Category: News Briefs

Source: God Reports, November 1, 2013

It normally takes a lot to move Skúli Barker to tears. But what he witnessed [that] Sunday night in his country…

He’ll be the first to tell you, that simply doesn’t happen in Iceland. “My wife was sobbing next to me,” Skúli said. “And I started to cry. It’s just amazing.”

It started off as a few souls responding at the end of Franklin Graham’s gospel message and before he knew it, throngs were flooding the stage, elbow-to-elbow, hundreds of people packed in, aisles backed up. People wanting to meet Jesus. And willing to say that out loud. Pray that out loud.

Skúli doesn’t want to be overdramatic, mind you, but he’s a native Icelander in his 40s now, and he’s seen the state of Icelandic people when it comes to talking about God or anything spiritual.

“There’s a joke here that we are the ‘frozen chosen,’ ” Skúli said. “But it’s really true. In Iceland, people don’t show their feelings.

“So for Icelanders to come forward to receive Jesus …” Skúli’s voice went silent. His eyes turned red. “It’s just been a real fight here for Christians,” he said. “And this gives us hope.”

» Read full story, or see the original report from the Billy Graham Association, with pictures. The meeting described above was part of a “Festival of Hope” which took place in late September.

Source: Morning Star News, November 5, 2013

Syriac Orthodox Archbishop Selwanos Boutros Alnemeh called it “the most serious and biggest massacre of Christians in Syria in the past two years and a half.”

The October 21 Islamist rebel siege of Sadad, a small town of 15,000 mostly Syriac Orthodox Christians 160 kilometers (95 miles) north of Damascus, left 45 civilians dead, including several women and children. Many were thrown into mass graves, reports the Fides News Agency.

Before Syrian government forces retook Sadad, about 2,500 families had fled and are now living as refugees scattered among the cities of Damascus, Homs, Fayrouza, Zaydal, Maskane, and Al-Fhayle, the archbishop said.

“The churches are damaged and desecrated, deprived of old books and precious furniture. Schools, government buildings, [and] municipal buildings have been destroyed, along with the post office, the hospital, and the clinic,” he told Fides.

» Read full story.

» See also 128-Foot Bronze Jesus Statue Erected in War-torn Syria (Assyrian International News Agency).

Source: Barnabas Aid, November 6, 2013

A 50-member body is amending the 2012 constitution, which was suspended following the removal of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi in July. His Islamist allies had dominated the constitutional assembly and pushed through that code, which threatened basic rights and freedoms and laid the foundations for Egypt to become an Islamic state, against the opposition of liberals and Christians.

A draft of the revised constitution is now being drawn up and has a distinctly more secular character.

Last week, a spokesperson for the constitutional committee said that the majority of members were in favor of absolute religious freedom. His statement followed a debate about whether or not the right should be restricted to the three Abrahamic religions (Islam, Christianity, and Judaism).

The committee also adopted a transitional article that will cancel existing restrictions regulating the building of churches.

» Read full story.

Source: OM News, October 23, 2013

After the September bombings in which hundreds were injured and over 150 lost their lives, OM Pakistan implemented a plan to support those who were particularly in need of help.

A small team visited the area to assess how best to help the community practically and began a series of hospital visits, bringing fruit, listening to the tragic stories of lives damaged by the bombing and praying for individuals.

As the news went out globally of OM Pakistan’s support plan, a number of OM fields pledged financial help, enabling those in the area to begin offering practical help in meeting hospital bills and paying school fees for children.

“We are visiting the people in the hospital every day,” said a team member. “We are praying with them, for them and seeking how we may help them.”

» Read full story.

» See also Scotland Pastor Forgives Mother’s Killer in Pakistan Blasts (BosNewsLife).

Source: OMF Global Chinese Ministries Newsletter, November 2013

One of China’s most admired traditions has been respecting parents and the close ties between family members. Many have thought that the way China cares for elderly parents has better exemplified biblical teaching on respecting one’s father and mother than the treatment often meted out to parents in the nominally Christian West. However, it seems this good tradition is fast disappearing.

Neglect of elderly parents has now become so common in China that the government has enacted a new law forcing children to regularly visit and care for their parents. “Family members who live apart from their parents should visit often or send their regards to their parents,” states the new Elderly Protection Law which came into force on July 1 this year. Anyone “neglecting the elderly” can now face court action.

Many Chinese churches have formal programs to honor their elderly members and give them financial aid. Many more help informally in myriad ways. They set an encouraging example in a society which has become increasingly unconcerned with the elderly.

» Read full story.

Source: Baptist Press News, November 5, 2013

He was 14 years old when he was kicked out of his country. Now 36, Rasaili spent 18 years in a Nepali refugee camp, after being forced to leave Bhutan.

