Mark Huffman, executive director of Interserve USA, says your career could open doors where the Gospel is not known. While “traditional” Gospel workers may have difficulty going to certain countries, people with professional skills are often welcomed and appreciated.

“We have opportunities all over the 10/40 Window for so many different professions,” says Huffman.

Interserve sends Christians to live and work among unreached Asian and Arab peoples. They serve in healthcare, education, business, and other critical fields. The ministry originally began in 1852 with sending women to serve South Asia. After 100 years, men were accepted to go. From the beginning, the vision has always been to send working professionals where they are most needed.

“It allows us, really, to enter a culture as Christ entered the earth,” says Huffman “He came and he served people. He healed people. He fed people. He taught people. And that’s what we do as well. We follow that example.”

In the Middle East, the love of Christ shines in the darkness through the lives of Interserve’s workers.

“As we send professionals that come and live a godly life, it sticks out,” says Huffman, “And they begin to see Christ’s love. And it starts to open them up to see and to realize the stereotypes that they were taught are wrong and the image that they have of Christians are wrong, and opens them up to the message of Christ.”

It isn’t easy though. Huffman recently visited workers in the Middle East and personally saw the difficulties. The past four years have been especially hard for many living in the region, including the local Christians. For Americans, there is also increased suspicion and scrutiny due to Israel’s support from the United States. But even as pressure rises, so has spiritual hunger.

“As we know, God works in adversity, and in one of the really difficult countries there, so many people are coming to Christ,” says Huffman. Interserve workers have also been allowed to remain.

“We’re there to add value in that community by creating jobs, by providing health care, by providing education, and they see that value as we serve the people.”

Read their stories and pray for Interserve workers by signing up for updates at InterserveUSA.org. You can also learn more about the opportunities to use your career for the unreached. If you live outside of the United States, click here to find a national Interserve office near you.

Not sure if you’re ready to go long-term? Interserve offers short-term openings from one month up to one year. No matter how long you intend to stay, every worker is assigned to a team so that they do not serve alone.

“The workers are few and the harvest is plentiful,” says Huffman. “So if someone is interested in taking their career, whether they’re a social worker, a plumber, a carpenter, whatever kind of career, we would love to talk to that person.”

Header photo courtesy of Interserve USA.

Gangs controlling 80 percent of Port-au-Prince have left more than half a million people homeless as they fight to expand their territory. Over 3,200 people lost their lives in gang violence between January and May this year.

AMG International’s Brian Dennett says, “Hopes that things would get under control with some of the peacekeeping efforts have not been realized thus far, according to our team.”

An international policing mission organized earlier this year was supposed to restore order. But only 400 of the promised 2,500 soldiers have arrived so far, and they haven’t made any progress against the gangs.

“Haitians just want to live normally. They want to be safe and secure, but this constant threat of gang violence is keeping those dreams very distant for them,” Dennett says.

“People are very afraid. They’re not leaving their homes. They’re afraid of being wounded or even killed by the gunfire.”

Furthermore, Haiti’s inflation rate has surged to nearly 30 percent, crippling the economy. People struggle to afford essentials, including healthcare.

Patient consultation at one of AMG International’s healthcare clinics.
(Photo courtesy of AMG International)

“Our clinics have tried to balance being sustainable in Haiti by offering free health care but charging for the cost of medicine,” Dennett says. However, “inflation has caused a massive uptick in patients who cannot pay for the medications they need.

“We want to continue [meeting] the needs of our brothers and sisters in Haiti, but we are lacking resources to meet those demands.”

Your gift allows AMG to provide care for today and bright hope for tomorrow. Adding on to one of the current medical facilities will give believers more capacity to care for patients in need. Right now, there are more patients than rooms, so people often must be treated outside the building.

Help AMG and its local partners bring hope and healing to desperate Haitians.

“Please pray for peace in Haiti. Think of our brothers and sisters in Haiti and what they are enduring every day as a result of all of this violence,” Dennett says.

