Update from Yermek Balykbekov — Karaganda, Kazakhstan

My wife and I have two precious daughters, the oldest is already attending college.  In 2004, God gave me a promise that we would also have a son.  By the grace of our loving God, in March 2019, He gave us that precious gift  – our long awaited son Ansar came to this world! We are so grateful to the Lord.

For a number of years, our Kazakh Fellowship was under the umbrella of the Word of Life’s Russian speaking church. In the Fall of 2019, I was being led by the Spirit of God to step out and enter into a new phase of ministry.  Some of the Kazakh and Russian fellows joined me and a new Christian Kazakh Fellowship was founded.  That was a historical moment for us all.  Prior to this, the vision I carried in my heart to see Kazakh people being saved and discipled through their own language and culture seemed to be “dead”.  But that was not in God’s plan.  In His time, He resurrects His own plans and purposes.

My story of stepping out of the denominational boat and walking by faith on top of the water may sound very encouraging to some of you, but it is not without a cost to self.

During the last seven years I had been in a desperate situation in my ministry and I was ready to quit. It was like, you don’t see anything ahead of you; nothing was happening in ministry; nobody was getting saved, healed and delivered; the church members were occupied with and distracted by the worries of this world.   It was so discouraging and demotivating! But there was one thing I wasn’t ready to quit: Praying and having devotional time with the Lord.

Here in Kazakhstan we have great steppes, which are expansive mountain plateaus with valleys in between. During the summer season I used to go up to a nearby steppe.  There I would seek the Lord and  pray while fasting. Sometimes I would be praying for 3-6 hours, desperately asking God to show me the way.  One day, while I was praying as usual and seeking His face, the Holy Spirit told me clearly: “You are so impatient, wait on my time”.

A few times I felt the Lord speak to me about moving out of the local church where I was assistant Pastor and leader of the Kazakh fellowship, and gradually I began to be confident in my heart it was from Him.  A couple of months later I met a Korean minister at a Pastor’s retreat in Almaty. She was prophesying to me that change was coming and that I would see the power of God be manifest.  I received it by faith and returned to my city. Two months after this prophesy, during another leadership gathering I met other anointed ministers from the U.S.A. and the U.K. They prayed for me and I was told that something was about to happen and I would see the Power of God in the ministry I had been doing.

The next day as I was praying in my prayer room in the church, suddenly a strong presence of God came upon me.  I was wrapped in His love and found myself lying on the floor, crying out and experiencing His love. I was crying for more two hours and couldn’t even get back up on my feet.  After that experience, something started happening. The manifest presence of the Lord began to be visible in our Kazakh ministry.  Salvation and hunger for the Word of God took place; people were  physically healed from diseases and freed from demonic bondage.

TESTIMONIES FROM PEOPLE

Below are three praise reports from our ministry, but there are many more.

My assistance’s wife had been diagnosed with spinal cancer.  She underwent surgery and chemo therapy, but it didn’t help much. The doctors didn’t give her any hope of recovery. We kept praying and interceding—and the Lord healed her!  After her healing, she went back to the doctor and ask to be tested, and the medical professionals confirmed she was totally  healed. She is doing great and is now serving the Lord with us!

An older man who is the brother of one of our sisters in the church had developed gangrene in his right leg from the knee to the toe.  He had been told by  his doctor that his leg needed to be amputated, otherwise he would die. His sister asked us to visit him and pray for him, but we were not able to get there, so we prayed over a piece of cloth and sent it with her to do what the disciples did in the Book of Acts.  She placed the cloth on his leg and prayed. Two weeks later we received a message that this old man’s leg was healed, the gangrene was gone and he had turned his heart to Christ. He had heard about Jesus many times before, but had refused the Gospel.  When the miracle happened, he could resist no longer.

Recently, a young Kazakh man attended our home group.  He had an infection in his inner ear, and the pus was seeping into his brain. Every morning when he woke up the pain caused him to take strong pain pills. When we prayed for him he felt heat radiating in his inner ear and into his brain, and suddenly pus began flowing out of his ear.  That night he slept very well, and when he woke up the pain was gone.  He needed no more pain pills!  After one month he visited his doctor who told him he did not need any surgery because the infection was gone and his ear was perfectly okay. He was deeply impacted by the Power of God, and although he did not repent right away, this miracle made him think seriously about who Isa (Jesus) really is. He is in the process of coming to know Jesus Christ.

THE VISION OF THE NEW CHURCH

As mentioned above, in October 2019, by the grace of God we planted a new Kazakh church and  ministry which we believe will reach people throughout Kazakhstan and beyond its borders.

