Day: July 18, 2018

1. EAST ASIA: Exchanging the Good for the Greater
2. CUBA: Seeing Christ in Neighbors and Family Members
3. KYRGYZSTAN: Church of Muslim Converts Told to Close
4. SIERRA LEONE: Now Sending Missionaries to Europe
5. MAURITANIA: Death Sentence Compulsory for Blasphemy
6. WEST AFRICA: Key of the Kingdom

See a father’s love for his child displayed in this sweet short film, Delight (The Jesus Film). How does this remind you of God’s love for his children?

Today’s news briefs deal with challenges and breakthroughs for the Church around the world. As you read them, remember the Father’s loving presence with us in every situation.

 

Source: Beyond, July 1, 2018

Recently I returned from a training in a large East Asian country. The 16 trainees were leaders of various discovery Bible groups started over the past year.

Previously, they belonged to a growing church in the city. They had recently come to a startling revelation: the more their church grew numerically, the fewer disciples they had been making. Their focus on excellent preaching had failed to produce real lifestyle changes in their members. Additionally, they found as the church grew, they had fewer new believers attending. Their desire to grow numerically was actually making them less effective as a church.

In a bold move, the church leaders decided to once again meet in small groups. They trained their leaders in the discovery Bible group process and ensured that all their members attended a small group. Shortly after they made this decision, government officials demanded they shut down their large Sunday meeting. A few months previous, this decision could have been disastrous, but these leaders saw God’s hand in the timing of these events. They decided that it was God’s will. They would not seek another meeting place for their large meeting. Instead, they would continue with the new discovery study groups, as house churches.

Pray that God will continue to equip leaders like these as they regroup to examine the real purpose of the church. Is it to grow the church in numbers or to develop disciples who develop other disciples?

» Read full story.

» On July 27, Justin Long, Beyond’s Director of Global Research, will present a webinar about events and trends impacting mission to the unreached. The US$25 registration includes both an invitation to the webinar and a recording of it, so even if you can’t make the webinar you can still watch it and get the slides. He plans to do this once a quarter.

Source: Mission Network News, July 11, 2018

In Cuba, people are coming to Christ after witnessing the faith of their neighbors and family members.

Helen Williams of World Missionary Press says, “People are coming to recognize Jesus Christ as the only way, through his Word and the quiet testimony of the believers there.”

When Williams says “quiet testimony” she means that Christians in Cuba rely heavily on their individual testimonies, shared by word of mouth and by the way they live their lives, to witness to others.

“I just want to encourage our listeners to know that the Word is there, it is being shared, and that even in a country where there are restrictions or concerns or whatever, the Word is working. People are coming to the Lord and making it public. And we just want to praise God for that, it was just a wonderful report from Cuba of what the Lord is doing.”

» Full story mentions literature distribution and ways believers are working together, turning from idolatry, and more.

» Cuba has been experiencing revival for several decades. We continue to pray for Cuba’s Christians, especially those who are part of the 10 churches that lost their pastors in a plane crash in May.

Source: World Watch Monitor, July 4, 2018

A church in Kyrgyzstan [that includes] many former Muslims has been ordered to cease its Sunday worship. A local source told World Watch Monitor that services at the church, which is led by a convert from Islam, have been interrupted twice in the last few months by a group of people consisting of local officials, representatives of the Prosecutor’s office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, assistants to the local imam, and former colleagues from the school at which the pastor used to teach.

The church has for more than a decade been led by Pastor Miran. The leadership of the school where he worked threatened to fire him after they learned of his conversion and his role as a church leader. He was also accused of child abuse by the school and jailed for six months. The source said the church felt the allegation was only leveled against him because of his conversion.

Since his release, Pastor Miran, a father of five, has been unable to find paid work. According to the World Watch Monitor’s source, local Muslims say of him: “If Miran could betray his ‘native pure Islam,’ maybe he could do other bad things too.”

» Read full story.

» See also Hopes Dashed for Release of Pastor Andrew Brunson as Turkish Trial to Continue in October.

Source: God Reports, June 29, 2018

To many observers, it appeared foolhardy to send such a fruitful worker to such a hopeless nation. But Pastor Harold Warner didn’t flinch when he launched firebrand African-American preacher Alvin Smith into Sierra Leone in 1989. He had heard from God. And nearly three decades later, the results are dumbfounding.

The original church in Freetown has exploded to 80 churches. The nation that once was classified as the second poorest in the world now has planted churches in Liberia, Guinea, Gambia, Senegal, Togo, Benin, Congo, Burkina Faso, and Ivory Coast. Pastor Desmond Bell, from Sierra Leone, is now a missionary in Marseille, France. They have even sent three missionaries to Europe.

“To take people, to take young men and women from one of the poorest countries in the world and (for God to) say, ‘I’m going to shape and I’m going to fashion them because they are going to accomplish my purpose not only in their own nation but also beyond the boundaries,’ is one of the greatest privileges of life,” says Warner in a 2018 conference video. “I just sit back and chuckle because this has to be God.”

» Read full story.

Source: Global Christian News, June 15, 2018

The Mauritanian government has now passed into law amendments to the criminal code making the death penalty mandatory for anyone convicted of “blasphemous speech” or “sacrilegious acts.” The changes also do away with the option for those found guilty to “repent” and avoid the death penalty.

The amendments to the criminal code put in place a sentence of two years’ imprisonment and a fine of 600,000 Ouguiyas (around £12,000) for “offending public indecency and Islamic values.” They were passed into law by country’s National Assembly on April 27, 2018.

The Mauritanian government last carried out an execution for blasphemy in 1987. A Muslim blogger, tried in 2014, was the most recent person to be convicted. However, his death sentence was downgraded to two years in prison. The announcement of plans to amend the criminal code came in November, days after it was made public that the blogger would be freed after serving his sentence.

The Islamic Republic of Mauritania is almost entirely Muslim, although there are a small number of predominantly expatriate Christians.

» Read full story.

» Stories like this are discouraging, but see also How Malaysia and North Korea Inspire Us to Pray Impossible Prayers (Open Doors).

Source: SIM Australia, June 25, 2018

A West African woman stood up at an annual church meeting in March. The woman testified that she had stood in the same meeting last year to ask for prayer for her husband’s salvation. He often beat her for following Christ. However, this time she stood to give an update.

A few months earlier, the woman testified, she had told him she wanted to attend a week-long church meeting. Her husband was livid. A whole week? Who would cook his food? Clean his house? She should focus on the majority religion of the region and forget church. He beat her severely—again. Nearly all Christian women converts in this region are illiterate. Many make these meetings a priority to ask Bible questions because they cannot read or obtain a Bible on their own.

This Christian woman was determined to go to the church meeting regardless of her husband’s violence. Still enraged, he locked up the house as soon as she left, declaring to the neighbors that his wife would never enter his home again. To make his point, he threw the key into the river as he headed to his girlfriend’s house for the week.

The woman enjoyed the Christian conference and returned home on Friday, stopping by the local market. She planned to have a hearty meal ready for her husband when he came home from Friday prayers. She had no idea that her husband had already locked her out of her home for good. Arriving home, she was puzzled that the house was locked up tight. She needed to start preparing the meal, so she borrowed a pot from her neighbor and began to clean the fish.

When she cut open the fish, a key fell out of its belly. Puzzled, she examined it and remarked to her neighbor that the key looked similar to her own house key. Her neighbor urged her to try it in the lock, and it worked! She opened up the house, cleaned it, and got her husband’s supper ready to wait for him…

» Read full story.