Lausanne World Pulse – News Briefs
The Christian Reformed Church (CRC) expanded its work of combating racism and its effects within the church recently by hiring Steve Kabetu to serve as Race Relations coordinator in Canada. Born in Kenya, Kabetu moved to Canada twenty years ago. He will be based in the CRC Burlington, Ontario office. Kabetu has experience in developing an anti-racism curriculum for Canadian congregations called “Widening the Circle.” Kabetu hopes to strengthen churches “based on a biblical vision that challenges us to become a more intentionally diverse church, as a multi-racial and multi-ethnic yet unified family of God.” (Christian Reformed Church)
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Around the World
With the enormity of impact and seemingly increased frequency of natural disasters, many people may develop what some experts call a “global desensitization” to the overwhelming amount of information they are receiving from media sources. However, according to Rita Guerra of Bible Pathway Ministries, along with the devastation comes a spike in requests for the Bible and other Christian resources. Many people are wondering if the end times are here and according to Guerra, this is the perfect opportunity to reach out to those affected by natural disasters and to those who are seeking to learn more about God in the midst of them. (Mission Network News)
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FRANCE
While rhetoric from French officials toward immigrants of African descent continued, Mennonites in the northeastern part of the country welcomed delegations from Botswana, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Canada and the United States. It was the first time since the restructuring of the Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission (AIMM) that the organization’s International Central Council met. French Mennonite Mission Committee president Jean-Paul Pelsy and the twenty-five participants used the time to fellowship, share their vision of mission and build relationships with ten area Mennonite churches. (Mennonite Mission Network)
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Africa
Teen Missions International is holding ten boot camps in sub-Saharan Africa designed to train teenagers from Zimbabwe, South Africa, Zambia, Mozambique, Uganda and Tanzania for ministry. Teens involved partake in projects such as building, orphanage work, agriculture, evangelism and other outreach in their native countries. Currently, about two thousand teens are involved. (Mission Network News)
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GERMANY
The younger generation of Christians in Germany are showing an unabated interest in evangelism and missions. More than six thousand participants between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five attended a youth conference for world missions, held 8 January in Stuttgart. More than one hundred theologians, teachers, engineers and health workers are about to be sent out as missionaries to various regions of the world. (Assist News Service)
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ARGENTINA
A small church of only two hundred people reached nearly their entire community by distributing more than two thousand copies of the Book of Hope, a compilation of the four Gospels which tells the story of Jesus. Over a two-month period, Pastor Hugo and his congregants placed two thousand copies of the book in the hands of students and visited 1,380 families. Because of this local outreach, several Catholic schools have added the Book of Hope to its curriculum. The two-month event ended with a festival where three thousand people attended. (Book of Hope)
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INDIA
For the first time the Awadhi people of India, numbering over twenty million, will be able to read the Bible in their own heart language. The project, undertaken by translators for the World Bible Translation Center, took thirteen years. Over ten thousand copies of the new translation were distributed at one time with the hope that these initial volumes will be used to strengthen church leaders and lay Christians in this area. (Mission Network News )
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BURMA
A new report from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPPB) reveals widespread torture occurring in Burmese jails. The report, based on interviews with thirty-five former political prisoners, includes details of poor prison conditions, deliberate medical negligence, severe beatings and electrical shock. Former prisoners also testify to being bound with ropes and shackles for months at a time. The report suggests many in Burmese prisons have been arrested for simply expressing their opposition to the ruling military junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). (Assist News)
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INDONESIA
Tensions between fundamentalist Muslims and Western aid workers have increased in Aceh as the area recovers from the December 2004 tsunami. According to one report, Christian groups have been accused of proselytizing Muslims in Banda Aceh amid aid efforts. Despite the aid coming in from Christian organizations, some Islamic activists claim that workers are secretly attempting to convert those in the area to Christianity. Aceh is known as Indonesia’s most conservatively devout Islamic province. (Assist News Service )
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INDONESIA
