Last Thursday, June 29, Haroon Shahzad posted 1 Corinthians 10:18-21 regarding food sacrificed to idols. He didn’t include any additional commentary in his post besides the Bible passage. A Muslim villager screenshot the post and accused Shahzad of blasphemy. Muslims were beginning the festival Eid al-Adha in which an animal is slaughtered for the celebration.

The screenshot of the Christian’s post circulated on local media, and on Friday a local mosque made an announcement on loudspeakers prompting Muslims to gather in protest. Shahzad and dozens of other Christian families fled the village.

Pakistan (Photo courtesy of FMI)

Nehemiah with FMI says, “Pakistan has a culture of mob. There is a ‘mob-ism’ in Pakistan where a Muslim mob would come and they vandalize the entire village, kill people, burn that village, and this is very, very common.”

Police have registered a blasphemy case against Shahzad and are pressuring him to turn himself in.

A new agreement signed on June 17 in Pakistan now allows blasphemy cases to be tried under the country’s anti-terrorism laws.

Nehemiah with FMI says, “It also makes the charges of blasphemy an offense for which bail is not possible. The moment you are charged, cops are gonna come and pick you up and you vanish. They punish people in a few days without even hearing their side of the story, and most of the time, access to attorneys [is] being denied to such accused people.”

FMI supports Pakistani believers as they share the Gospel in their communities, and sometimes is able to offer legal aid when Christians are targeted for their faith.

(Photo courtesy of FMI)

“We have people on the ground who share news with us. Every day, there are multiple stories. Every day, there are people who are being killed, who are being framed in false accusations. They are behind bars for doing nothing, for just posting a verse on Facebook.”

Awareness allows you to pray. Nehemiah asks, “I would just request our brothers and sisters to pray for protection and power for believers. Pray that people in Pakistan who have not yet heard the Gospel would be given that opportunity. Pray for open doors for Christians to share Jesus and lives to be transformed.”

Header photo courtesy of Abuzar Xheikh/Unsplash.

Mike Ansari says, “They were hopeless, traumatized, and afraid for their lives. All of the callers needed trauma counseling. So we hired Afghan Christians, trained them on trauma counseling, and set up a vast call center focusing on processing contacts from Afghanistan.”

“They talk to those inside of Afghanistan, and also Afghan refugees fleeing to other countries.”

This initiative is called Heart4Afgahnistan.

Ansari says most callers wanted to know about Jesus. “We just told them that God loves them, and has not forsaken them. We assured them that God had a wonderful plan for them.”

Afghan church

Afghans are very tech-savvy, Ansari says. They spend time on Facebook and Instagram, trying to connect with people outside the country.

This contributed to the success of the Heart4Afghanistan platform. Ansari says, “They are looking for hope, they are looking for meaning. We launched back in 2019, an online virtual church for Iran. And the response was great. So we decided to do a beta launch of an Afghan online church. And the results were very impressive.”

The online church just launched at the end of July. Pray it would bring hope and joy to many Afghans. You can support this effort here.

Ministry in Afghanistan

Heart4Iran has worked inside Afghanistan since 2009. Ansari says, “We’ve been doing two weekly live shows on Mohabat TV reaching the Afghans.”

Afghans are a part of the Persian-speaking world. They speak and understand Farsi, which is the official language of Iran.

Header photo courtesy of Heart4Iran on Facebook. 

In 2017, the Myanmar military killed 10,000 Rohingya and drove many more from their homes into Bangladesh. The coup and continuing violence in Myanmar mean the Rohingya will likely have no chance to return home any time soon.

Bruce Allen with FMI says the plight of about 1 million Rohingya is an ongoing disaster.  “Just this week, 1,000 little shanty shops that these refugees have set up (in order to do business, buy food, or whatever they need) have gotten bulldozed by the Bangladeshi Government. Now the Bangladeshi government says these shops were illegal. And perhaps they truly were. But it’s what these refugees were relying on in terms of access to household items.”

