In This Issue: News from Vietnam, Iraq, Canada, and More
- NORTH KOREA: Urgent Prayer Needed
- VIETNAM: 40,000 Gather for Christmas
- IRAQ: Two Churches Bombed at Christmas Time
- CANADA: Hindu Family Healed, Lost Keys Found
- NEPAL: Church Bomber Repents
- MALAYSIA: “Allah” Is OK
- EVENTS: New on the Missions Catalyst Events 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 KOREA: Urgent Prayer Needed
Source: Christian Solidarity Worldwide, January 4, 2010
Robert Park, [a Korean-American missionary] originally from Tucson, Arizona, crossed illegally into North Korea from China on Christmas Day with a message for country’s ruler, Kim Jong-il. He is believed to have been arrested and detained by North Korean authorities.
Mr. Park, who runs Global Justice Prayer Network, carried with him a letter addressed to the North Korean leadership in which he appealed for an end to the country’s notorious prison camps.
He wrote: “Please open your borders so that we may bring food, provisions, medicine, necessities, and assistance to those who are struggling to survive. Please close down all concentration camps and release all political prisoners today, and allow care teams to enter to minister healing to those who have been tortured and traumatized. All we are asking is for all North Koreans to be free, safe, and have life.”
>> Full story (with complete text of Park’s letter and a statement from CSW).
>> Read an interview with Park done the week before he walked across (Reuters). See also Koreans Divided Over U.S. Activist’s North Korea Crossing (Christian Post).
VIETNAM: 40,000 Gather for Christmas
Source: Baptist Press, December 12, 2009
Christian sources in Vietnam report that some 40,000 people gathered in a hastily constructed venue in Ho Chi Minh City to worship God, celebrate Christmas and hear a gospel message on December 11 – an event of unprecedented magnitude.
A popular Vietnamese Christian website and other reports indicated [that] up to 8,000 people indicated a desire to follow Christ in response to the gospel message, Compass Direct News reported December 14.
>> Full story with picture.
>> See also reports of an additional remarkable event: Christians in Vietnam Hold Another Historic Celebration (Compass Direct).
IRAQ: Two Churches Bombed at Christmas Time
Source: Mission Network News, December 29, 2009
[Voice of the Martyrs reports that] two churches were bombed in Mosul, Iraq on December 23. At 11:00 a.m., a bomb was detonated near the Syrian Orthodox church of St. Thomas. On the same day, a bomb exploded in a cart of vegetables near the Chaldean church of St. George. The latter bomb killed three people, including one Christian and two Muslims.
Many Christians have fled Mosul, which is the primary target for a series of attacks against believers in recent months. Earlier this month, a baby girl died and many others were injured when attackers threw hand grenades at a Christian school. However, some Christians are determined to stay and proclaim the gospel despite persecution.
>> Full story.
>> See also Iraqi Christians Still Face Uncertain Future (BBC).
CANADA: Hindu Family Healed, Lost Keys Found
Source: Joel News International 713, December 21, 2009
“Jesus died on the cross. He is God. I want all of my family to know Jesus,” [said the Hindu man, after his whole family was healed from painful diseases]. This started a journey [of] getting to know Jesus better and learning how to pray.
One day when he lost the keys to his office, he said: “I couldn’t find them anywhere. As I drove along, I prayed, ‘Jesus, you healed me. I now believe you are God. Lord, you’ve got to help me find those keys.’
“Immediately I felt an urge to roll down the passenger window of the car. Thirty seconds later someone cut me off. I swerved and jammed on the brakes to avoid a collision. I then heard a ‘crack’ like an object hitting my dashboard. I looked on my dashboard and there were the keys!”
“I was dumbfounded,” he said. “What an immediate answer to prayer! I had searched the car thoroughly and I knew those keys weren’t there. Then it occurred to me that I must have left those keys on the roof of my car. God must have somehow arranged the whole thing. The keys must have flown through the open window, right onto the dash. Not only is Jesus God, but he loves me too!”
>> Subscribe to Joel News International.
NEPAL: Church Bomber Repents
Source: Compass Direct, December 30, 2009
Ram Prasad Mainali, the 37-year-old chief of the Nepal Defense Army (NDA), was arrested September 5 for exploding a bomb in the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, in the Lalitpur area of Kathmandu on May 23. The explosion killed a teenager and a newly married woman from India’s Bihar state and injured more than a dozen others.
In Kathmandu’s jail in the Nakkhu area, Mainali told Compass he regretted bombing the church.
“I bombed the church so that I could help re-establish Nepal as a Hindu nation,” he said. “There are Catholic nations, there are Protestant nations, and there are also Islamic nations, but there is no Hindu nation. But I was wrong. Creating a religious war cannot solve anything. It will only harm people.”
Asked how the change in him came about, he said he had been attending a prison fellowship since he was transferred to Nakkhu Jail from Central Jail four months [earlier].
“I have been reading the Bible also, to know what it says.”
>> Full story.
MALAYSIA: “Allah” Is OK
Source: The Christian Post, December 31, 2009
Christians in Malaysia have the constitutional right to use the word “Allah” to refer to God, the country’s high court declared Thursday.
In the landmark ruling, Judge Datuk Lau Bee Lan announced that the word “Allah” is not exclusive to Islam and that the government’s Home Ministry is “not empowered” to ban non-Muslims from using the word.
“This … means that the Bahasa Malaysia-speaking community of the Christian faith can now continue to freely use the word ‘Allah’ without any interference from the authorities,” the Rev. Fr. Lawrence Andrew, editor of the Roman Catholic Church’s weekly Malaysian publication The Herald, told reporters in Kuala Lumpur Thursday.
>> Full story with picture .
>> Note: This battle is not over. See the subsequent story, Malaysian Government to Appeal ‘Allah’ Ruling.
MISSION EVENTS
Three events related to missionary care, each in a different part of the US and a different month:
February 19 to 20 – MC2: Fourth Annual Midwest Conference on Missionary Care (Eden Prairie, MN, USA). Designed to inform, inspire and educate church leaders and laity in providing effective care to their overseas missionaries.
April 16 to 17 – Care ConneXion (Beaverton, OR, USA). Missionary care conference for church and agency leaders. Share strategies, resources, and encouragement for efforts to meet the needs of overseas workers.
July 06 to 09 – Women of the Harvest Furlough Retreat (Colorado Springs, CO, USA). For North American women who live and work cross-culturally and are on home assignment. Don’t dawdle; these fill up fast.
We notice a number of missionary care events are currently listed on the OSCAR mission events calendar – probably some we should add to ours. Take a look.
Find other events, conferences, and more on our Missions Catalyst events calendar, and please don’t hesitate to submit additional items in the US and elsewhere.