Global: floods
Devastating flash floods have killed 37 people and hundreds are still missing in eastern Kentucky’s worst disaster for decades. The death toll will continue to rise. Hundreds of homes and businesses have been destroyed. People are sitting on their porches, hoping somebody is coming to save them. See In July, Sydney in Australia was hit with a month’s worth of rain in five days; people are still cleaning up three feet of swirling mud. Pakistan has 7,000+ glaciers, but rising global temperatures are causing them to melt rapidly, creating thousands of glacial lakes that might burst and release millions of cubic metres of water and debris, flooding villages in just a few hours. Worsening Indian monsoons cause Mumbai residents to commute on Venetian gondolas and inflatable dinghies. This year residents are being asked to tweet details about floods in their neighbourhoods. The data is then used to issue immediate geographically-specific flood alerts.
New way of farming produces a harvest
Craig's farm was seized by Zimbabwe’s government in 2003, forcing his family to move to Harare. He joined a Foundations for Farming group and began teaching the new owners and other small-scale farmers a unique way of farming revealed by God - farming without tillage or burning. He immediately got a 10% increase in yield. He started to grow it bigger, but he knew that God had given him this revelation not for himself but to share across Africa to the rural farmers, the hurting, the poor ones. Zero-tillage technique caught the attention of the government, which endorsed the method. In 2020 Zimbabwe experienced its first food surplus in two decades and now Foundations for Farming teaches the technique all over the world, with the main goal of sharing the Gospel. ‘80% of what we teach is the heart, using agriculture as an entry point for the gospel.’
Churches and pride community
Seven Australian rugby league team members boycotted a championship match against Sydney Roosters on religious grounds, after being told to wear a jersey celebrating LGBTQ+ rights, replacing white stripes with rainbow bands. Reverend Palu has never met the players but he’s proud of them, saying, ‘Christianity takes a very strong root in our people’. After another team told players to wear such a jersey without consulting them, that was another flashpoint in deepening tensions between people of faith and the mainstream community over sexuality and same-sex marriage. A similar battle is happening in schools, politics and inside the churches as secular and progressive religious communities embrace sexual diversity while theological conservatives say it contradicts the Bible. Reverend Fihaki said Christianity was ‘ingrained into our culture. It’s not just a matter of going to church on Sunday, it’s part of our DNA, it’s part of our culture, it is who we are’.
Commonwealth Games: Christians in sport
‘God’s love for me doesn’t depend on how I perform’, says British athlete Adam Pengilly. Christian boxer Katie Taylor said, 'I actually don't know how people get through difficult moments without God in their life'. See During the Commonwealth Games, Passion for Sport will be in Birmingham hosting a special outreach exhibition featuring stories of eight Christian athletes. Three are reigning Commonwealth champions, one is a netball captain, and four are former athletes with great testimonies. Each athlete’s story is heard via a QR code link displayed in the installation. There are also visual creations of key moments from personal journeys. Pray for the success of this outreach installation, may it inspire and immerse people of faith and none into the world of Christian athletes. For 25 years, Passion for Sport has been reporting from major sporting events aiming to introduce sports fans to Jesus through comments, discussions and interviews with top Christian athletes sharing their faith.
