Missions Catalyst

In this issue:

1. India: What Did God Say About Racism?
2. Thailand: The Story of a Hmong Pastor and a Christian Village
3. World: For More than 500 Million Christians, Bible Access Is Restricted
4. Bhutan: Translating the First Bible Into the Chochangachakha Language
5. Algeria: Twelve Christians Detained After Police Raid
6. World: Could the Church Face a “Silver Uprising”?

… plus links to more

Read or share the email edition.

Source: Beyond, September 16, 2026

Racism and prejudice are unacceptable to God, and casteism is racism to the extreme. Caste teaches that some people are simply better and more valuable than others. It is a huge issue that must be dealt with in movement churches.

North Indian movement leaders knew that new churches needed to learn from the Bible, not from them, because only the Lord can touch a heart. So, they gave Raj, a movement trainer, a list of verses that addressed casteism, the equality of all people in God’s Kingdom, as well as who can take the Lord’s Supper.

Raj brought the scriptures to the new church leaders. They studied God’s Word and discussed what He said regarding casteism and the Lord’s Supper. Raj did not preach or teach. He prayed. He asked questions. Finally, the leaders concluded, “If I am in Jesus, I am no longer Brahmin (or whatever caste I was born into). I can either be a Brahmin or in Jesus, but I cannot be both. If that’s the option, I want to be in Jesus!”

But they went further. After apologizing, the leaders gathered multiple churches with mixed caste-background people, and everyone took communion together.

Read or watch the full story. Another recent story from Beyond illustrates a different discipleship issue that comes up all too often. Read Nothing to Offer But Jesus.

Source: Faith Comes by Hearing, September 18, 2026

This Thai village went from [having] no Christians to almost 90% Christian. When we arrived in this Hmong community in rural Thailand, we met the pastor who had spent years serving the local people there. He told us his story.

At first, very few villagers followed Jesus, but many people could not easily read, and even fewer had access to Scripture in a form they could understand. Then, they began listening to the Bible through audio. Families gathered together. People heard the gospel in their own language, and slowly, the village began to change.

Today, the pastor estimates that nearly 90% of the community is Christian. Not because outsiders forced change on them, but because people heard the Word of God in audio for themselves and responded.

Watch or share the video. It’s encouraging on its own but is also an excerpt from episode 2 of a docuseries, Edge of the World, published online two years ago (YouTube).

Also see a story about a reported turnaround in a completely different context, this one in Europe: Spiritual Awakening Is Happening in One of the Most Secular Nations on Earth (CBN).

Source: Bible Access Initiative, October 1, 2026

In Afghanistan, God’s Word is the most dangerous book any Afghan can possess, and discovery can cost them their life. In Haiti, the Bible is available, and the church is free, yet extreme poverty makes a Bible too expensive for many families. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, some printed Bibles are available, and Scripture can also be accessed online; yet limited internet coverage and poor road access mean most communities cannot access or use a Bible.

These very different barriers point to the same reality: Availability does not necessarily mean access. The Bible is available in more translations and formats than ever: printed editions, audio, video, and mobile apps. That progress is significant and worth celebrating. But for millions of people, having Scripture available does not mean they can obtain or safely use it.

The Bible Access List asks that deeper question: For those who want a Bible, can they actually get one?

Learn more about the project and read the report, the result of a survey of more than 100 nations. No registration required. Read a related article (Baptist Press).

Did you know this year is the 500th anniversary of the printing of Tyndale’s complete New Testament? Read From Tyndale to today: the enduring hunger for the Bible (Christian Today).

Source: Back to Jerusalem, September 18, 2026

The BTJ team in Bhutan desperately needs prayers as they work on Bible translation for a remote tribe living deep in the mountains of the Himalayas.

No Christians are currently no known among the Chochangachakha people of Bhutan. They are 100% unreached. There is also no Bible in the native language of the Chochangachakha tribe. That is why, last year, BTJ committed to translating [the] Bible into their language.

Bible translation is not a task that BTJ missionaries often tackle, but the need is great in the eastern mountains of Bhutan. There are over 20,000 people who have never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ in their own mother tongue.

“We are working all day every day,” wrote one BTJ missionary from Bhutan. “We have just started on the book of Leviticus, and we do not even have a dictionary.”

The goal is to have the Bible ready by 2027 and deliver it to every member of the tribe in Bhutan.

The full story describes how dangerous this task is. Evidently this is an endangered language (Bhutan Wiki). As you may know, Bible translation has made a significant impact on preserving languages (and cultures) that were on the verge of extinction.

Source: Middle East Concern, September 21, 2026

Christians in Algeria are asking for prayer for 12 Christians, women and men, who were detained [during a special forces police raid on September 4] and interrogated by the police, and will probably face charges.

The police had a search warrant and confiscated the individuals’ identity documents, personal phones, and all Christian literature found at the premises.

The men were kept at the police station until the early morning hours of the following day and were intensively interrogated. The women were allowed to return home and were asked to come back the next day for interrogation. They were told that they would face charges and appear before a court.

Based on similar cases, the charges could be brought under [an ordinance] that regulates the worship of non-Muslims. If convicted, those charged could face imprisonment of 2–5 years and heavy fines.

A systematic campaign targeting Protestant Christians and churches in Algeria, which began at the end of 2017, continues to intensify. More than 50 Christians, especially church leaders, have faced legal prosecution on religion-related charges and have had to close their churches because of threats and intimidation.

Read the full story with prayer points.

For more detail, see Police in Algeria Arrest 12 Christians during Worship (Morning Star News). We looked for an update but have not found one.

Readers might also be interested in a series of new articles on the disappearing Christian church in the Middle East (International Christian Concern).

Source: Christian Today, October 1, 2026

Churches are being urged to take the contributions of older members seriously or run the risk of facing a “silver uprising” of discontent from seniors in their congregations.

The warning comes as the United Nations marks Thursday, October 1 as the International Day of Older Persons, dedicated to recognizing the role of older people across the world. In the UK, the US, and other Western countries, populations are aging, with many more people reaching retirement age and beyond.

Now Chris Spicer, a UK-based preacher and teacher with more than 50 years of experience working with Christian communities and learning centers throughout Europe and North America, has written of the dangers of churches not making use of older people in their congregations.

In [a 2025 book] Living Life in the Last Lane, Spicer warns, “As long as church leaders equate age with ability, they run the risk of fueling a silver riot.”

“Not that an army of placard-waving grey-haired protestors is about to picket church buildings. But rather than suffer in silence, maybe it’s time for those old warhorses tired of being hitched to an ageist agenda to respectfully air their grievances and speak out against those entrenched ideologies and their unfulfilled aspirations regarding life in the last lane.”

As an example of ageism, Spicer, who has lived in Portland, Oregon and Peoria, Illinois, explains, “When middle-aged worship leaders are ‘encouraged’ to step aside so as to be replaced by their young counterparts for no other reason than to look ‘relevant’ and ‘cool,’ then the future is flawed. When being cool overtakes being Christlike, Christianity has stepped onto a downward spiral of no possibility.”

Read the full story.

Just for fun, may I introduce you to my favorite old guy still encouraging all ages? Check out Rodney Norman, self-styled comedian, philosopher, joy-sparker, and friend.