But it didn’t have to happen this way. Pastor Adrian with A3 says flooding is common in Sri Lanka, which tempts some people not to take flood warnings seriously. That kept many from warning others and taking proper precautions for the cyclone.

Cyclone Ditwah on 27 November, 2025. (Photo by VIIRS image from NOAA’s NOAA-21 Satellite – NOAA View Global Data Explorer, Public Domain)

“In certain areas, the rainfall was about 400 milliliters of water within a single day,” Adrian said. “One of our churches went down completely underwater. And [that] church is situated about 50 feet above the river level. We had never heard of a flooding of this nature before.” 

Adrian serves as A3’s country director for Sri Lanka. He says that for churches in some regions, “I’m unable to contact them by phone or travel to these places because of the landslides. The bridges have been washed away. I don’t think even the government is aware of the scope of the damage that has happened due to the cyclone.” 

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates that 1.1 million Sri Lankans were affected by the cyclone and that over 15,000 houses were destroyed.

Local Christians are working to provide immediate needs — like food, potable water, clothing and shelter. Then will come the long work of rebuilding homes, says Adrian. 

“It’s a huge concern, because our country and our churches don’t have that kind of infrastructure,” he says.

Find your place in the story

Pray for God to bring eternal good from the devastation across Sri Lanka. Pray for hope to be found in Christ.

Weligama, Sri Lanka (Photo courtesy of Devin Woody via Unsplash)

“We are also getting ready to carry out a strong prayer ministry, moving to every district, gathering the believers, praying, because I believe that this devastation has also brought about receptivity in the hearts of people,” says Adrian. 

He says they are also looking to establish medical camps, because waterborne diseases will arise. 

“We are inviting people to contact us and send us teams of doctors and nurses who could come and serve,” he says. “We are also asking churches to stand with us financially, because we will have to provide [much]. It’s almost with some people starting life all over again.” 

Learn how you can partner with A3 to help local Christians bring relief and true hope to Sri Lanka.

Header photo from Galle, Sri Lanka is a representative stock image courtesy of Fredrik Öhlander via Unsplash. 

Shakemap from USGS for the magnitude 6.0 earthquake in Afghanistan August 31, 2025. (Courtesy of United States Geological Survey, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons.)

Among other aftershocks, a 5.2-magnitude quake struck in the same region on Tuesday. 

Road damage and landslides have hindered rescue efforts. Nehemiah with FMI shared a report from a local partner: “Nearly half of the villagers remain trapped under the rubble, and survivors are desperately trying to dig them out with their bare hands.

“There is nobody who would come and help them, so villagers or survivors are helping themselves.”

Houses made of wood and mud-bricks were nothing against the first quake. It struck around midnight Sunday when most people were asleep and vulnerable to structural collapse.

“This disaster is especially devastating because it is human-made,” said Nehemiah. “In a sense, the fragile building practices driven by poverty and limited infrastructure have turned a national event into a disastrous tragedy.”

Nehemiah said FMI church planters stand in the gap to serve isolated villages at this time. “They are distributing food, organizing emergency shelters and offering prayers, even risking their own lives and own safety.” 

Other powers are in motion to help. The Taliban government has appealed for international aid. India has already sent food and tents for immediate relief. The UN and United Kingdom have also promised emergency aid. But what FMI partners are asking for is your prayers! 

“Pray for safe delivery of aid into accessible areas. Pray for wisdom, protection and spiritual strength for our church planters on the ground,” Nehemiah said. 

“Pray that in the darkest moments, the light of Christ will shine and bring hope to those who have lost so much.”

An example of a house in eastern Afghanistan, Nuristan Province (Photo courtesy of Mustafa via Unsplash)

Header photo courtesy of Joel Heard/Unsplash.

What was once a table of nourishing, flavorful dishes has been reduced to hurriedly plucked weeds boiled in hot water. As war and famine take hold of the land, Sudan’s people face daily survival, desperate for help.

Greg Kelley from Unknown Nations says, “There are literally millions of people that are living on the threshold of starvation.”

Photo courtesy of Faruk Tokluoğlu via Pexels

Reports show many survive on just one meal of millet porridge a day, while others fill their stomachs with wild plants and weeds. In North Darfur, some have resorted to sucking on coal to ease hunger.

“And always, — says Kelley, — the unfortunate thing in these situations, always, those are the weakest that suffer the most — the women, the children, the people that can’t fight for themselves, provide for themselves. And so that makes a huge percentage of the country.”

In Sudanese areas where people rely on farming for their livelihood, ongoing fighting and shortages of farming resources are steadily shrinking the available agricultural land. In areas where certain food is available, prices are skyrocketing.

According to the World Health Organization, 25 million people face acute food insecurity, and nearly 100,000 cholera cases have been recorded since last July. This year, approximately 770,000 children under the age of five are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition.

