Bruce Allen with FMI says such alliances are not uncommon in Indonesia. “I have seen this many times. Let’s say FMI is providing construction materials so FMI partners can meet in a church building instead of a home. Muslim neighbors come and help the church be built. They’re saying, “I’m a Muslim, but we’re neighbors, we help each other.’”

“So that’s the perspective that’s being taken by these two groups.”

Cultural factors

Indonesia gained independence from Dutch colonial rule in 1949. The government realized they needed to unify 6,000 inhabited islands, and tried to build religious tolerance into the constitution.

Allen says this attitude brings many opportunities for FMI partners. “They will invite their Muslim neighbors, and the Muslim neighbors do attend their services. That openness does allow for spiritual conversations and evangelism to go on. But there are pockets of persecution.”

Persecution can exist on one island, or even one part of an island, and not in other areas. The World Watch List, which describes the most difficult countries for Christians, Ranks Indonesia at 28. Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim majority country by population.

How to pray

Pray for perseverance among Indonesian Christians, and that their love would reveal Jesus to their neighbors.

For those who are persecuted, Allen says, “Pray they would look to biblical directives for how to deal with persecution, which includes blessing and forgiving your enemies. These are perhaps the hardest instructions in the New Testament.”

But also pray that interfaith work between religious groups will create change in Indonesian society, removing pockets of persecution and replacing them with harmony.

The header photo shows a Catholic church in Indonesia. (Photo courtesy of Bennylin, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

“One-fifth of the U.S. public — and a third of adults under 30 — are religiously unaffiliated today, the highest percentages ever in Pew Research Center polling,” the October 9 report states. “In the last five years alone, the unaffiliated have increased from just over 15% to just under 20% of all U.S. adults.

“Overwhelmingly, they think that religious organizations are too concerned with money and power, too focused on rules and too involved in politics.”

But, Senior Vice President and Director of Collegiate Ministry Jim Lundgren says InterVarsity Christian Fellowship is seeing just the opposite.

Record levels of participation include 909 chapters on 590 campuses and more than 38,000 “core” students and faculty (those who participate in more than 50 percent of all activities). In the midst of growing numbers of students and faculty, more than half of InterVarsity’s participants report consistent church attendance.

Multiple thousands more are involved with investigative Bible studies and other outreach activities.

Lundgren says understanding Millennials — those born after 1980 and comprise the nation’s undergraduate demographic — is key to the Gospel growth they’re seeing.

“They’re very spiritually interested, but often times they get talked to, rather than talked with, and that’s what turns them off about the Church,” he explains. “They don’t want to be talked at, or preached at.”

By connecting with students at a peer level, InterVarsity can introduce the Gospel.

“They want to be involved; they want their questions taken seriously,” says Lundgren. “When you do that, they’re very interested.”

The process starts with ‘Hello’. InterVarsity staff and students discuss current issues with their classmates at so-called “Proxe Stations.”

“They’re very artistic; they deal with particular issues like, ‘Where in your life do you experience scars?’ and it gets you into a conversation about emotional scars, about spiritual scars, about physical scars,” Lundgren explains.

“Pretty soon you’re in a very deep conversation about real things with these students.”

These Proxe Stations are just one of the ways InterVarsity is getting Millennials plugged in to the Kingdom of God.

“Too often young people are not challenged with the understanding that the Gospel message addresses issues they care about, such as justice and compassion,” said Lundgren in a press release.

“InterVarsity has developed tools that help connect Millennials with the 2,000-year old mission of the church.”

One of those tools is the Price of Life Invitational, one of the largest outreaches in InterVarsity’s 72-year history. Five hundred students will be trained to engage their peers with the love of Christ through the lens of human trafficking.

“The question we ask, and will ask during that week in October, is ‘How much are people really worth?’,” says Lundgren. “Are people just a commodity to be sold for sex, or sold to work in a sweatshop somewhere?

“Are we both willing to talk about their value, but also deal with the real issues?”

Participants will learn more about human trafficking, and have an opportunity to engage in the battle through World Vision and International Justice Federation.

“In the course of that, we introduce them to the Jesus who cares about people’s physical lives, emotional lives and spiritual lives,” Lundgren says.

