Gospel.com Blog

Missionary stories are almost always encouraging. They’re the tales of men and women making intentional choices to challenge themselves, to stretch themselves and to honor God’s calling. Missionaries are a lot who often find life to be difficult, but often find it to be joyful. Few find themselves regretting their decisions.

I personally like reading missionary stories because they remind me that missionaries are real people who have real fears and real successes.

The Beigerts are missionaries with BCM International who were recently featured in the the Spring edition of BCM World. They’re a young couple who have been in Peru just a few short months but have hit the ground running.

Here’s an excerpt from their article, Not My Home:

Still, landing in Peru was again a shock, physically and mentally. We’d flown from Florida where it was 45 degrees Fahrenheit to arrive in Lima at almost midnight to about 80 degrees and humid. We’d left English speakers to be surrounded by thousands of people jabbering what seemed to be the world’s fastest language, Spanish. As we left the airport, I looked at my husband to see his eyes opened wide, looking more lost than I ever thought he could be. As we went to bed in our new home at 1:30 AM, we looked at each other, and said, “What in the world are we getting ourselves into?”

But now that the initial shock has worn off, we are so content to be here. Everyone here has accepted us and made us feel welcome. And we’re excited to begin our new ministry.

My favorite verses recently have been Hebrews 11:13-16 (NIV). The author is speaking of the heroes of faith who died without ever receiving in their lifetime the promises from God. They realized they were “aliens and strangers” here on earth. “If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return” (vs.15). But they were longing for something better—a heavenly homeland. Verse 16 says, “Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.”

Read their whole BCM international account here. You can also keep up with the Biegerts over at their regularly updated blog.

Events in Sudan this week have left Darfur relief agencies—including many Christian organizations—worried and uncertain about what the future holds for millions of displaced people in that war-torn region.

Last week, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Omar al-Bashir, Sudan’s president, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Sudanese government responded by expelling numerous aid organizations from Darfur, a move that has many worried about what will now happen to the millions of people who depend on aid brought it via those organizations. A recent Mission Network News article reports on the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, which does work in Darfur and has not (yet) been expelled:

The Sudanese government is having a difficult time filling the gaps left when Sudan expelled 13 aid groups. This was done in response to the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue a warrant for President Omar al-Bashir, charging him with war crimes for the Darfur conflict. [...]

Even though CRWRC is still there, they can’t make up the difference the 13 groups were contributing. Little says many were involved in water and food projects. “If in fact they do have to leave, it will just enhance the suffering and increase the suffering of many, many, many people in Darfur.”

Franklin Graham and the Samaritan’s Purse ministry are heavily involved in relief work in Darfur, and have posted a short article about the crisis. An article in the Guardian discusses the expulsions’ impact, noting that “about 4.7 million people rely on food, medical or water aid in Darfur, including 2.7 million people displaced by fighting. The expelled organisations carry out at least 50 per cent of the work there.”

And in a bleak new development, several aid workers in Sudan have been kidnapped, leading to the withdrawal of the Doctors Without Borders organization from the country.

There’s no doubt it’s a messy and chaotic situation—the politics of the ongoing Darfur crisis are complex and defy easy understanding. (For a brief overview of the situation, see this Q&A about the Darfur conflict from the BBC and the War in Darfur Wikipedia entry.) But it’s a good time for Christians to focus their prayers on the millions of people who eke out tenuous existences in Darfur displacement camps and who will bear the brunt of this recent flurry of political events. If you know of an organization or ministry at work in Darfur, they can almost certainly use your prayers and support.

[Photo shows a Darfur refugee camp in Chad. Taken by Mark Knobil and used under a Creative Commons license.]

March 8 was International Women’s day, a day set aside for inspiring and celebrating women worldwide. International Aid drew attention to the fact that over 500,000 women will die due to childbirth complications this year. It’s a number that could be drastically reduced with proper health care like the kind they support in the Philippines.

Here’s the UNICEF video they linked to on a recent blog post.

Arab Vision is a media ministry that produces television programs for the Arab world. They have Arab Christians working at every level of their ministry in order to produce quality Christian programming for countries largely untouched by Christ.

Some facts about Arab countries from Arab Vision’s profile:

• Almost every Arab family has a television set
• Half of all Arab homes has a satellite dish, which allow them to view channels beyond government censorship
• At least half of the Arab population is functionally illiterate

Here’s a translation of what one Algerian had to say about the ministry:

The thing I like about you is that you adapt Christianity to our own people. The Kabyl language and the culture make things relevant and it does not seem strange for any one to accept Christ. I have read the Kabyl New Testament and I was surprised to see my heart opening up.

On one of my trips to France, a Kabili evangelist told me about Christ but I declined the invitation. Another opportunity was given to me by a group of Christians but I declined it too. A third time, I was invited by the Copts on one of my trips to Egypt, and I refused again.But when I saw you speak in Kabili about Jesus and who Jesus is, I couldn’t resist, and now I want to accept Him in my life. Would you be willing to help me to find a church in the neighborhood? I have heard there is a church somewhere not too far from where I live. Thanks for your help and your availability.

Read more about Arab Vision.

The Joshua Project is attempting to “bring definition to the unfinished task” by cataloging information on all of the people groups of the world. Think of it as an evangelistic encyclopedia for humanity.

