Category: News Briefs

Source: International Christian Concern, December 20, 2023

In mid-December, more than 10,000 Christians in Sibu, Sarawak Region celebrated Christmas with a parade organized by the Association of Churches in Sarawak. This follows another significant Christmas caroling event in early December, where nearly 2,500 Kuching Christians and carolers gathered to sing songs, worship God, and celebrate the birth of Christ.

ICC welcomes these peaceful events in Malaysia, a nation where Christians and churches have, over many years, been attacked and persecuted. Christmas can often be a risky time for many Christians around the world.

Read the full story, or this one with lots of pictures: Record-Setting Turnouts in Recent Sarawak Christmas Gatherings (Christianity Malaysia).

Source: Christian Freedom International, December 26, 2023

Terrorists massacred at least 160 people in predominantly Christian areas in central Nigeria on December 24 and 25.

Many of those killed were preparing church Christmas programs. Most were elderly, women, and children who could not escape. [More than] 300 were wounded.

“These terrorists who attacked these Christian communities were in the hundreds, and they carried out the attacks as the hapless Christians were preparing for Christmas programs lined up by their pastors,” Dawzino Mallau told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News.

Local officials in central Plateau state confirmed the massacre. In one area, 113 people were killed in coordinated attacks in at least 20 villages. Hundreds of homes were also destroyed.

Read the full story with prayer points.

See also Christmas Massacres Challenge Secular Explanations of Nigeria Conflict (Christianity Today) and a more encouraging story from West Africa: In Muslim-Dominated North Ghana, Christians See an Explosion of Baptisms (Real Clear Religion).

Source: Religion Unplugged, December 27, 2023

Soon after Aziza Saidova and her husband performed their Islamic wedding ceremony, the pair walked three rounds around a small fire that was lit outside their home before entering it.

This step is something that Zororastrians do before entering homes as a way to ward off any evil. However, Aziza and her husband, who are both Muslim, made it a point to incorporate it into their ceremony. Both from Samarkand, Uzbekistan, a city with a rich history along the Silk Road, they live among generations of Muslims who incorporate Zoroastrian traditions into their daily lives.

The religion has roots in Persia, and followers are spread out in modern day Iran, India, and Central Asia. It was widely practiced in Uzbekistan for years before Arab Muslims conquered the Silk Road in the seventh and eighth centuries. Today, over 90% of the country is Muslim, however Zoroastrianism still has a large influence in the region.

The full story also explores changing attitudes towards faith and tradition.

More from Uzbekistan: Did you know the country is experiencing an energy crisis? Rising fuel prices have renewed interest in an ancient strategy for staying warm (RFE/RL video).

Looks like Prayercast has a new video from Central Asia, this one focused on Uzbekistan’s neighbor Kyrgyzstan. Watch and pray.

Source: Mission Network News, December 10, 2023

A Christian pastor in Bangladesh thought he was being arrested for a dispute with his Muslim family. But it has spiraled into worse charges than he could have imagined.

Tomal is a pastor in Bangladesh [supported by FMI]. He serves two congregations and is the only gospel worker in his area. Four weeks ago, Pastor Tomal was beaten by his father and stepbrother, who then pressed charges against him.

Police arrested Tomal, but after that, things took a turn.

FMI’s Bruce Allen says Tomal’s father and stepbrother reconciled with him, “but he was not released from jail, which was very strange. In the weeks since then, there have been two hearings to see if he’d be granted bail so that at least he could be free and just have to report back to court for a trial date or something like that. But on both those occasions, he was denied bail.”

What Tomal didn’t know is that while he was in jail, another group had filed secret charges against him.

“The council of the local mosque had wanted to put Tomal on trial. They filed some additional complaints with the police, and those were the secret charges. It’s now been disclosed that he’s being charged as a militant activist with ties to a terrorist group and as an activist of the current opposition party of the government.”

FMI says these charges are totally false as Tomal is a Christian pastor with absolutely no political affiliations. His only aim is to support the Church and preach the gospel.

Pastor Tomal is still in jail and awaits the next step in his case. He has a wife and young children who are also worried about him and what this means for their family.

Read the full story.

Source: Pioneers-USA, December 27, 2023

The wars had been going on all his life, so Mahdi fled Sudan for Egypt. And he brought with him questions, questions about why people would kill one another in the name of God. That’s what was happening in Sudan.

Disillusioned with the faith he’d been raised with, Mahdi started looking for a new way.

In a new video, Mahdi and his wife, now living in France, tell their story in their own words. Hear how media outreach made a difference, why Mahdi decided to follow Jesus, and how that led to the launch of more than 50 house churches across Egypt.

Today, as much as 86% of the world’s population has a smartphone. This is a dramatic expansion of access to the internet globally. And 4.88 billion people—almost 61% of the world’s population—are estimated to use social media apps online. Through these means, we can transcend geographical boundaries to reach people like Madhi.

