Missions Catalyst

Source: Worthy News, January 30, 2020

China is cracking down on Christian weddings and funerals [so] believers are “persecuted even after death” according to one villager in Henan province whose family was forced by the government to hold a secular funeral for his believing father.

New regulations in effect on December 1 in Zheijang province ensure that “clerical personnel are not allowed to participate in funerals,” though a limited number of family members may sing hymns “in a low voice,” and restrictions are becoming even more severe elsewhere.

“The situation is quite adverse, and some believers don’t even dare to accompany the deceased to the graveyard,” said an elder from an official Three-Self Patriotic Movement church. “Pastors can only sneak into believers’ homes for a hurried prayer.”

In the city of Wuhan, the daughter of a woman who had just died was arrested while planning her mother’s funeral and released two days afterwards to ensure she was not able to attend.

» Read full story.

» See also the much more encouraging article, Christians Bring Hope into Coronavirus Panic (Mission Network News) and check out a dashboard tracking the Wuhan Coronavirus (Johns Hopkins University).

Source: Jubilee Campaign, January 30, 2020

It has been a five-year-long ordeal, with lack of food, poor living conditions, and abuse in prison, with two of the 42 suspects dying in custody in 2017. After five years however, the Youhanabad Christians are finally released [after being acquitted by the Lahore Anti-Terrorism Court].

[The] forty Pakistani Christians [have] been on trial for the murder of two men during a violent protest following Easter suicide attacks on two churches in Youhanabad [which left 17 dead and 80 wounded]. Two others, arrested with them, have already died, allegedly due to a lack of access to medical treatment.

Following the [2015] attack, Christians took to the streets to protest. The crowd collectively determined that the two suspects were responsible for the bombings.

While there are many interpretations of the event circulating in the news, one of which stated that Christian protestors killed these two suspects… Witnesses reported that the suspects were actually killed by a Muslim radical to stoke violence.

Regardless, the Punjab Chief Minister filed three First Information Reports which placed collective blame on Christians for the death of Hafiz and Barber and permitted police officials in Lahore to trespass—at random—into the homes of Christians which led to the arrest of the 42 Christian men who they then transferred to prisons where they have remained since 2015 until their release on January 29, 2020.

» Read full story.

» See also 40 Pakistani Christians Freed After Almost Five Years in Prison on Trial for “Terrorism” (World Watch Monitor). It reports the acquittal came on the same day well-known Pakistani Christian Asia Bibi published her biography (in French).

Source: International Mission Board, January 28, 2020

Malagasy Baptist leaders invited IMB personnel to participate in an inaugural event: Baptists from Madagascar taking first steps toward sending their own indigenous missionaries. IMB representatives led the group through discussions on topics such as a biblical overview of missions, recognizing those who are called to go, training methods, and facets of support.

Malagasy Baptist church planters know well the extreme hardships of going to the unreached in difficult places. Bush taxis may bounce, lurch and throw passengers against each other for ten long hours to cover only 90 miles. Where the bush taxis can’t go, the church planters pedal hard-seat bikes countless miles. Where bicycles can’t go, they walk rough paths. Some travel four days on foot and pass through dangerous forests rife with criminals to reach their target peoples. Where they cannot walk, they paddle dug-out canoes.

» Read full story.

Source: Christian Post, January 31, 2020

Government officials from the United States and several countries will convene in Washington, DC, on the eve of the [February 6] National Prayer Breakfast for the inaugural meeting of the new International Religious Freedom Alliance.

US Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback told reporters on Wednesday that the alliance is essentially like an “activist club” of countries that are serious about pushing religious freedom globally.

The alliance was first announced by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last July and touted by President Donald Trump at the United Nations General Assembly in September. It is said to be the first-ever alliance of nations devoted to confronting religious persecution around the world.

The alliance comes at a time when most of the world’s population lives in countries where religious freedom is limited in some way.

» Full story says at least 17 countries have committed to the alliance.

Source: Open Doors, January 30, 2020

Partners in Bangladesh are asking for prayer following a violent Muslim mob attack on a group of Rohingya believers who left Islam to follow Jesus.

At least six believers were hospitalized. It’s also believed that three Christian men were kidnapped and may be facing torture in captivity. There are also unconfirmed reports that one or more of these men have already been killed for their faith.

On Monday morning, January 27, a mob of hundreds of people attacked believers and looted their homes. Eighteen homes and a house church building were destroyed.

The mob is most likely connected to the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), a Muslim insurgent group that, to date, hasn’t pledged allegiance to any foreign Islamist groups, such as Al-Qaeda or Islamic State.

Our field tells us that while area police have been pressured to investigate and work for the release of the kidnapped Christians [but] say that the Rohingya first need to file a case. However, because Rohingyas are refugees in Bangladesh, they don’t have citizenship—making filing a crime report almost impossible.

» Read full story. See also an article from Barnabas Fund about this attack and a longer one from Benar News.