On February 13, 2017, Koh’s car was surrounded, stopped and taken captive by a group of government men. The incident was caught on a nearby security camera. That is the last anyone has seen or heard of Pastor Koh, despite the tireless advocacy of his wife, Susannah, and the international attention his story has received. 

(Courtesy of VOM USA on Facebook.)

Recently, Susannah (Liew) Koh sued the government of Malaysia for negligence in Koh’s case. In 2019 the human rights commission in Malaysia said the special branch of the police were the ones who abducted Koh. But no further explanation for his disappearance has been given. They have been in court this week. 

Todd Nettleton with Voice of the Martyrs USA says, “Susannah told me [that] when she went to a lawyer and said, ‘I want to sue the Malaysian government,’ the lawyer looked at her and was like, ‘Are you crazy? This is the government that made your husband disappear, and now you want to sue them? What do you think is going to happen to you?’ And her boldness and her fortitude to say, ‘No, I want answers. I understand that it’s risky.’” 

Koh’s family has applied to the court to access a special task force report about his abduction. The file is currently classified. Please pray with the Kohs for truth to come out and for patience in the grueling process.

(Capture of Raymond Koh and his wife, courtesy TheStar.com)

“I know from [Susannah] saying it, how important it has been for her to know that she’s not alone and to know that the body of Christ is connected to her and is participating with her in this time of trial,” Nettleton says. 

“As the court hearings are happening literally this week, what what better time, what more strategic time is there to pray for justice and to pray that the truth will be revealed?”

If you haven’t already, you can join tens of thousands of people who have signed a petition to the Malaysian government for information about Pastor Koh. Learn more about the American Center for Law and Justice’s petition here, and about VOM’s petition at releaseraymond.com. 

“The [petition] call is the same one that Susannah Koh is making in court this week in Malaysia: Open the records, tell the truth. Explain what happened to this pastor who disappeared seven years ago,” says Nettleton. 

Header photo of the Koh family courtesy of Voice of the Martyrs USA.

On Tuesday, Azerbaijan launched an offensive against separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh – an ethnically Armenian region in Azerbaijan that wants to unite with Armenia. Over 200 people died, including civilians and children. Just a day later, ethnic Armenians in the region agreed to a ceasefire.

A refugee family in Armenia. (Photo courtesy of SGA)

Tensions have been building for months since Azerbaijani troops cut off the only road between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia in December.

Slavic Gospel Association’s Eric Mock says, “The people were literally blocked off from getting any food.

“In fact, what SGA has been doing is working with four churches in that region…that were crying out with need, so we were helping get aid. It’s very unique because you can’t get food in so we were actually assisting the churches in purchasing potatoes from farmers.”

Locals are concerned about further conflict. “They don’t want to see war again. Many of their sons were lost in the fighting so they’re brokenhearted over the idea that conflict would start again.”

Mock says Armenian churches are praying for peace and Church unity across borders. Please pray with them.

“You can be unified in the Kingdom of Heaven, and that’s where we stand with them. So that’s why the Gospel truly is a peacemaking Gospel.”

Click here to learn more about SGA’s ministry.

Header photo of Shushi, a town in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) mostly destroyed by war with Azerbaijan in 2020. (Revised caption, photo courtesy of Sarin Aventisian/Unsplash)

Thousands of tribal Christians in Manipur fled after Meitei extremists began targeting them. Some homes are still being sporadically attacked and torched. More than 37,000 people are now in makeshift relief camps.

Bartholomew* with Mission India says, “It’s very rural and not tons of infrastructure, so these relief camps don’t have much.”

(Photo courtesy of Mission India)

Mission India has been in touch with local ministry partners. “There’s a saying that the Church is not a building. The Gospel goes forth, regardless if it’s in a facility, in a village, or in a home. It goes forth because of the community and the people that live and serve in those communities,” says Bartholomew.

