Christians in Afghanistan have been paralyzed with fear at the news that the Taliban has taken control of the country. Nadine Maenza, chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom said the Taliban takeover ‘is the worst possible development for religious minorities. While most from these communities left Afghanistan in recent years, those that remain, and women in particular, are now in imminent danger.’

News received by Aid to the Church in Need echoed reports that leaders of underground house churches in Afghanistan had received letters from the Taliban warning them that they 'know where they are and what they are doing'.

According to Pew, around 90 per cent of the 37 million population is Sunni and 9.7 per cent Shia, with the remaining 0.3 per cent belonging to other religions.  

Most Christians in Afghanistan are underground, so getting a precise estimate of their number is nigh-on impossible.

One Christian reportedly received a letter saying his house now belongs to the Taliban.

Open Doors, a charity that challenges Christian persecution, ranks Afghanistan as the second-worst country for believers. It says that under former president Ashraf Ghani, Christians faced ‘clan pressure’: in other words, persecution was most likely to come from friends and family. Converts to Christianity risked being killed, or at least disowned, by their family, clan or tribe. In some cases, conversion was treated as a psychiatric condition. There are cases of former Muslims being sectioned.

The constitution of Afghanistan establishes Islam as the state religion and, according to a US Department of State report, religious minorities have to exercise their faith ‘within the limits of the law’. Conversion from Islam is apostasy and can be punished by death, imprisonment or confiscation of property. Proselytizing is also punishable by death.

In Taliban-controlled parts of the country, the treatment of Christians has been harsher. In 2010, the extremist group murdered ten humanitarian aid workers during a medical mission to Badakhshan in the north. They accused them of being foreign spies and of spreading Christianity.

A man named Brother Firas — not his real name — a convert from Islam to Christianity, told International Christian Concern how the takeover move has been received by believers and how the Taliban will operate. According to the charity, he said:

“They will kill the known Christians and want to spread fear. There are already posters appearing that if you have single girls, 15 years old, you have to marry them to Taliban soldiers. Christians fear their daughters will be taken away from them and forced to marry Taliban. They will be sent to madrasas to brainwash them. The parents may or may not be killed... One man received a letter that his house now belongs to the Taliban. He is a simple man who makes crafts and his entire savings are in his house. The Taliban will take the property and assets of the Christians and all their women will be taken.

Release International, which supports persecuted Christians, warned that anyone identified as Christian was facing death. As for living conditions under the Taliban, one Christian Afghan told the charity: “Our brothers and sisters in Christ are telling us how afraid they are. In the areas that the Taliban now control, girls are not allowed to go to school, and women are not allowed to leave their homes without a male companion.”

Sources/More: The Spectator, The Church Times

Pray for wisdom and super-natural strength in times of adversity for all Christians in Afghanistan. Ask the Lord to guide the citizens in the country – especially our brothers and sisters in Christ – in how to deal with interrogations and brutalities in the days to come. (2 Samuel 22:3-4)

Pray for comfort for those who mourn.  Pray for God’s presence, grace and love to shine through even the most challenging of situations.

Pray for the underground church in Afghanistan that it will thrive despite these unprecedented challenges. Pray for those that are supporting and resourcing the believers. 

Join with the IPC’s 30 Days of Prayer for Afghanistan at www.ipcprayer.org/pray4afghanistan

After armed men snatched seven of Abubakar Adam's 11 children in northwestern Nigeria, he sold his car and a parcel of land and cleaned out his savings to raise a ransom to free them. He sent his 3 million naira ($7,300) into the bush, together with payments from other families in his town of Tegina.

The kidnappers took the money, seized one of the men delivering it and sent back a new demand for more cash and six motorbikes.

"We are in agony," the 40-year-old tyre repairman told Reuters, still waiting for any sign of what happened to his children three months after the mass abduction. "Honestly I don't have anything left."