  • Our vision and passion is to preach the Gospel and raise up a new generation of Jesus’ disciples who will go out and spread the Kingdom of God in our nation.
  • Our strategy is to partner and align with other Kazakh churches, home churches or fellowships for the sake of the Gospel.
  • We gather regularly with our Kazakh believers for teaching, encouragement, prayer and fellowship and building networks with other Kazakh pastors. In January we had a great fellowship meeting in Nursultan (former Astana).
  • We pursue the goal to spread the Kingdom of God, not denominations or church franchises, but cultivate God’s Kingdom culture so that our nation would be transformed from the inside–out by the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Truth of the Word of God.
  • We believe this cannot be accomplished without the manifestation of God’s power by the Holy Spirit.

FROM R.K.’S CORNER

The timing of the Lord never ceases to amaze me: In 2003, John Macintosh, a Canadian missionary who at the time was serving in Russia with the ministry Athletes in Action visited us in our home in Florida.  He told us about Yermek Balykbekov, a young Kazakh he had met in Moscow who had four years prior come to faith in Jesus.  He had forsaken a potentially lucrative future in Martial Arts to follow God’s call to return to his homeland and reach his people for Jesus Christ. We were moved by the obedience and faith of this young man, and decided to get on the ground floor with him by sponsoring him and his new ministry.

Tomorrow, 17 years later, just at the time we are publishing this fresh update on Yermek and his life and ministry, John Mackintosh “happens” to be in South Florida and will again be visiting our home… for the second time!

Thanks to our faithful partners’ donations and prayers, we have been able for almost two decades to walk alongside Yermek in helping support his life and ministry.  To learn more about him and follow his and his fellowship’s journey of faith, please copy and paste the three links below:

https://www.bridgeinternational.org/pdf/october2011.pdf

https://www.bridgeinternational.org/2014/07/

https://www.bridgeinternational.org/2017/07/

Please mark your donations  8342 Kazakh Workers 2

P.S. Due to security reasons, we have blocked some of the believers’ faces.

 

 

 

2019 Annual Bridge Report

Dear Friends and Partners,

“God loves a cheerful giver.  And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.  Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.  2. Cor 9:7b-8, 10-11

We thank God for those of you who continue to actively participate in the work and ministry of our field partners through your financial giving. The 2019 Annual Bridge Report and official contribution receipts have been mailed to all last year’s donors. Also, thanks to you who prayed for the mission field and the workers whose labor of love brings light and hope to so many living in darkness and despair.  Your love and interest encourages us to continue moving forward in Linking God’s People to Reach the Unreached.

1989 AND 2019 — THEN AND NOW

As we have just entered a new decade, it is befitting we pause and look back at the turn of an earlier decade thirty years ago.  Since 1961 the infamous Iron Curtain had divided Eastern Europe from Western Europe.  On November 6, 1989, to the whole world’s shock and surprise, the part of the wall dividing the city of Berlin fell, dismantled by the masses in the streets who demanded freedom from tyranny.  Then, like carefully stacked dominoes, in a short two years, the entire wall came down in country after country until the once powerful empire of the USSR was dissolved (Dec. 1991).  The Soviet Union, having controlled the lives of 300 million people in 29 countries by their ruthless dictatorships, suddenly ceased to exist.

In the early eighties I traveled for two years within the Iron Curtain countries to bring Bibles and Christian literature to the underground churches on the other side. I learned first hand the dangers of passing through that wall. After The Bridge was founded in 1983, its Intercessory Prayer Group began to pray, imploring God to smash the wall which represented the evil regimes and to liberate the people both physically and spiritually!

When the Berlin wall actually fell, Steve and I were driving through West Germany on a mission trip in Europe.   Although we had prayed diligently for so long, we were taken by total surprise!  Throughout that decade there had been much geopolitical maneuvering by politicians and governments, but not one individual, group or government could rightfully take full credit for this historic event!  As the crumbling of the wall progressed, we recognized were living in the midst of a modern day Psalm 2 miracle—God had heard the prayers of His people! His hand had swept over the nations, cut their bondage and freed them to seek and find Him who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life!  The closed countries opened up and we were bought knee-high into the harvest fields of scores of hungry souls. As coworkers with the Lord, we watched the transforming power of the risen Jesus Christ bring untold thousands of individuals and whole communities from darkness into light, satisfying their hunger and quenching their thirst!