“Pray that we’re able to share the love of Christ with those [who] don’t know Him as we meet their desperate needs.”

Header and story images courtesy of AMG International.

Medical supplies are also running low. One British doctor still trapped in Khartoum was shot, and is treating himself with leftover antibiotics and makeshift pillowcase bandages.

Over 450 people have been killed and at least 4,072 wounded since fighting broke out between the Sudanese army and Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The two warring parties agreed to a 72-hour ceasefire to open a humanitarian corridor for evacuations. But that agreement ends tonight at midnight, and recent skirmishes have already broken the ceasefire in certain areas of Khartoum.

Joe Willey with SAT-7 says for Sudanese people trapped and trying to get information, smartphones only help so much. “In Sudan, unlike the US, only 28% of people in the country at least statistically have internet access. But satellite television is really popular.”

(Photo courtesy of SAT-7 Arabic)

Satellite communication is critical in times like this. That’s where SAT-7 ARABIC’s television channel comes in with Gospel hope across the Middle East and North Africa.

“SAT-7 ARABIC is broadcast via satellite as well as social media,” Willey says. “So it is a really powerful tool to be able to share God’s love and make His love visible with the people of Sudan.”

Willey asks, “First and foremost, pray that the violence would stop…as well as asking for prayer for those who have lost loved ones and also that Sudan can be united because that nation itself is struggling to have democratic rule.”

“Please pray for the protection of Christians. Even though it’s a very small number, there is persecution and we’re praying that they would be protected, as well as any businesses that are operated by Christians and any churches or fellowships that meet regularly.”

Learn more about SAT-7 ARABIC’s ministry.

Header image of Sudan flag, courtesy of David Peterson/Pixabay.

Brian Dennett talks about the history of AMG’s presence in the East African country. “It really began as one couple’s dream, local pastor Ruben and his wife Florence Musiime. They had a deep desire to reach young people with the Gospel through education and health care.”

“They actually started with just 11 kids in a room of their church.” 

Today, AMG has eight child development centers in Uganda, along with two schools and a university-level nursing campus.

Healthcare

Between 2000 and 2019, healthy life expectancy in Africa rose by almost 10 years. Greater access to healthcare, especially in rural areas, makes all the difference.

Dennett says AMG participates in this work. “Particularly, we work with birthing problems and at-risk moms. AMG opened a number of clinics and medical centers to reach those people.”

Uganda has one of the lowest nurse-to-patient ratios in the world, Dennett says. “They have a ratio of about one nurse per 11,000 patients. The World Health Organization recognizes one nurse to 1,000 patients as being normal.”

Right now, AMG has about 300 nurses going through the program. But that number will likely grow in the future, as they are working on a new, three-story dormitory.

Gospel ministry

As AMG-trained nurses go out, they not only heal people’s wounds but they also share the story of Jesus.

Pray that AMG’s ministry in Uganda will continue to grow.

The header photo shows the nursing school campus. (Photo courtesy of AMG International)

Bruce Allen with FMI says this mostly represents girls aged 10 to 19. “Sometimes, these young girls don’t even understand what’s happening to their bodies, in terms of menstruation. COVID-19 has played havoc with the lifestyles of Kenyans in recent years. A lot of families relied on school for their kids’ reproduction education.”

Healthcare hurdles

In the late 1960s, Kenya became the first sub-Saharan African country to introduce a family planning program. But Allen says, “Over the last decade and a half, the government shifted its funding from family planning to focusing on the HIV epidemic. Because Kenya was exceptionally hard hit with HIV and AIDS.”

The major cities have some health clinics, but rural areas often lack these resources. Plus, being pregnant comes with a lot of stigma for young girls, so they often do not tell their families. Abortion is not legal in Kenya, and many girls try to induce one themselves, often suffering serious injury or death.

Allen says local churches try to pick up the slack and save lives. “They’re not getting an education from home, and they’re not getting it through the schools. Our churches want to provide it in a Christ-honoring environment. They’re saying, ‘We have to make our youth groups areas where it is safe to have these discussions.’”

