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(Indonesia)–We begin today in Indonesia where the war in Iraq is affecting outreach in that predominately Muslim nation. President of CB International[1] Hans Finzel says persecution against Christians isn’t going away. “The persecution is great and it’s getting worse. The reason that’s happening is because we’re seeing so many conversions. (The) People (are) coming from the Muslim background to faith in Christ. This whole war in Iraq and everything has just added fuel to the Muslims view that the Christians are out to get them.” Finzel expects this to continue as many Muslim converts are taking leadership positions in the church. He talks about one of them. “He’s now the head of a major training school we have in his part of Indonesia. He has 125 students in their seminary studying for full time ministry. They will be church planters.” Finzel is appealing for Christians to support these pastors.

(Iraq)–Next, a different kind of army awaits their chance to impact the people of Iraq. The group will not come with tanks and guns, but with love, forgiveness and prayer. It is an army of Iraqi Christians prepared to help liberate the Iraqi refugees who escaped the Gulf War in 1991, became Christians and then trained in Jordan to become future Iraqi church planters. The Bridge International[2] says teams of missionaries are waiting for the appropriate time to return to their homeland with the Gospel.

(Asia)–As severe acute respiratory syndrome continues to spread, at least one mission agency is moving forward with plans to send volunteers on short-term trips to Asia. Send International’s[3] Dave Tucker. “We got in contact with our people mainly in Hong Kong and asked them to evaluate the situation and make a projection for us. And, together we decided that if people were heading in that direction we would not discourage them at this point. If they felt they wanted to pull away, we would allow them to do that and we’d be happy to help them find another short-term opportunity in one of our other areas. To this point, none of the people have taken that offer.” Tucker says they still need up to 50 volunteers. He says their short-term program is important to their outreach. “We could continue our ministry without ‘short-termers’, but they have done a tremendous amount of good for us. One example: our missionaries in Ukraine told us last year that between 400 and 500 people came to salvation in Christ mainly because of short-term teams holding camps last summer.”

(China)–Meanwhile, the World Bible Translation Center[4] is using Chinese tourists to get Bibles into China. It’s actually a partnership effort with several other organizations that they’ve dubbed ‘The Southern Cross’ project. WBTC’s Roger Massey they’re printing 500-thousand Luke/Acts scripture portions with study helps. He says the plan to get them into China is a bit unique. “These are handed out in several different countries in southeast Asia to Chinese tourists who are traveling outside of China. And so, they’re reached this way and so they can take them back into China.” Massey doesn’t believe the SARS outbreak will affect this distribution, but he’s asking people to pray that it doesn’t and that God would protect the couriers. “These materials are printed underground and it’s an illegal distribution of the kind of material that’s banned in that part of the world.” Pray too that funding will be available to help this program expand and help many pastors in evangelistic outreach.

(United Arab Emirates)–And, the EvangeCube[5] is the tool of choice for faith sharing even though it is illegal to preach the Gospel in the United Arab Emirates. Recently, the Ethiopian church in Abu Dhabi saw enough cubes come through so that every church member had one. Since then, the 350 believers have been regularly using the Cube as a quiet witnessing tool. In a country where open evangelism means severe consequence for Christians, the EvangeCube proves a silent but very effective medium to share Christ.

[1] http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/media/group.php?agencyAb=CBI [2] http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/media/group.php?agencyAb=TBI [3] http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/media/group.php?agencyAb=SEND [4] http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/media/group.php?agencyAb=WBTC [5] http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/media/group.php?agencyAb=ECI ———————————————————————

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