10,000 Ethnic Groups still unreached for Christ

There are roughly 10,000 unreached ethnic or people groups without an indigenous, evangelizing church movement in their midst. In Matthew 28, Jesus used the word ethne when he told his followers to disciple all nations. He was speaking of these people groups - the target of frontier mission strategy. Each one needs a missionary team to work among them, to learn their language and culture, and establish a church movement in their culture which is capable of sharing the Gospel effectively with each member of their group.

Ethne (People groups) of Africa.

(from U.S. Center for World Mission prayer bulletin, July 2011)

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Danger surrounds Asia Bibi in Pakistan

In June 2009, Asia Bibi was arrested in Pakistan 2009 for her Christian witness. In Pakistan today, militant Muslims view Asia and courageous Pakistani evangelists as blasphemers. They are offended and angered by the truth of the gospel, and they think they are serving Allah by burning churches and jailing or killing Christians.

Before Asia Bibi's arrest, she worked picking berries for a farmer in Pakistan's Punjab province. One day when she brought water to her Muslim co-workers in the field, they refused to drink it, saying the cup had been contaminated by an infidel thief. The Muslims taunted Asia because of her Christian faith, saying that her prophet was born without a father. Asia responded, "Our Christ sacrificed his life on the cross for our sins. What has your prophet done for you? Our Christ is alive, your prophet is dead. Our Christ is the true prophet of God, and yours is not true."

Asia's co-workers reported her "blasphemous" words to the village's Muslim religious leaders. Five days later, several mullahs and local Islamists forced Asia from her workplace and took her by motorbike to the village center. She was then beaten by a crowd that had gathered there, and she was not allowed to defend herself against the blasphemy accusations made against her.

Asia was arrested and taken to jail. Her guards told her that if she would convert to Islam, they would let her go. But she refused, telling them, "You can kill me, but I will not leave my Jesus."

Seventeen months after Asia's arrest, she was convicted of violating subsection C of Pakistan's 295 blasphemy law - blasphemy against the prophet Muhammed - and was sentenced to death. Christians have called for Asia's release and for a repeal of the laws, while extremists in Pakistan continue to demand that she be executed.

Maulana Yusaf Qureshi, an imam at Peshawar's well know Mohabbat Khan mosque in northwestern Pakistan, has issued a fatwa against Asia, offering a $6,000 reward to anyone who kills her. Her family and friends are concerned that she could be murdered by another prison inmate or guard, or even poisoned by kitchen staff. She is confined to her prison cell for her own safety, and she cooks her own meals using groceries provided by her husband.

Though Asia cannot read, she keeps a copy of the Bible in her prison cell. A female Christian is allowed to read the Bible to her. She also prays with Asia.

Asia's Defenders Killed

Amid the controversy over Asia Bibi's death sentence, two Pakistani politicians were murdered for publicly supporting her. Governor Salman Taseer had visited Asia in prison on Nov. 20, 2010, and called for her release. Governor Taseer, a Muslim, was shot to death on Jan. 4, 2011, by his own bodyguard. The bodyguard said he killed Taseer because the governor supported a repeal of Pakistan's blasphemy law.

Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, a Christian and long-time champion of Christian rights in Pakistan, was killed by four gunmen who opened fire on his car as he drove to work on March 2, 2011. Bhatti had received many death threats because of his support for Asia Bibi and his ongoing efforts to repeal the blasphemy law.

Shortly before his death, Bhatti released a video testimony in which he said he would not be deterred by threats against his life made by those who "want to impose their radical philosophy in Pakistan." Bhatti said, "I believe in Jesus Christ, who has given his own life for us. I know what is the meaning of the cross ... and I am ready to die for a cause. I am living for my community and suffering people, and I will die to defend their rights."

Asia Bibi and many other Pakistani believers are under fire from Islamic extremists. But they continue to uphold the cross of Christ so others may know the truth. As their brothers and sisters, we are their voice around the world. Together, we will witness to all men of what we have seen and heard (Acts 22:14-15).

