Category: News Briefs

1. ZAMBIA: Overcoming Spiritual Foes on the Lake
2. THAILAND: Church Helps Pakistani Refugees
3. IRAN: World’s Fastest Growing Evangelical Population
4. INDIA: Defeating Dark Powers in the Jungle
5. PAKISTAN: Believer in Pakistan Exchanges Hate for Love

Charles Chansa shares the gospel with two woman in a village on Lake Tanganyika. Photo: OM International (related story below).

Greetings,

In our last edition of Missions Catalyst News Briefs, we pointed you to a project in the Congo that brought back some dignity and hope by taking family portraits. This time I want to introduce you to the work of photographer Dario Mitidieri who visited a refugee camp in Lebanon, taking portraits of Syrian families with space in each photo for loved ones missing or killed in the five-year conflict. These photos and stories are haunting and heart-wrenching. Does heaven has similar images of the Bride of Christ, with empty spaces for the tribes and tongues yet to join the chorus? Let us finish the task and complete the picture that John saw!

You might be interested in this glimpse into the early Church: The Very First Christian Hymnal includes the words that the Church will sing as recorded by John in the scene mentioned above as well as other words the very young Church sang, now set again to music. The Church’s words, at the beginning and at the end, are and will be “Worthy, worthy, worthy is the Lamb!”

Let us sing,
Pat

Source: OM International, March 31, 2016

The Nsumbu village sits near the Democratic Republic of Congo border, northwest of OM Lake Tanganyika’s base in Mpulungu. There, [OM worker Charles Chansa] and his team have led several locals to Christ, only to see them return to old practices and “traditional medicine”—meaning witchcraft—revealing what Charles calls “their true Christianity.”

It’s not an impossible problem, as God’s grace demonstrates, but it does require a concentrated effort from Charles and his team to reach locals as they fight on a spiritual level.

Some time ago, Charles remembered, there were three women in the village who were pregnant at various times. All three suffered greatly from the hot weather. They told Charles later that they almost died from the pain they experienced. All three babies were stillborn.

Recently, the women became pregnant again, and when the pain returned, they visited the village’s traditional doctors, received medicine, and were assured that their babies were fine. But when the pain didn’t stop, they looked to Charles and the OM team for help.

“We sat down with them and explained that we don’t give out medicine, but we know that, by calling on the name of Jesus, if spiritual forces have been causing their pain before, that their pregnancies would not end as they had before,” Charles said. “I read them the Bible, I led them to Christ, and we prayed with them that they would have faith that Jesus was [with] them.”

Just two days later, Charles received word that one of the women had given birth to a living, healthy child.

» Read full story. See also Miraculous Healing in Mozambique.

Source: Worthy News, March 13, 2016

Pakistanis fleeing their country’s notorious blasphemy laws have been heading to Thailand for sanctuary.

“And for more than a decade, our parish has helped these refugees,” said Rev. Domenico Rodighiero, the pastor of St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Saphanmai, Bangkok. The refugees are mostly Protestants and Catholics, but there are also many Ahmadi Muslims fleeing from persecution in Pakistan.

According to Asia News, most refugees from Pakistan flee first to Thailand, hoping to later resettle in other Southeast Asian countries. But this can prove to be problematic since Thailand does not recognize that refugees have rights.

“The Thai Church is generous and helps refugees find work,” said Rodighiero. “Sometimes we help them go home, or in special situations, like when they get sick. But it is not easy because there are so many and the needs are huge. The Church here is small and does not have a lot of resources. It is struggling to deal with such a big emergency.”

» Read full story and see also Thailand’s Asylum Crackdown, a 23-minute video by a BBC undercover reporter. Use the password “Pakistan.”

Source: GodReports, March 18, 2016

Iran is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for followers of Jesus Christ. Almost all of the above-ground, Farsi-speaking churches have been closed and house churches are raided routinely, with their leaders and members arrested, according to a report by SAT-7.

