Day: October 16, 2013

In This Issue: A human chain in Pakistan

• PAKISTAN: Human Chain Formed to Protect Church
• NORTH KOREA: Huge Massacre? 
• MONGOLIA: A Miraculous Moving of God’s Spirit
• WORLD: More People Have Cell Phones than Electricity
• RUSSIA: Also at a Crossroads

Source: The Christian Post, October 8, 2013

Between 200-300 Pakistani Muslims and Christians united and gathered to make a human chain around a church in Lahore, Pakistan’s second largest city on Sunday [October 6].

Just two weeks after a church bombing killed more than 100 people in Peshawar, the human chain, organized by the citizen group “Pakistan for All,” is part of the movement’s goal to raise awareness about minority rights and concerns.

“Well the terrorists showed us what they do on Sundays. Here we are showing them what we do on Sundays. We unite,” Pakistan for All organizer Mohammad Jibran Nasir told The Express Tribune.

Mufti Mohammed Farooq opened the event by reading several passages from the Quran that called for tolerance of other beliefs, while Father Nasir Gulfam, who had just preached the church’s Sunday service, stood by his side before they took hold of each other’s hands, modeling their message.

» Read full story.

» Readers might be interested in another story from The Christian Post, this one from the U.S.: Muslim-Born Man Testifies, ‘I’ve Never Seen This Type of Love Before’ After Church Unites to Save His Local Business.

Source: ASSIST News, October 13, 2013

Some 20,000 prisoners of conscience [have disappeared] from North Korea’s Camp 22, a massive concentration camp.

According to a story by Robert Park published in Forbes and the Chicago Tribune, the camp was geographically larger than Los Angeles and thought to have once held between 30,000 to 50,000 prisoners.

Satellite photographs indicate that guard posts, interrogation and detention facilities at the camp had been razed last year. By that time, those accused and exploited had been reduced to about 3,000.

While an estimated seven to eight thousand prisoners are believed by some observers to have been taken away at night via train, the rest remain unaccounted for.

On the basis of testimony from former camp guards Ahn Myong-chol and Kwon Hyuk, worldwide attention has been focused on the horrors which took place daily at Camp 22 – a literal killing field.

In an August report, David Hawk of the Washington D.C.-based Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) commented on Camp 22’s rapid depopulation, “If even remotely accurate, this is an atrocity requiring much closer investigation.”

» Read full story.

Source: Mobile Mission Forum

While over 96% of the world’s population has access to a cell phone, 1.5 billion people do not have access to electricity. In the Third World, 79% of the people have no electricity. Yes, they can talk on their phones while they carry water jugs home. So what is the best way to reach these people for Christ? Their mobile device.

The Mobile Ministry Forum (MMF) Consultation at the Wycliffe Bible Translator Headquarters on December 9-11, 2013, in Orlando, FL, is the key gathering for people interested in learning how to use mobile technology for ministry outreach. This three-day conference includes TED-style presentations, discussions, ministry field reports, workshop breakouts, and networking time. The call is to anyone using mobile technology in a ministry context, creating apps or content, or anyone interested in starting a mobile ministry.

The Mobile Ministry Forum (MMF) is a coalition of ministries working towards the goal of giving every unreached person a chance to encounter Christ and his kingdom in a compelling, contextualized fashion through their personal mobile device by 2020. Ministries include Biola University, Campus Crusade for Christ, Christian Broadcasting Network, Cyber Missions, International Mission Board, and Wycliffe Bible Translators.

Source: JESUS Film Project, October 11, 2013

With God, nothing is impossible! Through the “JESUS” Film, his Spirit is moving in amazing and unprecedented ways, changing hearts and transforming lives, even in very difficult and previously unreached countries.

Only two decades ago, there were less than 50 known believers in the entire nation of Mongolia. Now, through the film “JESUS,” tens of thousands are turning to Christ. Hundreds of growing, reproducing churches have been planted, as new believers have been nurtured and equipped to share their faith and are now spreading the Gospel and making new disciples.

Praise the Lord for his faithfulness, and for the amazing work his Spirit is performing to bring unreached people “from darkness to joy”!

» Watch the short video From Darkness to Joy.

» Did you know more than 175,000 people have installed the Jesus Film Media App? It provides access to films you can use in more than 1,000 languages.

Source: OM News, September 16, 2013

“Before I left home, I started to have doubts,” said Tatiana at her interview to enroll as a student at OM Russia’s Discipleship Center. “I bought my sleeping bag just in case, and decided to just take a step of faith.”

Once she arrived at OM Russia’s base, Tatiana was pleasantly surprised when she realized she wouldn’t have to sleep on the floor in her sleeping bag! Why was Tatiana so worried about the living conditions? Because she’s no longer so young; she’s a pensioner (retired).

Last year, OM Russia’s board suggested that they train older people, because the training center’s goal is “to motivate and challenge people at a ‘crossroads’ moment in their lives, when they are faced with a choice of either developing a career and pouring their energy in that direction or opening themselves up to God’s service and seeking God’s Kingdom first,” according to field leader Colin Cleaver. This year, OM Russia opened a special faculty for pensioners to train to become missionaries.

For the past eight years, the center has focused on recent university graduates, but team members have realized that not only young people find themselves having to make decisions about their futures.

“Our board observed that pensioners are also often at a similar crossroads, needing to decide on a new life direction,” said Colin. “In addition, they are often financially independent, free from caring for their children, and with time on their hands – in short, the perfect potential missionaries!”

»  Read full story.