An Unreached Muslim People-Group In China?

The Uyghur people of Western China number over 11 million, with several thousand more scattered through some other countries. Uyghurs are almost 100% Muslim, and almost entirely ‘untouched with the Gospel’ (Operation World): ‘The highly charged political and religious atmosphere, the removal of expatriate Christian workers from most of the region, and the general lack of vision by Han Chinese to evangelize these peoples are all contributing factors’ to this dire situation in Western China.

What makes this situation even more tragic is that  there was once a thriving church among the Uyghur people (13^th century).

Some years ago, a young Uyghur named ‘A’ was contemplating what he had learned from his study of the Qur’an: that Isa (Jesus) had never sinned. ‘Why,’ he thought, ‘do they say that Muhammad is greater, if Muhammad sinned, but Jesus did not?’  No one, not even his grandfather, nor his scholarly teachers, could answer that question for him, but many years later a foreign Christian at his university did. ‘A’ eventually came to Christ, studied in Bejing and in Turkey, and became an effective preacher of the Gospel to Muslims in Europe. God can reach them, but He uses human agents to do so!

‘A’  was a student in our Bible school in Germany back in the 90s. He as such an effective evangelist

among Turks that the mission that had sent him to our Bible school asked him to stop evangelizing in our city, because it was getting back to Ankara and making trouble for their work there!

Pray that the Uyghur people will be open to the truth of the Scriptures, and that they will have access to them, and read and study them! You can read up on the Uyghur people at the website of one of our partner missions, SIM:  http://www.sim.org/index.php/content/uyghurs

Mali or Azawad—Religious Freedom or Oppression?

For many years, Mali, West Africa, has been one of few predominantly Muslim countries offering some degree of religious freedom, but the opportunity has been seldom utilized by servants of Christ.

So, others have seized control of the country. In January of 2012, an alliance of fierce Tuareg separatists (another mostly unreached people group) and Al-Quaeda affiliated rebels, armed with Qaddafi’s left-over weaponry, took control of the northern two-thirds of the country, renaming it Azawad. The provisional capital was Gao, but the intended one was Timbuktu (yes, it does exist!). The few Christians who had moved to the area from the south were forced to flee—a Bible school in Gao was closed.

France has continued to help its former colony over the years, and when the rebels crossed their own boundary in January of this year, it was too much to take. French military units assisted the Malian army in driving rebel forces into the mountains, where they continue to mount guerilla attacks.

Despite the uprising, methods of evangelism and discipleship are still available—radio broadcasts, literature distribution (alongside of literacy work), even street evangelism. About 75% of the population is illiterate, so audio cassettes, MP3 players, and SMS cards for mobile phones—all are useful tools in telling the Story.

Not too long ago, one of our workers was traveling with a Malian pastor, visiting individual believers in the wide, sandy diaspora that is typical for the Sahel zone. They visited a little group and began to study the Scriptures. ‘Safwan’  was keenly interested, so ‘Stephan’ (a ReachAcross worker) gave him some Bible study helps, which he devoured. But where had Safwan got his Bible from? There aren’t any bookstores in his tiny village, and even if there were, the Bible certainly wouldn’t be available.

The mystery was soon solved as Safwan told his story: His father had become a committed Christian during his stint in the Malian army. Service completed, he had returned to his home village, where nobody else knew about his new-found faith. He remained the only Christian in his village until the day he died, but some time later, his son brought his father’s old Bible to our meeting. The seed that had lain dormant for a few years began to bear fruit.

With the equivalent of a fourth-grade education, Safwan had trouble reading some passages, but his comprehension is improving. He likes listening to cassette tapes of Bible portions—especially when he can follow along in his New Testament—the Old Testament isn’t available yet (a team of translators is working on it). God is working in the life of this soldier’s son.

Please pray for Mali. Safwan himself gathered in a good harvest of peanuts last year—most families are not so blessed, and if the rainfall isn’t sufficient in late summer, famine will again be just around the corner, as happened in 2012. More important still is the spiritual harvest that is just as meager. Neither type of famine—peanuts or the Bread of Life—is necessary, if God’s people will respond to His call.

Pray that God’s Kingdom will prevail in Mali.

Translated, with additions and revisions, from the German.