NewsBytes - January 2009

OM International

CHRISTMAS MASSACRE IN CONGO
CHRISTIANS REACH OUT TO GAZA
GUATEMALAN BELIEVERS AMONG LANDSLIDE VICTIMS
IRAQI CHRISTIANS IN TURKEY FACE HARDSHIP
INDONESIA: CHRISTIANS STRUGGLE FOR WORSHIP CENTRES
VICTORY FOR KARNATAKA, INDIA, HOUSE CHURCHES
CARAVAN OF HOPE (Central Asia)
BANGLADESH: CHRISTIAN GRANDPARENTS FORCED FROM HOME
MISSIONARY COUPLE IN THE GAMBIA
GHANA ELECTS CHRISTIAN PRESIDENT
THE BIBLE FOR TANZANIANS
GIFT ACCELERATES TRANSLATION EFFORTS
GERMAN CHRISTIANS, OUT OF THE COMFORT ZONE?
ORPHAN OUTREACH
GLOBAL YOUTH PRAY FOR PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS
“BibleSticks” FOR MILITARY CHAPLAINS
HOMEMADE INITIATIVE REACHES ARABS
IN FACT: GENDER INEQUALITY
RESOURCES:
* WorldconneX * Missionary Care * Missionary biographies * Internet Language Resources

1. CHRISTMAS MASSACRE IN CONGO

Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army [LRA] rebels killed more than 400 people in Christmas massacres in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, according to Caritas aid charity. Although rebels denied responsibility, the UN has condemned the atrocities that targeted a town where a Christmas Day concert was being held. The LRA is accused of hacking their victims—many of them women, the elderly and children--with machetes, axes and clubs. Approximately 6,500 more people in the area have found refuge with the Catholic church, reported Caritas. Last April, Ugandan authorities initialed a peace deal designed to end one of Africa’s most savage and long lasting civil wars. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and nearly two million displaced in Uganda in two decades of fighting between the Ugandan government and the LRA. The group is notorious for abductions of children for use as soldiers and sex slaves. [YAHOO NEWS, 31 Dec.’08]

2. CHRISTIANS REACH OUT TO GAZA

Mission News Network reports that Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC) has partnered with another Christian group in Gaza to directly help its people. "Gaza is very heavily populated, and residents cannot flee because all of the borders are closed. There seems to be an agreement of 900 dead and more than 2,000 wounded," said Jacob Kramer with CRWRC. "The hospitals are in great need of medicine, and that's where the CRWRC will try to make a small difference. We've started to help the hospitals and clinics there with supplies." According to Kramer, a number of Christians still live in the region, but have often been forced to close their churches and schools. Kramer asked that Christians pray for "the hearts of terrorists" at work in the region, as well as for those suffering. The Christian satellite TV SAT-7 team is also trying to encourage the believers who are trapped. [MISSION NETWORK NEWS, 8 & 14 Jan.’09]

3. GUATEMALAN BELIEVERS AMONG LANDSLIDE VICTIMS

A massive landslide in Guatemala on January 4 has taken the lives of more than 35 individuals and 30 more are missing or presumed dead. The landslide, which was nearly a mile wide, occurred on the Los Chorros Mountain in the Verapaz District near San Cristobal. This same area endured a landslide in mid-December, when two people were killed. The affected stretch of the road had been closed to vehicular and pedestrian traffic for 3 weeks due to the prior slide and periodic "rumblings," but people were reportedly ignoring the warning and walking on the road. CNN reported more than 10 tons of dirt first fell on travelers during the slide. Rescue and recovery efforts were suspended January 7 due to additional threats of landslides. Two Nazarene churches in the area are housing and feeding displaced families. Church members were among the dead. [NAZARENE NEWS, 9 Jan.’09]