“There are places where people had never heard of Christ who can now hear because of cell phones,” says Mahdi. “And I expect that technology in the future will make it possible to spread the Word of God to everyone across the world—to all the people.”

Read the full story and watch a short video.

Source: Religion News Service, December 20, 2023

The holy city of Varanasi is a place of deep devotion, where pilgrims of the ancient Hindu tradition from around the world travel to worship at the temples that fill every block of the city.

But tucked away on the historic streets is a 100-year-old temple where there are no idols, rituals, or scriptures. This temple is dedicated to the goddess of the nation: Mother India.

Conceived by anti-British freedom fighter Shiv Prasad Gupta in 1918 and built in secret, the temple was inaugurated in 1936 by Mahatma Gandhi, who bore a vision of India as a country for all faiths and races.

But the Bharat Mata Mandir, whose main attraction is a scaled topographic map of pre-partition India, is a uniquely Indian showing of religious patriotism. And its roots in India’s struggle for independence have made it a particularly apt spot for a visit from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who toured the town on Sunday (December 17).

The full story looks at various views on Prime Minister Modi and his government as well as Indian patriotism and identity.

See also another story from RNS, this one about a small Spanish city’s bid to build Europe’s biggest Buddha.

Finally, we came across an interesting story about religion and politics in East Asia. It describes Chinese efforts to influence upcoming elections in Taiwan through the 10 million devotees of the island’s most popular deity, the sea goddess Mazu (Reuters).

Missions Catalyst News Briefs

1. Ukraine: Churches Report New Visitors, Growth, and Baptisms
2. Indonesia: Official Calls Government to Support Christians This Christmas
3. India: Christian-Majority State Welcomes Refugees from Myanmar
4. Uganda: Believers Unite to Translate Scripture in New Languages
5. North Korea: Escaping Family Protected by an Unknown God

Read or share the email edition.

Source: INcontext International, December 6, 2023

In Ukraine, despite warfare continuing throughout 2023, there were reports of people being the hands and feet of Jesus by remaining in danger zones to hand out food parcels, provide shelter to those whose homes were destroyed, and preach the gospel to those without hope in times of suffering and uncertainty.

For the citizens who have chosen to stay in Ukraine, there have been reports of a thriving and multiplying Church.

• In the last three months of 2022 and the beginning of 2023, the Ukrainian Baptist churches reported 2,300 baptisms and 15,000 new visitors.
• One church, in partnership with Samaritan’s Purse, had 40 members after people began to flee, but since February 2022, this church has expanded to more than 600 in a venue that holds only 200.
• This is not an isolated incident as many churches report record numbers of baptisms and new converts.

The hope that is brought by the Ukrainian Church, through relief efforts in such a difficult season, has seen people turning to Christ where hope is difficult to find.

Note: This is an excerpt from a lengthy, year-in-review piece from INcontext exploring how 2023’s crises and challenges have helped the global church continue to grow and mature. Read and be encouraged by ways God is at work amid wars, humanitarian crises, global migration, coups, and geopolitical shifts.

See also the music video You Reign, updated annually to provide a look back on the year’s events through the lens of God’s love and sovereignty (Prayercast).

Source: International Christian Concern, December 12, 2023

An Indonesian official called for regional governments to support Christians who are having difficulty carrying out Christmas services this year.

[The Minister for Human Development and Culture, Muhajir Effendy] emphasized that he wants to prevent discrimination, saying, “Everyone must receive the same service; there must be no discrimination. If you cannot carry out your worship because of difficulties, there are no facilities, the government must provide them under the Ministry of Religion offices in each region.”

Please join us in praying for a safe Christmas for Christians across Indonesia gathering to celebrate our Savior’s birth.

Read the full story.

Another recent story from ICC reports that authorities in Mauritania have arrested many Christian leaders and their families following calls for punishment by Muslims outraged over a baptism video.

Christians in other places may also have “difficulties” gathering, particularly to celebrate Christmas. In Iran, Christmas is a time of terror when believers are frequently arrested (Back to Jerusalem).

Source: Global Christian Relief, December 8, 2023

Mizoram is a Christian-majority state in northeast India [and] 90% of its 1.2 million people identify as Christian. The state shares a 300-mile border with Myanmar [formerly Burma], a country that has been under a strict military regime since 2021. Fleeing the constant violence, many from Myanmar had nowhere to turn. That is until the people of Mizoram opened their borders and welcomed them.

The civil war in Myanmar has been ruthless, with over 30,000 killed and another 2 million displaced. To make matters worse, churches have become soft targets, with 70 being destroyed in one state alone. Citizens had nowhere to escape the violence. But now Mizoram is a sanctuary for refugees.

A local Indian official says an overwhelming majority of the refugees are ethnic Chin Christians.

Read the full story.

See also a video about a revival taking place in Myanmar (Asia Harvest) and read about a Burmese church in the U.S. sending out its first missionaries (IMB).