A neglected people group in Germany is the target of an evangelistic outreach by international broadcaster Trans World Radio. Beginning this spring prisoners will be able to hear an innovative pilot project called the Remember Me Network. The proposed format will include music, testimonies of prisoners who committed their lives to Christ, and Bible studies written by prisoners for prisoners. If it’s successful it could be translated and adapted into additional languages.
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Meanwhile, prayer is needed for Jesus Film evangelistic teams in India. According to the India Missions Association, Jesus Film Project Teams were attacked earlier this month in Tamil Nadu State in southeastern India. According to officials projectors and generators were destroyed. Witnesses say police were not willing to help protect the team or arrest anyone connected to the attack. On January 16th, In a separate case, two other workers were beaten up as they shared the story of Christ.
Next, mission leaders are hoping a teen missions conference will encourage more young people to join the mission field. Urbana 2,000 begins December 27th. Operation Mobilization’s George Verwer, one of the speakers, says more young people than ever before need to commit to missions. “There are parts of the world that never have been emphasized. And so workers are needed just as much as ever before. And, we’re discovering that many missionaries today, even those who are career (missionaries) usually it’s not more than 10 years.” According to Verwer, that means more people are needed to fill those ministry gaps. He says Urbana is strategic in finding them. “Students, especially those who have been away from their local church for a couple of years, urgently need something like Urbana to bring the vision and to bring them the possibility of some kind of more radical decision firstly to the Lord Himself and then to the harvest that the Lord has talked about.”
We begin today’s newscast in Ethiopia where, for the second time in the last two decades, famine is rearing it’s ugly head. Food For the Hungry’s Matt Panos says because of extreme drought and a poor harvest in the region millions are hungry in that country. “People that need immediate food assistance is about 7.7 million and then people who are on the edge – needing food just to exist is another 2.5 million. So, that puts us over 10-million including those with potential risk, so there’s an immediate need.” Panos says because Food for the Hungry is a Christian humanitarian group, they’re helping the physical and spiritual hungers of the Ethiopian people. “We’re trying to take care of right now, in a partnering situation, people who have no food right now. And, we want to give food to them. We feed the two hungers and in many cases you have to feed the first hunger through the belly in order to have any opportunity to feed the second.”
Topping today’s news Egypt is the target of an incredible evangelistic outreach.
On the heels of a two day series of meetings in Cairo that saw more than 150 people
turn to Christ, Sammy Tippit Ministries is planning an even larger event. Tippit says
an 800-church network will support the meetings. “We’re looking at in November of
this year, having all 800 of those churches involved in an evangelistic outreach in which
I would come and preach in one church, and through video distribution all the other
churches would participate. It’s got the potential to be one of the largest outreaches in
the history of the Middle East.” According to Tippit, the people of Egypt are ready for
such an event but prayer is needed. “I know that any time you go into the heart of a
great nation like this that it’s going to be a battle. And, so I would ask people to pray
for us that we would be wise, that God would protect everyone involved in this and
that they would see a great harvest.”
Meanwhile, education is what’s needed in the Middle East. That’s the word from Open Doors with Brother Andrew. Brother Andrew says while Bibles are readily available in the Muslim world, they’re not effective unless people can read. “Take Pakistan, the most populous nation in the entire area, 85-percent is illiterate. So what use is it to me to take Bibles there if people can not read? How can we train leadership for the church if they can not read? Our aim and our work there is to teach people read and we do that with thousands every year.” Brother Andrew says they use scripture in these classes, pointing many to Christ. He says Christians shouldn’t shy away from the Muslim world. “The Koran teaches Jesus as the great physician so, if we would be willing to go to the Muslims and pray with the sick then we would find open doors. And then, a point that is not very well known, but the Koran says that all good Muslims ought to study the Bible.”
Next, Voice of the Marytrs is reporting an answer to prayer. The latest news is
that one of China’s most outspoken house church pastors has experienced three weeks
of relative calm, after nearly three months of continual persecution from the Chinese
authorities. Much of the harassment Pastor Li DeXian experienced included dozens of
arrests, the destruction of his building and literature confiscated. However, VOM says
he was able to preach twice this week at regular church meetings without trouble from
the police.
We begin today with a look at the growing crisis facing the church in India.
News reports indicate the Bajrang Dal plans to raise anti-terrorist teams to counter
Islamic fundamentalists and Christian missionaries. Global Advance’s David Shibley
says: “There is a fresh concerted effort by radicals to release India from what they
perceive as any kind of foreign influence. It is a very serious day for Christian missions.
Western missionary influence in India may be very seriously curtailed within the next
few years.” Despite the difficulties, Shibley says he’ll be speaking at a conference
February 25 through the 27th in Northern India. “Global Advance is committed in India
to strengthening the hands of pastors and church leaders and encouraging that
indigenous church to rise to its full mission strength, because northern India has the
largest cluster of unreached peoples on earth.”
Meanwhile, two mission groups based in the United States are working together
to help those suffering from leprosy. American Leprosy Mission’s Chris Doyle
says it’s called community health evangelism and they’re partnering with Medical
Ambassadors International. “ALM is looking for more opportunities to go into the
communities where people are affected by leprosy are living, rather than sitting back in
the hospitals and wait for people to come to us. Medical Ambassadors has this
program that takes health to the local community, and at the same time combines
evangelism with that.” According to Doyle this meets medical and spiritual needs at the
same time. He says the need to help leprosy victims is great. “Last year, there were
almost 800,000 new cases of leprosy in the world, so that’s more than one a minute
every day 24 hours a day. So, we are still ministering in many countries around the
world.” Doyle says it only costs 200-dollars to cure a leprosy patient. He’s hoping
more people get involved in helping them.
Meanwhile, two mission groups based in the United States are working together
to help those suffering from leprosy. American Leprosy Mission’s Chris Doyle
says it’s called community health evangelism and they’re partnering with Medical
Ambassadors International. “ALM is looking for more opportunities to go into the
communities where people are affected by leprosy are living, rather than sitting back in
the hospitals and wait for people to come to us. Medical Ambassadors has this
program that takes health to the local community, and at the same time combines
evangelism with that.” According to Doyle this meets medical and spiritual needs at the
same time. He says the need to help leprosy victims is great. “Last year, there were
almost 800,000 new cases of leprosy in the world, so that’s more than one a minute
every day 24 hours a day. So, we are still ministering in many countries around the
world.” Doyle says it only costs 200-dollars to cure a leprosy patient. He’s hoping
more people get involved in helping them.
