“The church filled up with standing room only and there were many more sitting outside under the shade of the trees on blankets as children ran around,” says Louise Sherman, Bible Society Australia’s Production Coordinator [for] Remote & Indigenous Ministry Support who had brought in boxes of freshly printed Bibles for the event.
Just before 4:30pm, a large contingent of local elders carried in the boxes of Bibles to traditional chanting and clapsticks. Women and children danced and did Bible readings as a fire was lighted near the entrance as a symbol of the importance of fire to the Gumatj clan as well as representing the Holy Spirit.
“When it came time for me to open the box and hand out the Bibles, all the translators and their families came down to the front,” Louise says. “As I gave each person the Bible, their faces lit up, and tears of joy could be seen from many—and there was a wonderful sense of unity.”
After the service everyone moved outside for dinner, followed by a rally with preaching and worship music continuing late into the night.
Also from Eternity News, read the testimony of Hadija, a Muslim woman from the Caucasus in Southern Russia who experienced the grace of Jesus, in part through the witness of a Ukrainian Christian.
The Revolutionary Court of Tehran has sentenced an Iranian-Armenian Christian man to ten years in prison for establishing a house church, which the judge called “propaganda contrary to and disturbing to the holy religion of Islam,” according to reports.
[The] Revolutionary Court of Tehran sentenced Anooshavan Avedian, 60, to 10 years of imprisonment, alongside two others who are members of his house church—Abbas Soori, 45, and Maryam Mohammadi, 46—both of whom are converts to Christianity, Human Rights Activists News Agency reported.
Article 18 reported that Soori and Mohammadi received a range of non-custodial punishments, including a fine of about US$2,000 and a ten-year ban from membership in social and political groups as well as a two-year exile outside Tehran. In addition, they must regularly report to the offices of the Ministry of Intelligence. Avedian was also given ten years of “deprivation of social rights.”
They were first arrested in August 2020 when about 30 intelligence agents raided a private gathering at Avedian’s home in Narmak are in northeastern Tehran, but their case came to light only recently. In Tehran’s Evin Prison, the three were subjected to psychological torture during several intense interrogation sessions.
[More than] 11 million Filipinos are dispersed across 214 nations [with] 2.2 million in the Middle East and North Africa. They’re known as Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), working abroad as nurses, laborers, or in domestic role to support their families back home.
OFWs is a term coined in the 1990s, but Filipino [business and ministry] leaders Andrew and Josephine Ching, together with Philippine Missions Association national director Lalano Badoy, Jr., are redefining the term as “Outstanding Filipino Witnesses.” Haggai has equipped 7,894 Filipino leaders to date, and Andrew, Josephine, and Pastor Badoy have their sights set on expanding this number by strategically equipping OFWs.
“I believe there’s a higher purpose for Filipinos to end gospel poverty. Can you imagine the impact of 2.2 million Filipinos equipped by Haggai leaders?” Andrew asks.
Every day our phones and televisions are exploding with crises in our communities, countries, and world. As believers, how can we process all this information? As our window on the world grows, how do we make sure our hearts can keep up?
Usha Reifsnider, co-regional director of Lausanne Europe, speaks with Michael du Toit, director of content strategy, about information overload, the war in Ukraine, and how Usha has seen the body of Christ working “in a way I’ve never seen before.”
Note: Lausanne recently announced they are calling a fourth Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization. It will be held in Seoul, South Korea in September 2024. These are major events; thousands of ministry leaders from every corner of the world will be invited to attend.
Missions Catalyst is a free email digest designed to inspire and equip Christians worldwide for global ministry. We’ve been curating and creating mission mobilization content for almost 30 years. Currently published 3-4 times per month.
Missions Catalyst has been publishing monthly Practical Mobilization articles for a few decades now. We’ve covered and circled back to many topics related to inspiring and equipping readers for global ministry. What would you’d like to see more of?
We Christians wonder why so many young people are leaving the faith and struggling. We point our finger at media and other villains. But perhaps we should look at ourselves first. What does the Bible say that believers need? After spending much of my life seeking to impart faith to young people, here are four things that I’ve found work.
1. Experience
All young people should have the opportunity to walk as Jesus and his disciples walked.
