Category: News Briefs

Source: East-West Ministries, October 3, 2022

Mawlid is an annual Islamic holiday that celebrates the life [and birthday] of the prophet Muhammad. The holiday is also known as Mawlid al-Nabi, Milad, or Eid Milad un-Nabi. Muslims commemorate Muhammad’s life during the Islamic calendar’s twelfth day of the third month.

In the early days of Islam, followers of Muhammad met to honor their leader, and over time Mawlid became an annual event. The holiday reflects on the life and teachings of Muhammad.

As Christians have conversations with their Muslim friends, being informed about Mawlid and Muhammad can help direct their friends toward the gospel truth.

During Mawlid, Muslims decorate their homes, mosques, and streets to celebrate the life of Muhammad. Mosques have lectures about Muhammad’s teachings, and special meals are planned. In the Middle East, free pastries and eastern sweets are offered in the streets. Conferences and programs are organized where people can learn, debate, and celebrate the life of Muhammad. While not all Muslim communities celebrate Mawlid, many countries in the Middle East and North Africa recognize Mawlid as a public holiday.

The full story includes suggestions for how to pray for and share the gospel with others in connection to this festival, which will be observed this weekend (October 7-8). Note that within Islam, celebrating Muhammad’s birthday is sometimes controversial, so bring it up with caution.

See also a short article about how preparations for the holiday are ramping up in Egypt (Arab News) and another from the UK (Leicestershire Mercury).

In this week’s News Briefs:

1. North Africa: When God Gives the Words We Need
2. Zambia: Christians Rejoice as Bible Translated into Native Languages
3. Mongolia: More Than 2,000 People Decide to Follow Christ
4. Thailand: Chinese Congregation Seeks Refugee Status in the U.S.
5. Roundup: Pew Report, Peace Day, March for Martyrs, and More

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

Source: Frontiers USA, September 12, 2022

Aptitude tests said that he shouldn’t be able to learn a second language. But when God called him to share about Jesus in North Africa, no test score could hold him back.

The smell of baked goods floated above the chatter of voices in the apartment. Nicholas hunted for a spot to sit, stepping carefully to avoid crawling babies and squirming toddlers. Fitting 40 adults plus their children into his living room for their weekly [ministry team] meeting was a challenge.

However, finding enough elbow room was nothing compared to their goal of starting a church in their unreached community. The North African region where the team worked was a tough place to live, much less engage in conversations about Jesus. The last missionary in the area had left over 50 years earlier, driven away by threats of violence.

One way [the] team tried to connect with Muslim men and women was through a radio station that offered listeners the chance to study the Bible. But so far, nobody had taken them up on their offer.

Nicholas found an open spot on the floor next to two men deep in conversation and sighed as he sank down against the wall. Maybe the radio program was a lost cause.

As if on cue, the team’s leader, Brad, burst into the meeting with a huge grin. “Someone wants to study the Bible with us.”

The team went quiet for a moment, then exploded into excited chatter.

“The radio station called,” Brad continued, motioning for everyone to quiet down. “They want the team member with the best language ability to meet Tahar, the student.”

Everyone looked at Nicholas.

Read the full story. God did something amazing that continues to bear fruit years later. May this story give hope to those in the early days of their cross-cultural work.

Also from North Africa: Libyan Christians urge us to pray for a young man who converted to Christianity a few years ago and has been sentenced to death for apostasy (Middle East Concern).

Source: Christian Headlines, September 7, 2022

Christians in Zambia, Africa, are celebrating the latest milestone in Bible translation, the creation of Bibles written in their native tongues.

According to CBN News, the effort is led by Wycliffe Associates, an organization that offers Bible translations in countless languages. Currently, [more than] 5,000 people are working in Zambia to translate the Bible into 20 native languages.

Believers in Mansa, Zambia, were reportedly dancing after they got to read and listen to the reading of the New Testament in Aushi, their native language, for the first time.

“It’s like God is speaking our language,” Mumba said.

[Bishop Henry Mumba] also shared that the Bible is the first written literature in the Aushi language.

“Our country has 73 languages. And only seven were considered official languages. Those were the only ones who had scripture translated,” pastor Buster Paul Tembo Tembo of Livingston explained.

Read the full story. You might also want to read about a key strategy for accomplishing such projects; they call it church-owned Bible translation (Wycliffe Associates).

See also 4 Things You Need to Know About Sign Language Bible Translation (Wycliffe Bible Translators).

Source: The Christian Post, September 13, 2022

Thousands of Mongolians heard the gospel of Jesus Christ during an unprecedented outreach by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association [working alongside nearly 250 churches], in which more than 2,000 reportedly made decisions for Christ.

More than 17,300 people attended the two-night Festival of Hope held at Steppe Arena in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar [September 10-11], according to BGEA.

Sandwiched between Russia and China, the Central Asian country of roughly 3.3 million people has a long tradition of Buddhism and, more recently, a rise in the practice of shamanism, the worship of the elements.

But after 20 years of prayers from Mongolian church leaders, the plan for the Mongolian outreach came together, marking the first time in Mongolia’s history that hundreds of churches gathered for such a large-scale event, BGEA reports.

Read the full story. Note: Per the BGEA report, 9,000 attended the in-person event, while another 8,600 watched online. Youth aged 10-18 were the group with the largest number of decisions to follow Christ.

