| It can take up to two years to train a church planter in India.
Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Mission India’s Dave Stravers says the spiritual climate is that ready. “It can be quite embarrassing because we don’t have the resources to train everyone who wants to receive help from us. We actually have almost 4,000 church planters on the waiting list, waiting for our training. So that’s the number one need–he training. Then, we of course provide them with materials, so they need some Scriptures,” and the ministry furnishes a bicycle to increase mobility. Through this approach, many have responded to the Gospel. That has brought its own set of problems to church planters. A backlash reaction to the sudden growth of the church has prompted anti-conversion laws in seven states. Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Arunachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh are giving indirect support to militant groups and resulting in ongoing violence against Christians. Even in states where such laws are not written, they are acted on by the local authorities. Says Stravers, “Often, [the church planters’] lives will be threatened; they’ll get beaten up; they’ll be warned to leave: ‘Don’t come back here again or we’ll kill you.’ This is quite a common form of intimidation, and the high success of the church planters is really attributed to the work of Jesus and the Holy Spirit in India.” Reports of village churches being attacked, raided or otherwise destroyed continue to be a daily reality throughout the country. New converts to Christianity are often cast out of their families and face poverty and ostracism. Continue to pray that the Mission India team would remain bold in their vision. Pray, too, that God would provide the resources they need to train those who would be church planters, and that new believers would be grounded in the Scriptures. |
persecution
Where’s the Media on This?
- Did you know about this?
But how many people heard about the recent arrest and jailing in Saudi Arabia of a group of Filipino guest workers for holding Christian prayer services in the privacy of their home? Or who knows about the three Sunday School teachers charged in Indonesia last year with the crime of “Christianization” and summarily sentenced to three years in prison?
The story is similar wherever Sharia — orthodox Islamic law — reigns supreme. From Pakistan to Darfur, Christians have become regular targets for Islamic gangs who shoot at worshipers, then torch their houses of worship.
Even in Islamic countries not strictly run by Sharia law, pressures mount on local Christians to leave the homes they’ve known for centuries. Iraq’s Christian sects, among the oldest Christian communities anywhere in the world, have been directly targeted by terrorist bombs, and Christians are now high on the list of those fleeing Iraq’s sectarian strife. Thirty years ago, Lebanon was 60% Christian. Since then, an estimated 3.5 million Christians have emigrated, reducing the country’s Christian population percentage to barely 25%. And in the Palestinian territories, direct and indirect pressures have also led to an increasing Christian exodus. One striking result: Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus and once a predominantly Christian Arab community now has an overwhelming Muslim majority.
Where is the media on this?
Not My Christians!
Christian youths burned the corpses of Muslims…- …on Thursday on the streets of Onitsha in southeastern Nigeria, the city worst hit by religious riots that have killed at least 138 people across the country in five days.
- Christian mobs, seeking revenge for the killings of Christians in the north, attacked Muslims with cutlasses, destroyed their houses and torched mosques in two days of violence in Onitsha, where at least 85 people have died.
“The way of peace have they not known.”
And, “Ye are the light of the world.”
And, “Love, bless, and pray for those who treat you terribly.”
Didn’t He Know the Risk?!
From The Washington Times this story of commitment:
A court sentenced a teacher to 40 months in prison and 750 lashes for “mocking religion” after he discussed the Bible and praised Jews, a Saudi newspaper reported yesterday.
Al-Madina newspaper said secondary-school teacher Mohammad al-Harbi, who will be flogged in public, was taken to court by his colleagues and students.
He was charged with promoting a “dubious ideology, mocking religion, saying the Jews were right, discussing the Gospel and preventing students from leaving class to wash for prayer,” the newspaper said.
I wonder what this man’s testimony is.
Oh, and before anyone goes off on what the “religion of peace” does to its opponents, wait.
Remember the Crusades. Remember the Catholic-Protestant battles of not so long ago.
That said, I do believe there is a substantial spiritual and moral difference between genuine Islam and genuine Christianity.
The question for me is simple: Is my faith (and subsequent life) an accurate reflection of the Lord Jesus?
Pray for the Persecuted Church?
Today has been designated the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church.