Youth Missions Magazine

The youth ministry of AsiaLink

‰ Encountering the world of Islam

‰ The Suffering Church‰ Frontline Maldives‰ 10 ways to avoid

becoming a missionary

Issue 08‰ FREE

Historymakers trip, Aug 2010For three weeks, the HM Youth Department once again led a team into one of the world’s most unreached regions –south-east Asia. Our assignment: to take as much Christianliterature as we could carry to Christians who meet andworship in secret.

The team loaded large rucksacks full of Christian materials. The bags were simply enormous, way too heavy to carry for anydistance. Somehow, they had to get them across the border,through customs and on to those who so desperately neededthem. This was a dark place and we could senseit––Communism, Buddhism and spirit worship are rife herebut we knew people were praying and that was great!

We eventually arrived in one piece in a town where we wereto meet our contact, a church leader from one of the manyunofficial churches now springing up in this country.

For two hours the team sat, mouths wide open, as theylistened to him report on what life as a believer in his nation was really like. Persecution, hardships, arrest,imprisonment, preaching, teaching, church planting,tough journeys. He told us of some Christians who hadbeen made to stand for two days in a hot truck, justbecause they believed in God. It was like somethingout of the book of Acts.

After ten days it felt like the trip was over. It wasn’t. We were barely at the half way point. Destination: theborder of Thailand and Burma. Another assignment:to teach the Bible to 90 Burmese children. For decades now,thousands of Burmese tribal people have been fleeing theircountry. Many have been killed and others have sufferedterribly – again, these were people who know Jesus but findthemselves in a country that hate Him.

All day we taught the children Bible stories and crafts andplayed games with them. These little ones were in love withtheir Saviour, and all they wanted to do was praise Him!

All of a sudden the daily team devotionals weremaking sense. In John Piper’s Don’t Waste Your Lifebook, we’d been reading of how the greatest goalof our lives is to make others glad in God. Thepenny dropped for us––we had seen it with ourown eyes. People – glad in God! This was whatlife was all about!

BURMA

THAILAND

If you add together the number of people groups inThailand, Burma, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, you wouldhave over 600––and that’s not including China! Many

of these ethnic groups have no churches and few,if any, Christians among them. Needless to say theharvest is plentiful in this region of Asia.

VIETNAMCHINA

LAOS

The Suffering ChurchTARGET AUDIENCE: Worldwide.

OBJECTIVE: To inform and inspire. In over 60 nations, millions of Christiansare being persecuted for their faith today. The Bible tells us to rememberour Christian family who suffer as if we are suffering with them.

WATCH ON: HistoryMakers website, Vimeo and Youtube.

AVAILABLE TO DOWNLOAD?:Yes, contact us for more details.

3

N.Korean teenagerRecently at a major international Christian event, one of themain sessions had the theme “God is on the Move– a tribute to the persecuted Asian church”. A NorthKorean teenager was invited to share her testimony.

As a little girl, whom we’ll call ‘Joy’, she saw her pregnantmother die of leukemia. Joy lived as a refugee in China for11 years when her father was arrested, beaten and sent toprison for three years for preaching the gospel. A few yearsafter his release, he returned to share the gospel with hispeople in North Korea. He was arrested again. Thishappened two years ago, and Joy hasn’t heard from himagain. She is convinced that he was executed as a criminal –all for the sake of the gospel.

A loving Christian Chinese family took her in. At the timeshe was not a Christian, but one day she had a dream thatJesus was telling her that in spite of everything that hadhappened to her, God loved her very much. It was aturning point in her life. She decided to serve God just likeher father had – unconditionally! Now she is in her lastyear of high school trying hard to enter university to studyPolitical Science and Diplomacy. Her aim is to go back toNorth Korea some day. She wants to give voice to the manythousands of voiceless Koreans suffering all kinds ofinjustices and persecutions. She said, “I have given myentire life to God. I want to spend my life serving Him foras long as I live. I want to continue the work my dad neverfinished. I will be His ambassador.” With tears streamingdown her face, she begged for Christians all over the worldto pray for persecuted Christians in Korea.

