Excerpts from report By Luis and Doris Bush
Missions to China have been going on for the last 200 years. Now is the time for Missions from China. We have been inspired by the Korean Church as they have engaged in missions for the last fifteen years. Mission China 2030 is the turning point because of the revival of the Church in China, because of the eighty million Chinese Christians in China. If there is one missionary in 1,000 Christians, there will be 80,000 missionaries. Furthermore, China's economic development has brought opportunities. The global technology revolution has brought opportunity for mission from China. Migration of the world's population brings opportunities. Universal Chinese network brings opportunity. This is the time to move together in faith.
"Our dream in a Song: Mission China finally achieved: In our generation fulfill the Great Commission; greet the return of Christ! We have a dream, a missionary dream. We have a dream, a dream from heaven. This is us, and we look forward to many years of dreams. Our dream embodies the missionary dream which brings with it blood and tears. Let's go out with a mission to each country."
Declaration of China Mission 2030
The declaration affirmed the following statements:
- We are called to be a servant of Jesus Christ. The Bible is the foundation of our faith tells us that missionary mandate, but also refers to lead our missionary action. Gospel Back to Jerusalem vision is to continue to advance the gospel westward. We aspire to be committed to preach the gospel overseas, hand in hand with the universal Church, sending out missionaries to the unreached peoples, until the Lord returns.
- A Mission China 2030 mission conference to be held each year to mobilize traditional home Church court, team-based house churches, city new house churches to Christian groups and professionals involved in world evangelization.
- Release missionary publications to record the vision that readers may run with it.
- Missionary Workshops to promote discussions related development mission God. Learn, discuss mission strategy, tracking missionary dynamic, exchange missionary experiences, and for helping missionary work.
- Promote missionary prayer through a missionary prayer movement.
- Nurture Mission capacity. Mission is a long-term comprehensive ministry; we must develop in various fields. Mission specialists, including missionary strategist, Missions Mobilization home. Missionary training of teachers, education, administration personnel, mission type pastors.
- Raise up missionary churches. We seek to cultivate a missionary movement that has many strong mission-minded and mission oriented churches.
- Development of mission trips. Continue to mobilize Chinese church into the missionary field, we expect Chinese church pastors and faith Christians, along with experience in the mission field ministry.
- Development of the mission field focus. The 10/40 Window is our primary focus with other religions and many poor people.
- Establish a mission network. We are willing to go on the road and collaborate with the missionary Church of the West, the South Korea Church, overseas Chinese churches, as well as other countries in the world. We are prepared to learn, seek guidance and help, and with overseas churches and missions. We look forward to agencies coming together to complete the mission mandate.
- Carry out the business mission. Use "on the way" business opportunities arising from the development of business education model, and existing Chinese business endeavors that have begun. We seek to mobilize Christian businessmen, entrepreneurs with business to enter the mission field.
Conclusion: The trumpet is sounding. Now is the time. Now is the opportunity. Our Chinese brothers and sisters have come together and agreed on the vision the strategy and joint declaration of commitment. But what about us, those of us from other nations, are we ready to join them in their mission as partners? May it be so…
Let’s pray for our Chinese brothers and sisters in Christ and for the success of this marvelous mission effort they are undertaking according to the elements of the declaration above.
Uniting as one, appealing to heaven to change the spiritual climate in our nation.
As One is a national call to prayer. The basic strategy revolves around two 40-day periods of prayer walking, fasting, and corporate prayer events. The first will start on Easter Sunday, March 27 and run through the National Day of Prayer on May 5. The second begins on September 30 and ends on Election Day. In addition, there will be much collaboration with major national prayer events that are happening throughout the year.
Here is how it works:
1) Join the 40-day Prayer Challenge and receive a daily prayer guide via email.
2) Adopt Your Street in Prayer.
3) Find or Host a Prayer Gathering on the National Day of Prayer, Thursday, May 5.
“So that with one mind and one voice, you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” - Romans 15:6
Go to PrayasOne.org for more information and a 40-day prayer guide to share with your prayer group and church to see His transformation come to your neighborhood, zip code and our nation.
Praying with and for Native Peoples
We are asking you to prayerfully consider joining us in keeping a 40 day prayer vigil for our tribal nations.
See the Intro below and we have attached the daily prayers and repentance points to consider daily.
