Earlier this week, the US State Department hosted the first-ever Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom. Approximately 350 political, civil, and religious leaders from 80 countries gathered in Washington, D.C., and over three days they listened to personal stories from Christians, Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, and others targeted for their religious beliefs.

Sam Brownback, Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Sam Brownback, Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, helped sponsor the ministerial. In his opening statement, Brownback shared, “The right to live according to the dictates of your own soul is under attack in the world…. The lack of religious freedom anywhere is a threat to peace, prosperity, and stability everywhere.”

We spoke with David* from Heart4Iran who also attended the ministerial. He says, “The meeting seems to have twofold implications. On one side, they are talking about the vision for international religious freedom. They’re saying, ‘We want to help promote religious freedom all around the world.’ On the other side, they’re letting everyone hear from victims of persecution.

“Yesterday, we heard an amazing story of a woman who escaped from North Korea four times and was actually kicked back into North Korea, tortured, [and] persecuted for becoming a Christian. That…was highlighted right there from the stage among all these guests from the US State Department.”

The persecution stories shared were not just for curiosity’s’ sake. In giving persecuted Christians and other religious minorities a platform, hopefully, this event will serve as a catalyst for real change and encourage global leaders to prioritize religious freedom in conversations and policies.

David explains, “We’re being asked to participate [and] we’re given opportunities to hear about…grants that are available from the US State Department to help improve international religious freedom issues around the world.”

This year is also the 20th anniversary for the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998. The act promoted religious freedom as a key factor in US foreign policy.

According to David, the International Religious Freedom Act “had bipartisan support whenever it was passed originally. But we’ve seen, depending on the president, certain presidents have taken a greater interest in it and have [had] an Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom that really cares about the issues and stands for it. It makes the difference.

“Since it’s been formed, we’ve seen that when there is a strong international freedom presence in the State Department, people feel like they have a place to go, that they have a place to share.”

This was further illustrated at the first Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom this week. “I was sitting with so many victims of persecution right there with me in the audience and I could just tell right on their faces they were so happy that the State Department had invited them to tell their story. They felt like the US cared about their issues,” David says.

Heart4Iran works with Christians in the West to fuel ministry among Muslims in Iran and serve the Church there. A big part of their ministry is Iranian Christian satellite television broadcasting through Mohabat TV.

Through their ministry, Heart4Iran has witnessed firsthand the religious persecution believers suffer in Iran. According to Open Doors’ World Watch List, Iran is the 10th harshest country in the world for Christian persecution.

(Image capture courtesy of Heart4Iran)

“Religious freedom is very important because it basically means you have the freedom to practice whatever religion you want. In a country like Iran, that is not the case. If you are born as a Muslim, you are not allowed to change your religion. You’re not allowed to have a conscience of your own that leans towards Christianity or any other religion for that matter. That ends up in people being put in prison, people being tortured, all kind of terrible things happen — not just in Iran but all over the world — when there is not religious freedom.”

You can be an encouragement to the persecuted Church today by partnering with Heart4Iran’s ministry in Iran. Click here to learn more!

Finally, please commit to praying for our brothers and sisters in Christ who are suffering today for their faith. Ask God to strengthen their witness so that through their testimony, others may know Jesus Christ as their Savior too.

David adds, “There [are] a lot of things happening between the US government and the Iranian government and we just pray that as these things are playing out with sanctions and different things like that, that the Ambassador would be there to stand up for religious freedom issues and that Christians would have freedom at some point…in Iran.”

*Name changed for security purposes

Esther Initiative was inspired by Esther 4:14 and its purpose is “elevating women to the areas of leadership for which they are gifted and created”.

Whitney Daugherty, Esther Initiative Coordinator, explains, “The Esther Initiative recognizes that God has raised up women all around the world for his Kingdom purposes.”

Within this initiative’s training process, there are three different aspects through which they empower Christian women as spiritual influencers: conferences, mentoring, and mobilization.

Esther Initiative: Conferences

(Photo courtesy of Esther Initiative with Global Advance)

The conferences are where much of Esther Initiative has women start. Daugherty shares, “At national conferences, we gather women together — women leaders, oftentimes pastors’ wives, women’s ministry leaders — to be inspired, equipped, [and] activated in their leadership roles so they can, in turn, multiply that training and raise up other modern day ‘Esthers’ to advance the Gospel in their nation and beyond.”

The women gathered often come from leadership roles in the Church, in the marketplace, and even in government. “The influence they have is enormous and that’s where we see God doing the most work right on the ground right in front of them in their communities.”

The conferences take place in over 20 different countries around the world. Esther Initiative gives these women encouragement from God’s Word, practical leadership training, and ultimately a commission to spread the Gospel in their communities.

Esther Initiative: Mentoring

Another key aspect of Esther Initiative is mentoring. “As we look at the leadership of Jesus throughout Scripture, we find that he takes opportunities to teach larger groups when those times are strategic. But often, he uses his ministry in a much more personal way, one-on-one, as he trains the disciples to build his Church later on,” explains Daugherty.

