Brigada – 2024-03-31

You thought it was bad for Aleppo (partly because certain political leaders were clueless about the identity of the city). What about for the CHILDREN in this crisis? The UN Children’s Fund just released a story on ReliefWeb about that very topic: Children.

http://reliefweb.int/report/world/half-million-children-have-risked-exploitation-refugee-and-migrant-crisis-turns-big

In this story, researchers estimate that around half a million children have ended up in the hands of smugglers in the past 18 months, making this one of the biggest crises for children in the history of the modern world. Sadness. Pray. Pray hard.

Faith & Forced Migration is a blog for those who want to serve or are already serving refugees in their community. Articles are posted twice a week on topics like current events, human rights, faith, service, and politics – all about refugees from a Christian perspective. Join an online community passionate about serving refugees and enhance both your general knowledge and specific ministry. Find the website at…

http://www.faithandforcedmigration.com/

T
here’s so much talk about migrants and refugees from the Middle East, we sometimes forget that many displaced peoples still originate in Africa. Pick up that story at…

http://blogs.worldbank.org/africacan/the-european-refugee-crisis-what-we-can-learn-from-refugees-in-sub-saharan-africa

A friend recently sent a doc to me entitled, “What does the Bible say about refugees and immigrants” (Thanks Larrie!). He had done a great job pulling together a lot of biblical material. Would you mind looking through a PDF from his study, then using the “Comment” link below the web version of this item to add any additional scriptures related to this vein of thought?

https://brigada.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/bible-immigrants.pdf

Is it true that God loves the traveler? What exactly does this mean for the 60 million refugees and migrants making their way around the planet today? And most of all, what are some solid prayers and other steps we could take to help them?

You can pick up the political slant on migrants and refugees at Amnesty International…

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2015/10/eight-solutions-world-refugee-crisis/

In addition to educators and those willing to share the Good News with refugees, it seems we ought to pray for a political solution too — because it’s a HUGE problem and the global church could use some help stemming the tide. Agree? … or disagree?

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During a prayer journey to pre-war Syria, in the city of Aleppo, I captured photos of a number of unforgettable people. One of those was of a young school-girl we called Miriam. We prayed for her. It was as if she represented all Syrians for us, even though she was one anonymous little girl.

Four years later, as Team Expansion full-timers began to arrive in the region, I led a second prayer journey to Syria. While there, we decided one day that we would try to find her. All we had to go on was one snapshot — in a city of 2 million people. After many hours, one local informant recognized a sign on a wall in the background of the photo. Thirty minutes later, we were drinking tea with “Miriam” and her family. She was a shy, dark-eyed 12-year-old with bright hopes in a promising future. She didn’t have email — and messages to her uncle haven’t been answered since. No one knows now if she’s even still alive. But Miriam still matters. She matters to us — and she matters to God. We hope she matters to you. Do you have a story about a “Miriam” in Syria or another country torn by war, also producing a flood of refugees? If so, would you strip it of anything “secure” and share it in a “comment” box following the web version of this item? If so, thank you in advance for sharing.

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Copyright — This issue of _Brigada Today_ is Copyrighted 2016. However, permission is granted to freely redistribute these materials, including those available on the Brigada website, provided that such redistribution is to those who will help the Good News of Jesus Christ to reach the unreached. To copy or reproduce Brigada Today for any other reason is illegal and is not permitted.

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Compiled/Edited by Doug Lucas and Tina McCormick, Team Expansion
Brigada online has more graphics and links at https://brigada.org

In this issue…
1) Get Your Bachelors or Masters Degree Online via Hope
2) Crossing Cultures with Ruth
3) Aftershock: The Board Game
4) The Calling of the Knowledge Steward
5) Affordable online counseling available
6) Decision Time with Study Guide
7) Having Trouble Winning Others to Jesus? Try “Any3”
8) Are you Starting a New Work in a New Community? Read this.
9) Suppose You’d like to Share Jesus with Your Muslim Cleric Friend
10) Read the Book that Started it All: Church Planting Movements
11) Let’s take a poll: Best Pillow for Air Travel
12) Free Additional Lessons by Stan Rowland on DMM for CHE Workers
15) Closing Stuff

Hope International University is offering an affordable way for people around the world to start working on a bachelors or masters degree, including church staff, missionaries, missionary kids, nationals and lay people in the church. Through the SALT program (School of Advanced Leadership Training), students take on-line courses at a sharply reduced rate of $100/credit hour. Students completing four courses (12 credits) receive a certificate, and the credits may be applied to a degree program. HIU is fully accredited and earned credits may be easily transferred to other institutions. For more information about enrollment or to inquire about promoting SALT in your church or ministry, contact Phil
pbtowne@hiu.edu