Category: News Briefs

Source: The Gospel Coalition, January 5, 2015

One of the largest church networks in Indonesia, Mawar Sharon Church, lost 46 members in the recent crash of AirAsia Flight QZ8501.

Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, and only seven percent of the population is Christian. Yet almost one-third of the victims in the crash were Indonesian Christians.

According to CNN, the church members weren’t heading to one event and didn’t all necessarily know one another, having attended services at different churches mostly around Surabaya.

Philip Mantofa, pastor of the Mawar Sharon Church in Surabaya, was shocked when he found out that 41 of the victims were from his church. Another congregation, Bethany Church, lost five members of the same family.

Another church, Gereja Kristen Indonesia Ngagel, a Presbyterian congregation of around 2,000, also lost members in the crash. Florida Rambu Bangi Roni said three members of her church—two adults and their child—died on the flight.

“The tragedy of AirAsia is a reminder,” she said. “We don’t know what time we will die.”

» Read full story (also reported in other sources).

Source: The Long View, January 6, 2015

Every year in the January issue of the International Bulletin of Missionary Research, the Status of Global Mission is published. This table is particularly important for succinctly laying out the global trends over 150 years (1900-2050) and locating our current position among them.

Christians (of all kinds) presently number 2.4 billion; Muslims, second, number 1.7 billion. Christianity is growing at 1.35% per annum—good news, in that it is faster than the population. But Islam is growing at 1.88% per annum—faster than Christianity. The trend line does not envision a point when Islam becomes the largest religion—even by 2050, Christians will likely number 3.4 billion vs. Islam’s 2.0 billion.

The number of missionaries dropped from an estimated 420,000 in 2000 to an estimated 400,000 today. What is more disturbing is a new line added to the Status this year—the percentage of non-Christians who know a Christian: 14%. This means that 86% of all non-believers do not personally know a believer from whom they can receive good news.

The percentage of the world that is unevangelized dropped from 54% in 1900 to 29.3% today, and is projected to continue to drop. This is good news. Unfortunately, due to population growth, the absolute number of unevangelized individuals has grown: from 880 million in 1900 to 2.1 billion today. And it is continuing to rise: to 2.3 billion by 2025, and 2.6 billion by 2050. The end of the task continues to recede away from us.

» Read full article from The Long View. The article and table to which it refers (which includes all kinds of useful statistics with up-to-date numbers) is also online and free, but you’ll have to register with the IBMR for access.

Source: Crossfield News, December 21, 2014

As snow falls outside, most of the people milling inside Central Baptist Church [in Kiev] keep their winter coats on. The parkas testify to the financial crunch that Ukraine has suffered with its recent civil strife and the concurrent economic slump. As tensions with Russian-backed separatists in two eastern provinces have heated up, churches like Central Baptist have turned the heat down to save money.

Today’s crowd of about 120 people has come to help kick off Mission Ukraine, a yearlong evangelism training effort organized by leaders of several Ukrainian Protestant denominations and Minneapolis-based GoodWORD Partnership. The goal: Train leaders across Ukraine in evangelism and discipleship. Those leaders then will teach people in their churches how to share their faith and, in turn, help the anticipated new believers to follow Christ and share their faith.

Mission Ukraine organizers hope to train people in as many of Ukraine’s 10,600 Protestant churches as possible before next fall. This in a country that began 2014 in relative peace but ends it mourning more than 4,700 deaths and more than 500,000 internally displaced people, the result of fighting in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

» Read full story, which includes pictures and interviews with church leaders. Does this story sound familiar? We included an earlier report about the campaign in one of our November editions.

» See also another story from Ukraine, Now Is the Time for the Church to Shine (Operation Mobilization). And thanks for praying for Ukraine, a nation standing at the crossroads.

Source: Wycliffe Associates, January 2015

“Paul” lives in one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a Christian, a place so volatile that it cannot be named. He has survived multiple assassination attempts since turning to Christ more than a decade ago. But this time, it appeared that his attackers would surely succeed.

There were three of them—men armed with lead pipes and rods—and they meant business. In a flash they unleashed a furious beating not meant to harm, but to kill. As their weapons delivered blow after blow, Paul was not filled with hate for his attackers. Instead, Paul was saddened by the fact that these men were lost and without Jesus. So he began praying and urging them to turn from their sin toward Jesus. Imagine that! With the shadow of death looming over him, Paul was inviting his would-be assassins to experience a life of freedom in Christ.

What happened next is difficult for us to fathom—but not for Paul. He has seen God’s faithful intervention too many times to count. One dropped his pipe and fled. The other two, with tears in their eyes and hope on their faces, dropped their weapons as they dropped to their knees and began pleading with Paul to tell them about Jesus Christ.

God is clearly at work in this highly dangerous region of the Middle East, and He is using people like Paul to help bring His message of love and redemption to men, women, and children who are looking for the answer to their emptiness.

» Read full story. See also another inspiring article from this issue, Why Would This Jesus Come to Me?

Source: Missions Catalyst

Want some fuel to feed your prayers for the world as a new year unfolds? Prayercast calls prayer “the number one way to reach people.” We hope you’ll pray in response to what you hear from news sources like Missions Catalyst, missionary prayer letters, and of course the topics, places, and people God has put on your heart and brings to mind. But if you want to pray more systematically, here are a few other tried-and-true tools to help.

Prayercast: Videos invite you to pray along with Christians from every nation and are supported by additional materials, including current news feeds and “quick facts.”

Operation World: A research-based prayer guide to every nation; also available as a book and helpful as a reference.

Global Prayer Digest: A daily dose of stories and information about the world’s peoples, especially the least reached; read online or subscribe to emails or a paper edition.

