Pastor Clement Niyiragira of Burundi has just emailed me saying: "One of our leaders – Rev. Joseph Sinzubwenge – was kidnaped and probably killed on the 12th October. It has been hard for us recently."

Philip Aston, a missionary who knows Clement really well, has just written: "We heard about Joseph's disappearance and have been praying much for him and his family. We know him well and have done quite a lot of work with him. It is such an incredibly hard situation. He leaves a wife and 8 children. Some are grown up, but there are younger ones in secondary school. Last weekend Clement went to visit them (a long way from the capital where Clement lives) and said it’s just an awful situation. Let’s keep praying they find him, or at worst have evidence that he has died."

All this is so far removed from our own situations and experiences, isn't it? Clement and his team are seeking to win Muslims to Jesus and are willing to run these sorts of risks. Am I? Are you? It is so easy to get taken up and absorbed with things that have no eternal value, isn't it; to major on minors? We are exhorted to remember those in prison as if we were their fellow prisoners, and those who are ill-treated as if we ourselves were suffering (Hb. 13:3). But it is not easy.

Philip also wrote: "We have just had a good chat with Clement to better understand this whole issue of the land. He already has two small plots that are being worked on by his team and he wants this large one as a good training place for the many teams that he is training to do Muslim evangelism, so that they can grow their own food. It’s a great vision but the cost of the land (minimum £11.000.00) is huge. If there could be 22 of us able to give £500.00 each then we’d be getting somewhere near." I have no trouble in making financial appeals on behalf of others.

What a challenge! Joseph's disappearance puts it all into a totally different perspective doesn't it? May we each respond as the Holy Spirit directs.