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Carl Chambers

Date posted: 1 Apr 2015

The island of Cuba has recently hit the news again, because the US has finally overturned its 50-year policy of isolation by re-establishing diplomatic relations with this state socialist country.

World politics is not the only area where fundamental changes are happening – the church in Cuba is another one.

On 7 March the Free Methodist Church USA announced the release of its kidnapped missionary in Nigeria, Phyllis Sortor.

In a statement signed on behalf of the Board of Bishops of the church, David W. Kendall said 71-year-old Sortor was released by her captors on Friday evening, 6 March. He said armed gunmen abducted Sortor on 23 February from Hope Academy school in Emi-Oworo village in the central Nigerian state of Kogi.

In early March it was reported that, in recent weeks, over 220 Iranians and Afghans have been baptised in two cities in the Iran region. Elam Ministries says: ‘Please join us in praying for these new believers, and for the churches as they disciple them.’

The baptisms were joyful day-long occasions, full of worship, prayer, fellowship over meals and the sharing of testimonies. One new believer at one of the ceremonies recalled how finding a New Testament by accident had started him on his journey to Christ. Remarkable stories of the Lord’s providence abounded during both days.

Hundreds of extremist Islamists attacked a Christian school in Bangladesh on 5 November in response to locals who were outraged by rumours stating that the school, which welcomes children of all faiths, was forcing Muslim children to convert to Christianity.

The mob comprised about 200 people. The students were not physically injured, but 12 of its 14 members of staff were beaten. A female teacher endured a serious head injury. Another teacher said that he managed to run away from six Madrasa students, armed with knives and machetes, after being forced out of his classroom.

It is 30 years since the Communist regime forced Fabiano to leave his home country of Mozambique with nothing. He was already serving the church there and was recognised by the African Inland Mission as a potential leader. They were his only contact on his arrival in Britain, knowing no English.

He immediately entered Moorlands College in Hampshire – learning Greek and English. Subsequently he obtained a degree at London Bible College and in 1988 married Suzana, who had emigrated from Mozambique to Portugal.

Megachurch pastor Mark Driscoll announced to his Seattle-based congregation, via a pre-recorded message in late August, that he is taking a six-week leave of absence from his position as lead pastor of Mars Hill Church while various charges against him were formally investigated. Driscoll said he would take the time to seek council about the next season of his life.

Driscoll, along with Mike Gunn and Leif Moi, planted the church in 1996. Mars Hill grew to more than 13,000 people and stretched across 15 locations in five states: Washington, Oregon, California, New Mexico and Arizona. Attendance has slumped over recent weeks to between 8-9000, and the church has announced the closure of at least three of its locations, and staff cuts of 30-40%. This leave of absence has come after a series of events which found Driscoll being confronted with significant questions about his character and leadership.

‘Unless immediate action is taken in Liberia – including isolating patients, a quarantine programme and protective gear – the death toll will likely reach into the thousands,’ says Dr Frank Glover, a medical missionary who partners with SIM International (known in the UK as Serving in Mission).

Glover was testifying before a US congressional subcommittee on August 7 about combatting the Ebola threat in Liberia.

This was a core element in the Communist strategy to suppress and destroy the evangelical churches in the Iron Curtain era.

It was a plan which had deeply damaging consequences for the cause of the gospel, resulting in thousands of leaderless churches and countless communities throughout Eastern Europe without a glimmer of gospel light. Moldova was one such country. Patrick Johnstone recorded, in his 1993 edition of Operation World, : ‘Training for pastors is the greatest need. There are 185 Baptist pastors – none of whom have received any formal training. Pray for the founding of a Bible school. Slavic Gospel Association (SGA) is seeking to help in this.’

John Stevens

Date posted: 1 Sep 2014

Back in May, at the same time that UK voters were expressing their increasing Euroscepticism in the European elections, I was privileged to attend the European Leadership Forum in Poland.

This is an annual ‘by invitation’ conference that seeks to serve and equip national Christian leaders to renew the biblical church and re-evangelise Europe. There were over 750 delegates.

In what looks like a bid to extend its influence in the South Asian region, so-called Islamic State (IS) militants have allegedly distributed 12-page pamphlets in the north-west of Pakistan, in Peshawar and in Afghan refugee camps based near its outskirts, it was reported in early September.

They were written in Pashto and Dari, and titled Fatah (Victory) The editor’s name, however, appears fake and their place of publication obscure. For a long time, Afghan resistance groups, including the Haqqani Network, Hizb-e-Islami Afghanistan and the Tora Bora group have published similar pamphlets, magazines and propaganda literature in Peshawar’s black markets. However this latest spread has raised fears of a possible link between IS and such militants, threatening all non-Muslims.

After seven years of harassment by hard-line Muslims, a Palestinian church in East Jerusalem has been forced out of their building, church leaders said in late August.

The congregation of Calvary Baptist Church, under Holy Land Missions, moved out of their building in the Shofat area of Jerusalem in July after Islamists threatened their landlord. They are looking for a safer, more permanent place to meet.

The capital cities of Australia’s states experienced their first Muslim Global Dawah Day on July 5, with teams of young mission-minded Muslim activists distributing leaflets and engaging in street evangelism for Islam. They took their lead from a wealth of online resources, with well-known British activist Abdur Raheem Green being a key spokesman for the worldwide campaign.

Although Global Dawah Day had little profile in the mainstream Australian media, it came at a time of considerable public anxiety and government activity over reports of home-jihadis grown leaving to fight for radical Islamist groups in Syria and Iraq. In early July, the Australian Attorney General warned that at least 60 Australians are actively involved in fighting with extremist groups, such as the newly declared Islamic caliphate, with a further 150 providing various forms of support.

Christianity Explored Ministries (CEM) announced in June a major new link up with Prison Fellowship International (PFI) where the Christianity Explored course will form a key part of PFI’s strategy of taking the gospel to prisoners throughout the world, with two pilot projects launched in Nigeria and South Africa.

PFI was founded in 1979. Its network of 45,000 volunteers currently undertakes monthly prison ministry with 2million inmates in 3,700 prisons in 127 countries. There are an estimated 10 million inmates in 22,000 jails across the world. The Prisoner’s Journey, PFI’s new, three-strand evangelism programme (of which Christianity Explored is the core part) aims to reach 1 million of these prisoners with the gospel by 2020.

As we move into a Jubilee year celebrating 50 years of independence we are seeing wonderful things happening here in Zambia.

In November 2013 the Lord provided all of the funds to finish the OM training centre. The training centre will continue to grow the work of training future African missionaries. Construction is now at full speed with over 70 workers each day. We are building lots of accommodation, an office block, classrooms and a main hall as well as the skills training centre and bookshop which have already been completed.

Opponents of a European initiative paving the way for governments to rule on the legitimacy of religious groups and reduce home schooling rights won a battle in mid April in the Council of Europe.

In Europe, where public education often includes teachings on morality at odds with churches and officially unrecognised religious groups are labelled sects, the stakes were high at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

At face value, Australia and Malaysia share a number of common features. Both are medium-sized nations, with Australia having a population of 22 million and Malaysia 28 million.

Both are multifaith societies. Australia’s 61% Christian majority sits alongside a non-religious minority of 22% as well as smaller numbers of Buddhists (2.5%), Muslims (2.2%), Hindus (1.3%) and others. Malaysia’s 60% Muslim majority shares the country with Buddhists (19%), Christians (9%), Hindus (6%) and others. In effect, both societies are highly pluralistic in terms of both faith and ethnicity.