Source: Open Doors, April 15, 2019
Three years ago, the church in Syria was all but dead. The vicious civil war and invasion by Islamic State militants threatened the very existence of Christianity. But our partners on the ground say the story is changing and continues to transform. God is resurrecting the church in Syria.
Still, becoming a Christian and expressing your faith in the Muslim nation (814,000 Christians out of 18 million people) is a risky choice. If or when their conversion is discovered, new believers could lose their family, friends, their job, even their life.
Recently, we were privileged to be there when a group of young adults from the Alliance Church in the city of Aleppo gathered to worship. Listen and sing along with them as they proclaim, “Christ the Lord is risen today.”
» Read full story and watch the video. You might also be interested in Open Doors’ booklet Rise Up: 40 Days of Prayer for the Middle East (free, but you have to sign up for their mailing list).
Source: INcontext Ministries, April 9, 2019
During the first three months of 2019, hundreds of lives were lost, and hundreds of homes were burned, raising new concerns about the truth behind the violence occurring between Muslim Fulani herdsmen and predominantly Christian Bachama farmers in Nigeria.
In addition to the seemingly countless numbers of people killed, it has been estimated that as many as 300,000 people (mostly Christian farmers) have been displaced from their homes by the violence.
[Some narratives] label the Muslim Fulani attacks against Christian farmers as a “genocide” perpetrated by radicalized Muslims looking to drive Christians from their homes. But even though this might be fully true, it is not the full truth.
» Read more.
» See also Seeking God on the Edge of the Sahara (Pioneers USA).
Source: WEA News, April 14, 2019
The Senior Leadership Team of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) together with several regional Alliance and WEA network leaders attended the Opening Celebration of the AEA Plaza. The 10-story building in Nairobi, Kenya, that will serve as the new headquarters of the Association of Evangelicals in Africa is the fulfilment of a vision and the result of many years of labor. Bp Efraim Tendero, WEA Secretary General, was invited to share remarks at the ceremony and commended the great achievement, saying “Africa, your time has come!”
» Read full story and watch the five-minute video of the Secretary General’s remarks.
» Also read an article that states, “Africa is set to be the global center of Christianity for the next 50 years” (QuartzAfrica).
Source: Christian Headlines, March 21, 2019
“In the West, we often take the Bible for granted, but I recently saw a video … of underground Chinese seminary students receiving their first Bible,” wrote Jeff King, president of International Christian Concern. “When the boxes were opened, they all converged on the box to make sure they got their own copy. Each one then held their Bible, kissed it, and wept. They had finally received the book that gives life!”
The video is at least five years old and shows several dozen Christians in a building opening the box. International Christian Concern said none of the Christians are in danger because of its release. International Christian Concern posted the video on its website and on social media this month as part of its new campaign to raise money for Bibles to be sent to countries where Christianity is either outlawed or severely restricted.
Christians in the US said the video is convicting.
“If only we had the same zeal as these students,” Susan Elise Pearson wrote on International Christian Concern’s Facebook page.
Charity Meyer [added], “How beautiful. It made me realize how much I take reading and holding my Bible for granted and that my life is so easy.”
Satan “knows well that the Bible is the most dangerous book in the world,” King said.
“Everywhere it goes, it smuggles Jesus and his Spirit into the hearts of dead and dying humanity, and exposes Satan and his schemes,” King wrote. “The Bible is, in fact, spiritual fertilizer. Everywhere it goes, life springs up.”
» Read full story and watch the video (less than a minute long).
» See also a video about a small tribe in Northeast India receiving scripture lovingly translated into their language for the first time (Asia Harvest), and read North Korea: More than 100 Underground Churches Planted in 2018 (Cornerstone Ministries via God Reports).
Sources: various, April 2019
This was all over the news, but here are a few pieces we recommend:
» See also, from a ministry colleague, May God Bring Beauty from Ashes in France, which includes scripture and links to other sources (Jen Oshman).
