Missions Insider
Exclusive Stories from the Mission Field
May 18, 2023
Visiting a town downstream years ago, a tribal leader in Brazil had sold many of his goods and spent the earnings on alcohol. Though drunk, he was heading out in his small canoe to the tribal village he had founded. “Unable to paddle, he was swept away by the current of the river,” the leader of a native ministry said. “He lay on the hull of the canoe, and he was taken downstream far from his village. He was swept away by the wind and the river.”
May 11, 2023
A single mother in North Africa wanted nothing to do with Christians, but when unclean spirits began haunting her daughter, she was compelled to bring her to a service for healing prayer. Known for being contentious and unruly, Ruba* often neglected her seven children and had left the now-haunted daughter in the care of a relative who practiced witchcraft, the leader of a native ministry said. “Evil spirits inhabited her daughter, and when she noticed, she took her daughter back home after three years,” the leader said. “She was now 14 years old, but she was haunted by evil spirits.”
May 4, 2023
Hamza told leaders of a church in the Middle East that the New Testament had been altered over the centuries and was full of textual problems. The university student had received a New Testament from their church and informed them that Jesus couldn’t possibly be God. “We just listened to him and treated him respectfully, putting in a few thoughts when possible for him to consider,” the leader said.
April 27, 2023
Lucero* had fled the occult and abuse and was addicted to strong drink when she tearfully asked native Christian workers in a remote village in the Andes to pray for her wrecked life. Workers learned that the 48-year-old Lucero had been estranged from her six children since abandoning them for alcohol years prior. “Her parents were witches,” the leader of the ministry based in Peru said. “She and her younger sister used to watch the evil rituals that her parents performed.
April 20, 2023
Military conflict in the first three weeks of March increased the number of Internally Displaced Persons in Burma (Myanmar) by nearly 100,000, bringing the total since the 2021 military coup to 1.76 million. Desperation in Burma is growing but, amid opposition and restrictions, in many areas only native workers have the knowledge and networks to meet needs. They are risking their lives to do so.
April 13, 2023
Villagers feared the chief priest of a tribal religion in South Asia because they believed he had received great power from a god, but Christians feared him for another reason. Born to a family of tribal priests, Mayank Markam* led worship and animal sacrifice at religious festivals and was well known beyond his community. Local people followed his directives in fear, but Christians feared him because they did not follow him – incurring his wrath.
Exclusive stories from the mission field