Category: News Briefs

Source: ActBeyond, February 16, 2015

Two weeks ago Brother “Joshi” was leading his small congregation in Uttar Pradesh. Joshi is a young, part-time farmer, full-time leader and trainer in an ongoing movement in North India, and also pastor of his own congregation which he leads when he is in town.

During the Word discussion time in the worship service, Joshi noticed a man standing outside the door of their small meeting space. He saw the man had a skull-cap on. This man was a Muslim! There are hundreds of Muslims in this village, [but] it’s pretty much unheard of for a Muslim to show interest in a Christian worship service. Muslims in India stay pretty well segregated from both the Hindu majority and from the Christian minority.

Joshi invited the man, “Please come in and join us.” He came and sat on the floor where everyone else was. He listened to them discuss the Word together and then Brother Joshi exhorted the community about generosity and giving. Even the Muslim man participated in the discussion.

After the service, the man shared his story. “Every day for the last three days I’ve dreamt the same dream. I’ve dreamt of your building, this building where the Christians meet. I told my wife about my dream. I told her we should become Christian, but she said we can’t because we are born Muslim. That’s simply what we are. Still, I kept having the dream until finally I knew I needed to come. I feel very good being with you this morning, and I want to become a Christian.”

» Read full story.

» See also When a Veiled Woman Visits Your Church (Mission of God blog).

Source: 24/7 Prayer, February 17, 2015

In recent months, thousands of people seeking refuge from war-torn Syria, where almost 200,000 people have been killed and millions displaced have been found on large, crewless freighters in the Mediterranean Sea.

Smugglers have found a new, wholesale means of transporting refugees who have fled to Turkey. They buy derelict freighters ready for salvage, pack their holds with refugees at $4,000-$8,000 per head, then set sail in the Mediterranean, pointed toward southern Europe. After the voyage is underway, the crew abandons the ship, leaving the refugees on their own.

Recently, a ship was set on autopilot running full speed across the sea. Fortunately, the vessel ran out of gas. When rescue crews boarded, they discovered 359 illegal migrants on board. Another freighter, with 970 people locked in the rusty hold, was found adrift near Greece.

This perilous form of human trafficking has become a profitable business for organized criminals, who fear getting caught with banned cargo such as drugs or weapons. People smuggling, an international crime, is on the rise.

• Ask God to provide safety to those seeking refuge, who are willing to risk their lives through this perilous travel.
• Pray for peace, salvation, and restoration for individuals seeking asylum. May they find shelter in legal, peaceful living conditions.
• Pray that these smugglers are identified and their criminal activity stopped.
• Please pray for these asylum seekers to be intercepted, rescued, and restored.

» Read full story.

» See also these stories about refugees stuck in limbo: Western Sahara’s Stranded Refugees Consider Renewal of Morocco Conflict (The Guardian), Conflict-Related Displacement: A Huge Development Challenge for India (IPS News), and No-Man’s Land: the Iraqis Trapped between IS and the Kurds (IRIN News).

Source: Mission Network News, February 5, 2015

The Operation Mobilization Pakistan team shares with people about God in towns and marketplaces, while also distributing literature that talks about how they can have a relationship with God’s Son.

One man took a leaflet. He read it and re-read it, but it did not satisfy him. He wanted to know more about the God who wants a relationship with ordinary people. So he began to search for others who knew this God.

Then he met believers in Jesus. They had a personal relationship with God and seemed to know him the way the man hungered for. It excited him, and his questions poured out.

They began to meet regularly, and soon the man learned a lot about Jesus and salvation. He read the Bible for himself and accepted Jesus as his personal savior and friend. As his faith grew, he made a public step of faith by being baptized as a Christ follower.

However, others in his village were concerned with his new faith. They went to his father and complained that his son had become a believer in Jesus. What was he, an imam—a Muslim religious leader—going to do about it?