Kidnappers have taken more than 1,000 students since December amid a rash of abductions across the impoverished northwest. Around 300 of the children have still not been returned, according to a Reuters tally of reports. President Muhammadu Buhari has told states not to pay anything to kidnappers, saying it will only encourage more abductions. Security agencies say they are targeting the bandits with military action and other methods.  Meanwhile, hundreds of parents are facing the same quandary: do everything they can to raise the ransoms themselves, or risk never seeing their children again.

"We are begging the government to help," said Aminu Salisu, whose eight-year-old son was taken in the same daylight raid on Tegina's Salihu Tanko Islamic school in May, alongside more than 130 students.   Kidnappers collected more than $18 million in ransom from June 2011 to March 2020 in Nigeria, according to an estimate by Lagos-based analysts SBM Intelligence.

That flood of cash brought a flood of new kidnappers, said Bulama Bukarti, an analyst in the Extremism Policy Unit of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change. He estimated there were currently around 30,000 bandits operating in the northwest.  "It's the most thriving, the most lucrative industry in Nigeria," he told Reuters. Kidnapping has become a tempting career choice for young men at a time of economic slump, double-digit inflation and 33% unemployment.

The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), an NGO, tracked a 28% increase in violence nationwide in Nigeria in the first six months of 2021, compared with the previous six months.  Reported fatalities from violence nationwide rose 61% to 5,197, it said.

It all explains, Bukarti of the Extremism Policy Unit said, why Adam and other parents are willing to sell everything they have to pay ransoms themselves.  "They cannot afford (it) by any means. But it's a life-and-death matter. And they know security agencies cannot free their loved ones."

Sources/More: Reuters

Pray: for protection and resilience for the young people taken away from their families.  Pray for their physical and mental wellbeing (Matthew 18:10)

Pray: for wisdom for families seeking to free their children from captivity.

Pray: for the Nigerian government and the military to succeed in bringing these extremists to justice.

Hurricane Ida has unleashed flash flooding and tornadoes across the north-east of the US, killing dozens and causing devastation in a number of states.  Hurricane Ida, the fifth strongest storm in the history of the US, caused large scale destruction across the country’s northeast and Gulf coast, bringing life in the storm-battered areas to a grinding halt.  At least 64 people have died in the US after the country's northeastern states were battered by record-breaking rainfall brought by Storm Ida.

The deaths include at least four people who died from carbon monoxide poisoning in Louisiana, two dead in Mississippi after torrential rain caused a highway to collapse, and a number of people killed after their cars were swept away by floods - one of them a Connecticut state trooper.

At least 11 of the deaths in New York were in flooded basement apartments, such as a family of three, including a toddler, who were not able to get out before the water rushed into their home. Most of those who died in New Jersey drowned after their vehicles became caught in floodwaters, with some getting swept away when they got out of their cars into fast-moving water.

Satellite images taken by Maxar on Thursday showed large areas of New Jersey submerged – with business and homes devastated by floodwater.

Ida, one of the most powerful hurricanes ever to hit the U.S. Gulf Coast, knocked out power to over 1 million homes in Louisiana on Monday and prompted rescue operations in flooded communities around New Orleans as the weakening storm churned northward.

Ida made landfall on Sunday 29^th August as a Category 4 hurricane, 16 years to the day after Hurricane Katrina, evoking memories of a disaster that killed more than 1,800 people in 2005 and devastated New Orleans.

"We didn't have another Katrina and that is something that we should be grateful for. However, the impact is absolutely significant," New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell told a news conference.

President Joe Biden declared a major disaster in the state, and the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) sent 3,600 of its personnel and 3.4 million meals to the storm-devastated area.

Some areas in Louisiana that were impacted the most due to Hurricane Ida may have to wait until the end of September to have their power connections restored, said the chief executive of Entergy’s Louisiana division on Saturday.

More than 22,000 power poles have been damaged or destroyed, which was more than the destruction caused by hurricanes Katrina, Zeta and Delta combined, something termed by Entergy Corporation president and chief executive Philip May as “staggering.”

More than 1.2 million have been left without power and food as Ida ripped through Louisiana, Cuba, the east coast of the US, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut last week.

