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Brief Biography of Pioneer Mission

by Geoff 27 December 2025 1 Comment

Brief Biography of Pioneer Mission in PNG

And excerpts from Australia, Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Philippines, Kenya, Ghana and the South Pacific. More details in blog God’s Surprises and God’s Surprises – PDF

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Blog: Geoffrey Waugh, founding editor of the Renewal Journal

Blog: Geoffrey Waugh – Ministry & Mission CV

PDF: Brief Biography of Pioneer Mission in PNG

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Revivals Index – history’s mighty revivals

Pioneer Mission

Revival swept the highland villages in Papua New Guinea from 1973, just before and into their independence from 1975. I had the privilege of being there just before that and teaching village pastors and teachers in Bible Schools, which became part of preparing them for revival.

I landed in the 3-5,000 feet mountains of Papua New Guinea (PNG) among the Enga tribes as a raw, enthusiastic, inexperienced teacher. I had begun teaching with a class of 48 eight-year-old boys in Sydney at age 19 in 1957.

From 1965 I taught Basic English in PNG, first in mission station schools and then in village schools, less than a decade before revival transformed the church and villages there in PNG from 1973 and before PNG became independent in 1975. The Australian government poured money into PNG to raise educational and health levels to prepare them for independence.

Engas then wore nothing above the waist, and wore nets made from Pandanus fibres hung from belts made of vines or bamboo. Acquired old leather belts became popular. Now they have access to trade store clothing. More modest than many Europeans, no man would touch a woman in public including any of his wives. Big men like tribal leaders had many wives. Bride prices, given to the bride’s clan, included many pigs, maybe cows, and special shells.

The culture, wildly different from my Australian background, valued communal loyalty above individual choices. Payback, eye for eye and life for life, was not just an option but a responsibility. If someone stole from your food garden or house, you or your clan should payback the insult. That often escalated into tribal war with bows and arrows and spears.

A school I started in a remote village when I was single, the only European in that village, grew grade by grade for each of six years, adding a new grade and an indigenous teacher each year. I moved on after the first year. Someone from that village stole food from a nearby clan’s gardens, so that clan raided the village and pillaged more food. The village responded with reciprocal raids. It escalated until the nearby clan burnt down the whole school with its classrooms made of bamboo walls and thick grass roofs. The village had to rebuild the whole school.

A student I later taught in my Bible School, got involved in a fight over a tribal land border. The son of a chief, he went to prison (calaboose) for a month, building roads, along with his father and the tribal warriors. Upon release his tribal leaders re-enrolled him immediately back into Bible School, proud of his loyalty, courage, and skill. These were leaders in revival.

I accompanied two native female village teachers to an education conference via the town of Madang, using the regular Missionary Aviation Fellowship (MAF) Cessna planes. I showed the young ladies around the town. Unknown to me, local young men followed us, angry with me for taking two of their brown skinned ladies to where we stayed in a mission boarding house. They assumed I wanted sex. Fortunately the night watchman found those men creeping toward my room with knives ready to stab me. The watchman explained that we had separate rooms and I was a good man. Village teachers like them also became leaders in village revivals.

Another tribal group wanted to kill me because I had taken my school students swimming in a big pool in the river gorge nearby. But one student was washed downstream, almost drowning. His worry was not his cuts or bruises but that he had lost his school uniform sarong. He stopped his clan from coming to attack me in payback! Tribal elders insisted that I never take students swimming again there. That student later became a pastor leading revivals in the villages.

I enjoyed teaching Basic English in many schools, and then teaching leaders in Bible Schools where I used both the national Pidgin language and the local Enga dialect. Those young leaders became village teachers and pastors. Most of them became leaders in revivals among the Engas which transformed hundreds of lives in each area.

They no longer cut a joint off a finger at the death of a close relative to show that relative’s spirit their sorrow. They no longer sacrificed to the spirits for protection but trusted God. They learned to forgive and agree on settlements instead of insisting on an eye for an eye. The first corpse I saw was a man cut in his neck with a tomahawk, lying on a hollow log bridge, because he had committed adultery. Someone in the woman’s clan had killed him.

Government law in PNG made it being illegal to stop after a vehicle accident in case of immediate payback by offended locals. By law you must not stop but report immediately to the nearest police station. Gradually life changed. Peace increased as repentance and revival spread..

Of course, like us, they were not perfect nor always Christ-like. But they learned and grew in compassion and care.

I was the only single male teacher, based in four mission stations and many villages. Twenty or so single European female teachers and nurses also lived and worked there. After three years single there (and invited to many meals with single women) I married Meg, one of the teachers. I would run from my school the three hours (usually a 5 hour trek) across high ridges to visit Meg at her school at weekends. But we did not hold hands in public. Even at night that was risky. We did that one night in the dark down a ridge track. Then I saw a low glow of a straw bundle small fire approaching in the dark (a local torch) along the track. Meg and I quickly separated.

“I see you are coming,” I said politely in the Enga dialect.

“I see you are there,” replied the school student politely, and passed us by. Next day stories circulated around the school and villages that we were caught being naughty.

I proposed to Meg there, and we married on furlough in Sydney. Then we returned to teach local leaders in Bible Schools. Our first child, born in the one-room European ward of the mission hospital, never crawled because the woven bamboo floor hurt her knees. So she held onto chairs and boxes, walking by nine months. Our homes, made from bamboo walls and floor with a thick grass roof, kept us cool in the daytime tropical heat. Village ladies passed our popular white baby from woman to woman with their unwashed breasts. Our baby caught a mild eye infection from that encounter, soon fixed with eye drops.

I was the founding principal of the full-time Bible School there where respected leaders trained to be pastors and teachers in the villages. We did not know we were preparing them to lead in village revivals, with strong Spirit-filled teaching, following God’s Word, just like in the Gospels and the life of the early church in the Book of Acts.

Here are some photos of those early pioneering days.

**Village communion with bamboo cups & sweet potato**

Baptisms in creek

Typical village

School student

Bamboo and vine bridge in gorge

Geoff and Meg

Back in Australia I taught on renewal and revival at Trinity Theological College and Christian Heritage College in Brisbane and led many short term mission teams to around 20 countries to encourage revival.

