International Mission Report: Uganda and Tjikistan
Uganda -- Ramadan headlines today's news, as the Muslim holy month is causing problems for Christians in Islamic areas of the world. Short-term missionary workers in Uganda were threatened, according to Bible Pathway Ministry's Karen Hawkins. "There was a team that was threatened. Their lives were threatened. Men with spears approached the stage and they had to be held off at gun point. The Muslims are very upset because this is their high holy month and that Christians would dare speak out in such a holy time." Hawkins says there are many Arab Christians who simply need hope during Ramadan. She says they're providing it through God's word. "For those who can't have a Bible, if they have access to the internet, we are on-line. And, if there's anyone who is a Christian who would like to have an Arabic Bible Pathway, we do send them out overseas. We send them out in plain brown wrappers." Pray for safety as evangelical work continues in these challenging areas of the world.
Tajikistan --Elsewhere, in spite of a reputation of being a restricted access area, Bible Mission International's Mark Reimschisel says they've had a major breakthrough for outreach in Central Asia. "We have just come back from Tajikistan where we installed the first computer network training center in the country. We had a very exciting time of taking 25 people that had never seen computers before, and were able to leave after a week of training with a team of seven people that were able to do trouble shooting, and teaching and setting up and networking computers." Reimschisel says they're partnering with the local church, which is where the ministry comes in. "We are working with an official invitation through the ministry of religious affairs in Tajikistan, and they have given us clearance to come and work with 35 schools where we can provide computer training. What makes this significant is the fact that the church has a cutting edge technology tool that they will now be able to use to reach people with the Gospel."
They're going back to the model of apprentice and craftsman--a time where training and guidance made the artisan's reputation. It's a new internship program that Medical Ambassadors International has developed. MAI's Dr. Paul Calhoun explains the need. "Our vision is to be in 126 of the lesser-developed countries throughout the world by 2015. But, in order to be able to do that, there must be a cadre of strong leaders raised up who are able to run our training team." Calhoun says now, more than ever, they need the prayer support of the church. He adds that they're looking for people to be on new evangelistic teams. "The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. So, we need to be able to training people to be able to effectively be tools in our Lord's hands."
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By Albert H. Lee