The hurricane has knocked out several power lines, rendering more than 5,200 transformers and nearly 26,000 spans of wires dysfunctional. Nearly 600,000 in Louisiana are still waiting for their power connections to be restored.

While Entergy – which manages the production and distribution of electricity in the US’s south – said full power restoration will be achieved by 29 September, with no “later than” date, some Louisiana customers may have to wait longer, Mr May told the Associated Press (AP).

Sources: Reuters

Pray: Father God, all the elements of nature know Your voice and obey Your command. You are the God who parted the Red Sea with Your hands. You are the God who calmed the storms - even the wind and waves obey You. We pray for You to calm the storm, make the winds die down, and we pray You will provide comfort and safety for those in the path of the storm because You are the God who reigns. In Jesus’ name, Amen!

Pray: For those whose homes, businesses and livelihoods have been affected by hurricane Ida in Louisiana and the other states that have been affected.  May they find a God-given inner strength as they seek to rebuild both their dwellings and their lives. 

Pray: for safety and protection for all of the agencies who are working to restore power and to repair services. 

Pray: for resources to be released to help those with little or no home or medical insurances.

IPC will be circulating resources shortly, along with further details of a joint prayer initiative to cover the forthcoming Cop26 conference in prayer.  We are sharing some information and links ahead of that, which we trust you will find useful:

Formal briefing on the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference (31 Oct-12 Nov 2021

Glasgow)  https://ukcop26.org/

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which is the science assessment body known as the IPCC, released its Sixth Summary Report about climate change causes and impacts this past month, and it sets the tone for the forthcoming COP26 Un Climate Conference to be held in Scotland. It is worth reading the short summary report here, with 15 statements outlining the current position, challenges and futures ahead of us. 

It states unequivocally ‘that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land. Widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and biosphere have occurred.’

There will be opportunities over the coming weeks to come together with other Christians to pray for the planet and the leaders who will do so much to decide its future.  For example, you can pledge your prayers in support of the Young Christian Climate Network (YCCN) in a pilgrimage for climate justice. 

If you wish to read theological reflections on COP26 from ‘Green Christian’, then you can do so here.

If you wish for inspiration in prayer, then consider this resource containing 26 Prayers for the Climate and Ecological Emergency.

You can also join a movement of Christians praying and fasting on the 1st of each month for climate justice.

Please contact us if you would like to be kept informed about Cop26 Prayer initiatives.

We acknowledge that there are diverse opinions across the Church on the topic of climate change.  IPC aims to respect the diversity within the prayer movement and yet embrace our unified calling to mobilise prayer for the nations. (2 Chron 7:14)   If you wish to discuss the appropriateness of any articles, please contact us.

A six-year-old shot in the stomach as she ran to her father’s arms. A woman in her seventies killed while saying her prayers in her home.

Young men and women gunned down as they protested in the street, demanding democracy.

The casualties of Myanmar’s post-coup crackdown span all ages, social classes, and ethnic and religious backgrounds. They include students and poets, nurses and bank staff, politicians and construction workers.

Nearly seven months after the army seized power on Feb. 1, Myanmar’s security forces have killed more than 1,000 people in a bid to crush resistance, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, an activist group that has tracked arrests and deaths. Almost daily, the association’s death tally rises.

The tragedy of what appears could be a long-running civil war remains a distinct possibility in Myanmar today. Nevertheless, the term “civil war” itself is inappropriate. Rather Myanmar today resembles Europe during the Nazi occupation. While the sense of occupation by a foreign force had always existed in the ethnic minority areas with their insurgent organizations, there is a sense today that this is also the case in the Bamar heartland. The occupying army is Myanmar’s own national army (the Tatmadaw) which, from its foundation, has largely functioned as an autonomous state within a state. Those civilians who support the military, such as the members of the largely proxy party of the military, the Union Solidary and

Development Party (USDP), are treated as collaborators.

