Author: Shalem John

Since Myanmar’s military coup in February 2021, ethnic armed groups in Chin State have fought the junta. In the past four and a half years, the Myanmar army has destroyed Chin churches, killed and displaced civilians, and wiped out entire cities. Yet beyond resisting military rule, ethnic armed groups in Chin State have also been fighting one another to extend territorial ambitions in the rugged, hilly region. In July, fierce fighting erupted between the veteran Chin National Army and the newer Chin National Defense Force. The violence left dozens of combatants dead and forced more than 4,000 civilians to flee…

Farming has been in my blood for seven generations. For seven generations I have been rooted to land and place. Trace our worn family line back as far as you can, and you find we are a people of place-makers who work the earth, grounded in a place by the roots of our plants. We’re as common as dirt. It’s our ground that grounds us. Walter Brueggemann and others have noted that adam—the Hebrew word for man—shares its root with adamah, the word for ground. We’re not just from the earth. We’re of it. Place isn’t just where we live—it’s…

Birth: 01-04-1827 Home Calling: 20-09-1871 Native Place: Devon Country: England Place of Vision: South Pacific Islands John Coleridge Patteson was a missionary from England who died as a martyr in South Pacific Islands. Patteson was excellent in his studies and an accomplished cricketer in his youth. While he was working at Oxford University, he heard about the need for Christian volunteers in South Pacific Islands through Bishop George Selwyn. Being an enthusiastic worker in the church thus far, Patteson immediately volunteered to serve God among the savages of the Melanesian Islands. Patteson arrived in Auckland in 1855 and took over…