Around The World

I hope these links to what is going on with the Church around the world will make informative material for prayer. First the negative stories:

Reports have come out of North Korea that a mother of small children has been executed by the state for witnessing. Her husband and children have been incarcerated. This incident is part of a recent crackdown on the Church in North Korea. The motives for the latest crackdown by the government may be that the ailing leader's son is being groomed to take over soon and the only legal worship in this atheistic state is the worship of the supreme leader. The Taliban has taken a beating on the battlefield recently, but it is still a force for persecution of Christians where its power is not challenged. Despite the election of a new government in India replacing the militant Hindu government, persecution is still a major threat for Indian Christians. Doug Groothius shares his concerns for a minstry to the African nation of Liberia, a nation that has suffered from civil war. The recent political turmoil in the Central American nation of Honduras is proving to be a major obstacle to current missionary efforts. The government of the Island of Fiji has banned a nationwide Methodist Conference that was to begin with massive choral worship. The government fears that such a musical display will promote political instability. The organizers of the event were jailed for three days and are not allowed to appear in public. The United Nations has refused to recognize a Christian organization because it would not reveal the names and addresses of its operating officers in China. The organization, The Dynamic Christian World Mission Foundation, fears that to do so would jeopardize not only the groups work in China, but the safety of its workers as well. The spread of the Gospel in the Third World should be a cause of celebration in the Church worldwide. Even if there are some elements of the theology of Third World Christians that should cause some concern, one should not slander the entire movement of God in these regions. Unfortunately, that is what an article on the Christianity Today website has done. The author, upset that new Evangelical churches in Latin America have no theological connection to American and European Calvinism, slanders the entire movement as the worst of Prosperity Gospel teaching and worse. Shame on the article's author for slandering his brothers and sisters because they do not adhere to his theology!

Here is what should be good news. The Russian government has mandated religious or ethical education for students in the public schools. This is indeed good news coming from a formerly atheistic empire. Yet for Christians, only one brand of Christianity will be studied in schools, the theology of the Russian Orthodox Church. Is this a move to suppress other forms of Christianity? See here and here.

Here is an article by Albert Mohler on the future of the Evangelical Missions movement.

Here is a post on a successful ministry to children in Taiwan.

Here are some fact concerning the health of the Church in non western countries compared to U.S. and European churches. As the article states, Europe and America may be the next major mission field.