Missionary Family Stands Firm amid Massive Struggles
The year began with the death under suspicious circumstances of a local missionary.
Before that, the director of a native ministry in the Philippines was stunned by the sudden death of a 43-year-old pastor he had known since childhood.
In March he and his wife lost their adult daughter to cancer. The challenges of COVID-19 lay before him as he learned to press onward in faith.
Former Persecutor of Christians in Vietnam Now Suffers for His Faith
For years a police officer in Vietnam had followed orders to infiltrate worship services in search of pretexts for arresting church leaders and shutting down churches.
Ministries in Southeast Asia Adapt to COVID-19 Restrictions
For local missionaries in remote areas of Southeast Asia, use of social media and Zoom as solutions to COVID-19 restrictions is not always possible and can sometimes be dangerous.
As Restrictions Increase in Burma, Poor Workers Grow Desperate for Food
The closure of all factories in an area of Burma (Myanmar) left a local ministry’s impoverished congregation wondering how they would survive. “Our church people are very poor, hand-to-mouth people – they have nothing to eat now,” the ministry leader said. “We distributed as much as we could. But that will help them only about two weeks. After one more week, how will they survive?”
Desperate Times, Desperate Measures for Those Serving the Poor in the Philippines
Even as their own resources dwindle amid the global coronavirus crisis, local missionaries in the Philippines are taking extraordinary measures to get aid to needy people hit by the pandemic.
Coronavirus Crisis Gives Local Missionaries in the Philippines Unique Opportunity
Local missionaries in the Philippines are facing steep challenges to help people afflicted by the coronavirus even as the pandemic threatens their own lives and families.
Drug-Addicted Couple Finds Surprising Path to Christ
Doing dangerous drugs with her boyfriend by night and earning a decent wage by day, Sarah dismissed a male friend’s talk of eternal life in Christ.
In their native Philippines, they were too busy climbing the economic ladder in their urban metropolis to pay much attention to ancient things.
Things changed, though, when Sarah ran into her friend – and the gospel – in a place that seemed like another planet.
Christians in Laos Are Denied Food for Following Christ
In a country where rice is already in short supply due to drought in some areas and flooding in others, those who follow Christ are even more threatened as officials withhold rations from those who have left the ancestral gods for Christ.
At the same time, villagers refuse to sell staple items to Christians.
Many villagers are torn between love of the Lord and need for food.
Poor Preschooler Needing Surgery Faces Steep Odds
A law passed last year providing health care for all people in the Philippines takes effect this month, but that will not matter to remote villagers where there are no doctors or medical facilities.
Impoverished villagers have long suffered from lack of access to health care in the Southeast Asian country.
Against this backdrop, a 4-year-old boy in Mindanao whose hernia made it too painful to play with other children didn’t realize how lucky he was.
New Christian Shakes Off Opposition in Vietnam
In a Vietnamese village where everyone worships the gods, goddesses and spirits of their ancestors, the gospel seemed a rude intruder. When a young man found Christ in another village and brought it back to his family, the God of his salvation message seemed to them a foreign imposter.
Then the Holy Spirit began to stir their hearts.
