In This Issue: Nigerian Journalists Killed; Reconciliation in Middle East
- NIGERIA: Journalists Latest Victims
- MIDDLE EAST: Reconciliation Was Not on the Menu
- BANGLADESH: Buddhists Holding Christians Captive
- CHINA: How Many Christians?
- EGYPT: Twins Say, “We Refuse to be Muslims by Force”
- UZBEKISTAN: Feeding Homeless Is “Not According to Charter”
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.
NIGERIA: Journalists Latest Victims
Source: Christian Solidarity Worldwide, April 27, 2010
Two journalists working for a Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) publication have become the latest casualties of the violence that has afflicted Plateau State since January.
The bodies of Nathan Sheleph Dabak, Deputy Editor of The Light Bearer, and reporter Sunday Gyang Bwede were found in the mortuary of the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) on the afternoon of 25 April, a day after they left their office to interview a local politician.
According to a COCIN press release dated April 26, the men were intercepted and stabbed to death by a mob at Gadan-Bako, Nassarawa Gwong on the morning of April 24 as they traveled to interview the Hon. Bulus Kaze, the member representing the Jos East constituency.
The alarm was raised after a friend who called Mr. Dabak at 9.30 that morning reported that his phone had been answered by a stranger who boasted: “We have killed all of them; you can do your worst.”
MIDDLE EAST: Reconciliation Was Not on the Menu
Source: CryOut, Prayer Update, April 2010
Not long ago, over fifty Muslim Background Believers (MBBs) attended a conference on key discipleship issues. What was not listed in the topics was Reconciliation. Reconciliation was not planned, but instead happened spontaneously. It went across the room in all directions. People repented and asked forgiveness of those of other groups and nationalities. This is of monumental significance in this region, which is desperately fragmented due to the recent history of civil war between these groups.
Moreover, breakthrough was experienced among the conference attendees as they gathered for coffee after the evening meetings. The discussion turned to how they could reach their own communities in an appropriate and contextualized way. These believers were now experiencing the heart of God for the nations. Praise the Lord for his work in these hearts and lives. May these believers be the “fragrance of life” in this troubled region of the world.
>> Sign up for CryOut’s Prayer Updates.
BANGLADESH: Buddhists Holding Christians Captive
Source: The Christian Post, April 24, 2010
Buddhist members of an armed rebel group and their sympathizers are holding three tribal Christians captive in a pagoda in southeastern Bangladesh after severely beating them in an attempt to force them to return to Buddhism, Christian sources said.
They are to be kept in the pagoda for 15 to 20 days as punishment for having left the Buddhist religion, the sources said.
Local Buddhists are considered powerful as they have ties with the United Peoples Democratic Front (UPDF), an armed group in the hill districts.
After taking the Christians captive on April 16, the sources said, the next day the armed Buddhist extremists forced other Christians of Maddha Lemuchari Baptist Church to demolish their church building by their own hands. The extremists first seized all blankets, Bibles and song books from the church building.
>> Full story.
CHINA: How Many Christians?
Source: Asia Harvest, April 2010
Since Marco Polo returned from China 700 years ago, the question of how many followers of Jesus Christ are in the world’s most populous nation has fascinated many mission researchers and believers around the world. In recent years there has been heated debate and widely varying estimates of the size of the Body of Christ in China.
Now, after more than a decade of research, we present the most comprehensive study ever conducted into the number of Christians in all 2,371 cities and counties, within all 33 provinces and regions of China. Estimates are provided for all believers – Protestants belonging to the registered Three-Self churches as well as house churches, and for registered and underground Catholic believers.
The statistics in this study are backed by more than 2,000 sources of information, all footnoted within our tables. We intend to update this study regularly as new information comes to light, and we welcome readers to update or comment on our data by contacting us (full confidentiality is assured).
>> Full story.
>> See this newly released Map of China’s Christians (Global Mapping International).
EGYPT: Twins Say, “We Refuse to Be Muslims by Force”
Source: ASSIST News, April 26, 2010
Two Egyptian twin boys have said, “We refuse to be Muslims by force,” after losing a court case.
Middle East journalist, Mary Abdelmassih, writing for the Assyrian International News Agency, explained the background to this controversial case:
“On March 30 [2010] an administrative judicial court in Egypt dismissed a lawsuit filed by Mrs. Camilia Lutfi, mother of the Coptic Christian twin boys Mario and Andrew, against the Interior Minister and the director of the Civil Status Department for refusing to re-instate the Christian religion on their birth certificates and invalidate those which were forcefully changed to ‘Islam’ in 2005 by their father Medhat Ramsis Labib, who had converted to Islam.”
Abdelmassih said that after Labib’s conversion, Andrew and Mario became “Muslims” in what is called “Islamization by dependence,” by which children follow the religion of a converted parent (to Islam only) until they reach the age of puberty (15), because Islam is “the best among all religions,” according to Egyptian Court rulings.
UZBEKISTAN: Feeding Homeless Is “Not According to Charter”
Source: Forum 18, April 21, 2010
In the afternoon of April 12, police, tax inspectors and local officials raided Eternal Life Protestant Church in Tashkent’s Yakkasarai District, Protestants who asked not to be identified told Forum 18 from Tashkent. “There were many officials and they didn’t identify themselves,” one church member present told Forum 18.
At the time of the raid on Eternal Life, church members were feeding homeless people. The authorities complained that church members were conducting activity “not according to their [registered] charter.”
Officials started to check the documents of the church. After questioning those present, the police detained the pastor’s assistant and several other church members. However, all were later freed after questioning.
>> Full story.
New on the Events Calendar
Field-environment Intensive Training (FIT) (Tijuana, Mexico). July 10 to 24. Sponsored by Shepherd’s Staff.
Mapping in Missions Seminar (Louisville, KY, USA). August 1 to 14. Sponsored by 4KWorldMap.
Apostolos 2010 (Pasadena, CA, USA). August 12 to 15. A conference for apostolic young adults to learn from those who have gone before. Sponsored by the U.S. Center for World Mission.
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