SOCIAL MEDIA ASSISTS IN LAOS

A report from Christian Aid Mission suggests that social media is proving a key role for Christianity in Laos. In a country where news media are tightly controlled, social media is highly valued as a source of information. A native ministry says response to the Facebook page it began in June last year– including that from non-Christians – has been overwhelming. More than 55,000 people are following them on Facebook – most of them young people. More than 1,500 people across 12 provinces last year put their trust in Christ. This has resulted in the planting of 17 house churches.

CHURCH GROWS IN SW SYDNEY

According to sydneyanglicans.net a Sydney church that began in a converted garage in 2016 with 40 people has begun a building program to accommodate its growing congregation. Leppington Hope Church Family, southwest of the city has been holding two Sunday morning services and now has erected a marquee to create more space for the 220 adults and children attending.

MEDIA STRATEGY PLANNED FOR UK

ASSIST News Service reports that a Christian broadcaster has met with decision makers from across the UK in support of a vision to make Jesus known to millions of people over the next seven years. Michael Youssef, Leading The Way founder and president, met with church and business leaders and politicians in several meetings to discuss the strategy. Dr Youssef told them Leading The Way is multiplying its media outlets all over the world to produce new evangelistic content for non-Christians. They also plan to saturate digital platforms with Biblical teaching, and foster a support network for underground churches.

RELIGIOUS PEOPLE ARE ‘HAPPIER’
As reported in Eternity News, “People who are active in religious congregations tend to be happier and more civically engaged than either religiously unaffiliated adults or inactive members of religious groups,” according to a new Pew Research Centre analysis of survey data from Australia, the United States and more than two dozen other countries.” Australia comes across as a relatively happy country: 45 per cent of people active in religious communities report themselves as “very happy,” with unaffiliated and inactive religious people closely bunched at 33 and 32 per cent respectively. The happiest of all is Mexico with 71 per cent of people active in religious communities telling researchers they are very happy; religious but inactive people at 64 per cent, and the unaffiliated at 61 per cent.

ASIA BIBI OFFICIALLY FREE
ChristianHeadlines.com reported a few weeks ago that Pakistani judges upheld their acquittal of Asia Bibi and she was free to leave the country to join her family in Canada. After being imprisoned and placed on death row for some eight years for purportedly insulting Islam, the Christian mother was finally a free woman. Bibi was arrested in 2010 when several Muslim women sparked an argument with her for offering water to other Muslim women after she, a Christian, had already sipped from the cup. Bibi was arrested for insulting the prophet Muhammad under the Islamic country’s blasphemy laws. Bibi was held in prison until October 2018 when a panel of three-judges reversed her sentence for lack of evidence.

FRANKLIN GRAHAM IN AUSTRALIA
Franklin Graham’s tour of Australia began on 9th February in Perth, with over 13,200 people in attendance at the city’s RAC Arena. The tour continued through Darwin on 13th February and last night in Melbourne. Other cities to be visited this month include Brisbane tomorrow night, Adelaide (20th) and Sydney on the 23rd and 24th. Music at the meetings is supplied by Planetshakers Band.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC A PRACTISING CHRISTIAN
Various media have reported on the fact that tennis player Novak Djokovic is an Orthodox Christian, and he does not hesitate to say it publicly. It is not uncommon to observe Djokovic invoking Christ during a meeting or wearing a cross around his neck to witness to his faith. For him, his religious beliefs come before his 68 titles, including 12 Grand Slam tournaments earned since the beginning of his career.

FIRST NEW CHURCH IN CUBA
The Christian Post reports that the first new Catholic church to be built in Cuba in over 60 years opened its doors recently in the rural town of Sandino, providing what some say is “a new sign of faith” in the socialist country. With the help of a parish in Tampa, Florida, the Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish became the first of three new parishes to be completed across the island nation. The bright yellow church that seats about 200 people is the first Catholic parish to be dedicated since the days of the Cuban Revolution and the revolutionary government’s crackdown on organized religion.