For 20 years we have lived in an extended family in our home designed and built by my son where by 2025 we have four generations living together, still involved in ministry and mission.

Here are some excerpts from Australia, Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Philippines, Kenya, Ghana and the South Pacific. More details are in the blog God’s Surprises and in the free book God’s Surprises – PDF

Australia

Back in Australia I worked as a Baptist minister with the Methodist and then Uniting Church in Christian Education in Brisbane and Queensland, leading conferences, camps, conventions, and church services. That included united renewal conventions in the Anglican, Catholic, and Uniting Church cathedrals. I also worked part-time for two years as the inaugural Lifeline telephone counselling director in Toowoomba and a lecturer in Religious Education at the university there.

Later I taught about renewal and revival to Uniting Church (Methodist, Presbyterian, Congregational), Anglican and Catholic students at Trinity Theological College, part of the Brisbane College of Theology. Then I lectured at and became a Fellow of Christian Heritage College in Brisbane with its schools of Education, Social Sciences, Counselling, Business and Ministry.

Revival spread among Indigenous Australians from an outpouring of God’s Spirit among Elcho Island aborigines near Darwin from February 1978. That spread across northern Australia. We invited them to Pentecost weekend meetings in Brisbane and they invited us to their annual celebrations in February. God moved powerfully among them in repentance, reconciliation, conversions, baptisms, and deliverance from domestic violence and alcoholism in large numbers.

I was the founding editor of the Renewal Journal (now www.renewaljournal.com). That led to invitations to overseas short-term revival mission trips in around 20 countries including in Africa, Europe, Asia, and the South Pacific, as described in my book God’s Surprises (free on www.renewaljournal.com).

Here are highlights from a few of those revival mission trips.

Asia

Sri Lanka

We taught many overseas students in Trinity Theological College, mainly from the South Pacific but also from Asia. I conducted the impressive and totally free wedding in Brisbane of two students from Sri Lanka. Philip worked as a part-time cleaner of St Stephen’s Presbyterian (then Uniting) cathedral, so we held the wedding there for free. Church ladies freely provided flowers for the service and for the following day’s Sunday Service. The mother of a student friend at college owned a boutique clothing shop which also hired wedding clothes so she gave them free choice of impressive wedding outfits. Those students lived in a Salvation Army hostel so the hostel provided a smorgasbord wedding breakfast for them as their gift.

Philip and Dhamika’s relatives led village churches and a Bible School in the hills around Kandi in Sri Lanka. They invited us to visit and encourage them and lead revival meetings. They inherited land with fresh spring water so they built a small factory to bottle and sell the water to support their church and mission work. Our time there included dedicating their new factory for God’s kingdom purposes.

India

One of our teams visited Grace Bible College and school in New Delhi. It was the largest Bible College in India with 600 students. Graduates worked in many hostile regions and faced a lot of opposition and persecution. Two of their students returned to Nepal during the time of one of our visits to Nepal. Those students were shot by Maoists. They were accused of being spies.

Nepal

A retired friend in Brisbane worked with the government in Nepal to help with international marketing. He befriended and supported many local pastors and a young evangelist. The evangelist arranged revival meetings for us in West Nepal, East Nepal, and Kathmandu where he had started a church. That Hosanna Church grew into one of the biggest congregations in Nepal and planted many new churches, established schools, trade colleges, and Bible Schools. We saw the Lord pour out his Spirit on pastors and leaders there many times. Most pastors had been imprisoned often, and some bore scars from beatings there. If, for example, a pastor conducted a Christian wedding and relatives complained about that, the pastor could be imprisoned for a month or more for disturbing the peace.

Philippines

I taught on revival at a seminary in Manilla in the sweltering heat of the Philippines. My M.Th. students reported on revival and miracles. One Baptist pastor, who was also a police inspector, reported that a church he visited sent groups of young people to sing and speak at hospitals and nursing homes.

One of those teams held monthly meetings in a mental hospital. The staff said that their patients may not understand much, but those patients did enjoy the singing. More than 40 came to the first meeting. The team offered to pray for anyone who would like prayer. They prayed personally for 26 people. The next month when the team returned, all those 26 had been discharged and sent home.

Africa

Kenya

Francis, a Christian Heritage College graduate from Kenya began Nairobi Believers Mission (NBM) in the slums of Kibera, Nairobi, where a million people live, jammed together in small mud brick homes with rusty iron roofs. Our mission teams visited Francis to serve leaders and speak at meetings there. In spite of poverty and political unrest, their churches continue to grow steadily.

“Can I take some bread home?” asked a young man at our communion service in the slums of Nairobi in Kenya, East Africa. We shared real drink and some loaves of bread together among 30 people in their corrugated iron shed where I was the guest preacher.

“It’s your bread,” I answered. “You decide.” He quickly shoved a handful of bread into his pocket. Then most of the others did the same. Two weeks later, Francis, the young pastor, emailed me: “I’ve visited the slum homes of those people and they are still eating that bread. It’s still fresh.” Apparently God multiplied it.

Francis added: “Actually the miracle continued months after we began NBM and were feeding members each Saturday afternoon with tea and bread. God continued multiplying the food and there was always enough.”

Ghana

A young pastor in Ghana in West Africa, invited me to hold meetings there. So I arrived with three others from Brisbane during our college break in July, forgetting it was monsoon time in Ghana. We flew into a deluge of rain on the Monday. Our hosts planned night meetings in the market from Tuesday, with morning teaching in a local church.

We drove for over an hour in pouring rain from Accra, the capital, to the town of Suhum in the hills for our first meeting on Tuesday night. The heavy rain had flooded the power station there so the whole town was in darkness. We prayed earnestly, asking God to take over. Within 15 minutes the rain stopped, the town lit up with power, and we began. The host team began excitedly shouting that it was a miracle.

Soon the musicians from one of the local churches had plugged in their instruments to the sound system. The loudspeakers did not face the faithful Christians gathered in the fluorescent-lit open area, but pointed at the surrounding houses, the stores, and the hotel. Those excited Africans sang and danced for over two hours, attracting hundreds to the meeting.

When we invited people to respond and give their lives to Christ, they came from the surrounding darkness into the light. Some wandered over from the pub, smelling of beer. They kept the ministry team busy praying and arranging follow-up with their churches.

