Category: News Briefs

Source: Christian Headlines, September 4, 2020

If you open up your doors to a house church in Iran, then your home could be frequently raided and monitored. And if you do happen to go to prison, the prison situation there is appalling.

Despite these issues, Christianity Today reports the Iranian church has grown to around 1 million members. This is according to a survey by GAMAAN, a research group based out of the Netherlands. The survey asked 50,000 Iranians what their belief was. 90% of those surveyed live in Iran.

According to the survey, 1.5% of Iranians are Christians. Extrapolating that out yields a minimum of 750,000 Iranian Christians, but there are also 117,500 Armenian and Assyrian Christians living in the country, putting the actual baseline closer to 867,500 Christians at minimum.

However, Christianity Today reports the survey itself states there are “without doubt in the order of magnitude of several hundreds of thousands and growing beyond a million” Christians in the country.

» Read full story or see the piece it’s based on in Christianity Today.

Source: Mission Network News, September 14, 2020

In a newly released video, two ex-soldiers from Myanmar confess to the mass killing and rape of Rohingya Muslims. It’s the first time anyone from Myanmar’s military acknowledged a campaign of violence targeting this people group, CNN reports.

Since 2012, armed attacks have forced between 800,000 and one million Rohingya refugees into neighboring Bangladesh. Vincent Michael of Forgotten Missionaries International (FMI) says they’re helping local pastors reach these refugees for Christ.

“A big part of working with Bangladeshis is to encourage them to be visionary, to go into places where we can’t go, and to take those opportunities instead of being scared of them,” Michael says.

Poverty presents a challenge to this mission. More people live below the global poverty line in Bangladesh than anywhere else in South Asia. Instead of seeing Rohingya refugees as people who need Christ and compassion, some Bangladeshis view them as competition for scarce resources. FMI offered Bangladeshi pastors a different outlook during a recent training session.

“We made a slideshow of pictures that painted the Rohingya in a more ‘accurate’ light. We showed pictures of Rohingya children crying because they were starving [and] of the bread lines. We showed some of the UN efforts to help in the area,” Michael describes.

“I started seeing a change [during] the conference. When we did that vision casting session, and we showed some of the needs that are in those camps, a large majority of the pastors would say, ‘we’d like to see if we could help; or, at the very least, bring these prayer concerns back to our people.’”

» Read full story.

Source: World Watch Monitor, September 10,  2020

The Eritrean government has released on bail more than 20 prisoners who’d been in detention for years because of their faith, the BBC reports.

A regional spokesperson for charity Open Doors International said that, for some time, it had heard discussion that prisoners might be freed on bail due to the coronavirus pandemic (as has happened in several other countries) but could not independently confirm the reports: “If true, this could be quite significant.”

In May 2019, a monitoring group for the UN said “thousands” of Christians are facing detention as “religious freedom continue[s] to be denied in Eritrea” and questioned why the UN was not monitoring the situation more closely.

In June 2019, Reuters reported that more than 500,000 refugees worldwide have left Eritrea, up from 486,200 a year earlier.

» Read full story includes details on additional incidents related to religious liberty and persecution.

» See also 27 Christians Released from Prison in Eritrea (Christian Today), which includes an estimate that the number of incarcerated Christians is a little over 300, including 39 children. The BBC report cites a US State Department estimate that there are 1,200 to 3,000 prisoners of faith in Eritrea. Not sure why the numbers vary so widely.

» The recent peace deal in neighboring Sudan included an agreement by the transitional government to remove Islam as the state religion and abolish the death penalty for leaving Islam (Open Doors).

Source: Operation Mobilization, September 8, 2020

“When the virus spread to Africa, I had the choice to leave for Canada, but I am thankful that I chose to remain in Zambia,” explained Larissa [a Canadian serving with OM]. “God has used my team in a really special way to continue reaching out to ladies in Zambia and other locations across Africa.”

To help prevent the spread of COVID-19, almost everything in Zambia, where Larissa works to empower and equip women, came to standstill as lockdowns restricted movement and wearing a face mask became mandatory while interacting with people. Instead of Larissa and her team being restricted, however, they found an opportunity to express love to others by sewing affordable face masks. “Our vision didn’t change—we still wanted to empower women—but our focus for this time had to change,” commented Larissa.

Sewing as many as 7,000 masks within a few weeks, the effort provided not only a reprieve for people who faced the stark choice of whether to spend their meager earnings on expensive masks or face a jail term for not wearing one but also an income stream for the women training as tailors who are often the breadwinners of their family.

“As often in developing countries, the life of a woman is not easy,” observed Larissa. “Women are often uneducated and illiterate and therefore struggle to generate any form of income.

“Our vision is to see women empowered, freed from physical and spiritual oppression and become vibrant followers of Jesus.”

» Read full story.

» Want more stories about showing effective compassion in challenging times? Read about the ministries in the US (mostly) that won the annual Hope Awards from World Magazine.

1. LEBANON: The Church Steps up in Beirut
2. WORLD: Bible Translated into 700th Language
3. SLOVAKIA: Inside the Roma Revival
4. NORTH KOREA: Christians Suffer Under COVID-19
5. SUDAN: An End to War?