Evangelism by Christians is against the law and may even be punished by death. But despite Iran’s leaders’ strenuous efforts to bring the furies of hell against believers, God is at work and the church in Iran is growing rapidly!

Iran has the fastest-growing evangelical population in the world, according to statistics compiled by Operation World. Iran’s hardline approach and violence perpetrated in the name of Islam throughout the Middle East has caused disillusionment and a search for truth elsewhere.

» Read full story.

» See also Celebrating New Life in Christ during Persian New Year (SAT-7) and How Fast Are Iranians Coming to Christ? (Justin Long).

Source: Christian Aid, March 17, 2016

In one of India’s most remote jungle areas, among one of its most primitive tribes, a most unlikely candidate to be a missionary wandered aimlessly among the wildlife as mental illness deprived him of his right mind for weeks at a time.

“Pratik” would intermittently come back to his senses and return to his wife at their village home in an undisclosed area of Chhattisgarh, one of India’s poorest and most illiterate states. For six years he bounced between lucidity and insanity, caroming between home and jungle thick with flora and predators. His wife feared for his life.

This cycle might have continued indefinitely if someone from an opposite background—a well-educated man from a Christian home in a more modern part of India—had not hit upon a compelling missionary model. In 2002, after working as a near-culture missionary planting churches in central and north India for nearly 20 years, “Siddharth Subramani” was concerned about the thousands of people groups in India yet to hear the message of salvation in Christ.

In prayer, he received the idea of concentrating efforts on the more responsive people groups, who in turn would set off movements to embrace Christ among other peoples—a “chain reaction” strategy.

He began with the Gonds of central India, idol- and nature-worshiping animists who suffer daily from hunger and other conditions of poverty. With the power of the gospel and the Holy Spirit, Subramani and his team of indigenous missionaries gradually saw Gond villagers’ addiction to alcohol turn into zeal for the Lord.

Hut-to-hut evangelism, praying for the sick, evening meetings, and proclaiming Christ through music—a powerful communication tool in India—gradually produced worshiping congregations. Literacy programs and Christian schools addressed a major impediment to the advance of Gonds, many of whom had only a third-grade education. New believers were then trained to minister to other near-culture groups.

» Read what happened next.

» You might also be interested in another story from India, Amira Meets Jesus on Her Cell Phone (Mobile Ministry Forum).

Source: Mission Network News, March 14, 2016

The bell on the front door of Olie’s bookshop chimed and a man entered out of the hot Pakistani sun. Something about the look in his eyes immediately made the store owner nervous. In a single sweeping gesture, the man threw open his jacket revealing a bomb strapped to his chest. “I’m here to take your life for your belief in Jesus and selling books that lead others to follow him.”

Frozen at the sight of the bomb, Olie could think of only one reply. He asked the bomber to read a framed Scripture passage from 1 Corinthians hanging on the wall.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.”

After reading the passage, the bomber quietly stepped back, closed his jacket, and hurried out of the shop.

That would not be the last time Olie encountered the would-be bomber. A few days later, he returned. This time he told Olie that he had met Jesus the day he came to destroy the store and asked for a copy of the Bible. He said he wanted to become a Christian, but needed help to escape from those who had sent him to destroy the store only days before.

» Read full story or see it as if first appeared (Global Advance).

In This Issue:

1. LAOS: A Church Divided Against Itself
2. TURKEY: Government Backs Down on Closing Bursa’s Only Church
3. CHINA: Christian Executives Who Pray
4. SYRIA: Bible Distribution Continues Despite Conflict
5. MONGOLIA: The First Yurt of the Nazarene

Believers in Mongolia, reportedly the world’s most sparsely populated nation, meet to worship in a “ger” (yurt). Image via Church of the Nazarene; related story below.

Greetings!

