Mission Network News - Asia

Pakistan (MNN) — Pakistani lawmakers pass a resolution condemning mob lynchings after a man is burned alive for alleged blasphemy. He was detained at a local police station, then dragged out by a mob and set on fire.

Todd Nettleton with The Voice of the Martyrs USA says Pakistan’s notorious blasphemy laws frequently lead to violence against Christians.

“The rumor of blasphemy is enough to gin up one of these mobs to attack Christians in Pakistan. It doesn’t require evidence; it certainly doesn’t require proof,” Nettleton says.

“Someone tosses out an accusation, and the mob swings into action. Christian homes are burned. People are beaten.”

That’s precisely what happened at the end of May when radical Muslims accused an elderly Christian man of burning pages of the Quran. A vigilante mob beat the man unconscious, and he succumbed to his injuries a few days later.

Vigilantes burn a Christian home and small business. (Photo courtesy of FMI)

Plus, in August 2023, “there was an attack where 50 churches were destroyed in addition to Christian homes and businesses,” Nettleton adds.

Legal and political responses to blasphemy law fallout, like the National Assembly of Pakistan’s resolution, are typically quite rare. In 2011, the governor of Pakistan’s Punjab province, Salman Taseer, was assassinated by his bodyguard for speaking out against the blasphemy laws.

“It’s very difficult to find people who will publicly stand up and say, ‘Hey, we need to do something different here,’” Nettleton notes.

“We have had people speak out against the blasphemy law at the airport as they were fleeing the country because they know they’re painting a target on their back.”

Nonetheless, hope remains. A conference in Lahore last week connected blasphemy laws to recent mob violence and called upon the Pakistani government to form a Commission of Inquiry to investigate factors driving vigilante justice.

More importantly, the Gospel is making inroads. “One of the miracles of the Gospel is the fact that people respond,” Nettleton says.

“Even radical Muslims are drawn to that message of a loving Savior who sacrificed Himself on their behalf, instead of demanding that they sacrifice on His behalf.”

Pray for Saul-to-Paul conversions among radical Muslims in Pakistan. Find tangible ways to help persecuted Christians through VOM USA.

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Aleem Yousaf via Wikimedia Commons.

India (MNN) — India’s religious freedom violations recently took the spotlight in the U.S. State Department’s annual report.

John Pudaite with Bibles For The World says, “The report, coming out in Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s name, said that ‘In India, we see a concerning increase in anti-conversion laws, hate speech, demolitions of homes and places of worship for members of minority faith communities.’”

The State Department uses this report and recommendations from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom to designate Countries of Particular Concern later in the year. CPC designations, in turn, can lead to economic sanctions.

However, Pudaite doubts India’s poor religious freedom record will outweigh its economic benefits. “India’s position [is] a kind of counterbalance to China,” he says.

“Things are ramping up on the economic front, and the U.S. wants to maintain relations [with India] so that the economic investments and commerce can continue between the two countries.”

Small villages throughout Manipur receive much-needed supplies donated by Bibles For The World.
(Photo, caption courtesy of Bibles For The World)

Bibles For The World operates a seminary, several primary schools, and a hospital in northern India. More about that here. Since last May, they’ve been responding with help and hope to the Manipur crisis.

Visit Bibles For The World’s website for tangible ways to respond.

Lift up Christians who are suffering for their faith in India. Pray that the U.S. and other governments will continue to take notice of religious freedom issues.

“The attacks on Christians and other religious minorities continue. But we’re hoping that with the BJP losing some power, losing a very clear majority in the parliament, [that] we’ve seen a start of a turning trend here,” Pudaite says.

Header image courtesy of The Voice of the Martyrs Canada.

China (MNN) — Earlier this month marked the 35th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre when the Chinese government ordered troops and police to crack down on pro-democracy protestors.

On June 4, 1989, at least 180,000 troops and armored vehicles fired into the crowds of mostly students packed in Tiananmen Square and drove over them, killing several thousand people.

This tragic moment and the political fallout impacted the spread of the Gospel through China in ways that still echo today.

Kurt Rovenstine, President of Bibles for China says, “It did allow there to be some opportunity…. From 1990 to 2000, there was an opening up of opportunity for Christian ministries to come in and do some work.