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Source: Mission Network News, August 20, 2020

Lebanon is still recovering from the massive explosion in the port of Beirut that shattered windows around the city and killed hundreds [on August 4].

Pierre Houssney of Horizons International says many Lebanese are ashamed of the way their government has failed to respond in any way to the explosion. “But we could not be prouder of the Church, because churches almost instantly hit the ground.”

These churches, who have already been helping Syrian refugees in the country for years, immediately sent out teams to help clean up and distribute medical supplies and humanitarian aid. Houssney says, “The volunteers are touching the lives of these people, serving these people, and helping them clean up the broken glass. They pray with people and give out meals and sandwiches and medical aid. It’s incredibly impactful and glorifying to Jesus.”

» Read full story and another from MNN, Lebanon Turns 100 in the Midst of Crisis, Catastrophe.

» You might also want to watch a beautiful tribute to the city of Beirut recorded by Assyrian Christian singer Ilona Danho (h/t Joel News) or read about the country’s spike in COVID-19 cases since the explosion (International Rescue Committee).

Source: Wycliffe Bible Translators UK, August 28, 2020

A new milestone has been reached as the Bible has been translated into its 700th language. The milestone is indicative of the acceleration that is happening in the work of Bible translation—to the extent that it is impossible to state which translation was actually the 700th, as there were several launches of physical Bibles, as well as several being made available online and via apps, all at about the same time.

James Poole, Executive Director of Wycliffe Bible Translators, says, “It’s good to take a step back and realize what this 700th Bible means: 5.7 billion people who speak 700 languages now have the Bible in the language that speaks to them best. That is a remarkable figure and continues to grow. However, there are still about 1.5 billion people—that’s roughly 1 in 5—who do not have the Bible in their language. That’s an injustice that Bible translation teams worldwide continue to work to put right.”

» Full story describes some of the most recently completed translations.

» Bible translation has often been the task of decades. See Yom Bible Published After Almost 70 Years (SIM International), and read the incredible story of the Tibetan Bible (Asia Harvest).

Source: Assemblies of God World Mission, August 26, 2020

Across Slovakia’s countryside, castles have dominated the landscape for a thousand years, boasting of power, wealth, and luxury. At their feet, sleepy villages rest in lush valleys. Small chapels marked by crosses and images of saints dot the roads, reminders of long-ago days when medieval travelers stopped to rest and pray.

Beyond the mountains, a complex tale has been playing out for decades. It is the story of the Roma people—the “gypsies.” Deeply marginalized by larger society, the Roma have suffered greatly. Yet for 20 years, an unprecedented revival has been growing among Slovakia’s Roma. Church leaders and members alike agree: Only God could bring this about.

Roma who are touched by the revival in Slovakia are now moving across Europe seeking better opportunities for their families. They carry Jesus with them, spreading revival fires wherever they go.

“To see revival is hard work,” [says a Roma church leader]. “But we are seeing its fruit—and the blessings of God—and in that there is great joy. We do not wait for the broken to come to us. We go find them. Revival must first be in us. Its fire must be in our hearts. Pray this for us: We need more servants to come help us. Many villages are crying out to us for help in terrible situations, and we do not have enough people to send. They call and we do not have enough people to answer.”

» Full story describes a pattern of life transformation among Roma who come to Christ.

» Want to learn more? A few years ago, Mission Frontiers magazine had a whole issue focused on the Roma.

Source: Open Doors, August 28, 2020

The “ghost disease.” That’s what North Koreans call COVID-19. “People can be sick without knowing it,” [said] Brother Simon, Open Doors’ coordinator for ministry among North Koreans. “They are usually malnourished already. Then suddenly, they die quickly. Some even just fall dead on the ground. It’s an invisible killer.”

“The central government and local authorities are very fearful of the spread of coronavirus. The only thing they can do is impose lockdowns. Many marketplaces are closed down, even though the population is completely dependent on the black markets. But even if [the markets were] open, there’s little food you can buy. And prices have quadrupled. It will cost you multiple months’ salary to buy a kilo of rice. The border with China is closed, which prevents most trade and smuggling activities.”

2020 has been a very difficult year for North Koreans, according to secret Christians who have shared with Brother Simon’s team and contacts. “It’s not just the coronavirus, the lockdowns, the little food, and the unaffordable prices that [affect] the people,” Brother Simon says. “They have also seen heavy rainfall, mudslides, and now a heat wave. North Koreans are really suffering this year.”

» Full story includes context and prayer requests.

Source: International Christian Concern, September 1, 2020

On Monday, August 31, the transitional government of Sudan and five of the country’s main rebel groups have agreed and initialed a peace agreement. The signing of this peace agreement means the end of a 17-year-long war that has raged in southern Sudan.

The signing of this agreement and the support of South Sudan [may signal] an end to one of the bloodiest and longest wars in recent African history. The next step forward is for increasing freedoms to reach all citizens in Sudan, including its minority Christian population.

» Read full story and pray for lasting peace. Other news sources suggest reaction to this agreement is mixed.