Lead your church to pray for Illinois Missionaries • 8-9
Volume 108, No. 12
IB Insider
Briefing: 5 important global stories page 2 Chicago planters: A week in the life page 4 The 4-14 window: Our best Gospel opportunity page 7 On the new release wall page 12 Are you really ready to worship? page 15 Square zucchini page 16
News and updates Throughout the week:
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AUGUST 18, 2014
The high cost of following the Nazarene
Christians around the world face heightened persecution
An unfamiliar symbol began showing up on social media pages late last month. The curved line under a single dot is the Arabic letter “Nun,” reportedly used by militants in Iraq to mark the homes of Christians in the country. “Nun” stands for Nazarene, or Jesus. Extremists with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) have forced Christians from their homes under threat of death. The Iraqi believers and other religious minorities joined millions of Syrian refugees already displaced by civil war. In a region rich with Christian history, many have noted, very little evidence of Christianity is left. The onslaught of persecution this summer has awakened many in the Western church to the needs of Christians around the world. Many pastors and Christian organizations in July changed their Twitter avatars and Facebook profile photos to include the letter “Nun.” They also used the hashtag #WeAreN as a show of solidarity with the persecuted believers. “The Islamic militants mean it for evil when they mark homes with ‘N’ for ‘Nazarene,’” wrote Russell Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. “They as-
WHITE HOUSE RALLY – Rob Schenck (front, red scarf), president of Faith in Action and the National Clergy Council, prays Aug. 7 for the Yazidis (also spelled Yezidis) and Christians suffering in Iraq (IMB photo). In July, Christians and ministries incorporated the Arabic letter “Nun” in their social media presence to show solidarity with persecuted Christians in the Middle East.
sume it’s an insult, an emblem of shame. Others once thought that of the cross. “But in that intended slight, we are reminded of who we are, and why we belong to one another, across the barriers of space and time and language and nationality. We are Christians. We are citizens of the New Jerusalem. We are Nazarenes all.”
In Iraq, “There are no Christians left in Mosul.” That’s how religious freedom advocate Nina Shea described conditions in Iraq’s second largest city in July. Shea, director of the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom, told CBN News that Islamic militants have eradicated virtually every trace of Continued on page 2
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Community planting
ChicaGO project mobilizes teens for service By Meredith Flynn
Chicago | It’s unseasonably cool on this Monday morning in July, as a group of teenagers assembles in the courtyard of a north side school. They cross their jacketed arms to stay warm, and pull on work gloves while church planter Dave Andreson lays out the plan for the day. The team will clear out the flowerbeds
and raise the tree canopy drooping down over the cars parked in front of Carl Von Linne Elementary. The volunteers are here for IBSA’s first-ever ChicaGO Week—a chance for junior high and high school students to see up-close what church planting really looks like. Today, it looks like landscaping. Continued on page 11
The statewide mission offering and prayer emphasis is coming soon in September:
– Look for the kit in your church’s mailbox – Download materials at IBSA.org/MIO
– Preview stories, videos and mission study planning tips in our special section on pages 7-10.