Amazing! In a day and age where most young people haveno clue about what to do and where to go with their lives,it was so refreshing to hear someone with a life ahead ofher, mapping the way, charting unknown waters,determined to fulfill her earthly AND eternal destiny doingsomething bigger than most of us dare to imagine. (Used with permission of TWR International).

AsiaLink are helping to reach the people of N.Korea.Find out more at www.historymakers.info

allyour mates

your family

a giant fish

chickens (& a goose)

ice-cubes

tyres

a mirrorcrops

Vietnam has a population of 85million.It’s estimated that most

families own at least one moped!

N.Korea is the most dangerousplace in the world to be a Christian.

The mere mention of Jesus’ namecan bring imprisonment. Beingcaught with a Bible will mean

certain death or a life-sentence in a prison camp.

1 2 3 4A.ORTAKÖY, TURKEYB. ERBIL, IRAQC. DELHI, INDIAD. YANGON, BURMA

A.HANOI, VIETNAMB. SANAA, YEMENC. COLOMBO, SRI LANKAD. MAHARASHTRA, INDIA

A. THIMPHU, BHUTANB. VIENTIANE, LAOSC. BANGKOK, THAILANDD. BEIJING, CHINA

A.SEOUL, S.KOREAB. PYONGYANG, N.KOREA C. JAKARTA, INDONESIAD. KATHMANDU, NEPAL

3 Jesus appeared to destroy the works ofthis person. (1 John 3:8)

4 God’s covenant with this man includedthe promise that through him "all peoples on earth will be blessed". (Gen 12:3)

6 What Solomon built to be a worshipcentre for all peoples and not just forthose born as Hebrews. (1 Kings 6)

7 The number of different language groupswho heard the gospel on the Day ofPentecost from Peter. (Acts 2)

8 What Paul’s missionary strategy reminds uswe need to do with the gospel message.(Make relevant)

1 The Old Testament prophet who is often called a reluctant or even“obstinate” missionary. (2 Kings 14:25)

2 The place where God gave His people a covenant, saying that they would be “a kingdom of priests.” Peter says thatphrase indicated they would declareGod's praises to the world. (Exodus 19)

5 The kind of people for whom we needto look if we follow the pattern of Paul’smissionary strategy. (open-minded)

PLACES1.B 2.D 3.A 4.B CROSSWORDACROSS: 3 DEVIL, 6 ABRAHAM, 6 TEMPLE, 7 SIXTEEN, 8 CONTEXTUALIZE. DOWN: 1 JONAH, 2 SINAI 5 RECEPTIVE. CARTOON‘GLORY’.C

arto

on t

aken

fro

m ‘C

onve

ntio

nal W

isdo

m’ b

y A

.Aud

erse

t. U

sed

with

the

kin

d pe

rmis

sion

of

Mon

arch

Boo

ks.

Cro

ssw

ord

by H

owar

d C

ulbe

rtso

n. F

or m

ore

orig

inal

con

tent

like

thi

s, v

isit:

htt

p://

hom

e.sn

u.ed

u/~h

culb

ert

Across Down1

3

2

54

6

7

8 “Let no one_____ in men...”(1 Cor 3:21)

Crossword

Places

Cartoon

To be a woman of Afghanistan is to know the truemeaning of oppression.

Women in Afghanistan are treated as 2nd class citizens,according to the 2010 UN Development Fund for WomenReport. Even in today’s society, women in Afghanistan are

never considered as social equals to men. Here are some ofthe more extreme examples: Women of Afghanistan arenot allowed to walk on a street alone without a malecompanion; women must ride on separate city transport,

so as not to be in the presence of men to whom they are notmarried; women are not allowed to see a male physician

without being accompanied by a male relative, and womenmust wear a burqa when in public in order to cover their hair,

their body and their face. Can you imagine living your lifecompletely covered? Can you imagine being able to see only

that which is clear to you through the mesh covering overyour eyes?

