Day: December 16, 2015

Missions Catalyst News Briefs 12.16.15

1. SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi Women and Video Games
2. CHINA: Eric Liddell Honored with Statue and Film
3. SWEDEN: Somali Woman Speaking Out about the Qur’an
4. INDIA: “Casteism” Destroyed through Communion

Glory to God in the Highest, peace on earth, and goodwill toward men!

Greetings!

God’s Word is loaded with stories of people on the move. Have you ever thought about it? Even before he was born, Jesus was what we’d call an “internally displaced person” (forced to travel to Bethlehem). Then he was a refugee (crossing a border) when the family fled to Egypt. In more ways than one, he lived in what was and some would say still is occupied territory.

I took the photo above in Bethlehem and was told that the Arabic script represents what the angels said when Christ was born: “Glory to God in the Highest, peace on earth, goodwill toward men.”

“Bethlehem, in the center of the West Bank and Jesus’ birthplace and area of public ministry, has transformed from more than 70% being Christian in the mid-20th century to less than 15%,” says Prayercast. “Throughout the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, military occupation and violent Islamist persecution have practically forced out the dwindling Christian minority, now down to less than 2%. Christians who remain feel largely abandoned and ignored by the global Church.”

Got five minutes? Watch the short video and pray for the people who live in Bethlehem (and the surrounding region) today.

I’d also recommend the recent Compassion Radio interview with Robin Wainwright, who traced the (possible) steps of the Magi from Iraq and Syria to Bethlehem, going through cities much in the news today. (Jump to 13:50 to catch the last 11 minutes of part one, then listen to part two, which is 26 minutes long).

Did you know that Friday, December 18th is International Migrants Day? Take some time on that day to pray for churches settling refugees against governors’ wishes and others ministering to migrants.

COME, Let Us Adore Him!
Pat

Source: Missiologically Thinking, December 9, 2015

Any young women in your church? Yes?

Any serious video gamers? Don’t know?

What if gaming was a way for them to connect with other women in Saudi Arabia? Maybe this is more likely than we think.

You need to read [an] NPR article and listen to the four-minute story about a gaming convention. It gives you a side of Saudi Arabia that few know about.

» Read full story. Also noteworthy, of course, is the news that Saudi Arabia has elected its first female politicians (Al Jazeera).

» You might also be interested in read about a Christian gaming company that has seen more than 16,000 people come to Christ through a partnership with the Billy Graham Association (Charisma Magazine).

Source: Global Chinese Ministries Newsletter, December 2015

Eric Liddell, the British Olympic champion who later became a London Missionary Society (LMS) missionary, has been honored for his commitment to the Chinese people. In a rare gesture of respect and admiration, a statue of the Christian athlete has been erected in the northern city of Tianjin. It was unveiled in a ceremony attended by his daughters, as well as survivors of the Japanese internment camp where he was held during the Second World War.

The actor Joseph Fiennes has been cast as Liddell in an upcoming film. The film, called The Last Race, will focus on the latter half of Liddell’s life when he had left sports and moved to China as a missionary. It serves as a sequel to the well-known earlier film Chariots of Fire which depicted his gold medal race at the 1924 Paris Olympics.

Fiennes said: “It is one thing to preach the Bible, but it is another to actually live out your beliefs in an internment camp.”

» Read full story and its source. See also another story about the film, The Last Race (The Independent).

Source: Charisma News, December 1, 2015

Mona Walter is on a mission. Her mission is for more Muslims to know what is in the Qur’an. She says if more Muslims knew what was in the Qur’an, more would leave Islam.

Walter came to Sweden from Somalia as a war refugee when she was 19. She says she was excited about joining a modern European nation with equal rights for women. But as a young Muslim woman, that was not the Sweden she encountered.

It was in Sweden that she first experienced radical Islam on a daily basis.

“I discovered Islam first in Sweden. In Somalia, you’re just a Muslim, without knowing the Qur’an. But then you come to Sweden and you go to mosque and there is the Qur’an, so you have to cover yourself and you have to be a good Muslim.”

Walter says she grew up in Somalia never having read the Qur’an.

“I didn’t know what I was a part of. I didn’t know who Muhammad was. I didn’t know who Allah was. So, when I found out, I was upset. I was sad and I was disappointed,” she recalled.

» Read full story and/or watch related video.

» Also read An Imam Encounters Christ (Advancing Native Missions).

Source: Act Beyond, December 2015

“We cannot take the Lord’s Supper across caste lines,” some Indian believers explained. Sam [a ministry partner] did not know quite how to tackle this issue, so he asked the Beyond team in India, “What should we do?”

We see in the book of Acts (Acts 2:46) that the early church celebrated the Lord’s Supper. Specifically, the verse says they worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity. It came to light this summer that a whole segment of the movement in India, involving many churches, were not taking the Lord’s Supper.

As Sam investigated this, he learned that caste-ism was the problem. India’s systemic sin, caste-ism, states that a high-caste person becomes spiritually unclean when he or she eats with a low-caste person.

Teaching obedience is very different from simply teaching about Jesus or about the Bible. Jesus’ final command to his disciples was to teach others to “teach them to obey [him].” Racism in any form is unacceptable to God. Prejudice in any form, having a preconceived notion about another person, is anathema to the gospel. Caste-ism is racism taken to the extreme. Caste teaches that, from birth, some people are simply better and more valuable people than others. It is a huge issue, and it must be dealt with in the new churches. So, the team needed to get this right. They needed a heart change on a core Indian problem, not just verbal assent to some teaching they might give.

Only the Lord can touch a heart. The team knew the new churches needed to learn from the Bible, not from them, so they gave Sam a list of verses which address caste-ism, the equality of all people in God’s Kingdom, as well as who can take the Lord’s Supper. The team also prayed. Sam took these Scriptures to the leaders.

They studied God’s Word together. They discussed what God was saying regarding caste-ism and the Lord’s Supper. Sam did not preach or teach. He gave them the Scriptures. He prayed. He asked questions. They all looked at Scripture together. Finally, the leaders came to the conclusion that, “If I am in Jesus, I am no longer Brahmin (or whatever caste I was born into). I can either be a Brahmin, or in Jesus, but I cannot be both. If that’s the option, then I want to be in Jesus!”

Then, the leaders did something the team seldom have seen. They apologized. In front of each other, without attempting to save face or defend themselves, they admitted, “I am sorry; I was wrong” to Sam and to their disciples. Apologizing in public is a big deal anywhere, but it is huge in Asia. Usually apologies there are passive at best. For someone to take ownership of a wrong he has done, and then to apologize, not just to someone he considers “above” himself (Sam), but also to people who look up to one (disciples) was astounding. Our team was speechless.

The story does not end there though. After apologizing, the leaders intentionally gathered multiple churches with mixed caste-background people, and they all took communion together!

This may sound like a small thing to us, but this is so major for India. Caste-ism is the filter through which the vast majority of Indians think about relationships and community. God broke through their hearts and minds through his Word alone.

» Read full story.