Today, there is a different Iron Curtain in the world, a very real one; one that cannot be seen with human eyes, but is just as an oppressive and powerful deterrent to freedom as barbwire, killer dogs, and Kalashnikov guns.  The Judeo-Christian world view is founded on Biblical precepts which is the bedrock on which Western civilization is built.  It recognizes that man is endowed with liberty and certain rights given by their Maker which no ruler or government has the right to deny the people under their care.  Dictators and their cadre seek absolute power and total control over people’s minds, souls, and lives. They are engaged in a spiritual/cultural/physical war via political ideologies, world religions and personality cults directed at those following Jesus. Their Christian faith must be eradicated from society, and their quest for freedom must be suppressed!

Brother Andrew, founder of Open Doors, a renowned ministry, pioneered the smuggling of Bibles through the Iron Curtain to the underground church 65 years ago.  Today, Open Doors is on the forefront of representing religious and human rights violations against Christians communities worldwide, and encourages believers everywhere to pray for and advocate on behalf of the suffering believers.

Their World Watch List is a comprehensive annual publication of the top 50 countries that are the worst offenders, number one being the worst.  No surprise that North Korea tops the list!  I encourage you to familiarize yourself with the content with special emphasis on the 10 countries in which our Bridge Harvesters live and serve (their numbers are listed below beside their respective countries).  This will guide you as you pray and intercede for them, and get actively involved.  To print the List, please copy this address and download the file: https://www.opendoorsusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/2020_World_Watch_List.pdf

To read the List online, go to: https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/world-watch-list/  

2019 IN REVIEW — THE HARVESTERS

All our Harvesters are in charge of their own vision and ministries.  The Bridge comes alongside them as friends and resource partner.

No. 2 — AFGHANISTAN: The community centers in cooperation with local Afghans are progressing well, in the midst of grave dangers and several setbacks.  The four centers, built on Kingdom principles, encompass water drilling; agricultural projects whereby Afghans are learning to grow food effectively; a chicken farm business; training in leadership & entrepreneurial skills with emphasis on character building integrity, and responsibility.

BOSNIA: ROBERT and SANDRINA After securing the facilities  a year ago for their ministry in the Muslim section of Sarajevo: Raphael Church, the Lighthouse with their apartment,  the Pro-Life Woman’s Center, and the meeting hall for fellowship and ministry to children and teenagers, they have been busy sharing their faith and pursue registration for the church and permanent residency visa for their long term stay in Bosnia.  They have been blessed with three grandchildren – two in the States and one in Holland.

No. 10, 32, 45 — INDIA/BHUTAN/NEPAL:  DAWA and his team at Himalayan Good News Networking Ministry continue to raise up pioneer evangelists, train leaders and send church planters  into some of the cities and villages in the more remote Himalayan mountains between Bhutan, India, Nepal and Tibet.  The persecution against Christians is intensifying , but the ministry keeps growing in depth and outreach.

No. 23 — CHINA:  SARANG continues to forge ahead deep into the remote mountains of China’s Northwest district, Xinjiang, to bring the Gospel to his Kalmyk people.  They are Buddhist nomads who roam the region with their herds.  He has found inroads for the Gospel with a doctor, a well known singer whose father is tribal leader, and a number of young people who are reading the Bible with interest. The China regime is persecuting people of faith.

CUBA: JORGE and MAGDALENA have now lived in Florida for a number of years, but they have not lost their passion for meeting the needs of their brothers and sisters in Cuba, so they visit there often. Jorge continues to travel to other Caribbean and Central American countries, to also equip them with both spiritual and physical food, besides pastoring his church in Miami.   He has Bibles printed and distributed inside Cuba, partially financed by The Bridge who also assisted in the completion of the storage facility.

REPUBLIC OF GEORGIA: S & S have been called into a unique ministry, having been led to places where people arrive from closed countries, then hand deliver the visitors Scripture portions in their respective languages, which are received with great caution and curiosity. They also blanket immigrant neighborhoods in West European cities with tracts and Scriptures. Last year, they hand delivered 17,870 New Testaments and brochures, and 16,000 DVDs and Gospels of John in several languages.

No. 9, 36 — IRAN/TURKEY: SARGON has been able to more effectively focus on the various aspects of ministry to his countrymen since his wife and two youngest children (the two oldest are already attending college abroad) a year ago permanently joined him in Turkey.  His ministry is expanding as the revival is growing exponentially in Iran, and there are many exciting testimonies of supernatural encounters with the Lord.  But with revival comes persecution whereby many homes and churches have been ransacked and believers arrested.  Much more could be said – however, due to security concerns, this will have to suffice.  We implore you to pray for safety and wisdom for the believers in Iran and Turkey, and for Sargon and his family!

