In This Issue: Spiritual Hunger in Hungary
- HUNGARY: Growing Spiritual Hunger
- ALGERIA: Christians Defy Order
- SYRIA: Conference for Women
- PAKISTAN: A Sleeping Giant
- ISRAEL: Messianic Jew Shares Jesus with Arab Youth
Missions Catalyst is a free, weekly electronic digest of mission news and resources designed to inspire and equip Christians worldwide for global ministry. Use it to fuel your prayers, find tips and opportunities, and stay in touch with how God is building his kingdom all over the world. Please forward it freely!
Greetings!
I like to think that Missions Catalyst provides perspectives you don’t get elsewhere. Missionaries on the ground often give a whole different narrative than the nightly soundbites.
I’m concerned about the reports I’m receiving from Sudan about events unfolding as I type, but I’m also encouraged reports from other parts of the world.
This week’s line-up includes a different perspective on “post-Christian Europe” and good news from Pakistan and Syria!
Enjoy!
Pat
HUNGARY: Growing Spiritual Hunger
Source: J. Lee Grady, Charisma, June 8, 2011
Blind eyes opening … in Europe? Three-hour worship sessions … in Europe? Churches filled with teenagers and young adults … in Europe? It’s all happening in Hungary, a nation that borders seven other European countries – and could affect them all. I’m not writing off this region. What I saw this week in Hungary was enough to convince me that a new spiritual trend has begun.
Europe is often described as post-Christian, and some people have already given up on the continent. We’ve heard discouraging statistics about mosques replacing churches in England. We know about dismal numbers of churchgoers in Germany and France. Some people assume that the region that gave us the Protestant Reformation is now a spiritual wasteland.
I saw encouraging signs of spiritual life everywhere I went in Hungary, from Budapest and Vác in the west to the cities of Miskolc and Debrecen in the east.
>> Full story.
>> Get a feel for what God is doing in Hungary through a five-minute video showing 1,300 young people in the public square (YouTube). Listen to the lyrics (especially around the four-minute mark. Click “show more” for the author and lyrics). These young dancers have a message for the youth of the Arab Spring!
ALGERIA: Christians Defy Order
Source: ASSIST News, June 11, 2011
[A] church was given 48 hours to shut its doors on April 23. The pastor presented documents to the local police department, but the police commissioner said the documents were not sufficient proof to operate the church. Still, the church continues to meet each week.
Nonetheless, when Sunday morning services rolled around on May 29, the notification was not enough to persuade churches in Béjaia to shut their doors. “Here we are, Lord, to praise thy name!” sang a hundred worshipers before Pastor Nordin stepped to the pulpit to read Psalm 23, reminding the congregation of God’s faithfulness even in hardship.
“We did not understand the decision of the [governor],” a church member told La Dépêche de Kabylie. “We worship out of conviction. We are not afraid, because we did nothing wrong. We were never forced to choose Jesus, but we did so voluntarily. Whatever the circumstances, we will continue to say: We are here to praise your name, Lord.”
>> Full story with pictures.
>> Pray for the influence of this Solidarity Statement (Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land).
SYRIA: Conference for Women
Source: Open Doors, June 9, 2011
All the eyes are focused on Mariam. Calmly, she teaches on the subject “Shattered Dreams and a New Vision.” The 90 women are very attentive; many of them take notes while Mariam speaks.
Mariam has a pleasant style, and she speaks in a way that is understandable for everyone, whatever their background. Not only are the women from different countries but also from different generations – young women hardly 20 years old and elderly more than 60 years of age. The interactive style of teaching involves all the women gathering in the small groups.
Here the women are able to share intimately about their struggles and joys. “The women have wonderful moments together sharing and discussing various issues,” reports a staff member. “They also sing and worship the Lord at the beginning of all the lessons. The women have made it clear that the conference meets a huge need.”
The first women’s conference was hosted in Damascus, Syria’s capital. Due to the political turmoil in the country, church leaders requested the conference; it was the first one that Open Doors organized there. Women from all different backgrounds attended the conference, including a group of 15 Iraqi and three Sudanese women; the rest were from Syria.
>> Full story. Readers might also be interested in Empowering Women (OM South Africa).
PAKISTAN: A Sleeping Giant
Source: Mission Network News, May 26, 2011
Pakistan’s most recent press in the West has surrounded flooding, Osama bin Laden, blasphemy laws, and terrorism.
Katie Jaye of the International Mission Board says there’s more happening in Pakistan than most of the international community realize.
One of the biggest surprises about the country may be the strength of the church. Jaye says even though Christians only make up what seems like a small percentage of the nation (2%), there are still many believers. And many of them are passionate to reach their country.
“A lot of the people around them – people they work with, live next to, and see every day – haven’t even heard or had the opportunity to know and understand the gospel,” explains Jaye. “So there’s a real heart for that.”
Jaye and others call the Christian population in Pakistan the “sleeping giant.”
>> Full story.
>> Read Pakistan Flood Report 55, a modern “Nehemiah” story (OM International), and listen to Living on the Edge in Pakistan, an interview with Josh White who lived in Peshawar for a year (Compassion Radio).
ISRAEL: Messianic Jew Shares Jesus with Arab Youth
Source: Baptist Press, May 16, 2011
Jay doesn’t have flashbacks, but he does think often about the day he saw a neighborhood of fellow Israelis get gunned down around him. “There were bullets flying over our heads,” he said. “It was intense urban warfare.”
He thinks of the teens who did the shooting and wonders one thing: “What kind of message did they get from those who invested in their lives? What kind of message of anger and hate in their lives made them willing to give themselves to kill and avenge?”
He committed to do everything he could to teach a different message – one of hope and unity in Jesus Christ.
Jay, a Messianic Jew, had for years already spent time reaching across the Jewish-Palestinian divide to train youth leaders in the Palestinian territories. He also had long been committed to building relationships with teens who live there and connecting them with Jewish youth leaders and teens.
>> Full story.
>> Also read A New Palestinian Movement: Young, Networked, Nonviolent (Time).
Pat Noble has been the “news sleuth” for the Missions Catalyst since 2004. In addition to churning out the news, she is working to create a SWARM (Serving World A Regional Mobilizers) in Northern New York using the NorthernChristian.org website. You can connect with her at www.whatsoeverthings.com.