We moved about laying hands on people and praying for them. People reported various touches of God in their lives. Church teams prayed for hundreds of people. Many were saved. Many were healed. One man testified, “I came to this meeting blind, but while you were singing I found I could see.”

Each day we held morning worship and teaching sessions for Christians in the Apostolic Church, hot under an iron roof on those clear, tropical sunny days. During the second morning I vividly ‘saw’ golden light fill the church and swallow up or remove blackness. At that point the African Christians became very noisy, vigorously celebrating and shouting praises to God. A fresh anointing seemed to fall on them just then.

Although it didn’t rain the whole time we were holding meetings there, the day after our meetings finished, the torrential rains began again. The following week we saw floods in Ghana reported on international television. Later on we received letters telling us how the church where we held our morning meetings, and the other churches, had grown, expanded their building, and had sent out teams of committed young people in evangelism. Through that experience, God showed us a glimpse of what he is doing in a big way in the earth right now.

South Pacific

We often visited the South Pacific nations close to Australia, including Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and Fiji. I describe many revival movements in my book South Pacific Revivals (free on www.renewaljournal.com).

Many revival movements swept the South Pacific islands. I was blessed to see some.

God’s Spirit fell on the Law School of the University of the South Pacific just after Easter 2002. The Law School is in Port Vila, the capital of Vanuatu. Many were dramatically saved and transformed. Those committed students also went on mission to other South Pacific nations and to Australia. Now they are lawyers and leaders, and a president of their Christian Fellowship became a Member of Parliament in Tuvalu.

Some of those teams came with me to Pentecost Island in Vanuatu. God has been moving there in unusual ways for a hundred years. Vanuatu people first evangelized the island, one becoming a martyr, A wife of the highest ranking chief returned to life after she died and told them that she had seen God and they should leave their heathen ways and become Christians. Many revival teams have served God there.

God poured out his Spirit on children and youth in the Western Solomon Islands from Easter 2003. They loved to sing and pray daily in the church after school. God gave them visions, revelations, words of knowledge about hidden sins and bad relationships and many other spiritual gifts such as healings and speaking and singing what God revealed.

A mother asked me what it meant when her young boy had a vision of Jesus with one foot in heaven and one foot on the earth. I immediately remembered Matthew 28:18 – All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Many youths had visions of Jesus.

We saw God touch around 1,000 youths at a Solomon Islands National Christian Youth Convention in 2006. One night at the convention they responded, running to the front of the open-air meeting. For half-an-hour their worship team sang “He is Lord” while we prayed for them. They fell like dominoes. Many testified to healings, visions and revelations. One young man returned to his village that night and found his mother ill, so laid hands on her and prayed for her. She was healed. His brother then asked for prayer and he too was healed. The young man had never done that before. A whole group from the Kariki Islands, further west, saw revival in their islands on their return. God moved powerfully in every meeting they held and in their personal prayers.

Solomon Islands transport

God’s Surprises

God’s Surprises – Blog: revival movements in 20 countries
God’s Surprises – free PDF eBook
Current movements of God’s Spirit in 20 countries

I summarized some of our revival mission trips in God’s Surprises.

See more resources on the Main Page

GENERAL BLOGS INDEX

Blogs Index 1: Revivals (briefer than Revivals Index)
Blogs Index 2: Mission (international stories)
Blogs Index 3: Miracles (supernatural events)
Blogs Index 4: Devotional (including Testimonies)
Blogs index 5: Church (Christianity in action)
Blogs Index 6: Chapters (Blogs from Books)
Blogs Index 7: Images (Photos & Videos)

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Revival among Gen Z, 18-25 years old, 2025

by Geoff 16 October 2025 No Comments

Revival among Gen Z, 18-25 years old, 2025

Joel News report, October 16, 2025

UK: Generation Z sparks Bible boom

UK Bible sales soar by 87% as young people rediscover faith in uncertain times.

In a striking cultural shift, Bible sales in the UK nearly doubled over five years, rising from £2.69 million in 2019 to £5.02 million in 2024. While general non-fiction sales fell, the hunger for God’s Word grew – driven especially by Generation Z.

Surveys reveal that 62% of 18- to 24-year-olds describe themselves as spiritual, compared to only 35% of those over 65. Far fewer Gen Z identify as atheists (13%) than millennials (20%) or Gen X (25%).

Publishers and ministries note that young people are picking up the Bible to find hope, identity, and guidance amid mental health struggles and post-pandemic uncertainty. “The Bible has something important to say to young people,” says Mark Woods of Bible Society.

Modern translations like the Good News Bible: Youth Edition – featuring notes, infographics, and space for reflection – have nearly doubled in sales since 2021. The NIV and Good News Bible now outsell the traditional King James Version.

Source: Bible Society

USA: Generation Z’s quiet turn to Jesus

“I want a god.” This striking confession from a Gen Z young adult sums up a surprising trend in the West today. After decades of growing secularism, the tide is turning – especially among the young.

New Barna data reveals two-thirds of US adults now say their commitment to Jesus remains important, marking a 12-point rise since 2021. Bible sales are also soaring – up 22% last year – driven largely by Gen Z’s curiosity about faith.

Why the shift? After years marked by loneliness, anxiety and an empty digital life, many are searching for meaning that transcends their screens. “The phone-based life produces spiritual degradation,” writes atheist Jonathan Haidt. His solution? Engage in spiritual practices.

This spiritual longing is drawing many to Scripture and to Jesus himself. The popular series The Chosen plays a key role, with a third of viewers identifying as non-believers or agnostics. By portraying Jesus and his disciples as relatable humans with divine purpose, the show invites seekers into God’s story.

John Plake from the American Bible Society puts it plainly: “Nobody becomes a Christian because they lose the argument. It’s because they’re invited on the journey.”