No. 35 — KAZAKHSTAN:  YERMEK’s  Kazakh fellowship parted from the Russian church under whose umbrella they had operated since its inception.  They are now joining other Kazakh groups of believers as he is being led into a broader sphere of leadership locally, as well as other Kazakh church fellowships throughout the country and beyond.  Yermek continues to be true to his vision: to be a tool in God’s hand, guided by the Holy Spirit to help bring forth committed people of faith who find their identity in Christ via their own Kazakh language and culture.  God answered  a promise from years ago: his wife gave birth to their son!

No. 44 — KENYA: PAUL continued to teach, train, mentor, and disciple the Pastors of the Least, who live and minister hope among the poorest of the poor in the Kiberia slum near the capital city of Nairobi.  It was a transition year in that Paul moved his family back to the States, as the time had come to leave the leadership of the two ministry schools in the capable hands of the local leaders who had been trained and discipled under his leadership. Paul will divide his time between the States and Kenya and operates in an overseeing and guidance capacity while bringing awareness of the ministry to people back home.

 KYRGYZSTAN — RUSTAM and ZAMIRA with their two children, have moved back from Dushanbe, Tajikistan to their family home in the capital of  Bishkek.   They are happy to rejoin their family of believers and former church fellowship.  Rustam who feels called to the fatherless and helping fathers build good, healthy relationships with their children, works among teenage boys discarded by state orphanages. Zamira ministers among and prays for trafficked women. Together they reach out to poor Gypsy families, always with the message of God’s love through Jesus Christ.

 No. 7 — SOUTH SUDAN: MATTHEW continued evangelizing among his people and pastoring the two churches he has planted in the capital city of Juba.  It has become an annual event for him and his team to travel to Kampala, Uganda to minister among the many South Sudanese refugees in diaspora there. They also conducted a crusade in Abyei, Matthew’s home state, a disputed land area between Sudan and South Sudan, where he visited his tribal land and shared the Gospel with his family after 26 years absence as refugee abroad.  He plans to plant a church in his home town.

Please pray for them and their people, and consider helping them financially!

If you want a hard copy of the report for download and printing, please click on the below link:

2019 Annual Bridge Report 01-20 web

2023 – The True Story of Thanksgiving

Written by PASTOR DAVIS MATHIS @www.desiringGod.org

Come Thanksgiving Day each year, many of us give the nod to Pilgrims and Indians and talk of making ready for a harsh first winter in the New World.

But for the Christian, the deepest roots of our thanksgiving go back to the Old World, way back before the Pilgrims, to a story as old as creation, with a two-millennia-old climax. It’s a story that keeps going right on into the present and gives meaning to our little lives, even when we’re a half a globe removed from history’s ground zero at a place called Golgotha.

You could call it the true story of Thanksgiving — or you could call it the Christian Gospel viewed through the lens of that, often undervalued virtue, known as “gratitude.” It opens up a few biblical texts we otherwise may be prone to downplay. Here’s the true story of thanksgiving in four stages.

Created for Thanksgiving – God created humanity for gratitude. You exist to appreciate God.

First, God created humanity for gratitude. We exist to appreciate God. He created us to honor him by giving him thanks. Appreciating both who God is and his actions for us — in creating us and sustaining our lives — is fundamental to proper human life in God’s created world.

The apostle Paul gives us this glimpse of the place of appreciation in the created order as he describes in Romans 1 what’s gone wrong with the world:

”Although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”  Romans 1:21

Part of what the first man and woman were created to do was honor God by being thankful. And part of what we exist to do is honor God by being thankful — and thus the numerous biblical commands enjoining gratitude.  Humanity was created to appreciate God. But as we’ve already seen from Romans 1, ingratitude wasn’t far away.

Fallen from Thanksgiving – Our fall was, and has always been, that we aren’t satisfied in God and what He gives. We hunger for something more, something other.

Second, we all have failed miserably in appreciating God as we should. In her book on gratitude, Ann Voskamp gives memorable expression to the failure of the first man and woman — and the devil before them — to rightly experience and express gratitude.

From all of our beginnings, we keep reliving the Garden story. Satan, he wanted more. More power, more glory. Ultimately, in his essence, Satan is an ingrate. And he sinks his venom into the heart of Eden. Satan’s sin becomes the first sin of all humanity: the sin of ingratitude. Adam and Eve are, simply, painfully ungrateful for what God gave. Isn’t that the catalyst of all my sin?