“They want the kids to feel like they can open up and talk transparently, candidly, with competent church leaders.”

But these programs are expensive for rural Kenya churches. Through FMI, you can support healthcare and education in Jesus’ name.

Additionally, churches come around young girls who survive their pregnancies. Allen says, “What’s education going to look like when a 12 or 13-year-old girl now has to take care of an infant? Will the church provide tutors so the young parent can still finish their school? There’s a lot of opportunities for all types of ministry to go on.”

Header photo courtesy of Manuela Milani from Pixabay.

Since Thursday, India has reported more than 330,000 new cases every day. As of yesterday, the nation had over 17 million infected.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi called it a “storm” that “has shaken the nation.”

(Photo courtesy of Deepak Choudhary via Unsplash)

Bartholomew* with Mission India explains, “They’ve had a double mutant strain…that they think is part of the reason. And there’s been plenty of festivals as this is a huge season for that in the nation of India. So when you muster those two things together…along with hygiene and healthcare and having access to those things, it just took off.”

This second coronavirus wave is devastating India’s healthcare system.

“Hospitals are critically low on oxygen…. On top of that, major cities are seeing hospitals putting up to two people per bed as they deal with COVID. And a lot of hospitals are now turning away patients,” Bartholomew says.

“We’ve heard reports of partners driving hours. One partner drove 20 hours to take a loved one to a hospital because they had an open bed. So it is just dire.”

The city of Bengaluru — Karnataka state’s capital and a technology hub — is responding to the surge with stricter lockdowns. Delhi was already in lockdown earlier last week. And other cities are following suit.

Bartholomew says these lockdowns mean more economic hardship for Indian families. “A lot of Indians are day laborers. So that means whatever you earn that day, that’s what you live off. That’s what you bring home for food for your family. And with…lockdowns, that means they can’t necessarily earn any money (or the same amount of money they used to), which now starts to lend itself to a humanitarian and starvation crisis potentially.”

Last year, Mission India worked with local believers to distribute Relief Kits to over 100,000 Indian families in need.

With this second wave of cases, Mission India’s partners are, once again, distributing emergency Relief Kits. Each one has enough food and hygiene items for a family of four for four weeks.

(Photo courtesy of Mission India)

Bartholomew says, “Our partners are being the hands and feet of Jesus in the most immediate and urgent way right now as they distribute Relief Kits. These individuals that they’re distributing to, they’ve lost all hope. They think they have nothing left. And in a lot of cases, they have nothing left. They’re looking for something to fill that loss.

“So as we distribute these Relief Kits, all of a sudden, not only are you filling this tangible [need], but then we get to share why we’re doing it. We’re doing it because Jesus has called us to be these types of individuals where we give hope, we give grace, we give life. We’ve had so many countless stories of families breaking down and crying.”

Mission India’s other programs are still ongoing where possible — like their Adult Literacy Classes and Children’s Bible Clubs. As families get Relief Kits, many are joining these other programs and learning more about Jesus’s love for them.

“Pray for our partners as they go out and distribute Relief Kits where possible,” Bartholomew asks. “Pray for those partners that are in communities that are just broken and looking for hope. May they be emboldened to share about the ultimate hope that we know in Jesus.”

If you want to sponsor a Relief Kit with Mission India for just $40, click here to give!

Header photo courtesy of Govind Krishnan via Unsplash.

*Names changed for security purposes.

While Venezuela reports Maduro won 68 percent of the votes, the nation saw a staggeringly low turnout with less than half of registered voters participating.

Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro (Photo courtesy of newsonline via Flickr under Creative Commons: https://goo.gl/mNS16i)

It’s no secret that controversy surrounded this last election season in Venezuela. The European Union and several Latin nations exhorted that Venezuela’s presidential election was proceeding unfairly. Other nations, including the United States, denounced the election outright as a sham.

