Missions Catalyst

In this issue:

1. Jewish World: Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement
2. Why the African Church Is Positioned to Reach Its Own Frontier Within a Decade
3. India: Hindus Attack Christian Family Who Refuse to Reconvert
4. Brazil: Census Confirms One in Four Are Evangelical Christians
5. Syria: Persecution Tests Growing Kurdish Church Movement

… plus links to more

Click or scroll, or read or share the email edition.

Sources: Various

This coming Monday is Yom Kippur, considered the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. Will you pray for those observing it?

Here are a few gospel-focused takes you can explore:

• Read Understanding Your Jewish Neighbor (Lausanne Movement).
• Watch Yom Kippur: Why Do We Need a Mediator? (One for Israel).
• Listen to What Is the Day of Atonement? (Bible Project).
• Read and pray through an online prayer guide for the 10 Days of Awe, September 12-21 (Beyond).

If this draws your heart to the Middle East, see pages 7-8 of the Global Overview section in the September issue of INcontext Monthly. You will find a succinct summary of some big issues in the region.

Source: Clarity for the Nations, August 11, 2026

If you want to understand the future of missions in Africa, start with two numbers.

The first number is 5,413. That is Joshua Project’s estimate of the cross-cultural workers needed to reach every frontier people group on the continent.

The second number is 123 million. That is the estimate of evangelical believers already living in just four countries: Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, and Ghana.

Set those side by side, and it comes to roughly one worker for every 23,000 African evangelicals. The African church does not lack people. It lacks awareness, mobilization, and equipping at scale. That is a solvable problem, and the timeline is years, not generations.

Read the full article by Joshua Project’s Bud Houston. It also points out that more than a third of Africa’s frontier people groups, 178 of them, are found in just two countries, Sudan and Chad.

Source: International Christian Concern, September 2, 2026

A radical Hindu mob recently attacked a Christian family in Chhattisgarh after they refused to participate in a Hindu reconversion ceremony called Ghar Wapsi.

The mob tore down the roof of the family’s home, leaving seven people exposed to heavy monsoon rains and unable to live safely in the structure.

According to local sources, on July 2, a group of nearly 100 anti-Christian activists, led by Bisahu Dhruv, Mansa Gawde, and Phoolsingh Gawde, surrounded the home of “Kamal Sinha” to force him to undergo Ghar Wapsi. When Sinha refused, tensions escalated, and the mob climbed onto the roof and ripped it apart.

“All of our harvested crops were drenched in the rainwater after the roof was destroyed,” Sinha said.

“By becoming Christians, you have polluted the village and defiled our gods and goddesses,” Dhruv told Sinha. “You should not live here. You do not worship our deities, do not offer coconuts or other offerings, and do not accept the prasad given to our gods. And you follow another religion and another God. Therefore, leave the village. Otherwise, you will not be allowed to live here. We will stop your farming, demolish your house, and drive your entire family out.”

As a result of the attack and ongoing pressure, Sinha’s family was forced to shut down their small grocery shop. The water and electricity connections were also cut off to Sinha’s house.

The full story states that hundreds of families have been evicted this year in Chhattisgarh, one of 13 Indian states with anti-conversion laws. Many are living in makeshift housing in the forests. Please pray for them.

For a more encouraging story from this country, read Women in India Fearlessly Sharing the Gospel (Beyond).

Also read about missionary women in Southeast Asia who are using digital strategies to minister to Muslim women, who may otherwise be much harder to reach (International Mission Board).

Source: Evangelical Focus, September 8, 2026

For 56 million evangelicals—the majority of whom are Pentecostals—their central role in the country’s public life is being reinforced.

The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) has published microdata from the 2022 census, revealing, for the first time, a detailed map of religious affiliation in Brazil, a country of 210 million people.

While over 80% of the population remains Christian (including Catholics and evangelicals), there have been significant internal shifts within the various denominations.

The data show a sharp increase in the number of people with no religious affiliation, while evangelical groups as a whole represent 26.9% of the population (around 56 million people).

For evangelicals, especially Pentecostals, the report confirms their key role in the social and political life of the country, but also shows the need for more detailed measurements to understand the true extent of their growth.

Read the full story for more detail.

You may know that Brazil is sending a record number of cross-cultural missionaries. Read or watch a 2025 report, Brazilian Christians Are Blazing a Bi-vocational, Global Missionary Revolution (Christian Broadcasting Network).

In case you missed it, here’s another story from Latin America: A Catholic bishop was recently released after more than five years in a Venezuelan prison. You may appreciate his testimony of God’s faithfulness (Christian Solidarity Worldwide).

Source: Mission Network News, September 1, 2026

Police arrested Pastor Nihad, the director of Kurdish ministry for Horizons International, while he visited northern Syria in late July.

“Our vision was to go and gather [Kurdish believers] together, see what the Lord is doing among them, see how open their friends and family are, and start to pull them together in gatherings,” says Horizons’ Executive Director Pierre Houssney.

“But Pastor Nihad wasn’t there long before some people stirred up trouble for him. They incited the government based on the internet crimes laws in Syria, which are very strict but usually unenforced.”

As the Lord often does, He turned a troublesome time into a gospel opportunity.

“Pastor Nihad was able to share his faith in jail. He was surrounded by people who were actually protecting him and treating him with dignity,” Houssney says.

