In This Issue: “Because People Are Praying for You” – Nadia’s Testimony
- ALGERIA: Christians May Face Prison
- MIDDLE EAST: A “Warm” Testimony
- ZAMBIA, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: How the Other Half Lives
- IRAN: Activities against the Order
- CHINA: World’s Largest City
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!
Greetings!
This edition of Missions Catalyst comes to you one day before the 60th annual National Day of Prayer in the U.S. (May 5). And just a few days later, The Lebanon Prayer Group invites us to join them for an International Day of Prayer for the Arab World and the United States (May 7).
We’d also invite you to be praying for the country of Syria, where conflict continues. You may want to download the Shout for Joy, Syria! prayer guide (Cry Out) or use this list of prayer points based on scripture (Window International Network).
To all our Northern Hemisphere readers, happy spring. May this be a season of renewal and growth. And may the “Arab Spring” bear much fruit for the kingdom!
Praying with you,
Pat
ALGERIA: Christians May Face Prison
Source: The Christian Post, April 26, 2011
Two Algerian Christians may face up to five years in prison for proselytizing, a religious freedom group reported on Monday [April 25]. The two Christians, who live in a country where 99 percent of the population is Sunni Muslim, were arrested in the northwestern Mediterranean city of Oran on April 14 after sharing their faith with neighbors. Sofiane was held for one day, while Krimo, who holds weekly prayer services at his home, was held for three days.
Algerian Christians are worried that the court will enforce a 2006 law that requires religious groups to obtain a government permit to hold worship services. If the law is applied in the case, [the two] could face five years in prison and a fine of about $1,390 (100,000 Algerian dinars).
“The Protestant Church of Algeria engaged a lawyer to defend Krimo and Sofiane. We are hopeful that they will be acquitted,” [a local pastor told ICC]. “Although our constitution says to respect other faiths other than Islam, the government is Islamic and article two says, ‘Islam is the religion of State.'”
Christians in Algeria complain that there is no clear procedure for churches to register and quickly receive a permit.
>> Full story.
MIDDLE EAST: A “Warm” Testimony
Source: Open Doors, April 20, 2011
Nadia was for some months in a prison because she is a believer. On one occasion she had told the prison officials that she would not give them any information about the people she knew or about her husband, only about herself. This had led her to being placed in an isolation cell for four days. “It was extremely cold, and there were no toilets or washing facilities. At one point, I was feeling very cold and found the whole experience tough. Suddenly, I felt warm air blowing me in my face, so warm in fact that when I breathed in and the air hit my lungs I had to cough.”
She had no idea where the warmth was coming from, and, at the same time, found herself becoming very joyful. This sense of joy overwhelmed her so much that she began to dance in the cell. Yet, at the same time, she also felt confused. How could she feel warm and joyful in a cold prison cell? “Then I heard a voice.” She emphasized that it wasn’t an internal voice but audible, “as if someone in the room cell was saying: ‘That is because people are praying for you. This is the spirit of happiness that has come upon you. Receive it.'”
After her release Nadia shared her experience in the cell with her sister. When asked when it had happened, her sister mentioned [that at] the exact day and time 32 believers had met to pray for her and another prisoner. Two participants had been set aside to represent Nadia and the other Christian, [and] the remaining 30 gathering around them to ask God to comfort them, to fill them with joy and to send his spirit of happiness upon them.
>> Full story.
ZAMBIA, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: How the Other Half Lives
Source: Mission Network News, April 26, 2011
The United Arab Emirates is among one of the wealthiest countries in the world. Zambia is on the other end of the scale.
Oasis Hospital and the Higher Colleges of Technology in Al Ain [UAE] teamed up to bring 13 HCT students to CURE Zambia [a CURE International hospital] in Lusaka. “We thought this would be a good idea for these students, as it is the first time for many of them to travel outside of the Gulf region,” said Trey Hulsey, Vice President of Patient Relations at Oasis Hospital.
Hulsey also noted that “when people leave their home settings, they’re willing to look at things in a new way … We have all these Muslim students leaving the UAE, being in a new place, and seeing Christians in a different way.”
Hulsey said the idea was to provide an interaction between Muslims and Christians as a way of breaking down barriers and prejudices. It was cultural exchange that benefited both the Muslim students and Christian staff.
Hulsey is hopeful that this will become an annual project. It opened a new dialogue. “One of the most important things is that we are respectful to the people around us and at the same time faithful to who Jesus is and what we believe he wants from us. These are the things that allow us to work in places like the UAE, Afghanistan, and Niger – predominantly Muslim countries.”
Keep praying for opportunities for the seeds that were planted to grow.
>> Full story with picture and prayer points.
IRAN: Activities against the Order
Source: Christian Solidarity Worldwide, April 28, 2011
Eleven members of the Church of Iran are to stand trial in the Revolutionary Tribunal of Bandar-Anzali for “activities against the Order” and for drinking alcohol. The charges relate to their involvement in a house church and taking communion wine.
There has been an increase in official rhetoric against evangelical Christians, accompanied by a wave of arrests.
CSW’s National Director Stuart Windsor said, “The harassment and targeting of religious minorities is incompatible with Iran’s responsibilities under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, whereby countries pledge to respect the right of citizens to manifest their religion or belief in worship, observance, practice, and teaching. The charges against the eleven Church of Iran members constitute a severe infringement on Christian tradition, as they effectively criminalize the taking of Communion, which is a biblical injunction.
“CSW urges the international community to encourage Iran to meet its obligations on religious freedom under the Covenant by ensuring that all members of the Church of Iran, including Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani, who still faces a death sentence for apostasy, receive due process and are acquitted of all charges that have no legal bearing.”
>> Full story.
CHINA: World’s Largest City
Source: Global Chinese Ministries Newsletter, OMF International, April 2011
China is planning to create the world’s biggest megacity by merging nine existing cities to form a gigantic metropolis with 42 million people. Nine cities in the Pearl River delta, which account for a tenth of the Chinese economy, will be merged to create a 16,000-square-mile urban area 26 times greater than Greater London.
This stunning development has major repercussions for evangelism in China and, indeed, globally. For many years, Christian missions concentrated its forces on rural and tribal work across the world. This has somewhat been redressed in the last half of the 20th century, with a much greater focus on urban evangelism. However, over the last century and a half, as industrialization gathered pace in the Christian heartlands of Europe, the church with some exceptions failed to maintain a strong presence among the industrial workers and the poor, who have become increasingly secularized.
The task in China and worldwide to evangelize the teeming cities and the urban poor is vast. At this point we are cautiously optimistic that the church in China is well equipped spiritually to launch an assault on those urban “dark satanic mills” both in China and eventually beyond. They will need our fervent prayers and all the spiritual and practical support the global church can provide.
>> Full story.
Pat Noble has been the “news sleuth” for the Missions Catalyst since 2004. In addition to churning out the news, she is working to create a SWARM (Serving World A Regional Mobilizers) in Northern New York using the NorthernChristian.org website. You can connect with her at www.whatsoeverthings.com.