“Nearly 50% of the country is utterly dependent upon foreign aid of some kind, whether it’s through the UN or through NGOs,” says Kelley.

Yet many in desperate need remain unreachable. “There are cities that have been surrounded for over a

year now, and cities with approximately 300,000 people in them that you can’t penetrate, you can’t get into them because they’re surrounded by militia groups,” Kelley explains.

This crisis calls urgently for the global community to unite in prayer and strategic action for the Sudanese people, as they suffer from both famine and spreading disease.

“The church needs to look at these kind of opportunities as a situation where the suffering is present, but we can respond with a cup of cold water, with a hand of help, and minister to them in the name of Jesus,” says Kelley.

Visit Unknown Nations to learn more about the way you can help Sudanese people. Lift up in prayer the ministries serving Sudanese in conflict zones. Pray also for the 1% of local believers to persevere in faith and bring hope to others.

Header photo courtesy of Tom Rogers via Unsplash.

A People with No Place

The Rohingya are the largest stateless people group worldwide. They primarily hail from the Rakhine state in Myanmar. However, their home country refuses them citizenship. The government persecutes the primarily Muslim group to the point of UN-recognized genocide.

There are more than 2.6 million internally displaced Rohingya in Myanmar and almost a million people have fled into neighboring Bangladesh, creating some of the largest refugee camps in the world.

These refugee camps mainly exist in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar region. Greg Kelley with Unknown Nations says, “You’ll drive for maybe 30 miles and see different camps. It’s not one big camp. It’s literally dozens of camps that might have 50,000 people, 70,000 people, 12,000 people, and they’re designated to a camp. They have a tent. It’s horrible conditions. And like I said, they’re living like animals. The sewage, the sanitation – you wouldn’t want an animal living in there.”

Needing Eternal Hope

In the past Myanmar has restricted access into the country as well as out, meaning most of these people have never heard about Christ. Almost all of these refugees are Muslim.

(Image courtesy of Aashaa, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)

“When it’s all said and done, they remain largely without a Gospel witness,” Kelley explains. “So as they’re being persecuted from all fronts, they still don’t know Jesus.”

Unknown Nations follows Christ’s command to spread the Good News by heading into these refugee camps. They are sending in indigenous leaders to love people, share food and resources, as well as share the Gospel. However, the need among the Rohingya is great.

Not Just Countries, But People Groups

Kelley exhorts Christians to stretch their boundaries of what God has called them to. “I think that when the Lord called us to go make disciples of all nations, I think the body of Christ needs to get to get a hold of that word and understand we’re not called to countries. We’re not called to India. We’re not called to Myanmar. We’re not called to Bangladesh. We’re called to the nations or people groups inside of them, like the Rohingya.”

This means making changes.

“We have to begin going into the deeper waters and the Rohingya are the deeper waters of missions, which are going to require a different strategy. So doing things the same way we’ve always done them will never reach the Rohingya. So that’s a big question, and there’s a lot of ways to address it, but it ultimately comes down to our drive and determination to take serious Jesus’s last words, to make disciples of all nations.”

If you’d like to join Unknown Nations to help bring the Gospel to the Rohingya and other unreached people groups, click here.

Image courtesy of English: Foreign and Commonwealth Office, OGL v1.0OGL v1.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Just last week, the Iran Internet Freedom Act, a bipartisan bill, was introduced in the US Senate. The bill would allocate funds to support secure internet service in Iran — especially for human rights defenders and marginalized groups — noting the importance of internet access for Iranian freedoms.

Mike Ansari with Heart4Iran says, “The Iranian regime’s enforcement of very strict Islamic laws and Sharia highlights the lack of religious freedom in the country.

(Photo courtesy of Heart4Iran)

“The government dictates religious practices, and its citizens, especially women, they really cannot even express their own faith or beliefs. The repression extends beyond Islam. Christians, Bahais, and other minority religious groups also face persecution, arrest, and imprisonment.

“So religious freedom in Iran is curtailed by both law and social norms that the ayatollahs and the ruling elite are trying to force upon people where, if you do not conform, then you are going to be facing severe penalties.”

Ultimately, Iranians need Jesus. “The Gospel proclaims that Jesus came to liberate humanity from sin and restore a right relationship with our Father,” says Ansari.

“This message is a powerful message that, in its own context, applies to people that are oppressed and denied their fundamental rights as it promises a freedom that transcends earthly circumstances.”

Pray Iranians know spiritual freedom in Christ.

Ansari encourages, “We need to also pray for change of hearts. Pray for those people who are subjecting average Iranian people to oppression that they might come to know and love the Lord and and the justice of Christ.”

Learn more about Heart4Iran’s ministry here, reaching Iranians with Gospel hope.

