Missions Catalyst

Source: International Mission Board, October 29, 2020

Casting a long shadow across one of Mexico City’s poorest and most crime-ridden neighborhoods stands a seven-story tall image of Santa Muerte—the Saint of Death. She takes the form of a human skeleton clad in black plastic sheeting with arms outstretched, inviting residents in from the streets to make offerings of flowers, fruit, burned cigarettes, and alcoholic drinks.

Even in a country known for its fascination with death (which is celebrated every November during the Day of the Dead festivities), Santa Muerte seems macabre and gruesome.

The cult of Santa Muerte was popularized by Jonathan Legaría, the ambitious son of a middle-class family in Mexico City, his father a politician and his mother a karaoke bar owner. He had always been fascinated by magic and the occult and convinced many that he had healing powers.

After his violent death in a hail of bullets in 2008, at just 26 years of age, the cult grew rapidly under the organization of his now-deceased mother, Enriqueta Vargas. Indeed, there are now estimated to be more than 10 million followers, not just in Mexico, but across the Americas, with altars to the saint in various cities in the US.

IMB Mexico City missionary, Carlos Llambes, explains the mindset behind the worship of death.

“They think that the only thing in life that is sure is death, so we better be on good terms with her,” Llambe says.

» Read full story with pictures and prayer points.You might also be interested in another article from the IMB, Refugees in Southeast Asia Find Home in Christian Community.

Source: Lausanne Global Analysis, November 2020

On a bustling street corner in a central Queens neighborhood stands a building adorned with Tibetan Buddhist prayer flags, an active Tibetan Buddhist temple. The founder is an immigrant from the Himalayan villages of Nepal who works as a taxi driver. He has American-born grandchildren, and they are just as comfortable catching a subway in New York as they are a motorcycle taxi in Kathmandu. They are residents of this new world, global gateway citizens who have access in one world and influence in another.

Imagine if Christ living in one of us were to meet him here, in his taxi, on a routine drive in the midst our busy schedules. Can one not breathlessly wonder how the Holy Spirit might take hold of not just one heart, but also an entire people group? On behalf of this man, and the unreached people groups, one of which he represents, may I urge you not to sit idly by in a time when the harvest has come to us.

» Full article describes opportunities and challenges for ministry in global gateway cities. Read the overview of LGA’s November Issue.

Source: Mission Network News, October 23, 2020

Egyptian Christians continue to face persecution, and the pressure highlights the need to pray for those suffering.

Oppression has worsened with the pandemic, with believers suffering from everything from unemployment to lack of medical care. Persecution can even become violent. On October 5, Coptic Christians were attacked after an incident at a wedding. Tom Doyle of Uncharted Ministries says incidents like these are tragically normal.

“Christians have to brace themselves for these kinds of attacks, especially when there are public services, spiritual holidays, weddings, or even funerals,” he says.

This persecution makes life even more difficult for people who convert from Islam to Christianity, as those in the Church often don’t know who to trust.

[Doyle] encourages the Church to remember November 18, which will be the first MBB Global Prayer Day. “On November 18, be praying for Muslim background believers who have risked it all—family, jobs, security—to come to faith in Christ.”

» Read full story. Also from Mission Network News, read Religious Persecution Increases Worldwide. It describes how Wycliffe Associates provides communities of believers with printing equipment to print their own Bibles.

Source: Partners International, November 4, 2020

It was a disappointing day. Nita and Martha had not been able to share the gospel with anyone, and they considered returning home as they saw storm clouds approaching, but the Lord had other plans. They decided to visit a village that has embraced Islam for generations. As they were talking with two girls at a food stall, the rain started pouring down.

They ran to find the nearest shelter and ended up on the terrace of the village chief’s house. There they met a woman they had seen earlier before the storm. This woman, Puja, listened intently to the gospel and said she wanted to believe in Jesus, but they were unable to pray at the terrace because other people were around.

By then, the rain had stopped, so they went to Puja’s house where Nita and Martha continued explaining the gospel. They led her to pray, baptized Puja in the river, and then continued teaching her. In the middle of a story from the Book of Acts, one of Puja’s friends, Ratih, arrived at the house and also wanted to hear the gospel, so Nita and Martha started over from the beginning. A little later, one of Puja’s daughters, Ana, a teenager, entered the house and was also interested in hearing the story. They then started the story over again so that Ana could hear the whole redemption story. Both Ratih and Ana believed in the gospel and prayed to accept Jesus. Ana was baptized, and then Nita and Martha continued their story from Acts.

During the story, this time, one of Puja’s relatives, Ade, an 18-year-old, joined them. Nita and Martha then had to pause their story again and share from the beginning so that Ade could hear about salvation through Jesus. Ade believed in the gospel and had to go back to his house to get a change of clothes before being baptized. While he was gone Ana’s younger sister, Kemala, came and listened to the gospel. She too believed and wanted to be baptized as well. Puja, Ratih, Ana, Ade, and Kemala continued to listen to Nita and Marta teach about being one with Jesus, prayed together, and promised to meet together again.

» Read full story.

1. INDIA: Explore Diwali
2. BURKINA FASO: Fulani Pastor Brings Hope
3. AZERBAIJAN: “A Full-Scale War Has Begun” 
4. IRAN: Gospel Has More Power Than COVID-19
5. THAILAND: Christians Rise Above Political Unrest

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Source: Weave Family, November 1, 2020

Every fall, Indian families look forward to Diwali, the biggest holiday of the year. This five-day Hindu festival celebrates the triumph of light over darkness and good over evil. This year, Diwali begins on November 14.

