Category: News Briefs

Source: American Bible Society, July 22, 2020

American Bible Society released its tenth annual State of the Bible report [July 22], which shows cultural trends in the US regarding spirituality and Scripture engagement.

“Despite nearly every individual in the US having access to the Bible, engagement has decreased. That’s been a consistent trend over the past few years, and the trend has accelerated since January 2020 throughout the pandemic,” said American Bible Society president and CEO, Robert Briggs.

The study shows a direct correlation between increased Scripture engagement and those efforts typically organized by a church, including mentorship programs and small group Bible studies. Church closures due to COVID-19 are therefore likely contributing to decreased rates of Scripture engagement.

» Read full story or download the report.

» See also a related story, State of the Bible: Left Unread During the Coronavirus Pandemic (Religion News Service).

Source: Operation Mobilization, July 13, 2020

One night, Peter and his friends were looting in the mines for copper when Peter heard the sound of a gun. Bang! While running away from the police, he felt something hit his back and dropped to the ground unconscious. Awakening in the hospital, the first thing the doctor said was: “You will never walk again.” The bullet had traveled along Peter’s spinal cord and exited under his arm, very close to the heart. The doctor didn’t think Peter would live long.

Paralyzed and lying on his hospital bed, Peter believed his life was shattered. He wondered how he could carry on his life if he had a disability, especially due to the crimes he had committed. “I was full of regret and sorrow,” Peter recalled of his first few days in the hospital.

An evangelist visited the hospital and shared the love of God with Peter, though it took a while for the message to sink in. “I thought I was too bad to receive God’s love and there was no hope in my life,” said Peter. The evangelist did not give up though and constantly visited, explaining to Peter how people were all influenced by sin and that that was the reason why Jesus had come to earth. “Jesus came to save and seek the lost like me,” Peter explained, sharing how God opened his heart to the reality that Jesus loved him.

Receiving the love of God into his heart, Peter was overjoyed by the newfound hope and felt an indescribable peace for the first time in his life. His journey with Jesus started right at the hospital as he could not keep his faith to himself and began sharing the good news with other patients.

Three months in the hospital changed Peter from a man in total despair to a champion for God’s love. The doctor admitted Peter’s life was a miracle; though he could only slowly drag his legs, Peter was able to walk. Being released from the hospital was just the start of his new life. Everything had changed!

» Full story has pictures and describes how Peter came to lead a ministry to children with disabilities.

A ministry team in West Africa is meeting the needs of truck drivers and sharing scripture with them. See story below (International Mission Board). This edition of News Briefs features stories from Africa.

In this edition:

1. WEST AFRICA: Gospel Spreads Among Truck Drivers
2. SUDAN: Apostasy Law Abolished
3. TANZANIA: Wild, True Story from COVID-19
4. GHANA: 20 New Disciple-Making Groups Start During COVID-19
5. BURMA: Testimonies from Karen Christians

Source: International Mission Board, June 17, 2020

In West Africa, truck driving is a dangerous and stressful job. Drivers face job insecurity, the threat of being robbed, extortion from corrupt policemen, and cultural and linguistic barriers as they cross through borders taking imports from the coast to landlocked countries farther east.

So when Christians offered to pray for Ahmed one day as he prepared to leave the port and transport his next load, he didn’t mind, even though he was Muslim. As he continued on his route though, he was amazed that the police never harassed him, just as the Christians had prayed.

The next time he saw the believers at the port a few months later, he gathered a group of his friends and went over to them. The last time, the Christians asked him if he’d listen to a story, but he’d been in a hurry to leave. Now, he wanted to know more.

“God answered their prayer,” he told the whole group. “Now, we’re going to listen to their story.”

Each time Ahmed returned to the port, he found the believers and asked to hear another story. As the months passed, he understood his sin and his need for a Savior, and he put his faith in Christ.

» Full story includes more about this strategic and compassionate ministry to truck drivers as well as photos and a video.