“We want to look at that and follow the model of Jesus. So we created the Esther Mentoring Track. In this specific training model, women leaders in specific, strategic global regions are mentored in groups and in one-on-one relationships. We take them through our Esther Initiative Training Manual.”

Part of this training through mentorship includes teaching these women their identity in Christ. “Oftentimes, these leaders are in nations where women are marginalized and not valued and we want them to know that they were created with great purpose. It walks them through nurturing their relationship with God and learning how Jesus was a servant leader, how to follow in his footsteps, how to use their giftings and their personalities and their strengths to advance the Great Commission in their nation.”

Over the years, the Esther Initiative has seen incredible growth through mentorship as women take what they have learned and pass it on to other women. This strengthens the networks within the Church as women encourage each other to be agents for Christ in their homes and neighborhoods.

Esther Initiative: Mobilization

The final, critical piece of Esther Initiative is the mobilization that takes place. According to Daugherty, “This is what I get really fired up about because as these women are inspired and activated in the larger conference setting, and then they are really discipled in a very specific, personal way through our mentoring track, we’re finding that organically they are coming together in unity as leaders and they are being mobilized to be difference-makers right in their community and community transformation is taking place!”

(Photo courtesy of Esther Initiative with Global Advance)

Women who are mobilized as Christian leaders and spiritual influencers with Esther Initiative are taught to recognize how to use their assets and build relationships as women to spiritually impact their circles.

Global Advance is currently focusing ministry in some of the most unreached areas of the world. “We have a focus in the SARC region, which is eight nations in the southern part of Asia where the name of Jesus has not even been heard in some of these places.”

Holistic Collaboration

While Esther Initiative focuses on women in the Church, Global Disciples also encourages women to join arm-in-arm with Christian men for holistic impact for God’s Kingdom.

Daugherty says, “What we have loved seeing God do through Global Advance is really bring [together] all of our initiatives. So we have had opportunities to train women alongside men. An example of this is in our national conferences. Oftentimes with a Church Planting Conference, we will have an Esther Conference as well where we bring them together in unity, we worship together, [and] we have some common training tracks together. Then we break apart and have our individual sessions where we go through the Church Plant Training Manual for the men and the Esther Leadership Manual for the women that can just address specific opportunities for them in ministry. Then we bring them back together on the last day to commission them [and] get them excited about future church planting opportunities together.

“We know that God had created men and women together to work in unity. He’s given us incredible, unique giftings that work well together that reach the community and the lost in a more effective way when we’re working together.”

Esther Initiative In Action

Global Disciples has seen God move in incredible ways through Esther Initiative’s equipping women. Daugherty says, in particular, she was moved by reports they received from Esther Initiative participants in southern Brazil.

“In the nation of Brazil, I was there this summer with our international coordinator from Brazil. She was one of our very first mentees who joined our Esther Mentoring Track several years ago. Since that time, she has hosted a couple of conferences. A really impactful opportunity happened when 26 churches came together in unity to say, ‘We want to impact our community for Christ together.’”

This is a big deal in southern Brazil because churches in this particular region are commonly plagued with disunity. According to Daugherty, it has even been called a “pastor’s cemetery” because of the disunity and strife often seen within and between churches.

“So during our conference this past summer, these 26 churches came together. They repented, they came together and said, ‘We want to do something together. We’re better together than we are apart.’ One woman said it like this: ‘In unity, we are called to serve together. This week, God has generated new dreams in this place.’”

Since then, these women leaders, marketplace leaders, and church leaders have been coming together for strategizing meetings. They decided to start outreach in a local slum where the Jesus is desperately needed. This slum is plagued by drug lords and murders and poverty.

Together, these churches went in to host Christian leadership training, counsel couples, teach about health and hygiene, and minister to kids. The Christian women trained by Esther Initiative even hosted a quinceanera for the girls from the slum and shared the Gospel.

Daugherty says she was encouraged by “so many reports from this one area of women being activated, bringing other community leaders together, and the local church together for community transformation! And that’s just one example of how God is using the Esther Initiative and Global Advance all around the world to shine the light of Jesus in some of the darkest places.”

Future Plans with Esther Initiative

(Photo courtesy of Global Advance)

Last year, over 6,000 women were trained through Esther Initiative. In 2018, Global Advance is excited to equip more women to be spiritual influencers and community leaders where God has planted them through Esther Initiative.

Daugherty shares, “Right now, we have committed to several training events in 2018. But the truth is, we can only commit to about half of the requests that come in just because more partnership is needed.”

One thing they really need is more Ambassadors to join Esther Initiative with Global Advance on conference trips. Ambassadors could serve as speakers who can share wisdom from God’s Word to these women.

And, as Daugherty mentioned, they also need financial supporters to help Global Advance multiply these trainings. Click here if you’d like to sponsor Esther Initiative conferences!

Finally, please commit to praying for Esther Initiative this year. Pray for more women around the world to step into their God-given roles as spiritual influencers and to recognize the vital, vibrant part they have to play in the Great Commission.

