The scenes on the television screen are shocking. Entire Japanese communities devastated by a recent major earthquake and ensuing tsunami. While you have heard about the incredible loss of life and concerns of nuclear reactor explosions, you may not have heard about how the missions community is scrambling to meet needs on the ground amidst the devastation.

Baptist Press reports that a Southern Baptist disaster relief assessment team arrived in Tokyo on Saturday, the day after the 8.9 magnitude earthquake and 23-foot tsunami wave rocked Japan’s northeast coast. The assessment team is working with local churches, government officials and non-governmental organizations to evaluate needs and create a blueprint for relief. According to the report, while the Japanese government is requesting international assistance, it does not intend to request large numbers of international volunteers. So the Southern Baptist relief effort will focus on resourcing Japanese Baptist congregations so that they can provide assistance to their communities.

Peter Howard with Food For the Hungary (FH) told Mission Network News(MNN) that they too are taking their cues from partners on the ground. The immediate need was for warm clothing for communities without power near the Fukushima nuclear plant where nightly temperatures dropped to near freezing. FH was able to send two trucks of supplies to the area. Relief efforts, however, are hampered by lack of fuel and roads that are impassible in some areas. Like Southern Baptists, FH is focused on resourcing local churches so that they can distribute aid to their communities.

In fact, the organizations we surveyed were all planning to partner with local Japanese churches as the most effective way to quickly get aid to those in the disaster region. The challenge, however, for some of these organizations is connecting with their partner churches.

According to another MNN report, the status of most of the 300+ churches in the affected region is unknown. Communication is difficult with many wireless lines and landlines down. The Wesleyan Church Denomination reported Monday that some of their partner churches in the region “survived major damage and some of their members are still missing.”

The Foursquare Church denomination initially could not get information on their churches in the region, but has since learned that all 42 of their Japanese congregations are safe. Other groups are still assessing how the disaster has impacted their partner churches.

What can the average person outside of Japan do to help? All the ministries and denominations surveyed said the same thing—pray and give cash. They ask for prayer for the safety of workers, for spiritual openness among those impacted by the disaster, and for strength for local volunteers. These groups are asking for cash rather than material donations as cash can be converted quickly into needed resources. For those seeking to go to Japan, the airports have all re-opened and Ministry Travel can make your air travel arrangements. Contact us at MinistryTravel.com or 1-877-541-5726.

The world has watched dramatic events recently unfold in Tunisia, Egypt and now Libya. Although many tourists and missions workers have fled Egypt and currently are staying clear of the North African nation, Christian workers there and in the region are asking Western Christians to “run toward Egypt,” according to a recent Baptist Press report.

Believers familiar with the scene see this as an unprecedented open door for Americans to come and serve alongside national Christian workers. “So instead of stepping back in fear, we need to step in and roll up our sleeves and get in the fields white unto harvest,” one worker was quoted as saying.

The report goes on to say that the gap between Christians and Muslims, which had been widening over the decades, is now “slamming together” as a result of men from both faiths standing together to protect their homes from looters during the recent uprisings.

Other ministries are also echoing the call to greater Christian involvement in Egypt and throughout North Africa and the Middle East. In a recent Mission Network News story, Jason Woolford with Christian Resources International commented on what he sees as unique windows of opportunity for gospel advancement in these countries. “We definitely have short windows—or it would appear that we could have a short window—to get God’s Word there.”

Woolford’s organization ships crates of Bibles and other Christian materials to a network of believers in these countries for distribution to pastors and individuals desiring to learn more about Christianity.

In the news yesterday were reports of four Americans killed by pirates after their boat the Quest had been captured last week off the coast of Somalia. Christianity Today is reporting that two of the four killed, Scott and Jean Adam, were a retired couple who spent most of the last decade sailing the world distributing Bibles. Scott Adam is a graduate of Fuller Seminary and he and his wife Jean were members of Santa Monica’s Catholic Church in Santa Monica, California.

According to a Reuters story, the kidnappers were in negotiations with a U.S. Navy ship that was following the pirates when the killings occurred.

Sudanese Christians, who live predominately in southern Sudan, are elated about the outcome of a recent referendum to divide the African nation. “Secession has become a reality—99 percent of southerners chose separation but we will not be sad…we will go to the south and celebrate with them,” said Sudan President Omar Hassan al-Bashir yesterday in a quote by the Reuters News Service.

Persecuted Christians who fled Sudan to neighboring Kenya were excited to be able to cast their vote for independence. According to the International Mission Board (IMB), eight voting locations were established in Kenya to allow Sudanese there to cast their ballot.  “I am so happy that I voted…I want to go back to my country. I believe God will bless our new country,” one Sudanese Christian told IMB reporters.