“Whoever claims to abide in Him must walk as Jesus walked.” (1 John 2:6)
Where does faith come from? It may be grounded in good theology, but it comes from the heart. It comes from experiences that impact the heart. The faith Jesus and his disciples walked out was radical. Young people deserve the opportunity to see if that model Jesus gave us still works.
2. Initiation
Young people deserve a particular kind of experience—an initiation. We see Jesus initiating his disciples in Matthew 10. The church should send out its young people on mission as a part of their training, free of charge, to see if he shows up as promised.
“Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.” (Matthew 10)
All over the world we see in other cultures that as young people move to adulthood, an initiation is normal. The transition is hard and thoughtful parents will help their kids prepare for it. But not in America. No wonder 54% of young people are deeply anxious and even wonder if they are mentally ill. Where are the adults helping them make the transition to adulthood? Young people deserve better from their elders.
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress…” (James 1:27 and Luke 4:18-19)
We need to align ourselves with God’s priorities. When I connect with those who are in distress, I stop thinking about myself. Their pain elicits my compassion. And when I help them, something in me feels better. Why is that? I believe it’s the Spirit of God that blesses those who care for his kids who have no one else—widows and orphans.
4. Healthy Church
All young people should be given the opportunity to experience the body of Christ functioning as intended.
“Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.” (1 Corinthians 12:12)
God made us with a need to deeply connect with one another and with him. Churches where that doesn’t happen feel stale and unhealthy. But there are plenty of churches where it does happen. And if our leaders will lead with more authenticity and vulnerability, their congregations will follow. I’ve seen this process works even in our cynical culture.
We need to give young people the opportunities to see that, as bad as the world may seem, God is still present and active. Getting outside the walls of our church buildings and into places where he has promised to meet us makes all the difference.
Seth Barnes is the founder and president of Adventures in Missions, a discipleship and missions ministry that has taken more than 125,000 people on mission projects. One of their initiatives, The World Race, provides trained teams of young adults the opportunity to engage in 11 international mission contexts in 11 months using an experiential, missional discipleship model. Adventures emphasizes listening prayer, relationships, and servanthood in their work among the poor. In addition to overseeing Adventures in Missions, Seth is a speaker, author, and prolific blogger. His blog, Radical Living, can be found at www.sethbarnes.com.
Buddhism [is] an important religion in many of the countries in Asia, but has also crept into the hearts and homes of people all around the world. In the UK, you don’t have to go far to see a Buddhist statue peering out of a neighbor’s window or nestled in their front garden. Mindfulness meditation has become extremely popular, with shops even aiming related books at children.
Practicing Buddhist monks fill their lives with serious debating in order to find truth. They do this in the hope of attaining enlightenment, [but] only the monks who turn to Jesus find true enlightenment—for Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life.
One enlightened former monk is Tenzin Lahkpa. He bravely tried to bring the truth he’d learned about Jesus to his own people through the Buddhist debate system. The response from his fellow monks was imprisonment and torture. Brave Tenzin kept his faith in God, and God miraculously set him free. In time, God led Tenzin to return to his village to love and bless the people who tortured and disowned him. The love, power, and peace that Jesus Christ imparts to his devoted followers like Tenzin are incredible proofs that Jesus is who he said he is—the Son of God, Lord of lords, and King of kings.
Ounce for ounce, nothing can beat the ubiquitous microSD card as a ministry tool. Here are a few examples of ministry via microSD card:
Donna, a worker in India, gave a microSD card filled with audio and video files about Jesus to her friend, Amira. She was very poor, but she had a media-capable phone with a microSD card slot. The media was fluent in Urdu and powerfully communicated who Jesus is. Amira and her family came to faith and began sharing media with their Muslim neighbors, introducing Jesus.
A movement in Asia, where mobile service is not always available, is progressing thanks to microSD cards. Loaded with appropriate media to introduce Jesus and the Bible, the cards are great tools for evangelism and discipleship. Emerging leaders receive cards pre-filled with leadership material, including videos that demonstrate how to guide groups of seekers or young believers.
Julie travels often and prays for God to give her opportunities to share the gospel. For less than $50, she buys a dozen or more microSD cards, loading them with media in the local language. When people show an interest in what she is sharing (sometimes she just shows a video when she doesn’t know their local language), she hands them a microSD card that continues speaking to them when she leaves. Sometimes she “accidentally” loses microSD cards in crowded areas, knowing whoever finds them will be curious to view its contents.
