Lausanne World Pulse – News Briefs

AROUND THE WORLD: Over Four Million Bibles and NTs Handed Out
Bible League workers handed out more than four million Bibles and New Testaments in 2007 to millions of people worldwide. Additionally, more than three million Bible studies were completed and more than 539,000 individuals became part of a church. (Bible League)

AROUND THE WORLD: Millions Discover God Speaks Their Language
People from twenty different minority language groups received God’s Word in their heart language in 2007 as a result of a long-standing partnership between Bible League and Wycliffe Bible Translators. These newly-translated scriptures were placed in the hands of specific people groups throughout Ghana, Kenya, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Peru, and the Philippines—people who never before had the written Word of God in their language. (Bible League)

AROUND THE WORLD: TWR Surpasses 225 Languages-and-Dialects Mark
Listeners in West Africa are the beneficiaries of expanded ministry experienced by international Christian broadcasting network Trans World Radio (TWR). Recent broadcast supplements to the airwaves include Baatonum, Ditammari, and Lukpa—all languages spoken in Benin, West Africa; and Ifè, a language of Togo. With these and other new additions, TWR now proclaims God’s Word globally in more than 225 languages and dialects. Programs are broadcast from more than two thousand outlets, including fourteen international transmitting sites, as well as local AM, shortwave, long wave, FM, direct-to-listener satellite broadcasts, cable audio systems, and the Internet. (Trans World Radio)

CHINA: Mass Sentencing of Chinese House Church Leaders
Twenty-one prominent Christian leaders have been sentenced to re-education through labor in what China Aid Association describes as the largest mass sentencing of house church leaders in China in twenty-five years. The Linyi City Re-education through Labour Commission in Shandong Province sentenced seventeen male and four female church leaders to re-education through labor for fifteen months to three years. The twenty-one were detained during a mass arrest of 270 Christian leaders on 7 December 2007 in Hedeng District, Linyi City, as they gathered for leadership training. The others detained with them were fined and released in the intervening period. The leaders were accused of holding an “illegal religious gathering” and labeled as members of an “evil cult,” a term which Chinese authorities arbitrarily apply to unregistered religious groups. (Christian Solidarity Worldwide)

HONG KONG: Beijing Needs to Turn What It Says about Religious Freedom into Reality
The government in Beijing needs to turn what it says about religious freedom into reality, says Chinese pastor, the Rev. Bob Fu, founder of the Texas-based China Aid Association. Fu, once a member of an underground house church in China, was at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. (USA) in early February, where he was presented with the 2007 John Leland Religious Liberty Award of the Southern Baptist Convention. He now lives in Texas (USA), where the Baptist church has a strong following. Despite living in exile from his home country, Fu sees a great future for Christianity in China. (Ecumenical News International)

MALAYSIA: English-language Bibles Seized
The seizure by Malaysian customs officials of thirty-two English-language Bibles from a Christian woman who was bringing them into the country for a study group has prompted an outcry from Christians in the Muslim-majority country. “The Council of Churches is flabbergasted that such acts are happening in our country with such frequency and impunity,” said the Rev. Hermen Shastri, general secretary of the Council of Churches of Malaysia. “We want to state categorically that the Bible is Holy Scripture for Christians,” he added. “No authority on earth should deny Christians the right to possess, read, and travel with their Bibles.” (Ecumencial News International)

NIGERIA: Bible Reading Marathon Draws Record Numbers
The most recent Bible Reading Marathon in Nigeria drew nearly 730 participants, up from 152 in 2006. Sponsored by the Bible Society of Nigeria, the event, which offers anyone the opportunity to read the Bible aloud in any language, took place in six different churches and Christian centers in Lagos. The readings were primarily given in English, Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, French, and Egun. The readings were organized in such a way that they began with the Gospel of Matthew. (Bible Society of Nigeria)

SRI LANKA: More Christians Facing Violence
Christians in Sri Lanka have seen a dramatic increase in violence within the last month, according to reports from the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka (NCEASL). On 3 March the Zion Mount Prayer House in Mulaitivu District was set on fire. The previous day, ten Bible school students in Lunuwila, Putlam District, were attacked by masked men on motorbikes. On the same day a mob of two hundred people surrounded a local pastor’s home in Udugama, Galle District, and told him to leave the village or face death. (Christian Solidarity Worldwide)

UNITED KINGDOM: General Director of the Evangelical Alliance UK Leaving Post
One of the UK’s most senior Christian leaders, the Rev. Joel Edwards, will be leaving his post as general director of the Evangelical Alliance UK after more than a decade of service. Edwards completed two five-year terms as general director for the Alliance last year, but wanted to stay on until he had finished work on a new vision for evangelicalism, outlined in his new book An Agenda for Change. As the Alliance’s first black general director, Edwards progressed and deepened the diversity of the Alliance while bringing credibility and attention to evangelicals in the ecumenical and secular spheres. He will continue on as chair for Micah Challenge International and as a commissioner for the Equality and Human Rights Commission. (Evangelical Alliance UK)

URUGUAY: One Percent of Nation Accepts Christ at Outreach
Over one percent of the population of Uruguay made a commitment to Christ through Mi Esperanza-Uruguay, a nationwide outreach sponsored by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. The event, held in September 2007, was the largest evangelistic event in the history of the country and included 1,413 participating churches. By the time the Mi Esperanza office closed 30 November 2007, 33,261 commitments to Christ had been recorded. (Billy Graham Evangelistic Association)

ZIMBABWE: Pastors Key to Churches Being “AIDS Competent”
If African churches are to be “AIDS competent,” their pastors must be trained to equip members with “sharp minds, keen ears, warm hearts, quick feet, and loud voices,” says Ezra Chitando, a Zimbabwean historian and theologian. Chitando has authored two new books on African churches and the pandemic. Such theological training of pastors is the essential first step, Chitando said, to overcoming “ambulance theology,” which he described as “always arriving after the accident has already taken place.” (Ecumenical News International)

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