Lausanne World Pulse – World Pulse Archives – World Pulse Archives

AFGHANISTAN: Formerly the world’s largest exporter of raisins, the country could eventually be weaned from its widespread opium production, now nominally illegal, by exporting its dried fruit, renowned carpets and natural resources. In the meantime, the economy is slowly growing because of the end of a long drought and the influx of aid money. Many reconstruction jobs, however, are completed by foreign companies and their imported workers. In a vicious cycle of instability and limited economic opportunities, Afghan farmers cultivate poppies, enriching warlords who foment lawlessness.

AFRICA: African missionaries need close links to extended family members when they work abroad. Besides a family environment where they are going, staying connected to their families back at home is critical. “This link determines how long the missionary and his family will last in cross-cultural work,” said Reuben Ezemadu, international director of Christian Missionary Foundation in Nigeria. Having go-betweens help missionaries cope with pressures. One missionary who could not afford regular family contact had a friend who visited the missionary’s aged parents and gave them a small stipend. The money and greetings on the son’s behalf kept the parents happy knowing their son cared for them. The missionary was satisfied that his obligation to his parents was not neglected because he was serving God.

HAITI: Radio ministries can make inroads in a country that made voodoo one of its national religions last year. Galcom International gave a $30 solar-powered radio to a technician, who gave it to her father. After listening to the Christian station for three months, he accepted Jesus. In turn, he gave the radio to his witch doctor friend who also accepted Christ. Twelve of his 13 children and his wife became believers.

HUNGARY: The country’s first-ever evangelical radio station began broadcasting three hours a week in November, three years after it was founded. “Yes Radio” also started broadcasting online at .

INDIA: The International Bible Society recently launched a Braj language New Testament after nine years of labor by 25 translators. IBS expects it to appeal to Hindu scholars, as Braj is a Sanskrit language and the mother tongue of Krishna, worshiped by Hindus…Government corruption costs businesses an estimated $7 billion a year, according to the United Nations Development Program. Corruption trials may take 10-20 years to complete. The conviction rate for graft is just six percent. Anti-graft campaigner Joginder Singh says that the average Indian entrepreneur faces 65 different “inspection” bribes from various officials before he can open shop.

IRAQ: Bombs were discovered in two Christian schools in Baghdad and Mosul in November. They were successfully defused, but both schools received written warnings demanding that the students become Muslim or they will be killed.

JAPAN: Buddhist followers of Soka Gakkai, the country’s largest lay Buddhist organization, are swaying the nation’s politics. Candidates of Japan’s ruling party, the Liberal Democratic Party, heavily rely on endorsement from Soka Gakkai’s offshoot—the New Komeito party. Some 80 percent of LDP candidates who received New Komeito backing were elected for parliament, while only 55 percent without its endorsement won their races. But the two parties disagree on national security, an issue that will likely come to a head soon. Japan’s scheduled 2004 dispatch of troops to Iraq is opposed by many in New Komeito who support pacifism.

JORDAN: Iraqi graduates of Jordan Evangelical School of Theology are returning home to minister. One has just been ordained as pastor of an Assyrian-speaking church that plans to plant a church on each side of the Tigris River. Another is pastoring a church in Basra. “We now know why the Lord had sent us over 50 Iraqis to be trained at JEST between the two Gulf wars,” the seminary’s president said.

NIGERIA: Thirteen churches were torched in the town of Kazaure, in northern Nigeria’s Jigawa State, in November. Many houses and 54 shops belonging to Christians were attacked and looted, although there were no deaths. After a Christian girl who was taunted by Muslims allegedly responded with blasphemy against Islam, angry Muslims confronted the girl’s school where they were repelled by police, and subsequently rampaged through the town.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA: With less than 50 percent of the population able to read or write, a key government policy is promoting literacy. Bible literacy classes in prisons have been led by the national Bible society for several years. In one prison on the outskirts of Port Moresby, the classes have created a more stable prison environment, where rioting and mass escapes, prompted by food shortages, overcrowding and poor conditions, have been recurring problems.

UNITED STATES: New York City schools barred Christian nativity scenes, alleging the depiction of Jesus’ birth does not represent a historical event. Jewish menorahs and Islamic crescents are allowed, the district said, “because they have a secular dimension, but the Christian symbols are purely religious.”…Prisons house three to four times more mentally ill people than hospitals today. Some 300,000 people in prisons suffer from mental disorders ranging from serious depression and post-traumatic stress to schizophrenia. When many mental health hospitals were shut down in the 1960s, the idea was that patients would find treatment in local health systems. Instead, many mentally ill have ended up on the streets and often have little access to treatment. Up to one in four homeless people has a serious mental illness, according to the National Resource Center on Homelessness and Mental Illness. Once on the streets, it’s often only a matter of time before a mentally ill person commits a usually minor crime and is imprisoned. The problem is economic—it’s cheaper to house the mentally ill behind bars than in a state hospital. Congress is considering a bill that would provide cash for more treatment, housing and special mental-health courts.