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Source: Mission Network News, May 9, 2022
Libyan authorities have arrested several young men this year. Their crime? defying Muslim values. Authorities released videos of the young men being forced to confess conspiring with “feminists” and “agnostics.” Others have gone into hiding after facing death threats.
Once a heartland for Christianity, Libya has also become a country known for the persecution of Christians. Sammy, a Libyan Christian, says, “It was a very rich and important part of the first centuries of the Church. But when Islam conquered North Africa, the Church was eradicated from Libya. That was 1,200 years ago now.
“All of that time, there has basically been no indigenous Christian testimony in Libya, with very few known believers.”
He says these believers need support because the persecution is fierce. “It comes from the top of the government, from the ministers from the security apparatus, down to the extreme Muslims that operate in Libya: al-Qaeda and the Salafist movements.”
But a lot of persecution also comes from families, who seek to preserve their honor. Sammy says, “Recently, we had a young kid who was stabbed by his uncle, and only saved by a friend. He was then forced to be a practicing Muslim afterward.”
But now, Christianity has begun to spread again.
You might also appreciate a recent story about women in a North African refugee camp who discovered God’s care for them (Frontiers USA).
From another part of Africa, read about a disciple-making movement in a Zambian prison (Movements blog).
Source: Eternity News, April 29, 2022
“The church filled up with standing room only and there were many more sitting outside under the shade of the trees on blankets as children ran around,” says Louise Sherman, Bible Society Australia’s Production Coordinator [for] Remote & Indigenous Ministry Support who had brought in boxes of freshly printed Bibles for the event.
Just before 4:30pm, a large contingent of local elders carried in the boxes of Bibles to traditional chanting and clapsticks. Women and children danced and did Bible readings as a fire was lighted near the entrance as a symbol of the importance of fire to the Gumatj clan as well as representing the Holy Spirit.
“When it came time for me to open the box and hand out the Bibles, all the translators and their families came down to the front,” Louise says. “As I gave each person the Bible, their faces lit up, and tears of joy could be seen from many—and there was a wonderful sense of unity.”
After the service everyone moved outside for dinner, followed by a rally with preaching and worship music continuing late into the night.
Read the full story, which comes to us from Yirrkala, a community in Australia’s Northern Territory. A beautiful picture of how we might receive the Word of God.
Also from Eternity News, read the testimony of Hadija, a Muslim woman from the Caucasus in Southern Russia who experienced the grace of Jesus, in part through the witness of a Ukrainian Christian.
Source: The Christian Post, May 9, 2022
The Revolutionary Court of Tehran has sentenced an Iranian-Armenian Christian man to ten years in prison for establishing a house church, which the judge called “propaganda contrary to and disturbing to the holy religion of Islam,” according to reports.
[The] Revolutionary Court of Tehran sentenced Anooshavan Avedian, 60, to 10 years of imprisonment, alongside two others who are members of his house church—Abbas Soori, 45, and Maryam Mohammadi, 46—both of whom are converts to Christianity, Human Rights Activists News Agency reported.
Article 18 reported that Soori and Mohammadi received a range of non-custodial punishments, including a fine of about US$2,000 and a ten-year ban from membership in social and political groups as well as a two-year exile outside Tehran. In addition, they must regularly report to the offices of the Ministry of Intelligence. Avedian was also given ten years of “deprivation of social rights.”
They were first arrested in August 2020 when about 30 intelligence agents raided a private gathering at Avedian’s home in Narmak are in northeastern Tehran, but their case came to light only recently. In Tehran’s Evin Prison, the three were subjected to psychological torture during several intense interrogation sessions.
See also No Place For Converts: Iran’s Persecuted Christians Struggle to Keep The Faith (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) and, from neighboring Afghanistan, read about a Christian schoolteacher who fled the country after a ban on educating girls. She brought her students with her (Open Doors).
[More than] 11 million Filipinos are dispersed across 214 nations [with] 2.2 million in the Middle East and North Africa. They’re known as Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), working abroad as nurses, laborers, or in domestic role to support their families back home.
OFWs is a term coined in the 1990s, but Filipino [business and ministry] leaders Andrew and Josephine Ching, together with Philippine Missions Association national director Lalano Badoy, Jr., are redefining the term as “Outstanding Filipino Witnesses.” Haggai has equipped 7,894 Filipino leaders to date, and Andrew, Josephine, and Pastor Badoy have their sights set on expanding this number by strategically equipping OFWs.
“I believe there’s a higher purpose for Filipinos to end gospel poverty. Can you imagine the impact of 2.2 million Filipinos equipped by Haggai leaders?” Andrew asks.
Read the full story. We praise God for how he’s using Filipinos!
Source: Lausanne Movement, May 11, 2022
Every day our phones and televisions are exploding with crises in our communities, countries, and world. As believers, how can we process all this information? As our window on the world grows, how do we make sure our hearts can keep up?
Usha Reifsnider, co-regional director of Lausanne Europe, speaks with Michael du Toit, director of content strategy, about information overload, the war in Ukraine, and how Usha has seen the body of Christ working “in a way I’ve never seen before.”
Watch the 27-minute video or read a much shorter edited transcript. She makes some great points.
Note: Lausanne recently announced they are calling a fourth Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization. It will be held in Seoul, South Korea in September 2024. These are major events; thousands of ministry leaders from every corner of the world will be invited to attend.
