Category: News Briefs

Source: Christian Freedom International, June 24, 2020

Shafqat Emmanuel and his wife Shagufta Kausar are two more victims of Pakistan’s unjust blasphemy laws [which outlaw insulting Islam and its founder, Mohammed]. The young Christian couple was accused of sending blasphemous texts to a Muslim cleric in 2014. They were sentenced to death and have spent six years in separate prisons waiting for Pakistan’s High Court to hear their case. Their appeal has been repeatedly postponed and is now set for September 2020.

The illiterate couple have four young children. Shagufta was the sole breadwinner of the family since 2004 when her husband Shafqat became paralyzed following an accident that fractured his spinal cord.

The alleged texts were written in English. But neither Shafqat or Shagufta speak or read English. An investigation revealed that the couple was involved in an argument with their accuser months before the blasphemy accusation was made against them.

» Read full story and pray for this couple and their children.

» You might also be interested in learning how Pakistani churches are pulling together in COVID-19-related relief efforts (MENA Collective, via Mission Network News).

Source: Mission Network News, June 19, 2020

Iran’s latest legal changes target virtual churches and online ministries. According to Article18, new amendments to an existing law expand Iranian authorities’ ability to persecute religious minorities.

“Iran’s latest legislative amendment appears to be, in part, a response to internal uprising and political unrest across the country,” says Mike Ansari of Heart4Iran.

“For a long time, Iran has waged war on its minority population and blamed them for its misfortune. Many feel this is a desperate power-act by Iran to secure its longevity and survival.”

Meanwhile, a spiritual revolution is underway in the Islamic republic. “In the last three months, our call center at Mohabat TV has registered an all-time high of 3,000+ monthly decisions of faith from Iranian Muslims who are converting to Christianity,” Ansari says. “This ten-fold increase, compared to the same period in 2019, is a major indication that the Islamic Republic of Iran is losing a cross-section of its Muslim population to Christianity.”

» Read full story. Another story from Mission Network News shares good news from Syria.

Source: Open Doors, June 23, 2020

“John” arrived at the airport late in the evening. There was only one more hurdle to get through before he was safely with his contacts, secret Christians who were following Jesus in this Middle Eastern country.

He had to make it through the border.

He went to the customs line at about 9:30 pm. His hope was the customs officers wouldn’t ask to see inside John’s suitcase; he hoped they would just wave him through.

That’s not what happened.

» Read full story.

“God does His deepest work in our darkest hours,” said A.W. Tozer. This edition of News Briefs includes glimpses of how people of faith are responding to some of the challenges in today’s world. Image: Nigerian Christians in prayer, via World Watch Monitor.

1. NIGERIA: Violence Continues; Please Pray
2. IRAQ: “Racism Is A Virus”
3. WORLD: How Racism Hinders Global Missions
4. INDONESIA: No to Minang Bible
5. UK: Former Hindu Priest Shares His Story

Source: INcontext, June 17, 2020

On Saturday June 13, in Nigeria’s volatile northeast Borno state, about 20 soldiers and more than 40 civilians were killed, and many injured, in twin Islamist attacks. These attacks overwhelmed the local hospital, forcing some of those injured to lie waiting for assistance outside the facility.

The militants burned down the United Nations humanitarian aid office in the area and set fire to the police station. Jihadist fighters handed out letters to residents, in the local Hausa language, warning them, “not to work with the military, white Christian Westerners or other ‘non-believers’ and humanitarian aid agencies.”

Just a few days earlier, at least 81 people were killed in an attack on another village in Borno state. Around the same time, nine Christians were killed in a gun and machete attack, and seven others were kidnapped in North-central Nigeria. The latest attack follows similar Fulani herdsmen attacks on predominantly Christian communities.

» Read full story with prayer points and another INcontext article, Escalating Jihadist Violence in Africa’s Sahel Region.

» For more about the violence in Nigeria, including a discussion of its sources, read Incessant Killing More Dangerous than Coronavirus (World Watch Monitor).

Source: Preemptive Love, June 4, 2020

Ihsan Ibraheem grew up under the authoritarian rule of Saddam Hussein. He lived through the US invasion of his country, the sectarian war that followed, and the rise of ISIS. He has put his life on the line to serve those of every background. He writes:

“My friends, I’m very sorry to see what is happening in the US. I have been watching and following from my home in Iraq since the beginning of the events that led to this, and I’m really sad and worried.

