Category: News Briefs

Source: SEND International, August 15, 2017

Thousands of Chinese youth [gathered last month] as the Chinese church works steadily toward an ambitious goal: to send 20,000 missionaries by the year 2030.

J.E., SEND’s regional director in Asia, serves as one of the consultants from various organizations who are coming alongside mission-minded Chinese believers.

“It has been amazing to watch the mainland Chinese church develop this growing heart and passion to reach out,” he said. “It’s very much an indigenous movement, but when we are asked we can share insights from our own history and experiences.”

“They’re drawn to the Middle East, to Muslim countries, even to the unreached within China’s borders,” J.E. explained. “China is home to more than 400 unreached people groups—second only to India.”

The goal of 20,000 wasn’t arbitrarily chosen. Chinese leaders estimate that about 20,000 missionaries have served in China in the past 200 years, and they want to repay this “gospel debt.”

Previous Chinese-led missions movements have started out with great enthusiasm, but various factors, including lack of support from churches back home, led to missionaries often returning after just a few years. The Mission China 2030 movement aims to change that.

» Read full story.

» See also a story about Russian missionaries venturing into some of the least-reached parts of Mongolia (Christian Broadcasting Network).

Source: INcontext Ministries August 2017

Since June, INcontext Ministries has been doing Facebook Live events to encourage Christians to have a kingdom perspective on the news of the previous month. If you are a Christian on Facebook, please consider sharing this great resource to your “news junkie” friends.

Typically the speaker presents the stories through media clips, then proposes the questions that the world would ask, and finally suggests what kingdom questions we can ask ourselves and the church. Good stuff.

» Watch the August video and check out their archive of Facebook videos. Each spends about 25 minutes covering five news stories.

» Also read a recent article on what they call the “age of cynicism,” explaining how false news navigates naivety. Excellent. Be sure to read to the end.

1. NORTH KOREA: Canadian Pastor Freed after More Than Two Years
2. GUAM: Radio Broadcasting into North Korea
3. NEPAL: Freedom of Religion Leads to Church Growth
4. CHAD: “It’s Your Fault He Died!”

… And find more stories in our Twitter feed.

“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:18

Christians may face the wrath of the community when they turn their backs on worship of ancestors and things like trees and mountains to serve the creator God. This was the case with Samuel from southern Chad. See story below (Open Doors).

Greetings,

In putting together the news briefs we try to sidestep both political news and editorials, yet intriguing stories of kingdom challenges and advance are sometimes found in the shadows of the day’s headlines. This edition includes several such stories.

You might also be interested in several articles about Syria, one describing the escape of seven Armenian Christians from ISIS-held Raqqa, another providing chilling details from the findings of a study of torture in ISIS prisons, and a third about how Christians are persevering in Aleppo.

For short, thoughtful, biblical insights on current events, consider subscribing to a monthly editorial from the director of INcontext. This month’s article is about our sometimes conflicting desires for certainty and understanding.

Blessings,
Pat

Source: INcontext, August 10, 2017

North Korea freed a Canadian pastor serving a life sentence on humanitarian grounds, the official KCNA news agency said on Wednesday, just hours after the United States warned it would counter any threat from the North with “fire and fury.”

There was no clear connection between the release of [62-year-old] Hyeon Soo Lim and the heightened rhetoric between Washington and Pyongyang.

Lim, who served in one of the largest churches in Canada, had been sentenced to hard labor for life in December 2015 after North Korea accused him of attempting to overthrow the regime.

Lim’s Toronto-area church has said he visited the North more than 100 times since 1997 and helped set up an orphanage and nursing home. Last year, Lim told CNN he spent eight hours a day digging holes at a labor camp where he had not seen any other prisoners.

» Read full story and see a moving story about Lin’s experiences (CBC).

Source: Mission Network News, August 15, 2017

Recently, North Korea threatened to launch missiles at the US territory of Guam. But even as North Korea postures with missile launch threats, Trans World Radio (TWR) in Guam has already been launching something else into North Korea… radio broadcasts of the gospel. In doing so, TWR is encouraging the remnant Church in North Korea. But the job is risky. North Korea is the number one persecutor of Christians, according to Open Doors’ World Watch List. And an outside radio is considered an illegal commodity in North Korea.

“The stories we’ve got is that people who have a radio keep it in a plastic bag and will bury it during the daytime and then dig it up at night and listen to the broadcast. A lot of times, people listen in very small groups in homes. We know that there are groups of believers in North Korea and we know that the church is alive and well and probably growing under persecution,” [says TWR’s Lauren Libby].

TWR currently hopes to increase their programming into North Korea by up to two hours so they can reach more people, whoever can listen, with the good news of Jesus Christ.

» Read full story or a related article on TWR’s website. You might also appreciate a short video with messages from Christian radio listeners in North Korea.

Source: Mission Network News, August 8, 2017

“Nepal has become the country where Christianity is growing at the fastest pace of any nation in the world,” says John Pudaite, President of Bibles For The World (BFTW). “The Body of Christ has been growing at almost ten percent per year, and we’re just blessed to be a part of what God is doing in Nepal.”