5

Today, only 12 to 15% of women in Afghanistan canread or write. In addition, 60-80% of women face forcedmarriages. There are numerous reports, however, indicatingthat girls are given in marriage at even younger ages and tomen sometimes 15-20 years their senior. Can you imaginebeing forced to marry whomever your family decides is bestfor you? Can you imagine being at the mercy of someoneelse for the rest of your life, knowing that he and society viewyou more as piece of property than an actual human being?Think about it.

In Afghanistan, a woman dies every 29 minutes duringchild birth, which is the 2nd highest rate of death duringdelivery in the world.

We would like to encourage you to take a moment to educateyourself on the plight of the Afghan woman, as well as to prayfor her. Please pray that she will come to know JesusChrist so that her hope and freedom can be in Him.

Ignore Jesus' request in John 4:35 that we take a longhard look at the fields. Seeing the needs of people can bedepressing and very unsettling. It could lead to genuinemissionary concern.

Focus your energies on socially legitimate targets. Goafter a bigger salary. Focus on getting a job promotion, abigger home, a more luxurious car, or future financial security.Along the way, run up some big credit card debts.

Get married to somebody who thinks the “GreatCommission” is what your employer gives you after youmake a big sale. After marriage, embrace the sociallyaccepted norms of settling down, establishing a respectablecareer path and raising a picture-perfect family.

Stay away from missionaries. Their testimonies can bedisturbing. The situations they describe will distract you fromembracing whole-heartedly the materialistic lifestyle of yourhome country.

If you happen to think about missions, restrict yourattention to countries where it's impossible to openly domissionary work. Think only about North Korea, SaudiArabia, China and other closed countries. Forget the vast areasof our globe open to missionaries.

Think how bad a missionary you would be based onyour own past failures. It is unreasonable to expect you willever be any better. Don't dare even think about Moses, David,Jonah, Peter or Mark, all of whom overcame failures.

Always imagine missionaries as talented, super-spiritualpeople who stand on lofty pedestals. Maintaining thisimage of missionaries will heighten your own sense ofinadequacy. Convincing yourself that God does not useordinary people as missionaries will smother any guilt you mayfeel about refusing to even listen for a call from God.

Agree with the people who tell you that you areindispensable where you are. Listen when they tell you thatyour local church or home country can't do without you.

Worry incessantly about money.

If you still feel you must go, go out right away withoutany preparation or training. You'll soon be home again andno one can ever blame you for not trying!

12345678910

Art

icle

by

How

ard

Cul

bert

son.

For

mor

e or

igin

al c

onte

nt li

ke t

his,

vis

it: h

ttp:

//ho

me.

snu.

edu/

~hcu

lber

t

80% of Christian workersare serving in the Christian world,

18% in the evangelized non-Christian world and only

2% in the unreached world.

To find out more about how to pray

for Afghanistan, visit our friends at:

www.prayercast.com/afghanistan

asia 800 millionafrica 400 millionmiddle-east 250 millioneurope 38 millionamericas 6 million

indonesia 207 millionpakistan 160 millionindia 145 millionbangladesh 132 millionegypt 70 million

A Muslim is someone who follows theteaching of Islam.

They worship one God, whom they call Allah,and believe that Mohammed is their prophet.

(Mohammed was a man who lived during the7th century) Muslims believe that Allah willjudge each person by how many good thingsand how many bad things they have done. There are five things that they must do to be good Muslims, but even this doesn’t guarantee a ticket to heaven.

1. Recite the creed: “There is no God butAllah, and Mohammed is his prophet.”

2. Pray five times a day at certain times.

3. Give to the poor.

4. Fast during the month of Ramadan.

5. Make the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

Muslims are normal people, just like you and me. It’s very easy to criticizepeople who aren’t like us but the Biblecommands us that we are to love all people.