Christian Freedom International (CFI) has delivered more than twenty thousand pounds of medicine, cooking utensils, tools and clothing to residents on Nias Island. Ninety percent of the residents are Christian and many believe the Indonesian government has been discriminating against them because of their faith. The area was devastated by the December 2004 tsunami and the March 2005 earthquake. Christians in the area claim they are not receiving the same amount of governmental resources that places such as Banda Aceh are getting and they believe it is due to religious discrimination. CFI’s supplies are being distributed through local churches on Nias. (Assist News)
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INDONESIA
One year after the 2004 tsunami hit Banda Aceh, the Banda Aceh Museum re-opened with the exhibit, “Art & Tsunami Recovery,” which featured ten local Acehnese artists depicting the stories of tsunami survivors. The paintings depicted scenes of terror, trauma, hope and recovery. The exhibit and its artists were supported by Catholic Relief Services in an effort to restore the livelihoods of artists and bring healing to the area. (Assist News Service )
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ISRAEL
A census taken just before the state of Israel was founded in 1948 showed that eighty percent of Bethlehem’s inhabitants were Christians. Today, Christians only make up forty percent of the town’s forty thousand residents. According to reports, the town where Jesus was born is primarily a Muslim town. In the past few years, more than three thousand Christians have left the town for economic, social and religious reasons. (Assist News)
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JORDAN
A group of twenty Arab and Israeli women recently met in Petra for the Musalaha Reconciliation Ministries’ Women’s Leadership Conference. The women represented many communities and congregations and a host of backgrounds, including some who were born and raised in Israel and others who were immigrants to the area. Some of the women from the Palestinian side had never met Messianic Israelis. The conference encouraged the women to listen to those of differing backgrounds and to be open to hearing stories unlike their own. (Assist News Service)
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NIGERIA
Nigerian evangelists say that a revival is sweeping the ranks of the police force in Africa’s most populous nation as thousands of law enforcement officers are casting aside their weapons and surrendering their lives to Jesus. According to the evangelists, this has resulted in the establishment of the Police Christian Fellowship in Nigeria. (Ecumenical News International)
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KENYA
The Church of God Chaplains Commission recently brought chaplaincy training to Kenya for the first time. Thirty-two pastors met at Discipleship College in Eldoret to learn from church leaders, Dr. Jake Popejoy and Dr. R. Williams. Eldoret is a rural community that has the distinction of producing more champion runners than any other town in the world. During the week-long training, participants learned skills on how to effectively evangelize those around them. (Church of God Chaplains Commission)
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PUERTO RICO
The Church of God is one of many denominations in Puerto Rico that has a growing burden for world missions. Although at one point the missionary zeal in the country seemed to diminish, in the past six to eight years there has been a renewed interest in world missions and church teams are increasingly traveling to other countries to do evangelism and construction work. Due to the freedom of worship, the economic prosperity and the language advantage, Puerto Rico has been especially active and mission-minded toward Latin America. (Faith News Network)
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MEXICO
More than forty people recently attended a church planting retreat, a major step toward choosing the first church planters in the Evangelical Covenant Church in Mexico. Pastors and lay people came from eight Mexican states and met in Oaxtepec, one hour south of Mexico City. “The leaders are catching the vision that God could do great things in and through the planting of new churches,” said missionary Kari Peterson. The retreat was one of three where participants discussed possible places to plant churches in Mexico. Planning is still in the early stages. (The Evangelical Covenant Church)
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ROMANIA
The Bible League has reached a milestone in Romania with the establishment of 1,065 new evangelical churches since 1993, when the organization first began working with national Christians. In 2005, eighty-one new churches and more than 18,200 church members were added. The Bible League says it will continue to share the gospel in the more than 9,500 towns and villages that still do not have an evangelical presence. (Mission Network News)
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PERU