4. IRAQI CHRISTIANS IN TURKEY FACE HARDSHIP

In 99-percent Muslim Turkey, most of the Iraqis living there are not Muslims, and they are not in Turkey by choice. They are Christian refugees who fled their homeland to escape the murderous violence that increasingly has been directed at them. In the last four months alone, violence in Mosul, Iraq, has pushed more than 12,000 Christians from their homes and left more than two dozen dead, according to U.N. and Christian organisations. There has been a steady exodus of Christians from Iraq since the first Gulf War in 1991. Although the church in Iraq dates from the beginning of Christianity, the population has plummeted by 50% in the last 20 years. One-third of the 18,000 refugees who registered in Turkey last year are from Iraq. Work is scarce and hard to come by legally. The wait for legal status can be as short as a few months or a couple of years, but complicated circumstances can push back the wait to 5, 10 or even 17 years. [COMPASS DIRECT, Nov.’08]

5. INDONESIA: CHRISTIANS STRUGGLE FOR WORSHIP CENTRES

More than 30 Indonesian churches in 2008 faced problems ranging from having their permits revoked to being shut down or demolished. The reasons for closure ranged from lack of worship permits to land disputes and are often instigated by fundamental Muslims, then carried out by local governmental officials. During the 63 years of the country’s life as an independent state, at least 1,140 incidents against Protestant and Catholic churches have been recorded. Sixty percent of these cases took place within the last 10 years. This year four churches in Maluku were reduced to ashes. Even churches that have met all government requirements struggle to obtain a permit for a worship building. [EVANGELICAL NEWS, 22 Dec.’08]

6. VICTORY FOR KARNATAKA, INDIA, HOUSE CHURCHES

Over 4 months after government authorities closed about 12 house churches in Karnataka, India, the Karnataka High Court said they should reopen and can hold worship services. This followed the action of several pastors and Christian believers who had lodged a writ petition to the High Court in Bengaluru. The All India Christian Council (aicc) had supported the pastors in logistical and finding legal representation. During 2008, groups like RSS and Bajrang Dal beat believers, pastors, and even set fire to churches. They also made false accusations against pastors and registered cases with the police. As a result there were few gatherings for Christians and they lived in fear. Now the churches are reopened and the government may be forced to compensate churches that were burned. All the cases lodged falsely against pastors were withdrawn with immediate effect. [ASSIST NEWS SERVICE, 13 Jan.’09]

7. CARAVAN OF HOPE

Over 90% of the world’s opium supply comes from Afghanistan. A caravan of death transports drugs through Central Asia to be distributed and sold in Russia and Europe. Trans World Radio’s programme in Russian and Tajik, Caravan of Hope, was created to explain the effects of drugs to young listeners, and offer hope through Jesus Christ to those who are already addicts or infected with HIV/AIDS. Translation has also begun in the Kazak language, and TWR is praying for the opportunity to record programmes on CD. [TWR INFOSERVE]

8. BANGLADESH: CHRISTIAN GRANDPARENTS FORCED FROM HOME

Muslims in a village in western Bangladesh have forced two brothers to expel their parents from their home for converting to Christianity. Ishmael Sheikh, 70, and his wife Rahima Khatun, 55, were baptized in November. By the end of that month, neighbours in Kathuly village had compelled their two sons to expel them from their house, threatening that their children would not be allowed to marry anyone from the village if the brothers allowed their parents to remain in their home. “We are the first converted Christians in this village,” Sheikh said. “Neighbours told my sons, ‘Why should your parents live in this village? They do not have a right to live here because they are no longer Muslims.’” [COMPASS DIRECT, 14 Jan.’09]

9. MISSIONARY COUPLE IN THE GAMBIA

A British missionary couple sentenced to one year jail terms with hard labour for "sedition" in The Gambia, has "apologized" to the government of President Yahya Jammeh through a letter read on national television: "We are honoured for the chance to apologize to President Jammeh and we do so humbly plea that he will compassionately grant us clemency." David Fulton, 60, and his wife Fiona Fulton, 46, have been living in Gambia for 12 years. He was a chaplain while his wife worked with the terminally ill, according to Christian friends. The couple allegedly criticized the former British colony in a series of round-robin e-mails related to their Christian missionary work in the predominantly Muslim state. They were sentenced to hard labour in prison last month and also ordered to pay a fine of about $10,000, in addition to their prison term. [CHRISTIAN POST, 5 Jan.’09]

