Days of heavy rain triggered landslides in the Marrah Mountains, reportedly leaving only one survivor. The scale of the debris and the disaster’s remote location limit information. Civil war, raging between rival militaries since 2023, further complicates recovery efforts.

“The area hit by the landslides is also a hub for displaced families fleeing the fighting,” says John, a Gospel worker focused on Sudan.

“They were trying to escape that (fighting) in El Fasher. They went up to this area, and now [there is] a landslide.”

Authorities say between 300 and 1,000 people were killed, but the actual death toll could be higher.

John’s partners fear the worst as attempts to reach their friends go unanswered. “Even though it’s an Islamic area, there are house churches that have been planted over the years,” John says.

“We know there are some Christians among [the affected people.]”

Pray for wisdom and discernment as church planters determine how they will respond to this disaster. John’s organization supports frontline Sudanese church planters throughout the Islamic nation.

“We’re not a relief organization, but because of the network of believers on the ground, getting $200 someplace has a huge effect,” John says. “We’ve done targeted relief in many, many places.”

(Photo courtesy of Spoken Worldwide)

Pray that Sudanese Muslims will find truth, comfort, and peace in Jesus Christ.

“I have met so many Muslims that, in their desperation of finding inner peace and hope, had God meet them in a dream. So many Muslims have come to Christ without someone leading them,” John says.

Frustration with Islam leaves many Sudanese open to the Gospel, he adds.

“The whole nation is in trauma, and that trauma cuts to the core,” John says.

“These are non-Arabs, but they’re still Muslims, so they’re trying to deal with the fact that ‘The Koran says we’re brothers, and yet, here’s my brother trying to kill me, take my land, drive me from my land, because I’m not Arab.’”

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Franklin Peña Gutierrez/Pexels.

Myanmar has experienced four years of brutal civil war since a 2021 coup. Then on March 28, 2025, a 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck the country’s center. Today, unexpected severe flooding and crop loss have marked the start of the monsoon season, especially in the Sagaing Region and Kachin State.

A pastor from Myanmar connected to A3 explains that heavy rains began in the north instead of the typical south. “The problem is that internet connection and information [get] quite restricted — or, it’s hard to get the updated information,” he notes. 

Recovery efforts have been derailed by the ongoing conflict between the military junta and various opposition groups. The pastor says the military junta’s most recent ceasefire is merely lip service, meant to gain favor with the international community.

Photo of Myanmar’s flag is a representative stock photo courtesy of Gu Bra via Pexels.

“[The] military [is] still bombing, even the earthquake-hit area,” he says. “Still bombing!” 

He says international aid groups have observed aid ending up in the military’s hands rather than going to people in true need, leading to caution in sending aid.

“[When] something happened, [a] natural disaster or something happened, we are helping one another. This is what we are doing. But as far as I know, there is no international aid agency trying to help the flood victims currently,” the pastor says.

One A3 alumnus he was able to contact is trapped in a flooded area. But he had good news to share even in the challenging circumstances. 

“He told me that the Myanmar people, they are responding [to] the gospel very positively in this kind of situation,” says the pastor. 

By “positive,” he means that they are glad to hear about Jesus, not that they have accepted Him. So please pray that these people will take the next step and put their faith entirely in Christ. 

The pastor also asks that you pray for God to intervene “in His way” to end the military junta’s rule, “so that the Church as well as the people will rise up and advance the Kingdom of God.”

The header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Lil Artsy via Pexels.

The United Nations humanitarian office (OCHA) says more than 10,000 buildings in Myanmar collapsed or were seriously damaged in the magnitude 7.7 earthquake and aftershocks. On top of rescue work, food, clean water, sanitation, and more are rising needs for survivors. Thousands in the city of Mandalay and other hard-hit regions are living on the streets, whether because they lost their homes or because they’re afraid more tremors will strike.

The earthquake is one more layer to Myanmar’s complicated situation. After four years of horrific civil war, Myanmar is already deep in instability, explains Brian Dennett with AMG International. 

“[In a place] where you’ve got people already struggling just to survive, any disruption like this, having a massive earthquake in the midst of it all, is just devastating,” he says. 

But even in this disaster, God has prepared people to respond.

“We’ve been offering relief throughout the civil war. We have a trusted network of churches across Myanmar — ministry workers, as well as our team just over the border in Thailand, where we also operate a refugee camp,” Dennett says.

