Displaying items by tag: Praise

Last week we prayed again for Aasia Bibi, after she asked for Christians in the UK to intercede for her release from death row in Pakistan. In an extraordinary answer to those prayers, the supreme court has overturned her eight-year death sentence for allegedly blasphemous comments, and she is free. Christians are Pakistan's 'forgotten minority'. The laws are often used to get revenge after personal disputes, and convictions are based on thin evidence. Christians make up just 1.6% of the population. They have been targeted by numerous attacks in recent years, leaving many feeling vulnerable to a climate of intolerance. There are fears that there could be a violent response to her acquittal, and her family fear for their safety. She has been offered asylum by several countries, and will leave Pakistan. Prime minister Imran Khan has called for calm - see

On 28 October a Catholic couple launched a children’s faith-filled video adventure series called The Opus Joyous Show, featuring 3D animation, puppets, music, rockets, ships, pirates, and a time-travelling Bible. There are four 23-minute episodes featuring ‘characters with character - children, their family, their friends, a priest and a nun - who work together with the grace of God to try and stop the evil villain Captain Barnacle and his shady plan for utter darkness upon the world’. Opus is the little boy hero, and Joyous is his dog. Parents have concerns about the time children spend on electronic media, and the show intends to create an authentically Catholic video series for children to enjoy.

‘They are the most precious gifts for us. Now my Sunday School children will see them with their own eyes - praise the Lord!’ said Rachel. Barnabas Fund helped supply 23,930 Bibles with hymnals to Christians from an isolated persecuted people group in South-East Asia. Some had never seen a Bible. A few villages had a single, treasured copy in their mother tongue, while some had memorised verses. They had experienced years of persecution from military and government authorities who confiscated and burnt Bibles. For nearly twenty years, they had been praying for these Bibles: now God has answered their prayers.

The Festival of Life, a bi-annual event at the ExCeL exhibition centre, follows a vision given to Pastor Adeboye to organise a Holy Ghost all-night miracle service. The format has been repeated in many different countries, gathering Christians together for a night of fellowship, praise and prayers. An estimated 40,000 attended this year - the largest gathering of believers in the UK. The festival brings together people of diverse backgrounds, nationalities and denominations.

Finding Biblical figures and saints is the challenge posed to users of a new Catholic mobile game which echoes the Pokémon Go app. Rather than pursuing Japanese monsters, players seek out Biblical characters and recruit them to join their own 'evangelisation team' - if they correctly answer Bible-based questions. The game, which is free to download for smartphone users, incorporates augmented reality and geo-location technology, allowing users to progress through the game as they walk about in real life. It was developed ahead of a visit by Pope Francis to Panama next year for World Youth Day.

A Syrian SAT-7 team recently found churches full of displaced people learning about Jesus for the first time. Almost a thousand children, including hundreds from non-Christian backgrounds, gathered in Tartus, Bloudan, and As-Suwayda to see ‘Family of Jesus’, a children’s show of music, teaching biblical values and prayer. In Bloudan 200 children were so excited and happy to see the team they didn’t want to leave, but church leaders made them go straight after the service for their safety. The congregation in As-Suwayda was almost entirely Druze people, most of the Christians having fled Syria. In Tartus the team sang, prayed and filmed with 300 Alawite children, hungry for the word of God. The churches are crowded with new believers.

American pastor Andrew Brunson has been released after being detained in Turkey for two years. President Trump has already met Brunson, who had been charged with helping to plot a coup against President Erdogan and sentenced to 37 months in prison. The Turkish authorities chose to release him based on his time already served, as well as his manner during the proceedings. Prosecutors had been demanding a ten-year jail term. The case had soured relations between Turkey and the US, heightened by Trump's desire to support Brunson and emphasise the importance of religious freedom. Erdogan’s office denied that any deal with the US had taken place, and criticised Trump for tweeting that he had been ‘working very hard for Pastor Brunson’ and his release.

Syria has re-opened two border crossings, one at Nassib on the Jordanian border and another on the divide between Syrian- and Israeli-controlled areas of the Golan Heights. Travellers expressed their joy. Nassib will once again be a major trade artery for the region. Its reopening had been anticipated since pro-Syrian government forces took the area from rebels in July. The Syria-Jordan crossing was a major link for direct trade between the neighbouring countries as well as longer-distance transit, which was a significant source of revenue. Its closure cut all land trade routes between Lebanon and the Gulf. Imad Sariheen, a Jordanian taxi driver, called the crossings reopening a source of ‘great happiness for all of us’ which will help ease ‘economic hardships’. Druze living in the Israeli-controlled area can now use the crossing to visit family, attend Syrian universities, or sell apples and other local produce.

The thousandth New Testament translation, completed with involvement from SIL and Wycliffe Bible Translators, was launched on 11 August in a celebration in northwest Uganda. The translation is for the Keliko people and represents the first time they can hear and read the New Testament in their own language. The Keliko, whose homeland is in South Sudan, travelled from all around to be present. Many came from local refugee camps in Uganda; others hitched rides from South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The event was attended by church leaders and local government dignitaries, as well as by international visitors from across Africa, Europe and North America. The translation represents a triumph over adversity. Twice translation efforts were interrupted by civil war. The translators are Episcopalian pastors, very godly men, and they pressed on. Although SIL provided technical and advisory support throughout, this project belongs to the Keliko church.

Daniel and Amy McArthur from Ashers Baking Company told activist Gareth Lee they would not make a cake supporting gay marriage, and they were prosecuted for their decision. After a long-running legal battle over whether they had broken discrimination laws,  on 10 October the five Supreme Court justices unanimously found them not guilty. The court’s president, Lady Hale, said that the McArthurs did not discriminate against the customer by refusing to make the cake. They refused because the message was offensive to them, not the person requesting the message. She said, ‘It is an affront to human dignity, to deny someone a service because of that person's race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief. But that is not what happened in this case.’