Satan the ingrate spawns thanklessness in Adam and Eve, who pass it along to all of us. Both before our conversion and after, we are thankless people. This is so painfully true.  And we not only fail to be thankful like we ought, but we also fail to get the balance right between physical and spiritual. Two obstacles often stand in our way to God-exalting gratitude. You could call them “hyper-spirituality” and “hyper-physicality.”  Perhaps hyper-physicality is all too well known in 21st-century Western society at large. Materialists are so unaware of spiritual reality that even when there is gratitude for the physical, the spiritual is neglected, if not outright rejected. We can be thankful for the temporal, even while we couldn’t care less about the eternal.

But hyper-spirituality is often particularly dangerous among the so-called “spiritual” types, even in the church. We can be prone to mute God’s physical goodness to us out of fear that appreciation for such would somehow detract from our thanksgiving for spiritual blessings. In our sin, we fail again and again to get the proportions right. Only with divine redemption are we able to grow toward a balance that goes something like this: Christians are thankful for all God’s gifts, especially his eternal gifts, and especially the surpassing value of knowing his Son (Philippians 3:8), the Spirit-become-physical.

Redeemed by Thanksgiving

Third, God himself, in the person of his Son, Jesus, entered into our thankless world, lived in flawless appreciation of His Father, and died on our behalf for our chronic ingratitude. It is Jesus, the God-man, who has manifested the perfect life of thankfulness. If you’ve ever tracked the texts where Jesus gives his Father thanks, you’ll know it’s quite an impressive list.

Matthew 11:25 [also Luke 10:21]: “At that time [note the context of unrepentant and thankless “cities where most of His mighty works had been done,” verse 20] Jesus declared, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.’”

John 11:41: “ . . . they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, ‘Father, I thank you that you have heard Me.’” [Jesus then raises Lazarus from the dead.]

Matthew 15:36 [also Mark 8:6]: Jesus “took the seven loaves and the fish, and having given thanks He broke them and gave them to the disciples . . . ” [See also John 6:11 and John 6:23 which refer to the location as “the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.”]

Luke 22:17–20 [also Matthew 26:27 and Mark 14:23]: “He took a cup, and when He had given thanks He said, ‘Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.’ And He took bread, and when he had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, ‘This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.’” [And so following Jesus’s pattern, Paul in Acts 27:35 “took bread, and giving thanks to God in the presence of all He broke it . . . ”]

  1. Corinthians 11:23–24: Our “Lord Jesus on the night when He was betrayed took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it . . . ”

Jesus is not only God himself but also the quintessentially thankful human. The God-man not only died to forgive our failures in giving God the thanks He’s due, but also lived the perfect life of appreciation on our behalf toward his Father.

Freed for Thanksgiving – Christians are thankful for all God’s gifts, especially for His eternal gifts.

Finally, by faith in Jesus, we are redeemed from ingratitude and its just eternal penalty in hell, and freed to enjoy the pleasure of being doubly thankful for God’s favor toward us — not only as his creatures, but also as his redeemed.

It is fitting for a creature to be in a continuous posture of gratitude toward his Creator. And it is even more fitting for a redeemed rebel to be in an ongoing posture of gratitude toward his Redeemer. The kind of life that flows from such amazing grace is the life of continual thankfulness. This is the kind of life in which the born-again Christian is being continually renewed, progressively being made more like Jesus.

The apostle Paul thus encourages Christians to have lives characterized by thanksgiving.

Colossians 1:11–12: May you be “strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.”

Colossians 2:6–7: “as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”

Colossians 3:15–17:“And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”

Ephesians 5:20: “ . . . giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

  1. Thessalonians 5:18: “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

Only in Jesus, are we able to become the kind of persistently thankful people God created us to be and fulfill the human destiny of thanksgiving. For the Christian, with both feet standing firmly in the Good News of Jesus, there are possibilities for a true Thanksgiving which we otherwise would never know.

FROM STEVE AND R.K.’s CORNER

This article by Pastor David Mathis was published in the 2019 Thanksgiving issue of The Bridge Report.  The reason was, I had for some time been reflecting on the alarmingly shifting negative tone in the discourse between people in our public square. The right to free speech was being used as an excuse to engage in personal attacks on others with different points of view. Restraints had been cast off in the back and forth dialogues, especially in social media, which has become the virtual reality by which many measure their lives and values, resulting in divided families, broken friendships, destroyed reputation and livelihoods.