Blessings to you for your faithfulness,
Ivan and Linda Doxtator
First Nations Counseling Ministries
Forty Day Prayer Vigil Beginning With Ash Wednesday
Our Covenant-keeping God
This prayer vigil will focus on several things. First, we will center on the Lamb of God and His covenant with mankind which offers His life and salvation to all. Entering into the season of Lent, as we meditate on Christ’s sacrifice for us on the cross, we come before His throne with our prayers of repentance and healing for ourselves, and our families.
This year however, in preparing for celebrating the transforming power of Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection in our lives our hearts are heavy for the grievous declining condition of our nation. Therefore, we are also focusing on the state of the church and the spiritual repercussions surely affecting our nation.
In bringing our prayers and petitions before the Lord, often times we neglect to consider the holy character and nature of our God. In ignorance of His divine integrity we fail to realize that our spiritual fathers, by their actions, attitudes, and failures have profaned His holy name. As result of their past participation with unscrupulous federal policy initiatives we are beginning to reap the results of the seeds of lawlessness and corruption sown over the last two hundred years.
We have failed as a church to adequately represent God’s holy name and nature to the Indigenous populations of our once highly favored and prosperous nation. As a consequence over 90 percent of America’s Native people view Christianity as a part of European strategy to destroy and decimate their ancestors and steal their God-given resources and land.
Although many claim we are a Christian nation, our nation is not reflective of His nature and His person. This is an outcome that can be laid at the feet of His church, which has historically neglected to stand up for God’s righteousness and justice to prevail, beginning with the Indigenous people of America.
As an act of repentance we ask you to join us in bringing the many Indigenous Nations before our Father in heaven. We are uniting to ask Him to forgive His church for their role in decimating, destroying, and disenfranchising hundreds of thousands of Native people during the founding, expansion, and development of our nation.
As a consequence of egocentric poverty inducing federal policies many tribal communities continue to exist in destitute third world living conditions. After a hundred years of injustice and oppression they remain a forgotten people within our nation. Isaiah said that “no one calls for justice” and that “the Lord saw it and it displeased Him that there was no justice.” (Isa. 59:4,15)
During this season of prayer and travail we want to stand in the gap for the church which collaborated with the federal government in acts so horrendous that even to this day America’s Indigenous nations are deafened to hearing of a merciful God who loves them.
Instead, with suspicion, they push away the message of salvation, healing, and divine blessing. Ask God to grant us the revelation and strength to carry out justice in this matter. As we repent ask Him to lead us in bearing fruits worthy of repentance. Let us seek His forgiveness in this matter and ask Him to have mercy upon us and our nation. Let’s pray As Daniel prayed:
“And I, Daniel, set my face to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting and sack-cloth and ashes; And I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, and said, O Lord the great and dreadful God, Who keeps covenant, mercy and loving-kindness with those who love Him and keep His commandments, we have sinned and dealt perversely and done wickedly and have rebelled turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances. Neither have we listened to and heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land....” (Daniel 9:3 -14)
When the first man was placed in the garden and chose to be disobedient, God revealed His character of being a covenant-keeping God. He came along side man and provided the sacrifice and garments to cover man's nakedness.
He gave man the promise that although Satan had bruised the heel of man, Adam’s descendants would eventually crush the head of Satan. God knew even then that man was incapable of fulfilling that destiny without His help.
In His master plan God, through the blood sacrifice of His Son, restored man’s authority through Christ, empowering man to overcome, enter into intimate relationship with Him, and to participate with Him in redeeming the people groups of this world. It is with this message of the kingdom that we join with our heavenly Father to see Him bring healing to our nation.
We must remember that never has God instructed His people to bring others to Christ through the use of force, threats, or other manipulative or intrusive techniques. It is by pure preaching and teaching of the word and demonstrating His great love that potential believers are brought into the kingdom.
As believers our responsibility is to speak the truth and warn of the consequences of following false religious systems or occult practices. In the final day each person will give an account for their own religious beliefs or spiritual pursuits. The importance of remembering this is critical.
Therefore, it is very serious when believers who claim to follow Christ, exhibit the opposite of His character. It profanes His name. It also makes the effort of the evangelist almost impossible in persuading one to desire a relationship with Christ. Many within the church remain unaware of the horrid and treacherous track record of the church in America as it relates to the over 580 surviving Indigenous Nations in the U.S. today.
