Missions Catalyst

Source: Christian Headlines, March 22, 2019

Three pastors in western India have been criminally charged in retaliation for refuting a false account of a Hindu extremist attack on six Christians that left a teenage girl unconscious, sources said.

Three of the six Christians beaten in Maharashtra state this month were also charged in retaliation for reporting the assault that left them with injuries requiring hospital treatment, said pastor Pandharinath Bhagya Gowri, one of the accused church leaders.

Police who took exception to Pastor Gowri and two other pastors trying to correct a false report about the beating later charged them with the same accusations filed against the assailants, such as house trespass with intent to assault, even though the church leaders were not even present during the attack, he said.

Hard-line Hindus in Bandhan village, Palghar District in February had cut the Christians’ water supply and warned them that worse would happen if they did not renounce their faith, Pastor Gowri told Morning Star News. On March 1 a mob of Hindu extremists burst into the homes [of three Christian families] and started beating and kicking them, he said.

» Read full story.

» Another article suggests a different way to reach Hindu immigrants: Gathering, Giving and Guruing (MARGE Network).

Source: Mission Network News, April 12, 2019

Everyone appears to be seizing Sudan’s moment of change and celebrating the ouster of longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir.

[Miles Windsor of Middle East Concern] observes the role of the international community as one that supports that process and ensures that there is not simply a new form of military regime in Sudan. He goes on to say that despite Bashir’s ouster, Sudan’s streets remain full of protestors.

For those serving as gospel workers or church leaders, the events of the last couple of days are momentous. What’s ahead is unknown, but full of possibilities.

“They’re asking for prayer that calm will be restored soon in Sudan, that the Lord would protect his Church there, and that our brothers and sisters in Sudan would remain a clear testimony in the midst of a crisis.”

» Read full story.

Source: Open Doors, April 3, 2019

[On April 3], the full extent of Shari law [went] into effect in Brunei. The newest and third phase of the law is difficult news for Christian converts who are expected to have to go into deeper hiding in the small Sultan-ruled country on the Southeast Asian island of Borneo where conversion from Islam is illegal and punishable by death.

Since first introducing Sharia law in 2014, the Sultan, 72-year-old Hassanal Bolkiah, has been encouraging Islamization of the country where Muslims make up about two-thirds of the country’s population of 434,000. He has called for “stronger” Islamic teachings in Brunei.

The new laws—what some have called “cruel and inhuman”—carry the death penalty for a variety of offenses, including apostasy (converting from Islam), adultery, robbery, rape, sodomy and insulting the Prophet Muhammad (blasphemy).

The first phase, which covered crimes punishable by prison sentence and fines, was implemented in 2014. The new phase covers crimes, such as theft, punishable by amputation and stoning.

The law mostly applies to Muslims, including children who have reached puberty, though some aspects will apply to non-Muslims. For example, those who “persuade, tell or encourage” Muslim children under the age of 18 “to accept the teachings of religions other than Islam” are liable for a fine or jail. Individuals who have not reached puberty but are convicted of certain offenses may be instead subjected to whipping.

» Read full story.

» Also read Committee Formed to Advance Nationalist Hindu Movement in Nepal (Missions Network News).

Source: Marti Wade

Some 45 years since the concept of unreached people groups began to be popularized, many still have little access to the gospel and some missiologists are advocating for new categories and definitions. These days we hear as much about least-reached groups, unengaged unreached groups, and frontier people groups.

Clarifying or confusing? I’m not sure. Each way of slicing up world populations has its strengths as well as its limits. Some of the new categories may obscure the complexity of reaching large but under-engaged groups like the Turks, Thai, or Japanese. But definitions matter, key groups have been overlooked, and the newer thinking may be just what we need to mobilize or redirect strategy and prayer.

» To understand the ins and outs of all this, read Why Missions Experts Are Redefining “Unreached People Groups” (Christianity Today) and Clarifying the Frontier Mission Task, by Rebecca Lewis (International Journal of Frontier Missiology).

» See also Year of the Frontier (Global Prayer Resource Network), which describes a new, daily prayer effort focused on about 400 of the largest frontier people groups. And it looks like the year has already begun: It’s May 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020. Visit the website for related resources.