The Price of Life Invitational will be held October 1 – 12 in New York City, and will include over 80 events on 10 campuses. Click here to get connected.

InterVarsity continues to engage with public and private colleges and universities on the issue of religious qualifications for leadership of Christian campus organizations. They’ve also introduced a new ministry focusing on U.S. students who are studying abroad.

Learn more about InterVarsity here.

The decline of religious affiliation in America leads to an important question — have you shared the Gospel lately?

“The Scriptures tell us, ‘Be ready to share your explanation for the hope that you have in Jesus Christ’,” states Lundgren.

“We need to be ready to share the reason for our hope, and not just in theory, but how is Jesus Christ at work in our lives today.”

"One-fifth of the U.S. public–and one-third of adults under 30–are religiously unaffiliated today, the highest percentages ever in Pew Research Center polling," the October 9 report states. "In the last five years alone, the unaffiliated have increased from just over 15% to just under 20% of all U.S. adults.

"Overwhelmingly, they think that religious organizations are too concerned with money and power, too focused on rules, and too involved in politics."

But Senior Vice President and Director of Collegiate Ministry Jim Lundgren says InterVarsity Christian Fellowship is seeing just the opposite.

Record levels of participation include 909 chapters on 590 campuses and more than 38,000 “core” students and faculty (those who participate in more than 50% of all activities). In the midst of growing numbers of students and faculty, more than half of InterVarsity's participants report consistent church attendance.

Multiple thousands more are involved with investigative Bible studies and other outreach activities.

Lundgren says understanding Millennials–those born after 1980, comprising the nation's undergraduate demographic–is key to the Gospel growth they're seeing.

"They're very spiritually interested, but often times they get talked to, rather than talked with, and that's what turns them off about the Church," he explains. "They don't want to be talked at or preached at."

By connecting with students at a peer level, InterVarsity can introduce the Gospel.

"They want to be involved; they want their questions taken seriously," says Lundgren. "When you do that, they're very interested."

The process starts with "Hello." InterVarsity staff and students discuss current issues with their classmates at so-called "Proxe Stations."

"They're very artistic; they deal with particular issues like, 'Where in your life do you experience scars?' And it gets you into a conversation about emotional scars, about spiritual scars, about physical scars," Lundgren explains.

"Pretty soon, you're in a very deep conversation about real things with these students."

These Proxe Stations are just one of the ways InterVarsity is getting Millennials plugged in to the Kingdom of God.

“Too often young people are not challenged with the understanding that the Gospel message addresses issues they care about, such as justice and compassion,” says Lundgren in a press release.

“InterVarsity has developed tools that help connect Millennials with the 2,000-year-old mission of the church.”

One of those tools is the Price of Life Invitational, one of the largest outreaches in InterVarsity's 72-year history. 500 students will be trained to engage their peers with the love of Christ through the lens of human trafficking.

"The question we ask, and will ask during that week in October, is 'How much are people really worth?'" says Lundgren. "Are people just a commodity to be sold for sex, or sold to work in a sweatshop somewhere?

"Are we both willing to talk about their value, but also deal with the real issues?"

Participants will learn more about human trafficking and have an opportunity to engage in the battle through World Vision and International Justice Federation.

"In the course of that, we introduce them to the Jesus who cares about people's physical lives, emotional lives, and spiritual lives," Lundgren says.

The Price of Life Invitational will be held October 1-12 in New York City and will include over 80 events on 10 campuses. Click here to get connected.

InterVarsity continues to engage with public and private colleges and universities on the issue of religious qualifications for leadership of Christian campus organizations. They've also introduced a new ministry focusing on U.S. students who are studying abroad.

Learn more about InterVarsity here.

The decline of religious affiliation in America leads to an important question: have you shared the Gospel lately?

"The Scriptures tell us, 'Be ready to share your explanation for the hope that you have in Jesus Christ,'" states Lundgren.

"We need to be ready to share the reason for our hope, and not just in theory, but how Jesus Christ is at work in our lives today."