Realizing the focus of this article, Thanksgiving, a concept almost forgotten, is far more relevant to the growing intensity of our culture war today than then, I decided to reprint the total article.  Those of us who belong to Jesus Christ are the counter culture, and as such, should demonstrate a different attitude. Let us pause in the midst of our busy lives, meditate on these Scriptures as we count our blessings, and openly give thanks to God for all His marvelous gifts… even life itself!

Would you consider, as an act of Thanksgiving, sending an extra gift toward our Harvesters abroad who labor to bring His Love and Light to those who have not yet heard the Good News!

Update from Elohim Shalom Church in Juba, South Sudan by Matthew Ayii Deng Dut

FROM R.K.’S CORNER

In 2012, when Matthew arrived back in South Sudan after a lifetime as refugee in diaspora, he came to a scorched land, physically and spiritually. He returned empty-handed with a broken people to a broken land caused by a three decade long war perpetrated by Khartoum’s Muslim forces which had left 3 million dead and 5 million in refugee camps abroad.
This did not deter Matthew, who carries a passionate vision for his country—South Sudan will rise from the ashes and become a Light to the nations by the power of God’s Word and the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! True peace will come to South Sudan when his nation acknowledges and embraces the Prince of Peace!
In the seven years since his return, he has been in full force about the Father’s business. He has planted two churches in the capital city of Juba, has discipled and trained new believers in Biblical leadership and then commissioned them to pioneer churches in the cities of Wau (to the northeast) and Abyei (in the northernmost part of the country). An evangelist at heart, he has conducted crusades in several states, and every year brings a team from his church to Uganda where he ministers to believers among his countrymen in diaspora. He reaches thousands by broadcasting weekly Bible teaching by radio, and he regularly gathers other pastors and ministers for intercessory prayer and fellowship.
We have been in partnership with Matthew and helped sponsor him since 2008 when I met him as refugee in Israel,  while he was pastoring a group of fellow countrymen.  The Bridge, in conjunction with our local church, sponsored Matthew’s three year Bible College education in Israel before he returned to South Sudan.

I present you with the below update report with thanks to God, to our Bridge supporters, and to our friends and readers:

MATTHEW’S UPDATE REPORT

The vision for 2019 was clear: The hearts of the South Sudanese people are like the dry bones in the valley mentioned in Ezekiel 37:1-7. Can these dry bones live? Yes, says the Lord, but only through revival of the power of the Word of God! So,  throughout January, our church fasted and prayed for the Kingdom of God to be preached in our country.  The theme for the year is Isaiah 11:9, “for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” This has set the tone for our outreaches and conferences this year.

During the month of fasting and prayer, I stayed for 10 days at  William Levi’s ministry, Gordon Prayer Mountain in Nimule.  Doors opened for me to preach the Gospel on the radio which reaches all Southeast states in our country and the northern parts of Uganda.  I preached in English and Arabic at the same time and covered many topics: repentance, knowing God, faith in Christ, eternal life and the Kingdom of God. The theme was Matthew 11:28, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” The response was great—many responded with testimonies that gave glory to God!

In February, five of our leaders and I from our Elohim Shalom church in Juba and our affiliate church in Wau, conducted a five day crusade, and four day leadership conference in that city. Wau, pop. 150.000, is located 400 miles Northwest of Juba.  It was an open air crusade in Freedom Square, a field located next to the city’s largest mosque.

Thousands came, many received Jesus Christ in faith, and there were many testimonies of healing and deliverance from witchcraft and oppression.  The local pastors responded well to the teaching of the Word of God and were refreshed and encouraged.   I gave out four boxed with books on Biblical topics, but many more are needed, as there is a great hunger to learn more about the Lord. They asked me to stay longer—we will return soon, God willing!

In the Spring, the construction of Elohim Shalom Church was completed, and we celebrated the move into the new building.  It is a great blessing for us!  The church building is in use, not only for weekly services, but for many activities during the week: prayer and Bible study, leadership meetings, youth group activities, and Sunday school. Thank you, Bridge, for helping us accomplish this!

In May, we had a conference for Mothers by more mature women who were teaching younger women Biblical ways to be Godly women, good wives and mothers.  The Bridge has helped several of the women to start micro businesses. Right now they are selling food, and making a profit which helps their family be lifted out of abject poverty.  10 percent of the net profit goes to the church.

We are also engaging the youth in our church and teach them how to be active participants in the Kingdom of God  by engaging in regular evangelism outreaches in the city where they serve people in need.  There are many children in our two churches in Juba.  Next year, we are planning to open a school for the children with a Bible based curriculum.

In June, The Bridge helped us buy a SUV vehicle to help transportation of people and goods in the church.  During the week it is used as a business to make money; the weekly profit of $100.00 will go towards buying another vehicle next year.