For us to achieve spiritual breakthrough, to even have God begin to hear our prayers, the church must identify and repent of the sins of our church fathers. This applies to all Christian groups, whether they be Charismatic, Pentecostal, denominational, or traditional. In this prayer vigil we are bringing to remembrance the sins perpetrated against Native Americans, the tribal groups God appointed as the ancient people to steward and guard the gates of what has become the United States and Canada.
Part of our hidden history sheds light on the Indian Boarding Schools and governmental policies that required Native families to give their children over to Christian organizations to methodically assimilate them into what was perceived as the melting pot of America. Extensive documentation substantiates the church's collaboration with the federal government to use religious education as a key tool to culturalize and Christianize Native youth.
Forcefully removing children from their parents and using predatory and abusive methods and approaches, the priests, nuns, preachers, and ministry staff and personnel regularly punished children if they dared speak their language or even mention the traditional religious ways of their people.
Besides using violent methods to silence the voice of the children, there was an all-out religious assault on the tribal belief systems the children brought with them to Boarding School. Reports tell us that physical, sexual abuse and other daily hardships were merely a backdrop to a systematic assault on Native culture.
Sad to say, almost all documentation of the Boarding School era identifies the church and its leadership as active participants in violating the God-given rights of Native children to freely speak their language and to practice their religion. All the commandment violating procedures were condoned and carried out in the name of Christ by those claiming to be members of His Church.
The grievous violating, intrusive, and abusive activity practiced by our spiritual forerunners must be acknowledged and confessed by the body of Christ. We must stand in the gap for the church of North America and the future of our nation. The justice God requires in such matters can only begin in prayer and intercession.
Over 370 treaties or covenants were made and broken by our government, yet we as a nation claim to worship the covenant-keeping God. The tribal nations selected for this prayer vigil are few, but all were consistently deceived, defrauded, and betrayed by the empty promises of our government. And it happened in the midst of God’s chief agent for justice and righteousness in the earth, Christ’s church.
The shedding of innocent blood occurred all too often when whole villages were decimated with children, women, and elderly being murdered by vengeance consumed soldiers or militiamen. Yet, the tribal survivors of such atrocities, though a remnant, still remain a vital part of our nation.
Although seemingly invisible they are testimony of a painful past, yet their resiliency and continued existence betrays the present assumed reality of America. Whether we want to acknowledge them or not, their pain, suffering, and grief resonate in the heart of God.
We pray that the 3rd world conditions that the First Nations people have endured for far too long will be brought to light and that true justice will finally prevail for their benefit. Ask God to peel back the mantle of invisibility that has shielded their suffering from merciful intrusions.
Petition our God to penetrate and dissolve the demonic conspiracy that has silenced the Native voice with hopelessness. Ask God to remove the cloak of shame that has smothered the strength of their identity and sabotaged their destiny for over 170 years.
Ask God to open the eyes of His church to see the reality of impending judgment upon our nation and its future generations. Pray that His church will not miss this present opportunity to execute true justice towards the poverty stricken tribal nations of America as His ambassadors of liberty and healing.
Ask God to open the ears of His church to hear the cry of the poor in the case of the many wounded and downtrodden tribal groups. Pray that church leadership will be reminded that God promises to hear the cry of those who themselves hear the cry of the poor (Prov. 21:13) and that they will quickly and diligently respond with mercy and justice.
Only God can show us how to rectify this in His sight, but we have an opportunity to be “repairers of the breach” through our intercession at this time.
Islamic State is likely to step up “the pace and lethality” of its attacks in the months ahead as it seeks to fan the flames of international conflict, the director of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency said on Monday.
Speaking to a security conference, Marine Corps Lieutenant General Vincent Stewart linked his warning to the militant group’s establishment of “emerging branches” in Mali, Tunisia, Somalia, Bangladesh and Indonesia.
He also said he would not be surprised if Islamic State, which has created a self-proclaimed Caliphate across swaths of Syria and Iraq, extended its operations from the Sinai Peninsula deeper into Egypt.
“Last year, Daesh remained entrenched on Iraqi and Syrian battlefields and expanded globally to Libya, Sinai, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the Caucasus,” Stewart said, using a derisive Arabic acronym for Islamic State.
