2016 English | Page 18

Pastors' conference ETC ABBA Pastors’ Conference 2016 Pass Through the Doors (Satipo Conference Picture) Pastors from all over Peru gathered together at the ABBA Pastors’ Conferences to obtain training and direction for the youth rallies that will happen this upcoming July and August. Statistics Over 75% of the world’s population lives in areas with severe religious restrictions -Pew Research Center Each Month: • 322 Christians are killed for their faith • 214 churches and Christian properties are destroyed • 772 forms of violence (beatings, abductions, rapes, arrests and forced marriages) are committed against Christians -OpenDoors USA More Christians have been martyred in the 20th and 21st century than during the previous 19 combined. -Christian Today 18 HHK World Mission Center A World in Need of Christ’s Warriors “Pass through, pass through the gates! Prepare the way for the people. Build up, build up the highway! Remove the stones. Raise a banner for the nations.” -Isaiah 62:10- The world that we live in today is becoming increasingly hostile towards God and His children. Many countries have not only passed laws and legislation targeting Christians, but are socially oppressing Christians. As pastors from all across Peru gather for the annual ABBA Pastors’ Conferences, in six different regions, there is one vital question for them: Are we building up the youth to go out into the world for Christ? Our God wants us to raise up mighty men and women of God in Peru. Ever since 2010, through the Abba Peru Youth conferences and ABBA pastors’ conference, thousands of young people and pastors have been ignited with the fire of the Holy Spirit to go to the utmost parts of the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. To put things into perspective: • Iraq, ranked 2nd on Open Door’s 2016 World Watch List, only has less than a thousand Christians left, and they are on the verge of extinction from the region due to the rise of Islamic extremism. (2016 will mark the first time in over 2,000 years that the there will be no church service in Mogul, Iraq.) • Somalia (7th) has less than 200 Christians, who do not get put into jail or labor camps, but are rushed to public beheading on the mere suspicion of being Christians. • India (17th) had over 30 incidences of violence against Christians in the first six weeks of 2016 alone. • Malaysia (30th) sends their Christians into re-education centers where they are tortured, brainwashed and beaten until they renounce their Christian faith. This year’s theme was “Go through the door” according to Isaiah 62:10. Pastors and leaders were introduced to the nations and people who have been persecuted beyond our comprehension because of the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Hundreds of thousands of Christians are being persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ. Not only is it limited to governmental and social oppression, but Christians are being imprisoned, beaten and even publicly killed or beheaded. It is a harsh time to be a Christian. Many of the pastors and youth made a firm commitment to follow the Holy Spirit and go where the message of hope and life in Jesus Christ is needed. “As I listened to the teachings I was moved and convicted by God the Holy Spirit that I, myself, have to renew my vision and my commitment to keep serving Him with all my heart and to align myself to what He is doing in the hearts of young people of Peru to expand his kingdom on this earth,” writes one of our staff volunteering for Abba Peru conferences. Peru will become a great missionary-sending country one day and we thank you for your continuous partnership and prayer with this ministry. It is now a time for Christians all across the world to stand up for God. To God be the glory! Back in the 16th century, Spain sent conquistadors into Peru and conquered it. Now in 2016, HHK WMC seeks to raise and train Peruvian missionaries that will go back into Spain, and the rest of the world, to conquer them in the name of God’s Kingdom. As the youth conferences start in July, HHK WMC will convey and make known the suffering of fellow Christians to the young adults of Peru. The purpose of this is to reveal the need for Christians to once again become warriors of Christ. There are hundreds of thousands of Christians across the world suffering, millions more that have never heard of and need the word of God in their lives. Pray for our brothers and sisters all over the world who are crying and in pain for their faith in God, pray for those who do not know Christ to have an intimate and real encounter with the Living God and pray for the people who are seeking to destroy Christians to meet God and repent from their ways. Our efforts are meaningless without the great power of prayer. dlfkzm -Somalia -India -Malaysia www.coj.org 19