Missions Catalyst

Source: World Evangelical Alliance, November 5, 2019

Just days ago, Christians joined in a public protest against the Algerian government for shutting down churches. This is unusual. [Christians in Algeria] usually they work out these matters behind closed doors. But this time it was different. Christians (specifically Protestants/Evangelicals), sufficiently frustrated by the harassment of their government, took to the streets in protest.

Take a moment to watch these bold Christians in their public protest. Then pray. Secondly, help them in their drive to afford the lawful gathering in worship. As you do, you will hear them in Arabic sing this worship song: “How beautiful you are, you are the Holy one, the only one deserving all dignity and authority.”

Their singing was done while standing in front of a government office, in a country where as a minority, they face the power and wrath of a Muslim-majority government.

» Read full story with background information.

» Also read Algeria: Crackdown on Protestant Faith-Churches Sealed; Worshipers Beaten (Human Rights Watch) and, from Ethiopia, a story about an evangelical church shut down and its members arrested in a religiously contested area (World Watch Monitor). In this case, the conflict seems to be between Protestants and Orthodox.

Source: Barnabas Fund, October 29, 2019

Church registrations are increasing in Uzbekistan with three churches validated in September, and up to five more registrations expected to be finalized in October. The first church registration in the autonomous republic of Karakalpakstan, where penalties for Christian worship were previously harsher than in the rest of Uzbekistan, is expected within weeks.

The rise in registrations could signal greater religious freedoms for Christians under President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who was elected into office in the Muslim-majority country in December 2016.

President Mirziyoyev is expected to introduce a new religious law soon, under which the membership requirement for church registration will be lowered from 100 members to 50.

A Barnabas contact said the long-hoped-for registration increase was “hard to believe.” He added that, in some cities, the authorities had even approached pastors to offer to help them navigate the process of proving church buildings meet strict registration requirements. The church registrations were even broadcast on national television in a report featuring an interview with a pastor and footage of a church service.

Before Mirziyoyev’s election, Uzbekistan was known for its harsh treatment of Christians. But within the first year of his leadership, the first 3,000 Uzbek Bibles, partly funded by Barnabas, were sold legally in the country and official celebrations were held to mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. Fines imposed on Christians by the courts were also lower.

» Read full story as well as Christian Wins Landmark Case in Russia Over Right to Worship in Private Homes, also from Barnabas.

» Several of our regular sources published reports about a South Korean pastor killed in Turkey in what may have been a targeted assassination (Mission Network News). See an interesting editorial piece on Recognizing the Phenomenon of Persecution of Christians Globally (Forbes).

Source: Mission Network News, October 17, 2019

A village in Liberia with a gruesome history now has new purpose. Over a century ago, villagers buried six girls alive as a sacrifice for power. They then erected six stones on the sacrificial grounds and worshiped these stones as a symbol of power bought with blood.

”As [a group of evangelists] came along the trail, there was a snake that had been planted on it. It was a big deadly snake. They say if it bites you, you will not live. So, in other words, they had kind of mined the road to get in. It was planted there so that this man wouldn’t be able to bring the gospel into this area.”

A few of the team members accidentally stepped over the snake, thinking it was just another tree root. Miraculously, the snake did not strike.

“When he got to the village, everybody was stunned that he was still alive!…Three days later, the town chief and the villagers accepted Christ and removed all six of the stones that were a memorial for the six girls who had been sacrificed.

“Now the snake is dead, victory was won over Satan, and God’s light will run where the darkness was.”

» Read full story.

» From the other side of Africa (specifically Kenya), read Thirty-Blanket Bride, about a Westerner discovering her faulty perceptions (Thrive).

Source: Various

Recent military action in northern Syria has brought more devastation and displacement. Watch a new video crying out to God for Syria (Prayercast).

Northern Syria is now divided into five zones with leaders are at odds with one another (Al-Monitor) and the region faces a critical water shortage (Syria Direct). Recent violence is taking quite an emotional toll on Christians (Open Doors).

Of course, this has been going on for some time. The Syrian Network for Human Rights recently reported that more than 14,000 people died under torture at the hands of the Syrian regime from 2011 to 2019, while the families of another 130,000 still detained wonder if their loved ones are still alive (The National).

That’s a lot to take in. And against that backdrop, we read this. World Vision asked Syrian refugee children in Lebanon what they are thankful for.

» Read Syrian Refugee Children Find Hope in Thankfulness.

Source: Forum 18, November 14, 2019

Three Protestant pastors given long jail terms in absentia for leading New Life Pentecostal Church in Kazakhstan’s commercial capital Almaty lost their appeal at Almaty City Court on November 1. The three have said they will appeal to Kazakhstan’s Supreme Court in the capital Nur-Sultan.

The pastors were variously accused of founding the Church in 1991 with “criminal intent,” and “by means of the technology of psychological and psychotherapeutic influence with the aim of causing psychological harm to the health and stealing others’ property by means of deception and abuse of trust… with the use of information technologies and methods of turning the victims into a state of changed consciousness (trance).”

The case against the three pastors is “complete drivel,” Yevgeny Zhovtis of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Humants and the Rule of Law commented. “I have read the verdict. It is nonsense.”

The three convicted pastors now live in the United States. Pastor Zaikin told Forum 18 “we still want to return to Kazakhstan.”

Pastor Kryukov says attendance at New Life Church’s various services on an average Sunday in Almaty is currently about 850.

» Full story includes pictures and much more detail.

» Pray for this region with a new Central Asia video from Prayercast.