The stories in this week’s edition are either about the church or about hope which, as the writer of Hebrews says, is the anchor for our souls. In deciding which theme to focus on, I realized they are one. Fellowship with my church family, New Hope Community Church, anchors me to the reality of God’s kingdom, people, wisdom, and love, and the church is the chosen means of bringing the hope of Christ to many.

For stirring images of hope, see these beautiful photos which show it’s possible to find hope in the midst of tragedy. World News This Week in Prayer composed some beautiful prayers around those pictures. Also read about a photographer who found a way to give hope back to those ravaged by war (what a great idea for a short term mission trip!)

Blessings,
Pat

Note: Miss a few issues? See last week’s feature story, Coffee for Your Soul: Five Reasons You Can Have Hope for the World.

Source: Mission Network News, March 9, 2016

Officially, the government [of Laos] permits the practice of four religions, including Christianity. In reality, churches are watched carefully by the government. Patrick Klein with Vision Beyond Borders explains, “In Laos, kind of like in China, they have the government-run church, and then they also have the underground church movement.”

Because the underground church is growing quickly, Klein observes, “It seems like there’s a jealousy in the government church. They want to control the growth, control the people that supposedly come to Christ. They really want to make them puppets of the government.”

“Some villages they go into, they go in to evangelize, and the government church is already discouraging people from even listening to the evangelist. They want to control the growth of the church in Laos, and it’s really disheartening because it is coming from other ‘family’ members.”

Klein is asking us to join together and pray for unity in the body of Christ in Laos. “People can be praying for us that we can continue to get Scriptures in and keep helping the Church, but also that the underground church will really mature—become stronger and stronger so that they will not abandon their faith.”

» Read full story. See also God’s Master Plan: A Bible Smuggling Testimony (Vision Beyond Borders), and watch the Prayercast Video for Laos.

Source: World Watch Monitor, February 24, 2016

The local government of the northwestern Turkish city of Bursa ordered that its only church, which serves four congregations, be vacated by Friday [February 26], before rescinding the order on Tuesday.

Ismail Kulakcioglu, the pastor of the Protestant congregation, said they were given less than a week to vacate the building. Approximately 200 Christians share the church for their Sunday worship services.

Four different branches of Christianity congregate in the building, officially known as the French Church Cultural Centre. They include Latin Catholic, German Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant fellowships. Under Turkish law, non-Muslim faith communities face significant legal hurdles in registering an officially sanctioned house of worship. Multiple congregations often share the same space.

The church remains a symbol of the city’s non-Muslims’ struggle to become an accepted part of society. Kulakciolgu said he had tried to convince the council that Bursa would lose a priceless piece of its cultural heritage if the congregations were forced out of their building.

“We’re trying to explain that this church—which is used as a house of worship by different congregations—is perhaps the only example of its kind in the world,” he said.

» Read full story.

Source: OMF Global Chinese Ministries Newsletter, March 2016

It is amazing how many senior business people in China are committed Christians. In a BBC News report, a Christian businessman in China shared how his faith in Jesus Christ has had a dramatic impact on his company. Wang Ruoxiong became a Christian seven years ago. He said that Jesus is his company’s ultimate boss. He added that putting biblical principles into practice in the workplace has brought success to the company. He underlines the importance of good relationships, highlighting the way that staff members are treated and the way the company relates to its suppliers. He says positive relationships make the company distinct and create a commercial advantage.

“[Jesus] controls everything. I am merely a housekeeper for Jesus, assisting him in taking care of the company,” says Ruoxiong. “When the senior managers at the top are willing to use the values in their own work and life, these values are passed down. Eventually they become the shared values of the ordinary employees of the entire company.”

Bosses at the Chinese real estate giant Tiantai Group told BBC News last July that they pray in the boardroom before making important decisions. Out of eight senior managers at Tiantai, six are Christians. Founder and chairman Wang Ruoxiong says that the company relies on the Bible for direction when difficult decisions arise.

» Read full story and the BBC article, Firm Faith: The Company Bosses Who Pray.