Lausanne World Pulse – World Pulse Archives – World Pulse Archives

AFGHANISTAN: The combination of ethnic tensions, competing warlords and banditry makes security tenuous at best. But Afghan refugees are going home-more than 60,000 since March. The UN expects 800,000 more to return this year. The estimated 400,000 who fled their homes but stayed in the country are going back as well. Food is scarce and some 3.5 million Afghans need care.

BULGARIA: “Hope for the Balkans,” a 10-month campaign, brings together people from 34 ethnic groups. The Bulgarian Evangelical Alliance hosted three conferences. The campaign includes community service projects and training conferences.

CENTRAL ASIA: Islamic militancy has spread from Afghanistan into the five former Soviet republics in Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Since the fall of the USSR, radical Islam has taken root with exceptional vigor, accelerated by the Taliban. Its growth is traced to poverty and political repression. There are no signs of changes on either score.

CHINA: Leadership Development International has been cleared to open the American University in Beijing next fall. LDI hopes to have 140 students in the freshman class. English language training will be held for members of the Beijing Olympic Committee.

COLOMBIA: Work is progressing nicely on the Islander Creole translation of the Gospel of Mark on San Andres Island. Church leaders are checking an enhanced version. For the first time in island history, the Easter story from Mark was broadcast in Islander Creole.

ECUADOR: “God’s heart for a broken, lost world was poured into our hearts. Faith was unleashed as we prayed and imagined the future together,” said one of 36 Latin American Christian leaders from 16 countries after the fifth annual meeting of the Mennonite Global Discipleship Training Alliance.

EGYPT: SAT-7, a Christian television ministry covering the Middle East, opened a new studio and business center in Cairo. The Coptic Orthodox Church opened a new media center as well. They will share resources in producing daily programs for the Arabic satellite TV service.

GERMANY: Former East Germany continues to be a drag on Germany. Many of the area’s best talents have left. Prior to reunification, some 800,000 poured west looking for a better life. One million have departed in the last decade, drawn by better jobs and higher wages in the western sector.

HONDURAS: Saying that “crime is the primary obstacle to development in Latin America,” President Ricardo Maduro launched a military and police campaign against gang fights, kidnappings, robberies and assaults. Killings and robberies declined in violent neighborhoods and crowded commercial strips.

INDIA: Mission India takes off after three Evangelism in Depth seminars. Pastors report significant gains as members spread their faith. Because of strong opposition, community service is opening doors to the gospel. In some areas personal witness is the only means of evangelism. More than 200 church leaders are expected for an EID seminar in June. An unprecedented women’s conference is planned for October.

NIGERIA: The Justice Ministry ordered states applying Islamic law (sharia) to go easy on death penalties for things like adultery. A sharia appeals court subsequently dropped the death penalty against a 35-year-old mother of five. Nigerians have been polarized since the introduction of sharia in 1999. . . . The Kano state government in northern Nigeria has closed 122 Christian schools, claiming they do not meet educational standards, which include employing Islamic clerics as teachers. … Women in a Bible study group in Jos prayed about rampant prostitution across the street. They decided to act and Urban Frontiers Mission was born. Regular friendship visits to brothels and mentoring sessions with those who are following Jesus make a difference.

PAKISTAN: Shock waves reverberated throughout the international missions community after the March bombing of a church in Islamabad. Five people died, including two Americans. Missionaries had been returning to Pakistan, but in light of State Department warnings that may change. Last October, 18 died in an attack on a church in Bahawalpur, Punjab. In 1998, a Christian family of nine was killed in Nowshera. In 1997 rioters ransacked 13 churches and a school in southern Punjab. Feelings have run high since former dictator Zia ul Haq introduced blasphemy laws in the 1980s to curry favor with religious parties.

URUGUAY: To mark 25 years of government recognition, the Bible Society gave out 2,000 Bibles and 3,500 Scripture portions to President Jorge Batlle, government ministers, senators, deputies, police chiefs, judges, and leaders in hospitals, universities, banks and libraries. One senator, a former Tupamaro rebel, said that during his 10-year imprisonment he was allowed only one book-the Bible-which was a great help to him.

May 10, 2002