In 2005, the International Labor Organization estimated that 12.3 million people worldwide were caught in the bonds of human trafficking, which comprises both forced labor and sex trafficking. In June 2012, the ILO released another report: approximately 27 million people are now entangled in this demoralizing yet lucrative trade.

Behind drug trafficking, human trafficking is the world’s second-largest criminal industry. While East and Central Asia still top the charts as having the most trafficking victims, the number of victims in Africa has risen over the past eight years.

According to the ILO, just over half of forced labor victims are women and girls. So are 98% of those trapped in sex trafficking.

“I see how much God exalted women in the Bible, how much women played a role in the ministry…, and it breaks my heart that such talent, such passion, and such beauty is being held captive,” says Tracy Thomas of Bright Hope International.

“It lights a fire under me to just spread the word, to tell people that there is hope. There is hope after this devastation, and that hope is in Jesus Christ.”

Bright Hope is rescuing girls from the sex trade in northern India. Their program began in June 2012 and combines the efforts of Bright Hope, local congregations, and a group called Freedom Firm.

“They’ve been helping us with the rescue, and the church body’s been coming alongside to help with medical care, as well as the spiritual and mental needs,” Thomas explains. She was amazed when local churches approached Bright Hope with an idea for the Anti-Human Trafficking Program.

“The church members and the leadership were saying, ‘Help us figure out how to do this,'” she says. “There was plenty of rescuing to be done; the hard part was mobilizing the different parts and pulling it all together.”

Last month, Bright Hope teams got to see how God is using their preparation, along with His timing and guidance, to make a difference in India. Three leaders of the anti-human trafficking program intervened in a situation involving two young trafficked girls and were able to get the minors into a government safe-house.

Prayers began for funding and governmental permission to build a safe-house of their own in the region. This way, Bright Hope teams could give the girls more attention and mentoring.

“We just received approval to open a safe-house in that town, which is a huge answer to prayer!” says Thomas. “So as soon as we’re able to secure the safe-house and location, the government has promised that those young girls are going to be transferred to our care, in our safe-house.”

Praise the Lord for this development. Pray that a location and facility could be secured quickly to provide a safe transition home for girls who leave trafficking.

Meanwhile, Thomas says funding and working by “the laws of the land,” India’s legal process, remains a challenge. Pray for wisdom and patience for Bright Hope workers as they keep fighting these battles. Come alongside their efforts by clicking here.

“That takes some time,” admits Thomas, “but we want to do it the right way so that they stay out of trafficking.”

Along with rescuing girls and women, Bright Hope raises awareness of the problem and helps rescued women find healing.

“We want them to come in and experience the love that Jesus would give to all people, and then hopefully come to know it for themselves,” states Thomas.

Pray that trafficked women would begin to seek God’s face, “That He would become real to them, even before His hands and feet have come to talk to them about Christ.”

Brian Carlson with Biblica says that rate is the same for teens attending church.

"We want to challenge American teenagers to take a good, hard look at their own sexual choices," Carlson says. "They care about human trafficking, they care about pandemic diseases like AIDS, they care about orphans.

"They care about all these social justice issues. Yet studies are showing that they're engaging in the same behavior that's causing those issues around the world."

To combat premarital sex and prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS in developing nations, Biblica developed Reach4Life. It's a tool that uses Scripture to teach young people about abstinence.

"Public schools began using it throughout Africa because it was so effective at keeping kids from AIDS," explains Carlson. "It not only taught them abstinence, but it changed their life because it was the Gospel."

Now the program is used in 28 countries worldwide. While it's very effective in places like Africa and Thailand, Calson says it was hard to transfer the program as-is to American youth. The materials were written by and for teens in the developing world.

"On the surface, it's not relevant to the United States," says Carlson. "But in actuality, the principles are very relevant to the United States, because if you look at sexual activity stats among teenagers around the world, it's basically the same."

Carlson says that while the dangers of premarital sex are the same worldwide, teens seem to take more of an educated risk.

"The stats are all the same," he says. "The difference is that in Africa, you'll get HIV. In Latin America, there's a high risk of STDs, teenage pregnancies. In the United States…it doesn't seem as relevant to our culture, but it is."