Statistics vary widely concerning Muslims in Europe. Russia has over

16million Muslims, France has 5million and Kosovo is 90% Muslim.

Iraq is a hot-bed of Muslim activity and yet God is building his church through

persecution. Pray for the scattered pastorsin the north of Iraq.

Saudi Arabia is an Islamic state and thebirthplace and stronghold of Islam.

It’s also home to ‘Mecca’, regarded as theholiest meeting site in Islam.

Pakistan is home to some of the most least-reached people groups on the planet.

Ethnic groups like the Chitrali, Jat and Awan are totally un-evangelized.

The majority of N.Africa is Muslim.Strongholds include Algeria, Somalia, Sudan, Mali, Egypt, Morroco, Libya

and Northern Nigeria.

The USA has 5million Muslims and Canada has 983,000 and yet in both

countries Islam has a higher annualgrowth rate than Christianity.

*Operation World

7

There are 48,000 mosques but not a singlechurch building. Afghanistan has 70

unreached people groups including thePashtun, Hazaras and Uzbeks.

Although there are 21million Muslims in China we can thank God for the mission

vision of the Chinese Church that endeavoursto reach these peoples.

This is one of the least-evangelizednations on earth. Islam is the national

religion and the open practiceof Christianity is banned.

Sunni Islam is the official religion. Evangelizing Muslims is illegal. There are

over 100 radical Islamist groups promotingthe stricter Shari’a law.

There are 187million Muslims in Indonesia compared to 37million Christians.

The Church has grown rapidly in the past 50 years.

Jakarta, Indonesia has the second largest urban

population in the world after Tokyo. There are

around 22million people in this mega-city.

Afghanistan has one of the lowest life

expectancy rates in theworld. The average

person lives to be 44.

There are 25 muslim people groupsin India alone with a population

of over 100,000 who have no known gospel witness.

MaldivesMale, with 100,000 people crammed

onto the island, is easily the mostpopulated of this string of beautifulturquoise beads scattered across theIndian ocean.

Step inland however and soon the cluttered maze of backstreets takes over. Rising high like gleaming signposts from themany mosques on this tiny island, the golden crescents

dominate the landscape.

Above all else, it’s the sheer quantity of young people thatstrikes the visitor to these islands. The girls, all but the veryyoungest, emerge in their dark trousers, overalls and of coursethe black head scarf. Growing numbers wear the full burqa andthe niqab to cover the face, even in the stifling heat. Out for a

midnight swim at Male’s artificial beach, the girls plunge

under the inky waters fully clothed with their burqas

and veils intact.

There are no churches anywhere and not a believer to befound in Malé. Not one.

I took an ancient and smoky ferry to one of the many outlyingatolls. We bobbed around in the Indian ocean for a couple ofhours before being offloaded onto the immaculate white sands.

About 3000 Maldivians lived on this particular island; I was theonly white among them. I was also the only “Christian” amongthem. Not because they knew about my beliefs but because to the Maldivian, and indeed most Muslims, to be white

is to be Christian. Their perception of Christianity issomewhat warped.

The local Muezzin sang out the call to prayer from amegaphone hoisted high above the trees. Five times a day the intrusion slices through this paradise and shatters the idyll,the dreary call a reminder to us all, locals and foreigners,snorklers and surfers, that the Gospel still has a long way to go. I passed island after island, many inhabited but nevervisited by outsiders and hugely difficult to reach. There were

no churches here either.

So far as missions goes, theMaldive Islands represent one of today’s tougheroutposts. After SaudiArabia, this is the onlynation that claims a 100-percent Muslim population.

While ideal to look at, the truth is that light and lifeare currently very difficultto spot. There areMaldivians walking with theLord though there may nowbe as few as just three in

number in the whole

world. Three – that’s all.