Today, Rasaili is one of 70,000 Bhutanese refugees resettled in the USA within the last four years. And he, like many Bhutanese, has found a freedom in Christ that he could not have imagined before he left his homeland.

From a Hindu background, Rasaili has seen Jesus work in miraculous ways through the healing of his wife Pabitra. He believed in Jesus because of this experience.

“I have a heart to do something in the kingdom of God,” Rasaili said. “My wife and I have a burden to change our community for Christ – even go as a missionary to Nepal, India, and Bhutan.”

He now serves as associate pastor of First Agape Baptist Church, one of five Bhutanese churches in the Atlanta area.

First Agape began in 2010, starting with two Bhutanese families. Just this year, he sent a Bhutanese couple to plant a church in Kansas City, Missouri, and he organizes groups of Bhutanese leaders throughout the Midwest and eastern United States.

Last year, First Agape trained 38 pastors, elders, deacons, and Sunday School teachers, all committed to planting Bhutanese churches all over the USA. This year, they expect 50 people from 22 states.

» Read full story, and watch a brief video about Dharnal.

» See also J. D. Payne’s recent post on planting ethnic churches in the USA (Missiologically Thinking).

In This Issue: A human chain in Pakistan

• PAKISTAN: Human Chain Formed to Protect Church
• NORTH KOREA: Huge Massacre? 
• MONGOLIA: A Miraculous Moving of God’s Spirit
• WORLD: More People Have Cell Phones than Electricity
• RUSSIA: Also at a Crossroads

Source: The Christian Post, October 8, 2013

Between 200-300 Pakistani Muslims and Christians united and gathered to make a human chain around a church in Lahore, Pakistan’s second largest city on Sunday [October 6].

Just two weeks after a church bombing killed more than 100 people in Peshawar, the human chain, organized by the citizen group “Pakistan for All,” is part of the movement’s goal to raise awareness about minority rights and concerns.

“Well the terrorists showed us what they do on Sundays. Here we are showing them what we do on Sundays. We unite,” Pakistan for All organizer Mohammad Jibran Nasir told The Express Tribune.

Mufti Mohammed Farooq opened the event by reading several passages from the Quran that called for tolerance of other beliefs, while Father Nasir Gulfam, who had just preached the church’s Sunday service, stood by his side before they took hold of each other’s hands, modeling their message.

» Read full story.

» Readers might be interested in another story from The Christian Post, this one from the U.S.: Muslim-Born Man Testifies, ‘I’ve Never Seen This Type of Love Before’ After Church Unites to Save His Local Business.

Source: ASSIST News, October 13, 2013

Some 20,000 prisoners of conscience [have disappeared] from North Korea’s Camp 22, a massive concentration camp.

According to a story by Robert Park published in Forbes and the Chicago Tribune, the camp was geographically larger than Los Angeles and thought to have once held between 30,000 to 50,000 prisoners.

Satellite photographs indicate that guard posts, interrogation and detention facilities at the camp had been razed last year. By that time, those accused and exploited had been reduced to about 3,000.

While an estimated seven to eight thousand prisoners are believed by some observers to have been taken away at night via train, the rest remain unaccounted for.

On the basis of testimony from former camp guards Ahn Myong-chol and Kwon Hyuk, worldwide attention has been focused on the horrors which took place daily at Camp 22 – a literal killing field.

In an August report, David Hawk of the Washington D.C.-based Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) commented on Camp 22’s rapid depopulation, “If even remotely accurate, this is an atrocity requiring much closer investigation.”

» Read full story.

Source: Mobile Mission Forum

While over 96% of the world’s population has access to a cell phone, 1.5 billion people do not have access to electricity. In the Third World, 79% of the people have no electricity. Yes, they can talk on their phones while they carry water jugs home. So what is the best way to reach these people for Christ? Their mobile device.

The Mobile Ministry Forum (MMF) Consultation at the Wycliffe Bible Translator Headquarters on December 9-11, 2013, in Orlando, FL, is the key gathering for people interested in learning how to use mobile technology for ministry outreach. This three-day conference includes TED-style presentations, discussions, ministry field reports, workshop breakouts, and networking time. The call is to anyone using mobile technology in a ministry context, creating apps or content, or anyone interested in starting a mobile ministry.

The Mobile Ministry Forum (MMF) is a coalition of ministries working towards the goal of giving every unreached person a chance to encounter Christ and his kingdom in a compelling, contextualized fashion through their personal mobile device by 2020. Ministries include Biola University, Campus Crusade for Christ, Christian Broadcasting Network, Cyber Missions, International Mission Board, and Wycliffe Bible Translators.