Day: May 18, 2016

In this issue: Building bridges, giving hope

1. SYRIA: A Spiritual Shift
2. NORTH KOREA: Black Market Dealers Turn Gospel Smugglers
3. INDONESIA: Kingdom Minded Business
4. USA: What Happens When 20 Christian Pastors Visit a Mosque for the First Time?

Dear readers,

“I didn’t know if I could survive the trauma and stress,” writes a Pioneers friend, Amanda, in Who Will Listen? It was 2010, and she was living in North Africa.

“One man in Tunisia burned himself alive to protest the unemployment rate. From there, unrest spread like wildfire in in the Arab world. Young and old took to the streets in protest of injustice, and violence often accompanied their efforts.”

As the stress of such an existence wore her down, Amanda was counseled to take a long rest away from the situation and found those who could help her recover and get counseling. But some do not have such an option. Consider, for example, Syrian refugees who have suffered the same kind of trauma and more.

“They leave home, country, family, financial stability, and even their ability to work and communicate. Who is there to welcome them when they arrive? Who can listen and give them counsel? Who is there to tell them the truth about the Jesus who loves them?”

“Just like I did, they need people to help them process what they have experienced,” says Amanda. “Though they do not have the financial or human resources to get counseling in their own language with people who understand their culture, we can help them get it.”

We’re glad to partner with colleagues at Pioneers as they work to provide physical and spiritual care to Syrian and Iraqi refugees and help families start to rebuild their lives and heal after enduring trauma caused by the war.

This issue of Missions Catalyst also includes another piece about God at work among Syrians and also several stories of Christians called to build cross-cultural bridges. Read on!

Source: Vision Beyond Borders, April 2016

Before civil war erupted in 2011, ninety percent of Syrians adhered to Islam and proselytizing was restricted. The government had cracked down on churches and Christian groups who tried to evangelize Muslims, arresting some and closing buildings that were used for Christian meetings. Now, many of Syria’s unreached have been uprooted and scattered. Nearly half the population is displaced. But the movement isn’t merely physical; a powerful shift is taking place spiritually, creating an unparalleled openness to the gospel.

The closed doors are now open in refugee camps, where many are hearing about their Savior for the first time. One worker explained, “You can’t share the gospel freely in Syria, so these people have never heard it before. In a short period of time, we’ve been able to share with the same number of Syrians that it would take us months and months to share with in Syria.”

Our contacts report an extraordinary trend in the number of Muslims they have seen coming to faith in Christ in recent years. “In 2013, we started seeing a marked increase, with at least one person coming to Christ just about every week…Then in 2014, it started going crazy… There were over 400 that came to Christ in 2014, and again over 400 in 2015!” A pastor who works with Syrian refugees noted: “God is at work in a special way.”

Among this influx of new believers are many refugees from areas that Islamic State controls… and where Christians would have never gone.

[One ministry reports] discipling several hundred new believers, and are impressed by the special way God is moving in their lives: “This group has been maturing quickly and many of them are even taking over discipleship groups. It’s been amazing growth, and we are harnessing this growth in order to mobilize Lebanese and Syrian missionaries to reach out for Christ around the Middle East and North Africa.”

» Read full story.

» See also an encouraging story about New Movements of Christ in Thailand (World Outreach International).

Source: Mission Network News, May 12, 2016

Before [Chinese couple “Bo and Annie”] became believers, Bo ran a cross-border business delivering and trading goods with a North Korean partner, “Ju.” The business relationship appeared successful until one day Bo discovered an anomaly in the financial records. Ju had been cheating him out of a great deal of money. In heated anger, Bo broke off the partnership.

A few years passed, and by God’s grace Bo and Annie came to be followers of Christ. They were fully committed to their new faith and began to attend a secret Chinese Bible school. During those intense times of studying God’s Word, they received their calling to disciple and train North Koreans to be undercover house church leaders.

They knew the dangers they faced if their ministry was discovered. But with Bo’s North Korean business connections, they also knew they had access to people many others couldn’t reach. The couple knew God was leading them to disciple Ju, the very man who had caused so much bitterness in Bo.

Shocked that the couple would reach out in peace to him after so many years, Ju agreed to meet with Bo and Annie. The consequences they faced if Ju decided to turn them in to the authorities were severe, but Bo and Annie began to reveal the reasons for their heart change through the Gospel message. They ended by telling Ju that they had forgiven him. The couple’s unprecedented kindness led Ju to repentance and he accepted Christ as his Savior.

Soon Ju began taking his own risks by sharing the Gospel with his family and extended relatives. In just three years, Ju led over 20 families to Jesus and the group met together regularly to worship in secret.

Bo and Annie began covertly bringing members of Ju’s underground church into China for intensive three-week Bible training and discipleship sessions. During the sessions, the new believers would memorize dozens of Bible verses. Many wrote the most critical elements of their lessons on small pieces of paper. On returning to North Korea, the papers were hidden in deep recesses of clothing so they would not be discovered should anyone be captured. These pieces of paper became precious spiritual food for the other church members awaiting their return.

» Read full story, which came from the ministry of Global Advance.

Source: Business as Mission, May 10, 2016

Kingdom Business Community (KBC) is a network for Christian business people in Indonesia. Describing itself as a marketplace ministry movement with “business as mission” concerns, it is one of the largest networks of mission-focused business people in the world.

KBC began in 2005 with six business friends from the same church who dreamed of catalyzing transformation on a national level through the practice of business. Ten years later, KBC has trained thousands of business people and hosts 30 training camps each year in five different regions around the country.

» Read full story. See also another story from Indonesia on this site, Muslim Village Transformed through Prayer, Business People, and Owls.

Source: Preemptive Love Coalition, April 27, 2016

We had never met our Muslim hosts prior to visiting their suburban mosque. We had never met the pastors who chose to accompany us, either. We had no idea how the discussion would go.

One thing we’ve learned in our years of waging peace: talking with someone is always better than talking about them. So with the help of our friends at Peace Catalyst, we reached out to a Denver-area mosque. Without hesitation, the imam invited us to come—and to bring as many Christian leaders as we could.

We would later learn that our host, Imam ShemsAdeen, has a history of leaning into conversations like these, offering generous hospitality and welcome to anyone who is willing to engage.

On our ride to the Islamic center, we took a quick survey. Most of us (including myself) had never set foot inside a mosque before. Most of us did not have a single Muslim friend. In other words, we are a lot like our fellow Americans—nearly two thirds of whom do not know a Muslim personally.

» Read about what happened.

» See also The Muslim in My Attic (TallSkinnyKiwi). Next week’s Missions Catalyst will review a new book about this kind of peacemaking.