Source: Barna Group

RENEWAL JOURNAL

GENERAL BLOGS INDEX

BLOGS INDEX 1: REVIVALS(BRIEFER THAN REVIVALS INDEX)

BLOGS INDEX 2: MISSION(INTERNATIONAL STORIES)

BLOGS INDEX 3: MIRACLES(SUPERNATURAL EVENTS)

BLOGS INDEX 4: DEVOTIONAL (INCLUDING TESTIMONIES)

*BLOGS INDEX 5: CHURCH(CHRISTIANITY IN ACTION)***

BLOGS INDEX 6: CHAPTERS (BLOGS FROM BOOKS)

BLOGS INDEX 7: IMAGES (PHOTOS AND ALBUMS)

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Church growth in Saudi Arabia

by Geoff 28 November 2024 No Comments

Church growing in Saudi Arabia faster than global average

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Church growth in Saudi Arabia
Renewal Journal – a chronicle of renewal and revival www.renewaljournal.comPermission: You have permission to reproduce any blog or book. Many Renewal Journal books have been translated and reproduced.

God Reports, November 15, 2024

*Dr. Ahmed Joktan, who was beaten and scarred, had a gun put to his head, for converting to Christianity, hides his identity still because the danger is still there.*

In Mecca – the crown jewel of Islam — immediately after he read the Koran and prayed to Allah during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Ahmed Joktan, the son of a grand mufti, was visited by Jesus in a dream.

“In my dream, the balcony opened up, there was this light, and I heard a voice saying, ‘Come to me,’” Ahmed says on a Gateways Christian Fellowship video.

Ahmed converted to Christ in New Zealand where he was studying English. He now lives in the West. Hundreds of thousands of other Saudis who converted remain in Saudi Arabia, boldly serving the Lord at the risk of being hanged.

Saudi Arabia is iron-clad closed to the gospel. Evangelizing is illegal. Bibles are outlawed. Apostasy is punishable by death. Non-Muslims are not even allowed in Mecca, where Muslims believe Mohammad received his visions and Abraham once lived.(1)

Oswaldo Magdangal led a church in Saudi Arabia for 11 years.

Despite the risks, Christianity is burgeoning, even approaching 10%2 of the population, says Oswaldo Magdangal, who pastored an underground church for 11 years as a Filipino worker. He was caught and almost hanged in 1992.

“Saudi Arabia has the largest secret congregation in the world, and it’s mainly Saudi citizens,” Oswaldo told God Reports. The younger generation is especially open to the Gospel. “Christianity is all over, in Mecca, Riyadh, but the biggest growth is in Jeddah.”

Is revival happening in the underground church?

“Saudi Arabia’s rate of Christian growth is about 65% greater than the global average,” says Bruce Allen, with Forgotten Missionaries International, using statistics from Joshua Project. “Just because we hear that a government is closed to the gospel doesn’t mean the hearts of the people are.” (2)

Until the new Crown Prince took over in 2017, Saudi Arabia was the home of one of the most extremist brands of Islam, Wahhabism. Of the 19 hijackers involved in 9/11, 15 were Saudi nationals and most of them followed the Wahhabi interpretation of Islam. Osama bin Ladin was Saudi and influenced by several extremist ideologies, including Wahhabism. School children have been taught in Saudi schools to fight the West.

But when Mohammad bin Salman took over, he liberalized the kingdom significantly. Fanatical clerics were jailed, preachers were told to tone down their messages, women were allowed to drive, schoolbooks were re-written to encourage moderate faith.

Most importantly, the religious police were stripped of their authority.

Wally Magdangal

Negotiations are ongoing to build churches on the peninsula; if neighboring United Arab Emirates has allowed compounds to open for churches, why not Saudi Arabia? There are now Bible printing houses (printing in Tagalog and in English), Oswaldo says.

But on the downside, congregations still can’t rent hotel conference rooms or public buildings, he adds.

“There is a major increase in church attendance, particularly among the younger generation,” Oswaldo says. “There are now Saudi pastors.”

From the Philippines, Oswaldo worked as a guest worker in charge of civilian employees for the Armed Forces of Saudi Arabia. His wife worked in the Armed Forces Hospital. They had good connections.

But their connections were not good enough to save him from the religious police. When he was holding services in the desert (to avoid being discovered by the religious police), an AWAC plane during the Gulf War detected his meeting. The religious police caught him in Riyadh, the capital, he says.

He was imprisoned, interrogated and flogged on every part of his body, even the bottom of his feet. He wasn’t told the charges against him until his trial: blasphemy.

Oswaldo despaired. Interrogators demanded the names of his converts and associates in spreading the Gospel.

“Eventually I was so weak, they placed the pad of paper in my lap, and they forced the pencil into my hand,” Oswaldo said in Christianity Today. “I was weeping, and I said, ‘Lord, you’ve got to help me here,’ and I began to write the names of Billy Graham, Charles Spurgeon, and others. After a few days, they were so mad, because they’d been all over Saudi Arabia looking for those people.”

He was to be hung on Christmas Day, a date selected to mock his faith. Not only the Philippines appealed to King Fahd, but also the US, the UN, Amnesty International, Queen Elizabeth, Princess Diana, and the Pope.

The church was praying, both outside and inside Saudi Arabia. His Saudi converts did a biblical Jericho-like march around the Kaaba.

Pastor Wally’s supporters did a Jericho march — around the Kaaba.

Muslims march around the Kaaba as part of their religion. It is the most holy site in Islam. But when the Christian Saudis did it, under cover, they were signifying that Islam could not withstand the God of the Bible.

It worked. With only hours before the execution, King Fahd ordered Oswaldo’s release at midnight. Military personnel came to rescue him and escort him out. He and his wife had to leave the country within 24 hours.

Oswaldo – who goes by Wally – has not been back since. He tried to visit in 2022, but was denied an entry visa. Oswaldo and his wife hope to get into the country eventually and start telephoning their old contacts. Oswaldo believes he can get a meeting with MBS, at which he wants to present the gospel.

Ever since it discovered oil and became flush with cash, Saudi Arabia has used foreign labor for a full range of menial jobs. Some of those workers are Christian tent makers, like Paul, using their worldly skills to advance the Gospel where traditional missionaries are shut out.

Recently the tent makers have been joined by tourists. In an attempt to pivot away from an all-oil economy, Saudi Arabia is now wooing tourists. Who would have guessed that Christians would be among the first to come?

They visit the site where some believe Moses received the 10 commandments, Jebel al-Lawz, in northwestern Saudi Arabia, near the Gulf of Aqaba — and they pray.