Carlson adds, "The United Nations has called the AIDS pandemic the 'greatest human crisis of our time,' and we do need to respond to that as the Church. But I would also say we're having a 'moral pandemic' in America among our teenagers."

Biblica's solution? A video curriculum called Flipped. Youth pastors can use it to educate their students on abstinence and how to stop AIDS. Carlson says they're also challenged to put a Reach4Life Bible for $4 into the hands of a teen in a developing nation.

"We want to challenge American students to provide that $4," Carlson states. "The average American teenager has $104 of disposable income every single week.

"They have $104 of disposable income without any mortgages, without any bills, without anything to pay for. And what they usually end up spending that money on is themselves. We want to challenge them to begin spending that money to save the life of kids on the other side of the world."

While the Flipped program isn't available yet, Biblica did record the video curriculum during a Reach4Life launch in Trinidad and Tobago. You can view the videos captured by seven American teens here.

"We ended up producing four video curriculum based upon what they captured in a reality TV style, with a written curriculum that goes along with it, that youth pastors can use to engage their own students in the principles of Reach4Life," Carlson says.

Carlson explains that by engaging the youth of America, the Reach4Life program can bring Christ to every corner of the world.

"There are 300,000 youth ministries in the country," he states. "We're really confident that this can happen."

Pray God would use this program to challenge U.S. teens.

"It's just a very hard culture, and we need to be praying for our own teenagers, for our own students, for teenagers who go to church, that they would honor God with their sexual choices," says Carlson.

Pray that more American teens would say, "I'm not going to live for the cultural norms. I'm going to honor God with my choices when it comes to sex."

Fouad Masri, president of the Crescent Project, says some the abuses are unconscionable. He says while Islam claims men and women are equal, that's not the case socially. "The majority of Muslim women, if you take it across the board, are illiterate and uneducated. They don't give them a chance. There's a struggle with child marriages, child labor, concubines, polygamy, and divorce."

Masri says young girls are even abused. "A Yemeni girl, aged 12, died from internal bleeding due to the fact she was married to a man three times her age and she wasn't ready, physically, for marriage." He says this type of marriage is allowed in Islam.

Crescent Project is doing something about it. Masri says, "As Christians, we have a responsibility in the sight of God to speak for justice. We have a responsibility to speak the truth in love. And we feel like many of these cases will not be changed unless we ask the Lord God to intervene."

The month of May has been set aside as a time to pray for Muslim women, says Masri. "People can sign up to pray for social injustice and Muslim women who have not heard the Good News of Jesus. The whole month of May we are sending e-mails on a daily basis on specific stories about issues concerning Muslim women and how to pray for God to intervene."

Masri says most Muslims don't know what the Bible teaches because Bibles are illegal in many Muslim countries. When Muslim women read the Bible, their hearts are open. "When they read the words of Jesus and the way Jesus in the Bible treated women–His mom and His disciples," many turn to Christ.

Coupled with the month-long prayer effect, Crescent Project is hosting an event called, "Can You See Me?" in Minneapolis, Minnesota, dedicated to praying for Muslim women facing abuse and injustice.

If you'd like to join the prayer effort, you can go to http://www.CrescentProject.org and sign up. Masri says, "We would appreciate people rallying behind this effort by asking others to forward the e-mail and ask others to join them. We would like Christians to rally and see God work."

If you've ever considered Muslim evangelism, this is the place to start. Masri says, "According to Jesus, you start everything you do with prayer. So, this situation needs to be started with prayer."

"One real excitement for me is just beginning to see a new generation of young people who are really sold out to the Lord and really desiring to make an impact with their lives," he said. With this passion, young people are willing to give up everything to see their vision fulfilled, including education, money and the safety of countries with religious freedoms.

Ramsay said he worries, however, that young people might tend to rush onto the field without proper training. That's why the Mission Society is channeling this energy through their training, "Part of our job now is to take that passion, that interest, and help direct it in ways that really make a difference." he said.

Highlighted at Urbana 09, Ramsay observed how much this passion has been focused on issues of social justice.

