News Briefs – Page 162 – Missions Catalyst

BURUNDI: Amazing Fruit

Source: Simon Guillebaud, September 3, 2013

Editor’s note: We have reported several times on the ministry of Great Lakes Outreach in Burundi. August 3-17, they were part of an effort that sent out 761 evangelists in 42 teams around the country. The summary below is from their partner Onesphore, founder of Harvest for Christ.

39,753 people were reached with the gospel, of whom 18,218 gave their lives to Christ. Numbers are down (!) a little on previous years because we didn’t preach exclusively but also did service projects
60 Muslims and 28 witchdoctors were among the converts
171 people were healed from regular sicknesses
15 paralytics walked
15 blind people recovered their sight
8 deaf/mute people heard/spoke again
20 demon-possessed people were delivered
55 separated couples were reconciled and brought together
8 divided families were reunited

“Zacharie is a young man whom witchdoctors said had been poisoned by his dad. So for the last twenty years, the two had been enemies, and Zacharie had tried many times to kill his father. By May 2013, Zacharie had become mad, and was living in caves. When our evangelists arrived, he tried to beat them, but they refused to be cowed, instead praying for him. After an hour of such prayers, he was miraculously healed. Immediately he was filled with love for his father and went off to find him. The village heard about it, came to see what had happened, and fifty of them gave their lives to Christ. His mum, who had divorced his dad, came and was reconciled with her ex-husband.

“In an area steeped in witchcraft, the team felt it best not to preach for the first week but to simply to serve the community in any way possible. They came to a big witchdoctor and offered to work in his field and cultivate for him. He was blown away after a few hours and allowed them to share why they were doing it. On the spot he and his family repented. He publicly burnt all his charms, whereupon 30 other people gave their lives to Christ too. When our team left, many came to see them off in tears.”

» See full story with picture.

Missions Catalyst 9.18.13 – World News Briefs

In This Issue: A time of shaking, a time of rejoicing

Greetings!

“The world is experiencing an unusual period of shaking,” writes Richard Swenson, one of my favorite analysts of world events. “There is a volatility and soft-anarchy across the globe, and nowhere do we find a center that is holding.” Hear what he has to say about Syria at Swenson Trends.

In this time of “shaking,” God is also sending his ambassadors to teach the world rejoicing. See stories below of singing in Kosovo and North Africa and wedding parties as a means to share the Good News. Apparently God is not worried about the state of events.

Rejoice in the Lord…always,

Pat

About Us

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!

Pat Noble has been the “news sleuth” for 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.

CANADA: Move In – Can It Get Any Simpler Than This?

The Word became flesh and moved into the neighborhood. John 1:14

Source: Tentmaking Briefs, September 2013

MoveInners, in a nutshell, are people who decide to move into neighborhoods deemed a “no-go zone” for 99.9% of Christians. Even the police dread to enter these areas of our major cities. Calling 911 [emergency services] may be futile as too often no one will come.

Move-inners are mostly young “Generation Y” couples and singles deliberately moving into low income, crime-ridden neighborhoods, to integrate themselves with the people who have little choice on where to live. These areas are made up largely of recent immigrants from the so-called unreached areas of the world.

» Full story here. See also an interview with the founder of this Canadian ministry on 100 Huntley Street, then watch an eight-minute video with highlights from the wedding celebration he and his bride threw for some 1200 neighbors.

KOSOVO: Singing for Soul Healing

Source: Meredith Moench, OM News, September 13, 2013

“You know, we’re still not healed from wartime here in Kosova. We’re still not really laughing,” said 19-year-old “Nora.” We’re sitting in a crowded cafeteria of teenagers. Nora seems undistracted.

Two nights before, Nora stood in that same cafeteria and stunned the room as she sang for the Arts Camp Student Talent Show. Her voice was strong as a diamond, precise on the highest notes, piercing. She closed her eyes as she stood at the microphone and let her voice do the work.

OM arts camp director “Malachi” hoped to create a special space for young Kosovar artists to develop their art forms. In a country lacking artistic support and development, Malachi’s vision is to break cultural and religious barriers with the God-given power of the arts.

Through a spiritual reflection each morning, he turned the students’ gaze inward, and pointed them to their need to know the greatest artist of all: their Creator. Each evening the students and teachers were mutually given the dignity of sharing their art form through performance, and experiencing God’s presence in the creative expression of others.

For Nora, it was singing that sparked her opportunity to attend camp. “Music is really helping me. It’s like it brings peace and joy deep inside a person. I want to heal people, because when people are hurt they do bad things. By healing people we can make things better,” she paused.

“I know that I’m not healed yet, but this camp has started to help me. It’s difficult to forgive. I haven’t forgiven the Serbs yet,” said Nora. “But I choose the way of God; I choose the way of healing.”