CHURCH SERVICE ENDS IN THE HAGUE
According to Eternity News, A church service that has run continuously for nearly 100 days in The Hague has finally ended after a political agreement was reached that offers the Armenian family being sheltered there a safe future in the Netherlands. The Dutch government agreed to pardon the Tamrazyan family who had been threatened with deportation as part of a wider amnesty that will affect more than 600 families. Derk Stegeman, a pastor at Bethel church, said the Tamrazyan family had been reassured that they would be included among those allowed to stay in the country.

JOYCE MEYER RETHINKS HER MESSAGE
Eternity News reports that Joyce Meyer, the popular American charismatic Christian author and speaker, has told a US audience that her views on prosperity and faith had got “out of balance.” Meyer, who heads up the multi-million-dollar Joyce Meyer Ministries, has been repeatedly criticised for some of her teachings and her lavish lifestyle. Her teachings have been labelled the “prosperity gospel”. Meyer’s recent comments do not back away entirely from prosperity teaching, but rather point to it as an example of one “movement” among many that has got ‘out of balance’.

HILLSONG’S GLOBAL EXPANSION
Started by Brian Houston and wife, Bobbie, in 1983, Hillsong Church has become a global phenomenon with campuses in New York (led by hipster pastor Carl Lentz), London, Copenhagen, and Buenos Aires to name a few. Writing in Christianity Today, Clint Bryan notes that ‘the Hillsong music itself, with such singable titles as “Mighty to Save” or “I Surrender,” cuts across denominational lines. But in certain cultural or geopolitical contexts beyond Seattle or Sydney, the music has also served to subvert church and state confines. Kinga Povedák, a religion research fellow in Szegad, Hungary, notes how Hillsong’s music fueled an alternative, faith-based youth movement that resisted the tenets of socialism in her country in recent decades.’

NEW TV SHOW ABOUT JESUS
The History channel has announced that they will be releasing, in March, a new TV mini-series that follows the life of Jesus as both a man and the Messiah. The show which is called Jesus: His Life is set to be an eight-part television series that shows Jesus’ life from the perspective of those who were around him. The Christian Post reports that episodes will show Jesus’ life through the perspective of friends, family, and followers including, Joseph, Mary, John the Baptist, Peter, Judas, Caiaphas, Pontius Pilate and Mary Magdalene.

LESS MUDSLINGING FOR BREXIT
The Christian Post reports that British church leaders want to see more hope and less ‘mudslinging’ as Britain continues its messy withdrawal from the European Union. The Bishop of Leeds has made a call for the “mudslinging” over Brexit to end. The Rt Rev Nick Baines said that Christians in particular had to offer a message of hope at a time when divisions, insecurity and fear over Brexit are creating “dangerous circumstances.” He also said that” Christians are not driven by fear; we are drawn by hope. A hope that comes to us from the future – resurrection. It is a hope that should not be confused with fantasy.”

McJESUS
A piece of art depicting Ronald McDonald nailed to a cross — imitating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ — has sparked violent protests in Israel, with hundreds calling for the sculpture’s removal. Last week, hundreds of Arab Christians gathered to protest the sculpture, titled “McJesus,” displayed at the Haifa Museum of Art in the northern city of Haifa, The Independent reports. The depiction of a crucified Ronald McDonald was sculpted by Finnish artist Janei Leinonen and is part of the museum’s “Sacred Goods” exhibit. The Museum told reporters the artist behind “McJesus” is a Christian who created the piece to highlight the fact that “we are slaves and have a new God instead of the old God.”

THE SECRET OF JOY
Writing in Relevant Magazine, Shane Pruitt comments that “the more you serve, love and pour your life into others, the more joy, hope and peace you tend to have. The church isn’t an organization created to fulfill your preferences, the church is a people created to know the Lord and serve others. It truly maximizes the effectiveness and legacy of your life. As the church, we should always strive to be better with our witness and be more effective at reaching our neighbors with the gospel of Jesus Christ.”