Category: News Briefs

Source: Christian Freedom International, November 7, 2024

Three years ago, a church of new believers discovered the cost of following Christ. They were beaten. Their church [was] damaged. Their adversaries were their neighbors [militant Buddhists].

“They were trying to stop people from coming to our Savior Lord Jesus Christ,” said Chakma. He is a leader in this small church in an isolated forest.

The good news is that God’s Church is growing even in far-flung and hostile places. But when you consider what these Christians are enduring, it is extraordinary that they remain steadfast in their faith. One trait of Christianity is that persecution grows the church in unexpected ways.

Their bruises are a testimony of their faith in God. Their church, [now] rebuilt, is a testimony of God’s church caring for one another.

Read the full story.

We love stories about life coming back on a big scale or small. From the other side of the world, check out Revival Grips Brazil’s Amazon, in which a pastor reports, “In the first six months of this year, we baptized 14,500 people. Our goal for this year is to baptize over 30,000 people” (CBN).

Source: Joseph Project International, November 13, 2024

“Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” one of Jesus’ disciples asked, according to the Gospel of John. Today, an avalanche of “good”—in the form of humanitarian aid—is coming out of Nazareth, the historic Israeli city where, the Bible says, Jesus grew up as a boy.

What makes this humanitarian aid effort truly extraordinary is that it’s being led by an Israeli Arab pastor and his congregation, determined to help not only needy Arab families but also Jewish families struggling to put food on the table.

Since Bible times, there’s been animosity and distrust between Arabs and Jews in the Middle East—a reality that Saleem Shalash, pastor of Home of Jesus the King Church in Nazareth, knows only too well from firsthand experience.

“It’s not easy,” said the father-of-two, who speaks both Hebrew and Arabic. “As Israeli Arab Christians, we’re in the middle, like a piece of cheese between two slices of bread.”

But that does not stop Pastor Shalash and his congregation [from] delivering aid packages to more than 150 families every month, including Arabs, Jews, Muslims, and Christians. They run the largest Israeli-Arab aid center in Israel, supported by Joseph Project International, the largest importer of humanitarian aid into Israel.

“The good news is that this piece of cheese gives the taste to the bread,” Pastor Shalash said. “God put us here in this special place, Nazareth, to serve all people and be peacemakers.”

Read the full story and watch a short video clip from Pastor Shalash.

Source: Christian Today, November 9, 2024

Twelve thousand Christians, young, old, male and female, and of various ethnicities, walked through the center of the city of Dublin in excited solidarity for the faith at the first-ever “March for Jesus.” All Nations Church and Betania Church, both based in the city, organized the event on October 26, supported by other churches in both Ireland and Northern Ireland.

[According to organizers] they gathered to affirm the Christian identity that has enfolded the peoples of Ireland since missionary St. Patrick first arrived in the fifth century A.D.

Read the full story or watch a short highlight video below.

Source: Trans World Radio via Mission Network News, November 5, 2024

Lifted: A Dying Tribe Encounters New Life, [a 76-minute documentary], tells the story of an American family God called to the mission field in the 1950s. They were inspired by the stories of Jim Elliot, Nate Saint and three other missionaries who were killed in 1956 trying to befriend the Waodani people of Ecuador.

“Ivan Schoen was a carpenter. He was working on houses in St. Petersburg, Florida. He saw this article in the news of these missionaries’ death[s], and the Lord used it to say, ‘Ivan, I am calling you into this same line of work,’” says Clay Perry with TWR, the film’s primary producer.

What followed was a lifetime of risk, total lifestyle change, prayer, and relationship-building with two Amazonian tribes in Suriname, South America.

Read the full story and watch the trailer and/or full documentary. Parental discretion advised. You might also enjoy The Enemy God, a feature-length film about God’s work among the Yanomamö people of the Amazon.

Source: God Reports, October 17, 2024

Rachid was raised in a small village in Morocco. His father was an imam and was training Rachid to follow in his footsteps.

His village was so small that it didn’t have a high school, so Rachid moved to Casablanca with his uncle to study. In his free time, Rachid listened to the radio and stumbled across a Christian broadcast. The revelations were startling, and Rachid was challenged, even offended. But he wrote a letter to the broadcasting facility abroad, and they answered. Eventually, the broadcasters based in Cyprus sent him a Bible, which he began to read.

Not long afterward, his family became suspicious. He wasn’t attending the mosque, wasn’t praying, wasn’t performing the outward rituals of Islam. His cousin shared his concern with [Rachid’s] parents.

His mother was distraught that he might no longer be Muslim. She called together the whole family and they confronted him. Just say the “shahada,” she said. The shahada is the declaration of faith in Islam: “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet.”

“I was hesitating for a few moments,” Rachid recounts. “I said, ‘Mom, I can’t say it.’”

Read the full story or watch him tell his story on YouTube (Call of Love Ministries, evidently the source of the God Reports story). It’s in English and 20 minutes long. We found it reshared by a variety of ministries.

Source: Global Christian Relief, October 16, 2024

[Nepal] is steeped in ancient religious traditions stemming from Hinduism. But amid its mountainous peaks and vibrant religious festivals, a quiet revolution is taking place. The church in Nepal is growing at an unprecedented rate, even in the face of opposition from the government, society, and individuals. At the forefront of this movement stands Ramesh, a former Hindu priest who has become a committed church leader for Christians in Nepal.