Myanmar aid from recent years.
(Photo courtesy of AMG International)

Over the weekend, AMG sent generators and food support, including nutritional drinks for the elderly.

“We are actively working right now with our team on the ground, assessing the situation, finding out where the most damage was, and we are going to be providing immediate relief. We really are well-positioned to make a difference there,” Dennett explains. 

Please help Myanmar

Because of the network AMG already has, this is an avenue you can use to send help to people in Myanmar as the hands and feet of Christ. 

“As always, everything we do at AMG is an opportunity for us to share the gospel and to share hope,” Dennett says. “Pray for AMG, pray for our workers. Pray that we are able to get the [aid] to where it’s most needed, and that we can share Jesus in the process.”

Would you prayerfully consider joining AMG to help brothers and sisters in Christ and others in great need? 

“This is going to require a tremendous amount of resources. Anyone who feels compelled to give towards this can visit amghelp.org and click on Myanmar. That money will go directly to our disaster relief efforts in Myanmar,” Dennett says. 

Header image of Myanmar courtesy of David Mark via Pixabay.

The catastrophe and following aftershocks took the lives of more than 59,000 people in the two nations. Dozens are still missing, with their families left searching for answers. 

Patrick Anthony with FMI says rebuilding has been slower than what Türkiye’s government promised. Hundreds of thousands of Turks still live in temporary containers awaiting new homes. 

“There is some concern that more and more people are going to leave, which is going to make just even stabilizing that [region] even harder,” Anthony says. 

But gospel ministry continues. One of FMI’s partners, who we’ll call Pastor Enver, travels to the earthquake zone each month. He serves alongside the Church there, bringing them any donations he’s received. 

“He’s done a lot of counseling too, meeting with people who need to talk about their situation or just providing some spiritual care,” says Anthony. “He says praise God, they’ve seen many people respond in faith, come to faith in Christ through this.”

Devastation from the 2023 earthquake. (Photo courtesy of FMI)

Anthony notes that although rebuilding efforts are frustratingly slow to many, “Really, we’re not to be putting our full trust in government. It’s a good call for the Church that the Church, whether you’re in Türkiye or somewhere else in the world where there’s been a devastating event — the church is called to step up and to meet needs and share the hope of Christ.”

Please pray for strength and effective gospel proclamation for gospel workers like Enver. Pray for survivors wrestling with anger and grief over the loss from the earthquakes, that God will lead them to hope in Christ. Pray that those who know Christ will stand in faith and trust, sharing the good news with their neighbors. 

Finally, as part of the Body of Christ, consider donating to support aid and gospel hope for the people of Türkiye. Click to visit FMI’s website and learn how to partner with them. 

Header photo of container homes for quake survivors in Turkiye, courtesy of FMI.

So what does rebuilding look like? MNN’s own Ruth Kramer sat down with A3’s Joshua Hari at the Lausanne Conference to discuss Japan’s past, present, and future.

“After the disaster, God’s [been] teaching us how to collaborate as a body of Christ in Japan. It’s been more than 13 years, and still[…] [Christians] emphasize the importance of collaboration.”

In the wake of the triple disaster, the local church – in collaboration with the global church – established a network for disaster relief and compassionate support. In the midst of working toward practical recovery, the Church in Japan set another goal – help 2% of Japan’s population find Jesus by the year 2030.

“In order to get to 2% of the Christian population, we need 50,000 churches,” Hari says. “Then each local church would have 58 members.”

Unfortunately, another more recent disaster has shaken the nation once again. In fact, the COVID-19 pandemic shook the entire globe. In Japan, many pastors began to resign in a pattern similar to the aftermath of the Triple Disaster.

“We need some spiritual revival to happen in Japan,” Hari says. “Pray for collaboration so that we could see Christ-centered movement happen in Japan.”

Joshua Hari and A3 are calling on the global Church to come alongside Japan’s believers the same way she did after the Triple Disaster. “We need to collaborate together towards the same goal, towards the same visions, to reaching the 2%,” he says. “Pray for us, for wisdom, and for God’s guidance towards the next step.”

Learn more about A3’s work right here. Follow Mission Network News for more updates on the work of the global body of believers.

Header photo courtesy of Wikimedia.

“We don’t have rice on on the shelf of any supermarket or stores. Everybody’s doing stockpiling, and we cannot buy rice,” says Takeshi Takazawa with A3.

(Photo of Typhoon Shanshan’s path August-September 2024 courtesy of Supportstorm via Wikimedia Commons.)