Steve Shantz with Trans World Radio (TWR) says, “I think the situation that is really of concern is that even if one of the opposition candidates were allowed to win, would that really change Venezuela’s fortunes? The economic woes that they are experiencing, would there be any relief for the citizens, the people of Venezuela who are really suffering these days? And the answer to that is probably not because they would face severe opposition from the military and organized crime in the country that very much back the socialist revolution that has happened there in Venezuela.”

This volatile election season comes at a time when the country is facing a lot of other turmoil. Citizens are suffering under a failing healthcare system and an unprecedented economic crisis. Venezuela currently has the world’s highest inflation rate at 13,000 percent.

“I heard of one guy who quit his job because he realized he just spent his entire salary on a pizza with his girlfriend. People don’t have enough resources to live on anymore. The minimum wage so far in 2018 has already been raised 56 times to try to keep track with inflation. Pharmacies have no medicines. Supermarkets have huge lines. So life is just very, very difficult for people on an everyday basis.”

The prevailing feeling is that, so far, nothing seems like it will change. And yet, everything has changed.

(Photo courtesy of Christian Aid Mission)

“People are very disheartened,” Shantz shares. “A friend of mine, a Venezuelan, just went back to Venezuela to visit her family and said that the whole mood in the country has changed and people have changed and everybody is despondent and depressed because of the situation that they’re in.”

In an environment like this, hope is hard to come by. But that’s where TWR comes in. Their radio programs are broadcasting the Gospel throughout Venezuela.

One of TWR’s morning shows is called Despertar, which means ‘Wake Up’ — a fitting title for a community that desperately needs to be reinvigorated with a spiritual hope that goes deeper than politics or the economy.

“We’re not trying to address the political situation. We’re trying to bring hope into people’s lives and bringing a message of hope to them through what the Bible teaches for how we should deal with these situations in our lives and also that there is hope in faith in God and in Jesus Christ.”

However, TWR’s programming hasn’t been without difficulty as well. “Our offices are in Maracay and there has been electrical failure in the neighborhood where the offices are in. So we’ve been unable to produce radio programs because there is no electricity. Our staff are really struggling to continue to operate there, but we are broadcasting a daily message of hope into Venezuela.”

Venezuela needs the Body of Christ’s prayers on multiple fronts.

For TWR, Shantz shares, “Our staff has asked us to pray for them so they would be able to continue to be able to function on a daily basis, just to get to work and get home again. They have asked us to pray that the electricity would be restored so that they can continue to produce the radio programs because they are passionate about the ministry to their own countrymen.”

Please also pray for Venezuela as a nation and the citizens who are suffering in the current circumstances. Shantz suggests as you pray, put yourself in their shoes.

“Pick somebody, an imaginary person in Venezuela who has the same job as you and picture how you would be able to function and carry on your daily life in the situations that they are facing. Pray for that person specifically. Pray for somebody like you in Venezuela, that God would meet their needs and that God would fix the problems in the country and that Venezuela would be ultimately returned one day to a more stable economic basis so that people’s lives can go on.”

Click here to learn more about TWR’s ministry in Venezuela.

(Header photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Government officials in Bangladesh are eager to repatriate Rohingya refugees back to Myanmar and have agreed to let the UN oversee the repatriation process. Myanmar officials said at the end of January that they were ready for the Rohingya to return, but the process has been delayed until it is deemed “safe”.

However, one Rohingya woman told CNN they will never feel safe enough to return to the nation that allowed the slaughter their people.

For now, most of the Rohingya refugees are living in refugee settlements in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Overcrowding and cramped conditions make it easy for the silent killer of disease to sweep through the camp.

(Photo courtesy of Food for the Hungry)

That’s why Food for the Hungry and Medical Teams International have joined forces to assemble a series of medical facilities throughout the refugee settlements in Cox’s Bazar.

Matt Ellingson with FH explains, “These are temporary structures. You know, everything in a refugee camp is in transition at the most basic levels, so we have shelters that are strategically located through three zones of the hugest camp you can imagine — over 800,000 people living in what used to be jungle, but now it is just rolling mud. These facilities are strategically located so that a catchment area of around 350,000 people have access to these primary healthcare facilities.”

