A round-up of encouraging news stories during the coronavirus pandemic
Uganda: was I dreaming?
For three days in Uganda, blind Anna and her granddaughter lived on nothing but water and a daily cup of milk, given by a neighbour, which the pair shared between them.
Locusts had destroyed the harvest from Anna’s little patch of land. She had no other source of food and was expecting to die. Then her pastor came visiting and told her there was food given by Barnabas Fund.
All she had to do was go to the church and collect it. She called her little granddaughter, who led Anna by her stick, as is customary in Uganda. They returned home with a pack of maize, beans, cooking oil and salt.
‘I felt as if I was dreaming,’ remembered 85-year-old Anna, ‘because no person had ever come to my house with such news. I am extremely happy because I have now received food. I can now live for more days.’
Barnabas Fund
Israel: more NT
Missionaries have seen an increase in demand for New Testaments among Jewish people following the spike in spiritual interest caused by the coronavirus lockdown.
In Israel in particular, demand for New Testaments is increasing as people search for answers to the current crisis, including a young man named Aviad, the son of a well-known rabbi, who said he had concluded that the Messianic prophesies were indeed fulfilled in Jesus.
Joseph Steinberg said: ‘Our missionaries have responded to this increase in spiritual hunger by serving food to the homeless, visiting those in hospital and reaching out to the vulnerable.’
Aviel, a missionary based in Jerusalem, turned to Zoom to share the gospel with Jewish people he met, while a Jewish lady who had been ambivalent to the gospel was so inspired after listening to a radio interview by Joseph Steinberg, talking about ‘God in our grief’, that she wanted to share it with her Jewish friends.
Igal, a missionary since 2015, relayed the story of Avi, a Jewish immigrant from Uzbekistan, as an example of the way Covid-19 is forcing people to reassess their lives. ‘When I met Avi he told me how he’d turned to alcohol and ended up living on the street after his wife had died of cancer and his children left home. Whenever I saw Avi I invited him to our rehab house but, sadly, each time he refused to come. Then a few weeks into lockdown he phoned to say that he had reached rock bottom and was desperate. He came to the rehab and began reading the Bible, before telling me he wanted “to become a son of God too”.’
Steinberg concluded: ‘We are praying that this new openness continues. We are investing heavily in digital, offering online missionary speaking slots to churches and producing a series of webcasts and short films to raise the profile of Jewish mission and encourage others to join us in telling Jewish people about Jesus.’
Worldwide figures indicate a resurgence in people engaging with religion. Google searches for the word ‘prayer’ and ‘Christianity’ are surging. Figures indicate that 25% of the UK population have listened to a religious service since the lockdown began.
Christian Witness to Israel
New translations
Sukesh Pabari, a Christian Books Worldwide trustee and volunteer, has been free to set aside three hours each day to translate books into Swahili. Over the years Sukesh has translated over 30 books, but his role as pastor of a church in Clevedon, near Bristol, has limited his translation work.
Lockdown has afforded him the opportunity to translate Mysterious Ways by David Kingdon, one of the titles in The Preacher’s Collection. He has finished the first draft, which has been checked by a believer in Tanzania and he is working on a second draft, which will go to Kenya for a second check. He has started to translate another key title: Preaching, Pure and Simple by Stuart Olyott.
Christian Books Worldwide
Lebanon: overflowing
A Christian widow in Lebanon was overflowing with thankfulness to God when Barnabas Fund provided food and medicine for her and her daughter during lockdown.
Jamile’s husband was a taxi driver, but died two years ago in a car accident. In Middle Eastern society a woman and child on their own, without a man to protect and provide for them, are very vulnerable. Before the accident, the family were living in a modest house, content that they could survive despite Lebanon’s fragile economy.
After her husband’s death, Jamile found a part-time job in a factory and her parents contributed what they could, enabling her and Lily to continue to survive. When her hours were cut as lockdown began, they were brought to a position of desperate need.
Barnabas Fund was able to assist with a parcel of food and money for medicine.
Jamile rejoiced, saying: ‘The Lord did not leave me alone!’ echoing the words of the Old Testament women who rejoiced with widowed Naomi: ‘Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer’ (Ruth 4:14).
Barnabas Fund
Worldwide conversions
OM workers based all around the world produced a video at the end of May giving accounts of how God is working.
