Category: News Briefs

Source: International Christian Concern, February 14, 2023

Flourish Café in West Java, Indonesia, opened in 2021, motivated by the owner’s Christian faith and desire to reach out to women victims of human trafficking. Every Saturday, the owner held a “discover the Bible and Quran” study at the cafe to prompt discussion about the two books. As a result, some of their employees came to faith in Jesus Christ.

[One of them, Reli, reports] “From week to week, I became more and more interested in studying the Bible because so many words in it touched my heart. I installed the Bible app on my phone to read it throughout the week. I told one of my Christian friends about my interest in the Bible. She told me now, if you pray, pray to Jesus Christ. I prayed to Jesus, and several times in a dream, someone wearing a robe came and said, ‘Do not be afraid. I will help you.’ I believe that Jesus appeared in my dreams.”

“In December 2021, I decided to be baptized because I had complete confidence to follow Jesus. But, until then, my family and husband did not know I believed in Jesus. They are not pleased that I converted and wish me to return to the Muslim faith. I pray that my parents and husband also believe in Jesus.”

Read the full story.

What about finding Christ in a tea house? When the Aroma of Christ Smells Like Oolong describes how Chinese ministries are using tea—bubble tea or the other kind—to reach Asian youth in North America (Christianity Today).

USA: Nigerians Find New Home in Indiana

Source: Assemblies of God News, February 17, 2023

Although he had pastored and planted Pentecostal churches in Nigeria for a quarter century, Paul Adeymo fled his native land in 2018, narrowly escaping death en route to a prayer meeting when attacked by Fulani herdsman.

Adeymo, his wife, Lola, and their three children—Joseph, Blossom, and Timothy—applied for asylum in the U.S. In part, Paul and Lola sought to move because Joseph, the oldest child at 24, has cognitive challenges. Medical facilities didn’t exist near his Nigerian home to effectively help him.

Despite not knowing anyone in the Hoosier state, the entire family immigrated to Indianapolis in 2018.

“I did research and found this is the best place to live,” Adeymo says. “We didn’t have to break the bank to survive. But I didn’t know how cold it would be. Yet the cold has not killed us.”

The Adeymos initially lived in low-income apartments near an Assemblies of God multi-ethnic congregation of 1,100 weekly attendees in the Indiana capital. Dozens of other Nigerians who live in the complex attend Lakeview Church, and the Adeymos began worshiping there as well.

Adeymo now is in the early stages of pioneering a church in Indianapolis for Africans.

The full story offers Pastor Adeymo’s perspective on violence in Nigeria and insights on ministering to immigrant Africans, as well as briefly describing Lakeview Church’s transformation from a previously all-white congregation to one that better reflects and connects with its now-diverse neighborhood. A good read.

Things continue to be rough for Christians in Nigeria. See 10 Prayers You Can Pray for Nigeria’s Christians (Global Christian Relief).

1. Turkey and Syria: Join Us in Prayer
2. Eritrea: “Like a Giant Prison” Following More Arrests
3. Nigeria: February 25 Presidential Election—This Is a Spiritual Battle!
4. Australia: A Heartfelt Plea for More Christians in the Outback
5. World: Can We Have Some Good News?

Read or share the email edition or scroll down for more.

Source: Brigada Today, February 11, 2023

There have been earthquakes with higher magnitudes (more profound shaking). And obviously, there was the December 26, 2004 earthquake centered in Sumatra, and the 2005 quake in Kashmir. There was the Ancash quake (Peru) in 1970, the Great Tangshan quake (also 1970), the 2008 quake in Sichuan, Yogyakarta 2006 (Indonesia), the 1990 Manjil-Rudbar earthquake, the 1988 Armenian earthquake, and Haiti in 2010. But the [February 6] quake in Turkey and Syria has to rank one of the top-ten deadliest earthquakes of this century and among the top 20 of the last 100 years.

As you’re reading this, would you please pause with us for prayer for those who have lost loved ones, those who are homeless (in the dead of winter), and all who are injured (with hospitals overwhelmed)? We might not have been in the disaster, but we can ask God to be present for the healing.

Read the full story. Looks like Turkey’s death toll for this earthquake has now surpassed that of the huge quake of 1939 (Middle East Eye).

An eyewitness says, “The sorrow and despair across the whole country are almost palpable. Entire families have been lost. Almost everyone across the country knows someone who was personally in the earthquake.”

Pray with the latest Prayercast video and read ministry reports.

This event is getting much coverage. A few that caught our eyes:

• Get Me Out of Here: Survival of Syrian Siblings Filmed Trapped in Rubble (The Guardian)
• Survivor’s Guilt Follows Earthquake Aftermath in Turkiye (Mission Network News)
• Ways to Help Turkey and Syria (Rob Hoskins)

Source: Release International, January 30, 2023

Another wave of Christians has been arrested in Eritrea, bringing the total imprisoned for their faith to more than 400. One former prisoner describes systematic torture and a vision of Christ that sustained her.