World in Prayer: Prayers of petition and thanks in response to changing global situations.

» Your favorite site left off this list? Share it with other readers by commenting below.

In This Issue: When the light of heaven breaks through the darkness

•  MIDDLE EAST: Bright Side of Anarchy Caused by Terror Groups
• COLOMBIA: Light Pushes Back Darkness
• INDIA: Christians Injured in Pre-Christmas Attacks
• CENTRAL ASIA: “Secret Church” with Coffee and Cakes
• AUSTRIA: God Raising Up the Roma

Greetings,

December 25 will be just another day in 14 of the world’s countries (those that do not recognize Christmas as a public holiday). See this map and try to name them (answers here). Spoiler alert: one of them is Bhutan. Recently we pointed you to two video stories about Bhutan, one about changes coming to the kingdom and one about Pema, the inspiring carver with cerebral palsy. This time I’d like to point you to a short video from some pastors in Bhutan speaking about religious rights (World Watch Monitor).

As we celebrate Jesus’ coming and bringing light to darkness, let us remember that anywhere the light of heaven breaks through the powers of darkness, it is like Christmas. Let us pray all year long, “Let earth receive her King!”

And remember this about the nature of light: the light that shines farthest shines brightest at home. The Billy Graham Center for Evangelism offers some good tools to help you speak to others about the Light of the world. See their videos on “Speaking the Story at Christmas.”

Merry Christmas,
Pat

Pat Noble has been the “news sleuth” for Missions Catalyst since 2004. In addition to churning out the news, she is working to create a SWARM (Serving World A Regional Mobilizers) in Northern New York using the NorthernChristian.org website. You can connect with her at www.whatsoeverthings.com.

Source: Mission Network News, December 11, 2014

Terrorism in the Middle East and Africa: You’ve seen the headlines about advances, bombings, death, refugees and fear… but there’s actually good news emerging, too. Bruce Smith, President and CEO of Wycliffe Associates, says, “God is moving in a way, in this arena of the world that, to my knowledge, in my lifetime, is unprecedented.”

“Light stands out as a stark contrast in the darkness, and people are turning toward the light. In our arena, in terms of Bible translation, people are stepping up and saying, ‘We want to make sure that the light of God’s Word gets to the rest of our people and the rest of our communities.’”

He notes that some of these people are now members of national Bible translation teams, and targeted, themselves. “In many cases, they’re undergoing the same kinds of persecution that Paul experienced. And yet, they’re willing to make that sacrifice because they believe in the power of God’s Word.”

» Read full story. See also a story from Christian Aid about those turning to Christ in the face of atrocities.

Source: Christian Broadcasting Network, December 10, 2014

For five decades, the South American country of Colombia has been a war with Marxist insurgents. Fighting can erupt at any time throughout scattered war zones, but that doesn’t stop an intrepid messenger of peace.

For years, missionary Russell Stendal has taken Christian literature to all sides in the conflict: guerrillas, paramilitary, and government soldiers. He has forged friendships with all sides and his radio stations and solar-powered receivers pave the way.

Stendal tries to reach areas where it’s not possible to have church buildings or scheduled church services, and where it’s not possible to do normal missionary or evangelistic work.

“And so we drop these radios on guerrilla camps, by parachute. We distribute them to soldiers; we distribute them to paramilitary forces,” Stendal told CBN News.

Former journalist Dario Silva has followed the conflict for years. He now pastors House on the Rock Church, one of Bogota’s larger churches, and sends aid to suffering families in rural Colombia. Silva said that hardship and persecution have not kept the gospel from reaching the remotest corners of Colombia.

In fact, he remembers a guerrilla leader complaining: “Those Christians are the worst problem we have. Because we arrive at a remote part of the country where there is no electricity, no running water, or roads, or transportation, or a parish house, or any political figure, and there’s always some nut with a black book under his arm preaching about Jesus!”

» Read full story and watch related video, with several encouraging perspectives and testimonies.

Source: BosNewsLife, December 13, 2014

Persecution of minority Christians in India is escalating ahead of Christmas with attacks reported in several areas including in southern regions and the capital New Delhi.

In one of the latest known incidents Saturday, December 13, evangelical Christians were attacked and beaten by Hindu militants for singing Christmas carols in India’s southern city of Hyderabad, seriously injuring a pastor and four others, rights activists told BosNewsLife.

The Hindu mob was seen surrounding the vehicle, with several shouting that believers were trying to“forcefully convert people to Christianity” by singing Christmas carols.

» Read full story.

» Editor’s note: We’re also seeing reports about an effort to “repurpose” Christmas in India and a campaign to convert 6000 people to Hinduism on December 25. Let’s seek God for peace and wisdom for India’s religious communities.

Source: World Watch Monitor, December 5, 2014

In a country where Christians often must meet secretly to avoid arrest, a group of women have taken the opposite approach: hiding in plain sight. They meet to pray and encourage each other in a coffee shop, in one of the largest cities in Central Asia.

“It is better for us to gather in a public place such as a coffee shop than to secretly meet in an apartment,” the wife of a secret church pastor said to Open Doors International, a charity that supports Christians whose faith puts them at risk.

“Neighbors of the place where we gather for a Sunday service may know who we are and they could call the police any minute, so we have decided to gather for a Bible study in public places. A coffee shop is ideal. We just need to follow a couple of small rules for our safety,” said the pastor’s wife. While praying together they keep their eyes open and Bibles in their bags at all times. After the women pray for each others’ needs, their meeting comes to an end.

» Read full story, which also describes government restrictions on Christians in three Central Asian countries. See also Two Azerbaijani Churches Ordered to Liquidate Themselves (Barnabas Aid).