» Readers might also be interested in a brief analysis of movements to Christ in Muslim societies (Justin Long).

Source: Jubilee Campaign, July 2020

On July 12 it was announced that the government of Sudan has taken action to restore human rights and religious freedom for its citizens by eliminating discriminatory alcohol restrictions, abolishing apostasy laws, criminalizing female genital mutilation and cutting, and granting women travel rights. Justice Minister Nasredeen Abdulbari stated of the landmark decisions, “we [will] drop all the laws violating the human rights in Sudan.”

These fundamental changes by the Sudanese government were made with the ratification of the Miscellaneous Amendments Act, and its most commendable achievement is the abolition of the discriminatory and problematic portion of the nation’s criminal code Article 126 which, according to Library of Congress, states that “any Muslim who declares publicly that he/she has adopted any religion other than Islam commits the crime of apostasy and is punishable with the death penalty.”

In 2014, BBC News reported on the sentencing death of pregnant Sudanese Christian woman Meriam Yehya Ibrahim, who was told by the presiding judge that she had only three days to renounce Christianity and return to Islam if she wished to be acquitted. She was also sentenced to 100 lashes for marrying a Christian man. After numerous condemnations by international human rights NGOs, Ibrahim was acquitted of her charges and her case was ultimately dropped.

The abolition of Sudan’s apostasy laws under the temporary government ensures that no individual ever again has to go through the accusations, harassment, and tribulations that Meriam had gone through though she committed no crime other than being a devout Christian.

» Read full story.

» Also read about a recent update on religious freedom in Yemen, where the news is not so positive (Open Doors via Mission Network News).

Source: Timothy Two Project International, April 22, 2020

We have been trying to connect with all our key pastor friends in Africa. [One] sent this news back to me. This story is the wildest, [most] miraculous story I have heard. This is directly from his mouth and he is a faithful man, so I know that this is true.

This pastor went from Tanzania into Congo to do ministry in March. By the time he returned to the city, he found out that the borders had all closed [due to COVID-19] and he could not return home. He had little money so was not sure what he could do. A Christian family allowed him to sleep in their basement, which was musty and resulted in making him sick. We were worried about him so sent to him $100, which is a decent amount of money there. He said that God used me to “save his life.”

“After receiving that money, I talked to a certain captain of a locally made boat. I gave him that money to help me get back to Tanzania. On Tuesday, the man put me in a sack as luggage. He threw me in a boat [and] the soldiers didn’t notice. The boat left Congo port with other sacks. We traveled from Tuesday to Friday while I was in a sack. On Thursday, the boat got storms because of the wind. On Friday midnight, we reached Lake Tanganyika’s shore. They opened that sack at the top and they threw me in a forest. I got out [and] walked one day and half in a forest, then I reached in Kigoma town. On Saturday night I reached my hometown. I have made the story short, but I faced many dangers that threatened my life. I thank God I’m now in Tanzania.”

“What God did was a miracle. He saved my life. Thank you for contacting me and for allowing God to use you.”

» Read full story and pray for brothers and sisters who continue to both suffer and serve the suffering during this time of shutdowns, shortages, and sickness.

» We read another wild story from East Africa, this one about a man in Ethiopia who was raised from the dead after a Christian prayed for him, resulting in 25 witnesses following Jesus (Great Commission Ministry Ethiopia, a ministry of Cru, via God Reports).

Source: OneWay Ministries (email), July 17, 2020

With the Jesus Film Campaign and other large outreach events on hold, OneWay Africa’s Joshua G. recently began a disciple-making group among the unreached Mamprusi people. The group multiplied rapidly and has now become 20 groups with three generations and counting. “The members are vibrant, growing in their faith and reaching out to Muslims, idol worshipers, and more.” Praise the Lord!

» Also from OneWay Ministries, read Audio Bibles Fuel a Movement to Christ in Ghana.