“Daesh is likely to increase the pace and lethality of its transnational attacks because it seeks to unleash violent actions and to provoke a harsh reaction from the West, thereby feeding its distorted narrative” of a Western war against Islam, he said.
Stewart’s comments came a day before he and other U.S. intelligence officials are set to deliver an annual worldwide threat assessment to Congress.
The Sunni Muslim militant group seeks not only to escalate conflict with the West, but also with Islam’s minority Shiite branch, just as Shiite extremist groups like Lebanon’s Hezbollah are stoking tensions with Sunnis, Stewart said.
“These threats are exacerbated by the security challenges of the Middle East, which is now facing one of the most dangerous and unpredictable periods in the last decade,” he said.
Islamic State has as many as 25,000 fighters in Syria and Iraq, down from a previous estimate of up to 31,000, according to a U.S. intelligence report revealed by the White House last week.
U.S. officials cited factors such as battlefield casualties and desertions to explain the roughly 20 percent decrease in fighters, and said the report showed a U.S.-led campaign to crush Islamic State was making progress.(Contributor: By Jonathan Landay for Reuters News – Editing by Warren Strobel and Tom Brown)
Pray into this sobering assessment of terrorist dangers, not only across the world, but also for the U.S. Pray for military leaders. Retired officers are warning about an insufficient infantry, fewer naval ships, women in ground combat, and our overall unpreparedness to defeat a growing ISIS army. Will our diminished military stand up against this growing threat? Intercede for all military personnel.
“Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?” (Luke 14:31)
IFApray.org
Prayer Partner,
I recently attended the National Prayer Committee meeting in Orlando, FL, where prayer leaders from around the nation gathered to pray and share reports of what God is doing. Four years ago, I remember a lot of discouragement among the leaders. It seemed the prayer movement was stagnant and struggling. One prayer leader, Dr. Bob Bakke, stood up and declared that the Church needs a unifying clarion call to revival and spiritual awakening.
These prayer leaders are now expressing joy that we are seeing the answers to those prayers, especially related to Together 2016. They recognize this as a “generation-defining moment” and are eager to join with students and young adults in calling the Church to prayer like never before. Many other prayer initiatives are also rising up across the nation, indicating that God is preparing to do something spectacular in 2016. As we pray, hope is being restored!
Our focus this month is on college students and campuses around the country. Right now hundreds of students are fasting and praying for a Reset to Jesus of their campuses and our nation...
Praise God for the support of national prayer leaders for Together. Pray that they will mobilize their networks to pray in advance of July 16.
- Keep praying for a million or more people to come to the Mall. We’re hearing reports of buses and hotel rooms being booked. Pray about joining us!
- Michael W. Smith just confirmed to be part of Together. His humble heart is a model for all of us. Pray that humility and the focus on Jesus will be the highest values for those who lead us.
- Pray for endurance, patience, and wisdom for those on the Together team who lead areas of communication, program, funding, partnerships, church relations, prayer, and logistics. Every day presents both challenges and progress in organizing such a huge event.
- Several wonderful financial gifts have come in to support Together. More invitations to partner are still out with other potential contributors. Please pray for favor—and for every expense to be covered.
- Pray for Nick Hall and Chris McFarland as they give critical leadership and meet with heads of many ministries and organizations. Pray also for other staff now relocated to Washington, D.C., to form partnerships with churches in the area. We want this to represent the broad stream of the Church—anyone willing to come together because they believe Jesus Changes Everything.
Honored to pray with you,
Carol Madison
National Prayer Initiative
We thank God for the recent discovery of an underground church in Cappadocia, where intercessors from all over the world will gather together to pray for a great revival in Turkey and Middle East.
We thank God for the news that Malatya Church has been growing and that more Christian workers are needed to help with pastoral care.
Prayer topics
- For the Next Generation of Leaders in Turkey
That the next generation of leaders be raised up in the churches of Turkey, and may the believers have strong faith.
- For Malatya Trial
That All judges, other officials, lawyers and journalists involved will hear the gospel of Jesus, and be drawn to the Father’s love, forgiveness and acceptance.
- For Spreading the Gospel in the Black Sea through Radio Shema
That the Lord provide the needed finances to spread the gospel in the Black Sea region through Radio Shema, and that multitudes of people will have supernatural encounters with Jesus through their work.