(1) According to the Quran and Islamic historical sources, Abraham (Ibrahim) and his son Ishmael (Ismail) traveled to the site where Mecca now stands, built the Kaaba, and established monotheistic worship there. However, this narrative does not appear in the Hebrew Bible or other Jewish or Christian sources.

(2) According to Joshua Project, the percentage of Christian adherents in Saudi Arabia is 4.02% and the percentage of Evangelicals is 0.53%. The Evangelical annual growth rate is 4.3%, higher than the global growth rate of 2.6%.

If you want to know more about a personal relationship with God, go here

Related articles:

Brother Rachid went homeless for two years in Morocco for accepting Christ.
7th Century coins expose fabrications of Islam’s history
Does Islam plan to take over Europe with violence?
Is Islam inherently violent? Look at the history.
Why are Europeans converting to Islam?
Sharia law in London is practiced locally and internally.

About this writer: Daniel Corado studies at the Lighthouse Christian Academy in Santa Monica.

GENERAL BLOGS INDEX

This page included in:

Blogs Index 2: Mission (international stories)

Blogs Index 1: Revivals (briefer than Revivals Index)
Blogs Index 2: Mission (international stories)
Blogs Index 3: Miracles (supernatural events)
Blogs Index 4: Devotional (including Testimonies)
Blogs index 5: Church (Christianity in action)
Blogs Index 6: Chapters (Blogs from Books)
Blogs Index 7: Images (Photos & Videos)

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Church growth in Saudi Arabia

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United Nations is a unique mission field

by Geoff 19 November 2024 No Comments

The United Nations is a unique mission field

“We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.”
– 2 Corinthians 5:20

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United Nations is a unique mission field
Renewal Journal – a chronicle of renewal and revival: www.renewaljournal.com

Permission: You have permission to reproduce any blog or book. Many books have been translated and reproduced.

The United Nations is a centre of political influence. Chris Rice, the Mennonite Central Committee’s representative at the UN, sees it as a unique mission field, a space where Christians can bear witness to Christ’s love, compassion, and justice.

“I’ve witnessed the power of Christian presence in these halls,” Rice says. “The UN is home to more than 8,000 employees and 5,000 diplomatic staff – many of whom may never have heard the gospel or engaged with Christian values. What if Christians saw this community as an unreached people group, ripe for the influence of God’s love and truth? A few evangelical organisations maintain a permanent presence here and use the significant opportunity to engage the people shaping international policies and make a lasting difference.”

MCC operates in 45 countries, often in places where political power blocks the efforts of Christian ministries. “The 2021 military coup in Myanmar, for instance, sent many of our partners fleeing for their lives. Gangs in Haiti have seized control, making it nearly impossible to carry out our health and agricultural programs. The war in Syria has devastated the country, scattering refugees and upending the lives of our church partners. In these challenging environments, our local partners on the ground possess vital knowledge that becomes invaluable when shared with the UN. After Myanmar’s coup, we worked with a UN body to document and report on chemical weapon attacks on civilians, giving a voice to those suffering under oppressive regimes,” according to Rice.

Christian organisations have credibility

Christian organisations, like MCC, have a unique role at the UN. “As a Christian diplomat told me, ‘Information is the currency of the UN,’ and the trust and connections that Christian groups have with local communities give them credibility that even elite diplomats often lack.”

Engaging with political power doesn’t mean controlling it. Rather, Christians are called to bear witness to the values of God’s kingdom – compassion, justice, and truth – while navigating the political complexities of the UN. “It’s a space where we must learn to listen, build relationships, and speak the truth in love,” Rice says.

“At the UN, there’s no obligation for diplomats to listen to Christian organisations. But this can teach us how to be persuasive through quiet influence and respectful dialogue. Over lunch with a US diplomat, I expressed concerns about US policies affecting Gaza and North Korea. The diplomat listened thoughtfully, and through that respectful conversation, we began to build trust – a crucial foundation for future engagement.”

The patience needed for peacemaking

The UN is far from perfect. It’s often slow to act, and its bureaucracy can be frustrating. But it’s one of the few places where representatives from countries like Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Palestine, and the US and Iran can sit at the same table and try to find common ground. “In a world where people increasingly avoid those they disagree with, the UN forces us to engage with diverse viewpoints and learn the patience necessary for peacemaking,” Rice says.

“Every day, as I pass the 193 flags outside the UN and head into the Church Center where I work, I’m reminded that the world gathers here. Our Christian presence at the UN allows us to influence global conversations, carry the values of God’s kingdom into the halls of power, and be witnesses to His justice and mercy. As Jesus called His disciples to go to the “ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8), today, those ends of the earth gather at the UN. Through our presence here, we have the opportunity to touch the lives of people from every nation – and that is a mission field we cannot ignore.”

Source: Chris Rice, CT

Joel News International # 1368, November 19, 2024

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Vietnam: Jailed five times, but unshaken

by Geoff 20 December 2023 No Comments

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
– Romans 12:21

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Vietnam: Jailed five times, but unshaken

Although Christians still face persecution in Vietnam, churches thrive because of leaders who endured suffering to spread the gospel in the communist country.

They include 95-year-old Pastor Duong Thi, also known as Mrs. Ly, who helped start Vietnam’s house church movement. Her favorite verse is Romans 12:21 which says: ‘Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.’

She endured many hardships, such as being imprisoned five times. When asked how she felt during the ordeal, she answered: “I was not afraid because God was with me.” Bibles were not allowed in the prison but Mrs. Ly was able to have access to some of its pages which her church members used to wrap the sticky rice they sent her. Even inside the prison, she boldly shared the gospel.

Mrs. Ly’s father served as a pastor of the Christian Missionary Alliance, the only traditional Christian church in Vietnam at the time. She followed in his footsteps, becoming a pastor of that church. In 1982, however, she became the first member to step out after she experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit. She went around the different provinces in Vietnam to share about the Holy Spirit baptism and set up the first charismatic house church.

Mrs. Ly mentored many of Vietnam’s current Christian leaders, including Pastor Pham Duc Trung, who went from being dependent on drugs to running several rehabilitation centers which is the main ministry of his church, The Blessing Church. “When I became a Christian, it was her church that I first attended and where I really felt loved. She recommended the rehabilitation center where I was delivered from drug addiction,” Pastor Pham said. Mrs. Ly’s legacy also lives on in her children and grandchildren who have become pastors and church workers.