“Those Christians in those relief camps are the hands and feet of Jesus and they are spreading the Gospel. They are leading prayer. We have videos of them worshiping together in those camps and bringing peace into a situation that is not peaceful.”

Mission India partners are distributing Relief Kits to displaced tribal Christians. You can help by donating to Mission India here!

Bartholomew says, “For $55, readers and listeners can provide these kits that will provide food, blankets, and clothing.

“Our partners are using their networks on the ground to distribute those kits, so we’re really excited to partner with fellow believers in the Church to be the hands and feet of Jesus.”

Click here to watch Mission India’s video update on Manipur.

Header photo courtesy of Mission India.

*Full name withheld for security.

Iraq’s political scene relies heavily on sectarianism, favoring Shia Muslims. Meanwhile, Sunni Muslims, Kurds, and Yazidis are among the minority groups that are often ostracized in society and even face persecution.

Samuel with Redemptive Stories says in Iraq, “The number of ethnic Christians continues to deteriorate and reduce as many of them are trying to find ways out to Western countries. Yazidis are still reeling from the genocide. You have so many other minority groups.

Mustafa Al-Kadhimi in May 2020 / Media Office of the Prime Minister of Iraq.
(Wikimedia Commons)

“Meanwhile, with the borders that were drawn a long time ago, you still have so many Sunni and Shia that are trying to figure out a way to live together and to interact with one another, particularly on a political level, and we don’t have any great examples of that.”

Redemptive Stories empowers local believers in Jordan to provide Christ’s hope and break poverty cycles through community programs, business development, and refugee outreach.

“Jordan is a peaceable country, but primarily because of the fact that it is 98% Sunni Muslim. We don’t have Shia here to deal with and to interact with and to try to find a way to live at peace. But meanwhile, Iraq is one of the most diverse countries in our region (if not the most diverse), and because of that, it continues to create ongoing religious and sectarian tensions that are still under the surface.”

Samuel says the ministry has connected with church leaders in Iraq for support and encouragement. “This week, I’ve been trying to discuss with various evangelical church leaders as they’ve been looking at, ‘Okay, we have these programs in our community. We want to expand. We want to grow. How do we look at these as legitimate opportunities to reach out to our overall community?’”

In addition to religious differences, there are also ethnic and language barriers between minority groups in Iraq.

A church in Baghdad. (Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

“Many of the churches, as you can imagine, are located in large cities across Iraq — places like…Baghdad and Erbil and Duhok in the north. In many cases, they’re surrounded by some of these ethnic minorities.”

Samuel says Redemptive Stories is “working with these churches trying to say, ‘Okay, maybe you need to raise up leaders that already speak this language. Maybe you need to look at opportunities to break down some of the barriers that exist between you and the host community that you’re living in or the minority groups that are around you so that you can really seek and engage and be salt and light to them.”

Please pray for persecuted Christians and churches in Iraq to be bold witnesses for the Gospel. Ask the Lord to open ministry doors into unreached people groups and communities.

Samuel also encourages, “Stay engaged! There are articles that can be read. There are organizations that are constantly talking about opportunities to invest and to engage in Iraq and across the Middle East.”

Header photo courtesy of Levi Meir Clancy via Unsplash.

The United Nations General Assembly committee demanded last week that Myanmar end the military campaign targeting Rohingya which has “led to the systematic violation and abuse of human rights”.

Shep Owen with Food for the Hungry says, “The people are still arriving every day and the current number of refugees is estimated at around 800,000. When this began a couple of months ago, the population was in the high 300,000s…. Fifty-two percent of the refugees are children, which is an interesting and alarming statistic.”

A Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh. (Photo courtesy of FMI)

According to CNN, the estimated number of Rohingya refugees is estimated to grow past one million in the coming weeks. And those arriving every day in Bangladesh are in desperate need.

The International Research Committee says 40,000 Rohingya children currently need life-saving treatment for malnutrition. Three-quarters of Rohingya refugees have a lack of food and 95 percent are drinking unclean water.