- For Cappadocia United Prayer Movement gathering, May 18-21
Pray that churches would be planted in all 81 provinces of Turkey so that the churches may incubate many seekers and baptize believers.
Let’s pray for Turkey, one of the most unreached populations in the world today that the Turks will be able to hear and receive the Gospel and that this great harvest can be brought in. Pray for the effective organization, funding and participation for the UPM prayer initiative in May that God will use it to make a big difference in shifting the atmosphere over this land.
You and your church can join us for this global campaign, which unites hundreds of thousands of people across more than 40 countries in prayer.
The theme this year is ‘small but mighty’.
God uses children to change nations. No one is too small or insignificant in his eyes! The Bible is full of children who have been used by God, and of children who’ve overcome the odds to become great men and women of God.
Today, children are born into situations of great risk of abuse, trafficking, disease, disaster, early death – yet are being used by God to share his love and to change society.
Let’s empower the children in our churches to lead us in prayer. Let’s make them more visible and listen to them.
The WWP 2016 pack includes:
- Activity ideas for children, teenagers and all-age services
- Six-part Bible study series
- 35-day prayer diary leading up to the event
- A song with score and YouTube clip
- An editable poster for you to advertise your WWP event
- A prayer postcard
These resources will be available to download from the website www.worldweekendofprayer.com from March, with some materials available by post on request to people in the UK.
We'd love to hear if you're planning to take part this year - simply reply to this email.
Please save the date and join us wherever you are on 4-5 June as we turn to God together in prayer for a change of attitude and action by communities towards their children.
Contact: Queta Aguilar, 210-614-7157, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. SAN ANTONIO, Texas, Feb. 3, 2016 -- The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) recently rejected the Arkansas case which banned abortion after 12 weeks and the North Dakota case which banned abortion after six weeks. Both of these states had even offered, by law, to care for until adulthood every unwanted child so that any woman that wanted the liberty to be free of unwanted child care could do so. These leaders agree with the statement: "We tremble for our country when we remember that God is just and that His justice never sleeps. We fear that the judgment of Almighty God, which is designed to be merciful, and the wrath of God, will come upon the United States of America. God hates the shedding of innocent blood."
But there is hope for our nation if Christians will pray! "If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land." II Chronicles 7:13-14. We believe that the role of the SCOTUS is to affirm God given rights to every individual throughout ALL stages of LIFE. We are calling for national prayers of repentance from February 3 to March 4. On January 22, the Jonas storm, which also means Jonah, hit Washington, D.C. That same day the Supreme Court denied North Dakota the right to ban abortion and help women with child care. We urge everyone to pray every day for the Supreme Court and America to repent. From February 3 to March 4, we are urging prayer groups to cooperate in mobilizing the Body of Christ to 24/7 non-stop prayer for the SCOTUS. On March 2, the Supreme Court will hear the Texas case which calls for ambulatory surgical centers and hospital admitting privileges. We all will have another opportunity to repent for the sin of abortion through this case. For prayer contact/information, please go to www.nationalhighwayofprayer.net.
There is quite a bit of turmoil in North Korea as February included several missile launches following the claimed, but strongly doubted, detonation of a hydrogen bomb as reported here last month. The next big shock to come was the execution of army chief of staff, Ri Yong Gil. In the North, it is becoming increasingly dangerous to hold high office. This latest execution may well generate some strong responses domestically. All of this was followed by South Korea closing down the Kaesong Industrial Complex in response to the North's missile launches and the North retaliating by freezing what assets it could. Of course it is the "little people", the NK workers and the small to medium SK firms that bear the brunt of this. Here is some analysis of the situation. This, too, is causing increasing unrest in the North. The government's typical domestic response to all of these events is increasing propaganda that increasingly falls on deaf ears and calling for greater sacrifice such as the "70 Day Battle" leading up to 7th Party Congress in May.
Internationally, North Korea is facing more difficulty as well as China cuts down on coal and other purchases from North Korea and South Korean President, Park Geun-Hye calls for reconvening the Six Party Talks with just 5 parties, excluding North Korea.