The panic buying isn’t simply a response to one storm. In August alone, Japan endured effects of typhoons Maria, Ampil and Shanshan, as well as a 7.1-magnitude earthquake followed by warnings of a possible megaquake. Although the warning has since been lifted, authorities say the risk of a massive earthquake still exists. 

In the face of these dangers, Takazawa says people in Japan are asking, “Who takes care of me?” He says they have been noticing a decrease of help coming from the government after disasters — most recently the January 2024 quakes in Noto. 

“They (the people of Noto) continue to struggle because [the] government didn’t do [aid] the same way we had in [the disasters that happened in the] northeast and Kumamoto and other places,” says Takazawa.

“People are getting little bit more nervous about, ‘How can we take care of ourselves?’ Sixty-five percent of our food [comes] from outside [the country], and if delivery and import stops, we can be starved to death.”

Local churches have stepped into part of this gap. Takazawa says churches have been able to build networks to respond to crises such as the 2004 Niigata quake, the “triple disaster” in Fukushima in 2011, and the 2016 Kumamoto quake.

“[In] each [of these] cases, local communities saw Christian churches actually [stay] and continue to support and pray, both physically and emotionally and ultimately spiritually. That testimony has been going forth, and that’s great,” Takazawa says.

(Photo courtesy of A3)

You can be part of this story through your prayers.

“Pray for our people so that we don’t have to go through major suffering through these disasters,” says Takazawa. “But at the same time, pray for our souls so that we don’t rely on the stockpile [of resources], but ultimately God who takes care of us and loves us.”

A3 serves in Japan and other nations to encourage and equip leaders to serve their people even better in the name of Christ. Learn more about their ministry here. 

Header photo of Typhoon Shanshan August 31, 2024 courtesy of MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC via Wikimedia Commons. This image was catalogued by Goddard Space Flight Center of the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under Photo ID: 2024-08-31., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=152018243.

Bruce Allen with FMI says, “Ten major cities were decimated. When you think about the whole earthquake impact zone, it destroyed 140,000 square miles [of] land and property – equivalent to the entire size of Germany.

“Rebuilding is going to take a long, long time. People need to be in it for the long haul.”

(Photo courtesy of FMI)

The Turkish government faced criticism for its response to the quakes and fading pledges for relief support.

“In responding to public criticism that the government’s rescue workers were too slow in reacting [to the Feb 2023 earthquakes], President Erdogan pledged to build 650,000 housing units,” Allen says.

President Erdogan promised half would be done within the following year.  “[But] even at the end of January, 11 plus months later, construction has only begun on less than half of that amount. Only 46,000 homes have been completed, according to environment and urbanization ministry data. Government response has been slow, although there have been lots of pledges. But even from our partners in the country, they said it did not even last very long.”

Meanwhile, the nation’s tiny Christian population continues to serve the needs of their communities for food, clothing, and longer-term shelter.

“We have to remember that this country of about 86 million people has only a 0.04% population of evangelical Christians. [Then,] 99.2% of the population are in unreached people groups. That doesn’t mean they’re indifferent or hostile to the Gospel. It just means they’re unaware of the Gospel.”

Allen says the compassion and care that Christians have shown over the past year have gained them credibility with Muslim neighbors. 

“People are saying, ‘Why are you treating us so well, when we have treated you so poorly?’ It has provided opportunities not just for physical care, but spiritual care as well.”

Partners of FMI in Türkiye are committed to education for children, housing, and makeshift grocery stores. “But all of those things are consumables and require finances. So the financial need is still there,” Allen says.

Earthquake relief, water and food distribution in Turkiye. (Photo courtesy of FMI)

“There’s also a great need for prayer for these churches, especially in the earthquake zone regions, where they’re relatively swelling with new believers. There’s a lot of that spiritual need of care and growth and discipleship that needs to take place.”

FMI plans to launch five more church planters in Türkiye this year. Click here to learn more and find out how you can prayerfully come alongside Türkiye with FMI. 

Header photo courtesy of FMI. 

Bruce Allen with FMI says, “It was in the dark of night when people were fleeing their homes, and as soon as obviously buildings were collapsed, they were advised not to even enter the buildings again. As daylight came, excavation rescue attempts were starting.”

The death toll continues to mount by the hundreds, and rescue attempts are ongoing in frigid temperatures. So far, over 11,000 people have died (combined death toll).

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan declared a state of emergency in 10 affected Turkish provinces.

