
Christians kept from attending Christmas service in Indonesia
Muslims in Indonesia on Sunday (Dec. 8) prevented Christians from holding a Christmas service at a pastor’s home, sources said.
Muslims in Indonesia on Sunday (Dec. 8) prevented Christians from holding a Christmas service at a pastor’s home, sources said.
Evangelism can become little more than a sales formula, with such evangelists nicknamed "The Jesus Guys" in Asia. This style can inoculate people against Jesus. Mr Huang testifies that a more effective method is to build long-term relationships while sharing biblical values, principles, and truths in a natural setting such as while conducting business.
Traditional churches in China tend to serve a context where poverty and need are typical and the desire for communal support and directive leadership is welcome. China's large upwardly mobile and independent population doesn't need what these traditional churches are offering. A different gospel approach and new forms of church must emerge to meet different needs in rapidly changing urban contexts.
For decades the global missions community has talked about deeper collaboration with local ministry leaders as partners. But self-perception can misread reality. The post-COVID political shifts in China are a reality check, according to a long-term expatriate living through changes that are shattering the illusion that he knew better than the locals about how to advance the gospel in a foreign context. It is a new era for missions, demanding a new depth of humility.
The rise of Artificial General Intelligence is now unstoppable. It is not an overstatement to say that it is transforming life on earth as humans know it. No sphere of human interaction is immune, least of all the religious sector. Now, more than ever, we need to be spiritually discerning about AI/AGI use in our faith walk. Let us take care not put our trust in something that has neither heart nor soul.
A judge has overturned a verdict that denied a Christian’s effort to correct his name and religion on his national identity card as he was a victim of fake conversion to Islam, his attorney said.
Authorities in Indonesia are allowing two years of uncollected garbage to pile up next to a church building and a Catholic university, sources said.
A pastor and his family have gone into hiding after a Muslim neighbor who raped his 14-year-old daughter tried to kidnap her and force her to convert to Islam and marry her, he said.
With 10 Catholic bishops in China in detention, “disappeared” or forced from their positions, the government-installed bishop of Shanghai at a conference this month spoke only on President Xi Jinping’s “Sinicization” of religion, without mentioning hoped-for pastoral plans.
A Muslim teacher at an Islamic school in eastern Uganda who became a Christian on Oct. 4 was killed on Oct. 21, area sources said.
Javed Masih heaved a sigh of relief last week when he saw his 18-year-old daughter for the first time since she went missing for five months in Pakistan and was forcibly converted and married to a Muslim.