Every year I bring some of our leaders in Elohim Shalom in Juba with me to Uganda, where we conducted evangelistic outreaches and conferences in several South Sudanese churches in diaspora.  When we visited this Fall, many families received Jesus Christ as Savior, and were baptized in water and the Holy Spirit.  We encouraged them to return home to South Sudan with the Good News.

We thank God for the support from The Bridge who has helped us with the finances to build our fellowship, and has supported me and so many of other projects and outreaches!

“Preach the Word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and teaching.” 2. Timothy 4:2

Support for Persecuted Christians — Overview of Bishop of Truro’s Independent Review for the Foreign Secretary of FCO

FROM R.K.’S CORNER:  In 1983, The Bridge was born during one of my visits behind the Iron Curtain while providing suffering Christians, persecuted under the oppressive atheist regime of the Soviet Union, with Bibles and other resources.  Intercession and prayers for the persecuted Church throughout the world has therefore always been at the core of our ministry, especially as most of our Bridge Partners live and serve in nations hostile to the Christian faith.

Governments in Western Europe and the Unites States have traditionally been on the forefront in supporting liberty and freedom of expression of faith.  However, in later years as the wave of secularism and cultural pluralism have greatly increased, the voice of the suffering church has been silenced, both by governing authorities and most church leaders in the West.  However, change is happening!  On Monday, Sep. 23, during the week of the annual United Nations General Assembly, President Trump will be hosting and speaking at the Global Call to Protect Religious Freedom.  The U.S. Administration is taken a stand on behalf of those persecuted for their faith.

Earlier this year, in an effort to inform governments and the general public about the alarming increase in religious oppression, especially among Christians, a comprehensive Independent Review of current Persecution of Christians worldwide, done under the leadership of Bishop of Truro in London, was presented to the Foreign Secretary of The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in England.

Due to limited space on this website, I have published only a brief overview of the Report.  In its entirety, it is a great resource for you, your church leaders, and prayer groups. Please download the .pdf file of the Report from this link, read it, and distribute it to others, and— PLEASE PRAY:

https://christianpersecutionreview.org.uk/interim-report/

OVERVIEW — THE SCALE OF RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION

Persecution on grounds of religious faith is a global phenomenon which is growing in scale and intensity. Reports including that of the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on ‘Freedom of Religion and Belief’ (FoRB) suggest that religious persecution is on the rise, and it is an “ever-growing threat” to societies around the world. Though it is impossible to know the exact numbers of people persecuted for their faith, based on reports from different NGOs, it is estimated that one third of the world’s population suffers from religious persecution in some form, with Christians being the most persecuted group.   This despite the fact that freedom of religion and belief is a fundamental right of every person. This includes the freedom to change or reject one’s own belief system.

The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in Article 18 defines religious human rights in this way: “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance.” (The Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Despite the fact that the UDHR is foundational to the UN Charter which is binding on member states, and that ‘the denial of religious liberty is almost everywhere viewed as morally and legally invalid’, in today’s world, religious freedom is far from being an existential reality.  The Review Terms of Reference called for ‘persecution and other discriminatory treatment’ to be researched.

In the absence of an agreed academic definition of ‘persecution’ the Review has proceeded on the understanding that persecution is discriminatory treatment where that treatment is accompanied by actual or perceived threats of violence or other forced coercion. 

Why a focus on Christian persecution? The Report argues that a focus on Christian persecution must not be to the detriment of other minorities, but rather helping and supporting them. However, research consistently indicates that Christians are “the most widely targeted religious community”. Furthermore, the evidence suggests that acts of violence and other intimidation against Christians are becoming more widespread. The reporting period revealed an increase in the severity of anti-Christian persecution. In parts of the Middle East and Africa, the “vast scale” of the violence and its perpetrators’ declared intent to eradicate the Christian community has led to several Parliamentary declarations in recent years that the faith group has suffered genocides according to the definition adopted by the UN. Against this backdrop, academics, journalists and religious leaders (both Christian and non-Christian) have stated that, as Cambridge University Press puts it, the global persecution of Christians is “an urgent human rights issue that remains underreported”. An op-ed piece in the Washington Post stated: “Persecution of Christians continues… but it rarely gets much attention in the Western media. Even many churchmen in the West turn a blind eye.” Journalist John L Allen wrote in The Spectator: “The global war on Christians remains the greatest story never told of the early 21st century.”

