Burned Bibles and broken homes (February 6, 2024, Radio Free Asia)
Village leaders and residents barged into a private home in southern Laos to stop several families gathered there from holding a Christian worship service on Sunday
How God is moving among the Yazidi (March 11, 2024, Mission Network News)
Numerous Yazidis have encountered the Gospel since being driven from their homeland by the Islamic State in 2014. Today, the Yazidis’ “openness [to the Gospel] can be debated, but one thing that has been very clear is that God is doing some amazing things,” says Samuel* with Redemptive Stories.
Tunisian Jews scale back annual pilgrimage to ancient synagogue because of security concerns (April 22, 2024, The Associated Press)
The decision comes more than six months into the Israel-Hamas war, which has reverberated throughout the Middle East and North Africa, inciting mass street protests from Morocco to Iraq. In Tunisia, most of the protests have been peaceful but in October, demonstrators desecrated a synagogue in Al-Hammah on the mainland.
Forced marriage of Christian women becoming 'concerningly common' worldwide: Open Doors (March 7, 2024, The Christian Post)
The 2024 Gender Report, compiled by Open Doors’ global research team, draws attention to the marginalization of Christian women who live in countries ranked as the 50 most dangerous for Christian persecution.
Sovereignty is sacred: in Timor-Leste’s remote Oecusse Enclave, a border dispute threatens to open old wounds (February 5, 2024, The Conversation)
For them, Naktuka is pah le’u (sacred land). However, in the wake of recent border negotiations between Indonesia and Timor-Leste, concerns have been raised over how much longer they will be free to access it.
Podcast: Erdogan’s local election defeat reshapes Turkey’s political landscape (April 9, 2024, Radio France Internationale)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's worst electoral defeat in nationwide municipal elections has changed Turkey's political landscape. However, the Opposition's victory came at an awkward time. Turkey's Western allies were looking to strengthen ties with the Turkish President.
East Asia military spending up 6.2% as China tensions mount, report shows (April 22, 2024, Nikkei Asia) (Subscription Required)
The latest data comes amid a flurry of military activity in the region this week, including U.S. naval exercises with the Philippines and air force drills with South Korea. China, meanwhile, is hosting a naval symposium in the port city of Qingdao -- including representatives from the U.S. and other rivals like India -- while it prepares to mark the 75th anniversary of the People's Liberation Army Navy on Tuesday.
Armenia and Azerbaijan agree on ‘historic’ return of villages (April, 19, 2024, Al Jazeera)
Armenia has agreed to return several villages to Azerbaijan in what both countries say is an important milestone as they edge towards a peace deal after fighting two wars since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The fastest-growing countries for software development, according to GitHub (February 5, 2024, Rest of World)
Year over year, the data shows Bangladesh, Nigeria, and Pakistan had the fastest-growing developer population.
With Starlink and Satellite Launches, Mongolia’s Digital Transformation Reaches a Milestone (March 6, 2024, The Diplomat)
Mongolia’s digital transformation is inevitable. Currently, only 23.8 percent of Mongolian territory – less then a quarter – is covered by telecommunications services, including access to high-speed internet. Another 40 percent of the territory is sparsely populated by nomadic people with no access to the internet.
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Joann Pittman
Joann Pittman is Vice President of Partnership and China Engagement and editor of ZGBriefs. Prior to joining ChinaSource, Joann spent 28 years working in China, as an English teacher, language student, program director, and cross-cultural trainer for organizations and businesses engaged in China. She has also taught Chinese at the University …View Full Bio
Blessing Asia
In October-2022 more than 500 Christian leaders from across Asia gathered in Thailand for the Asia 2022 Congress, sponsored by the Lausanne Movement and various partnering organizations. I had the opportunity to participate in the Congress virtually and was mightily blessed. From Bible exposition to K-pop worship, and through seminars and workshops, the participants were encouraged by the stories of what God is doing in countries all over Asia. Clearly, God is on the move.
A beautiful vision was portrayed in a video of the popular worship song The Blessing, featuring singers from all over Asia. Here it is:
Many of the sessions have already been posted on their website and to their YouTube channel.
One that I found particularly helpful considering all that is going on in China was a presentation titled Church and State Relationship in Asia Today. You can see the video here.
I encourage you to spend some time on their website; there are fantastic resources for understanding God’s work in Asia today.
Original link: https://www.chinasource.org/resource-library/blog-entries/blessing-asia/
Image credit: Andrea Brucker, via Unsplash
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