"Social justice is nothing new, but there seems to be an extra pouring out, I think, from the Holy Spirit, of an awareness and a passion for [social justice] among this generation," Ramsay said. Issues like AIDS orphans, human trafficking and child slavery are in the forefront of many of these individuals' minds.

Within this new generation, as well as missions as a whole, Ramsay observed another trend. "The other movement that we're experiencing at The Mission Society is that missions is becoming more and more of collaborative effort."

Ministries are partnering with other ministries and national churches so that their combined efforts can reach the maximum amount of people with the message of Christ in more creative and varied ways than ever.

"For the unfinished past to get finished, it's going to take much more effort than simply one culture or one church or one agency, but really it going to be the result of a lot of people working together," Ramsay said.

The previous generation's strong point was networking, and by combining this with the new generation's momentum, Ramsay and The Mission Society expect great things.

However, as The Mission Society focuses on these trends–some unfamiliar territory, Ramsay asked for wisdom: "As we're engaging more and more into the unreached areas of the world, especially were Islam is dominant, there's real wisdom needed" in how best to proceed.

Ramsay also asked for prayer in training this next generation, giving them a meaningful experience and also continuing guidance for the full-term missionaries as they work with these youth.

Are you a young person with a vision for missions? Visit The Mission Society's Web site and get started today.

"The Church in America today lacks a biblical understanding of Islam and tools [for] how to witness to or communicate with Muslims without offending them," said Fouad Masri of the Crescent Project.

To help, the Crescent Project is hosting a BRIDGES One-Day Seminar in Louisville Kentucky.

Masri said, "It is a one-day training on Islam and how to build bridges with Muslims."

Held on March 6, the conference will last from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Topics covered are: History of Islam, Islamic Belief & Ritual, Attitudes of an Ambassador, Bridging the Gospel, and Tools for Reaching Muslims. The seminar will remind Christians of their calling, not only to Muslims but to the whole world.

"Our role is to show them the love of Jesus. Our role is to be an ambassador for Christ. Our role is to focus on Jesus as the Savior and present them the best thing we have," Masri said.

Already, these seminars have helped to train and equip 12,500 individuals. Masri said there are a variety of attendees, with about a third consisting of people from the business world, a third from the church, and a third who are students in high school or college.

Ultimately, the seminar is crucial because many Muslims want to hear about Christ, Masri said. And their response to His message is seen daily: "Really, God is on the move, and every day we see Muslims take Bibles, become followers of Jesus, be baptized. So it's exciting to see that God is working."

Also, on Feb. 18 the Crescent Project is offering another way to reach out to the Muslim world through a day of pray for Muslim women. Masri said these women experience social injustice daily through female circumcision, pleasure marriage, child marriage, wife abuse and polygamy.

"As believers in Jesus, we are required to speak up for the poor, for the oppressed, and for the people in prison. A lot of women are oppressed in the Muslim world," he said.

Please join believers around the globe on Feb. 18 to pray for Muslim women. Pray also for the leaders of Muslim countries to change the rules that bind so many of these women.

For more information about this day of prayer, or to sign up for the BRIDGES seminar, click here.

Or you can visit the Crescent Project's Web site to learn about their other ministries.

The initiative of Joni and Friends is aimed at higher education and providing answers to hot topics on disability. Their focus will be on social and policy issues. "We want to speak to the secular world, and we want to give them another perspective–a Biblical perspective, a Christian perspective—and re-engage medicine and technology with the understanding of theology so it's a more balanced view and perspective," said Steve Bundy, the managing director of the CID. 

They have created a board of theologians, ethicists, educators, doctors, and attorneys to help answer these questions.

They are also providing higher education on disability; ministering to as well as empowering the disabled. "Twenty percent of our population is affected by disability, and yet seminaries are not preparing ministers to go out and welcome them into their churches," said Bundy. The CID is praying for open doors in seminaries and universities where they can train people in all fields to deal with disabilities.

Currently there are no other seminaries offering training for disability ministry.   

Those who would like to dive deeper into hands-on education are invited to take part in their internship program. It is a hands-on learning experience, and credits earned from the CID will be transferable.

"The enemy is not going to like this, so we need God's protection upon our ministry as we really move into his territory," said Bundy.