Bhasan Char

This week, a human rights expert from the United Nations will visit the Rohingya in Bangladesh. This includes an investigation of the island of Bhasan Char, where the government has moved many Rohingya. “Some of the refugees are saying, ‘Oh, what a terrible situation this island is because it’s almost like a prison now for us. We don’t have access to things. We’re locked on an island.’ Bangladesh says they set this island up for about 100,000 people.”

Allen says Bhasan Char will be exposed to storms in the Bay of Bengal as well, though not any more than the Cox’s Bazar refugee camp on the mainland.

How to pray

Many Christian ministries work among the Rohingya. Ask God to give these refugees hope and provide for their needs.

Pray for the citizens of Bangladesh as well. Allen says, “What our Bangladeshi partners are saying is ‘Yes, we welcome the refugees. But we’ve been overrun by 1.2 million additional people. Life has gotten a lot harder for the Bangladeshis as well. They’ve lost fields, plants, farming areas, things like that.”

The header photo shows the Cox’s Bazar refugee camp in Bangladesh. (Photo courtesy of FMI)

The city cited in the social media story isn’t even in Afghanistan; it’s in Iraq. The story may date back to a 2007 incident in which 27 South Korean missionaries were kidnapped by the Taliban and two were killed. The story appeared most recently on Facebook but has popped up in various forms on WhatsApp.

Todd Nettleton of The Voice of the Martyrs USA says, “I would encourage people to be very careful about what you share and what you post on social media. Make sure it’s accurate, make sure it’s true. And understand that we can pray for a situation without knowing all of the details. God obviously knows all of the details. I think posting something that isn’t accurate sort of undermines the goal of helping people to pray for our brothers and sisters.”

Nettleton says it’s very challenging to get any information out of Afghanistan right now, meaning any information that does get out is hard to confirm.

How to pray

Certainly, Afghan Christians face a dangerous situation. The Taliban has announced the formation of a new government. The new interior minister was behind some of the worst attacks of the last two decades.

Ask God to protect Afghan Christians and give them wisdom about how to respond. Nettleton gives some tips for finding accurate news sources. “I’d encourage people to connect with the VOM and persecution.com. We are very cautious about what we post. Is it accurate? Can we confirm it? We’re also very cautious about putting people in danger. And so those are the two questions about any sources: are they careful about accuracy? Are they careful about security?”

The header photo shows Taliban fighters in August of 2021. Photo courtesy of Voice of America, Public Domain)

Critics cited known digital threats like sexual predators and cyberbullying when urging Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to cancel his plans for Instagram Youth, a child-focused version of the popular photo- and video-sharing app. Executives classified Instagram Youth as an “H1 priority” in March.

Public resistance began following Zuckerberg’s statements during misinformation hearings on Capitol Hill. Nonprofits and child safety advocates gathered more than 180,000 signatures on three petitions, which they sent to Facebook ahead of its annual stakeholders meeting.

(Photo courtesy of bruce mars/Unsplash)

Josh Golin, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood’s executive director, said in a statement:

“Teens and even adults on Instagram struggle with the never-ending focus on appearance, the relentless fear of missing out, promotion of influencer culture, and the pressure to collect likes. Instagram for young children is among the greediest, most tone-deaf, and wrong-headed ideas ever to emerge from Silicon Valley.”

It’s an ongoing battle for the Next Generation’s decisions and mental health.

“A lot of social media is marketing, whether it’s self-marketing or business marketing. There’s a lot of psychology behind marketing, and different tactics [used] to influence behavior,” says Hannah Harrison, Child Sponsorship and Social Media Coordinator for Set Free Ministries.

“Romans 12:2 says, ‘Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing, you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.’ Kids are wrestling with this constantly, at a much earlier age now, because [of] social media and the easier access.”

Using Scripture and an approach outlined by Dr. Neil Anderson, Set Free Ministries helps young people and families fix their minds on Christ.

“When you look at social media, a lot of it is about comparison, and Scripture has much to say about this,” Set Free Ministries Executive Director Dean Vander Mey says.

“It’s important that we know who our enemy is, but it’s also super important to know who God says you are.”