Islam means ‘submission to Allah’ and Muslims believethat it’s the original religion since creation. Everyone who submits to Allah is called a Muslim and Allah appointed

thousands of prophets throughout the centuries to warn and guide mankind, ending with the lastprophet Muhammad in AD 610.

POPULATION: 313,000

CAPITAL CITY: Malé

RELIGION: Muslim 99%; Buddhist 0.4%; Christian 0.17%

GEOGRAPHY: 1,200 coral islands (only 202 inhabited)

The good news is that God knows allabout the Maldives. The explosion ofmission vision among the churches ofthe developing world is key to how Hewill unlock places like the Maldives. It is easy to see why Asians reachingAsians is so critical to opening doorsfor the Gospel in some of thiscontinent’s darker corners.

Pray for the ongoing Bible translation,radio broadcasts and Christian workerson the islands.

What are ‘Burqas’? A Burqa is an outer garment worn by Muslim women to cover theirbodies in public places. In the more traditionalMuslim countries, women are required to covertheir faces as it is viewed in Islamic religion as the most desireable part of the woman.

This is the flattest country in the world.

The highestpoint is 2.9 metres!

KashmirIt was Friday and the devoteesstreamed in for worship. Mian pausedto remove his shoes and then to purifyhimself ever so carefully. Turning toMecca, he scrupulously washed hishands, ensuring the water reacheddown between each finger and then upto the wrists. Then, scooping the waterinto his mouth, he rinsed it, not once,not twice but three times beforespitting it back out into a bowl.

Next, the water was inhaled upinto his nose, sniffing it from the righthand, blowing it out with the left. Then the arms and the elbows. Threetimes, starting with the right arm, thewater was cupped again in the handand this time allowed to drizzle backdown to the elbow before a thoroughwipe ensured no dry spot remained.

And now for the whole head.The swoosh of water drawn up from abowl and spread painstakingly, movingfrom the front, the face and beard, to the back and then the front again.Then the ears, insides first and thenmeticulously cleaning with the thumb around the outside beforeconcentrating on the feet, movingmethodically between each toe andfinally right up to the ankles.

And then he began. Arms foldedacross the chest, reciting from theKoran. Next the hands were raisedbefore he fell to his knees, face tuckedin low to the floor. Reciting. Repeating.Recounting. Mian was just one ofthousands fervently bowingin unison. Muslim masses at worship.

Inhale upinto nose3 times

wash face, ears, mouth

3 timesvisit mosque five

times a day

ready for ritual prauerwash wristsand hands3 times

washankles

and feet3 times

9

What are ‘Muezzin’? A Muezzin is a man who calls Muslim men forprayer. The call to prayer, known as ‘Adhan’ sounds like a song comingfrom the minaret, the tower attached to the mosque. Many Muslims useloudspeakers so that people can hear them. In western countries this isn’tallowed because of laws that forbid loud noise or music.

“Renounce your Jesus”The teens could tell that the shouts andchanting were getting closer. An olderteen looked nervously at his friend.“The Muslims are coming. We’d

better hide the kids”, he said. Others, following his lead, helpedthe smaller children find places in the buildings nearby. Then, theyhid themselves.

It was January and a crowd of mostly Christian children hadgathered for a Bible camp at a University in Ambon, Indonesia.When the camp was over, cars came to take the joyful childrenback home, but there were not enough cars to hold them all.Some Christian men had gone to try and rent additionaltransportation to take the rest home but they had not returnedyet. What the waiting kids didn’t know was that the men wereattacked by a Muslim mob on the way to the village.

Before long the mob reached the University. They found many of the teens and forced them out from their hiding places.

Roy Pontoh was made tostand before the mob.”Renounce your Jesus, or we will kill you,”they threatened. Thoughtrembling he answered,“I’m a soldier of Christ”.At this, one of the Muslimattackers swung a swordat his stomach. The swordhit the Bible that Roy washolding, knocking it from hishand. The next swing of thesword sliced open Roy’sstomach. His last wordwas “Jesus.”