Source: Duong Thi

Joel News International # 1328, December 19, 2023

See also: Revival continues worldwide – Africa and Brazil

2023: A year of revival on college campuses

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Loren Cunningham, founder of YWAM

by Geoff 10 October 2023 No Comments

Loren Cunningham, founder of YWAM

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Loren Cunningham, founder of YWAM

Loren Cunningham, the impactful global evangelist who founded Youth With A Mission (YWAM), passed away at age 88 in Kona, Hawaii on October 6, 2023.

“Loren was the first person in history to travel to every sovereign nation on earth, all dependent countries, and more than 100 territories and islands for the sake of Christ and the Great Commission (Mark 16:15). Now he has added one more ‘stamp’ to his well-worn passport: HEAVEN!” the official announcement on the YWAM website states.

Cunningham has been described as a “de-regulator of missions” because he enlisted young people to serve short-term, globally, raising their own support. This resulted in millions of young people deployed around the world to proclaim the Good News. The ministry he launched in 1960 now has tens of thousands of full-time staff in 200+ countries serving at over 2,000 YWAM locations.

Cunningham answered the call to missions at a revival meeting in 1948 at the age of 13. God spoke to him through Mark 16:15: ‘Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.’

He received a remarkable vision from the Lord in the Bahamas in 1956. He was staying in a missionary’s home, kneeling beside the bed, praying in preparation to speak that night. He recorded the experience as follows:

“Suddenly, I was looking at a map of the world, only the map was alive and moving! I could see all the continents, and waves were crashing onto their shores. Each wave went onto a continent, then receded, then came up further until it covered the continent completely. The waves became young people – kids my age and even younger – covering all the continents of the globe. They were talking to people on street corners and outside bars. They were going from house to house and preaching the Gospel. They came from everywhere and went everywhere, caring for people. Then, just as suddenly as it had come, the scene was gone.”

– Excerpt from Is That Really You, God? by Loren Cunningham with Janice Rogers, YWAM Publishing

Global initiatives launched under Cunningham’s leadership include YWAM Olympic Outreaches, the University of the Nations, YWAM Ships (28 vessels currently serve the most isolated islands and coastlands), and myriads of other ministries birthed by leaders he inspired, according to YWAM.

Cunningham believed that every Christian is a missionary and that there needs to be a ‘deregulation’ of missions. In other words, the global Church needs to change the way we view and conduct missions. Missions can be done anywhere one is, even in the marketplace. When Christians do that then we will be able to finish the Great Commission.

Cunningham is survived by his wife, Darlene, two children and three grandchildren.

Source: YWAM

Joel News International, #1319, October 9, 2023

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I plant secret house churches

by Geoff 2 October 2023 No Comments

Iran: ‘I plant secret house churches because I was saved into one’

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I plant secret house churches

Nathan shares how he found Christ as a teenager in Iran and how God led him to launch a mission to equip persecuted believers. “I plant secret house churches, because I was saved into one,” he says.

This is his story:

I grew up in a Muslim family in Tehran, Iran. My mother, a devoted Muslim, taught me to follow Islamic practices diligently. However, fear of losing my parents haunted me due to uncertainties about salvation. One day, a Christian relative visited us and shared the gospel. Even though I’d been taught that the Bible was corrupted, her words resonated deeply with me. My mother surprisingly listened and questioned rather than getting defensive. Her claims of Jesus freeing us from fear struck a chord in my soul.

Later, I found myself on my knees, asking Jesus to save me. To my amazement, my mother was undergoing her own spiritual transformation. We, along with my father and brother, embraced Christ. A secret house church provided us refuge. Despite potential danger, the Holy Spirit emboldened us to share the gospel with Muslims.

‘We now lead an Instagram fellowship for secret house churches’

Over the years, I delved deeper into my faith, attending Christian conferences abroad and returning to teach in Iran. A dream of leaving Iran in 2013 came true as I became a refugee in the United States, fulfilling God’s promise. My ministry extended to social media, where I equip Persian believers through online education and mentorship. My wife and I lead an Instagram fellowship for secret house churches in places like Iran and Afghanistan, allowing us to reach Muslims globally.

The transformation was powerful – my once fearful heart was liberated by Jesus. My father’s passing brought sadness but also peace, as he embraced Christianity and found solace in his last days. I am now a church planting pastor and leadership coach in North Carolina, thankful for the journey that led me to Christ and my mission to empower persecuted believers.

Joel News International # 1315, September 15, 2023

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Fresh Outpouring at Asbury University

by Geoff 10 February 2023 3 Comments

Fresh Outpouring at Asbury University

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Fresh Outpouring at Asbury University

A ‘surprising work of God’ in Asbury chapel

A student witness to the extraordinary revival at Asbury University

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Dutch Sheets describes his open vision about revival: Video
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=flashpoint+dutch+sheets+revival&view=detail&mid=65AAD5E962FC76EB8A9D65AAD5E962FC76EB8A9D&FORM=VIRE

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Revival reported at Asbury University in Kentucky 50 years to the month after the previous outpouring.

Kim Roberts : Feb 10, 2023 Ministry Watch

“I just received word that what started yesterday at Asbury University has now also spread to Ohio Christian University! Students started praying and worshipping in chapel yesterday at 11 am and it’s continued! Asbury cancelled classes today and there are still dozens of students in the chapel leading non-stop prayer and worship! Those who remember will tell of the revival that broke out there in 1970 exactly to the week of what is happening now! There is a hunger in America for the move of the Holy Ghost with a tangible manifest presence of God!”

(Kentucky) — [MinistryWatch.com] Reports from Asbury University say that a revival has broken out in the chapel of the small Christian college campus in Kentucky. (Image: Facebook-Matt Barnes)

On the morning of February 8, a seemingly normal chapel service took place at the campus’ Hughes Auditorium. It included a message about confession and repentance, according to reports. After the service was over, a group of students stayed behind to continue worshiping. Then more joined them.

According to reports being shared on social media, students have been in the chapel for over 24 hours reading Scripture, praying, singing, and sharing personal testimonies.

