In This Issue: Japan, Mauritania, Eritrea, and More
- JAPAN – ‘Sister Act’ Inspires Black Gospel Choirs
- MAURITANIA – Islamic Extremist Kills US Aid Worker
- NORTH AFRICA – Imams Coming to Christ
- ERITREA – Christians Describe Torture and Imprisonment
- INDIA – Reaching the Toto Tribal People
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!
World News Briefs, edited by Pat Noble, are published twice a month.
JAPAN – ‘Sister Act’ Inspires Black Gospel Choirs
Source: ASSIST News Service, July 8, 2009
Who would have believed that “Sister Act,” the 1992 movie starring Whoopi Goldberg “on the run, disguised as a nun,” would inspire the formation of some 30 Japanese gospel choirs?
And if that wasn’t enough to take in, they are run by Ken Taylor, a Filipino-born former night club entertainer who found Christ and became a musical missionary to Japan.
“Japan is a nation of fads,” said Taylor. “Whether it’s a new pair of shoes or the new fashion sensation, everyone picks it up. … So here were non-Christians in Japan saying that they wanted to sing just like the nuns in the movie. They began taking gospel music lessons.”
There are now 30 of these “black gospel” choirs in Japan.
“These new communities are like a church plant within an existing church. It’s just been a wonderful phenomenon that we’ve been experiencing…We need to understand what God is doing here,” [Taylor] said. “Although this is an American genre that’s hit Japan, this is an indigenous movement born by the Spirit of God in Japan.”
>> Full story with pictures.
>> A documentary about the fusion between Japanese black gospel and traditional wadaiko music is now in production. Watch the teaser.
>> You might also be interested to know that The JESUS Film Project people have been working on a new “version” of the “JESUS” film using (Japanese-inspired) anime.
MAURITANIA – Islamic Extremists Kill US Aid Worker
Source: Compass Direct, June 30, 2009
Christopher Leggett, 39, was killed [June 23] in front of the language and computer school he operated in Nouakchott, the capital city.
A North African al-Qaeda spokesman aired a statement on an Arab TV station saying the group killed Leggett because he was allegedly trying to convert Muslims to Christianity.
His family issued a statement today saying they forgave the murderers but asked that they be caught and prosecuted.
“In a spirit of love, we express our forgiveness for those who took away the life of our remarkable son,” the family said in the statement, distributed in English, French, and Arabic.
“Chris had a deep love for Mauritania and its people, a love that we share. Despite this terrible event, we harbor no ill will for the Mauritanian people. On a spiritual level, we forgive those responsible, asking only that justice be applied against those who killed our son.”
Mauritania’s minister of justice reportedly said that Leggett’s death “was a great loss to Mauritania.”
Leggett, his wife, and four children lived for seven years in Mauritania, where he directed an aid agency that provided training in computer skills, sewing, and literacy, and he also ran a micro-finance program, according to the Cleveland Daily Banner.
>> Full story. His church’s website includes a good picture. Please pray for his family.
>> See also Christians Tense after Murder of Aid Worker (Compass Direct, July 1) and Special Prayer Called for Kidnapped Christians in Yemen (VOM, July 11).
NORTH AFRICA – Imams Coming to Christ
Source: Baptist Press, July 9, 2009
In North Africa, an ex-imam was jailed years ago after becoming a follower of Christ. He led many fellow Muslim inmates to faith, though. The “Christian imam” has been transferred from one prison to another. The same thing happens each time: He starts churches in the prisons.
In another region, an evangelistic team arrived in a Muslim village to show the “JESUS” film. The largest wall in the village was the wall of the mosque, so team members asked the local imam for permission to project the film onto it. He granted their request. That night, after the film was shown, he was the first to respond to the call of Christ. Hundreds followed.
>> Full story.
ERITREA – Christians Describe Torture and Imprisonment
Source: Release International, July 1, 2009
Christians in Eritrea who were tortured and jailed for their faith have given searing accounts of the brutality they faced to Release International, which serves the persecuted church worldwide.
“The government has imprisoned Christians, they are torturing Christians, they are killing Christians,” says Hanibal, a Christian activist who is documenting the persecution in Eritrea. “Christians are treated like animals.”
Another prisoner, Hzkias, was chained and kept in solitary confinement in a tiny pitch-black cell for five months. He said that when he was finally let out, he “looked like another creature. My hair and nails were long. My body color was yellow.”
Other prisoners have described being tortured to try to make them renounce their faith. Their accounts were compiled during a recent fact-finding visit to refugee camps.
>> Full story.
>> See also the organization’s Eritrea country profile and the latest edition of Release Magazine (1.8 Mb PDF), telling the stories of many Eritrean Christians.
INDIA – Reaching the Toto Tribal People
Source: World Christian Ministries, July 9, 2009
The Totos are a small tribe of 1,366 people that lives close to the Bhutan border. They are a ferocious and fighting people, and very proud.
The Nagas sent missionaries to start a work among them. Then the chief heard about it and beat the missionaries terribly, and they fled for their lives.
When I heard that back in 1996, the missionary call rose up within me and I said, “I will go there and meet those people.”
The bus went there only once a day, stayed about 30 minutes, and returned. My intent was to go there, meet them, pray for them, encourage those among them who had believed, and 15 minutes later get back on the bus and return as quickly as possible.
However, I had no sooner walked away from the bus than it left. I was stranded there with these unpredictable, hostile people! I wondered what would happen to me next…
>> Full story with pictures.
>> See also another story from India, 253,206 Baptized in a Single Day! (Window International Network, via Asia Harvest).
Questions, comments, submissions? Contact us.