“In the prisons, there are a lot of extremist factions, and so it’s a miracle that God protected him throughout that time.”

Quick legal action secured Pastor Nihad’s release, and he returned to his young family roughly two weeks after his arrest. However, questions now surround the future of church planting efforts among the Syrian Kurds.

Horizons International has ministered among Syrian Kurds for several years, combining humanitarian aid, evangelism, discipleship, and church planting. By 2021, entire churches in Lebanon were made up of Syrian Kurds who had come to faith through ministry among the displaced.

The full story includes photos and links to related news along with questions about what is next for the Kurdish church in Syria.

From East Asia: Please take a moment to pray for several believers in China’s Yunnan Province who were to be on trial today (September 16) for organizing illegal (house church) gatherings (Back to Jerusalem).

See also a short but sweeping article on the broader topic, The History of Christian Persecution (Global Christian Relief).

Another sweeping article explores The Modern-Day Prayer Movement, how God is orchestrating a historic phenomenon of worship and prayer on the earth in our generation (Presence Pioneers Media).

It’s been a while! We took a three-month sabbatical break not so much to rethink Missions Catalyst as to give ourselves space for other things. Pat started a Master’s degree. Marti focused on rest and renewal.

Now, we’re back and ready to dive back in. No big changes here at present, but we will see how other priorities shake out and always welcome your input. Just shoot Marti an email and share your thoughts. Thanks! 

For this week’s edition, pull up the email, click the links below, or just scroll down.

1. Niger: Missionary Pilot Released After Nine Months in Captivity
2. Peru: A New Generation Growing Up With God’s Word
3. Tajikistan: The Tajik Pastor Who Could Not Be Killed
4. India: The Call to Make Odisha a Church-Free State
5. USA: MedAdvance Unites Healthcare Professionals With Mission Efforts

Source: Mission Network News, August 17, 2026

There is major reason to praise God, as missionary pilot Kevin Rideout has been released after nine months of captivity. U.S. President Donald Trump announced [August 14] that Rideout was in United States custody.

Christian missionary organization SIM, the ministry Rideout worked with, put out a statement welcoming back their friend and brother. This is truly an answer to prayer for Christians around the globe.

Read full story for more background. See also an August 21 statement from Kevin and Krista Rideout (SIM) and an article about the event that addresses concerns and opportunities arising from the withdrawal of foreign workers from this area (Christianity Today).

For more good news, see these stories: from Syria, Baptist pastor released after two weeks in detention, and, from Venezuela, Bishop released after more than five years in prison (both from Christian Solidarity Worldwide).

Source: Wycliffe Bible Translators, August 24, 2026

In the small village of Cabracancha, nestled in the Andes Mountains of Peru, a woman reclined on a hillside as she listened to her son read a children’s book. Friends and family gathered around, relaxing in the shade of their church building after an afternoon meal.

The boy sounded out words in his language, diligently working his way through the story of Noah and the ark. Some of the people, especially those in the older generation, have never been able to read Quechua. It’s a treat to hear a young person read it to them.

The boy’s mother, Viani Estrada, nodded along word by word.

“It used to be that parents would not allow their children to speak Quechua, and they’d force them to speak Spanish even though none of them really spoke Spanish very well. Since the arrival of the Wanca New Testament, they’ve valued Wanca much more and have begun reading it as a family.”

Read the rest of the article, which includes stories from several other countries. So encouraging to hear about people encountering Jesus through the Word of God in their languages.

Source: Back to Jerusalem, August 30, 2026

Daniel was raised to believe Christianity was evil. It was during the years of civil war, following [Tajikistan’s] independence from the Soviet Union, that Daniel learned that his brother-in-law had become a Christian. He contemplated [murdering] his brother-in-law, but the darkness inside Daniel proved to be no match for the light that had begun to shine on his family members. In the years that followed, several other in-laws became Christians. They talked to him about it and explained the gospel.

But Daniel could not accept that Jesus could be more than a prophet. One day as he was walking out in the country by himself, he heard a voice calling his name, three times over. Then the voice said, “Why don’t you want me as your Lord?”

Daniel asked, “Are you Jesus?”

The voice said, “I am Jesus Christ.”

Daniel did not see anybody but asked a question in the hope the voice would answer. “You are a man, why do they call you God?”

For more than half an hour as he walked, he heard the voice of Jesus answer his questions.

It was the beginning of a new life, but also the beginning of much suffering. He began to tell others about Jesus. His wife became a believer a year after him. When his parents heard about this, they were livid. They kicked Daniel and his wife and two small children out of their house in the middle of the night. With no place to go, they decided to go to the small house church to pray.

As they were praying for hours, the pastor came to ask what the problem was. They did not want to tell him, however, because they wanted to hear from God and see how he would take care of them. So, they told the pastor all was well. Later, because they were still praying, the pastor came again and suggested they stay in a little room in the church to get some sleep. This room became their home for the next three years.

It was still war, but God called Daniel to become an evangelist. Everyone knew he was a Christian by now. He lived in the church, along with his family and a group of 15 war orphans the church was taking care of…

Read the full story, which includes some wild stories about God delivering Daniel from those who opposed him, again and again.

See also Stolen Bible led to answered prayer for Muslim, an excerpt from Stephen Barrett’s book about ministry in Central Asia, The Unlikely Missionary. Did you realize it’s been 35 years since the dissolution of the Soviet Union?