Mission Network News - Asia

India (MNN) — India is full of people like Rafas.

“Not only was he committed to his idols, but he was against Jesus,” Regan Miller with Mission India says. “He stood against Christian pastors and all the work that they did.”

Rafas was so committed to his idol worship that “he wouldn’t cut his hair or mustache because he considered it an offering to his gods. So, [he had] long hair, really long mustache,” she adds.

The Lord hears your prayers for people like Rafas. “People like our listeners [and readers] are praying for people like Rafas, and because of those prayers, a church planter named Sobrato went to Rafas’s village and held a prayer group,” Miller says.

‘This time, when he saw a Christian meeting taking place – instead of opposing it – Rafas joined.”

Rafaz’s haircut (Photo courtesy of Mission India)

Rafas heard the Gospel at the prayer meeting. He gave his life to Christ, and everything changed. “As a sign of receiving Christ and leaving his idols, Rafas cut his hair and mustache,” Miller says.

“The Holy Spirit can reach people we cannot physically reach.”

Praise God for this transformation, and don’t stop praying for those who still need access to the Gospel. Mission India offers a prayer guide focused on the ten days leading to Pentecost Sunday.

“Pentecost Sunday lines right up on the same day as the International Day for the Unreached this year on May 19,” Miller says.

“What a perfect time to invite the Holy Spirit to work in unreached people groups! India is the most unreached nation in the world; there are thousands of unreached people groups.”

Mission India selected the timing of their prayer guide with a specific intention.

“Ascension Day, when Jesus ascended back into heaven, was 10 days before Pentecost Sunday. And during that time of waiting, the apostles prayed,” Miller says.

“That’s what we’re looking forward to this year, is celebrating and recognizing that time of waiting by inviting people into prayer with us.”

Header and story images courtesy of Mission India.

India (MNN) — Religious freedom advocates sound the alarm as India begins implementing the Citizenship Amendment Act or CAA.

The CAA establishes a religious requirement for asylum seekers in India. It fast-tracks the process for some faiths but excludes others, specifically Muslims. More about that here.

John Pudaite with Bibles For The World says advocates were concerned “that it (the law) could be extended beyond the Muslims to anyone who is non-Hindu.”

For example, Muslims aren’t the only ones fleeing persecution from Myanmar’s military junta. “We’re seeing an influx of refugees from Myanmar who are of Christian background,” Pudaite says.

“The fear is in some of those bordering [states], the government will force the implementation of the CAA, and it would be used against Christians.”

Earlier this month, India began deporting refugees who fled Myanmar after the 2021 coup. The CAA isn’t the only threat to Christ-followers in India. Pudaite says human rights watchdogs documented over 600 acts of violence against believers and churches in 2023.

“That’s more than one and a half incidents a day. We have seen the persecution and oppression of Christians just continuously on the rise,” Pudaite says.

Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP are forecast to win India’s upcoming elections, slated to begin on April 19 and lasting six weeks. Ask the Lord to strengthen believers and help them persevere through whatever comes next.

This picture was recently taken at a relief camp in Manipur. Life has not returned to normal for many living there.
(Photo, caption courtesy of Bibles For The World)

“It seems like everywhere we turn, there’s another issue or another law being passed that could be used against the religious minorities. Christians, of course, are facing the brunt of this,” Pudaite says.

Please continue praying for Bibles For The World and Christian communities in Manipur.

“We have seen the radicalized Hindu majority attacking the Christian tribals in our state. This has now been going on for ten and a half months unabated; attacks on the villages continue,” Pudaite says.

“It (violence) is done in collusion with the state government, also from the same BJP party. We don’t see any intervention from the national government.”

Header and story images courtesy of Bibles For The World.

Bangladesh (MNN) — Did you know Bangladesh has the world’s third-largest Muslim population? Although less than one percent of the population knows Christ, millions of Bangladeshis are learning about the Bible through media outreaches.

Gospel growth is not without resistance. Islamist groups, communities, and local leaders persecute Christians. “Bangladesh sits at spot #26 on the World Watch List of the 50 worst places in the world to live as a Christian due to persecution,” FMI’s Bruce Allen says.

“In the past ten years, Bangladesh’s score has gotten progressively worse.”

FMI develops partnerships with national disciple-makers where minority Christians are impoverished or persecuted. More about that here.

In Bangladesh, “Christians often gather in small house churches due to the risk of attack,” Allen says.

“Bangladeshi believers are often accused of betraying their community – ‘You’re an infidel, you’re apostate.’”

Understandably, new Christians often hesitate to be baptized due to family and social pressures. Pray against the power of fear in the lives of new believers from non-Christian backgrounds. An FMI-supported pastor is preparing eight new believers to be baptized this year.