Allen spoke with FMI ministry partners in Türkiye. They were praying for pastors lost in the rubble, including one Pastor Hakan Konur, his wife, Pola, and their young son, Yoel. 

Pastor Hakan Konur, his wife, Pola, and their son, Yoel. (Photo courtesy of FMI)

Allen says, “This morning, their son was pulled from the rubble. He survived. But then the prayer was request was for [Pastor Konur and Pola]. I just received word within the last hour that they both had died — mom and dad…. So pray for Yoel very specifically.”

It’s one of the many stories coming out of this disaster.

We do praise God that two other pastors FMI was praying for have been found alive under the rubble — Pastor Mehmet and Pastor Deniz.

Weather is impeding the ongoing rescue efforts. It is snowing in Türkiye and conditions are near-freezing. Rescue teams are having difficulty navigating the rubble and rugged terrain under ice and snow.

Allen asks, “Be praying for the rescue workers for their strength to work throughout the hours of whether it’s daylight or searchlights on in the night.”

The Turkish government systematically has not been renewing foreign Christian workers’ visas over the last several years. For the most part, the only Gospel remnant left in the country is indigenous Christians.

“At last count, the estimate was that in a country of about 85 million people, [there are] maybe 10,000-12,000 indigenous Christians,” Allen says.

“May God strengthen them to show compassion to their Muslim neighbors at a time of grief, a time of loss, and offer hope to be able to give testimony. What anchors our hope? It’s only Jesus Christ. So pray that God is glorified even in the rescue and relief efforts by stalwart Christians.”

You can help local Turkish Christians and relief efforts by giving here to FMI’s Where Needed Most fund.

Header photo shows the wreckage of a collapsed building, Diyarbakır, Turkey; courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2023_Turkey_earthquake.jpg

It wasn’t strong as earthquakes go, registering only a magnitude of 5.6. But the epicenter was near the surface and in the middle of inhabited land. Loose soil caused landslides that buried entire villages.

Brian Dennett with AMG International says about 73,000 people have been displaced from their homes. “It’s been very challenging to get aid into the area and to distribute goods, as many of the areas have been isolated by the earthquake. So any relief is going in by trail bikes or four-wheelers.”

Religious tensions

After the quake, Christians donated some tents to shelter victims. Local Islamic groups ripped the labels off and dismantled some of them. Dennett says, “There is really a fear that evangelicals or non-Muslims will be proselytizing and sharing their faith.”

But most people across Indonesia found the incident highly upsetting. Dennett says it even rankled some local authorities. “I saw a post from the governor of West Java, who was quoted as saying, ‘Even though we are not brothers in faith, we are still brothers in nationality and humanity.’”

“So there is recognition there by most people that Christians want to help.”

Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country. Some Muslims fear losing this status if more people become Christians. These groups tend to blame Christianization for many ills of society.

AMG works with local churches in the area, distributing aid to those who need it. Pray many people will see the love of Jesus through this work. You can support it at amghelps.org.

The header photo shows houses damaged in the earthquake. (Photo courtesy of National Agency for Disaster Countermeasure, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons) 

They have retaken almost the entire Northeast Kharkiv region, including the city of Izium. Forces made advances in the South as well, hoping to retake the city of Kherson and even the Crimea peninsula.

The offensive comes after the U.S. unveiled nearly $3 billion in aid for Ukraine and surrounding countries. Weapons from the U.S. and other Western countries continue to play a significant role in the conflict.

Bible translation

Steve Martin says Wycliffe Associates Bible translation teams remain active despite the fighting. “The goal in that is to be able to see translation projects started. So pray that they will be able to maneuver around safely in an unsafe world.”

“That is a major prayer request. The second one would be that they would not grow weary.”

When the invasion first happened, several Ukrainian translators were meeting in another country, separated from their families. Martin says, “That was an alarming time of confusion for them. Their home eventually ended up being one of the tragedies of the bombing, and it was destroyed. But the daughter who was at home was able to get out and eventually reunite with her family.”

911 fund

Wycliffe Associates created the Emergency 911 fund to help Bible translators in time of disaster. Martin says, “So in this particular situation, we needed to act quite quickly. We began to assist those either in Ukraine or already out of Ukraine. We helped them set up so they could stay in safe locations and get family members to those locations as well.”

You can contribute to the 911 fund. Learn more here. And pray for peace to come to Ukraine.

The header photo shows Ukrainian soldiers outside a newly liberated settlement in the Kharkiv region. (Photo courtesy of Mil.gov.ua, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)