“God began pouring out his love among the students in a profound way. The students continued praying and worshiping even though chapel had concluded,” Asbury Theological Seminary Vice President of Formation Matt Barnes wrote on Facebook. (Screengrab image: Facebook-Matt Barnes)

Asbury December graduate Elle Hooper told the Asbury Collegian, “I am one of many who have been praying for this since my freshman year. To be here and witness to this is life-giving.”

Senior Ashley Schumacher told the college paper she felt “the weight of the Holy Spirit” when she re-entered the Hughes Auditorium after the chapel service was dismissed.

Pizza, snacks, water, and coffee were provided at dinner time on February 8 for those who wanted to stay and continue participating in the revival.

Asbury’s Facebook page didn’t have any accounts of the chapel service or revival posted. Asbury did not reply to a request for comment before time of publication.

Well-known author and pastor John Piper describes revival as “a fresh outpouring of God’s live-giving Spirit on His people.” He added that historically it has referred to “many Christians [being] lifted out of spiritual indifference and worldliness into conviction of sin, earnest desires for more of Christ and His Word, boldness in witness, purity of life, lots of conversions, joyful worship, [and] renewed commitment to missions.”

Some are reminded of a revival that took place over 50 years ago at the college.

The Asbury Revival of 1970 also occurred in February that year after Dean Custer B. Reynolds invited students to share personal testimonies during the chapel service. What started was a revival that lasted for 144 hours. The chapel was filled with rejoicing people. Classes were canceled for a week. Even after classes resumed on February 10, Hughes Auditorium was left open for prayer and testimony.

It is also reported that 2,000 witnessing teams were sent out from Asbury to churches and colleges across the country.

Many pray similar results will follow this week’s Asbury revival. (Image: Facebook-Matt Barnes)

“Praying this spark of revival at Asbury will ignite a flame on campuses across the globe,” wrote Byron Paulus, founder and executive director of OneCry, a group calling for a nationwide revival and spiritual awakening.

“I have prayed all my adult life that God would let me see one more great awakening before I leave this world. I am praying harder than ever that this is the beginning. Join me in praying, ‘Do it again, Lord. Do it again!'” wrote Rick McKinney, a former pastor who lives in Kentucky.

Asbury is a Christian university with about 1,600 students located about 20 minutes southwest of Lexington in Wilmore, Kentucky.

On its website describing the spiritual vitality on campus, it reads “Asbury University stands in the Wesleyan theological tradition—believing that an act of God’s grace upon which one receives the offer of salvation through the sacrificial life of Jesus Christ can indeed transform a human heart in such a way that through His mercy they can experience holiness of life, have a heart that exhibits His love, and become an agent of His grace for the advancement of God’s Kingdom on earth.

See 1970 report – Asbury Revival

Move of God moves off campus

After a weekend of massive crowds at Asbury University, a big change takes the revival off campus. An estimated 15,000 to 20,000+ people attended services over the weekend, February 18-19, at Asbury with 5 overflow buildings and a grass lawn filled. There was a 2.5-mile backup of cars going into Wilmore Kentucky which normally has a population of 6,000. The number of people wanting to participate in the meeting caused the university to expand its worship services to five overflow buildings. Wilmore City officials decided to reroute traffic due to the flood of people descending on the small town to experience the move of God. But the staying power of the Asbury outpouring is about to be tested in a big way. The university has announced that public worship services in the school’s Hughes Auditorium will end.

Beginning Tuesday, February 21, services available to the public are being held at another location in the central Kentucky area. “As part of Asbury’s intention of encouraging and commissioning others to ‘go out’ and share what they have experienced, all services will be hosted at other locations and no longer held at Asbury University. We encourage guests to utilize these other designated facilities for worship and gathering. More information will be shared,” the school posted on its website. Asbury President Kevin J. Brown, Ph.D. also posted a four-minute video update posted to Twitter calling these last few weeks at the Christian school, “unlike anything I’ve ever seen in my life.” “Whether you call this a revival, a renewal, an awakening or an outpouring, what we have experienced on our campus these last few weeks is unlike anything I’ve ever seen in my life,” Brown said.

Brown said he believes Asbury is not the keeper or source of this movement, saying it has already gone to other campuses across the U.S. “People are hungry for something more,” he said, quoting Jesus in the New Testament’s Matthew 5:6. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled.” “We look to other schools, other churches or ministry communities as co-commissioners in this movement that’s taking shape for us,” Brown said. “Whatever happens from here, our deep desire is to see a life-transforming renewal of our younger generation to faithfully serve their communities, their schools, their churches, and their professions. To see them go into the difficult and dark places in the world and to be light.” In closing, Brown thanked people for praying and asked them to continue to pray that what is happening at Asbury would continue to move across states, countries, and continents so that all may see Christ” he said.

How It Started: The Asbury Collegian reported that it began during a call to confession on Wednesday, February 8, when at least 100 people fell to their knees and bowed at the altar. Since then it has turned into a Holy Spirit outpouring that has only grown larger and larger each day with visitors pouring in from around the U.S. and the world. It is being compared to the culture-changing revival at the same college in 1970, but there’s something different this time. The new non-stop prayer and worship awakening has had social media as a powerful ally that wasn’t available in previous historic campus renewals. The impact has been so powerful that this ongoing Spirit-led event has even drawn the attention of major media outlets. But it’s also drawing a wider worldwide audience, particularly of young people, to witness what is happening through firsthand accounts, photographs, and videos with many of these posts going viral.

Numerous reports reveal the Holy Spirit has ignited several other flames that are now burning brightly at other universities and colleges around the country, bypassing denominational boundaries. It first spread to Lee University, a school with Pentecostal roots in Tennessee. But students at Baptist schools like Cedarville and Samford Universities have also been experiencing the power of God. Over the weekend, there were reports the Holy Spirit-led meetings were still going strong at Samford, a private Christian school located on the outskirts of Birmingham, Alabama. Students are in Reid Chapel (Samford University) in complete awe of God. Praying, worshipping, reading Scripture, according to eyewitnesses. Meanwhile, early reports are coming in that students at Baylor University are also seeking God for a move of His Spirit.

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Uzbekistan: An ancient city experiences revival

by Geoff 17 November 2022 2 Comments

Uzbekistan: An ancient city experiences revival

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Uzbekistan: An ancient city experiences revival

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Bukhara in Uzbekistan, one of the oldest cities in the world, is experiencing a revival. This is reported by German missiologist Johannes Reimer.