“Pray that God gives power and perseverance to Christian converts in Bangladesh,” Allen requests.

“Those churches take seriously the fact that they are to reflect Jesus’s purposes and His values to their community. They’re engaged in evangelism to their neighbors, putting them in the crosshairs for further persecution.”

Header and story images courtesy of FMI.

Pakistan (MNN) — When Unknown Nations gospel workers entered a slum in Pakistan, a prominent witch doctor thought he was ready for them. 

“These (slums) are places where people are living amongst the trash. These are people groups most of (whom) have never heard the gospel before, and they’re controlled by witch doctors,” says Greg Kelley with Unknown Nations. Human trafficking and human sacrifice are also horrible realities there.

“When the Bible says that our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, that is a literal statement in the Bible, and that is real and active in Pakistan.” 

The witch doctor summoned two powerful demons to harm the Christians, but things didn’t go as he expected. He later shared with the Christians, “I saw them burn up.”

The man asked them what they had done to make this happen.  

“We said, ‘Sir, we didn’t do anything. But the reason that those demons were burned up is because of Jesus and the power of God.’ So we shared the gospel with him, and this guy gave his life to Christ,” Kelley says. 

The man immediately turned away from witchcraft. He has begun to learn God’s Word and be discipled by local Christian leaders Unknown Nations partners with, who take action immediately in situations like this. 

Photo of slum in Karachi, Pakistan courtesy of Haseeb Ali/Unsplash.

This spiritual 180 has angered the people the man was leading. 

“He’s absolutely in danger. I mean, these places are very dark. Any place where there’s human sacrificing going on, the disregard for human life is just, it’s unimaginable,” Kelley says. 

Please pray for this new brother in Christ, that the trappings of his old life will have no hold on him whatsoever.

“Pray that (he) continues to keep his heart open to the Lord. Pray that he has the courage to be able to step away from those (former, evil relationships) and into his new, healthy relationships,” Kelley says. 

Header photo is a representative stock image of a man in Pakistan courtesy of Syed Muazzam Ali Taqi/Unsplash.

Pakistan (MNN) — At least 600 prisoners are facing capital punishment in Pakistan right now because they’ve been accused of blasphemy.

“You can blame anybody and accuse anybody in Pakistan of blasphemy. It has become a norm, not only with Christians but Muslims as well,” FMI’s Nehemiah says.

“It’s very easy because you don’t need any evidence.”

(Photo courtesy of FMI)

You don’t even have to be accurate in your accusation to level blasphemy charges at someone. For example, a mob called for a woman’s life a few weeks ago because they thought her clothing was blasphemous.

“The word in Arabic on her shirt was ‘halwa.’ This Arabic word means ‘sweet’ or ‘nice,’” Nehemiah explains.

A 30-second conversation could have clarified the crowd’s confusion. Instead, the mob called for her death. “Muslim people in Pakistan do not understand the difference between Arabic and Urdu because the script is the same, but the dialogue is different,” Nehemiah says.

“Because they do not understand, they think everything written in Arabic is [from the] Quran, which is untrue.”

The Quran is written and read in Arabic, but Urdu is the heart language of most Pakistanis.

“The irony in Pakistan is that the literacy rate is very minimal. Fanatic people [will] attack anybody, but they don’t have the basic understanding even of their own religion,” Nehemiah says.

For example, “a few months ago, more than 30 churches were burned down in one day based on blasphemy. There was no proof that any Christian committed blasphemy.”

Pray the Church in Pakistan will continue to flourish and grow despite persecution. Support church planters in Pakistan through FMI here.

Header and story images courtesy of FMI.

Pakistan (MNN) — The economy in Pakistan is heavily built on a form of modern day slavery: brick kilns, an industry that is explorative and widely accepted in the country, but also offers an opportunity for evangelism. 

Nearly every commercial and residential building in Pakistan is built of bricks made in over 14,000 brick kilns scattered across the country. These kilns are operated by 4.5 million enslaved people. 

Greg Kelley with Unknown Nations says that often what happens is that vulnerable people will be exploited by slave owners offering to pay their bills for them and their families. In exchange, the whole family becomes bonded to the brick kiln owner. 

“And in many instances, I mean, we’ve met people that have been in these kilns for 20 and 30 years,” Kelley said. “So once they get into the brick kilns, they literally never come out.”

Brick kiln workers often never leave. Photo courtesy of Arsalanashraff71 via Wikimedia Commons.

Though technically illegal, politicians in Pakistan frequently succumb to bribery and ignore criminal activity happening in these kilns including organ harvesting and trafficking children of kiln workers. 

