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Source: International Christian Concern, June 2022
ICC’s team of Washington DC-based analysts spends thousands of hours annually reporting on and analyzing reports from overseas staff and sources. Throughout the year, they also develop in-depth reports on countries with the worst religious freedom records.
This year, ICC has compiled a comprehensive publication of the world’s worst persecutors. This effort is to bring to light what our persecuted brothers and sisters experience in the dark and to shed light on the suffering they endure to live out the faith they have chosen.
No matter your position or playing field, we hope you use this report and information to support the cause of religious freedom.
See who “won,” watch a video presentation, and/or download the complete report (registration required). Much to pray about here.
Source: Forum 18, July 5, 2022
On June 16, Dzhankoi District Court in Russian-occupied Crimea rejected Emir Medzhitov’s appeal against a fine of three weeks’ average local wages for leading Friday prayers in a mosque. His public defender Aider Suleimanov insisted that the prosecution had not proved that Medzhitov had conducted the “missionary activity” for which he was punished. “It turns out that Emir was punished simply for conducting communal prayers,” Suleimanov complained.
Dzhankoi District Prosecutor’s Office official Natalya Tishchenko—who led the case in court—put the phone down when Forum 18 asked why the Prosecutor’s Office had opened a case against Medzhitov at the instigation of Russia’s FSB security service and why he had been prosecuted and punished for exercising freedom of religion or belief.
The full article describes cases affecting both Muslims and Christians persecuted under the Russian law against missionary activity.
Note that the political status of Crimea is disputed.
Elsewhere, in historically tolerant Switzerland, evangelical churches are appealing a ruling against conducting baptisms on Lake Geneva’s public beaches (Evangelical Focus).
Source: Back to Jerusalem, July 11, 2022
Non-Mandarin speakers might not know him as well, but mention the name Jay Chou anywhere in the Chinese world and they are certain to know exactly who he is. Jay Chou is a Chinese singer who has been dubbed “King of Mandopop” and has been shaping the world of Chinese music for years.
At the age of 33, Jay accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior and was baptized in 2012. Now, as an evangelical Christian, his influence is having a massive impact on how an entire generation of Chinese see Christians.
Last week, Jay released a new video called “Greatest Works of Art” on YouTube and immediately garnered 9 million views in just two days.
The viral reception on YouTube is only a small part of the story. YouTube is blocked in China, so most Chinese viewers are not able to see it on that platform. It went even more viral on Chinese platforms, with the hashtag for the album viewed more than 420 million times on Chinese social media and the video gaining 130 million views on Weibo and 14 million views on the streaming platform Bilibili.
Read the full article. Want to watch the music video? Here you go. It’s set in Paris, performed in Mandarin, and subtitled in English.
Source: Voice of the Martyrs, July 13, 2022
A court in Pakistan has sentenced a Christian man to death for blasphemy.
Ashfaq Masih was accused of blasphemy in 2017 after allegedly saying that Jesus Christ was the only true prophet.
In court, he said he was innocent of the charges and that the case against him was “baseless, false and frivolous.” He also claimed that the accusation was made by a rival in an attempt to destroy his motorbike repair business and have him evicted from the property.
His older brother, Mehmood Masih, said the judgment reduced the whole family to tears and that it feels like “the end of the world” for them.
This is the second time in the space of a month that a death sentence has been handed down for blasphemy.
Read the full article or see a report from Jubilee Campaign.
See also The Politics of Blasphemy, a response to a case in Nigeria (Foreign Exchanges).
Source: Christian Aid Mission, June 23, 2022
Church members and community leaders had gathered for prayer following a series of murders in their town in western Kenya when a young man burst in and confessed to raping and killing six young women.
The gathering was part of a three-day prayer event called in response to violence against young women and children.
“As the prayer was going on, this 29-year-old man ran into the meeting and started confessing all the past killings of the six girls that he had killed in the maize plantations,” said the native ministry leader who organized the event. “This man was so confused and possessed by demons, and as we prayed for him, he cried and groaned in pain.”
The local missionaries prayed for deliverance and salvation as the commotion drew more people to the meeting tent—including some bent on lynching the killer and burning his body, the leader said.
“This man was so confused and possessed by demons, and as we prayed for him, he cried and groaned in pain.”
“We called the police, who arrested him for interrogation to find more of his friends who had been committing the killings,” he said. “This man was charged in court, and in court he confessed Christ, saying that he will not kill again and now is born again.”
In the following months, the attacks on young women and children that had terrorized the town came to a stop.
Read the full article. It includes several more stories of transformation.
Source: Christian Headlines, July 5, 2022
According to The Traveling Team data cited by global evangelism ministry East-West, there are about 400,000 Christian missionaries worldwide. Among them, only 3.3 percent are focused on unreached people groups, otherwise identified as UPGs.
“When we say unreached, we’re not just talking about lostness; we’re talking about access. Unreached means that they don’t even have access to hear the gospel. There’s no church, no Christian, no Bible available … God has not just commanded us to make the gospel known among as many people as possible. He has commanded us to make the gospel known among all the peoples,” said pastor David Platt of McClean Bible Church in Washington DC, according to a blog posted to East-West’s website.
The Joshua Project, an organization that tracks evangelism efforts across the globe, states that people groups are categorized as unreached when less than 2 percent of those identify as evangelical Christian and less than 5 percent adhere to any form of Christianity.
While the earth currently has a population of over 7.7 billion people, about 3.2 billion are labeled unreached or least reached.
According to East-West, there are over 700,000 people groups, about 41.7 percent of the total population, labeled unreached.
The ministry also cited multiple reasons as to why these people groups remain unreached, such as physical, political, and cultural barriers.
Read the full article and/or a related article (Christian Post).
These claims and similar ones have been passed around for a while; do you find them helpful?
A few updates: The number of full-time foreign missionaries has increased to about 435,000 (per World Christian Database), plus a much higher number of national workers and who knows how many others could reasonably be counted as “laborers in the harvest.” We’ve not seen a good estimate for the number of tentmakers/BAM practitioners. Any idea? Let us know. Think the percentage focused on unreached would be the same? It may be difficult to measure.
A recent UN report projects world population will reach 8 billion in a few months. That report also says India is on course to surpass China as the most populous nation sometime in 2023. India is home to a larger unreached population than any other country (per Joshua Project). China’s in the top five, too, following Pakistan, Indonesia, and Bangladesh. Of course, unreached people are found in nearly every country—probably including the one you live in.