Friday Focus: pray for our family
As an evangelist my greatest calling is to reach my family. ‘Your whole family is going to be in heaven with you, son’ was the whisper of the Spirit into my heart months ago as my youngest daughter met Jesus. Years of prayer answered. Pray daily for your wider family: I still pray with that promise in my heart.
(Carl Beech, the Message Trust)
Papua New Guinea: translation training courses
People in PNG travel many miles to study Bible history, culture, and grammar. They learn how to translate scripture into their own language so that their people can see the full, precise beauty of God’s Word. Each translator has a unique story of how God led them into this important work. Kika shared a little of her testimony: ‘I had been teaching children’s ministry for 27 years, and didn’t expect God to call me to something new. Then I dreamt that the sky opened and two people came down from heaven. I could feel the presence of God upon me, it was a very holy moment.’ The next year she joined the Bible translation team. ‘The work is hard but I am thankful to God for the opportunity to serve my people through Bible translation. I know that the Lord is with me, and I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.’
Victory for a street preacher
Ian Sleeper, a Christian street preacher, was arrested and held for thirteen hours in a police cell after displaying placards depicting love for Muslims and criticising the ideology of Islam. He was released on bail as the CPS could not decide whether to charge him. Strict conditions were imposed, preventing him from going into Southwark. He was on bail for six weeks before the police finally decided to take no further action. He said, ‘It is reassuring that I have not been charged for seeking to expose the truth about Islam. Truth cannot be taken for granted in our modern world, so I will be back out on the street soon.’
Armed disputes reveal Iraqi Christians' discord
On 6 August Patriarch Louis Sako, head of the Chaldean Catholic church, called on Iraqi Christians to unite under one banner and work past their various political affiliations and differing doctrines. In his statement, issued after two armed Christian factions clashed in the Nineveh plains, he said that Christian political parties and armed factions are ‘responsible to a great extent for the suffering and disorder in which Christians live.’ He added, ‘We believe that a huge part of this ordeal is self-inflicted and caused by parties' divisions, their subordination (to Shi’ite and Kurdish groups), and their failure to unite efforts and ranks and make a unified decision.’ Internal Christian divisions have existed for a long time, but they deepened when a number of armed Christian factions formed after IS took over Christian territories in the Nineveh plains.