Tiananmen Square protests before the massacre, June 2, 1989. (Photo courtesy of Jiří Tondl (Blow up) – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=68125236)

“Now, it was still China and there were still some restrictions and some things that couldn’t be done. But there seemed to be this sense of growth towards freedoms that China hadn’t encountered for quite some time. I think you could look at Tiananmen as a real watershed for that.”

Despite these opportunities, operating under a Communist regime presents ongoing challenges. Rovenstine explains, “It’s walking that line. It’s expressing our desire to answer to a higher authority.” Bibles for China supports the registered Church in navigating these complexities, enabling them to represent Christ faithfully.

Looking forward, Rovenstine emphasizes the enduring resilience of Chinese Christians: “You don’t answer ultimately to the Communist government. You answer ultimately to God!”

As Christians in China continue to persevere and spread the Gospel amidst government restrictions, prayers for wisdom and courage are crucial.

Please pray for the people of China to know lasting hope in Jesus Christ. Ask the Holy Spirit to grant believers insight and creativity in effectively spreading the Gospel while honoring both earthly authorities and God’s ultimate authority.

Header photo of Tiananmen Square in 2016. (Photo courtesy of RomanM82 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=105058975)

Indonesia (MNN) — Church planters in Muslim-majority Indonesia sometimes face social oppression and even violence. Yet, they say they can deal with these challenges.

“They’re willing to endure the social ostracization and outright persecution. What gets really tough is when they’re starving,” says Bruce Allen with FMI.

“One pastor told me that he was fasting, he and his family and he had a two-year-old daughter at the time. [They] were fasting four days a week, ‘not because we’re super spiritual, but because we have no food.’

FMI-supported church planter in Indonesia. (Photo courtesy of FMI)

“He was seriously looking at leaving this remote village in a rainforest to go to a big city on the island where he might be able to find employment, not in vocational ministry.”

FMI began financially supporting this pastor, allowing him to continue ministry. His church is the only one in that rural area and continued to grow over the next year.

“Even the local witch doctor had become a follower of Jesus Christ and one of the elders in the church now!” says Allen.

“So I just think, ‘What would happen to these areas if the pastors didn’t stay?’ Ministries like FMI really play a vital part in sustaining and helping local churches in challenging areas to thrive.”

You can support an FMI church planter making a difference for Christ in rural Indonesia! Learn more at FMI’s website.

Then, Allen asks, “Pray for people who would like to partner with FMI, that God would raise up people to help support the work of so many churches in the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation.”

Pray also for church planters in rural Indonesia, for their spiritual encouragement, creativity, and endurance to proclaim the Gospel in remote areas.

Header photo courtesy of FMI.

Cambodia (MNN) — According to the Bible, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” The past few years have taught believers in Cambodia how to trust God for better days, even when their circumstances say otherwise.

Churches began working with FARMS International on a microloan program shortly before the pandemic. A believer we’ll call Caleb* says trouble came on the heels of COVID-19.

“Some participants raised chickens, and they had a disease come through and wipe out most of their chickens,” Caleb says.

“Other participants had issues in farming; they had good crops and produced good products but didn’t have a market to sell [them] at [because] COVID happened and everything shut down.”

(Photo courtesy of FARMS International)

These trials were difficult to endure, but the Lord was faithful and protected His followers from destruction. “The struggles they went through really wiped them out; they were quite discouraged,” Caleb says.

“They had to walk in faith, and God [has] continued to provide for them.”

Today, believers are working on a repayment program with FARMS and setting goals for the future. “They were able to brainstorm and plan how to repay their loans a little bit back at a time, so they can continue to help others in need in their areas,” Caleb says.

“They plan on extending the program, even making programs of their own to help those around them.”

Pray for small businesses to flourish so believers have more to tithe and churches can grow. Contact FARMS International here to learn more.

“If you are good at animal husbandry, farming, or gardening, we could talk something out and maybe do a training because they’re hungry [for knowledge,]” Caleb says.

“They want to learn, they want to grow, they want to do better.”

*Pseudonym

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of allPhoto Bangkok/Unsplash.

Pakistan (MNN) — On June 9, 2,500 Pakistanis supported the men who brutally attacked an elderly Christian through an Islamic extremist rally in favor of enforcing Pakistan’s blasphemy laws.

Todd Nettleton from The Voice of the Martyrs USA says there is widespread support for these kinds of attacks. “You have an attack where a 74-year-old man is beaten to the point that he dies from his injuries. The police arrested some of the attackers, trying to hold them accountable for this attack.”

