Displaying items by tag: Asia

Police are investigating an attack on a bus carrying seventy Christians home from the national congress of the Synod of Pentecostal Churches in Tamil Nadu. Three men on motorcycles threatened passengers, smashed the bus windscreen, and injured the driver and passengers, including children and the elderly. Religious intolerance and violence is festering and taking root in the world’s largest democracy. Religious minorities in India should feel safe and free to practise and profess their religion or belief without any fear of reproach, and Christian Solidarity Worldwide called on authorities to put an end to institutional propaganda that incites hatred towards religious minorities. ‘The police must follow up with a thorough investigation of this incident and not allow themselves to be influenced by hard-line religious nationalists as they seek to hold those responsible to account.’ The congress saw Christian leaders call for prayers for peace at a time when churches are being closed, prayer meetings disrupted, and individuals targeted.

Imagine being on a ship and discovering you had been sold as a slave, not sure if you will ever see your family again. There is a form of human trafficking taking place in the middle of the ocean. Thousands are forced to work in Thailand’s seven-billion-dollar fishing industry, many against their will. They are lured by the promise of a good job, then sold to boat captains who force them to do dangerous work while their families are left to wonder whether they will ever return. Ron was a Cambodian father, husband and family man in dire poverty, barely making $2 a day on his farmland. He was running out of options to feed his family. When someone came to his village, offering better options. Ron took the bait. Too late, he realised he had been sold to a ruthless boat captain in the Thai fishing industry. It is time to bring the fishermen home.

Christian Aid Mission has many Bible schools in China offering one- and two-year programmes, with training primarily focused on evangelism and the cost of discipleship. Seven days a week, faculty led morning prayers at 5 a.m. and evening prayers at 9p.m. Every Saturday, students divide into groups to evangelise their community. Due to the school’s excellent standing, home churches often invite students and faculty to preach and lead worship. They travel in pairs on bicycles to over forty house churches in the school’s vicinity. Over 120 students graduate from this Bible school each year. Students become teachers at the school, return to serve in their home churches, or plant new churches in various regions throughout China.

Syrian forces backed by Russian fighter jets recaptured key government positions as Turkey warned of swift revenge if more of its troops are attacked. Syria's army is trying to capture all of the country's last rebel-held territory. Consequently, more people have fled from fighting in Syria over the past 10 weeks than at any other time in the nine-year-old conflict. Pray for all the internally displaced Syrians from western Aleppo’s countryside, fleeing with the only belongings that they can carry, uncertain if they will ever return to normal life. Pray for those who have sheltered in the city of Idlib. On 11 February two UN agencies said it could become a graveyard if hostilities continue. Currently Syrian government forces are shelling their way northwards. Turkey, which backs the rebels and is fearful of additional refugees, has retaliated militarily. Displaced civilians are caught in between. 700,000 people have fled since December, mostly women and children.

The Chinese government has introduced even tougher restrictions on religious freedom, requiring church leaders to ‘display complete devotion to the Communist Party’. The rules limit communications between churches and overseas organisations, including donations. But even before the new rules took effect on 1 February 2020, there were reports that Chinese officials were confiscating aid intended to help churches fighting coronavirus. Dr Lin, who gave early warning of the virus, was a Christian. A Chinese Christian wrote on social media, ‘Some overseas Christians shipped supplies designated to serve hospitals through local churches. Yet the supplies were confiscated and the Christian who received the shipment was invited to “have tea” with the police (a common practice to intimidate and threaten citizens).’ Despite increasing persecution, Christians in Wuhan have been handing out face masks on the street and sharing their faith with pedestrians.

Four UN human experts on human rights, freedom of religion, minority issues and the right to health have issued a joint statement, urging Iran to ensure ‘a fair and transparent final hearing’ at the court for three Iranian Christians sentenced for ‘conducting evangelism’ and ‘illegal house church activities,’ among other charges. The experts have expressed concern over last year's sentencing of Pastor Tamraz, an Assyrian Pentecostal leader, and of Amin Afshar Naderi and Hadi Asgari, house-church Christians. They were given between 10 and 15 year prison sentences. In November the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, called on Christian leaders to intervene for the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has been held in an Iranian prison since 2016 (see). The Revolutionary Court was due to hold a hearing on 9 February; the outcome is not yet known.

Until 12 February the number of people with the virus in Hubei province, where coronavirus emerged, was stabilising, but new cases and deaths in the province have pushed the national death toll above 1,350 - with almost 60,000 infections in total. The World Health Organisation is seeking ‘further clarity’ from China about the changes to how cases of the virus are being confirmed. China is accused of suppressing the full extent of the outbreak in the past. A professor from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said that China has changed the definition of what the disease really is. They are now including people who have lesser symptoms, but the fatality ratio is about the same as it has been - as high as the death rate in influenza. Only Hubei province, where 80% of overall Chinese infections are, is using the new definition to diagnose new cases.

A baby born in Wuhan was diagnosed with coronavirus thirty hours after birth. It is unclear if the disease was transmitted in the womb or after birth. Medical experts believe the infection could have been contracted in the womb. Pray for God to place a blanket of security and peace over the families and relatives of the infected who are currently living in isolation and fear. In China alone, there are 25,000+ confirmed cases, and currently 570+ dead with both numbers rising rapidly. The World Health Organisation says that there is a ‘window of opportunity’ to stop it becoming a global pandemic crisis. Pray for God to strengthen health workers and research scientists to do all that is necessary. May poorer countries’ leaders have the wisdom and funding to halt coronavirus spreading. May the love of Jesus spread more quickly and further than the virus, through active churches reaching every corner with His eternal hope. See

China's demand for wildlife products for traditional medicine and exotic foods is driving a global trade in endangered species. Markets selling live animals are considered a potential source of diseases that are new to humans. Over 70% of emerging human infections are estimated to have come from animals, particularly wild animals. Campaigners want China to apply a permanent ban on the wildlife trade. Pray that their crusade is successful and this trade becomes illegal. Editorials in China's state-controlled media have denounced the uncontrolled wildlife market. Ecologists say the coronavirus outbreak could provide China with an opportunity to prove that it is serious about protecting biodiversity. In September this year, Beijing will be hosting a major global meeting on natural and biological resources, known as the Convention on Biological Diversity. A report last year by an intergovernmental group found that one million species are at risk of extinction.

When their tents were burned, Iraqi protesters replaced them with concrete structures. When influential cleric Muqtada al-Sadr withdrew his support, even more protesters turned out despite fears of a crackdown by security forces. On 1 February al-Sadr ordered his followers back to Tahrir Square, where they clashed with demonstrators and forcibly took over the main part of the square. The nomination of Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi as the new prime minister has been received negatively by the protesters, who see his choice as a plot by al-Sadr and his Iran-backed allies to end the protests in Baghdad. The parliament needs to hold a session to vote on the nomination. The Sadrist group is now cooperating with the security forces to end the sit-in at the square.