God is Moving

Last Friday I told a group of servant leaders at our church a little bit about the great work that God is doing in Asia right now, specifically in India.  I have been keeping a close eye on this movement of God over the past 6 months and have been amazed to see the kind of passion that exists in the lives of Christians overseas.  Today as I was reading some news from that part of the world I came across this article.  It caught my eye because this is the organization I encouraged our church to consider partnering with next year to be a part of the great work that God is doing in that part of the world.  Pray for these people!

Missionary Attacked on The Way to Church

   Gospel for Asia-supported missionary Jethu Monin was attacked by anti-Christian extremists while he was walking to church on Sunday. They badly injured Jethu, and he is now recovering.
Jethu serves in an area dominated by people who worship the gods and goddesses of their traditional religions. Many of the devotees of these religions are fearful as they see the once-faithful choose to give their hearts to Christ.
   The attackers left Jethu badly beaten and they had one message for him:
"You should not conduct Christian prayer meetings in this area," the attackers told him.
They also demanded that he leave or face more extreme consequences. This was not the first time that the 25-year-old missionary had faced persecution. When he and his family chose to follow Christ their own village expelled them. But Jethu has compassion for the men who beat him. He understands their point of view because he used to be one of them. Jethu and his family were staunch believers and followers of this same traditional religion. Then Jethu heard about the love of Jesus from a Bible college student. By this time, he had already grown discouraged because of many problems in his life, which his gods and goddesses didn't seem to care about.
   Jethu's parents were shocked to see their son's transformation into a joyful person. They soon followed in the footsteps of Christ, too. This caused quite an uproar in their village.
"They tried to convert us back into the former religion. As they could not change our decision to follow Jesus, they threatened us and expelled us from the village," Jethu explained. "At this time of turmoil, God became our strength and courage who kept us safe in His hands."
The family has followed Christ wholeheartedly ever since. They are now praying for the men who attacked Jethu, that they will come to know Christ.
Jethu's church also asks for prayer for his complete healing and that this incident will not cause him any discouragement.