This Month:
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INDIA:
A group of missionaries who refused to leave ....
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TURKEY
People lined the streets to applaud as a group of "peace walkers" ....
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GUATEMALA
An unexpected reunion on a medical missionary ship ...
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SWEDEN
Candidates for a fast-response crisis relief team ....
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UNITED STATES:
A Christian relief group leader met with national security advisors ....
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BRAZIL
Fast-moving roller hockey is helping former street kids....
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WORLD
An attempted murder and a mock funeral highlight ....
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| YWAM Ministries |
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YWAM International
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Mercy Ships International
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University of the Nations
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1. I N D I A :
MISSIONARIES ATTACKED AFTER IGNORING DEATH THREAT ULTIMATUM
A GROUP OF missionaries who refused to leave their ministry center despite death threats from local opponents have won the right to stay on in the area.
Five members of the Youth With A Mission team in a village in the south of the country had to be taken to hospital after they and three others were beaten by an angry crowd which caused extensive damage to two buildings being used for discipleship training.
Around 20 people were being trained at the YWAM center, established two years ago in a part of the country with only a handful of evangelical
Christians.
The breakthrough in the escalating conflict came after an initially tense meeting between those demanding that the YWAM workers leave - members of a rival religious group - and leaders of the organization's work, at which one of the injured men told his attackers that he forgave them for hurting him.
The assaults came when a group of around 25, some armed with machetes, marched on the YWAM facilities after the missionaries had ignored a warning a month prior that if they did not leave the area, they would be killed. "It was a very tense situation, but the team prayed and did not feel that God wanted them to leave," said YWAM President Jim Stier, who alerted the mission's thousands of workers around the world to pray during the crisis. Eight men in the YWAM team who refused to fight back were hurt when the properties were attacked by the crowd, "but if they had reacted there could easily have been deaths", he added. As the mob swarmed the buildings they broke windows, ripped out piping, broke bathroom fittings and even tried to set the buildings alight - though the fuel they threw failed to catch fire.
Following the incident, local government leaders helped organize a meeting between the two parties at which it was agreed that YWAM workers would be allowed to remain in the area unmolested if they discontinued training programs for new Christians.
When one of the injured told his attackers he forgave them, the men responsible "broke down in tears", said Stier, who attributed the peaceful result to "God's intervention and the enormous amount of prayer".
He added: "The situation is still tense, and there is still some danger to the team. There have been previous incidents in this part of the world where religious conflict of this kind has resulted in deaths."
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