeria. Recent violence highlights the constantly simmering unrest in the region.

>> Full story with picture and prayer points. See also Bible Translator Kidnapped (MNN).

EGYPT: Caravan Festival of the Arts

Source: ASSIST News, January 2, 2011

Following the success of the interfaith Caravan Festival of the Arts held at the historic St. John’s Church in Cairo over the last two years, a new and broader festival with the theme of “My Neighbor” will open on February 3, 2011.

The goal of the upcoming festival is to build bridges between East and West, Muslim and Christian, through the visual arts, literature, film, and music. The initiative over the last two years has generated attention from the international media and art world and [exceeded] all expectations.

The Caravan Festival of the Arts comes out of a vision that the arts can be one of the most effective mediums to enhance understanding and deepen respect between the Middle East and the West. Thousands are expected to attend, with considerable Arab and Western media coverage.

>> Full story.

>> See also stories about how the arts are being used in ministry around the world through OM Arts.

WORLD: Non-religious on the Run?

Source: Ted Esler, January 4, 2011

If one listens to the media it is easy to get the impression that atheism and agnosticism are taking over the world.

Evidently, rumors of religion’s demise are … well, rumors.

The latest International Bulletin of Missiological Research analyzes the number of people who claim to be non-religious.

The data goes back to roughly 1900 when there were very few non-religious people. Here is an edited quote:

“A comparison of 1900 (99.8 percent religious) and 2011 (88.6 percent religious) shows that the world is less religious today than it was 100 years ago. If we consider the figure for 1970 (80.8 percent religious), however, we can see that the world is more religious today than it was four decades ago.

“Furthermore, our projections for 2025 point to a more religious world in the future (up to 90.5 percent).”

The authors attribute the rise of religion since 1970 in part to the fall of Communism in Russia and the “resurgence of Buddhism, Christianity, and other religions in China.”

The overt evangelism being conducted by atheists in Europe and North America is certainly having an impact on the cultures found there. Immigration and demographics, however, will probably win the day even in these current secularist strongholds.

>> Full post. Access and/or subscribe to the IMBR. The article cited above is Christianity 2011: Martyrs and the Resurgence of Religion, page 28.

Editor’s note: If you download this edition of the IMBR, see Scott Moreau’s A Current Snapshot of North American Missions (pages 12-16) which responds to claims that the number of long-term missionaries is declining and that fewer than 10 percent of our missionaries go to the 10/40 Window, and the 2011 Status of Global Missions table (page 29).