Bukhara was first mentioned in 500 BC. Located on the famous Silk Road, it became a center for trade, culture, science, and religion. Ancient authors called Bukhara “a city full of knowledge.” It was Buddhist under Mongolian rulership until in the 7th century the Nestorians introduced Christianity. The many coins with Christian symbols suggest that Christianity might have been a dominant religion in Bukhara during the 7th and 8th centuries. However, Bukhara’s people gradually converted to Islam in the late 9th century, and in the 14th century Christians were forced out of the country.

Photo: The historic centre of Bukhara is a UNESCO heritage site

Christianity came back to Bukhara in the 20th century. Under Russian and Soviet rule Russian, German, Korean, Armenian and Polish Christians settled in the area, often by force. Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Armenian Apostolic, Lutheran, Mennonite, Baptist and Pentecostal churches established branches in the country and also in Bukhara. First these churches mainly served the immigrants, but from 1985 onwards members of ethnic native Uzbek and Tadzhik groups also came to know Jesus and join the church.

‘The Evangelicals are experiencing extraordinary growth’

In 1991, Uzbekistan became an independent state. Christians experienced heavy state persecution and many Russian and almost all German-speaking Christians left the country. Under the current president, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the relationship between the government and the churches has improved, leading to more and more converts from Islam coming in. Today the Evangelicals are experiencing extraordinary growth in Uzbekistan, including Bukhara, where five Evangelical churches attract hundreds of mostly Uzbek and Tadzhik believers for worship each Sunday. The churches actively spread the gospel in the region.

“We went from an ingrown, self-centered Pentecostal church to a congregation serving our community,” says one of the pastors. His growing congregation counts hundreds of people throughout the region. Among them are many deaf people. “Today you will barely find one village in our region without a house church for the deaf,” the pastor says. “People consider the deaf, blind and other people with inborn disabilities as cursed; we instead serve them, teach them to write and to read, teach sign language to them and offer them an integral part in our Sunday worship service. Our teams visit the places, care for them socially and conduct Bible studies. Hundreds have been baptised so far. Through our intensive care for those outcasts, their families have started to open up as well.”

‘You will barely find a village without a house church for the deaf’

Visiting the people in their home areas can turn out to be a very difficult venture. Roads are bad, buses are rare, and many places can be reached only by walking or biking. The Evangelicals in Bukhara seem to use every opportunity. During the pandemic the church organised mask production, compiled basic food packages and, most of all, delivered clean water to the people. The church has its own water purification plant that produces 500 liters of clean water per hour. The water is distributed among the people in the neighbourhood, sold for a modest profit. Where poor people can’t pay, the water is given for free. And everyone is served, Christians, Muslims and atheists. The Christians dream of having such purification plants in every village of the region. The generally available water is bitter and often dangerous. “Clean water is good news to the people, and when it is brought by us Christians, we become good news to them,” one pastor says.

Photo: a deaf community in Uzbekistan

“Caring for the well-being of people in the community always includes prayer for the sick,” another pastor says. “We intentionally go to the Covid-infected people, comfort them and their families, and lay our hands on them in prayer for healing. Many were instantly healed. This too brought people closer to Jesus. Experiencing God’s divine healing also strengthened our young first-generation believers. Today they know what Jesus can do because they have seen Him doing miracles.”

‘Women are the backbone of the movement in Uzbekistan’

One extraordinary development in Bukhara is the role of women in evangelising in the area. In fact, the vast majority of evangelists and small group leaders among the new believers are women. Similar to the deaf people, they are considered in some tribal settings as second-class humans and are excluded from many strata of religious and tribal life. At the same time, many of them have received a high-level education in Soviet times and after the independence. Searching for meaning in life, many of them find answers in Christianity and turn to Jesus. The fact that their husbands are often far away in foreign lands (mostly in Russia) for years as guest workers puts the bulk of the responsibility to care for the family on them. Christian women, as well as the church itself, offer them support and care.

Finding their way to Jesus releases an enormous energy in their lives. As a result, they are testifying about Jesus to other women in their neighbourhood and organising them in Bible studies or even in small businesses to help them survive economically. “Today women are the backbone of the evangelical movement in Uzbekistan,” says the pastor. Most of those women are relatively young – as are the Uzbek and Tadzhik Christians generally. Many 18 to 25 years olds are already leading ministries, and are experienced in evangelism and church planting.

Source: Johannes Reimer

Joel News International # 1280, November 15, 2022

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Iran’s Great Awakening

by Geoff 26 August 2022 1 Comment

Iran: Why the underground church takes communion every day

Communion is more than simply remembering that Jesus died for you,
it’s also renewing your covenant with Jesus Himself.

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Iran Alive Ministries has planted a thriving underground church network in Iran. Faithful believers have risked their lives to establish and grow house churches, even in the face of danger.

If a church member is arrested, and in particular a leader, they will face torture and even death because they confess Christ. The entire church community is at risk. If they fold under pressure and give up the names of others associated with the church, there is no guarantee that any of their lives will be spared.

One group whose leader was arrested was asked how they were doing. They said: “All of us are praying and fasting for our captured brother every day. Every night, we gather together in a secure location to pray and encourage one another. After we have a meal together and break our fast, we worship, pray, and take communion together.”

“Why do you take communion every night?” they were asked. Their answer revealed a deep reality about communion.

“We take communion daily to remember what Jesus has done for us. He loved us so much that He died for us with joy (Hebrews 12:2). And we are called to partake not only in His glory, but also in His suffering (Romans 8:17). When we take communion, we remember the words of Jesus, ‘I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.’ (Matthew 26:29)

That word from Jesus greatly encourages us because, as we take communion, we also say: ‘This could be our last communion as well. If it is, we do not worry because we will take the next communion with Jesus in Heaven.’ With a heart of thanksgiving, we remember the fact that He died for us, but we also renew our covenant with Him, professing that we are willing to live and die for Him as well.”

The persecuted church has much to teach us. Communion is more than simply remembering that Jesus died for you, it’s also renewing your covenant with Jesus Himself.

Source: Hormoz Shariat, Iran Alive

Joel News International: # 1269, August 26, 2022