Evangelical Christians are called to actively participate in society, says Dennis Smith, president of the World Association for Christian Communication-Latin American Region (WACC-LA). Smith believes that evangelicals should integrate existing spaces in civil society with humility and decision and remember that they are not the only ones desiring to use political power for the common good. “As Evangelical Christians we must defend pluralism and cultural diversity, encourage citizen participation and lobby for the consolidation of a state of law,” he said. Christians do this, Smith goes on to say, not to improve the power quota compared to other religious groups or to win members of churches, but because we are mandated by God. (Latin American and Caribbean New Agency)
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SOUTH AFRICA
Claudine Storbeck, a Nazarene from South Africa, was recently appointed as a World Federation for the Deaf (WFD) Expert in the area of education. Storbeck’s role will include research, planning and implementing surveys and studies on specific areas pertaining to deafness. She will also prepare recommendations at the international, national and regional levels. (Nazarene Communications Network)
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ROMANIA
More than 345,000 people living in Constanta, the largest seaport on the Black Sea,can now hear Christian radio broadcasts in their native tongue. The new radio station is part of the Radio Voice of the Gospel (RVG), a nationwide network of eight Christian FM stations, and is a joint effort of HCJB World Radio, the Romanian Missionary Society and local believers. Broadcasts will reach not only the entire city population, but listeners within a thirty to forty mile radius as well. (HCJB World Radio)
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SWEDEN
Swedish pastor Ake Green was recently acquitted of hate speech by the Swedish Supreme Court, the nation’s highest court. The precedent-setting verdict upheld freedom of speech and religion. Green was accused of the crime after denouncing homosexual behaviors in a July 2003 sermon. The Supreme Court produced a sixteen-page ruling that stated Green’s sermon was protected under the European Convention on Human Rights. (Assist News)
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SOUTH AFRICA REGION
Rev. D.J. Galela has been named the new regional superintendent for the Wesleyan Church of the South African Region, which includes Swaziland, South Africa and Zimbabwe. He was educated at the Evangelical Wesleyan Bible College in Swaziland and has served as one of the Wesleyan Church’s district superintendents. Galela will be replacing the Rev. Robert Nhlengethawa, who served in the regional superintendent position for twelve years. (Wesleyan Church )
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TAIWAN
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and a prominent congresswoman in Taiwan have endorsed the distribution of the Book of Hope, a compilation of the four Gospels which tells the story of Jesus, to public schools in Taiwan. To date, more than 500,000 books have been distributed. According to Bob Hoskins, founder of Book of Hope International, these endorsements have paved the way for their ministry. Book of Hope is currently sending out Nomad Teams, young people who are training nationals to do the work of evangelism, to Taiwan. Hoskins hopes to distribute 1.5 million copies of the Book of Hope in 2006. (Mission Network News)
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UNITED STATES
Seventy-five years ago, Clarence Jones went against the belief of many Christians who thought radio was the invention of the devil and founded HCJB World Radio. Decades later, HCJB has planted over 250 radio stations in every continent of the world except Antarctica. According to president David Johnson, HCJB has five regional offices in every region of the world and is committed to not only producing programs but to helping local believers use the programming as a tool for ministry. (Mission Network News)
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UNITED STATES
The eighty-member First Baptist Church in Avondale, Louisiana, USA, has seen two middle-aged women come to trust in Jesus Christ in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The first woman wandered into the church on the first Sunday the congregation met after the storm. After several church teams helped the woman restore her flooded home, she came to trust in Christ. The second woman came to First Baptist after having visited several other churches. Even before the hurricane, the woman believed the Lord was drawing her to himself. (Baptist Press News)
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UNITED STATES
U.S. churches say they have made significant advances in the fight against human trafficking in recent years, due in part to the opposition of faith-based groups. Lutherans, Adventists, the Salvation Army and the National Association of Evangelicals are educating their own members and directly intervening for victims and endorsing state and national legislative changes to thwart trafficking. (Ecumenical News International)
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VIETNAM
Six ethnic minority Montagnards have been sentenced to between seven and seventeen years in jail for “threatening national security,” the Vietnam News Agency reports. The men, from the Central Highlands, are Protestants who follow an evangelical Christian church not sanctioned by the government. They claim their tribal lands have been taken to grow cash crops. The men were found guilty of inciting protests in 2004 which called for religious freedom. Even after imprisonment, the men face an additional five years of surveillance. (Assist News)
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