» Read full story. Several other recent stories from OM also highlight the power of music to touch hearts. See Dance for France and Singing Tourists.

AFGHANISTAN: Authorities Call for Death of Christian Converts

Source: Mission Network News, September 16, 2013

According to a report originally published by Mohabat News, Afghanistan’s leaders are calling for the death of Christian converts.

“Numerous Afghans have become Christians in India. This is an offense to Islamic Laws and, according to the Quran, they need to be executed,” stated the Afghanistan Member of Parliament, Nazir Ahmad Hanafi, in a published report.

The number of people coming to Christ from Muslim backgrounds is reportedly increasing. Most Muslim-background believers have fled to India for safety; a growing church established in Delhi reportedly has around 250 members.

Afghanistan’s Parliament has addressed this issue on separate occasions over the past few months. One MP, Abdul Latif Pedram, said that “conversions to Christianity are the result of the presence of the United States in Afghanistan.” He feels the conversion of Afghans in India is part of the US’s longer-term plan to alter the country’s culture and religion.

» Read full story.

» See also Afghan Church Grows in Delhi (Matters India).

YEMEN: A Mustard Seed

Source: Wazala, a ministry of SAT-7, August 6, 2013

In his moving account of years serving as a chaplain in the port of Aden, Yemen: Heartbreak and Hope, Peter Crooks recalls a series of conversations that reveal God’s undercover Spirit at work in members of this strongly Islamic society.

“Omar [leaned] forward in the chair opposite me. His hands were loosely clasped and he had a scarf wrapped around his head. He had at least two days of stubble on his chin. He spoke very slowly and deliberately in English, and his dark eyes were fixed intently on my own. ‘Will you baptize us?’ he asked searchingly.

“I had had a hunch that this was where the conversation with he and his friend Mustafa was headed. I hesitated briefly and replied cautiously that to do so might prove a dangerous and costly step for us all. ‘We have read the Bible,’ he responded. ‘We have studied the words of Jesus. He talked about the cross. We are ready to take up the cross. Do not stop us.'”

“I thought about that meeting with the two men and their burning question when, a week later, we were invited to attend a reception on a French naval warship … an unlikely but congenial setting for the lively conversation that unexpectedly opened up on board between myself and senior members of Aden’s security and police services, who had also been invited to the reception, about Yemeni Christians.

“‘Are there many Yemeni Christians?’ came the first question.

“‘Yes,’ I replied. No one asked me how many, and I would have been hard pressed to give a figure if I had been asked to. If I had been, I would have ventured several hundred at least, and it could well be several thousand.

“‘Where are they?’ asked another officer.

“‘Everywhere,’ I said.”

» Full story.

MOROCCO: Christian Jailed for “Shaking the Faith of a Muslim”

Source: Worthy News, September 12, 2013

A Moroccan Christian has been fined and jailed for “shaking the faith of a Muslim.”

Spreading Christianity is prohibited under Article 220 of the Moroccan Penal Code; the maximum sentence for this offense is three to six months’ imprisonment, but in a September hearing, Mohamed el Baldi was convicted and sentenced to two and a half years.

Baldi was arrested after his house was raided on August 28 and all his religious belongings were confiscated, according to World Watch Monitor.

Baldi, who converted to Christianity almost seven years ago, confessed that he attended Christian meetings in the towns of Meknes and Rabat.

During his hearing, Baldi’s mother was said to have asked Allah to exact revenge on whoever tampered with her son’s mind.

» Full story here.

Missions Catalyst 9.4.13 – Special Edition

In This Issue: Special Edition on Egypt

Dear Readers,

This week we bring you a special edition. The two opinion pieces below, from Answering Islam and Operation Mobilization, offer different angles on the situation in Egypt and its spiritual implications. May they help you pray!

See also John Piper’s meditation on Isaiah 19, What God Says to Egypt, and the Windows International Network article, The Lord Will Bring Egypt from the Brink of Self-destruction.

Quotable:

In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together.

In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.”

Isaiah 19:23-25

About Us

Are Diabolic Forces Undermining Egypt?

Source: Roland Clarke, Answering Islam, August 2013

Egypt is embroiled in its worst crisis in thirty years. What does all this bloodshed mean? It seems significant numbers of Egyptians have woken up to the fact that their aspirations for freedom have been hijacked by radical religionists.

Under Morsi’s sharia-driven regime, Muslims attacked churches and Christians with impunity. Not only so, no sooner did the military start disbanding obstinate camps of protesters than a series of attacks broke out against Christians. Within a week, six dozen churches were burned, vandalized, or attacked. Morsi’s supporters also attacked several dozen Christian schools, businesses, and institutions. Among these were two Bible Society shops which were completely destroyed.

