Author: Steinar Opheim

What is the world’s biggest least reached language?

/ Steinar Opheim

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Recent updates in the Joshua Project database make it possible to do searches based on languages and not just on people groups. You may be surprised when you see which language is least reached with the Gospel.

It is namely Japanese that is at the very top of the list showing the biggest unreached languages. According to the American based statistical center it is today 128 million people who speak Japanese. Of these only 0.3 per cent can be regarded as evangelical believers. If you count all denominations 1.5 per cent of those speaking Japanese can be regarded as Christians.

Openness

– Many things are happening in Japan, and there is a great openness for speaking about Jesus. Still it is right to regard the Japanese as an unreached people group, says Akira Mori, who is working to reach the people of the Asiatic island-nation with the Gospel.

The first protestant missionaries came to Japan more than 150 years ago. The spiritual harvest this far has been rather poor and no one has really succeeded in finding the key that can open the Japanese hearts for the Gospel. Akira Muri says many people in Japan are vaccinated against everything that tastes of religion. He thinks relationship-based fellowships meeting in the homes is a model that can work.

– There is a growing movement of such fellowships in Japan. Many people are seeking to find true faith and a living God. They want to experience that God is real. The small fellowships provide arenas where this can happen.

Ten more years as the world’s greatest oppressor?

/ Steinar Opheim

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The same nation has been on top of Open Door´s World Watch-list for ten consecutive years. International observers think it may remain the world´s greatest persecutor of Christians for ten more years if the political system is not changed.  If you want to serve in a really tough environment, this nation is one of your best options.

– One of the remaining Communist states, North Korea is vehemently opposed to religion of any kind. Christians are classified as hostile and face arrest, detention, torture, even public execution. There is a system of labor camps including the renowned prison No. 15, which reportedly houses 6,000 persecuted Christians alone. Despite the severe oppression, there is a growing underground church movement of an estimated 400,000 Christians, state the people behind the latest update of the World Watch List.

Business as usual

The description was approximately the same ten years ago. Then Kim Il-Sung, who is regarded as the founder of the North-Korean nation, governed the country with an iron fist.  Since then both his son and his grandson have come to power. But the situation for Christians and other religious minorities has remained unchanged.

One Christian in North Korea reports that they are not able to help brother and sisters who have been abused by the police.

– Some have been tortured so much that they can no longer walk. Still helping them is not an option since it involves taking too big risks. The only thing we can do is to pray. We know that Jesus will not leave them nor forsake them, he says.

God can make changes

One observer Tentmaking Briefs has talked with says there are no signs that the regime will change in the foreseeable future.

– Humanly speaking there is not much hope for a change, but God can still do something. Two generations of Christians in North Korea have cried to the Lord for help. Brothers and sisters around the world join them in this fight. I believe the Lord can create something new in this nation just as he did when the iron curtain fell and communism perished, says the observer.

Another person who just visited North Korea speaks about the awful suffering he was witnessing:

– I´ve been to more than 40 nations, but I´ve never seen anything similar to the misery I met face to face in North Korea.

There are some job opportunities for foreigners who want to work in North Korea.  One good contact point is Pyongyang University of Science and Technology that hires several professionals from abroad. Another option is Christian Friends of Korea, which is a registered charity in North Korea.

Led to Christ by Christian co-worker

/ Steinar Opheim

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– I was not looking for Christ, but Christ was looking and reaching out for me, testifies a man from the Middle East in a video that was published earlier this year on Vimeo.

The video is produced by Arab World Media and Middle East Media and is a part of a new project called “Arabian Dawn”. In the months to come these companies will produce 10 to 12 videos showing testimonies from Arab Muslim background believers who have come to Christ.

– Hearing the distinct voice of an Arab speaking of how he came to faith in Jesus Christ would be life changing for many seekers in the Arabian Peninsula. The current climate in the Arab world has led many to ask questions about their religious beliefs, states Arab World Media in a newsletter.

The Arabian man featured in the Vimeo-video states clearly how he was led to Christ through Christian co-workers.

– In my job I met Western colleagues who worked with me. A small share of them was Christians. I noticed a big difference in the conduct of this small group who believed in Christ. They were completely different from the other Western colleagues, the man explains. Still, when one of the Christian co-workers started sharing about his faith, he showed very little interest.  When the co-worker later on left the Middle East he gave the man an electronic version of the Bible.

– I opened it when I returned home. It had the Bible saved on it. I was praying to the Lord and seeking him to know if what was written in this book, the Bible, was true or not. – Lord, show me the way to you. Let me know who you are. Peace overwhelmed my heart as I was praying. It was as if I heard the Lord´s voice saying: “Here I am”, says the man.  You can watch the whole testimony here.

Christmas learning points from Central-Asia

/ Steinar Opheim

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The way we celebrate Christ’s birth may hinder people in finding him. But it can also help others to see who Jesus is.

– What kind of psychology are you using? I am nearly convinced that what you told us about Jesus yesterday is the truth.

It is the morning after Christmas Day and an elderly man has come to visit us. His head is shaking slightly in confusion. The meeting in our home the day before has obviously impacted him. Close to 100 people had accepted our invitation to celebrate Christmas with us. For many of them it was the first time they heard the good news about Jesus. The preparations to the gathering had been full of shocking experiences.  But before I tell you more about that, I will rewind the story even further.

The mistake

When we moved to a Muslim majority nation in Central Asia we thought we were quite well prepared for what was ahead of us. And as in many other Muslim nations it was easy to get opportunities to talk about faith. Still it was hard to find occasions to share more in depth about Jesus.

The first after we moved abroad we decided, just as many other expatriates, to go home to our passport country to celebrate Christmas with family and friends. One year later we understood that this had been a huge mistake and that we had misused a great opportunity to help people to get to know Jesus.

The fight

When we approached Christmas the second year we decided to stay and to invite all our friends to celebrate with us. Not even one said no. Thus we knew that we would end up with more people in our living room than we or our landlord had ever seen before.

The preparations were chaotic and made us regret everything we had planned. The night before the celebration some liquid started dripping from the lamp in our kids´ room. I was sure that there had to be a water pipe running above the ceiling. So I spent a lot of time that I should have used to prepare for the following day in order to check things out. Finally I got to the right place just to find out that there was no water pipe and nothing else either that could produce the liquid. Fortunately the leaking had stopped. The rest of the night we spent trying to find a mouse that courageously had come to visit us.

The victory

Then the celebration started. Some young people had made a Christmas drama. A lot of food had been brought to our house and the sound level went really high as people were enjoying cakes and coffee. So I thought I would have to shout really loud when I was going to share the story about Christ´s birth from the Bible. But things did not turn out as I had expected. Actually I got scared when I stood up since everything immediately went quiet. The room was packed with people. Still there was no noise.  It was like some supernatural power had entered the room andeveryone was listening in awe.

– It is not psychology. I believe it is the Holy Spirit. God was speaking to you yesterday. He wants you to believe in him, we told the old man who had come to visit us the following day.

He still shook his head in disbelief. Could this really be true?

The conclusion

We stayed in Central-Asia for four years, over and over we experienced how the Christian feasts gave us great opportunities for sharing the Gospel. The nation we lived in had laws that made it illegal for expatriates to speak in public about faith. But as in most nations it was totally legal to invite people to celebrate with you in your private home.

It is easy to skip the Christian celebrations when we live in non-Christian nations. If we decide to celebrate, it can often be a temptation to focus on and invite family, friends and people sharing our faith instead of on those who do not know Christ. But if we make the right choices God can be born into new families and new cultures at Christmas even today.