On Monday, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi proposed that Myanmar enact a ceasefire to end the ethnic cleansing, begin repatriation of Rohingya refugees, and work towards a long-term poverty alleviation solution. Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s de facto leader, said Rohingya who can prove they were residents in Myanmar would be allowed to return.

But with their homes destroyed and their communities scattered, what is there to go back to? And is it safe or even advisable?

Currently, Myanmar plans to resettle most returning refugees in new “model villages”. The UN has criticized this move, saying it would just be creating permanent camps to contain the Rohingya within Myanmar.

Of the Rohingya, Owen says, “They are a group of Muslim people who live in a primarily Buddhist area that borders Myanmar and Bangladesh, and it’s an area that has been a bit disputed in terms of which country they belong to.”

Myanmar is a Buddhist-majority nation, and the Muslim Rohingya minority has suffered severe oppression for generations. The government has denied them citizenship and refused to recognize them as an ethnic group.

Food for the Hungry has been working in Bangladesh since 1971. They primarily serve communities with long-term development programs to enact sustainable solutions to poverty.

“We’ve been monitoring the [Rohingya refugee] problem for some years actually. This has been brewing and it’s really hit a peak this last year. So we decided we can no longer simply just watch the situation and realized the government and the actors that were responding needed help. We went in quickly to do an assessment with some partners, including the teams that are with one of our partners on the ground right now.”

As FH works with government and humanitarian agencies to provide aid for Rohingya, Owen says they could really use the support and prayers of the Body of Christ.

“[Be in] prayer primarily for obviously the refugees, but also for the political situation in Myanmar and also between Myanmar and Bangladesh…. Pray for our teams as we work there, that they’ll be safe and that the government of Bangladesh will continue to be a helpful partner in allowing us to help there.”

If you’d like to give in support of FH’s aid work among the Rohingya, click here.

Header photo courtesy of Jordi Bernabeu Farrús via Flickr: https://goo.gl/daSWrS

(Photo courtesy Flickr/CC/Crethi Plethi)

Libya (MNN) — The Fund For Peace defines a failed state as a country that has:

• lost control of its territory
• erosion of legitimate authority to make decisions
• an inability to provide public services
• an inability to interact with other states as a full member of the international community

In short, the country’s foundation has crumbled. This is more or less a description of Libya.

Emily Fuentes of Open Doors USA notes that within a context of anarchy and absent rule of law, “When the uprising took place, it was a swift change for the country as a whole. Since that time, it’s never been able to quite stabilize.”

A power vacuum was created in Libya with the fall of dictator Muammar Ghadaffi. No one group has the strength to impose its authority, restore the rule of law, and control the country’s borders. Fuentes explains, “It created the perfect breeding ground for a rising up, for those who have sworn allegiance to the Islamic State, and it’s created a hotbed for terrorists to attack and kidnap innocent people.”

(Photo courtesy Open Doors USA)

Libya is currently split, politically, between two governments and geographically, among many armies, militias, tribes, and mercenaries. The situation has been worsened by the arrival of Islamic State in the country, with its own particularly violent agenda and objectives. “Libya is difficult for anyone who lives there, but Christians are especially targeted and face intense persecution,” says Fuentes, adding that because Christians are exactly opposite of ISIS’ stated goals, “They want to eliminate Christianity from the region, and they’re going as far as kidnapping other people en route from other countries.” Now that the Islamic extremists have focused on this objective, the national believers are leaving. “There are very few Christians left. There are approximately 6 million people in Libya and 35,000 Christians. A lot of them are ex-pats and are targeted.”

However, Open Doors’ worker Charley explains, “Many foreigners–among them tens of thousands of Christians–live in Libya because of their jobs. In many cases, these migrants had problems finding work in their own country and they came to Libya to do the work that Libyans themselves don’t want to do, such as construction, garbage collection, or street cleaning.” What it means is that the remnant Church in Libya is actually the migrant church. Many of these groups continue to quietly hold their meetings. The number of Muslim-Background Believers is growing according to Charley. “We now believe there are between 150 and 180 Libyan believers,” he says. “This is a result of evangelism via radio, television and internet.”