(Header photo courtesy of Esther Initiative with Global Advance)

(Photo courtesy of Global Advance)

Recently, Global Advance brought a team to India to encourage believers in the marketplace to use their position in a way that worships God and opens opportunities to tell others about him. India in particular is one of those places where ministry is facing a number of challenges. It’s becoming increasingly difficult for foreign ministries to fund outreach.

Jonathan Shibley of Global Advance says, “There may come a day where it’s almost impossible to get money into closed access nations and that’s why it is so strategic to raise up godly kingdom marketplace leaders who will be the ones that are not only called to be salt and light, but from a practical standpoint, they’re going to be the ones that are going to financially fund kingdom work within their own nations.”

For the past 14 years or so, Global Advance has encouraged this strategy among marketplace leaders. They have come alongside Indians to support them and to help them see  “that their work is a form of worship to God, that God can use them in the marketplace through whatever realm of business or activity that they’re in to be salt and light in the nation and in a nation like India where some of the states are really cracking down on proselytizing.”

The trend of raising up native leadership is vital in many nations when you consider cultural relevance and security concerns.

Jesus called us to be fishers of men

There are many different ways to engage with people and begin to build relationships with them where spiritual things like salvation can be discussed. Global Advance believes that we should not forget the marketplace as one of these avenues. The organization draws parallels between Christ’s disciples and us today. The disciples were ordinary, working men who God called to serve him in evangelism.  He called them to be fishers of men, and he calls all of us to do the same today.

“People are still open to the Gospel in the sense that everyone is wired the same way, globally. Everyone cares about their family, their future, and their finances. So if we can fish with the correct bait, people will be always drawn to the message and the hope of Christ.”

The correct bait is the Gospel given in a context that meets people where they are. That is because the thing that everyone is looking for is fulfillment and meaning in life, something that only truly comes through the Gospel.

It is this mindset that Global Advance wants to encourage among marketplace believers.

A construction company with a heart for lost people

One of the examples Shibley talks about is a construction company in India.  The company employs many believers and some non-believers.

(Image courtesy of Global Advance)

“The owners have a great vision to use that business to be a blessing there in the city and in the nation. And … they’ve launched schools out of the business itself. They take care of children, they take care of orphans. They help fund Kingdom activities throughout the nation, they help fund church planters and churches.

“And so, this business is [a] very multi-faceted, dynamic thing that God birthed through believers there in the nation that have a vision to use that as a form of ministry. And … just the very work that they put out is of excellence.”

In all things, Shibley says, we are to shine as a light before men, and that includes the quality of our work.

But like many of us, the idea doesn’t come naturally that we can worship throughout the week and not just on Sundays or that we can spend our lives telling others about God, even if we aren’t missionaries. Shibley says Global Advance is working to change that mindset through churches and pastoral leadership around the world through their training and conferences.

What should we do?

This story isn’t just about believers in India or even believers overseas in nations hostile to the Gospel. This is a story for all of us. So, if you want to get involved, Shibley suggests you start with prayer.

“Number one, ask yourself, ‘what is my occupation and how could God use me today wherever I am for his glory?’ And then thinking globally about missions, maybe in a new way, … pray that God would send workers into the harvest field, and maybe part of that harvest field is also the marketplace around the world.”

And if you’re a business person, consider deploying with Global Advance to share your business skills with believers in another country. To get started with Global Advance, click here.

Russia has taken “very repressive measures… against the evangelicals,” as have parts of Asia. Yet Shibley says oftentimes trials are coupled with growth for the Gospel. He believes governments are cracking down on Christians, “not because the Church is weak, [but] because the Church is strong.”

(Photo courtesy of Global Advance)

He reminds believers, “The Gospel has always been a threat, and it continues to be [a threat] to the established order of things if it isn’t constant with Scripture.”

For example, in Cuba, although many churches were forced to remain hidden in secrecy, sanctions lifted by the United States are opening the country up to evangelicals so they can easier reach out with the love and grace of Christ.

In the Middle East, believers in Iran face “very serious challenges,” but Shibley says the Church is still experiencing rapid growth.

“Obviously the refugee crisis around the world…continues to be unabated, [but] the small and yet valiant evangelical Church…remains in Syria and other parts of the Middle East,” explains Shibley. “As Paul said, the Word of God is not bound, and the Gospel continues to go forth.”

Global Advance has made great progress in preparing leaders to meet these needs. “This year…we have given on-site training to over 42,000 frontline leaders in 32 nations of the world. These are in 92 training events that have occurred this year,” says Shibley.

“When Jesus…told the disciples to launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a massive catch, I believe that’s His word for the Church today, that we don’t need to stay in the shallow, safer waters, but rather we need to lock arms with the Body of Christ around the world, much of which is now experiencing persecution.”

(Photo courtesy of Global Advance)

Shibley says if believers can continue to have faith in God, His works will continue to surprise and impress as His Word is advanced for the Great Commission.

“Until the nations are discipled, until everyone has had opportunity to hear the Gospel in a culturally viable way, and until churches are planted for all the ethnicities of the earth, the job is not done.”

If you want to find out more about how you can help and pray, we’ll connect you right here.