Category: News Briefs

Source: Arab World Media, June 30, 2017

[Soon after he gave his life to Jesus,] Abdul moved to a new part of the country and began working at a bus station. One day, he helped a family find their way. They came to thank him and asked if he was a Christian. Abdul replied, “Yes.”

The family were thrilled that they had met an evangelical Christian. They told Abdul that they were Orthodox Christians who had been praying to know the Christian faith better and be rooted in the Bible. They had been watching a well-known Christian TV channel, but the priest at their church had told them it was a bad, evangelical TV channel.

The family had prayed that God would send them someone from the evangelical church to tell them about the Christian faith. It seems he chose to use an unlikely individual—a new believer from a Muslim background. They asked Abdul if he would be willing to help them. Of course, Abdul said yes! They have since formed a group and have been studying Genesis.

Praise God for the wonderful way in which he moves, bringing people together at just the right time. Lift up this small group as they delve into the Word together. May they encourage and strengthen one another, and may they see their numbers increase as God continues to use them.

» Read full story. Praise God for 52 people who gave their lives to Christ in conversations with AWM responders during Ramadan and pray for efforts to share the gospel with Arab Muslims vacationing in Europe.

» See also Invisible Atheists: The Spread of Disbelief in the Arab World (New Republic).

Source: Mission Network News, June 26, 2017

After 28 years, [a translation] team in Kurdistan is finished, and the Kurds have “an accurate, contemporary translation” of the entire Bible.

Hans Combrink of Biblica said it wasn’t an easy road. “There have been starts and stops, there have been wars, there have been disruptions of all kinds, but the team persevered and they finally saw the work brought to completion.”

Kurdistan is “a sensitive part of the world that’s difficult to work in,” explained Combrink. Since the region is made up of pieces of several countries, he thinks this new translation [in the Sorani dialect of Kurdish] will help the Kurds feel a sense of identity and camaraderie.

“Bible translation is obviously tied up in language and culture—you can’t separate one from the other,” said Combrink. “It forms people’s sense of identity.”

“Relationships are key in any kind of work that we do, especially in sensitive parts of the world,” said Combrink. Kurdistan’s conflicts and religious context certainly qualifies, which is why Biblica teams worked side-by-side with indigenous translators instead of simply shipping copies in from somewhere offsite.

» Read full story and a related story which adds that this Sorani Kurdish Bible translation is also now available on YouVersion and BibleGateway, providing access for those who can’t afford, don’t have access to, or can’t read printed Bibles (Biblica).

Source: Prayercast, July 2, 2017

Did you know that Vietnam is one of the last communist nations on earth? The communist party retains supreme control. Repression and human rights violations are widespread.

The Vietnamese government professes religious freedom, but harassment, discrimination, and outright persecution against Christians remain.

But rising from a long history of opposition is a growing Church. From 1975 to 2010, Evangelicals grew nine-fold! God is on the move.

Yet the nation remains cloaked in darkness: drug addiction, AIDS, prostitution, child exploitation, and false religions. Over half of the population have never heard the gospel.

» Join the people of Vietnam in praying for their nation.

Source: Morning Star News, June 20, 2017

One of two assistant pastors arrested by the Burma army last Christmas Eve is suffering deteriorating health from malnutrition, sources said.

Pastor Dom Dawng Nawng Latt, 65, has become weak, lacks energy and suffers from asthma and diarrhea, according to his wife and a lawyer for Nawng Latt and fellow pastor La Jaw Gam Hseng, 35, who is on trial with him.

The two were arrested in Burma (Myanmar) for helping local journalists cover attacks on a Catholic church building in northern Shan state, in eastern Burma, in November 2016.

Normally suspects can be held for only 28 days without trial under Burmese law, the attorney said. The two pastors finally appeared at a trial hearing in Lashio on May 3.

A Burma army prosecutor has charged the two pastors under the Unlawful Association Act with recruiting and spying for armed ethnic groups such as the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), the second largest ethnic armed group in Burma. The two Kachin Baptist Convention pastors, along with other denominational leaders, deny the charge. Human Rights Watch has decried the arrests as arbitrary and called on Burma to release the pastors immediately.

Armed conflict between Burma and ethnic armed organizations erupted anew in northern Shan state in November 2016, forcing over 50,000 refugees in total to flee to other areas of the state and the border with China.

» See full story with picture. Another story from Morning Star News reports about four Iranian converts to Christianity charged with acting against national security and awaiting a verdict after lengthy delays.

Source: East-West Ministries, June 22, 2017

Times are tough in Central Asia. Spiritual warfare is constantly at play through false religions and opposition from the government against Christians … including our team of missionaries and nationals.

In the middle of a recent wedding, police invaded and arrested a local believer leading the service.

The only thing that indicted this man was that he’d written notes for the ceremony that included Bible verses and had a Bible with him. And the oppression against these believers only heightened as 11 more leaders were arrested.

During each arrest, the officers kept asking, “Why are you becoming Christians? You’re supposed to be Muslim!”

» Read full story.

Reading God’s Word in China. Image: Voice of the Martyrs (story below).

