Headlining today’s news, it’s being called the stupidest war on the planet. That’s how outsiders are describing the two-year-old conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea. The border dispute has left thousands dead. However, the conflict isn’t affecting the work of International Needs, which is helping Ethiopian Christians plant churches. Executive Director David Culross. “It’s a situation where the believers there said we would like to double the number of church planters that we have been able to provide for can you help us? So, they said we will put 50 church planters in the field, if you can help us put 50 more in the field. And, we have pretty much met that goal.” While the war rages on, Culross is asking people to pray for these church planters. “We would pray that the Lord would protect them as they work in remote areas. Many times they’re away from home for three or four weeks at a time because of the distance and we just pray that God will protect them and keep the villages open to the message.”
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Next, Food for the Hungry is in hand-to-hand combat with the famine in Ethiopia. FHI’s Ted Yamamori says the severity of the famine cannot be explained enough. When the next team heads over at the end of the week, Mission Network News’ Greg Yoder will be with them. Yamamori explains the areas they’ll be in. “He will be taken to the northern part of Ethiopia where we have been working and where we have to be very cautious not to have that region slip into famine stage. Also, he’ll be visiting the southern part where he will be able to see the severity of the drought. Ethiopia as a whole, needs 1.3 million metric tons of grain in order to survive.” Yamamori says a border war in the north worsened the famine, but peace comes from the Gospel. He adds it’s not too late for people to get involved. “It is very important that people pray for the people who are suffering from this prolonged drought…and when Greg sees through his own eyes, the plight of the people out there, we just want to cry out for people to really pray. They can send donations to agencies that are on the ground that are credible to be able to carry on the mission.”
After nearly a year in respite, American missionary Herb Gregg is preparing for service overseas again, after having recovered from his grueling ordeal in Dagestan. Gregg says the eternal needs are just too great to not return. Chechen rebels kidnapped and held him for 230 days, all the while beating and torturing him. The Evangelical Alliance Mission, or TEAM, says Gregg and his family will be headed for a closed country this summer where they will be teaching English and take part in friendship evangelism.
Meanwhile, as a two week evangelistic crusade continues in Seoul, South Korea the ministry to other parts of the world moves forward. Manmin World Mission, headquartered in Seoul, sends out missionaries to a dozen countries including Pakistan. Pastor Samson Jacob says prayer and sharing the Gospel has produced spiritual fruit throughout the country. “When we talk with the people, and ask the people to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as the only Savior in the world, and He’s our Father in Heaven, and whatever we need from our Heavenly Father, he gives us.” Evangelistic meetings, like those underway in Seoul, will take place during the Summer in the predominately Muslim nation of Pakistan. Manmin’s special meetings in Seoul, which have seen hundreds of people come to Christ, continue through Sunday.
We begin today in Ecuador where a radio ministry there has suffered an incredible blow. On May 11th three armed men broke into Back to the Bible in Quito stealing computers, audio equipment and assaulting the staff in the process. Back to the Bible’s Dave Blowers estimates the damage and loss at more than 150-thousand dollars. “It’s the ministries that are going to be impeded because of this. I mean we record radio programs. Earlier this month we talked about Cuba and how we want to produce radio programs for Cuba. We’re back to ground zero. We have an empty shell down there. Nothing to record programs with. We have no computers. No data base. Everything’s gone.” 197 radio stations depend on their programming. Blowers says Back to the Bible’s scholarship program, correspondence courses, and web site evangelism is also affected. The Ministry has started the Latin America Restoration Project to try and raise funds to replace the equipment.
Indonesia and separatist Aceh rebels have signed cease-fire aimed at ending over two decades of violence. But while both sides welcomed the deal as a key step toward peace, each maintained they would not compromise. Under the shadow of the war, ministry to children has continued quietly. Book of Hope’s John Young. “This April, we actually began our first distributions of the Book of Hope with about 30-thousand children in one of the cities. It was an opportunity that God opened up, and, we’re just really praying that the Lord continues to open up the opportunities for us there in that nation.” Young adds that while the political peace is unsettled, their work provides a long-lasting peace…but he says there are other needs, too. “Pray for the people that we’re working with there, and [for] all the different Christian organizations that are trying to reach the communities in Indonesia. We just need to pray that God will give them safety. It’s in times like these, that seem the darkest, when God can do the most.”
We begin today in Kosovo where trouble is still stirring between Kosovars and the Serbs. Some of it has been following evangelicals. Book of Hope’s John Young explains what happened last week. “A Muslim group broke into the building and held one of the pastors that we’ve been working with there to begin to do distributions, at gunpoint, while they searched the building for money. The group claimed to be from bin Laden’s Islamic organization and they wrote Islamic and anti-Christian slogans throughout the inside of the building. Similar incidents have been reported in the past couple of weeks by other groups, so there’s parts of the Muslim community that are anti-Christian.” Young says their group provides the Gospel to young people and children around the world. He adds that the Kosovo workers need prayer. “We just need the Christian community to really pray for that area of the world and to pray for the folks and the Christians that are there because they’ve got a real battle on their hands-there’s so much hopelessness. People are hurt and only God can bring the healing that that land needs. We just need to pray for those folks that He would begin to open up doors so that people would see real love.”
Next, Christian Solidarity Worldwide reports India’s government denies that anti-Christian violence is growing. A BJP spokesman recently publicly criticized a Christian leader. The move was seen by India’s Christian community as an attempt to weaken their stand against the decline of religious tolerance. While the BJP is saying the violence that has taken place is isolated, believers note that it is widespread. Please pray for the church’s continued ministry.
Attracting South Koreans for Evangelism takes many forms in the country. Correspondent Joel Hill is in Seoul for Mission Network News. “An article appearing in a major South Korean newspaper begins by talking about a “Special” meeting of believers in Seoul. Huge 50-foot banners are extended over city streets. These are avenues ManMin Ministries is using to attract Koreans to hear the Gospel of Christ. Johnny Kim with ManMin says he’s pleased the efforts are drawing worldwide attention. “The news about two week special revival meetings is spreading out through a lot of ways, including Mission Network New and even Religion Today and Korean major media. Lots of people will know about it and lots of people will hear what is happening here in Seoul and they will come to see what is happening.” ManMin is also using posters, flyers, and the Internet, combining tradition methods with new technology to share the Gospel. Reporting from Seoul, South Korea, I’m Joel Hill for Mission Network News.”
Elsewhere, it has been said that the church of Latin and Central America is quietly growing so rapidly that within the next decade, they will be the major missions sending force in the world. Global Advance’s David Shibley says the phenomenon is not so mysterious. “The strength of the Gospel throughout Brazil, has probably produced some of the most dramatic church growth and church planting in all of the world. I believe that the Brazilian church is poised to literally take the lead in the deploying of cross-cultural missionaries throughout the ends of the earth.” Shibley adds that this is the perfect timing for training Brazilian pastors. “Our Frontline Shepherd’s Conferences are scheduled throughout May for the purpose of challenging existing evangelical pastors throughout Brazil to make world evangelization as high a priority as the evangelization of their own nation.”