Seen even from the conventional paradigm of a military coup, replacing a democratically elected government, the reaction of the world, and above all the West, is disappointing. Yet, once we change perspective to conceive of Myanmar as an occupied country then the reaction of the world is simply irresponsible. To use a metaphor, Myanmar today is an international orphan.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), about 3 million Myanmar people need humanitarian assistance and protection services across various parts of the country. Apart from the chaos and violence resulting from the February coup, the pandemic is ravaging the country – the total number of people infected with COVID-19 is over 376,000 and Myanmar is notching over 2,000 cases per day. That is believed to be a massive undercount, however.

Myanmar’s military has centralized all resources for providing medical aid, from vaccines to oxygen and medications. At the same time, medical workers have refused to work for the junta, forming the backbone of the Civil Disobedience Movement.  By blocking aid to the neediest people, Myanmar’s generals have transformed humanitarian aid into a device for the continuation of war against its own citizens.

Sources/More: The Diplomat, Reuters

Pray: Dear God, please protect the people of Myanmar. Conceal them from the eyes of those who would harm them - and keep them safe.

Pray: for a de-escalation of violence and conflict in Myanmar. Lord, would You prevent civil war in this nation?  (1 Peter 3:9)

Pray: as the people of Myanmar recover from COVID, may they have all the medical and treatment resources they need, and I pray for the virus to be stopped in its tracks, so that the number of cases would go down dramatically.

Pray: Comfort those who have already lost loved ones.

More than 12 million people in Syria and Iraq are losing access to water, food and electricity and urgent action is needed to combat a severe water crisis, 13 aid groups working in the region warn today.

Across the region, rising temperatures, record low levels of rainfall, and drought are depriving people of drinking and agricultural water. It is also disrupting electricity as dams run out of water, which in turn impacts the operations of essential infrastructure including health facilities. Higher temperatures caused by climate change increase the risks and severity of droughts.

More than five million people in Syria directly depend on the river. In Iraq, the loss of access to water from the river, and drought, threaten at least seven million people. Some 400 square kilometres of agricultural land risk total drought. Two dams in northern Syria, serving three million people with electricity, face imminent closure. Communities in Hasakah, Aleppo, Raqqa and Deir ez Zour, including displaced people in camps, have witnessed a rise in outbreaks of water borne-diseases such as diarrhoea, since the reduction in water.

In Iraq, large swathes of farmland, fisheries, power production and drinking water sources have been depleted of water. In the Ninewa governorate, wheat production is expected to go down by 70 per cent because of the drought, while in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq production is expected to decrease by half. Some families in Anbar who have no access to river water are spending up to USD80 a month on water.

“The total collapse of water and food production for millions of Syrians and Iraqis is imminent,” said Carsten Hansen, Regional Director for the Norwegian Refugee Council. “With hundreds of thousands of Iraqis still displaced and many more still fleeing for their lives in Syria, the unfolding water crisis will soon become an unprecedented catastrophe pushing more into displacement.”

CARE’s Regional Director in the Middle East and North Africa, Nirvana Shawky, said: “The situation demands that authorities in the region and donor governments act swiftly to save lives in this latest crisis, that comes on top of conflict, COVID-19 and severe economic decline. In the longer term, beyond emergency food and water, they need to invest in sustainable solutions to the water crisis.”

The Danish Refugee Council’s Middle East Regional Director Gerry Garvey said: “This water crisis is bound to get worse. It is likely to increase conflict in an already destabilized region. There is no time to waste. We must find sustainable solutions that would guarantee water and food today and for future generations.”

In Al Sebat, 30 km away from Hasakah, residents have seen scores of villagers leaving to other areas, forced out by the drought.

“This year we have witnessed a wave of intense drought and as a result our lands did not produce any crops and we don’t have any sources of drinkable water either for us or for our animals,” said Abdallah, a tribal leader from Al Sebat. “It is infuriating to think that the current conditions will force us to leave the rural areas and that our lands will be left as ruins.”

Many farmers have spent their savings and gone into debt to keep their animals alive.

