Displaying items by tag: Asia

Prayer Summit 2020

Global Prayer for Northeast Asia

Dear Delegates,

It is with much deliberation and prayerful consideration that the Prayer Summit Organizing Team would
like to announce the CANCELLATION AND POSTPONEMENT of the Prayer Summit 2020 from April 7-9 in
Seoul, Korea.

This comes in view of the COVID-19 outbreak, and the South Korean government has raised the alert to
Level 4, or "serious," advising deep caution and restriction in travels within and out of the country.

The delegates' and volunteers' well-being and safety are of utmost importance as well as being in tune
with how the Lord is steering us. The leaders and organizers convened over the span of a few days to
deliberate and pray, and we felt this was the best call to make at this point.

In light of this cancellation, the Prayer Summit Committee will give a FULL REFUND to all who have
signed up and paid for the conference fee. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and disappointment caused, and thank you for your gracious understanding.

We will soon post the updated dates for the Prayer Summit 2020.

Please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. should you have any further inquiries.

In this challenging time, we request for your prayers. We believe that the Lord has much good planned in this situation.

For His Kingdom,
Sarah Lee
Prayer Summit 2020 Organizer
Christian Council of Korea, Co-Chair
Website: www.prayersummit2020.com
Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

On Monday 2 March, Israelis will, for the third time in a year, cast votes for a government. Proverbs 16:9 says ‘In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps’. Lord we ask you to encourage the hearts of the electorate to vote in line with your will. Since two elections with no final results did not take you by surprise, we ask for your purposes to be fulfilled in a clear undisputed election result. Also, Hamas has threatened to restart the weekly riots soon. Israel is supposed to have a cease-fire with Hamas but still rockets are fired and incendiary devices are flown against the Israelis living in that Western Negev area. Father, during this ‘lull,’ do not allow the IDF to become complacent. Protect the young ones from the fire balloons coming across the border which are specifically aimed at killing or maiming Jewish children.

Rohingya pastor, Taher, and his 14-year-old daughter were abducted from Bangladesh Cox’s Bazar a refugee camp after 59 men attacked 22 Christian families, beating residents, vandalising homes, and looting property. At least 12 Christian refugees were injured and hospitalised and a makeshift Christian church and school were smashed. Families were relocated to a UN transit centre and filed a police case against the armed ethnic group, Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army. Taher’s wife, Roshida, fears her husband is dead and that her daughter has been forced to convert to Islam. She said, ‘No one can give me clear information.’ Approximately 1,500 Rohingya Christians are among 700,000 predominantly Muslim Rohingya refugees who fled ‘ethnic cleansing’ in 2017. Authorities described the attack as a ‘law and order incident’ - not Christian persecution. They do little to protect Christians. One said, ‘if victims wanted safety they should ‘go to the moon.’

Unrelenting violence consumes northeast Delhi as roving mobs with iron rods, sledgehammers and guns rampaged through the streets, committing arson, vandalism and terrifying residents since 22 February. On 27 February police said that WhatsApp was used by the gangs who indiscriminately injured children and the elderly. They vandalised and burnt schools, homes, cars and businesses leaving 35+ dead and 200+ injured because a new citizenship law allows 'persecuted minorities’ (Muslims Christians, Parsees, Sikhs, Buddhist etc.) citizenship status after six years of residency. From the start Hindus were considered ‘natural citizens’ of India and reject the new law. Police seized 50 mobile phones used by rioters to organise themselves by directing hired thugs from Uttar Pradesh and whipping up frenzied violence. Delhi Police and the Home Ministry said that the situation is under control, but the violence has not abated and the death toll has climbed steadily since the first day.

The government wanted to install facial recognition cameras in Pastor Xiang En’s church sanctuary. When he refused they did it anyway and gathered the private data of church members so that they could target them. They will intimidate them with their jobs, their housing, and their children’s education to prevent them from going to church. Pastor Xiang said, ‘Hundreds of policemen raided our church, smashed our building, put the pastors on surveillance, and shut down the church.’ After his church was shut down the first sermon he preached was from Revelation 3:7-8: ‘I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.’ Pastor Xiang remains hopeful, despite the opposition his congregation faces. Many prominent mainstream churches and house churches in China continue to be shut down.

A woman who fled to China illegally was recently baptised, even though such an action could have resulted in her being repatriated and killed. Over two years ago, Bon-Hwa crossed the border into China, where it is illegal to help North Korean escapees. Despite the risk, Open Doors partners have set up ‘safe houses’ along the border for North Korean Christians, as well as for women who could be forced into a marriage. It was at one of these safe houses that Bon-Hwa became a Christian. It was too risky to be baptised in her new home town, so she and two other Christians, including the pastor, walked many hours to a remote location for the service. The pastor said he almost cried: ‘It was a beautiful moment and such a privilege to baptise a North Korean believer in these circumstances.’

Please watch this short and agonising video from China, a woman's desperate cry for help in the midst of the coronavirus epidemic. It confirms reports of the government suppressing news and ignoring doctors' warnings. From last week’s international prayer call, including a Christian leader from Wuhan, we heard that Chinese Christians are taking communion daily as protection from death, as ancient Jews did in the first Passover, and standing against the spread of coronavirus in prayer. Let's continue to pray with our Chinese brethren for the end of what could become a pandemic and for people everywhere to be protected. We know that the Lord in His redemptive love and wisdom can utilise bad things to bring forth good outcomes. May He use the current health and related economic crisis to bring real reform to the communist government of China so that the people finally obtain the human rights and freedoms they have longed for, so poignantly expressed in this brave woman's cry.

The Scout movement is investigating an accusation that its Lebanon branch is training youths to become Islamic terrorists. The Imam Al-Mahdi Scouts has 45,000 boys and girls wearing traditional scouting uniforms and scarves. Investigators found that young recruits to the Al-Mahdi Scouts are groomed from the ages of four to become supporters and fighters for Hezbollah. Scouts have provided 'honour guards' at funerals of known Hezbollah terrorists, and have been pictured posing with armed fighters, wearing military uniforms and headbands with anti-Israel slogans such as 'Jerusalem - we are coming!' Hezbollah 'in its entirety' is on Britain’s list of proscribed terrorist organisations - previously the list only included its military wing. Al-Mahdi Scouts previously denied reports that older Scouts receive military training with weapons, but now they admit that many adolescent members become Hezbollah fighters. 200+ former members of the Scouts have died fighting against Israel and in the civil war in Syria.

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.