Without teaching identity, adults leave kids at risk. “I’m afraid that the Church has failed at this, our Christian homes have failed at this, and so our children don’t know who they are. Society is telling them who they are based upon their feelings,” Vander Mey says.

“Josh McDowell did a seminar in 2018. He said we have two divisions in our society. The younger generation, 30 and under, believes that truth comes from within, based on feelings and emotions. The other group, the older group, believes that truth comes from God and is to be walked in. This new generation does not believe that, so they’re [basing] everything on how they think and feel.”

By introducing God-centered truth, Set Free helps people identify and correct misperceptions. Learn more here.

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Gaelle Marcel/Unsplash.

MNN reported that this program ran into some resistance, as Facebook prevented the ministry from promoting the videos to a larger audience. Tippit believes the message of the Incarnation being preached in the videos may have angered some people. Despite this setback, the videos enjoyed a wide reach.

Albania

Sammy Tippit says they saw an especially great response in Albania, where the program was broadcasted on television and radio stations. “Our partners were able to collect a lot of feedback. [They told of] many people sharing Christ and inviting their friends over. A lot of Albanian churches were not able to have a Christmas service. And we were able to provide that.”

Tippit says the program also enjoyed wide viewership in countries like Pakistan and India. “I know in India we had about 300,000 people who viewed. In Pakistan, we had hundreds of thousands watch as well.”

Digital ministry

STM has cultivated digital connection for Christians around the world, often in the form of small groups on WhatsApp and other apps. These groups provide discipleship and fellowship for isolated Christians. Tippit says, “Our whole philosophy is to train Christians to do the work of evangelism. And then we provide evangelistic events. I think what social media has shown us is that there is a great hunger out there for what we’re offering.”

Praise God for the response of believers all over the world to this event. And pray for the continuing translation work needed to reach them. Tippit says the ministry works with 13 different languages, and they hope to add more soon.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many churches have turned to digital technology for ministry and connection. Pray the work of Sammy Tippit Ministries will greatly benefit the Kingdom.

Header photo by Dzenina Lukac from Pexels.

Tippit recently lost the ability to promote several of his videos to a larger audience on Facebook after teaching about the incarnation. “When we talk about anything else, we don’t get a lot of flak. And the whole Christmas message is about God in human flesh. I don’t know for sure (because Facebook won’t tell you) but it appears that because I’m proclaiming Jesus is God in human flesh, they have gotten complaints. And they have disabled our ability to boost any videos.” See the videos on Sammy Tippit’s Facebook page here.

Tippit explains why this Christian doctrine often causes more angst than any other. “People like Jesus as a great teacher, a great moral leader, a good man. But to say that He’s God, it puts him in a category all its own.” Several Christian doctrines, such as monotheism and the resurrection of the dead, appear in other religions as well. But the idea of God taking on human flesh is found in no other world religion.

This map lists many countries where Sammy Tippit Ministries has been developing Christian WhatsApp groups as part of the push into digital ministry. (Photo courtesy of Samy Tippit Ministries)

Discipleship videos

Tippit has been producing a series of Christmas-themed discipleship videos, and has had them translated into several different languages. Read more about the project here. He says hitting a snag on Facebook won’t stop these efforts. “We will be on YouTube, we will be on Roku, we will be on Google Play, we will be on Amazon Fire. We’re going to be on Cross TV, we’re going to multiple platforms.” You can also see the content on Sammy Tippit’s website.

This program has a lot in common with Sammy Tippit Ministries’ evangelism outreach back in May. The ministry has been working all year to build Christian small groups all around the world using WhatsApp and other platforms.

Tippit believes the Church can use 21st-century digital technology to supercharge discipleship and evangelism, especially in a world changed by COVID-19.

Additionally, Tippit has considered creating his own app to distribute his content. “I think the ultimate solution is not to be dependent upon any other platform. We need our own platform by which we can disseminate this. We know we’re having millions of people watch and listen to these messages. So we know that there’s a hunger there.”

To do this, Tippit says the ministry will need a lot of prayers and a lot of help in funding. Pray God will reach countless people through this digital ministry!

Header Photo by Dan Kiefer on Unsplash.