Food for the Hungry has been working in Bangladesh since 1973, so they really are experts on ministry in the context of Bangladesh. For the medical facilities, FH provides the administrative and program guidance, and Medical Teams International brings in the health professionals.

Together, the ministries have already opened three medical facilities in Cox’s Bazar to serve Rohingya refugees. They are also working on three more medical facilities to launch as soon as they can.

(Photo courtesy of Food for the Hungry)

“First, we have to allocate the land, find the space within the camp, [and] prepare the space because it’s a highly unstable land and the monsoon rains are coming. We have to be careful and make sure our facilities won’t slide off the side of the hill. Then we bring in health professionals.”

When the Rohingya refugee crisis first became apparent, Food for the Hungry deployed a needs assessment team. Ellingson was a part of this team and he says, “There were gaps in every type of activity required for life to thrive across the board in this crisis. You know, 600,000 people came across the border in a short matter of a couple of months, so you can imagine that everything from shelter to food, everything was in desperate need.”

Food for the Hungry and Medical Teams International decided that together they could have the most lifesaving impact in the medical care sector. The medical facilities they opened provide healthcare treatments, home visits, and if there is a serious illness or condition that needs hospitalization, they refer patients to a hospital outside the camp.

“Our program is like the tip of the spear in disease outbreak prevention. Your readers and listeners may have heard about the diphtheria outbreak. Our program was going door-to-door identifying people who showed likelihood of having diphtheria and getting them into the healthcare system in an effort to prevent the outbreak of diphtheria across this terrible, just amazingly congested, unsanitary refugee camp.”

Dignity is something that has been stripped from the Rohingya people time and time again. They were not recognized as citizens of Myanmar. They were shuffled into squalor villages in Myanmar that lacked access to many necessities. They were attacked, raped, murdered, and their villages burned. Now they live in congested camps while political figures debate what is to become of them.

(Photo courtesy of Food for the Hungry)

Ellingson says through medical care, Food for the Hungry is aiming to reaffirm the beautiful dignity of the Rohingya people.

“The situation with the Rohingya refugees is complex. It is not just something that just happened over the last couple of months. This is a minority-versus-majority tension that has hundreds of years of history behind it, so it is complicated. There is a lot of history in this scenario. But regardless of all the hundreds of years of tension, people shouldn’t be treated this way. So we are motivated by the love that the Lord has for us to love our neighbor, regardless of where that neighbor is, and the Rohingya are our neighbor as well.”

Please take this opportunity to pray for Food for the Hungry’s ministry and for the Rohingya refugees.

Ellingson says for their team on the ground in Bangladesh, “Just being physically worn out and then vulnerable to illness is huge. The impact we are seeing in the United States here with this horrible flu season, the same type of impact is happening on the ground within the humanitarian community. When aid workers fall ill, critical services are impacted negatively. So pray for health for the whole team — emotional health, spiritual health, and physical health.”

Click here if you would like to financially support ministry to Rohingya refugees through Food for the Hungry.

However, Life Matters Worldwide’s Tom Lothamer says a new bill introduced in May called the Do No Harm Act could change everything.

“This new act, which is the Do No Harm Act, would unleash even greater federal control over our freedom to believe and act according to our biblical beliefs. So the act basically says if it’s a government mandate or a government law, then you cannot come under the umbrella of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act for protection because that no longer applies. Basically it would strip that law of any meaning whatsoever.”

The bill was introduced by Reps. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.) and Bobby Scott (D-Va.) as an amendment to RFRA. The Do No Harm Act is currently at a standstill in Congress and has yet to be passed.

An example of RFRA in action was the Supreme Court case of Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. Two years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that Christian-owned Hobby Lobby was exempt from providing abortifacient drugs in their employee healthcare coverage.