During this same period of rage, an article was published online showing pictures of Islamists vandalizing a church (This Is What It Looks Like Just Before the Muslim Brotherhood Jumps You). What makes this incident so astonishing is that it evoked a backlash within the Muslim Brotherhood ranks and caused them to deep embarrassment.

[Another article,] Egyptian Churches Burn as the Muslim Brotherhood Shows its True Face, quotes a Twitter statement by the Brotherhood spokesman, Gehad El-Haddad: “We will always be non-violent and peaceful… Our peacefulness is our strength and we will never be dragged into violence. We unequivocally reject all forms of violence/vandalism.” However, the burning and looting of dozens of churches [tells] a different story.

On August 16, I received a letter from an evangelical church leader in Egypt that voiced similar concerns. Speaking as an insider, he gives a very different picture to reports in the mainstream media.

“I speak with absolute certainty when I say that, for the vast majority of Egyptians, the military are finally doing what the people have been asking – this is not part of a military coup but rather a restoration of control to the majority of Egyptian people. Although the huge number of mortalities is both tragic and regrettable, they could have been avoided, had the MB (Muslim Brotherhood) entered into peaceful productive dialogue with the transitional government, as the military so often invited them to over the past six weeks.”

[In Understanding the Present Situation in Egypt, another respected Egyptian leader, Ramez Atallah (General Secretary for The Bible Society of Egypt), confirms what my friend wrote:

“Many of us involved in Christian ministry in Egypt are appalled at the misunderstandings about the situation in Egypt being propagated by even normally balanced international media like the BBC, and the way it has, in general, portrayed the Muslim Brotherhood as the victims of injustice…

“In November 2012, he [Morsi] illegally gave himself new sweeping powers to act without censure and rushed through a new pro-Islamic constitution despite the protests and boycotts from liberals, moderate Muslims, and Christians, and then he refused to call for new elections – as had previously been agreed to do after a new constitution had been adopted.”

It seems that more and more peace-loving Muslims feel anguish and deep embarrassment at the never-ending atrocities (as well as pervasive deceit) perpetrated in the name of Allah. The bloodshed in Egypt and Syria – indeed, across the Muslim world – is causing many Muslims to feel disillusioned and to yearn for real peace.

» Full story here.

» Feel free to ask Roland Clarke any questions related to this article. You may also be interested in these articles he mentions: Egyptian Ambassador: ‘It Became Necessary to Finish This Thing Today’, Muslim Brotherhood Kills Its Own, and Inside Egypt’s Terrorist Camps: Torture, Rape, Mass Murder.

Egypt: Breaking the Fear Barrier!

Source: Debbie Meroff, OM News, August 18, 2013

A lot more is happening in Egypt these days than is apparent on our nightly news. A Christian worker on the ground in Cairo, whom we will call John Nyalls to protect his security, reports a groundswell of excitement among the Christian population who are involved in reaching Muslims. He declares, “One year of Morsi’s government has done more to advance Christianity in Egypt than all the decades before it.”

Media attention to Muslim Brotherhood demonstrations gives the impression that this group is much bigger than it actually is. John estimates that only about one-half to one percent of the population are avid pro-Brotherhood and up to five percent may be ultra-conservative Islamists. But after Morsi failed in his promise to represent all the people rather than the Islamist faction and [passed] an Islamist-favored constitution, the vast majority of Egyptians made it clear they’d had enough.

So unpopular is the Muslim Brotherhood these days, observes John, that many shopkeepers are refusing to serve men with long beards (the usual Brotherhood trademark), and taxi drivers are refusing to pick them up. Some Muslims have shaved off their beards in self-defense.

Christians – especially young people from the churches – have become proactive, handing out thousands of copies of Bibles, New Testaments, [copies] of the JESUS Film, and other material. Very few Arabic Bibles are refused. Believers add that they’ve even observed some covered Muslim women, after receiving Bibles, lift the book to their lips in a reverent kiss.

It hasn’t all been easy for the Christian population, however. Ultra-conservative Muslims have retaliated against what they called Christian support for Morsi’s removal. A number of attacks have been launched against churches and Christians, particularly those who live in Brotherhood strongholds.

“Now,” says John, “the wolf – the Brotherhood – is no longer pretending to be a sheep. Members are now unbridled in going after churches and Christians. And this is turning more moderate Muslims against them.”

He pointed out the astonishing fact that tens of thousands of Bibles are being downloaded each month in the Muslim world. The website aljazeera.net published an interview with Ahmad Al Qataan, an important Islamic cleric, who said that every year six million Muslims convert to Christianity. Unfortunately, most disillusioned Muslims will turn to atheism rather than Christianity unless more people seize the day. John reports that Christian Egyptians who have been reaching out are coming across a significant enough number of atheists; they are feeling the need for specific training on how to reach them.

» Full story here.