But what if Christians viewed social media not as a cultural battlefield but as their mission field?

Doug Hutchcraft with Ron Hutchcraft Ministries says, “If you’re like me, it might take all of the self-control you have to not express your own frustrations about what’s going on in the world. But why be another loud and argumentative voice? Why not be the one that chooses to be the peacemaker? When was the last time you got into an argument on social media and actually convinced somebody of your viewpoint? It’s more our heart to want to be right than to want peace.

“Like any other medium, it’s not that social media is good or bad, but rather how we choose to use it.”

(Photo courtesy of Nordwood Themes via Unsplash)

Ron Hutchcraft Ministries recently hosted a conversation on Facebook Live with Native American young people through their On Eagles’ Wings outreach. They talked about loneliness, suicide, the pandemic, and what it all means in the context of faith.

Hutchcraft says, “It was amazing – even though it’s an online thing and you’re not in the same room – how much God used that.”

When we set aside our personal agendas on social media, it opens the door for Gospel-focused interactions like this.

So what does it look like to engage social media day-after-day with the mindset of an ambassador for Christ?

If a friend or family member seems like they are struggling on social media, reach out to them! You can send a note of encouragement, ask how you can pray for them, or even invite them to join a virtual Bible study with you.

Also, when we feel attacked or offended by something on social media, Hutchcraft says we need to replace our own agendas and pride with the Gospel.

“In 1 Corinthians 9:12… the Apostle Paul who was being thrown in jail, who has been almost murdered a couple of times, he says, ‘I will put up with anything rather than get in the way of what the Gospel is trying to communicate.’”

(Photo courtesy of Chad Madden via Unsplash)

Hutchcraft says, “My rule as a communicator has to be, ‘Could this encumber the Gospel? Could this give people a reason to continue to reject Jesus?’ They already have those reasons perhaps because of other Christians they’ve met. But when they’re through reading what you’re writing, maybe you could be the one that is a magnet for who Jesus is.”

Finally, pray. When you see a post from someone on social media and the Holy Spirit stirs your heart, pray for them. And if you’re getting ready to write a post, type a comment, or share something, stop and pray about it first.

Prayer sounds so simple, but it’s easy to forget.

“How many of us actually pray right before we go on Facebook?” Hutchcraft asks. “How many of us actually pray right before we go post something on Instagram?

“People need every day for someone to be the salt and the light and to know what a merciful God looks like.”

Click here for more resources from Ron Hutchcraft Ministries on being an ambassador for Jesus.

Header photo courtesy of Prateek Katyal via Unsplash.

Sammy Tippit explains that the event was livestreamed over Facebook in 11 different languages, each on its own page, enabling many people to hear the Good News in their native languages.

“It went beyond what we were anticipating or expecting,” he says. “It was just a great outreach time.”

Amazing Outreach

Of the 11 videos, seven were completely unique, featuring their own speakers and music presentations. Four videos were a presentation Tippit previously gave with new translation added. The Arabic video was one of these four, but it actually experienced the most success.

“Our largest viewership came from the Arabic page, which was really surprising to me,” Tippit explains. “We had 732,000 views of the Gospel presentation.”

(Photo courtesy of Kon Karampelas via Unsplash)

The English broadcast featured several prominent guests who spoke on how their faith has helped them through hardships, tying into Tippit’s message for the program.

“We need to get our feet off the sand and put feet on the rock,” he says. “Christ is our solid rock.”

Incredible Impact

Many responses came pouring in, some to local churches that partnered with Sammy Tippit Ministries. Tippit says these stories carry a great impact, especially those about people who made decisions to follow Christ.

“One of the great blessings was that on two different continents, people who are on the verge of suicide were going through their Facebook pages and saw [the livestream]. [They] watched it, gave their hearts to Christ, and God delivered them from their suicide, saved them out of that,” he says.

Other people who accepted Christ found courage where before they only experienced fear.

“There were two nurses in India, who were fearful for their lives because of COVID-19. [They] were not going to go back to work, but they gave their hearts to Christ,” Tippit says. “Because of their commitment to Christ, they had the strength and the courage to go back to work and serve people with COVID-19.”