“Because of the drought I was unable to harvest any wheat,” said Hamid Ali from Baaj, one of the worst affected districts in Ninewa, Iraq. “Now I am overwhelmed with debt.”

Other aid groups joining today’s warning and call for emergency and flexible funding are: ACTED, Action Against Hunger, Mercy Corps, People in Need, Première Urgence Internationale, War Child, Help, Women Rehabilitation Organisation, VIYAN Organization, Al Rakeezeh Foundation for Relief and Development.

Sources/More: Reliefweb

Pray: for those suffering desperate hardship Syria and Iraq (Jeremiah 17:8-9)

Pray: for the world to recognise the deepening impact of climate change, particularly on the most vulnerable in society.

Pray: ‘Send the rain Lord’.  Open up rivers across the dry and arid land. 

Pray: for a swift and proportionate international humanitarian response that will not be mis-directed.

30 Days of Prayer for Afghanistan – Mon 23rd August to Tue 21st September 2021

We are so grateful for your prayers for Afghanistan during this critical season. We are sensing an important window this next month for God’s saints around the world to cry out with fervent, desperate prayer for the truth of the Gospel to go forth in power and love in the land of Afghanistan.

IPC would like to call for a 30-day season of daily prayer starting today Monday August 23rd through to Tuesday September 21st around these 5 prayer points below.

Please join us as the Lord leads you.

Prayer Points:

1. Pray for the power of the Gospel to reach the lost and broken! Focus on the gospel as the answer not the government. Rom. 1:16 
2. Pray for Laborers to be thrust forth in the harvest fields of Afghanistan. Matthew 9:37-38
3. Pray for the hurting brothers and sisters enduring severe persecution and suffering during this season. Let’s stand together with them in prayer! Heb. 13:3
4. Pray for finances for the Harvest. Get behind RUN (runministries.org) and/or numerous other ministry initiatives that understand how to multiply in spiritually dark times. Phil 4:19
5. Pray for an increase in spiritual discernment and wisdom for our government leaders around the world. 1 Timothy 2:1-5

Let’s cry out with Courageous and Bold Faith according to Ephesians 3:20-21,

“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen”

We will be publishing further updates during these 30 Days at www.ipcprayer.org/pray4afghanistan

10 Days is a prayer meeting for your entire city!

The goal is a season where Jesus Christ is the focus of every heart in your geographical area for 10 complete days.

10 Days 2021 will be from September 6-16 beginning the evening of September 6th. It’s celebrated simultaneously in cities and towns around the world on an annual basis. Over 150 locations from all six continents participated in 10 Days 2020.

10 Days began in 2004 with a visionary experience.  It was born out of a time of seeking God with prayer and fasting, motivated by Jesus’ prayer in John 17, “Let [my followers] be one just as we [the Father and the Son] are one.”

Have you ever done something difficult, something that you doubted that you’d be able to do that later became one of the best moments of your life?

This Sept. 6-16, we challenge you to do something difficult that has the potential to change everything, impacting your relationship with God and your city!

More than 200 locations have already confirmed to be taking part during 2021.  Do join us individually or as an organisation! 

10 Days happens in many places at the same time.  Honestly, while we try to keep up, we’ve lost track a bit.  The bottom line is it’s better to worship and pray together.  This year for the first time we have more locations internationally than in the USA.

Find out what’s happening in a city near you. Check out 10 Days 2021 Locations

We would encourage anyone wanting to be involved individually, to also consider the Consecration Challenge.

Pray Online 24/7: We also have a number of online prayer rooms in a number of languages where prayer is happening around the clock.

Not all locations are listed on the map for security purposes 

Prayer and Fasting Resources

10 Days 2021 Prayer Guides
10 Days Prayer Themes
How to do 10 Days of Fasting
Consecration Challenge
Promotional Materials

Individuals can sign the Consecration Challenge: https://www.10days.net/consecration-challenge

Part of #trumpetstotabernacles | www.trumpetstotabernacles.org

In the midst of the current shakings, a number of Prayer and Missions networks are issuing a global call to prayer, fasting, and gospel proclamation based on the Biblical festivals of Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles. These Biblical seasons portray both a time of mourning, Return, and reverence of God, along with a time of rejoicing and harvest!

