Missions Catalyst 05.19.10 – World News Briefs

In This Issue: DRC Rebels Turning to Christ, Kyrgyzstan Miracle, and More

  • DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Rebels Turning to Christ
  • KYRGYZSTAN: Doctor Jesus to the Rescue
  • INDIA: Evangelist Murdered
  • IRAQ: Muslim Students Express Solidarity with Christian Students
  • USA: Arab World Ministries, Pioneers Merge
  • Keep Missions Catalyst Going!

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.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Rebels Turning to Christ

Source: International Mission Board, April 29, 2010

“The war in Rwanda and the Congo has caused great stress on us,” says Athanace Habimana, pastor of Hekima Baptist Church in Goma. “But because we had a compassionate heart, we wanted to get out among the people. This included the rebels.”

Habimana is head of the Baptist Union of East Congo. The union consists of 90 churches with 12,000 members. Together with International Mission Board (IMB) missionary Rusty Pugh, he developed a strategy to reach the rebels. He went into their camps and witnessed to them.

“[W]e did training with seven pastors using [Bible] storying,” says Pugh. The pastors went into the camps for two weeks at a time, sharing Christ through a series of Bible stories that explain man’s separation from God because of sin and the salvation offered in Jesus Christ.

Their efforts have been striking. To date, more than 500 rebels have been baptized.

>> Full story.

KYRGYZSTAN: Doctor Jesus to the Rescue

Source: Joel News International 728, April 20, 2010

One of the sisters in Kyrgyzstan heard a loud crash in the middle of the night just below her apartment and rushed outside to find four young people had crashed their car and were immobile inside the wreck. Other neighbors had also come out and were crying out to Allah. The sister shouted “Not Allah, but Jesus!” and began to try to drag the bodies out of the car. The others stood back, citing fear of an explosion and fire since gasoline was leaking everywhere.

Our friend kept working until all four were out of the car and laid out on the sidewalk a safe distance from the wreck. There was much wailing and crying as the crowd thought they were dead. That is when this sister began to pray over the bodies in Jesus’ name. And that is when the four stood up and began to walk around. You can imagine the reaction in the crowd!

Were they really dead or only stunned? I do not know, but those there thought they were dead. The sister who prayed is a health practitioner – a nurse’s aid – and she believed they were dead.

How things change! Before, the neighbors avoided her because she was a follower of Jesus. Now she has a steady stream of neighbors coming to her apartment to talk about Jesus.

Source: Steve & Marilyn Hill, Harvest Now

>> Subscribe to Joel News.

INDIA: Evangelist Murdered

Source: Worthy News, May 7, 2010

A police investigation continued Friday, May 7, into the killing of an Indian evangelist who investigators said was hacked to death in eastern India after showing a film on the life of Jesus Christ.

The body of Ravi Murmu, 30, was found this week in Jamalpur municipality in India’s Bihar state, said the All India Christian Council (AICC), a coalition of churches and mission groups. AICC said Murmu was part of an evangelistic team showing the film Sunday, May 2, to residents of Laksmanpur village in Jamalpur.

Murmu is survived by his wife Rinku, eight-year-old daughter Celesty, and his widowed mother, Christians said.

“My only prayer now is that the Lord may forgive those who killed Ravi Murmu and that they may confess their sins,” the Union of Catholic Asian News quoted Pastor Yunus Mandal, who heads the late evangelist’s Bethel Assembly church in Jamalpur.

>> Full story.

IRAQ: Muslim Students Express Solidarity with Christian Students

Source: Mission Network News, May 17, 2010

There have been more violent acts against Christians in Iraq. However, this time their Muslim peers will not tolerate it. Due to increased dangers against Christians, many have taken refuge at a safe enclave in the Nineveh Plains. Over 1,000 Christian students who live there attend Mosul University, and 15 buses usually take them from the enclave to the university each day.

Paul Estabrooks of Open Doors USA said recently this routine was upset: “On May the 2nd, three of these buses were convoying together. A suicide bomber got in between bus number one and bus number two and exploded … Meanwhile, then another bomb that had been planted on the third bus exploded.”

Around 100 students were hospitalized following the attack, and a civilian who came to help the students was killed in the second blast. Since the bombings occurred, students have not gone back to school because they fear for their lives.

However, Christians are not the only ones not attending classes. “The lecturers and professors and the Muslim students have started a sit-in … to protest the inability of Christian students to come to school in safety.”

>> Full story.

USA: Arab World Ministries, Pioneers Merge

Source: Pioneers, May 17, 2010

Pioneers-USA and Arab World Ministries U.S. announced today their joint intention to merge organizations. Together their combined ministry will be at the forefront of reaching Muslims for Christ in the heartland of Islam.

Founded in 1881, Arab World Ministries is an evangelical, international and interdenominational mission with a focus of making disciples and establishing churches among Muslims of the Arab world wherever they reside. More than 400 AWM personnel of 30-plus nationalities serve in North Africa, the Middle East, the Arabian Peninsula and major cities in Europe and North America.

“Our entire organization is excited about bringing the strengths and capabilities of Arab World Ministries into Pioneers,” said Steve Richardson, President of Pioneers-USA. “Our core mission is church planting among unreached people groups – those with no access to the Gospel – and there are few areas that represent such a high proportion of unreached people as the Arab world. In closed societies and hostile environments AWM has succeeded where others have failed, and we are eager to learn and gain from their experience and expertise.”

>> Full story.

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