Category: News Briefs

Source: The Alliance for the Unreached, May 14, 2021

On May 23, 2021, the Alliance for the Unreached, a nonprofit collective made up of 50+ organizations, is inviting people across the US to join a Facebook Live event at 1:11 pm (in each US time zone). This event will kick off the 1:11 Prayer Challenge, which is part of the “A Third of Us” movement. A Third of Us raises awareness for the one third of all people still without access to the Bible, the Church, and other believers.

Throughout the day on May 23, the Alliance will release exclusive video chats with David Platt, Francis Chan, and others, offering a more personal look at this issue.

During the 1:11 Prayer Challenge, participants will be asked to pause at 1:11 pm each day for 33 days to pray for the “third of us” who have no access to the message of Jesus. The Alliance for the Unreached chose May 23 to kick off the challenge because it is the International Day for the Unreached, recognized each year on Pentecost Sunday.

Learn more or download prayer materials and an action guide. You can also follow A Third of Us on social media e.g., instagram.com/athirdofus.

Source: ASSIST News Service, May 18, 2021

Since lockdown began last year Calvary Temple Church in Hyderabad, with more than 330,000 members, has distributed 700 tons of food supplies to families in desperate need. Now, as India is in the grip of a devastating second wave, their church building has been converted into a 300-bed COVID Care Center.

“We admit anyone who knock on our door regardless of caste, creed, race and religion we admit them,” Calvary Temple Pastor Dr. P. Satish Kumar told the Global News Alliance (click link for video).

“And we try to provide needed treatment. The response has been tremendous. They believe they are in God’s presence, in God’s temple. Most of the people pray here and then seek God’s help and encourage each other. And it has been a wonderful experience in showing the love of Christ to all these needy ones.”

“God is love and God is expecting us to show His love in action. We don’t convert people but we direct people to the One who created them so that they will find a way and find peace and happiness.”

Read the full story.

See also an inspiring story from Haiti about servant leaders changing their nation, working through churches (Development Associates International).

Source: International Mission Board, May 12, 2021

[Jay and Kathy] Shafto are reaching seven people groups in the Congo Basin without Scripture through the Kikwit Oral Bible Storying Project. Among these people groups are the Ngongo. There are approximately 200,000 Ngongo language speakers and no written Bible in their language. The Kikwit Oral Bible Storying Project is a two-to-three-year project with the end goal of equipping believers with the ability to share Bible stories in their heart language.

The Shaftos and their partners in the Congo Basin will host three to four workshops each year for the Kikwit Project. Each workshop is two weeks long and ends with believers from each specific people group professionally recording the 35-40 Bible stories they learned in their heart language. The believers then share these stories with others.

Orality is key in sharing the gospel, said the Shaftos. They have witnessed the impact of people in the Congo Basin hearing the gospel in story form in their own language.

“While there are churches in the Ngongo region, many of the Ngongo haven’t heard the gospel in their own language,” said Jay. “We are seeing phenomenal results within the Ngongo churches and among the Ngongo simply because they are able to hear the gospel in their own language and context.”

The full story includes a short video.

From another part of Africa, read about a Ugandan pastor killed after leading 14 people to Christ following a public debate on Islam and Christianity (Morning Star News).

Source: Open Doors, May 5, 2021

Growing up as a strict Muslim in Iran, Taher always felt like there was something more—something he was missing in his life. But it wasn’t until his youngest daughter, Farah, became deathly ill with stomach issues that things dramatically changed.

Taher and Donya took Farah to many Muslim leaders for prayer and healing, but nothing helped. Desperate to see their 10-year-old daughter survive, Donya asked some Christian friends she knew to pray for Farah. They met together, and these believers put their hands on her daughter as they prayed. Shortly after this special gathering, God miraculously healed Farah. After this moment, Donya left Islam to follow Jesus, but Taher still wasn’t convinced. “I was looking for mistakes to prove to my wife that the path she took was wrong,” Taher shares.