Five witchdoctors and their families, who had fallen gravely ill, were healed and gave their lives to Jesus. In another part of the world, Muslim women turned to Christ. One worker shared how people are attending online Bible studies in numbers she hadn’t seen before. The three-minute video can be found via this link: https:// vimeo.com/423384600
Operation Mobilisation
Turkey: connecting
SAT-7 TÜRK is connecting isolated believers across Turkey and reaching out to non-Christians through its programmes during the pandemic.
Cem Erçin, pastor of Istanbul Immanuel Protestant Church, said: ‘During this pandemic, people are rethinking their priorities. They are no longer concerned about material things such as fancy houses and big cars, but they do have a lot of questions.’
He added that non-Christians are more comfortable reaching out to the channel than approaching a church directly.
In addition to continuing live programmes, SAT-7 TÜRK has created a new programme to help to answer questions related to Christianity during the pandemic.
Pastor Cem said many people in Turkey who are bored with watching repeats on secular television channels are turning to SAT-7 TÜRK. ‘The channel’s viewer engagement has increased, we receive more questions, there are more discussions and arguments, more positive and negative reactions. I believe this engagement with the channel will continue to increase because people are hungry for answers’.
Pastor Cem added: ‘Some fear that due to the virus, people’s faith will be weakened, but we are seeing the exact opposite. Many are turning towards God, and I believe they will continue to do so as they re-evaluate their lives. For now, the Lord has brought us into a Sabbath in our homes, a time of rest. When churches finally reopen, I believe that many more people will come’.
SAT-7
Sword-throwing
A crew member on the Logos Hope Mercy Ship gave a gospel to policemen after what she described as a ‘miracle throw’.
The Logos Hope crew have been stuck on board for weeks because of the coronavirus pandemic, but one day a police boat came near on a patrol. A crew member saw the boat, and managed to throw a Gospel of John to them after a conversation.
She had prayed to God for help, saying: ‘If you want this to happen, then you have to make a way.’ The gospel fell perfectly on the boat below and the policeman was excited to receive it.
After the boat continued on its patrol, she pondered: ‘It’s great to be outside to share the message of God’s love with people, but we don’t actually need to get outside the ship to do that. God can make a way for us to reach people.’
Operation Mobilisation
Iran: powerful prayer
A SAT-7 presenter shared that many children from inside and outside Iran call her show and ask to pray on air.
One young boy, Ramten, said this prayer: ‘Jesus was crucified for us and He took our sins upon himself and rose again after three days. Oh Mighty God, Lord Jesus Christ, I pray because we are in need of your blessing as are people in Iran and in other countries; destroy this coronavirus by your blessing and grant Your glory and blessing to all. In the holy name of Jesus Christ, amen.’
Mariam, who presents the programme, said: ‘When I hear a child praying to our Heavenly Father, my heart melts and I feel so emotional. The way they pray for Iran that it may become free, and the things they ask of God, it makes me wonder how these kids are praying like adults.’
SAT-7
Translation going viral
Wycliffe Bible Translators have helped communities in marginalised language groups to receive clear health messages relating to the coronavirus pandemic.
They are using their language and translation skills and knowledge to create posters, videos, social media posts and other materials to ensure that people fully understand what they need to do to stop the virus spreading.
Luke Garvey said: ‘Our estimate is that close to one in three people worldwide do not have the basic health information they need to protect their communities from Covid-19 in the language they understand best’.
In South Sudan, Christians worked with current and former Bible translation team members, plus experienced translators of local languages, to translate a government-approved Covid-19 prevention poster into 26 local languages that had no such materials. These have now been distributed widely via cell phones and other social media by various healthcare non-governmental organisations.
Wes Ringer, who serves with Wycliffe in South Sudan, said: ‘Because our team members know these marginalised language groups – and sometimes it’s their own heart language – they understand the problems in ways that others don’t. It has been tremendous to see the team respond in this way and make a really practical life-and-death difference in these communities.’
In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), two of the local translation team created posters in the Bhele language to help the Bhele people understand the precautions to take.
In the Philippines, local partnerships have enabled vital Covid-19 prevention materials to be translated into over 40 local languages. These are being shared through social media, to reach many communities across the islands.
And in Togo, the Wycliffe team has taken a public health information video issued by the government in French and dubbed it in local languages. Many people’s understanding of French is limited, so the team dubbed videos in 16 languages. These have been shared through social media and on YouTube. Ten of the videos were broadcast on national television. This translation work serves around 7million people inside Togo and beyond.
