PAKISTAN: Rooftop Sunrise Church Service

Pakistan roof preacherA ministry in Pakistan has begun preaching the gospel and praising God from the rooftops while their city is on lockdown (BosNews Life).

Source: BosNews Life, April 26, 2020

An evangelical church and mission group has launched rooftop services in Pakistan after authorities banned regular church meetings amid a national lockdown to halt the coronavirus pandemic.

The Global Vision Ministries (GVM) blasted the gospel of Christ through loudspeakers from a rooftop in Faisalabad, the country’s third-largest city, explained its pastor Suneel A. John.

The last three worship services featuring the pastor and a small group of musicians and staff included a sunrise service on Easter Sunday. John added it was “a miracle that police allowed our service on the resurrection day of Jesus Christ. We likely held the first sunrise service on a rooftop in Faisalabad’s history.”

GVM also distributed breakfast to over 650 families living in the area. Separately it has been distributing food packages lasting a month impacting hundreds of families, the pastor stressed.

[This] comes while a growing number of people face starvation as lockdown measures affected impoverished daily wage earners. “Especially Christians suffer. I know of a Christian father who wanted to hang himself because he could no longer provide for his hungry wife and two daughters. We learned about their situation and could help the family.”

Separately, GVM has rescued 100 Christian families, all slaves, in brickyards.

» Full story includes a five-minute video from the sunrise service as well as background on Pastor John, who was delivered from a gang lifestyle after a suicide attempt.

» See also a story about missionaries in Madrid singing a gospel song for their neighbors on Easter Sunday (International Mission Board).

KENYA: How Can You Socially Distance in a Slum?

Source: Compassion International, April 23, 2020

Guadencia carefully steps across her brothers’ outstretched legs, weaving her way between family members until she reaches the doorway. Thrusting aside the floral curtain, she pokes her head outside. Fresh air cools her face, tainted by acrid smoke and the eye-watering smell of open drains. Still, it is sweet relief to escape from the stifling tin room her family of seven call home.

Her neighbors are just yards away, separated by only a few sheets of rusting corrugated iron. Around her, thousands of shacks are packed together so tightly they are accessible only by foot. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a steady stream of people walks past.

To curb the growing number of cases of the highly contagious virus, the Kenyan government has instructed citizens to maintain social distance and practice good hygiene. But in Kibera, a slum in Kenya’s capital city of Nairobi, physical distancing is a luxury few can afford.

Half of Kibera’s residents are unemployed. The rest work mostly as casual laborers, earning just enough each day to survive. If they don’t go out to work, their family may not eat that day. The pandemic has already left 10-year-old Guadencia’s family on the verge of homelessness.

“It has been a difficult two weeks,” says her mother Dorcas, who works as a cleaner in a Nairobi factory. Her sweet face, usually quick to smile, creases with worry. “We have not been paid this month since the boss had traveled to India and has been unable to come back.”

» Full story includes similar stories and reports from slums in Nicaragua and the Philippines. Also from Compassion’s blog, read Compassion Fatigue in the Time of Coronavirus.

» See also Are Slums More Vulnerable to the COVID-19 Pandemic? Evidence from Mumbai (Brookings).

CHAD: Believers Reach Neighbors for Christ

Source: Missions Network News, April 21, 2020

A small cluster of about 22 denominations and organizations in Chad have been gathering and praying together for a number of years. They felt the Holy Spirit was laying on their heart that they needed to be the ones to reach these unreached people groups in their own country, David Reeves of unfoldingWord tells MNN.

Surrounded by unreached people groups, Chadian believers feel the Lord calling them to make his name known among their neighbors. However, Reeves explains, they don’t have the resources or training they need to fuel community outreach. That’s when global ministries, including unfoldingWord, came alongside to help.

First, unfoldingWord taught Chadian believers how to use their open-source material to translate 50 Bible stories into the language of a neighboring unreached community. “Our Open Bible Stories project is a set of 50 stories released in Creative Commons,” Reeves explains, “so they’re free to take and translate without having to have additional permissions from us. The stories cover the metanarrative from Genesis to Revelation.”

Chadian believers collaborated with JESUS Film and World Mission to create additional evangelistic materials and load them onto solar-powered devices. Once everything was finished, Chadian church planters and evangelists immediately put the resources to use. In a three-day outreach event, believers shared the gospel with over 8,300 people.

» Read full story.

» See also Chad Is Not an Easy Location (SIM USA).

WORLD: A Different Kind of Ramadan

Source: INcontext International, April 22, 2020

Most of this year’s Ramadan celebrations have been canceled or moved online due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. Egypt—along with Malaysia, Singapore, and others—has banned all prayer gatherings and encouraged those celebrating to end the daily fasts alone, or only with those in their household. In an effort to keep the community aspect of Ramadan celebrations, many mosques and Islamic groups are holding online prayer services, sermons, and Quranic recitations. Ramadan usually also provides an economic boost for many communities as the feasts lead to increased food sales in local markets. The inability to buy and sell at markets could have a long-term economic effect.

From a Christian perspective, we have seen how the coronavirus outbreak has caused many people to seek answers, and how many of them have joined online Christian services, dramatically increasing [church] attendance. As Muslims are forced in this season to conduct many of their activities in isolation, perhaps they too will search for answers in these uncertain times and find some of these many Christian resources online.

» Read full story with prayer points. INcontext also reports, “We have not seen a single event give birth to so many conspiracy theories, hoaxes, and fake news as we have seen with the coronavirus.” Read their response to some end-time theories related to the virus (and Bill Gates).