In response, a mob of 2,500 people gathered into a rally on behalf of the murders saying, “‘They shouldn’t be held accountable, because this Christian allegedly committed blasphemy because he allegedly burned pages of the Quran.’”

During this rally, Islamic extremists threatened the same fate to anyone who commits blasphemy and warned the police not to protect the ‘blasphemers.’

Under Pakistan’s blasphemy law, any insult to Islam or the prophet Muhammad is punishable by death or a life sentence. According to Reuters, many of the blasphemy allegations are targeted at Christians. No one has been executed by the state under the conviction of blasphemy, but many people die before their case goes to trial due to mob violence.

“It doesn’t require evidence. It certainly doesn’t require proof. Someone tosses out an accusation, and the mob swings into action. The rumor of blasphemy is enough to gin up one of these mobs and begin to attack Christians in Pakistan.”

Christians in Pakistan face constant persecution and discrimination of all kinds, from being relegated to the worst jobs in society to facing attacks and even death based on rumors.

“I had a Pakistani Christian on Voice of the Martyrs Radio,” Nettleton says. “He compared the persecution that Christians face to the air that we breathe. He said, ‘When you go to sleep at night, you don’t wonder, tomorrow morning, is there going to be air for me to breathe? Of course there is. That’s what it’s like to be a Christian in Pakistan.’ You don’t wonder if there’s going to be pressure against you tomorrow. You don’t wonder if there’s going to be persecution. Of course there is.”

However, Muslims, even radical Muslims, are responding to the Gospel and putting their faith in Christ. Nettleton believes Muslims are drawn to the message of a loving Savior who sacrificed Himself for them. He says, “That message is such a dramatic contrast from some of what they see from the radical Islamic community within their country.”

Pray for the safety and protection of Pakistani Christians as they face persecution and threats of death. Ask God to encourage them and fill them with the hope of Christ. Pray for government leaders to have the courage to stand up on behalf of religious freedom and on behalf of Christians who are attacked.

Header image is a representative stock photo depicting a crowd in South Asia. (Photo courtesy of Amir Arabshahi/Unsplash) 

India (MNN) — For adults trapped in poverty, reading and writing skills can transform their entire lives! That’s why Mission India organizes adult literacy classes to introduce men and women to Christ and lift them up through education. 

Regan Miller with Mission India shares the story of a woman named Rajeshree, whose family was in a downward spiral of poverty. 

“She and her husband were both illiterate. The only jobs they could get were low-paying, day labor jobs,” Miller says. “They really were in need of hope.”

Today, Rajeshree is a follower of Christ and a small business owner. (Photo courtesy of Mission India)

As Rajeshree and her husband fell into addiction to alcohol and tobacco, their family sunk deeper into poverty. She became more and more responsible to provide for their needs, which quickly led to exhaustion, anger and hopelessness. 

“As much as she wanted to change her life, she didn’t know how. Then an adult literacy class came along, and she was able to enroll. Not only did she learn how to read and write, but she got care from a compassionate Christian teacher,” Miller says. 

“Through that teacher’s discipleship and the Bible-based lessons, Rajeshree actually came to faith in Jesus, and it changed everything.” 

Because of Jesus, Rajeshree’s entire demeanor changed from bitterness to kindness. She and her husband realized the harmful effects of tobacco and alcohol and quit both. She also received training on how to start a small business of locally sourced products. 

“She was so excited. She learned how to make dish soap, laundry detergent, cooking oil, all kinds of practical things that people in the neighborhood would need to buy anyway,” Miller says. (Read even more about her story here.)

Would you pray that Rajeshree’s entire family will come to know Christ as Savior? You can also be part of sending another person like her to literacy class this upcoming school year. 

“It only costs $40 for a student to go to one of these classes for a whole year,” says Miller. 

Learn more and sponsor a literacy class student here.

Header photo courtesy of Mission India.

Myanmar (MNN) — Did you know there are 37.6 million refugees worldwide? That’s two million more than last year, and the numbers continue to rise with global unrest.

Today is World Refugee Day, and Brian Dennett at AMG International shares how they’re ministering God’s love to refugees from Myanmar.

Since Myanmar’s coup three years ago, AMG has been working just over the border in Thailand attending to thousands of displaced Burmese.