Source: Asia Harvest Ministries, June 2020

My name is Samuel, and I have served as a pastor among my people since 1993. Long ago, when I went to Bible school, I had my own Bible, but during the war, Burmese soldiers came to our village and we had to run for our lives, leaving our possessions behind. Since that time, I have served the Lord without a Bible.

I later moved, but there wasn’t a single Bible in the whole village. Three years later, the church was able to obtain one Bible, but it fell apart from overuse. The Word of God was so rare and precious that the believers decided no one could touch the Bible except me. It had to remain in the church, and I could not take it home, for fear that I might lose it and they would again be without God’s precious Word.

On January 1, 1999, we started asking the Lord to provide us with our own Bibles. Now, after your workers visited, our hearts are overwhelmed with joy and gratitude! Not only did you provide one Bible for every family in our village, but they were completely free! Hallelujah!

Just one month after your visit, our church members were studying their Bibles every day, and great changes came to our village. People are now full of the joy of the Lord, they have stopped smoking and drinking, and they love one another. When I walk through the village, I hear people reading God’s Word aloud and singing praises. Our meetings have overflowed, and our church building cannot hold everyone. We have been so blessed by God that I feel like we now live in a heavenly village!

» Full article has more testimonies, photos, and background on the Karen.

In this edition: Stories & Statistics

1. WORLD: Where Do Missionaries Go?
2. BANGLADESH: A Flower Jesus Made Bloom
3. PAKISTAN: Couple Appeals Death Sentence for Alleged Blasphemy
4. IRAN: Virtual Church Faces New Opposition
5. MIDDLE EAST: Confessions of a Bible Smuggler

Greetings,

I’m finding it harder and harder to trust any statistics related to COVID-19. To reignite my confidence in stats, I turned to missiologist Justin Long. See below for his article on the nuances of counting how many missionaries work among the unreached.

Justin also mentioned the new UNHCR report on Forcibly Displaced People (refugees, etc.). It has great infographics to help you wrap your head around the data, and the five-minute video at the top of the page is beautifully done.

All these great resources reminded me of this graphic showing how the Bible is a single, great narrative.

Blessings,
Pat

Source: Justin Long, June 3, 2020

I frequently teach Lesson 9 of Perspectives [see lesson summary]. Whenever I do, one feature of the session that is often done, either at the beginning or at the middle break, is the “Worldview Demonstration.” This presentation attempts to show people the world’s population, the breakdown of religions, and how many of the world’s missionaries and the world’s mission money goes to the “more reached” vs. the “less reached.”

Inevitably, I often get asked how old the statistics are, and whether they have been updated. And the answer is, “fairly old” and “sort of.”

It takes a significant amount of time and personal relationships to attempt to gather any sort of credible estimate of missionary numbers per country. Maintaining them over time—that is, looking for trends and ebbs and flows in missionary information—is even more difficult. Fortunately, we have two good, recent sources, both from the Center for the Study of Global Christianity. One is the 2010 Atlas of Global Christianity and the other is the latest World Christian Encyclopedia.

In the latest WCE, the total number of missionary workers globally is estimated at 425,000 (this includes all traditions).

But the real question we want to get to is “What percentage of these workers are laboring among the unreached?” And that’s where it gets even stickier… [But] here is what you wanted all along:

Globally: 425,000 missionaries

• Total in World A countries: 11,940 (3%)
• Total in World B countries: 87,000 (20%)
• Total in World C countries: 326,060 (77%)

Based on this we can note 77% of the missionary work force is almost certainly not focused on the unreached. 23% of the workforce is in places where “unreached” and “evangelized” peoples are largely found, but the workforce focused on the really difficult, most unreached peoples is probably not more than 3% of all missionaries.

» Read the short essay with regional breakdowns, definition of terms, and explanation of challenges. While there, check out other research and writing from Justin Long.

» Last week’s Missions Catalyst Resource Review mentioned a new app to help would-be missionaries (from the US?) find a sending agency. If that’s you, see also the matching service MissionNext.