Category: News Briefs

Source: Open Doors, April 18, 2022

It was March 6 and the congregation had already gone home; that’s when the assailants saw their opportunity. Led by Buddhist monks, a mob of 600 marched towards the newly established church, ready to threaten Pastor Indunil, his family, and their message.

Days prior to the incident, Pastor Indunil (among other local pastors) was warned his church was under threat of imminent attack, yet he told his congregants—no matter what—they must never repay evil for evil.

A Christian leader in Sri Lanka said, “Right now, Christians in the area are so afraid … However, they are still gathering to worship. They say, ‘It is difficult, but we know we will have to face these things, and we need to be ready for this. This is God’s work and we will not deny him.’”

When the frenzied mob reached Pastor Indunil’s church, they beat on gates and smashed windows. After throwing death threats at the pastor, the angry mob turned on the congregants and beat several quite severely, sending some to the hospital; but the congregants did not retaliate.

The local government has since forced Pastor Indunil and his church to suspend services, but it has only strengthened their resolve.

The pastor and his family continue to meet with their congregants in homes. Not only that, but they’ve also seen God at work through the attack: A recent convert of Pastor Indunil’s church, who had been struggling with alcoholism, has not returned to drinking since the attack. “This one incident was able to accomplish what ten sermons could not,” Pastor Indunil said.

Since the attack, the Bible has come alive in new ways for the congregation, too, with both the pastor and other believers sharing verses they had never fully understood until they experienced their persecution; it has moved them to spend more time on their knees, despite opposition from locals, other religious leaders, and the government.

Read the full story.

You may remember the 2019 Easter Sunday suicide bomb attacks on three Sri Lankan churches and three hotels, killing at least 350 people and injuring thousands more. Open Doors has several updates from survivors.

• Sri Lanka Survivors Find Joy Despite Immense Loss
• “What If Another Bomb Goes Off?” Pray With Grieving Family
• Three Years After the Bombings, Sri Lanka Church Sees Revival

Source: International Mission Board, April 19, 2022

IMB missionaries Andy and Marie Hoffman served more than 11 years without seeing any fruit among their unreached people group in North Africa. During those years, the family and their partners built relationships and shared the gospel with these nomadic farmers and desert horsemen.

It wasn’t until the culmination of their hard work was almost complete that they saw nationals come to saving faith. Andy, with the help of national believers, finished a translation of the Scripture into the heart language of this predominately Muslim people group.

As they were completing the project, Tom, one of the new believers and a fellow translator, asked a question that was “like an arrow that hit me in the heart,” Andy described.

Tom asked, “Andy, the Bible is a very important book, right?”

“Yes,” Andy replied.

Tom continued, “Why did it take you so long to get here and bring it to us?”

Stunned, Andy explained that he came to live among Tom’s people group when he was 29 years old. “I couldn’t have come much sooner.”

“No, I mean, how long has America had the Bible?” Tom pressed. “Our parents and grandparents—they never, ever got to hear.”

Andy replied, “You’re right. We held on to it too long. Praise God, it’s here, working among your people now. Let’s not be guilty of holding on to the Bible in your country. Let’s reach the other languages who still don’t have it.”

Read the full story.

For some of the many groups working to bring the Word of God to the nations, see a list of the 50 largest US missions and Bible translation organizations, by revenue (Ministry Watch).

In this issue:

The pandemic slowed many data-gathering efforts, but the fog seems to be clearing to reveal more of the great things happening in the global Church these last few years. The 24:14 Network has revised its estimate for the number of rapidly multiplying disciple-making movements from 1,491 to more than 1,850, including about 100 million believers in millions of small churches. See the story below.

1. Global: Number of Disciple-Making Movements Tops 1,850
2. Algeria: How to Keep Being Bold for the Sake of Jesus
3. USA: Survey Finds Unprecedented Drop in Bible Reading
4. China: Every Student Learns About God in School, But Does Not Know It!
5. Ukraine: Penetrating the Darkness of War

Read or share the email edition.