Source: International Christian Concern, September 6, 2022

The world is watching the ongoing crisis of the entire church congregation who left China due to religious persecution to seek asylum in South Korea. Shenzhen Holy Reformed Church, which is comprised of nearly 60 members, traveled to Thailand last week to seek protection from religious persecution with the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR.

The congregation left China between late 2019 and early 2020, settling in South Korea. However, when they did not receive refugee status in South Korea, they began to seek resettlement in the United States as another option.

[September 5] they submitted their UNHCR applications in Bangkok. They left South Korea and traveled to Thailand on 15-day tourist visas, hoping that their applications could be processed unprecedentedly quickly. If their visas run out, they could be deported back to China.

The church’s pastor, Pan Yongguang, emphasized the gravity of their plight. “This is dangerous but it is an opportunity,” he said. “If we stayed in Jeju, we would have had no chance.”

Read the full story or a longer article about this church in which the pastor compares their journey to that of the pilgrims who came to America on the Mayflower (Christianity Today).

See also, from Afghanistan, letters to a Christian radio station (Sat-7) from listeners in Afghanistan (via God Reports) and a report about a mom who sold her kidney (but not her daughter) to put food on the table (World Vision). Keep praying for that country as well.

Sources: Various

Here are a few more things that didn’t otherwise fit in this edition:

1. If recent trends in religious switching continue, Christians could make up less than half of the U.S. population within a few decades, says a recent report from the Pew Research Center. We aren’t too surprised but it’s getting a lot of press. Note that the report presents four different scenarios, not just one.

2. The United Nations has named today (September 21) the International Day of Peace. This observance has been going on since 1981. While we may think of many situations around the world where peace is in short supply, this year their focus is on tackling racism.

3. Have you heard of March for the Martyrs, an organization raising awareness of persecuted Christians around the world? They will hold an event starting at the National Mall and winding up at the Museum of the Bible in Washington D.C. this Saturday, September 24.

4. This time of year we see many ministry fundraising events. Accessible Hope International, focused on opening doors of access for people with disabilities worldwide, has an interesting twist. They are putting on their third annual virtual fundraising banquet (including home food delivery via Grub Hub), and invite friends and supporters to host “Luke 14” gatherings in their homes. That event is also this Saturday, September 24.

1. Bhutan: 100 Baptisms Reported in the Mountains
2. Uganda: Three Former Muslim Leaders Hunted for Their Conversions
3. South Africa: When Christians Encounter a Traditional Healer
4. Laos: Believers Lose Homes Due to Their Faith
5. North Africa: A Dying Woman Finds Healing and Hope
6. Bonus: More Events for the September Calendar

Read or share the email edition or scroll down to read more.

Source: Back to Jerusalem, August 2022

“100-plus baptisms in the [mountains] of Bhutan!” came a text from our BTJ partnering team in Asia. For security reasons, details of the baptism cannot be released, but we rejoice with our new brothers and sisters in the Lord.

According to Joshua Project, there are currently 75 different ethnic groups that live in Bhutan and they are 96% unreached. The overwhelming majority of the people groups living in Bhutan are completely unreached, meaning they have never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and do not have anyone living among them who can share it with them.

Bhutan is a Buddhist nation which also ranks high on the list for the persecution of Christians, meaning that the new believers who were just baptized over the weekend will see the manifestation of Jesus’ promise when he said, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also” (John 15:18-20).

Read the full story.

Editor’s note: While Asia is certainly home to more of the unreached than any other continent, did you know there’s a region just a few hours south of the U.S. in Central Mexico, known as the Circle of Silence, that is less than 1% evangelical and home to the largest concentration of unreached people in all of Spanish-speaking Latin America?

Source: International Christian Concern, September 1, 2022

It’s a rare occurrence when a prominent Muslim leader, known as an imam, leaves behind his years of training in the faith for Christ. That was the case for not one but three local imams in Uganda. Tamir, Salomon, and Michael recently converted to Christianity—and are now being hunted down by their former communities.

The Muslim community found out about Tamir’s conversion when he was baptized. He was chased away with his family of four and his house was destroyed. A local pastor is currently taking care of Tamir and his family until they can find a more secure and permanent place to live.

Salomon and his family of five are in hiding after he left his teaching position in a local mosque when he gave his life to Christ. Salomon came across a verse in the Qur’an that states that Muhammad is dead, and those who follow him are also dead. He compared it with John 14:6, which says Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. He trusted Christ for his salvation and was baptized the same day. Currently, his Muslim friends and family are hunting him down to kill him for converting to Christianity.

Michael, another local imam, and his wife were baptized together after converting to Christianity. When the Muslim leaders who had been training him realized his conversion, they began to threaten his family. He is also currently being hunted down by the Muslim elders who invested in him during his training and risks being killed if they find him.

Though these three new converts see the life and salvation found in Christ, they still face earthly death daily. Please join us in praying for the safety of the three ex-imams and their families as they look for a secure place to live and means of earning a livelihood.

Read the full story.

See also a testimony from Bangladesh (Open Doors). It tells the story of two two Muslim-background followers of Jesus who were kidnapped and threatened in an effort to get them to return to Islam.

And here’s another from Uganda: Janel’s thought-provoking story about grappling with poverty on her return from that country (Go.Serve.Love).