People from the IDP community inside Myanmar. (Photo by Billy Weeks)

Dennett says, “There are hundreds of people by the week crossing the border, and it just continues to grow by day. Thailand has around a 1,500-mile border with Myanmar.

“Now with the government actually forcing people – even including young children – to join the army and fight against the resistance, it’s caused even more people to flee.”

Many Burmese kids show up in the refugee camps unaccompanied. “These are kids that are alone; they come, of course, very frightened having suffered a lot of trauma,” Dennett says.

“We have set up housing dormitories. We’re trying right now to build several more dormitories and a formal school, and just come around them and surround them with support and love.”

Yet, praise God for faithful Burmese Christians following Him even in refugee camps.

“It’s been such a joy to watch what’s coming out of that refugee situation,” says Dennett. “We have videos and photos of that community.

“They’re worshiping together, reading God’s Word, praising God together – really despite all that they’ve suffered.”

Mue is one of many children that has been given the opportunity to go to school at the Light Asean Hostel. (Photo, caption courtesy of AMG International)

You can learn more about AMG’s ministry to refugees here.

Pray for Christian refugees from Myanmar and around the world to be spiritually encouraged in the midst of persecution and hardship. Ask God to use the faithful example of these believers to lead others to Christ.

Header photo courtesy of AMG International.

Pakistan (MNN) — Freedoms of speech and thought are severely restricted in Pakistan. FMI’s Nehemiah says, “In Pakistan, no one dares to insult Muhammad, Koran, or Allah because they know the repercussions.”

Pakistan’s infamous blasphemy law is a source of contention for human rights advocates.

“This law says that any insulting remarks in respect of the Prophet Muhammad, Quran, or Allah, either spoken or written or by visible representation directly or indirectly, shall be punished with death,” Nehemiah says.

“I call this law a Black Law because [it] does not require any evidence [or] witnesses.”

More often than not, blasphemy accusations lead to vigilante justice. Even if there’s no proof to support accusations, angry mobs feel emboldened by the blasphemy law to right any alleged wrongs.

“Over 100 people have been murdered in relation to blasphemy allegations since 1990, and over 700 people are in different jails of Pakistan without any trial,” Nehemiah says.

Last year, hundreds of people stormed a mostly Christian neighborhood in Pakistan’s third-largest city, burning homes and churches after a Muslim extremist group accused believers of blasphemy.

As a growing religious minority, Christians frequently become the target of blasphemy violence. “While I’m talking to you right now, a Christian man is being murdered in Baluchistan, in Kota,” Nehemiah says.

“They simply pick a random Christian man and kill that person in the street of Pakistan.”

FMI-supported church planters boldly proclaim the Gospel in this context. More about that here.

“Pray for safety and wisdom,” Nehemiah requests, “and of course, we need to support them so they can continue the ministry in Pakistan.”

Header image depicts the 2016 funeral procession of a young Christian man killed by a mob after he was accused of blasphemy. (Photo courtesy of FMI)

Türkiye (MNN) — Although Christianity’s historic roots run deep in Türkiye, it’s a difficult place to live out your faith today.

“The Turkish Government wants to wipe out Christianity and its history,” Greg Musselman with The Voice of the Martyrs Canada says.

“They see Christianity and the spreading of the Gospel as a national security situation.”

The Turkish government drove nine foreign Christian leaders out of the country in recent years because they were sharing the Gospel.

“The Secret Service report in Turkiye said these leaders were violating the security of the country,” Musselman says.

Although believers took legal action to refute that decision, Türkiye’s highest court just ruled that the government’s expulsion does not violate religious freedom.

(Photo courtesy VOM-AU)

“One of the knocks against Turkey has been their violation of human rights. So, this is pretty interesting that they would do something this public because that pushes them away from being accepted in the EU,” Musselman says.

Six of the court’s 13 judges disagreed with the majority opinion. “Those six are thinking, ‘No, if we set this precedent, it will be very dangerous for our country,’” Musselman says.

Believers can now appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.

“That will put Turkey on the defensive, so it’s, again, a situation that we’re watching very closely,” Musselman says. “It will be interesting to see how the international community responds to that.”

Pray for strength and endurance for believers in Türkiye. Connect with VOM Canada here to learn how you can help persecuted Christians.

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Spyros Papaspyropoulos/Flickr.