Source: Justin Long for Beyond, April 12, 2022

Since the mid-1990s, we have witnessed the remarkable and explosive of disciple-making movements globally, with much of that growth happening in the past 10 years. From a very small handful of known movements in 1995, the number has grown to over 1,850 movements globally, encompassing over 99.9 million believers in 6.8 million churches (typically small, house-church type gatherings). This means over 1% of the world’s total population are Christ-followers in rapidly growing movements!

These numbers are the tip of the iceberg—the “floor” and not the “ceiling.” Certainly, the numbers are higher than this. These movements can be found in every [region] though their largest numbers are in Africa and parts of Asia (mostly Southern Asia). Growth is especially significant in the world’s least-reached places. Movements are touching every religious block, growing markedly among Muslim and Hindu peoples, with progress also among some Buddhist peoples.

However, in many places, this remarkable growth is still a just drop in the bucket among the much larger populations. Much work still remains to be done.

The full article also summarizes several ways to look at how close we are to seeing every people group and place engaged with the gospel and points out the remaining gaps. See a data dashboard on the 24:14 Network’s website (under “Global Movement Statistics”).

See also the March/April edition of Mission Frontiers, which takes a fresh look at the essential elements of such movements, or pick up a copy of the 2021 book Motus Dei: The Movement of God to Disciple the Nations (William Carey Publishing).

Source: Operation Mobilization, March 20, 2022

Omair [waited] for the judge to pronounce the verdict of his latest appeal. Several years prior, his business had been shut down when he’d been accused—and acquitted—of printing and distributing Christian literature. Last year, he had discovered the renewed charge via a paper slipped under the door of the church he pastored, a few months before it, too, was closed by the Algerian government.

When the judge announced a one-year suspended sentence and a fine, Omair sighed, thankful to be heading home to his wife and two teenage children rather than to prison. With brothers and sisters around the world lifting him up in prayer, Omair will continue to appeal the accusation, but it’s not the first time he’s been in court. Bold in the face of losing his freedom, he understands the cost of actively sharing God’s love in his country: spiritual opposition manifested in physical persecution.

“I have been in courts before the judge more than 14 times with all kinds of accusations,” Omair explained. “God has kept me free to continue the ministry and proclaim His love to many others. Reading the Word of God, fasting and praying, memorizing Bible verses about fear, and seeing many lives changed and transformed—this how I kept being bold for the sake of Jesus.”

Read the full story.

Two more stories about Africans sharing their faith caught our eyes this week. Both are from Uganda. See Head of Islamic School Burned, Fired for Becoming Christian (Morning Star News) and This Ugandan Dentist Shares the Gospel (Haggai International).

Source: The Christian Post, April 7, 2022

There has been an “unprecedented drop” in the number of Bible users in the United States since last year, according to a report released by the American Bible Society.

The 2022 State of the Bible report based its findings on responses collected from a survey of 2,598 US adults conducted in January. The twelfth annual report asked Americans a variety of questions about their Bible use and their thoughts on its role in society.

The American Bible Society defines Bible users as “those who use the Bible at least 3-4 times each year on their own, outside of a church setting.” After reaching a high of 53% in 2014, the share of Bible users among the US adult population consistently remained between 48% and 51%. Just last year, 50% of Americans were Bible users. However, in 2022, Bible users in the US accounted for just 39% of the adult population, the lowest in more than a decade.

Read the full story.

Also learn about a new report on what American Christians believe when it comes to missions. It includes an update and some nuance on the widely circulated Barna finding that most American Christians don’t know what the Great Commission is (Mission India and Barna, via Mission Network News).

Source: Back to Jerusalem, April 18, 2022

China is a Communist country and strictly enforces atheism, but buried in their history and integrated into their culture are stories of the Bible that the government cannot hide.

In this exclusive video, we unpack some of the most shocking ways that every Chinese has learned about the God of the Bible, but is simply unaware of it.