Kelley believes that since this type of indentured servitude has been part of the culture in Pakistan for so long, it has become widely accepted. 

“But I think that it’s the lowest caste, most vulnerable people who don’t have any influence,” Kelley said. “And so, you know, nobody cares about that. So they’re the ones who will suffer the most.”

However, for Kelley and his team, these brick kilns offer an opportunity for ministry. 

By paying the owners of the kiln around $2,500, they can essentially buy the freedom of the workers for a day, allowing their team access to provide a meal, a time of rest, and the Gospel message to the kiln workers. 

Kelley describes these days as holidays for the kiln workers. Since many of these people work every day from around five in the morning to six at night, they never have a complete day off.

“So it’s a real celebration when they do get their time off,” Kelley said. “And when we come in, we share the Gospel always. So many of these slaves, because they suffer so much, their hearts are wide open to the message of hope.”

Every time this happens, people come to Christ. Even more, recently kiln owners – a traditionally Muslim group – have increasingly been giving their lives to Christ. 

Transformation happens when these owners come to know Christ, changing their behavior and setting slaves free. 

“But that’s the evidence and the impact of the Gospel,” Kelley said. 

From this, the kilns then offer an opportunity to establish churches. With kiln workers sharing close quarters and gathering together regularly, new believers naturally worship together, pray together, and create disciples of other kiln workers, aided by the audio Bibles Kelley’s team leaves them with. 

In many communities in Pakistan, Islamic forces often impose anti-conversion laws on Christians. However, inside brick kilns, Kelley has seen success in discipleship due to the close-knit communities built there. 

“Jesus said to care for the least of these,” Kelley said. “And it’s hard to think of the slaves in the brick kilns of Pakistan as being nothing other than the least of these, but these people are precious in the sight of Jesus. We need to be praying for them, lifting them up, many of them we haven’t been able to get to yet…are suffering just terribly.” 

Kelley calls for prayers for Pakistani Christians to be raised up to go into the brick kiln mission field and be mobilized to create disciples from these enslaved people. 

Though a harsh mission field, Kelley prays that God will send more people into these places to share the good news of the Gospel. 

Header photo courtesy of Dolon Prova via Wikimedia Commons. 

India (MNN) — When school finishes for the summer, many children in India don’t have another place to go while their parents work. During this time when so many things can go wrong, Mission India’s 10-Day Children’s Bible Club steps in to give kids a safe, exciting environment where they can learn about Jesus. 

Regan Miller with Mission India tells us, “The kids are drawn to the Bible club because it’s fun, it’s engaging. It’s not like sitting down in a class.”

Miller says Bible club is like Vacation Bible School to the extreme, since it goes for 10 full days over the course of two weeks, morning to evening. Children learn fun Bible-based skits, Bible stories, and songs with motions and dance moves to it, and more.

“We partner with local Christians who are in India and from the area to run these 10-Day Bible clubs. That’s especially exciting because that means after the 10-Day Bible club ends, that leader is still a part of the community and able to pour into those kids lives for the long term,” Miller says. 

While persecution is a serious issue in India, Bible clubs are often an exception. A community may not welcome a church, but they see the good that a Bible club does in keeping kids out of trouble in the summer. 

“Even if they’re against Christianity, a lot of times they’ll allow the Bible club to run and not oppose it, because they see the good that it’s doing,” Miller says. 

(Photo of Jamia courtesy of Mission India)

Jamia is one girl whose life was turned around through Bible club. She was largely shunned by her community because of an eye condition she has. When she learned about Jesus for the first time in her life, she blossomed into a bright, confident girl with a heart for serving others.

“When Jesus came into her [Jamia’s] life, it changed her confidence. It changed the way she viewed herself. It changed what potential she saw in her own life. It changed her family life, changed everything,” Miller says.

“We’re so excited about how much something can change a child when they hear about Jesus over the course of 10 days.”

(Read more of Jamia’s story here.) 

You can join Mission India in reaching more children like Jamia this summer through their special matching challenge. From now until April 30, gifts will be doubled up to $250,000.  

The incredible thing is that it costs only $1 for a child to be part of a 10-Day Bible Club.

“We’re excited to open up the invitation for people to reach out to more kids like Jamia so that they can have this awesome summer experience with Jesus,” Miller says. 

Visit Mission India’s website to join the matching challenge here.

Header photo courtesy of Mission India. 

Pakistan (MNN) — Do you remember hearing about the woman in Pakistan who was harassed by a mob because of her dress a few weeks ago?

“The woman was walking through the bazaar with her husband when a Muslim man noticed the Arabic calligraphy and began following the couple,” FMI’s Nehemiah reminds us.