A partner of UK-based Release International, which supports the persecuted church, reports that 44 Christians—39 women and five men—were seized as they were gathering in their homes. The group is being held at Mai Serwa prison on the outskirts of the capital, Asmara.

“Eritrea is like a giant prison,” says Release International partner Dr. Berhane Asmelash. “The country is filled with jails. It is like North Korea.” He estimates 415 Christians are now in prison for their faith.

The complete article includes the story of Twen, a woman arrested when she was just 21 years old and held for 16 years until her recent release.

Source: Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin, February 1, 2023

On February 25, Nigerians will elect a new president amid gross insecurity, escalating Islamic terror, and soaring ethnic and religious tensions. Normally a two-horse race, this year is different with four leading candidates hailing from the four corners of Nigeria and its three leading tribes. Three are Muslim, one is Christian. Many fear the presidential election could cause the country to blow apart. Should that happen, it would trigger a crisis of monumental, even genocidal proportions, especially for Nigeria’s long-suffering Christians in the volatile mixed Middle Belt and predominately Muslim North.

Labour’s Peter Obi—an ethnic Igbo from the southeast and the only Christian among the four main candidates—is leading in the polls but unlikely to win in the first round, meaning Nigeria is heading for its first-ever presidential runoff. Analysts anticipate that thugs in the southwest and fundamentalist Muslims across the north will attack polling stations in opposition strongholds and Igbo residential areas to depress voter turnout there. Lagos, Kano, and Kaduna have been identified as states where the risk of electoral violence is extreme.

Read the full article and pray. RLPB is doing a whole series on Nigeria.

Source: Eternity News, February 14, 2023

An Anglican minister in Alice Springs has made a heartfelt plea for more Christian workers to move to the troubled outback town in central Australia in the face of a threatened exodus of long-term residents.

Kristan Slack, who is Rector of the Anglican Parish of Alice Springs, said his church has been praying for Christians to move to Alice Springs to encourage workers worn down by the crisis in violent crime that has reached the national spotlight.

“We’ve been praying that God would send Christian workers into these places because even other staff need it as well. They need to see that Jesus brings hope and difference and change. If you want to make a difference, move to Alice, especially Christians, because we just need Christians to be light across all of society. There’s so much work to do. There are so many jobs of so many kinds in every field, but it’s expensive both to get here and to live. It’s hard to find houses, and then you might be afraid.”

Read the full story and another from Eternity News, this one describing how Bible translation is restoring a town, language and culture.

Source: Christian Today, January 16, 2023

If you can’t bear to watch or read the news, you’re not alone.

Newly published research shows that more than seven out of ten news publishers are concerned about increasing levels of “news avoidance.”

More and more people are turning away from the news because it’s just too difficult to take. And that may present an opportunity for Christians to present our life-giving gospel message.

How guilty are we of scrolling past bad news on our social media feed, switching off the TV or radio, or pausing a podcast when the subject matter becomes tough to take? [But it’s] important for Christians to be aware of events and trends across the globe, to enable us to pray intelligently and support organizations and people working to make the world a better place.

In a world that is turning away from bad news, we have good news to offer. Our mission is to present this good news in ways that can catch the attention of a distracted world that’s tired of the gloom and looking for something better.

Read the full story. and see a resource it references, the journalism, media, and technology trends and predictions 2023 report (The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism).

Here’s some good news: Asbury Revival Passes 100 Consecutive Hours: People Don’t Want to Leave (Christian Headlines, from several days ago). This is also an event getting lots of coverage both in Christian news sources and on social media. You might appreciate the updates from Asbury New Testament professor Craig Keener.

Source: Mission Network News, January 26, 2023

Last year the United States saw a rise in the number of Satan clubs opening in public schools by The Satanic Temple (TST) as an “alternative” to the thousands of Good News Clubs started by Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF).

To the surprise of many, however, CEF upholds the right of Satan clubs to be present in public schools. Spokesperson Lydia Kaiser explains the ministry’s position: “While we abhor everything they stand for, we acknowledge they also have the right to free speech and clubs which are able to follow the school’s rules in order to meet on school property after school… Parents are actually the gatekeepers because all children must have a signed permission slip to attend any club.”

Kaiser explains when parents protest vigorously against the formation of after-school Satan clubs, sometimes schools either close down all religious clubs or refuse to grant permission to the Satan club to meet. This results in TST suing the school district, winning, and using those funds for further mischief.

It also results in promoting the unconstitutional public perception that no one, Christians included, may express religious faith in the public arena.

Read the full story. It includes several suggestions for parents.

In other news from the USA, organizers of the evangelistic campaign He Gets Us plan to spend $1 billion dollars to promote Jesus over the next three years, including funding pro-Jesus Superbowl commercials. An article for Religion News Service asks, “Will anyone care?”