(Logo courtesy of Life Matters Worldwide)

Lothamer says, “Now this new [Do No Harm Act], as an example if it were passed, could undo that and Hobby Lobby would be required to have abortifacients or pay for abortions within their medical care.”

You can see where this is going. Employers opting out of abortifacients coverage, doctors refusing abortion procedures, pastors declining from marrying homosexual couples, and more would be in jeopardy.

Christians simply want the freedom to live out our faith according to what God has ordained through His Word — not have to ‘check our beliefs at the door’.

“We recognize all people are made in God’s image,” says Lothamer, “whether they’re people that believe as we do or they believe the opposite of what we believe, they’re still image-bearers and because of that, we show respect as human beings and we pray for them. However, in interacting with them or discussing these issues, we do that in the context of compassion and mercy and respect, but we stand firm on what we believe.

“Now let’s say, for instance if the act takes place, then there’s going to be some choices we may have to make as believers. Do I participate in that, even though it violates my deeply-held biblical beliefs, or do I take a stand? We’re not there yet, but we could get there, and especially as those of us who believe in the sanctity of human life in respect of life and abortion, euthanasia, and assisted suicide, and some of these other areas, we may be forced to take a stand that might put us in direct confrontation with the federal government.”

(Photo courtesy of Wycliffe Associates)

The players currently taking the stage in the U.S. government will be key influencers of where we as a nation will land on the issues of religious freedom.

“Whoever is elected this next election to the presidency, and also we remember that all of the House seats are up for grabs this election, and a number of Senate seats, if by some way, what I would classify as the more liberal element would take control, this act would pass very quickly and be imposed upon all of America.”

There are a few things you can do. First of all, Lothamer encourages political engagement.

“It’s imperative for us to prayerfully consider who we should vote for, and voting for those people who uphold the constitution, who stand for the sanctity of human life in all places, not just the presidency, but the congress and the state level and even the local level. So we participate in that election by voting especially, not sitting back and saying, ‘Well, I don’t like who’s running, so I won’t vote.’ That’s not a proper way to think about it.”

Lothamer says you can also call your government representatives. “I would encourage [readers] to call their congressmen or women and ask them questions about [the Do No Harm Act], what do they think, and encourage them first of all in finding out what really the whole law entails. Then talk intelligently with them in how they can encourage them to vote against such a law.”

But really, in the midst of political involvement and raising awareness, Christians cannot allow defensiveness to overrule mindfulness of God’s commission to make disciples, have compassion on those who are lost, and reach out to those who need Christ’s transformation and love.

“It’s going to require that we as Christians, regardless of what happens, are going to continue to have to seek out and reach out to people with needs and sharing the Gospel and ministering to people in need. That’s not going to change.”

The most imperative thing to remember is our God is still in control, and He has a plan that is playing out the way He intends for the achievement of His sovereign purposes.

And that should give us the greatest confidence and hope.

“No matter what happens, God is still sovereign, and we are okay. Like my pastor said, ‘It’s going to be rough, but for us who believe in Christ and who actually are waiting for His return, it’s not terminal.’”

Click here to learn more about Life Matters Worldwide and their work to promote compassion towards the sanctity of human life.

Mother Teresa Hospital serves the needy in both rural villages and city slums, operating as the Bangalore Baptist Hospital's satellite clinic. Through mobile clinics, disease prevention and community education, BGR works at this center to help rural villagers gain access to medical services they need.

Now they're expanding their medical outreach to include eye care and pregnancy services.

Since 2010, BGR and the Bangalore Baptist Hospital have worked together to improve healthcare access in 40 villages. Over 3,600 patients came to Mother Theresa Hospital that year, and nearly 700 people received help through mobile clinics.

The ministries focus their efforts on vulnerable people groups: women, people with disabilities, and the elderly. A tailoring unit helps women gain job skills and opportunities for employment, while a community-based rehabilitation project seeks to improve life for the disabled.

By meeting physical needs, medical workers are able to point to the Great Healer, Jesus Christ. Pray that God's healing power will draw more people to know Him.

Click here to support this project financially.