Overcoming Intense Opposition to the Gospel
In northwest Vietnam, a new Christian was telling a fellow villager about Christ recently when a man came up and struck him with a machete. Most Christians, knowing such hostilities could erupt from hard-liners, are careful to speak of Christ much more privately.
Proclaiming Christ amid Conflict and Opposition
Between ethnic rebels trying to recruit them as soldiers and evil spirits threatening to afflict them, young adults in Burma (Myanmar) have a lot to fear. Besides fearing that any illness may be a sign of punishment from a malevolent spirit world, young men in Burma also live in fear of militants from insurgent groups drawing recruits from ethnic groups. “They are frightened all the time, as they don’t know when rebels will come to their village and take them from their family and from their village,” a native ministry leader said.
Lasting Peace in Lands of Violence
A widow in the Philippines who came to faith in Christ in her 80s was just beginning to get passionate about visiting homes to share the gospel when she knocked on the door of the man who had stabbed her son.
Good News for Those Spreading Good News
The scenario of tribal animists coming to Christ and being expelled from their village has played out time and again in Laos, but this time was different. Amazingly, district officials went to the village heads and told them to stop persecuting the Christians. They were able to remain in their homes and continue worshipping. That was not the case in another village, where a young couple faced expulsion.
Bringing Sunday School to Unchurched Kids
Children’s Sunday school is a great way to teach Bible basics, native missionaries in Burma (Myanmar) reasoned, so why not use it to evangelize? The missionaries trained Bible college students to go out on Sunday mornings and invite children, most of them from Buddhist families, to what they called Good News Club.
New Way to Preach Christ amid Hostility
The gospel spreads primarily by word-of-mouth in Laos, especially if you count the mouths of radio broadcasters, but a native ministry has discovered a key role for social media in the advance of God’s kingdom. It is illegal to post anything that could harm the reputation or “national security” of the country, but a native ministry says response to the Facebook page it began in June – including that of non-Christians – has been overwhelming.
Healed, Saved – and Condemned
A 68-year-old man in Laos who met Jesus in a miraculous way found that not even the Lao culture’s deep respect for elders could protect him from anti-Christian fury. Seriously ill most of last year, Keoki* put his faith in Christ one year ago after a native missionary and others prayed for him, and he was healed.
One of Many Gospel Bridges to the Unreached
One of the things Nurul most disliked about the home for widows in Indonesia was the joy an elderly Christian woman there exuded. The 68-year-old Muslim could not stand that another widow, Amelia, could sing and smile so much in the home for widows and orphans. Besides having no money, Amelia had no children or other relatives to care for her, Nurul thought; was she demented?
As Gospel Spreads in Laos, so Does Opposition
Kaipo had fled his native Laos after his father called police to arrest him for becoming a Christian. Taking refuge at a native Lao ministry on the other side of the border with Thailand, he asked its director whether he should return home. The 17-year-old’s father, an influential witchdoctor in the village, had thrown Kaipo and all his belongings out of their house after learning that he had left their ancestral rituals.
The Beauty of Christ v. the Ugliness of Cancer
People with cancer in Vietnam are not suffering through their painful treatments in clean hospitals with meals provided. From Hanoi in the north to Ho Chi Minh City in the south, cancer patients eat only what their families bring to dirt-laden hospitals that are so overcrowded that the sick are often lying in the hallways. To these people go native missionaries who bring the hope of Christ to people in physical, emotional and spiritual agony.