Header photo of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian (Photo courtesy of Khamenei.ir, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=150832367)

John Weaver, author of Inside Afghanistan, says, “This is revealing what we already knew about the Taliban. They think it’s best for their country to have these rules where girls can’t go to school beyond sixth grade, and women can’t work in certain jobs. They have not changed, and it doesn’t look like they are going to change.”

(Photo courtesy of Wanman Uthmaniyyah via Unsplash)

Afghanistan is the only country in the world that denies women access to secondary and higher education.

“What could be worse is no school at all,” says Weaver. “At least in some places, they are going up to the sixth grade. It’s possible, in some villages, they’re going beyond that.

“Afghanistan is a huge tribal society. The Taliban are primarily Pashtuns, but the Pashtuns don’t live everywhere, so there’s not the oppressive Islamic view [held by] the Taliban everywhere.”

Pray Afghan women will regain their lost freedoms, and ask the Lord to protect His followers.

The Taliban says Christianity has no presence in Afghanistan, yet secret believers remain.

Weaver says, “God’s never left Himself without a witness. He’s at work in the country. But for Afghan believers, it is an oppressive context. There are like sheep among wolves, and they need our prayers and support and advocacy now more than ever.”

Header photo courtesy of Farid Ershad via Unsplash.

John Pudaite with Bibles for the World says it’s an ironic statement. “India is certainly moving up the ranks in terms of being a country where there is increasing religious persecution, where it is harder and harder to be a Christian. Again, we’ve talked about the anti-conversion laws being passed state by state across the country.

Islam vs. Hinduism

Why is India making these statements? India’s majority religion is Hinduism. In Pakistan, Hindus often find themselves persecuted by the Muslim majority. But in India, Muslims often face persecution.

This goes back to the Partition, the dividing of India and Pakistan into two states, one with a Muslim majority and one with a Hindu majority. Pudaite says, “This continues that rivalry between Hindu and Muslim factions. At the same time, I see the Christians being caught in the middle, caught in the crossfire. As this plays out, I think Christians will get the brunt of the abuse, the persecution, and the oppression that comes out of it.”

“Both the Hindu population inside Pakistan and the Muslim population inside India are still fairly large compared to the Christian populations.”

Despite the hostile religious climate, people across India and Pakistan continue to encounter Jesus. Pudaite says, “We saw thousands coming to Lord during public events in Pakistan earlier this year. And in India, we see constant, continuous reports of new believers in Christ. That just speaks to the fact that God is at work and speaking to the hearts of individuals in both countries.”

Praise God for these new believers, and pray the Holy Spirit will strengthen them.

The header photo shows refugees during the partition of India. (Photo courtesy of Photo Division, Government of India, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

The government has long promised a ration-card program to help the country’s poorest. Instead, authorities have begun removing subsidies on essentials like flour and medicine.

Pierre Houssney with Horizons International says, “Basically, the government has become a kleptocracy, where their job is just to steal as much as possible. So even when a UN envoy comes, or when an OMF negotiation happens, the politicians are only seeing this as an extra opportunity to squeeze some cash out of the system.”

Churches in Lebanon

Lebanese Christians feel the pinch as much as everyone else. Houssney says, “[We see] A lot of joblessness among believers. But it’s amazing to see their faithfulness to God. They are keeping their eyes on Christ. We are having a prayer event coming up on the Independence Day of Lebanon. And many, many churches have already expressed such excitement to come together.”

Lebanon will observe its Independence Day on Monday, November 22. Set aside some time to pray along with many Lebanese churches.

As Horizons visits homes and refugee camps, most have someone open to the love of Jesus. Houssney says, “People that are just receiving the message with joy, and entering discipleship. There is just such a growing number of people that are professing faith in Christ, it’s uncanny.” Pray the churches would grow as Lebanon’s government fails its people.

Houssney encourages listeners to find ways to support churches in Lebanon. “Lebanon is in the core of the Middle East, of the Arab-speaking world, which is the heart of the Islamic world. It’s an unprecedented opportunity. I really think that people should pray about how they can follow the movement of the Holy Spirit through Lebanon.”

Header photo courtesy of Horizons International on Facebook.

A Call to Disciple in Everyday Life

Recently, InterVarsity hosted Matthew Brima, the General Secretary of SLEFES, an IFES movement, and he shared that witnessing should be a constant.

“God’s call to us was to express faith in all we do, in all of life. So our witness for the Gospel was not tied to a certain time, a certain place, doing certain activities. Witnessing for Christ entails all of life. Sitting at the dinner table with my kids, should reflect my faith. Talking to my wife when nobody is there, should reflect that. So, it is a greater awareness of what is the Gospel.”

Brima continues to say that he sees this awareness growing in the Church. Many people are coming to know Christ through a coworker or a friend or a neighbor. Christians aren’t so much planning for witnessing, they just are living out their faith.