Many of the local churches that partnered with Sammy Tippit Ministries for this even are now following up with people who gave their lives to Christ.

“One pastor friend in Brazil said he had 17 people in his local community who gave their hearts to Christ and wrote in on the comments on their page, [so] they’re following up those 17 people,” Tippit says.

Moving Forward

Tippit believes that the outpouring of response demonstrates how desperate the world is for Christ.

“The world is hungry for the Gospel, and there are places where God is moving,” he says.

(Photo courtesy of Sammy Tippit Ministries via Facebook)

Tippit encourages believers to lean into these crucial needs through prayer and sharing the Gospel. He offers many resources for doing so on his organization’s website.

“We need to pray for revival right here in North America, but we also need to be getting out and sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ with others,” Tippit says. “God has given us tools to use that are just absolutely incredible. We need to take those tools and use them for His glory.”

Header image courtesy of Kyle Glenn via Unsplash

That’s the principal driving many ministries to use social media as a tool for good. Among them is Horizons International. Pierre Houssney of Horizons International says that many of the problems social media causes are found or amplified in the Middle East and North Africa.

That sounds like a bad thing, but actually, it gives ministries an opportunity. “What we’re able to do now is put the Gospel in front of them while they’re spending all these hours on social media looking at videos and pictures and having conversations, and we’re finding that a lot of people are really open to the gospel,” Houssney says.

New Power in New Technology

Social media is a tool not to be taken lightly. “Any power or any media, it could have a lot of influence for bad or influence for good,” Houssney says. Fortunately, the Church already has a track record of reaching the Middle East with technology.

Photo courtesy of Unsplash

In the 90s, satellite TV provided ministries with access points to the Middle East and North Africa, even beyond previously closed borders. However, that interaction was largely one way. Satellite TV ministries could provide people with access to Gospel hope, but responses were limited to written letters, emails, and call-in channels.

Those ministries still have effective outreach work to this day, but Houssney wanted to emphasize response and dialogue. “It’s a very low cost for the ministries, and it’s very easy for the people that are responding to the content to respond,” he says.

Beverly’s Testimony

Using social media effectively means using relationships effectively. Beverly knew how to do that.

“I have a friend whose name is Beverly (she actually passed away last year),” Houssney says. She “was living in in Colorado, and she had an amazing heart for Tunisia, for North Africa, and for Muslims… In her spare time, she would spend a lot of time on Facebook, just kind of getting to know Tunisian women and other Muslim women and befriending them, sharing the gospel with them, and mentoring them.”

Over the course of a few years, Beverly created a network of contacts, many of whom were believers, that focused on encouraging one another and sharing the hope they had found in the Gospel.

Pure Heart of the Middle East

Stories like Beverly’s are why Houssney wants to properly utilize social media as a ministry tool. Horizons International now has a social media platform called Pure Heart of the Middle East that focuses on sharing testimonies with the Middle East and North Africa region.

(Photo courtesy of Unsplash)

“We’ve been posting videos about stories of transformation, where converts from Islam are sharing their testimonies of how they experienced Jesus and had their lives changed,” Houssney says. “As a result of that, people are people are really responding in amazing ways. Some of these videos are getting upwards of 120,000 views by people in the Middle East and North Africa.”

People who want to respond are immediately put in contact with pastors and volunteers ready and waiting to have conversations. So far, it’s been effective. “Just in the past few months, we’ve had 35 people come to Christ who are being discipled through this Facebook platform in the Middle East and Africa, all from a Muslim background,” Houssney says.

Want to get involved? Connect with Horizons International to learn more. You can also check out Pure Heart of the Middle East right here. Mission Network News even has our own Facebook group you can join.

In the meantime, “Pray that God would raise up more harvesters also to be getting involved on social media instead of just consuming content that’s meaningless or watching funny cat videos on social media,” Houssney says. Pray that believers “would really get involved in the lives of seekers from a Muslim background to have an impact for the Gospel.”

Header photo courtesy of Unsplash