Born into a family of Hindu priests, Ramesh was destined to follow in the footsteps of his ancestors. For 21 generations, his family had served as the spiritual leaders of their village. However, Ramesh moved overseas to study, where he had a life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ that set him on a new path. “I had never met a Nepali Christian before,” Ramesh recalls. “God called me back to Nepal. It was not the easiest… but I’ve never had any regret following Jesus.”

When Ramesh returned to his home in Nepal, his Hindu community did not accept his new faith. They demanded that he undergo cleansing rituals to wash away the “pollution” of his newfound Christian faith. When he refused, the persecution intensified.

Despite these hardships, Ramesh remained steadfast in his faith. He held onto a vision of the future, believing that Nepal and Christianity had a destiny [that] would result in millions of Hindus coming to Christ.

The rest of the story shares how Ramesh and others have been persecuted and impacted by accusations based on the country’s anti-conversion laws.

One might think that Muslim imams, Hindu priests, and other spiritual leaders raised to oppose Christianity would seldom become its biggest champions, but sometimes they do.

See also Christians in Nepal multiply—through the power of audio Bibles.

Source: International Christian Concern, October 2, 2024

A Thai court ordered Christian activist Y Quynh Bdap [of the] advocacy group Montagnards Stand for Justice to be extradited to Vietnam to face charges for alleged terrorist and anti-Communist government activities related to protests in June 2023 in Vietnam.

The Vietnamese government made the unusual extradition request to Thai officials even though Bdap was not in Vietnam during the protests in question. He has been in Thailand since 2018, seeking asylum and resettlement. Bdap’s lawyer is appealing the court ruling.

The full story describes the challenging conditions this Christian refugee community is experiencing and the significance of this case for others. Read a roundup of ICC news stories about the Montagnards.

Source: International Mission Board, October 31, 2024

Missionaries Mitchell and Liz Heinz have worked with an unreached tribe since 2012. They are a group of nearly 4,000 Indigenous subsistence farmers living in 14 villages scattered over a 30,000-acre reservation.

In 2014, the Heinzes met Mara, the only evangelical Christian in the tribe at the time. She previously lived in Sao Paulo and learned about the gospel there. She was constantly being persecuted for her faith, and yet she persevered.

The first couple Mara introduced to the missionaries was her sister Mor and her husband, Osvaldo. Eventually, Mor and Osvaldo started inviting them to teach the Word in their home. They would sit in the shade of a giant cashew tree, and Mitchell would tell Bible stories and allow them to ask questions and interact with the Word.

Nearly every week for two years, Mor and Osvaldo would invite Mara and other family members and friends over to study the Scriptures together. They would listen to Bible story after Bible story, and they didn’t seem to get tired of it.

Mor and Osvaldo’s house was a natural gathering place in the village where family members, friends, neighbors, and even tribal leaders would show up and have a cup of coffee. It was the perfect place to start an indigenous church.

According to the full story, the young church has won over the favor of those who once saw it as a threat. God blesses the peacemakers! The Heinzes have passed the baton to the growing church and moved on to work in an unengaged area.

Source: Morning Star News, October 21, 2024

A convert from Islam in Somalia who was attacked in May and July was again assaulted on October 5 after Muslim relatives suspected him of leading Christian prayer meetings, he said.

He said they asked him, “Why are you worshiping differently from the Muslim way? What is so unique about your worship? Why do you close yourself in the room when you are praying?”

Abdul said he responded, “My praying is a secret between me and my Lord Isa [Jesus], and more so, why should I pray in public? This is just a way to please men, but in my time of worship, I should please only God, who is in the heavenly places.”

One of the relatives jumped on him as another hit him with a blunt object, and a third relative slapped his face, he said. He suffered a fracture on his left hand, injured fingers of his right hand, and cuts to his face.

“You are inviting terrible trouble to yourself and your family,” one of the relatives told him.

Read more of the story and how it escalated. Pray for Abdul and his wife and young children, who were also injured in the attacks. Abdul put his faith in Christ in March.

Note that Somalia is second on Open Doors’ World Watch List of the 50 countries where it is most challenging to be a Christian. Read a detailed report.

Source: United Bible Societies, October 18, 2024

Fourteen years ago, the Bible Society of Mexico embarked on a significant mission: to bring the first study Bible in the heart language of the Ch’ol people. As a result, on April 20, over 5,000 people gathered to celebrate and thank God because his Word would reach thousands of Ch’ol-speaking families.

In Mexico, there are over 220,000 people who speak the Ch’ol language, mainly in the states of Tabasco, Campeche, and Chiapas. In Chiapas, where the Bible dedication took place, 12.5% of the population speaks Ch’ol.

Architect Julio Splinker, General Director of the Bible Society of Mexico, expressed the significance of this milestone: “After 14 years of hard translation work, the Ch’ol people have in their hands the first study Bible, enabling young people to engage more deeply with the Scriptures and providing church leadership with tools to present the message of reconciliation more profoundly. All this is for the glory of God and so that no Mexican is lost!”

Read the full story.

You might also appreciate a roundup of recent “God sightings” related to Bible translation efforts around the world (Wycliffe Bible Translators).