Lausanne World Pulse – News Briefs
The Latin American Council of Churches, known under its Spanish acronym CLAI, has elected Panamanian Episcopal (Anglican) Bishop Julio Murray as its first black president in a tightly contested election. “I am very happy about this election,” said the Rev. Antônio Olimpio de Sant’Ana, the executive secretary of Brazil’s National Ecumenical Council to Combat Racism. “We need to have more black people represented in this church body and we also need to have women in the leadership.” Murray won after a third run off in voting for the presidency of the 150-member church council that is represented in twenty countries. (Ecumenical News International)
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CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
Integrated Community Development International (ICDI) in Boali, Central African Republic, officially began broadcasting the gospel via shortwave with help from HCJB Global Voice. This is the country’s first privately-owned shortwave station, making Christian broadcasts available to most of the country’s 3.5 million people. ICDI plan to use the radio broadcasts to help disseminate community health information and to spread the gospel. The station, broadcasting at 6030 kHz, airs eight hours daily with programming in French and three African languages, Sango, Aka and Fulfuldé. (ASSIST News Service)
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CHINA
There are 113,000 Internet cafes throughout China, serving over 123 million Internet users. Of this number, an estimated eighteen million of these users are under the age of eighteen. According to new governmental regulations, those under eighteen will not be permitted to use the Internet. (China Clippings)
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CHINA
With increasing restrictions within China, radio becomes an even more attractive means of gaining information from the outside world. Alliance Radio in Hong Kong continues to prepare and broadcast programs over Christian radio stations outside of China. Popular programs are being prepared for the thousands of workers who live in crowded dormitories and who work at difficult and sometimes dangerous jobs in the Pearl River Delta. These programs are being aired in the factories by the Chinese business people who operate them. A project that was inaugurated last year is the “Food for Life” nurturing program. Over two thousand sets of two CDs each were sent to rural workers in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Dongquan industrial centers so that the people could listen to heaven’s message in their dormitories. (China Clippings)
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COSTA RICA
The first Iberoamerican Wesleyan Women’s conference was held in February in San Jose, Costa Rica. Over two hundred women from thirteen different countries attended this event, including two women from Spain and four women from Equatorial Guinea, Africa. This event was the first Wesleyan Women’s conference in Iberoamerica as well as the first event with representation from Spain and Equatorial Guinea, Africa. The largest delegation aside from Costa Rica was from Panama, with an attendance of twenty-five. Martha Blackburn, general director of Wesleyan Women, was a keynote speaker, emphasizing being a “Light to the Nations,” which was also the theme of the conference. Reverend Zulay de Azofeifa was appointed director of Wesleyan Women of Iberoamerica. A committee of six women from six different countries was appointed to plan the future ministry of the Wesleyan Women of Latin America. (Wesleyan Information Network)
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INDONESIA
Leaders from the Christian Conference of Asia have concluded five days of celebrations in Indonesia for their fiftieth year as a grouping with one leader calling for stepped-up efforts by churches to fight corruption and nepotism in the region. “The celebrations were not just about the past; they were also a time to look to the future and to identify new opportunities to equip the churches to venture into ministries unique and decisive in the Asian context,” said Prawate Khid-arn, general secretary of the conference. (Ecumenical News International)
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NORWAY
Approximately seventy people met on 2 December 2006 in Oslo, Norway to celebrate the official organization of the country’s first Church of the Nazarene. Between thirty and fifty people now comprise the Portuguese-speaking congregation, which began as fifteen to twenty people meeting in 2002 at the home of Jorge Rocha, a Cape Verdean bi-vocational pastor. Rocha, who pastored several home churches during the decade he lived in Brazil, was ordained at the Scandinavia District Assembly in May 2006 after fifteen years as a licensed minister. It marked the district’s first ordination in fifteen years. (Nazarene Communications Network)
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RUSSIA
Leaders from the Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists of Russia gathered recently to address the issue of unity among evangelicals in Russia. Participants not only discussed working together with different groups and denominations, but also addressed the differences between the older generation of believers and the new generation of young Christian leaders. “Today’s young Christian leaders understand that they stand on a foundation that was forged through suffering and persecution,” points out Sergey Rakhuba, vice-president of ministries at Russian Ministries. “As the older generation of Christians passes on its wisdom and experience, the next generation of believers is ready to pick up the baton of leadership and run the race God has for them.” (ASSIST News Service)
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