These feasts ultimately point to Christ and his Supremacy in our lives! They help us to remember and to renew hope! We set aside these days to remember and give thanks our deliverance and provision found in Christ, in the gospel, and in the coming of the Spirit. Based on these gospel promises we then renew our hope in Him alone!

When we humble ourselves and pray in repentance and in unity, we can only expect great things from our glorious God. While all of us have been impacted by the global pandemic and other shakings, we are more aware than ever of our need to have deep foundations in God, the kind we can only gain through prayer, fasting, and devotion to the Word. At the same time, these global shakings have a silver lining - many of us have a fresh sense of our need for one another as fellow believers.

Join the movement during this special season of humbling ourselves as we cry out with one voice, "Your Kingdom Come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven." As we see the day approaching, we are stirred even more with the corporate cry, "Maranatha, Come Lord Jesus!"

The Trumpets to Tabernacles Global Broadcast highlights significant events happening globally during the month of September. But at its heart, this video is a prayer meeting. With Bible based prayers from around the world, you will hear and experience the presence of God through the cry of His people from many nations who are longing for His Kingdom to come, His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Watch the Trumpets to Tabernacles Broadcast Online Premiere at 2.30PM EST / 7.30PM BST / 9.30PM Jerusalem time on Tuesday September 7^th

Also on www.GOD.TV  at 9.30PM in each region on 11 September.

More info at www.trumpetstotabernacles.org

Africa Returns Is Coming - The Global Prayer Convergence

The Return is now sweeping across Africa. The Lord gave birth to the Vision of Africa Returns in the heart of Dr. Oluwasayo (‘Sayo) Ajiboye while at The Return Sept 26, 2020 in Washington DC. The Lord quickly touched young and older people in Chinese House Churches in the USA, raised groups of seasoned ministers in East Africa, stirred up Millennials in the nation of Nigeria to do marvelous deeds. Africa Returns was in progress without the strength of man.

Africa Returns is a continent-wide Prayer and Transformational Movement which will take place on September 10-11! Africa Belongs to the Lord!

Africa Returns prayer and repentance movement is quickly approaching. Starting at 4 am EDT on Friday, September 10th, join Rev. Kevin Jessip, Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, Dr. Oluwasayo (‘Sayo”) Ajiboye and many others via simulcast as the continent of Africa will cry out to God in repentance, prayer and worship from a stadium near Lagos, Nigeria, and prays through their night until around midnight EDT.

Africa Returns Schedule summary: Ministry Conference: 4 AM to 7 AM EDT, Youth Concert: 11 AM to 2 PM EDT and All-Night Prayer: 4 PM to Midnight EDT.

We are asking for intercession and prayer for the broadcast base Nigeria and the entire continent of Africa!

To stream this event live for FREE, please add Africa Returns to your calendar and save this link thereturn.org/s-africa

It’s time for the scriptures’ promised Great Harvest of souls, and it begins with prayer and repentance.

We need your PRAYERS:  We pray that the Lord would embolden the church, to come and repent in front of the nations to the Lord and return to Him!

So please pray with us:

"Heavenly Father, we pray for the continent of Africa. We know that the harvest of souls is ripe and revival is upon the continent. We ask that you would protect and cover the persecuted church with your hand and make them invisible to the tactics of the enemy. Prepare the fields so you may receive what belongs to you!"

We need your INFLUENCE:

Forward this to friends to encourage them to join the simulcast, host a watch party, go to the website, and sign up for The Return International mailing list at:

www.TheReturn.org

Africa shall be SAVED! Partnering with us for Africa Returns brings a great wave of Christ’s salvation that is sweeping across African continent. This global simulcast will be viewed around the world!

Thank you for praying with us and partnering with www.thereturn.org and Africa Returns.