There is widespread evidence showing that “today, Christians constitute by far the most widely persecuted religion.” Finding once again that Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world, the Pew Research Center concluded that in 2016 Christians were targeted in 144 countries – a rise from 125 in 2015. According to Pew Research, “Christians have been harassed in more countries than any other religious group and have suffered harassment in many of the heavily Muslim countries of the Middle East and North Africa.” Reporting “a shocking increase in the persecution of Christians globally”,  Christian persecution NGO Open Doors (OD) revealed in its 2019 World Watch List Report on anti-Christian oppression that “approximately 245 million Christians living in the top 50 countries suffer high levels of persecution or worse”, 30 million up on the previous 23 year.

Open Doors stated that within five years the number of countries classified as having “extreme” persecution had risen from one (North Korea) to 11. Both OD and Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) have highlighted the increasing threat from “aggressive nationalism” or “ultra-nationalism” in countries such as China and India – growing world powers – as well as from Islamist militia groups. According to Persecution Relief, 736 attacks were recorded in India in 2017, up from 348 in 2016.  With reports in China showing an upsurge of persecution against Christians, between 2014 and 2016, government authorities in Zheijiang Province targeted up to 2,000 churches, which were either partially or completely destroyed or had their crosses removed.  

The Report shows not only the geographic spread of anti-Christian persecution, but also its increasing severity. In some regions, the level and nature of persecution is arguably coming close to meeting the international definition of genocide, according to that adopted by the UN. The eradication of Christians and other minorities on pain of “the sword” or other violent means was revealed to be the specific and stated objective of extremist groups in Syria, Iraq, Egypt, north-east Nigeria and the Philippines.  An intent to erase all evidence of the Christian presence was made plain by the removal of crosses, the destruction of Church buildings and other Church symbols. The killing and abduction of clergy represented a direct attack on the Church’s structure and leadership. Where these and other incidents meet the tests of genocide, governments will be required to bring perpetrators to justice, aid victims and take future preventative measures.  The main impact of such genocidal acts against Christians is exodus.

Christianity now faces the possibility of being wiped-out in parts of the Middle East where its roots go back furthest. In Palestine, Christian numbers are below 1.5 percent; in Syria the Christian population has declined from 1.7 million in 2011 to below 450,000; in Iraq, Christian numbers have slumped from 1.5 million before 2003 to below 120,000 today. Christianity is at risk of disappearing, representing a massive setback for religious plurality in the region. 

In its 2017 ‘Persecuted and Forgotten?’ report on Christian persecution, ACN stated: “In terms of the number of people involved, the gravity of the crimes committed and their impact, it is clear that the persecution of Christians is today worse than at any time in history.”

Given the scale of persecution, the response of the media and western Governments has come under increasing criticism. Former Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks told the House of Lords: “The persecution of Christians throughout much of the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, [and] elsewhere is one of the crimes against humanity of our time and I’m appalled at the lack of protest it has evoked”. This echoes the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal: “Does anybody here hear our cry? How many atrocities must we endure before someone comes to our aid?”

Due to the scale of persecution of Christians today, indications that it is getting worse and that its impact involves the decimation of some of the faith group’s oldest and most enduring communities, the need for governments to give increasing priority and specific targeted support to this faith community is not only necessary, but urgent.

South Asia

There the growth of militant nationalism has been the key driver of Christian persecution. The existence of Anti Conversion Laws,  Blasphemy Laws,  and International NGO  Registration Limitations  are key factors in the suppression of  the Christian faith.

Sub-Sahara Africa

While the 2014-19 period saw government crackdowns on Christians, notably in Eritrea, the most widespread and violent threat came from societal groups, including many with a militant Islamist agenda – the most serious being Boko Haram in Nigeria, where direct targeting of Christian believers on a comprehensive scale set out to “eliminate Christianity and pave the way for the total Islamization of the country”.

East Asia

The extensive persecution is driven both by the authoritarian actions of governments influenced by communist and nationalist outlooks and by Islamic militancy found both within the state and within civil society. Ideologies which aim to ensure complete control, turning the ‘other’ into deviants are prevalent, causing high levels of persecution.

Central Asia

The situation is bleak as governments and authorities have further enforced a widespread crackdown on churches and Christian activities. Protestant, Evangelical and Pentecostal Christians are more likely to be persecuted than Catholics and Orthodox Christians.

Latin America

The main drivers of persecution in Latin America are a combination of illegal organizations, state authorities and rival human rights claims by indigenous groups, especially in  Mexico and Colombia, as well as state-sponsored persecution in Cuba and Venezuela.Please save and print this image, keep it for you to pray and give it to others to intercede.