Turning away from politics, we are glad at the progress being made by Christian Friends of Korea in dealing with both the multiple drug resistant (MDR) tuberculosis and the hepatitis B crises. Another bright spot is that the Lausanne Movement is turning its focus to North Korea with a North Korea Consultation that was held at the Frontier Ventures Center (formerly US Center for World Missions) in Pasadena, CA last month. With this focus, the Movement will be raising awareness within the Global Church about North Korea, how people can minister there now--despite all the negative news--and how to prepare properly for the future (our main focus here at The Fourth River Project). I look forward to seeing good fruit from this effort.
So, as we pray for all the problems, we also thank God for what He is doing and for all of His faithful people working on the ground. We also pray that they be encouraged, blessed, protected and used by God for his Kingdom.
Ben Torrey
Director
The Fourth River Project, Inc.
We invite you to join in Praying for the Refugee Crisis this month.
This month we provide a prayer guide for praying for the refugee crisis which has received global attention.
- An overview of the Refugee Crisis.
The refugee crisis has been a major highlight in the last year when over 1 million refugees crossed over to Europe from the war-torn areas of Syria, Iraq and from many other nations in the Middle East and Africa.
People are displaced and made refugees for many reasons, primarily due to political conflicts, war, natural calamities.
To pray effectively, we must understand the people, issues, terms and definitions involved in this crisis.
“A refugee” is defined as “a person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, religious or political reasons, and natural disasters.” (The UN estimates there are over 13 million refugees worldwide.)
“Migrants” are those who “choose to leave in order to improve future prospects for themselves and their families in another country.”
“Human trafficking” is the “use of force, fraud, or coercion to lure their victims and force them into labor or commercial sexual exploitation” which generates billions of dollars of profit per year, second only to drug trafficking.
While this crisis has major social, political, geographical and religious implications, it is important to note that a large number of Christians are affected by this present crisis.
The Arab Spring began five years ago with a wave of protests in Arab countries, but eventually turned out to be a nightmare for Christian communities who have been living in these nations for centuries. Suddenly they have been displaced by persecution from ISIS and other extreme groups who have given them the choice to ‘‘pay the jizya (tax), convert or be killed.”
- “Is this the end of Christianity in the Middle East?”
The above titled New York Times article highlights the genocide of Christians especially in Syria and Iraq.
Most of these Christians call themselves Assyrians, Chaldeans or Syriac, different names for a common ethnicity rooted in the Mesopotamian kingdoms that flourished between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers for thousands of years. Christianity arrived during the first century, and tradition holds that Thomas, one of the Twelve Apostles, sent Thaddeus - an early Jewish convert to Mesopotamia - to preach the gospel.
When the first Islamic armies arrived from the Arabian Peninsula during the seventh century, the Assyrian Church of the East was sending missionaries to China, India and Mongolia. The shift from Christianity to Islam happened gradually under Islamic rule; eventually Christians became subservient and had to pay the jizya, and for 1,300 years different religions thrived side by side.
The fall of the Ottoman Empire and the onset of World War I ushered in the greatest period of violence against Christians in the region. Genocide was waged by Young Turks in the name of nationalism, not religion, and left at least two million Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks dead. Nearly all the victims were Christian. Others settled in Iraq and Syria, where they were protected by the military dictators who courted these often economically powerful minorities.
The Middle Eastern Christian population — in countries like Egypt, Israel, Palestine and Jordan — declined from 14% to roughly 4%. (In Iran and Turkey, they’re all but gone.)
In Iraq, with the fall of Saddam Hussein, Christians began to leave in large numbers and their population shrank from over 1.5 million to less than 500,000 today. (Many of them internally displaced.)
In Syria, before the civil war broke out in 2011, 10% of the population were Christians and nearly 600,000 have found themselves with no choice but to flee the country, driven out by extremist groups. Many are in refugee camps or in neighboring countries. The stories of pain and horror of those left behind and persecuted for their faith are heartbreaking. So while you read or see news clips about refugees, we must intercede for many of these Christians fleeing persecution.
The United Nations estimates the total number of Syrian refugees alone at over 3 million, and last year identified about 1.5 million Iraqi refugees. The total displaced around the globe has reached approximately 30 million!
The refugee crisis will certainly change the face of the world. This is why intercession is very important at this time!