“My son is adult and mature; he is accountable to God for his deeds, just as I am accountable to God for my deeds,” replied the father. “If he has become a follower of Jesus, he will have to give an answer to God why he did this. However, I can see he is not stealing things or not doing adultery; he is not doing any wrong thing to create problems for others. He knows what is going on, and his God knows it, too.”

» Read full story.

Source: WEA Religious Liberty Prayer News, February 17, 2015

On Sunday [February 15], the Islamic State (IS) released a video allegedly showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians by militants pledging support to the IS in Libya.

Subsequent to the video release, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi confirmed that those killed in the video were Egyptian Christians taken hostage in Libya and announced seven days of national mourning.

In response to the killings, Egypt’s military carried out raids early on Monday against IS camps, training sites, and weapons storage areas.

• Pray for Jesus’ comforting presence over the families grieving the loss of loved ones.
• Pray for God’s protection over all Christians in Libya and across all the conflict areas in the Middle East.
• Pray that those perpetrating violence would experience a change in heart, repent, and come to know God.
• Pray for an end to all bloodshed in the Middle East.

» Read additional stories from this prayer bulletin.

» Editor’s note: Please also pray for the people of El-Aour, the small Egyptian town that was home to 13 of the men killed (NPR) and read a letter from the head of the Bible Society of Egypt. See also Murder of 21 Coptic Christians (Middle East Concern).

Source: Godreports, February 17, 2015

In a storefront location on a bustling street near two malls and a university lies a glittering diamond in God’s kingdom, poised for growth in a nation where only one percent follows Jesus.

“We started with three people,” says Gai Tanangunvirog. She and her husband Khajorn lead Tai Church, which has grown to 100 and already planted five churches in other provinces of Thailand.

More than 70 percent of the church are former Buddhists. “Every week my staff shares the gospel,” notes Pastor Khajorn, who has an evangelist’s heart and is a sought-after speaker in other churches in Bangkok.

“We have a big dream,” says Gai. A decade ago Gai says the Lord revealed in a dream the church would grow to 60,000 people. “It’s such a big number it’s hard to imagine,” she confesses.

“People ask me why we’re so busy. I tell them our vision is not from man but from God.”

» Read full story.

In This Issue: The unreached people group next door

• THAILAND: The Unreached People Group Next Door
• SYRIA: Japanese Journalist Was a Devout Christian
• BURMA: Obstacle to Conversion Looms for Evangelists
• INDIA: Parliament Member Vows Death for Hindus Converting to Christ
• BHUTAN: Imprisoned Pastor Released Early

Source: Asia Stories, International Mission Board, January 25, 2015

A number of shacks were empty, and fewer children came to the tarp than in weeks before to play games, listen to a Bible story, and make crafts. During their last visit to this small village in Thailand, the International Mission Board missionaries found out many workers were moving.

But this night was still special. Believers from another migrant worker camp just down the road came to share their testimonies. That camp is where [an] IMB missionary serves. She came to encourage her friends as they shared with the neighboring village—a huge answer to prayer.

“We’ve prayed a long time for believers in our camp to be bold,” said the faithful prayer intercessor. “They haven’t really shared their faith outside of their relatives.”

A young couple invited the missionaries and migrant believers into their home. Stepping gingerly inside the shack, the wooden floors sank under the extra weight of the visitors’ every move. “Than” and his wife were the first believers here and they were excited to see other migrant workers choosing to follow Jesus, just like them.

The visitors invited the couple out to the tarp to hear a Bible story. The wife stayed home with their newborn, but Than came out, as did several other adults, including a few who hadn’t before shown much interest.

The sweet-spirited migrant families are special to [the foreign missionary], a 40-something mother of two from Mississippi. It’s in their camps throughout northern Thailand where she sees the gospel change lives. It’s where disciples are trained to share God’s love in their home country, a place where foreigners cannot go.

The journey to reach this unreached people group began five years ago with a simple prayer—two mothers asking God where he wanted to use their families.

» Read full story and related material focusing on prayer and reaching out to immigrants.