Hatred towards Christians in Muslimcountries is often incited by prominentpeople within society like the Imamswho are the leaders of the local mosques.

Pray for the Imams and otherMuslims who preach in the mosques.Pray that they will come to know thetrue God through Jesus Christ. Prayalso for the work that AsiaLink areinvolved with in Kashmir, Maldives,Iraq and Afghanistan – all majorityMuslim nations.

show you’re a follower of Christ by your loving words and right lifestyle.

assume your Muslim friends understand your meaning of Christian.

take time to build a relationship.

be surprised if you’re rejected at first.

approach your encounters as a learner. Ask questions

treat them like an academic project.

correct their misunderstanding of your beliefs.

quarrel.

talk about Jesus. Use His title in Arabic ‘Isa Al Masih’

insult the prophet Muhammed.

practice modesty. Even among Westernized Muslims.

assume Muslims think the same as you. Even if they dress the same.

the DO’S and DON’TS ofreaching out to muslims

DO

DON’T

DODON’T

DODON’T

DODON’T

DODON’T

DODON’T

60% of the more than200 million Christians

facing persecution are children.

What is ‘Persecution’? This is whenChristians are subjected to hostility and ill-treatment because of their faith in Christ.It can vary in intensity, from name-calling to

violent opposition, imprisonment or even death. Can we stop it?Well, the truth is that the number one reason for persecution todayis conversion! If we want to stop persecution then we have to stoppeople coming to Christ – and that’s not going to happen!

JARGON BUSTER

An 18 year old Muslim girl found a copy of John’s Gospel and sheread it and came to Christ. Shewas lying on her bed and saidthat she had this suddenrealization, like a knife to herheart, utter conviction that JesusChrist is the way, the truth and

the life. She said it was like a light coming right outof the pages of her Bible and she was saved rightthere lying on her bed.

She lay there for a while and 14 minutes later she gotup and went out of her bedroom into her living roomwhere her father was sitting reading. Her father was animam and an important businessman. Everyone knewhim. She said, “Dad I have something to tell you. I am a follower of Jesus Christ.”

He beat her so hard. Her eyes were popping out. Herface beaten black and blue. Her teeth smashed to bits.She was beaten so badly she almost died.It took 14 minutes for persecution to come to this new believer. 14 minutes.

8 of the 10 most

persecutedcountries in

the world are Muslim!

The list includes: Iran, SaudiArabia, Somalia, Maldives,

Afghanistan, Yemen, Mauritaniaand Uzbekistan. Some face

physical violence and death; otherscontend with unjust imprisonmentor denial of religious liberties such

as to share one's faith.

However, most Muslims do not persecute Christians.

Of all the Muslims in the world, it is usually the extremists that

target Christians.

South-East AsiaWe’ll be visiting South East Asia to get the Good News into a country high on the list of the world’s mostpersecuted nations. As if that’s not challenging enough, we'll also

get to minister to people caught upin one of the world's modern day

genocides. The HM SE-ASIA TRIP – Not to be missed!

* Trip length: 18 days* Dates: July TBC* Cost: Approx. £1,300 ($2,000)

(This includes international flights, accommodation and food).

Register* your interest by email:historymakers@asialink.org.uk or by phoning our head office:01772 681618. *(18-24yr olds)

TRIPS 2011East AsiaFor young people 18-25 who want

a hands-on cross-cultural experience.

Activities include; university classes,performing (music or other), prayerwalks, outreach, praying over a closedcountry, meeting closed country workersfirst hand and hearing what God

is doing.

* Trip length: 18 days* Dates: July 12-29 2011

* Cost: Approx. £1,100 ($1,700)(This includes international flights,accommodation and food).

historymakers@asialink.org.ukHistoryMakers is a ministry of AsiaLink

Registered Charity No. 327165