Today, China is experiencing one of the world’s largest revivals. Could this be due, at least in part, to the mounting evidence that the forgotten God of ancient China, Shangdi, and the God of the Bible are the same? Could God have planted testimonies in the ancient Chinese language that would forever give witness to the Chinese people? Is it possible that the Lord of the Earth paved a way thousands of years ago for the Chinese to discover him today?

Read the full story and watch the 4.5-minute video in which Dr. Eugene Bach shares his findings.

Speaking of ancient texts, have you heard about this recent find in Israel?

Source: Pioneers Australia, April 14, 2022

For most of the Western World, darkness came over Ukraine on February 24, 2022. For Ukraine however, this darkness has been hovering since 2014, when three large chunks of territory were taken by Russia. We have many friends in one of those areas who lost everything then. Many of them built a new life elsewhere in Ukraine or abroad.

Dima, a friend who had moved to Mariupol, has just lost everything again. His pregnant wife Polina took their son to Portugal while Dima stayed in Ukraine to bring people to safety from Lviv in the west, to Mariupol, east of Ukraine.

Let me tell you about Oxana. Oxana brought her children to safety in Moldova first, then later to Poland. She works around the clock to get vulnerable people to safety and has evacuated at least 20 complete orphanages, many of these children have disabilities. Pavlo, her husband, is drafted into the army. Oxana and her team go back and forth into Ukraine [daily]. The border is absolute chaos, but by breaching this chaos daily, they are surely penetrating the darkness with amazing light and life for thousands.

The complete article contains pictures and more stories of “God’s absolute miraculous workings through so many people.”

For more testimonies from Ukraine, read a letter from Marie, a YWAMer in Kyiv (Schuman Centre for European Studies) and see how God is working through believers in Moldova (Operation Mobilization).

In this edition:

1. Myanmar: Military Destroys 47 Churches in Predominantly Christian States
2. Niger: God at Work Among Fulani and Tuareg Tribes
3. Ukraine: A Kidnapped Missionary Is in Grave Danger
4. El Salvador: How a Missionary Used Bitcoin to Transform a Town
5. Russia: Witches Gather to Cast Spells in Putin’s Enemies

Greetings, readers!

Want to let you know our website has been down for a week after the web hosting bill went astray. We’re working on getting the site, with posts going back a few decades, back online. Meanwhile, you can find recent articles through the Mailchimp archives or send us a note.

Here are a few things you might find useful but that didn’t quite fit in the collection of news stories below.

• Read How Easter Is Celebrated in Countries Around the World (Wycliffe Bible Translators). This is adapted from and includes a link to some fun lessons and activities you can use with kids.
• See How to Explain Easter to My Muslim Friends (Jeannie Marie).
• Learn about a US denomination doing seminars to help explain Ramadan to Christians serving Afghan refugees (Religion News).
• View Afghanistan Six Months on from the Taliban Takeover—Photo Essay, with haunting glimpses of life there now (The Guardian).

blessings,
Marti

Source: The Christian Post, April 4, 2022

Myanmar’s military has destroyed at least 47 churches and more than a dozen affiliated buildings in its attacks in the predominantly Christian states of Chin and Kayah since it staged a coup last February, human rights groups have said.

About 35 churches and 15 buildings associated with churches were destroyed in Chin State and about 12 churches were destroyed in Kayah State (formerly known as Karenni) between February 2021 and January 2022, The Irrawaddy reported, citing the Chin Human Rights Organization and the Karenni Human Rights Group.

Christians are a majority in Chin State, which borders India, and make up a substantial part of the population of Kayah State, which borders Thailand. Christians in conflict zones, including these two states, are ethnic minorities who live in the various conflict zones across the country’s borders.

Formerly known as Burma, the Southeast Asian country is home to the world’s longest civil war, which began in 1948.

Read the full story.

See also Over 100 Religious Buildings Destroyed by Burmese Military (International Christian Concern).