But why the sudden spiritual growth spurt? Pudaite says it comes from politics. “For centuries, Nepal was under a very restrictive monarchy and as the country opened up to democracy and developed its own constitution, all of a sudden people realized they did have a choice when it came to what they believed.” Christ’s message of mercy and truth is appealing to many, causing the Church to grow at an unprecedented rate.

Newfound freedom of religion also means newfound challenges, Pudaite says.

» Read full story.

» For another glimpse of this country, see Nepali Hindus Celebrate Sacred Thread Festival (Huffington Post).

Source: Open Doors, August 3, 2017

Samuel entered the dark hut to see his cousin lying on a mat, drenched in sweat and curled up in excruciating pain. Occasionally Alphonse mustered what little strength was left in his body to lift himself onto one elbow and vomit into a bucket his children had placed next to him.

“You need to take your father to a hospital,” Samuel told Alphonse’s children. “This looks like appendicitis.”

The children refused. They were determined to stick to superstitious medicinal concoctions instead, afraid they might offend the spirits by seeking modern medical care. When there was no improvement a few days later they decided to take Alphonse to the hospital but it was too late. Alphonse died shortly after surgery.

A family member phoned from the hospital to tell Samuel the tragic news and then declared, “It is your fault he has died! You told us to take him to hospital, and that is where he died!”

Samuel knew the community would side with the family of Alphonse so he gathered all his family members and sought refuge at the home of the village head. While Samuel’s family was safe inside those walls, their property was sat unguarded. Alphonse’s children burned it all down.

“I lost everything,” Samuel remembers. “We had a barn full of food, farm produce, farm equipment, and other personal belongings. Everything was lost in the fire. All we had left were the clothes on our bodies. Initially, I filed a lawsuit against them. But then I had second thoughts. I concluded that it was not worth it. Even though I continue to receive threats from them, I have decided to forgive everything. I have forgiven them completely.”

When Open Doors heard about the incident, we visited Samuel and his family to encourage them and pray with them. We also helped them afford a temporary place to stay while they rebuilt their home. The project has since been completed and Samuel’s family have moved into their new home.

“I have hope because I know that nothing is impossible for God. Even if men forsake me, God will never forsake me,” Samuel said. “He will restore me unto his glory.”

» Read full story with prayer points.

» See also a story on the cost of conversion in a West African culture where peace is everything (Pioneers).

In This Issue:

1. THAILAND: Some Jungles Have Wifi
2. NORTH KOREA: Government Agent Accepted Jesus on His Deathbed
3. MALAWI: Saladin’s Struggle
4. GREECE: Turning Hearts of Stone to Hearts of Flesh
5. SAUDI ARABIA: Reaching Mecca

… And find more stories in our Twitter feed. We’re approaching 5,000 followers and would love to have you join us there!

Greetings,

Midsummer is a time when many in North America are more likely to be awed by the night sky. I am looking forward to watching the lunar eclipse August 21.  If you are in the US, you might find this tool helpful to determine when it will affect your city.

As I read the headlines, I am constantly asking what “news” is heaven interested in? One could also ask what AWES heaven? What should awe Christians? Rev. Tad de Bordenave of Anglican Frontier Missions ponders this in his recent post Bottom Dwellers, Black Holes, and the Bagri. In light of today’s edition, I might add to the alliteration: Bangkok.

In AWE of him who created all,
Pat

Source: Commnet Media

The Bangkok Metro Region is home to nearly 15 million people. Less than one percent of them follow Jesus. That means millions may not even know a single believer. Not one. It’s our prayer to see that change. It’s going to take a ridiculous amount of work in a place that’s hotter, harder, and more complex that you can imagine. It’s not going to be easy.

» Thanks for praying and mobilizing for Thailand. See more resources from Commnet, including four more new videos about ministry in Thailand. Any you use in your own context?

Source: ASSIST News Service, July 25, 2017

“Like so many Christian families, our family was banished in the 1950s to a remote village,” Kim Sang-Hwa told Open Doors. “They continued to hide their faith from the outside world.”

“When I was 12, I accidentally found a Bible my parents had hidden in their closet. I don’t know why, but I started to feel inside the cabinet with my hand, pulled out a book and began to read.”

“To me all those stories and ideas were so interesting. I also read the Bible for myself. But I realized it was dangerous. My father always emphasized not to share anything with anyone else. Then he would start to pray in whispers, almost inaudible. ‘Father, help the North Korean people to seek your Kingdom first’.”

She learned that her father met people in secret location, as part of the underground church. “Many children of believers came to that location too and learned the Bible. We prayed together.”

But Sang-Hwa and her parents were unaware that government agents had infiltrated the underground meetings. “Among the people visiting the secret meetings were some non-believers too, even spies,” she told Open Doors.

When one of those visitors was dying, her father went to see him on his deathbed. The man confessed his duplicitous intentions: “I know everything about you, your family and your faith. I was a spy and ordered to watch you,” he told her startled father.

Amazingly, the government agent never turned them in. As he observed the believers praying and singing, his heart softened toward them.

“You are a good man. I never told anyone you were a Christian,” he told Sang-Hwa’s father. “Tell me how I can become a Christian too.”

» Read full story and the more complete report from Open Doors.

» See another story from Open Doors, this one from Myanmar: How an Ex-Soldier Braved Demons to Bring a Buddhist Village to Christ.