The Muslim man accused the woman of blasphemy, which riled up the surrounding crowd. “This bazaar has more than 500 small shops, and it’s overcrowded,” Nehemiah says.

“Everybody wanted to kill this woman; [one] person even claimed that he was going to shoot this woman down.”

Here’s the part that didn’t make the international headlines: Johnson Tariq, a Christian shop owner, risked his safety to shelter the woman and her husband.

The Muslim woman watches in horror as Johnson Tariq and his employees protect her from a violent mob.
(Photo courtesy of FMI)

“[This] Christian man took the bold move to secure the woman within his shop and gave refuge to this Muslim woman who was about to [be] killed by this Muslim violent mob,” Nehemiah says.

“Meanwhile, two Christian salesmen who work with this Christian shopkeeper formed a human chain attempting to calm the approaching mob that sought to breach the shop; [they even threatened] arson.”

Tariq and his employees kept the woman safe in Tariq’s food shop until police arrived and calmed the crowd, securing the safe release of the woman and her husband.

Actions like these can easily turn into Gospel opportunities. Pray believers in Pakistan will be bold in sharing Jesus with their Muslim neighbors.

“Please pray for these Muslim brothers and sisters. That is our mission ground,” Nehemiah says.

“This is where FMI is serving [so] that these people can see the light of Jesus Christ and they will know who is the real Savior.”

Learn more about FMI’s work here.

Header image depicts a typical outdoor bazaar in Pakistan. (Photo courtesy of Arman Sabir/Pixabay)

Malaysia (MNN) — Malaysia’s top court recently struck down over a dozen Shariah-based state laws, saying they infringed on federal authority. Islamist leaders decried the decision, saying it would “undermine” religious courts.

“It seems not so much that they are overturning Sharia law, but the states can’t pass their own version of Sharia law,” Todd Nettleton with The Voice of the Martyrs USA says.

“The state that passed these (controversial) laws [said,] ‘We want to enforce these laws the way we see them in our part of the country,’ and the federal government is saying, ‘No, you’re not allowed to do that; you’re not allowed to set your own separate standards.’”

Malaysia flag (Photo courtesy of Mkjr/Unsplash)

Instead, the top court solidified the presence of Islamic law in Malaysia by ruling that “Sharia law is established for the whole country, and it is the federal courts that will enforce that, not the states,” Nettleton adds.

Believers from a Muslim background are called apostates under Sharia law. Unfortunately, “it doesn’t seem like this ruling is going to change the situation on the ground for a Muslim convert,” Nettleton says.

“At the same time, it’s not going to make it worse for an ethnically Chinese Christian or someone from one of those minority groups seen as a Christian to start with.”

While Christianity is not illegal in Malaysia, Christians are marginalized by the ruling Muslim ethnic group. More about that here. It is illegal for ethnic Malays to convert to Christianity because they are all considered Muslim under Malaysian law.

“One of the ways we can pray is for the Gospel to spread among ethnic Malay people,” Nettleton says.

“Yes, it’s illegal. Yes, it’s difficult. But we can pray that our brothers and sisters in Malaysia will have access to the Good News.”

Header image depicts the main entrance of the Kuala Lumpur Courts Complex in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (Wikimedia Commons)

Asia (MNN) — Mandarin is the heart language of more than one billion people worldwide. Soon, millions of kids and young adults who use Mandarin at home will have access to the Gospel, thanks to Keys for Kids.

Executive Director Greg Yoder says, “We’re in the midst of a campaign to get Keys for Kids and Unlocked into the Chinese language. It’s all being contextualized, and it’s going to be something that isn’t available [right now.]”

Learn more here. Keys for Kids is also working on faith-based audio drama programs and developing resources for children’s camps, like Vacation Bible School.

“Some of those have already been done, and we’re super excited about the response,” Yoder says.

While mainland China holds the most Mandarin speakers, other hotspots include the United States and Canada, with three million and 450,000 Mandarin users, respectively. That’s precisely where Keys for Kids is heading first.

“We want to reach out to North American Chinese churches and provide a resource for first-generation Christians.”

A lot of work is left to do, and it comes with a hefty price tag.

(Photo courtesy of Keys for Kids)

“We have about a half year of audio production for the Keys for Kids [devotional], and then we need to start completely on the Unlocked teen devotional,” Yoder says.

“We need about $50,000 to begin this process.”

Your gift is doubled through a matching grant here.

Most importantly, pray. “We know that Satan hates the work that we’re doing, especially when we talk about youth,” Yoder says.

“Secondly, we’re asking people to give generously. Somebody has stepped to the plate and will match each dollar up to $25,000; we’re about halfway there.”

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Angela Roma/Pexels.