NewLife Faith News - May 6th
Compiled and Edited by Stan Hunt
Australia started Mother’s Day celebrations officially in 1910 but it was only in 1924 that people began to give gifts to their mothers. That year, Sydney housewife Janet Heyden was inspired to raise money for lonely, elderly hospital patients who had lost their husbands and sons during World War I.
She placed public notices encouraging people to remember Sydney's mothers by giving out presents. Donations of soaps, sweets, hairpins, and scarves were given and records show over 850 women were given gifts on Australia's first Mother's Day in Sydney.
In 1927, Australian newspaper advertisements for Mother's Day began encouraging people to purchase a gift and give chrysanthemum flowers. According to the Christian Post Mother's Day is now recognised in most countries as a time to show mothers how much they are loved and appreciated.
Source: The Christian Post
While thousands of U.S. college students are battling police and chanting anti-Israel slogans, thousands of students at other universities are gathering in revival meetings. Students holding anti-Israel protests have been arrested at more than 20 colleges and universities.
While many of these students have no idea what they are even supporting when they hold signs that say, ‘We are Hamas,’ ‘Gas the Jews,’ many of them do. Even more alarming, professors are joining these protests. Despite this antisemitism, student revival meetings continue to spread across the country with young people gathering for extended times to praise and worship God.
Leaders at Liberty University, the largest Christian university in the U.S. told Crosswalk that while so many college campuses are erupting in anger, hatred and violence, it is refreshing to see students worshipping King Jesus. At least 20 other universities, schools and even secular colleges have been experiencing spontaneous worship.
Source: Crosswalk
A new book on prayer promises to help readers know God and how He wants them to pray. In this release, “You Rang? Biblical Principles of Prayer” retired pastor Jon Drury, a former air force pilot, teaches the basics of prayer. He deals with subjects such as what prayer is, to whom we are praying, why we should pray, and how to pray.
He cites one definition as “Prayer is the act of the Christian working together with God.” Pastor Drury told My Christian Daily that in prayer Christians approach God as a loving Father who delights in meeting His children’s needs.
He says You Rang? will help the reader get to know God, how he wants them to pray and how to pray effectively. This primer on prayer includes teaching on confession and petition, the role of praise and lament, spiritual warfare and more.
Source: My Christian Daily
An evangelical prison ministry in Uruguay is seeing many inmates coming to faith in Christ. Free Behind Bars is bringing hope and “spiritual freedom” to prisoners – and the leaders say “the impact has been remarkable”. The effort is led by Pastor Eduardo Vignoli and there are now chaplains working in 33 penitentiary units of the country.
Pastor Vignoli says their work is very personal, listening and simply inviting prisoners to have a better life. He told Christian Daily International that chaplains explain to inmates prison is not the place for them, and the Lord Jesus is presented as the One who can help them in their situation.
Churches provide rehabilitation groups for interested prisoners. They also follow-up those who decide to follow Christ, before and after they are released. Uruguay's National Rehabilitation Institute has allowed the construction of a chapel inside the prison where inmates receive regular visits and spiritual counselling.
Source: Christian Daily International
Twelve mostly women and babies from a Christian farming community in Nigeria were slaughtered in their beds at 2 am one day last month. According to Morning Star News Fulani Islamist jihadists attacked the Christian community in Plateau state with no provocation.
One survivor says they have become targets of attacks for no reason apart from their faith in Christ. Many tens of thousands of Nigerian Christians have been slaughtered by Islamic terrorists since jihadism began to take hold in the country in 2009.
Residents told Morning Star News the Islamic-led government is doing next to nothing to protect them. The Open Doors Christian advocacy reports that the attacks are brutal and can involve destruction of properties, abductions for ransom, sexual violence and death.
In Nigeria, more Christians are killed for their faith each year, than everywhere else in the world combined.
Source: Morning Star News
Flooding in Kenya has claimed the lives of more than 200 people and caused widespread damage to homes and crops. Even for an El Niño year, the rainfall has been triple what normally would be expected. The flooding is widespread across the country, affecting both urban and rural communities.
Elizabeth Myendo with the Christian charity Tearfund says the floods follow five years of drought, so the ground is hard, making heavy rain more dangerous. She says their ministry of equipping the church to respond to crisis is more necessary than ever.
The floods are part of an ongoing disaster in the region, which has also affected nearby Burundi. According to the local Burundi administration, almost 1000 homes are destroyed and another 4000 have been flooded. Bridges, roads and schools are damaged or destroyed.
Tearfund, working with other agencies, is providing food and water as well other necessities and cash assistance.
Source: Tearfund