In This Issue: News from North Africa, Middle East, and More
- SUDAN: Communicating with Film
- IRAQ: Ninevites Need Protection
- CAUCASUS: Vodka Unlikely Ally
- MALAYSIA: Bibles Using “Allah” Seized
- CHAD: MK Education Key to Reaching the Unreached
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!
SUDAN: Communicating with Film
Source: Sudan Support Network email November 14, 2009
Business people have been quick to see the demand for video entertainment in Sudan. Roadside theatres in towns, showing English Premiership football or action/war films, are crowded with customers two or three times a day.
The JESUS film, produced in Sudanese Arabic, Dinka, Nuer, Bari, Ma’di and Moru by New Life Ministries, is the only Christian video that has reached comparable audiences, mainly on a big screen with a portable generator and projector.
Since the peace agreement, better electrical equipment is available everywhere, and some local churches are beginning to use Christian videos. God’s Story, an overview of the Bible, has recently been produced in Dinka Padang, and a Bari version is in progress.
Prayer points:
– Pray for the resources for Christian videos to be shown instead of videos that have little value.
– Pray for the training of Sudanese Christians so that relevant films and videos can be produced in Sudanese languages.
– Pray for cooperation between different agencies to maximize impact.
Thank you for praying with these people. Technology is costly but in this way they reach thousands.
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>> Editor’s note: For another story about the arts and society (in a different part of the world), read Films in Sarajevo: Where Is Redemption? (Pioneers). For more encouraging news from Sudan, read Remarkable Story of Woman with One Leg Serving Sudanese Orphans (Christian News Wire), or watch the related video or watch the video Love Has a Face (YouTube).
IRAQ: Ninevites Need Protection
Source: IRIN, November 15, 2009
Iraq’s minority communities in the northern province of Nineveh have appealed to local and national authorities for protection amid warnings of an increase in attacks against them in the run-up to January’s national elections.
“As Christians we have been feeling insecure since the 2003 [US-led] invasion as we are subjected to killings, kidnappings, extortion, and displacement by different parties due to either political agendas or extremist ideologies,” said Ihsan Matti, a 33-year-old taxi driver in Mosul, provincial capital of Nineveh. An estimated 800,000 Christians are left in Iraq.
Matti said Iraq’s security forces were slow to respond to any anti-Christian attacks and left their communities vulnerable to more violence.
The militants accuse minorities of being crusaders, devil-worshipers, infidels, or traitors for cooperating with US forces.
>> Full story with pictures. See also previous story, Christian Community Faces New Wave of Violence (July 15, 2009)
CAUCASUS: Vodka Unlikely Ally
Source: Baptist Press, October 30, 2009
Carl Stroller doesn’t drink vodka. But his ministry might not be the same without it. Stroller and his wife Amy share the gospel with a Muslim people known as the Lezghi.
More than 600,000 Lezghi live among the snow-capped peaks of the Caucasus mountains, located between the Black and Caspian seas. Most are poor by Western standards, surviving as farmers or shepherds. Though their culture is Islamic, the Lezghis’ beliefs [are] deeply rooted in animism (spirit worship).
When he’s not involved with community development projects – like teaching English – much of Stroller’s time is spent talking about God over a bottle of vodka.
Alcohol, like animism, is tightly woven into Lezghi society. Sharing a drink with a neighbor, friend or coworker is an everyday event – at meals, on the job, after work.
But the Lezghis’ desire to drink does have a single redeeming value – it presents Stroller with the chance to explain why he doesn’t.
God has blessed the Strollers with some successes among the Lezghi, including starting a small house church that’s grown from a group of five to 15 people. Persecution has since forced the church to split in half to attract less attention, but it continues to grow.
>> Editor’s note: See another story from the Caucasus region, At Last, A Whole Bible of My Own (OM International)
MALAYSIA: Bibles Using “Allah” Seized
Source: Compass Direct, November 7, 2009
Malaysian port and customs authorities have seized at least 15,000 Bibles in recent months because the word “Allah” for God appears in them.
Some 10,000 of the Bahasa Malaysia-language Bibles, which were printed in Indonesia, are in Kuching, capital of Sarawak in East Malaysia, and another 5,000 copies are in Kelang near Kuala Lumpur.
A strong Christian community in Indonesia, estimated 37 million by Operation World, has long produced large amounts of literature for export to Malaysia. In 2005 the government of Malaysia agreed to allow the use of “Allah” in non-Muslim literature, according to [Christian Federation of Malaysia].
Church leaders were stunned that no one had informed them of a change in policy.
>> Full story.
CHAD: MK Education Key to Reaching the Unreached
Source: Mission Network News, November 10, 2009
As conflict appears to be easing in Chad, missionaries are gradually reentering the country.
In most areas, however, there are not adequate schools for missionary families’ children to go to school.
“About 70 people groups in Chad are not reached, and the families are more likely to come to Chad and minister if there is an education option for their kids,” said Debbie Weissenburg of African Inland Mission. Without schools for their children, many missionaries will not even come to Chad, or they will leave after they do not find a solution.
Weissenburg and AIM are searching for the best curriculum to use with the missionary children.
Already, they have families from England, the United States, Korea, and Germany, and finding a curriculum to fit the needs of all these children could prove to be a challenge. However, overcoming these hurdles will enable missionaries to reach more Chadians with Christ’s love.
>> Full story with prayer points.
>> Editor’s note: Find a variety of opportunities to teach children of missionaries and others at Mission:Teach. Also, another interesting Africa story just came to us via The Power of Connecting newsletter. Read Power to Address Social Justice in Africa Lies with the People.