Currently, they’ve identified the different groups in each country and are steadily working on filling in details. It’s a great way to learn about how to pray for a country; however, if this is something that strikes your fancy, you might consider researching a people group help them out. This listing about the Manchu people in China is a great example of the kind of information they’d like to have for every people group on the planet.

The World Watch List is published annually by Open Doors and is a quick way to gauge religious persecution in around the world. This year’s list (like the previous seven years) is topped by North Korea. The list is compiled from a 50 question survey for each country covering religious freedom issues.

You can see the chart here or read the write-up from Mission Network News, which contains some questions and answers with Carl Moeller, President/CEO of Open Doors:

The oppressive, isolated country of North Korea under the leadership of dictator Kim Jong Il retains its grip as the worst persecutor of Christians in the world.
…
The Wahhabi kingdom of Saudi Arabia is No. 2 and Iran is No. 3. Both countries are ruled by sharia law.

Afghanistan, Somalia and the Maldives take the fourth, fifth and sixth positions, respectively. Afghanistan moved up three spots on the list this year as a result of increased pressure from the Taliban movement during 2008. Yemen is No. 7, Laos No. 8, Eritrea No. 9 and Uzbekistan No. 10.
…
Moeller says this is about more than making a list. “We’re actually formulating agendas for serving those persecuted Christians. We’re actually going into those countries in clandestine ways and providing relief and support so that they might remain a light in a very dark place.”

seeJesus.net quietly launched a new blog on their site last month. They produce small group Bible Studies (like The Person of Jesus) and run small group training seminars.

Recently, Paul at the seeJesus.net blog posted about an article in the London Times concerning an atheist’s reaction to the effect of Christianity on Africa.

The author, an atheist, acknowledges not just that Christianity has helped Africa but that the inner change that comes from encountering God (who he does not believe exists!) produces the change.

I saw this first hand when I was Associate Director of World Harvest Mission (www.whm.org). We were keenly aware that change came from the inside out. One of our missionaries in western Uganda, Rick Gray, told me that after he had been discipling one of the Babwisi tribal leaders Rick asked him what he was going to do with what he’d been learning about the gospel. The tribal leader said, “I think I’m going to eat with my wife.” That is how the gospel works.

Read the rest of the article over at seeJesus.net.

The World Atlas Mission Project keeps a map of the spread of the Evangelical Christianity throughout the world. They recently did a massive update of their 1996 map. It’s an interesting way to take a look at the world and to see the receptivity of the nations to the good news.

Click on the map for a larger version, or take a look at the gigantic 45MB pdf.

Here’s more from the World Atlas Mission Project blog:

This map illustrates the Global Status of Evangelical Christianity and has been created in order to provide an update to the 1996 Status of Global Evangelization map. This new map provides a global snapshot of the status of evangelical Christianity based upon the latest research from the mission field. Over 100,000 localities are represented. It will be updated periodically, showing the progress of both Bible and Jesus Film translation, and the openness or response to the Gospel message from a variety of mission perspectives.

Mission Network News reports that Faith Comes By Hearing recently released eight new New Testament audio translations. Faith Comes by Hearing is a global missions organization that offers “the Bible in a format that will connect with the world’s 50% illiterate population.” The organization is partnered with Wycliffe, the American Bible Society and World Vision among others and currently has 400 versions in 336 languages.

Here’s the story from Mission Network News:

The new recordings are in Dan of Cote d’Ivoire; Garhwali, India; Kimochi, Tanzania; Koma, Ghana; Ndau, Mozambique; Quechua, North Bolivia; Mooré, Burkina Faso; and the New American Bible in the United States.

Together, these recorded languages represent more than 222 million people on five continents.

Of these eight language groups represented, FCBH notes that the Koma language is the smallest with only 3,800 people. Experts report that there is absolute illiteracy among this group in Ghana, meaning not one Koma person has the ability to read.

About 70-percent of the world’s population is part of an oral culture and live in poverty. That means access to God’s Word can be out of their reach.

Listen to samples from their audio Bibles using this widget. It’s very cool to hear God’s Word in another language:

Faith Comes By Hearing.com

What are Christians to make of the latest round of violence in the Middle East? Since Israel launched its offensive against Gaza, the world is once again watching as the all-too-familiar images of violence flash across TV screens. And the well-worn debates are once again dominating editorial pages and websites: who’s the villain in this situation? To what extent is it even possible to identify “good” and “bad” guys? And most importantly, is there any way to break the cycle of violence for good?

Those are big questions that will no doubt occupy the attention of world leaders and diplomats for many years to come. But for Christians trying to sort out the situation, here are two resources that might be helpful:

• Mart De Haan has posted an interesting essay about Israel, Gaza, and good or bad faith. He wonders what effect this latest conflict has on the faiths of both Christians and Muslims, and he offers some thoughts about “good” and “bad” faith, based on Hebrews 11. It’s a refreshing essay in that it avoids the trap of knee-jerk politics and tries to explore the way that we spiritually process events like this.
• Mission Network News is, as always, on the story. They’ve posted moving stories about the plight of Christians in the Gaza Strip and the effect of the violence on efforts to preach the Gospel message

Keep an eye on both of those sites for more news and reflections as the conflict burns on. And pray—for those affected by the violence, but also for world leaders trying to bring about a just and peaceful resolution to the ongoing cycle of violence in Israel and Palestine.