The predominately Muslim north and Christian south have been at odds for years, with southerners feeling increasingly threatened by the north’s enforcement of Islamic law. Christians are hoping that the new country will provide religious freedom and equality.

While the issue of secession is accepted by both sides, Reuters points out that there are still major unresolved issues. These include disputes over the border, citizenship and how to share the nearly $40 billion in external debt. Also, the central Abyei region will hold its own referendum on whether to join the north or the south.

The issue of persecution is also center stage for the Asian nation of Vietnam. “Vietnam’s crackdown on religion is systematic, severe and getting worse by the day,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, in the organization’s just released World Report 2011. The report sites repeated police harassment of religious groups, including the detainment of a Mennonite pastor who is awaiting trial. Other religious leaders are being held under house arrest.

There is, however, a glimmer of hope. The Southern Baptist Convention recently reported that one Vietnamese church they helped start more than 35 years ago is alive, thriving and has birthed many other churches. In 2008 Grace Baptist Church was officially recognized by the government. The church survived, according to a retired Southern Baptist Missionary, because it held its own deed to building and land, giving it legitimacy with the communist government.

The African nation of Sudan is preparing for two historic votes on January 9 and Presbyterians there are calling for prayer and fasting. According to the Presbyterian News Service, the Sudanese will vote on two issues—one to decide if southern Sudan will secede from the rest of the country and the other to determine the status of Abyei, the oil-rich area in the center of the country.

During a recent meeting of the Sudan Mission Network, participants were given updates by both government leaders and mission workers and told that they expect the South will vote to secede if the required 60 percent of registered voters actually vote.

The South, according to these reports, is comprised predominately of Christians and animists and has been mostly devoid of development. The northern part of the country is predominately Muslim and is where the capital is located. The concern is that violence will surround the voting. Also, there is an increasing level of fear among Sudanese, particularly those in the South. Presbyterians are calling for prayer for Sudan’s leaders and that the country will experience peace and the establishment of justice.

Southern Baptists are helping Christians in India’s Kandhamal district of Orissa state return to their home villages following the killing of 70 Christians and destruction of 4,640 houses by Hindu extremists two years ago.

The Baptist Press reports that Christians from Kandhamal had been living in relief camps provided to them by the government. Those camps, however, are now closed. Baptist humanitarian workers are providing materials to build homes for as many as 1,440 people. They are helping the Kandhamal Christians rebuild their homes on the original foundations. Southern Baptists provided initial relief to 8,000 families in the Kandhamal area following the persecution.

Finally, from Sweden comes a report from Mission Network News on ministry progress in this very secular nation that has been in moral decline for some time. The Evangelical Alliance Mission (TEAM) missionaries partnering with a Swedish church and mission movement are seeing churches grow once again. The group has focused on a strategy of relational and holistic ministry to children, youth and “those who have been marginalized by their society.” The group is using music, art, social caring, marriage courses and the launch of a preschool to connect with people.

From Europe comes a report from Mission Network News about the Roma people having no place to call home. Known by many as “Gypsy,” (a term that is considered to be derogatory) the Roma people are having an increasingly difficult time as they have become targets of European governments. France recently expelled 13,000 of them. The Roma tend to concentrate in Romania and other Eastern European countries where they face soaring unemployment and prejudice. There are, however, ministries that are reaching out to the Roma and many of them are embracing Christianity. One Roma church has grown to 3,000 members in a town with a population of 7,000.

The Presbyterian Church in Cameroon (PCC), Africa, reports progress in stemming the tide of HIV transmission. In the Northwest Province, nearly one in seven women aged 25-29 are living with HIV. The church is engaged with health facilities and a successful program that is preventing the transmission of HIV from pregnant women to their infants. Pastors in the region have begun including HIV/AIDS messages in their sermons on a monthly basis. The denomination also instituted an annual offering that is used to help fight HIV/AIDS.

In North Africa, Christians among the indigenous people group Kabyle Berbers are facing increased persecution as their numbers grow to as many as 21,000 of the 10 million Kabyles who live in the region. The Southern Baptist International Mission Board (IMB) reports that a recently completed church building was burned down at the hands of a group of radicals opposed to Christianity. Attacks like this are becoming more common. The IMB requests prayer that Kabyles will continue to come to Christ and that “they will endure and grow amid persecution.” Outreach ministries have distributed thousands of Bibles, Jesus Film DVDs and other gospel materials to Kabyles as they travel back to North Africa from jobs in Europe.