Brima himself came to faith through someone living out their faith where God placed them.

Setting the Stage

Matthew Brima grew up in Sierra Leone during the eleven year civil war. Unrest and violence ravaged the country from 1991 to 2002.

He was raised Catholic and loved being a part of the Catholic Church. His goal was to be a Roman Catholic priest. However, the war was hard for him to reconcile.

His mother was a police officer and he says that whenever he visited the station, there would be dead bodies all over from the conflict. He became angry with God and confesses that he did not have a relationship with God at that time. However, he was still going to Church every day.

A Surprising Witness

One day on the way home from church, a Nigerian peacekeeper from the UN asked if he would like to come into his home and talk.

Brima agreed, and says it was the first time he heard and understood the Gospel.

(Courtesy of DFID on Flickr https://bit.ly/2YrXQg0)

“The miracle about that story,” Brima explains, “is the fact that two days after that, this UN peace keeper was transferred from that base. So I never got to meet him again. But that seed of the Gospel that was planted in my heart grew and started to help me understand my personal walk with Christ.”

From Death to Life

Soon after that encounter, Brima became a part of InterVarsity. He was discipled and came to have a personal relationship with Christ for the first time.

He says, “I define my life as when the enemy was taking lives, God gave me life. So in the midst of killing, in the midst of death, I received life. And that has really transformed my view of the marketplace. That has really transformed my view of the fact that if Christians become witnesses in our everyday lives, there is so much power in that.”

Through One Person

Because of that one person who invited Brima into a conversation, God saved a life. Since then, Brima became a national leader of IFES in Sierra Leone and has had the opportunity to impact hundreds of lives.

“All of that came through the foundation of one person who was ready to say, ‘yes’ to Jesus, wherever he was.”

The Gospel is not something for just missionaries to share. A UN peacekeeper, someone with a clear job to do in a stressful situation, took the time to offer the Gospel to a stranger.

Make God the center of your interactions with others. The Good News should impact everyday life and every action. Consider who God is calling you to witness to in your everyday life, and trust in His strength enough to begin the conversation.

Header photo courtesy of AMISOM Public Information via Flickr.

Tom Atema with Heart for Lebanon explains, “You have to remember they are coming from a place in Syria that you can’t go back to. It’s bombed out.”

United Nations’ aid envoys to Rukban have been postponed over the last several weeks. There are even reports of Syrian and Jordanian forces preventing food supplies from reaching the camp.

(Photo courtesy of Heart for Lebanon)

“The government officials and other officials of the UN and World Food Bank really want to put the pressure on them to go back home…. The reason for that, in my opinion, is because they don’t have the money either. The UN and World Food Bank are really in bad shape financially. They keep cutting back in the Middle East their programs. In fact, in Lebanon, they do very little anymore.”

Heart for Lebanon provides family aid and winterization kits to displaced Syrians in Lebanon once a month. Atema says this approaching season is going to be especially difficult for refugees everywhere.

“Winter is coming. It gets bitter cold in the Bekaa Valley. We provide jackets and socks and scarves and mittens and gloves and heaters and that sort of stuff…. And we do food bags or food portions. Food portions are 55 pounds of food that have been tested every six or seven months by an independent agency to make sure it’s nutritionally balanced.”

Atema says their ministry to displaced Muslims stands apart from the generosity of other groups. Heart for Lebanon gives freely with no strings attached, and this grabs the attention of the men and women they serve.

(Photo courtesy of Heart for Lebanon)

“You have to understand that in the Muslim culture, there it is normal for people to help people but they ask for something in return constantly. That’s why when Hezbollah gives out aid — and they give out plenty of it — they know what the vote is going to be when they go to take on an election because everybody has got to vote for their candidate.”

As Heart for Lebanon gets aid to refugees in need, they see the Holy Spirit opening conversational opportunities to share Jesus.

“When you [give] unconditionally…they are blown away. [They ask,] ‘Why do you do it?’ It’s the compassionate heart of Jesus Christ that allows us to do this. That opens up the door to conversation,” Atema says.

“There are 99 attributes of God in Islam. There is not one on love. Not one. So when you show them the compassionate love of Jesus Christ, it blows them away.”

As you start to bundle up in winter coats and scarves, remember those who don’t have protection this winter. Consider supporting Heart for Lebanon’s refugee ministry in Lebanon.

(Photo courtesy of Heart for Lebanon)

“We could use another $250,000 tomorrow to feed people. But it’s very hard to raise it.”

Click here to give to Heart for Lebanon!

Also, please pray for Syrian refugees stranded in limbo between Jordan and Syria. Ask God to make a way for aid envoys to reach them and for a Chrisitan witness in the Rukban camp to spread Gospel hope.

Header photo courtesy of Heart for Lebanon.