“Maybe because we are not so far from this. In the last several months, violence hit Iraq really bad. We still haven’t recovered from it. Not to mention all that’s happened in the past 15 years—from the sectarian war to ISIS.

“You may think that what happened in Iraq was because of many things, any of which could be true. But I believe two of the main things that led to this are sectarianism and nationalism.

“Everywhere else, we all know it as racism.”

“It is a virus within our systems, communities, people, and ourselves—more dangerous than any other virus in the world.”

» Read full story and watch three-minute video.

» Also from the Middle East, read about how believers in Yemen are responding to the COVID-19 crisis and “turning fears into prayers” (Open Doors).

Source: OMF USA, June 8, 2020

“No way. That’s crazy!”

I was shocked. I’ve studied missiology. I have an advanced degree in cross-cultural ministry. All the research I could think of said the same thing: Near cultures can reach the unreached with the gospel more effectively and efficiently than far cultures. For someone from a far culture it just makes sense. Near cultures have language, similar cultural values, and a relatively short distance to travel.

But my friends of Southeast Asian heritage were challenging one of the core tenets in my philosophy of missions. When I asked if it would be easier for them to reach a certain people group in Southeast Asia, they said “No way. That’s crazy. It would be much easier for you to reach them than us.”

I’m a white male from Midwestern US. I don’t speak any Asian languages and I know next to nothing about the culture. Both of their families came from a minority people group nearby the majority people group I was praying would be reached.

Here’s what I missed: Racism. Tribalism. Ethnocentrism. Classism. History of oppression. History of power struggles. History of cultural clashes. Generations of stories that passed on prejudice like hand-me-down clothes.

I thought racism was primarily an American problem. Turns out it’s a human problem. And these ingrained prejudices can be bigger barriers to the gospel than language or culture or distance.

As I have watched the American, and particularly the white American church struggle with how to respond to both conscious and unconscious, individual and systemic racial oppression in our country over the past several years, I’ve become convinced that we need to incorporate a gospel-saturated response to racism in our cross-cultural training.

» Read full story.

» See also 10 Encouraging Trends of Global Christianity in 2020 (LifeWay) and Missions in a COVID Crisis: Diversity Implications (World Evangelical Alliance).

Source: Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin, June 9, 2020

Indonesia is home to some 6.8 million Minangkabau. They are the fourth largest ethnic group in Indonesia and the dominant ethnic group in West Sumatra. They are 99.72 percent Muslim and 0.26 percent Christian.

On June 3, Indonesia’s Communication and Information Minister removed a Bible app, “Kitab Suci Injil Minangkabau” [The Bible in Minangkabau language] from the Google Play Store at the request of West Sumatra governor, Irwan Prayitno. Backed by the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI, Indonesia’s top body of Islamic clerics), Irwan insisted that the Bible app is offensive to the Minangkabau, whose culture is based on Sharia and the Quran, not the Bible.

The action sets a precedent and has triggered fierce debate on religious freedom both in West Sumatra and across Indonesia. Please pray.

» Full story cites an article from The Jakarta Post.

Also from the Jakarta Post: Indonesia has said its citizens will not be allowed to participate in the haj pilgrimage this year, even if Saudi Arabia reopens Mecca and Medina in time.

Source: God Reports, June 3, 2020

[Rahil Patel] was raised in England in a Hindu family and hungered for whoever God was.

“Hinduism is a canvas of hundreds of religions with different doctrines and ideas and philosophies… I was so desperate to search for God.”

His drive to find God led him to travel to India, his parents’ homeland [where he trained to become a Hindu priest]. After only one month, however, a small voice spoke in his left ear: “Have you made the right choice?”

It was the first seed of doubt.

» Read full story or a related 2017 article, Found By Love: A Hindu Priest Encounters the One True God (BillyGraham.org.uk). I encourage you to watch Rahil Patel’s eight-minute video testimony (BillyGraham.org) or listen watch him share it at a 2018 conference in Chennai (The Witness). He also paints a picture of what it’s like to grow up as a Gujarati Hindu in London.

1. EDITOR’S NOTE: George Floyd, Ravi Zacharias
2. SENEGAL: A Church for the Wolof
3. CHINA: The Red Dragon Rages
4. WORLD: Seven Countries on the Watch List That Might Surprise You
5. NEPAL: Breakthrough in High Places