In this issue:
Day: August 7, 2024
Editor’s Note: Surprising Stories and Strange Reversals
Greetings,
Sometimes a theme or a common thread ties our news briefs together. This edition is a bit different, but I did notice some strange reversals and surprising stories popping up in many sources.
Larger-than-life figures have fallen in Bangladesh. Scroll through these images (The Guardian) and consider their significance when you read about South Asia, the heart of the unreached world (INcontext).
Another battle is taking place on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, where people are fighting over a statue of Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea, and whether that god has a right to the realm of Chaac, the Mayan god of rain (Religion News Service).
Join me in praying for more to turn their eyes to the one who controls not just the seas, rain, or rivers but all the cosmos. Habakkuk wrote of him: “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”
Amen and maranatha!
Pat
Nigeria: Christian Remained in Captivity to Aid Elderly Muslim Woman
Source: Christian Daily, July 29, 2024
A kidnapped Christian in Nigeria declined to be released so he could continue aiding a Muslim captive in her 80s, [said] the elderly woman in a social media video.
The kidnapped woman, Hauwa Adamu Kahutu, is the mother of a well-known singer in Nigeria, Dauda Adamu Kahutu, also known as Rarara. She and the abducted Christian, Bala Timothy, were eventually released on July 17.
“In spite of being a Christian, he helped me in doing almost everything,” Hauwa Kahutu says in a video posted on Facebook by group of Hausa music artists associated with her son. “He brought water for me to do ablution whenever it was time for me to say my Islamic prayers. My eyes were covered and it was difficult for me to pray, but Bala Timothy would assist me during my prayers and other tasks.”
“Bala Timothy, I thank you for being kind to me and helping me survive our ordeal in the hands of our captors,” she says, with her singer son beside her and Bala Timothy shown in a separate screen. “God bless you!”
See the full story with photo.
On another note, see also Nigerians Vow Days of Rage as Hardships Mount (BBC).
Taiwan: Widowed Missionary Returns to the Field as a Single Mom
Source: International Mission Board, July 18, 2024
Every morning when she opens her eyes, Erica Patrick thanks God for life and breath and another day to serve him.
Before her feet hit the floor, she asks him to take control of her day—to fill it with the good works he has ordained for her and to remove the plans that are not from him.
Erica’s daily expression of her dependence on God and a high view of his sovereignty has been cultivated amid seasons of deep grief and loss, mere months apart.
Erica was called to international missions before she met her husband, David, who also wanted to pursue ministry overseas. Together, they served in East Asia and raised their family overseas for almost 16 years before David died unexpectedly in 2020 at age 41.
Erica now serves in Taiwan with her three children. She has many roles—serving alongside the local church, teaching English as a Second Language classes, sharing the gospel, discipling women in leadership and being a mother.
“Yes, I’m a single parent on the field,” Erica said, “but I don’t feel like that’s a disability. It’s the lot the Lord gave us and what he has asked us to walk in for his glory.”
Read the full story to hear how she has learned to rely on the sovereignty of God in hard times.
Also from the IMB, read about Baptists partnering to send Ukrainian missionaries to Brazil.
Japan: Keys to Revival in a Resistant Nation
Source: God Reports, July 31, 2024
Businesswoman Akane Fujimoto had all the success—career, house—but she felt purposeless and empty.
So the nominal Buddhist prayed to the God her mother had received 10 years earlier: “If you really exist, if you really love me for who I am, if you have a purpose for my life, would you please appear or prove it to me?”
”I could feel God hugging me, a deep hug,” Akane says in a Know Christ YouTube video. “I came to repentance for the first time in my life. I couldn’t stop weeping. I realize[d] that everything I was looking for … was there. I experienced love.”
That was 2.5 years ago. Today, Akane has a vision to save all of Japan—a feat reputed to be hard due to the stronghold in the nation that makes the people that makes people resistant. Where others have struggled, Akane is optimistic.
“I heard from other Christian people that sharing the gospel is hard in Japan, but actually it is quite fun,” she says. “They have material things. They are in a comfort zone. You cannot compare [that] to the fullness of Christ.”
Akane says the vaunted Japanese resistance to Christianity consists of pride, worrying what others think, competitiveness, and suspicion of the gospel.
But the very same strongholds of resistance are the keys to revival.
Read the story or watch the 28-minute video it’s based on, also below.
UK: What Are So Many Iranians Doing Here?
Source: Bible Society, July 19, 2024
At a church in the southwest of England, a young Iranian receives an easy-to-read Bible in modern Persian. He can’t believe it. “If they see you holding a Bible like this in Iran,” he says, “they kill you.”
Bible Society is known for international Bible translation and distribution, but the story that inspired its founding 220 years ago involved providing Scriptures within Britain in a non-English language. Today, while Bible Society remains the main publisher of the Scriptures resources in Welsh, multilingual domestic outreach also means putting the Bible in the hands of refugees.
Not everyone is enthusiastic about new arrivals in this country. Increasing numbers in recent years are remarkable at least statistically, and at the General Election, various parties promised they’d make the numbers fall. But for the Church, more people within reach is more to reach, so you’ll find churches at the forefront of welcoming new arrivals—wherever they’ve come from.
What turns visitors into members? It would seem to be the Bible. If refugees are coming for the welcome, they’re staying for the Word.
See also a video from Radical, The Gospel Is in Iran (But Can Christians Survive?) Randall at Frontiers says, “This 20-minute documentary is sobering, but it is also filled with hope. Consider hosting a movie night with your friends or church small group so that you can discuss it and pray for Iran together.”
For news from another part of the Middle East, follow Christian Mission to Gaza. Also read Gospel Opportunities Arise from Widespread Fear in Lebanon (Heart for Lebanon via Mission Network News).