While the Paris terrorist attack last November highlighted the vulnerability of Europe’s cities, with extremists taking advantage of the refugee crisis, there is yet a greater window of opportunity for Christians in Europe to minister to Muslims as never before. In one media interview a TV reporter asked why these Muslim refugees are not running to other oil rich Gulf States or to Islamic nations for refuge?
Maybe they think Christian nations are more compassionate and generous, or, are they looking for an alternative to Islam?
Intercession can open hearts of genuine seekers and therefore “while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.” (Galatians 6:12)
- The Story of the “Refugee Bible”
Reading the Bible from “Refugee eyes” will certainly revolutionize your intercession! You will be surprised how present-day events correspond with many biblical accounts of characters who were displaced and made refugees.
- Adam’s family became the first displaced. They became migrants leaving their original dwelling for an alternative lifestyle.
- Abel was the first victim of religious persecution, and someone noted that this first religious war wiped out a quarter of the world’s future population!
- Noah and his family were the first migrant “Boat People” ending up in Turkey (Mt. Ararat) displaced by the flood which was God’s plan of salvation!
- Abraham was a refugee in Egypt because of a famine in Canaan, and his wife was almost a victim of sexual exploitation. The same happened to his son
- Jacob became a refugee in Syria, and Joseph was a victim of human trafficking and slavery in Egypt.
- Moses himself was a refugee in the land of Midian before he led the largest refugee migration of 3 million Israelites from Egypt in one night! Only one “Relief Agency” took care of them for 40 years! God gave them bread from heaven and water from a rock.
- David was a refugee in Philistine country running from Saul’s persecution, and Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s son, became a child war victim, disabled and a refugee in Lodebar.
- Naomi’s family were refugees in Moab due to a famine.
- Israel became refugees, again, as exiles for 70 years in Babylon and Persia. Nehemiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel were refugees as well.
The New Testament begins with the story of the “North African refugees.”
- Jesus and His parents were refugees in Egypt, North Africa, because of Herod’s persecution!
- The Prodigal Son became an economic migrant becoming destitute in another country.
- Many in the Early Church, including Apostles, became refugees through persecution and the Church in Antioch and many others were planted by refugees (“…those scattered”).
So, does the Bible Understand a Refugee Crisis? Yes, it does.
- Intercessors as Refugees
Intercessors can learn from the refugees’ experience of being totally dependent on God. Intercession is not an option or an alternative; it is the primary source of bringing hope.
King David says, “God is our refuge” and that “He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I shall not be shaken... my refuge is in God.” (Ps 46:1, 62:4)
Abraham chose to live in a tent (like millions of refugees today), “by faith” as an alien in the land of promise, but was “looking for the city” whose architect and builder is God (Heb 11:9).
Intercessors must guard themselves from the temptation of being overloaded with prayer requests for material needs and for earthly objectives without prioritizing the Kingdom purposes of interceding for the lost souls. Let us keep interceding for “heaven’s will” on earth that “none should perish” and that this gospel must be preached to all nations. Missions prayer must not be substituted for temporary needs.
- Fasting for the Refugees
Intercessors must not only pray but also fast – the kind of fasting which Isaiah 58 introduces — which is done outside the prayer closet.
"Is this not the fast which I choose …Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into the house? When you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?”
This fasting involves intercession combined with humanitarian aid which has a promise of great spiritual breakthrough for those in spiritual darkness!
“Then your light will break out like the dawn, and your recovery will speedily spring forth…
Then you will call, and the Lord will answer. You will cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’”
We must pray and partner with the European Christians (See links below) and help their ministry agencies as they provide relief, believing for an unprecedented spiritual breakthrough among Muslim people.
You can take an offering for the refugees or share with the relief efforts of those involved with them.
Pray for:
- Protection of refugees from dangers of travel and from being exploited.
- Pray for sufficient support and provision for the refugees and for their health.
- Remember the refugee children — the most vulnerable and exposed to danger.
- Pray for those separated from families and loved ones, for comfort from pain and trauma.
- Pray for suitable settlement in the right locations or to be resettled back in their own nation.
- Pray that churches will have a heart for the refugees and serve them and share the love of Christ and the gospel.
- Finally, let us pray that God will cause these evil wars to cease, and peace would prevail in this region.
