In This Issue: Revival in North Africa, Prayer for the Middle East, and More
- NORTH AFRICA: Ahmed Gets New Heart
- ERITREA: 30 Women Arrested
- THAILAND: Burmese Orphans Face Deportation
- ALGERIA: Revival in the North
- CHINA: Pastor Gets Maximum Sentence of 15 Years
- WORLD: Shiites Responding
- EVENTS: From 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.
NORTH AFRICA: Ahmed Gets a Clean Heart
Source: Baptist Press News November 30, 2009
“What is it that is different about you?” Ahmed asked. “Why is it that I feel you have a white heart – that your heart is clean?”
“The questions he was asking were making my jaw drop because I’ve never had an experience where I didn’t have to argue with a Muslim about whether Christ really died on the cross,” Charlie [IMB worker] says.
Tears filled Ahmed’s eyes as he listened to Charlie’s testimony. “I’ve messed up my life, and I don’t know how to fix it,” Ahmed confessed. “I divorced my wife three years ago, and I haven’t seen my sons since. They’re [young] and they don’t know who I am. I drink to forget them because it hurts, and I don’t want to do that anymore. Tell me what I have to do to be like you and have a clean heart.”
“All you have to do is ask God to come change your life,” Charlie said. “Show him that you want a new heart.”
Ahmed immediately stretched out his hands in the Muslim prayer position as he had done so many times before. But this time, he was speaking to a God who listens and responds.
>> Full story.
ERITREA: 30 Women Arrested
Source: Mission Network News, December 9, 2009
According to International Christian Concern 30 Christian women were arrested in Asmara, the country’s capital city. ICC’s Jonathan Racho says, “The Christians were praying at a house at the time Eritrean officials raided the prayer meeting, arrested all of the people, and took them to the police station.”
Their children and grandchildren told ICC sources that they are concerned about the safety of their loved ones. Racho is concerned, too, “because we know that Christians who are imprisoned in Eritrea are mistreated, they face torture, and there are cases where Christians were tortured to death.”
Racho is baffled by their arrests. “They don’t pose any security risk to the country. These are just old married people. They have just come together to pray. It doesn’t make any sense to arrest moms and grand-moms for praying together.”
>> Full story with prayer points.
>> Editor’s note: See also The Mystery behind Eritrea (Al Jazeera)
THAILAND: Burmese Orphans Face Deportation
Source: Worthy Christian News, December 9, 2009
There was uncertainty Wednesday, December 9, over the fate of dozens of Burmese children in Thailand, after Thai police stormed a Christian orphanage where they were staying, Christian workers said.
[The police] “put the names of all the residents on a register and asked them to prepare for deportation,” added International Christian Concern.
“It has been just a week since the 76 children, between the ages of six and 16, were moved to the new location,” some 160 kilometers (100 miles) from the orphanage on the Burma-Thailand border.
ICC said it had urged its supporters to, “Please pray that the Thai officials would have mercy on these children and allow them to stay. The best situation would be for the orphans to be granted permanent immigrant status.”
>> Full story.
>> See also Michigan Couple Sets Precedent with Adoption of Karen Refugees (ASSIST News Service)
ALGERIA: Revival in the North
Source: Mission Network News, December 10, 2009
2009 has been an incredible year for evangelical church growth, says Pastor Youssef Jacob with Operation Mobilization. “We have churches that have grown 802%. Many converts have come from Islam with no Christian heritage, no Christian background, no resources whatsoever, no training. But they just believe in God and his Word.”
Jacob says the Kabylie people are the most responsive in the Kabylie region, which is home to more than 2,000 towns and villages. “In every village and every town there are Christians, and there are churches,” says Jacob. “In one town, actually there are more churches than mosques, which is a big miracle to happen in the Middle East.”
These churches aren’t stagnant, either, says Jacob. “I know of many, many churches today who baptize about 120 to 150 every year. I have never been to a church in the west or anywhere in the world where the church is already packed 2 1/2 hours before the meeting.”
>> Full story with prayer points.
>> Editor’s note: In another story from North Africa, Morocco Expels Five Foreign Missionaries (AFP)
CHINA: Pastor Gets Maximum Sentence of 15 Years
Source: Compass Direct, December 8, 2009
Chinese authorities have quietly sentenced Uyghur Christian Alimjan Yimit (Alimujiang Yimiti in Chinese) to 15 years in prison on the apparently contrived charge of “providing state secrets to overseas organizations,” according to China Aid Association.
The charge against the 36-year-old house church leader, held for more than two years at Kashgar Detention Center in China’s troubled Xinjiang region, was apparently based on interviews he granted to media outside of China, according to his lawyer, Li Dunyong.
“The 15-year sentence is far more severe than I originally expected,” Li said in a CAA press statement released yesterday. “It is the maximum penalty for this charge of ‘divulging state secrets,’ which requires [Alimjan’s] actions to be defined as having ’caused irreparable, national, grave damage.'”
CAA President Bob Fu said Alimjan’s sentence was the most severe for a house church leader in nearly a decade.
>> Full story.
>> See also the China Aid press release, which includes a picture of Alimjan and his family.
WORLD: Shiites Responding
Source: Cry Out Now newsletter, December 4, 2009
Five years ago, they said there weren’t any Shiite believers in their areas. Three years ago a handful of Shiites [were] following Christ, and now there are many, many Shiites following him!
The most important ten days of the year for Shiite Muslims starts December 17. Ashura is a time when Shiites all over the world remember the brutal death of one of their leaders in 680 A.D. They’ll be meeting together every day and night. Let’s do the same. As Christ followers, let’s fast and pray for Shiites December 17-26. God will hear our collective voice crying out to him for Shiites.
> Download a ten-day prayer guide in five languages to print and share.
> View and download a video and slideshow of Ashura.
> Download stories of what God is doing among Shiites.
> Get daily email updates during these ten days.
> Join in on Twitter.
EVENTS: From the Missions Catalyst Events Calendar
Consider online learning opportunities for 2010:
A new Encountering the World of Islam online course will launch January 4, 2010.
A new Encounter Culture Training online course will launch January 15, 2010.
Or check out the DualReach Kingdom Expansion 101 online course which begins February 3, 2010.
Find other classes, events, conferences and more on our missions events calendar, and please don’t hesitate to submit additional items!
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