» See also In Shadow of Coronavirus, Muslims Face a Ramadan Like Never Before (Reuters).

USA: When COVID Changes Your Overseas Plans

Source: Go.Serve.Love, March 27, 2020

You planned for so many eventualities in going overseas. What if we can’t raise all our support? What if my dad goes into the hospital? What if we can’t get visas? But it was pretty hard to see COVID coming.

Now maybe you’re wondering if you’ll be able to go at all.

And the gravity of this feels real. You’ve made tremendous personal sacrifices already, upending your life like a junk drawer.

What do all these sacrifices mean if they don’t result in you going? Isn’t the need still as great, or even greater?

» Read more.

» Calling off that mission trip? Tune in to the May 26 webinar You Don’t Have to Go to Give from the Standards of Excellence in Short-Term Mission. It will feature Steve Corbett (of When Helping Hurts) and others.

USA: Former Missionary Kids on “The Good Road”

The good roadUp for some armchair travel? Join two “philanthropologists” with cameras who explore courage and kindness around the world. The Good Road is a new series from a couple of grown-up missionary kids now airing on PBS in the US.

Source: Baptist News Global, April 6, 2020

A new television series [which premiered] April 6 on PBS promises to introduce viewers to some of the most innovative acts of courage and kindness around the planet.

“The Good Road” is a journey led by philanthropists and adventurers Earl Bridges and Craig Martin who seek out and celebrate individuals whose creative compassion shines in all manner of desperate situations.

A backdrop to the series is their life-long friendship. They first met as students of at the International School of Bangkok.

Their new show was three years in the making and evokes a travel-and-adventure format with its remote, exotic, and sometimes dangerous locations.

» See full story and The Good Road website to learn more, or just watch the season trailer. Note that the series is designed to appeal to secular audiences and avoids evangelical messaging.

CHINA: Signs of Revival Stirring Again

Source: Asia Harvest, April 2020

Many people are asking, “Where is God?” during the current crisis. Friends, he is where he always is—ruling over the universe and working his perfect will and plan of salvation, as time marches forward to the end of the present age.

In recent months, house church leaders across China have reported a new openness to the gospel since the virus appeared, and even though meetings are not allowed and the Communist Party has shut down many Christian websites and social media platforms, many thousands of people have placed their trust in the Lord anyway. This week, [one of] our contacts in China wrote:

“More people are realizing that money and possessions will not save them, and many churches have been started through telephone and website evangelism, which has been very effective! Church planting has been going on, and just last week, in a five-day period, we distributed almost 40,000 Bibles to new believers! The more difficult the environment, the more opportunities we have for ministry. Now it is very effective to share the Word of God with non-Christians in China.”

» Full story also includes a look back at China’s pneumonic plague of 1911 (with 100% death rate: 43,942 infections and 43,942 deaths).

» See also Chinese Christians Defy Orders to Shut Down Online Services, Evangelism (Open Doors).

EUROPE: Ministry Doubles After Lockdown

Source: Pioneers USA, April 14, 2020

After their country went into lockdown, a family in Europe saw ministry opportunities more than double. Twice as many kids come to youth group when it’s online. Turns out the youth find it easier to invite friends digitally, rather than in person.

An English conversation group used to meet weekly in person but now meets twice a week by video. “The topics are getting much deeper and more spiritually focused as the current circumstances are causing many to contemplate hope and security,” they add.

In addition, this family reports more conversations with local believers now considering their part in bringing the gospel message and hope of Jesus to the others. And this is not the only place that’s happening. “On the global level, the church has come together digitally on a massive scale to pray and seek God in the midst of the pandemic. We genuinely believe that God is opening the eyes of the world to see its need for a Savior. Jesus. He is the source of all hope and security!”

» Full story describes various ways global ministry is continuing despite lockdowns and closed borders.

» The mobilization team from Pioneers is hosting a virtual prayer event Monday, April 20, at 7pm EST. Hear from Pioneers workers in different parts of the world and participate in guided prayer.

INDIA: Lockdown Triggers Biggest Migration Since Partition

Source: INcontext Ministries, March 25, 2020

On March 20, hundreds of thousands of Indian migrant workers lost their jobs after India instated a 21-day lockdown to slow the spread of the coronavirus. This loss of employment has caused the workers to embark on journeys home to their villages—some as far as 650 kilometers—on foot, as all public transportation has been suspended. There are approximately 100 million informal workers in India living and working in large cities to support their families living in remote villages.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi seemed to be taken by surprise at the mass exodus from the cities and has said that the Indian government will provide rent money and food for those affected, but that declaration hasn’t slowed the number of people fleeing the cities—many with no food, medicine, or other necessary resources.

From a Christian perspective, India has a Christian population of around 28 million, making up just over two percent of the total population. Indian church leaders have been working with local government leaders to provide more aid to their communities. Local churches have also been raising funds to deliver food and medicine in areas where the government aid has not been enough. However, this service has financially stretched churches since congregations are not able to gather physically to give their monetary offerings.

» Read full story with prayer points. As you probably heard, India has now extended the lockdown another three weeks, though some exceptions have been expanded (BBC).

» See also Prayer Emphasis for Sikhs, Prepare to Pray: April 12-16 and grab the free downloadable prayer guide (IMB).

» Read how churches in Russia and the former Soviet states are responding to the COVID-19 crisis with prayer and giving (Slavic Gospel Association).