(from a Christian prayer letter, July 2011)

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Become a support partner for an adopted orphan like Katya

"Our youngest daughter's name is Katya. She was abandoned at the hospital. Her parents were alcoholics. They do not want to have any connection with their daughter. Her health is really bad because of lots of inborn pathologies. Please pray for her physical and spiritual health and revival. Weed need God's wisdom in raising all our children." (testimony of Nataliya and Oleksandr Tseplyayevy, Christian adoptive parents from Ukraine)

Katya is one of 60 children in the New Hope Orphan Care Program of Ukraine who were recently adopted domestically and live in a loving family. However, they have no prayer and support partners in the U.S. If you are willing to help Katya or other children who need support, please share this prayer need with your friends. Perhaps God will touch someone's heart and one more child in Ukraine will have a loving family who cares about her.

(from the New Hope International prayer letter, July 2011)

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Overcoming Poverty, does the Church have the Answer?

The poor have internalized the lies, "Give up! You don't matter. Nobody cares about you. Look around you: Things are terrible. Always have been, always will be." These lies must be defeated in order for the poor to get out of poverty, and they can only be defeated by presenting them with the truth of God's love and power through Jesus Christ--just what the Church is best able to provide.

In the West, poverty is almost exclusively viewed as a lack of material wealth, characterized by insufficient food, money, clean water, and medicine. But when over 60,000 people living in material poverty were asked to define poverty, however, they did not use such straightforward terms. Researchers Brian Fikkert and Steve Corbett of The Chalmers Center for Economic Development said, “They tend to describe their condition in far more psychological and social terms. Poor people typically talk in terms of shame, inferiority, powerlessness, humiliation, fear, hopelessness, depression, social isolation, and voicelessness.”

These are the lies of fatalism, victimhood and powerlessness. They have lost the hope that they or anyone else can change their situation. They have come to believe that no amount of hard work can change their circumstances.

Biblical principles such as honesty, integrity, trustworthiness etc. are essential for an economy to work. The foundation of successful economies is the trust that is built through honest interaction between people. If you destroy trust between people in a society through dishonest transactions and corruption, the economy will decline. The poorest countries on Earth are often riddled with corruption and violence at every level of a society, from the government on down. The biblical character traits that make a prosperous society possible come from lives transformed by Jesus through an effective discipleship process.

But economic growth does not come automatically when people commit their lives to Jesus. People need training in ordinary basics like personal money management, how to run a business and good work habits. This should be part of our discipleship too as we plant churches. Church planting should lead to economic growth among the poor. If it doesn't, then something is wrong.

With a combination of effective discipleship and practical, locally-based economic solutions the poor can come to believe that they can do all things through Christ, including raising themselves and others out of poverty. They can then create their own wealth and not be dependent on outsiders for their survival.

Journalist and self-proclaimed atheist Matthew Parris wrote in The Times of London that—as much as he hated to admit it—he saw the importance of Christianity in development work. Growing up in Africa and returning years later, he saw that aid and relief work alone wasn’t enough. Christianity brought about true heart change: “The [African] Christians were always different. Far from having cowed or confined its converts, their faith appeared to have liberated and relaxed them. There was liveliness, a curiosity, an engagement with the world –a directness in their dealings with others—that seemed to be missing in traditional African life. They stood tall.” In his article, Parris shares how the truths that Christianity teaches—that mankind has inherent worth and dignity—are the key difference in escaping poverty.

(selections from Rick Wood, Poverty, Getting to the Heart of the Matter, and Peter Greer, A Hand Up Not a Handout: Why Enterprise and Business Are Changing Our Approach to Poverty Alleviation,
Mission Frontiers, July- August 2011)

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Press On

There’s a course that must be finished,
there’s a race that must be run.
There’s a mission to accomplish,
and a battle to be won!
We’ve been called to take the challenge
by God’s might and through His Son;
He will give us grace to complete the race,
moving forward, pressing on.

Chorus: Toward the hope of our high calling,
toward the promise we’ve received,
with the strength that we’ve been given
pressing on to victory!
And toward the One who’s run before us,
as we lay each weight aside,
‘Til the race is run, ’til the prize is won,
’til we reach the finish line, Press on!

There’s a faithful cloud of witnesses
who inspire us in our task.
They have fought the fight, they have run the race,
they have won the crown at last!
And the lives they’ve lived remind us
though the race at times seems long,
God will give the grace to complete the race,
and the courage to press on.

(words by Brigette Smisor)

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