(Photo courtesy Open Doors)

Open Doors supports the church in Libya through discipleship and leadership training, distribution of Christian books and literature, and follow-up work with people who are interested in the Gospel. Fuentes describes what they’re finding in countries where persecution of Christians is the highest. “When governments or terrorist groups or other organizations are trying to diminish Christianity, people are intrigued and want to know more about this Gospel message and realize that they want to give their lives to Christ.”

While the picture on the outside looks like this, “Nationally, the Church looks like it is diminishing,” Fuentes says it really is this: “There are small groups of Christians. There is an underground group of people coming to Christ.” Please continue to keep the church in Libya in prayer. “Pray and share their stories. They know that the more we share their stories, the more Christians will be praying, and that unites the body of Christ.”

Speaking from Kenya, Food for the Hungry's Warren Elliott says the arrival of former U.N. General Secretary Kofi Annan to broker a peace deal helped. "That really has started to bring more hope to the Kenyan people — just that there was a tension from the outside being drawn to the troubles that this country is facing."

FHI's work is mostly located in the northern part of the country, away from the violence. However, Elliott says they were forced to divert resources from those areas. "Just because we are present in the country, we have been involved in relief efforts with the internally displaced peoples in the Nairobi area. And now we're starting to expand into western Kenya which has also been one of the more hard-hit areas."

Since their other programs continue running unaffected, Elliott says it's been difficult finding staff to help with the relief efforts. He says they're having to be careful about who they ask to help. He says they have to ask some politically incorrect questions like "'What tribe are you from? What language do you speak?' It's their lives that are also going to be possibly jeopardized by bringing this aid in, just by their birth–where they were born in Kenya."

According to reports, there are more than 600,000 internally displaced peoples in Kenya, all running from the ethnic unrest.

Elliott says the church is doing much of the relief work, helping people understand that the answers to Kenya's problems are spiritual. "People are starting to see that the answer is not always in the political regime or even in the economy, which has also been affected. So the church has really been able to step in."

The church hasn't been untouched by this. "Some of these congregations have faced people that they've known for 20 years in their congregation who turned against them because of their tribe."

Pray that FHI will be able to recruit the right people to do this work. Pray also that God would provide the funding needed to help these churches do the work effectively. Click here if you'd like to help finanically.

SIM International is just one of many organizations using Kenya as a base of operations. SIM's USA Director Steve Strauss says their missionaries are affected in a number of ways. "They're having to be extra careful of where they go and when they go there. It has affected our work in Southern Sudan which is supported and based in Kenya. And like many other missions, we have [missionary kids] from many countries in East Africa who go to school at Rift Valley Academy, and Rift Valley opened a bit later because of the violence."

According to Strauss, if nothing is done to stem the violence, "this could spiral into a blood bath. In human terms, there will be one reconciliation and forgiveness: it's only what Christ can do to prevent it from getting worse and to bring forgiveness and help things get back to a more peaceful state."

For years, Kenya has been the example of peaceful democracy in Africa. But that's changed. Strauss says the good news is the majority of the population of Kenya claim to be Christians. "We need to pray that those who really know Christ as Savior would display a strong Christian value at this point. I think the people of God could prevent this from becoming something like what happened in Rwanda."

Strauss says while he's concerned about the situation in Kenya, he's equally as concerned about their work in Sudan. He says there's an open door there now. "We're helping the church leaders themselves to upgrade their own training and discipleship. We're providing resources to assist in evangelism and discipleship in Southern Sudan. We're also helping with the training of school teachers."

That's desperately needed since there was almost no educational system in Southern Sudan at the time of the signing of the peace accord.

One evangelist is thanking God for SIM's training. Their training is helping them be more effective in communicating the Gospel. People are responding, and churches are growing.

Pray for safety for SIM staff in Kenya and in Sudan.