In This Issue:

1. EUROPE: Is God Reviving Europe Through Refugees?
2. ALGERIA: Believer Faces Blasphemy Charges
3. ARMENIA: First Scriptures in Armenian Sign Language
4. MUSLIM WORLD: A Message That Must Be Heard
5. CHINA: Bible Smugglers Arrested, Deported, and Banned

QUOTABLE

“Looking back, I believe the need for Bibles in China was so acute in the 1980s that if the Body of Christ had failed to unite to provide God’s Word, the state of Christianity would be markedly different from what it is today. Each Bible was like placing a log on the revival fires blazing throughout the country. When the final page of Church history is written, the forty-year revival in China may go down numerically as the greatest revival in history.”

— Paul Hattaway, An Asian Harvest (autobiography). Asia Harvest has provided some 10 million Bibles to persecuted believers and supported hundreds of Asian evangelists among the unreached.

Source: Sam George, Lausanne Global Analysis, May 2017

In December 2016, I had the opportunity to witness first-hand what God is doing among and through the refugees in Europe. I travelled through ten cities in five countries over three weeks visiting many refugee camps, as well as churches and missions agencies working with them. A month before, I visited three cities in three other countries. Over this period, I interviewed many refugee ministry leaders in Europe in order to assess and study the desperate situation and the response of God’s people to it.

It was amazing for me to be present at meetings where hundreds of refugees turned to Christ. I visited several fellowships and churches that have baptized hundreds of refugees. One church in Germany had baptized over a thousand Syrian and Kurdish people over the previous six months. At our own meetings each night in different cities in Greece and Germany, we saw almost all of the refugees present responding to the gospel. There are over 100 Arabic-speaking churches across Europe, some predating the crisis and others started in response to it. They are not only very engaged with the issue, but also highly effective on account of their linguistic and cultural proximity to the refugees.

Only God could have turned such a desperate situation into such a mission opportunity, and what is happening lies beyond the strategic planning of any church or mission agency.

» Read full story.

» The UNHCR’s annual Global Trends report, released this week, reports that the world’s forcibly displaced population remained at a record high. Use and share their “Trends at a Glance” summary as well as further analysis.

Source: Missions Network News, June 5, 2017

Some of the most dangerous regulations [believers in Algeria face] are the strict blasphemy laws. “The blasphemy laws are used often against people who are expressing their views and religious beliefs on social media,” says [Miles Windsor of Middle East Concern].

That’s how Slimane Bouhafs ended up with a five-year prison sentence.

Bouhafs, a 50-year-old Christian who was formerly Muslim, was convicted of blasphemy on September 6, 2016. According to Windsor, “He was accused of insulting the prophet Mohammed” when he proclaimed his faith on Facebook. Since September, his sentence has been slightly reduced, but Windsor says the government has stubbornly resisted or ignored many of Bouhafs’s appeals.

“We can lobby human authorities, but the most powerful authority that we can turn to is the Lord,” says Windsor.

» Read full story, as well as more about Slimane Bouhafs and his experiences (Open Doors).

» Morning Star News just published a new report about developments regarding blasphemy laws in Pakistan. Evidently the government-run Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) began sending text messages to all mobile phone users warning that “uploading & sharing of blasphemous content on Internet is a punishable offence under the law” and providing a government email address for reporting such content.

Source: United Bible Societies, April 2017

In Armenia, the day before an election is called “the day of silence” because political parties are no longer allowed to campaign. This year’s day of silence took place on April 1—the same day that Armenia’s Deaf community celebrated the launch of the first Scriptures in their mother tongue, Armenian Sign Language.

“The silence is broken!” said the Bible Society in Armenia’s Project Director Arshavir Kapoudjian of the joyful and colorful event, attended by many Deaf people, their families, and church representatives.

Bible Society General Secretary Yeznik Petroysan encouraged the Deaf community to spread the Word of God.

“As we began to understand, things flowed easily and we became more and more aware that we can’t just keep the divine Word to ourselves—we must share it with everyone… God entrusted his Word to be shared through chosen people, such as prophets, apostles, Church fathers. Today, you have the translation of the first part of the Holy Bible in your language. God has chosen you to spread his Word to the people.”

» See full story with lots of pictures. Looks like quite the celebration!

Source: Mike Jones, Frontiers UK, June 2, 2017

When my Muslim friend Jemal came to our home, he wanted to talk to me about the spirits that had been bothering him in his bedroom. We’d only been living in Jemal’s country for less than a year, so, aware of my limited language ability, I decided to point him to some Bible stories showing Jesus’ authority over spirits. As we started reading, he shut the Bible and said, “I don’t want to talk about spirits. Tell me, who was Jesus and why did he come?”

As I reflect on that hot summer evening and my weak attempt to answer Jemal’s wonderful question, I’m reminded of the Apostle Paul’s request to the early church: “Pray for us… that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ… Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should” (Colossians 4:4).

If Paul could imagine himself speaking the gospel in a way that was not clear, bold, and powerful, how much more can we imagine that for ourselves? Think of it: The greatest gospel ambassador who ever lived (besides the Lord Jesus) said the effectiveness of his speaking about Christ depended on the prayers of the Church. If that was true for Paul, it is true many times over for us.

As we ask God to open up doors in the great unreached areas of the Muslim world, we encourage you to join us in praying that our workers have a clear and powerful message to take through those doors.

» Read full story.

» As we pray for Muslims and Muslim communities we should remember that they are quite diverse. See Challenging the Concept of the Muslim World (Circumpolar blog).