Exploring traditions from other cultures is one way to expand your family’s view of the world and cultivate a heart for the peoples that God loves.

» Full article includes crafts to do with your children. See also 15 Days of Prayer for the Hindu World or How to Shine True Light During Diwali (International Mission Board). Thanks for praying for India!

Diwali photo by Mesh on Unsplash.

Source: World Watch Monitor, October 19, 2020

The disproportionate presence of ethnic Fulani among Islamist militants wreaking havoc in the Sahel and West Africa has led to a stigmatization of the Fulani generally, says a Protestant pastor from Burkina Faso.

“There is not a very good view of the Fulani,” said Adama, himself Fulani and a pastor in central Burkina Faso. “They are regarded as militants taking part in jihadi attacks, causing trouble in the Sahel region. But that is not all that there is to it. Not all Fulani are terrorists and not all terrorists are Fulani. We, the Fulani, are also the image of God and one first needs to see that,” he told World Watch Monitor.

Adama studied theology in the UK but returned to Burkina Faso in 2008 to serve among his own people. “Things are not the same as they were,” he said. “Burkinabe people are under increased pressure. We have got to watch our backs all the time. What we are dealing with is a far more serious challenge than Covid-19.”

As a result of the violence, many churches and schools in these regions have closed and people have fled to other parts of the country.

Pastor Adama has been trying to help those who decided to stay as well as other vulnerable communities. A training center in a village in central Burkina Faso offers skills training and people can take what they have learned back to their villages: “Now many of these villages have shops, restaurants etc.—things they did not have before.” His ministry also organizes quarterly “community health days” in which doctors are invited to visit communities to avoid people having to travel to the nearest city for healthcare.

“In the midst of stigmatization and the terrorism agenda which brings violence, we bring peace and transformation into these communities,” he said.

» Read full story. According to a recent study, Burkina Faso leads the list of countries Americans say they’ve never heard of, at least countries with more than a million people (Statista, via Brigada Today).

» From elsewhere in Africa, read about how Christian broadcasting is offering hope to isolated, unmarried women in Algeria who are trying to live out their faith amid great restrictions (SAT-7).

Source: Open Doors, October 31, 2020.

The violence that erupted in late September has continued and intensified between the two countries with multiple failed ceasefires. “A full-scale war has begun in the region,” reports an Open Doors representative for Central Asia.

“Almost every day several soldiers are killed, Yesterday more than 20 people were killed and 70 injured only from one district. Internet is completely blocked in the country. People can’t connect with anybody, can’t ask for help, can’t report what occurs now.

“All men under 55 in Azerbaijan are not allowed to leave the country, to make sure the army can be quickly mobilized. Young men have already been drafted to fight. We know of at least three believers from one church in Azerbaijan who are on the frontlines.

“The internet is completely blocked in Azerbaijan, and the authorities are not releasing information about victims. “It is prohibited to even mention or ask how many have been killed. Mass media offers no such information and they have no permission to speak about it. Only calls to ‘defend national interests’ are proclaimed from the screens and newspapers to motivate people to go to the war.

“Churches are distributing food to people in need near the front line. Two days ago, a group of believers delivering food missed being hit by a bomb by only 20 minutes. Though it’s very dangerous to serve in this way, churches said that it is also a good opportunity to share the gospel with people near the fighting.

“On the Armenian side, the situation is very similar—believers are fighting in the conflict. While politicians are arguing, civilians are suffering and dying. There are already many refugees from the districts close to the front lines. The situation is very bad and doesn’t show any signs of improving.”

» Full story includes five ways to pray.

Source: FAI Publishing, via God Reports, October 19, 2020

Iran started the year with a bang [says an Iranian brother]. On January 3, [a US airstrike] killed General Solemani. A week later, Iran shot a commercial plane down—and millions of young Iranians filled our streets in protest. Then Iran shot 11 missiles into Iraq—pushing us even closer to the brink of war. Every man in the country waited for the word.

The whole nation spent 40 days in mourning, and right as we came out of that period, COVID-19 slammed—and I mean slammed—into us. As if that wasn’t enough, we had an infestation of locusts in the south, and it wasn’t small. Think biblical proportions. A couple months after that, Tehran experienced a strong earthquake. And then we had over 13 mysterious bombings—and this only catches us up to July!

My nation has upwards of 82 million people in it. COVID-19 hit us early, and hard. All I can say is the figures the Iranian government has reported (450,000 total cases and 26,000 total deaths) are significantly low balling the toll the virus took and is taking.

As soon as the wave of the coronavirus began sweeping across our country, we in the Iranian underground church fasted as a body for 42 days. We needed to hear from God.

As I’ve met with pastors and leaders of the US church through Zoom over the course of the year, everyone is staring slack-jawed at their nation’s social upheaval, civil unrest, and medical crisis of 2020.

I can tell you firsthand after years and years of seeing the gospel take root in the Islamic Republic of Iran: the Holy Spirit will sort the secondary things out. They’re important. They matter. And He’ll give you the power to forgive your enemies. He can heal your land.

» Read full story.

» Also read: Iran’s Covid Death Toll May be Four Times the Government’s Official Tally, Says Top Doctor (NBC News).