As time went on, Taher let other Christians into their home. “After a while, I decided to participate in one of their services in order to find mistakes in their beliefs. I wanted to find flaws in their character and point them out to my wife and forbid her to go to these gatherings,” Taher says.

But during one of these unique worship times in his home, something surprising happened. Taher said a small prayer before he confronted the believers in the room. “I said to myself: ‘Jesus, if you are real, you should touch me today.’”

A few moments later, one of the Christians asked Taher if they could pray for him. He agreed and they gathered around him.

That moment forever changed his life.

Read the full story and watch the nine-minute video “I Surrender All: A Family’s Impossible Choice in Iran” to learn more.

Source: Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin, May 11, 2021

On April 25, armed rebels in Papua’s Puncak Regency shot and killed a leading Indonesian Intelligence official. Indonesian President Joko Widodo immediately called for retaliation and had Papuan armed criminal groups (KKB) designated “terrorists,” a label used to justify extreme measures. Among the hundreds of extra troops being deployed to Papua is the 400-strong elite Infantry 315/Garuda Battalion which earned its nickname “Satan’s Forces” while fighting in East Timor.

Internet and telecommunication services have been disrupted and the region’s indigenous, predominately Christian Papuans are fleeing into the jungle and bracing yet again for a new wave of state terror designed to silence dissent and crush hope. Please pray.

The full report includes lots of links and analysis as well as prayer points.

Source: Pioneers USA, May 15, 2021

A group of Christians and Muslims drops down into one of the longest slot canyons in the world, at the start of a week-long, 50-mile hike together. They eat, sleep, climb, laugh and argue, all while hiking through an ice-cold river in a 1,000-foot canyon. The goal: to survive, build relationships and seek God together.

Watch the video.

Source: SEND International, April 2021

Among the Buryat in Siberia, it’s the older generation that’s coming to Christ.

“In the Buryat culture, elders have authority over the young,” explains Daniella, who worked among the Buryat for 12 years. “If a young guy is the first one in the family to become a believer, he will be mocked. But if grandma and great aunt and uncle become believers, the younger ones will pay attention. That’s what God is doing now! There are lots of elderly believers, and they are very active in evangelizing others.”

In 2013, Daniella and three others started a music group to help their Russian church feel more welcoming to Buryat. “There is a misconception that you have to become Russian to be a Christian,” Daniella said. “We wanted to show that this is not the case!”

But most of the songs at that time, even if they were performed on Buryat instruments, contained lyrics translated from other cultures. The Buryat needed their own songs, in their heart language, to connect with the influential older generation. In 2018, the Praise Workshop was born, to write, perform and distribute these songs.

The Praise Workshop singers and its children’s choir have now recorded six music videos, releasing them on YouTube and social media channels, where they’ve been viewed more than 25,000 times, mainly by people in Russia and Mongolia.

You can worship with the Buryat! Read the full story and follow links to music videos.

Source: Open Doors, April 29, 2021

North Korean refugee Seojun grows emotional as he remembers the hardship of growing up during North Korea’s “Great Famine” in the 1990s. He shares how he roamed the countryside foraging for vegetables, often going hungry.

A new report by the United Nations indicates North Koreans could be facing the same situations Seojun described. The UN released a statement saying that 40 percent of the country’s population (25.8 million) is starving.

While North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has previously told North Koreans to “tighten their belts” and has spoken about the country’s economic difficulties, at the beginning of this month, speaking at a party conference, Kim used words he has not previously uttered publicly to describe the current situation facing North Koreans, including more than an estimated 400,000 underground Christians.

Speaking to his party officials, the 37-year-old leader called on them to “wage another, more difficult ‘Arduous March’ in order to relieve our people of the difficulty, even a little.” The Arduous March refers to the name the people gave the great famine of the 1990s in which 2-3 million people died—a crisis created when the fall of the Soviet Union left North Korea without vital aid.

Full story includes a video in which Seojun, now a pastor in South Korea, remembers the famine of the 1990s, as well as an update on the COVID-19 situation in North Korea.

See also an analysis of the situation from the BBC and a distressing report from World Vision about seven million people at risk of starvation in six countries in East Africa.