Source: GodReports, February 2, 2015

Japanese journalist Kenji Goto, beheaded by ISIS in a newly released gruesome video, also happened to be a devout Christian.

A reporter seasoned in war zones, Goto traveled to Syria hoping that Japan’s pacifist stance would grant him relative safety, unlike other journalists from nations leading airstrikes against ISIS.

He failed to take into account this new brand of terrorists is breaking all previous norms, with no apparent limits to their depravity.

“You, like your foolish allies in the Satanic coalition, have yet to understand that we, by Allah’s grace, are an Islamic caliphate with authority and power, an entire army thirsty for your blood,” a masked militant says in the video, while holding a knife to Goto’s neck.

In his reporting, Goto focused on the human cost and suffering of war, not on who was winning or losing. An Associated Press report quoted his former pastor, Hiroshi Tamura, who cited his Christian faith for inspiring his reporting.

Goto accepted Jesus in 1997, which was somewhat rare considering only two percent of the population of Japan is Christian. Christ’s call to reach the poor and broken in spirit seemed to motivate his journalism.

“I have seen horrible places and have risked my life,” he told ChristianToday.com. “I know that somehow God will always save me.”

But instead he joined the ranks of Christian martyrs who have given their lives for a higher cause—the cause of Christ. Terrorists may have taken his physical life, but they could not rob his soul of heaven’s joys.

While he focused on refugees, poverty, and innocent victims of war, his reporting also yearned for a world of peace and wellbeing, according to his mother, Junko Ishido.

Goto, 47, traveled to Syria in October 2014 to report on the war and to liberate an old friend, Haruna Yukawa, who was first captured by ISIS in August when he was peddling arms. Instead of negotiating Yukawa’s release, he himself was grabbed by the terror group.

» Read full story. See also Japanese Christian Lays Down Life for Friend ISIS Captured (Charisma News / Reuters).

Source: Christian Aid Mission, January 29, 2015

In a country where Christians face hostilities from the Buddhist majority, the upper house of Burma’s parliament last week passed a bill requiring all people wishing to convert to another religion to obtain approval from an 11-member government committee.

The punishment for applying to convert “with an intent to insult, disrespect, destroy, or to abuse a religion” would be as much as two years in jail, according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). It was unclear how such intent would be proven.

The legislation, roundly condemned in the international human rights community, would add a huge obstacle to furthering the message of Christ in villages where native missionaries already encounter threats, deprivation, and violence from Buddhist monks, followers of native animistic beliefs, and village officials. An indigenous missionary whose work led to the establishing of a new church last month in the town of Pin Da Zah, Shan state, regularly faces threats of violence.

“By the grace of God, the Lord’s church has been founded in Pin Da Zah town, where strong Buddhists are fighting against other religions,” said the director of a Burma-based ministry that trains and sends native missionaries. “Please pray for them, as their lives are under threat.”

» Read full story.

» See also a story about minority Christians facing local opposition in neighboring Bangladesh, Chakma Christians Not Wanted (Mission Network News).

Source: Worthy Christian News, January 29, 2015

An Indian lawmaker of the ruling Hindu nationalist party has promised a death sentence for any Hindu who converts to Christianity, according to the International Business Times.

“Wait for some time,” said MP Sakshi Maharaj. “A law will be passed in Parliament in which anyone indulging in cow slaughter and conversion will be punished with the death sentence.”

However, Maharaj said Indians of Christian or other non-Hindu faiths who convert to Hinduism will not be sentenced to death on the assumption that all of India’s religious minorities were all formerly Hindus.

“Ghar wapsi,” or reconversion, is not conversion, but a process to guide these people to where they actually belong, said Maharaj.

Relations between India’s different religious groups have been strained by threats of forced conversions. About 80 percent of India’s 1.2 billion people are Hindus. Muslims make up almost 15 percent of the population with other minorities making up the remaining five percent.

» Read full story. See related story in Christian Daily.

» Watch a nine-minute video, Hindu Guru Converts to Christianity (YouTube).