“He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariot in the fire…The God of Jacob is our refuge.” Psalm 46
- Prayer Initiative for the UAE, February 18-20
It was a blessing and joy to serve with 23 others on a large international ministry team for a national prayer initiative for the United Arab Emirates held in Dubai, February 18-20. Some were colleagues from the leadership of the IPC and others were prayer leaders and intercessors that wanted to take part. About 250 local participants representing many of the 64 churches in the Emirates took part and the local organizers were so gracious and sensitive to the work of the Spirit in our midst.
The overall theme was “Uniting in Prayer, Transforming our Nation and Region”. A larger theme that under-laid and motivated the initiative was prayer for the fulfillment of Isaiah 19 and the prophesied highway that will one day link Assyria (Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey and the other nations that were once part of the Assyrian Empire), Egypt and Israel to be a “blessing on the earth” (Isaiah 19:24). The highway must first be formed as a spiritual relationship, uniting the Body of Christ across the Middle East in prayer as we heard expounded by one of our team during the initiative. Certainly the UAE is a very strategic place for His people to be and to pray together in order to contribute to the fulfillment of Isaiah 19! There are more than 8 million guest workers from up to 200 nationalities and only 1.4 million Emiratis (local Arabs). If God’s people there can unite in prayer and service, a great synergy for His Kingdom will be released that will impact the whole Middle East and beyond.
I felt from the beginning that through this prayer initiative we were sowing seeds that would spring into life, both there in the UAE while the Christian guest-workers are living and working there as well as for later on when they return to their many different countries. Other images I saw as we prayed were of God stirring a large pot that was full of different people groups being melded together, then poured out in His unique purposes. On the final day, I saw a glistening crystal fountain from which living water poured forth in all directions and felt that the Spirit was saying that the UAE could become a new Antioch for blessing the nations.
Various ministry team leaders and I led the following sessions interspersed with strong times of intercession:
Isaiah 19
Prayer and Social Transformation
Reconciliation and Identificational Repentance
Prayer and Prophetic Ministry
Children and Youth in Prayer
Prayer for the Middle East Region (Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Israel and Turkey)
Conflict with Spiritual Powers
God’s Promise to the Arab World
Compassion and Humanitarian Ministry (focus on Syrian refugees)
Prayer for Revival and Renewal for the Nations
Commissioning as Intercessors
Needs that were highlighted within the UAE were the serious problems of 90% of the expats being in debt, sexual immorality and drugs. There is also an ongoing economic downturn that is causing many to lose their jobs right now.
The Lord blessed and anointed our time together. Local pastors and elders were encouraged strongly to maintain the unity of the Spirit and to work and pray together as one for the future, which they committed themselves to do. Please do pray for them to be strong and united in ongoing prayer and to carry out the unique mission He has for them with great power, love and faith. May they indeed become another Antioch that the Lord will use far beyond all we can imagine to bless the UAE, the Middle East region and the nations of the world!
- Conferring with ministry leaders Israel, February 21-25
After the initiative in Dubai, Brian Mills, our IPC senior advisor, and I journeyed to Israel to confer with ministry leaders about a possible united prayer initiative to be held there in the future. On the one hand, it is encouraging to see all that the Lord is doing through His diverse Body of Messianic Jews, Israeli Arab Christians and Palestinian believers in the West Bank. There are many vital ministries with good numbers coming to the Lord. However, we heard from a number of ministry leaders about the lack of unity within Christ’s movement due to differences of perspective on politics and prophetic interpretations. The land continues to be a very sensitive issue and seems to be a stumbling block to real unity as believers have tended to line up with their governments rather than with one another.
We can rejoice that there are some significant efforts being made to bring Christ-followers together such as a recent consultation in Cyprus that included both Messianic Jewish and Palestinian Christian leaders to deliberate together how to move towards reconciliation. A group of pastors, both Jewish and Arab, called “Sitting at Yeshua’s feet” is going on as well as wonderful gatherings for youth that include participants from both ethnic groups. Please pray for these ministries to further develop and involve many more in the country.
If Isaiah 19 is to be fulfilled, the essential thing is to see real heart unity develop between the various niches and factions in the Body of Christ in the region. Israel occupies a central role in the creation of this spiritual highway that will bring great unity and blessing to the region and our world. Please pray with us for the effective building of a united prayer movement within Israel and the Middle East and that God will use such heart-connected prayer and action to bring about His agenda of revival and transformation to these nations.
John Robb
IPC Chairman