10. GHANA ELECTS CHRISTIAN PRESIDENT

Weeks of tension and anxiety are now over as the president-elect from the country’s December polls, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, was formally sworn into office on January 7. Church services on January 4 were devoted to thanksgiving to God for sparing the country its peace and political stability. A charismatic Christian, former university law professor Mills was himself in church to offer thanks to God for his victory, where he pledged to be a "president for all." The election is seen as having great significance for the Christian community. [ANS, 12 Jan.’09]

11. THE BIBLE FOR TANZANIANS

Three million people in the highlands of the east African country of Tanzania will receive Scriptures in their own language for the first time by autumn next year, announced Wycliffe Associates. Wycliffe is funding a programme that is simultaneously translating 10 languages for the people living in the rugged western part of the country, called Mbeya. Previously, the millions that live there were forced to understand the Scripture in Swahili or, with even greater difficulty, in English. Although about 78% of the population in Mbeya is literate, they can only read Swahili at a functional level to survive in society. The project involves some 30 full-time workers and another 50 part-timers, both missionaries and nationals, all working on the multiple translations. [CHRISTIAN POST, 29 Dec.’08]

12. GIFT ACCELERATES TRANSLATION EFFORTS

Bible translation agency Wycliffe USA received an anonymous gift of $50 million last November, the largest donation in its history. The funds will be used to accelerate the role of Scripture translation and language development. Using cutting-edge techniques developed by Wycliffe staff, the Last Languages Campaign will accelerate the pace of providing Scriptures to the world’s remaining language groups from 125 years to 17 years. Wycliffe is on target to have translation projects underway in every known language that does not yet have the Bible in their native tongue by the year 2025. [RELIGION TODAY, 13 Nov.’08, 14 Jan.’09]

13. GERMAN CHRISTIANS, OUT OF THE COMFORT ZONE?

The comfort zone for Christian believers in Germany is likely to come to an end, according to Hartmut Steeb, general secretary of the German Evangelical Alliance.Indications are that the media are launching more frequent and severe attacks on the evangelical movement. Steeb was speaking at an opening meeting of the annual evangelical week of prayer in Velbert, West Germany, January 11. Steeb said the period of widespread indifference toward those who take the Bible literally and believe in God, the creator of the universe, seems to have come to an end. Juergen Werth, chairman of the German Alliance, also urged Christians to increase their efforts for the protection of the environment and the needs of their neighbors. Believers must not be indifferent to "God's very good creation," he said. The German Alliance represents approximately 1.3 million Christians. [ANS, 13 Jan.’09]

14. ORPHAN OUTREACH

Orphan Outreach is an international ministry focused primarily on orphans who have been affected by the AIDS crisis. Their approach is early intervention and improving the lives of children living in substandard conditions. "As we look at the need for education, and of course Christian education, there are over 72 million children still not even in primary school, so the need is overwhelming," said a spokesperson. Recently, the group signed a partnership agreement with a ministry called Redeeming India. This group secretly pays midwives in Tamil Nadu, where families believe an odd-numbered girl (like the 1st or 3rd childl) is cursed, to deliver the babies to caregivers rather than kill them. Orphan Outreach plans to build a Christian school and help with long-term planning. [www.orphanoutreach.org]

15. GLOBAL YOUTH PRAY FOR PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS

Christian youth across 50 nations are expected to join in praying for millions of young Christians being persecuted worldwide for their faith. The Open Doors initiative, called SHOCKWAVE, will take place over the weekend of 6 to 8 March 2009 with the aim of raising awareness of the suffering church and uniting young people in praying for God to act. [CHRISTIAN TODAY, 30 Dec.’08]

16. “BibleSticks” FOR MILITARY CHAPLAINS

Since July 2008, Faith Comes by Hearting (FCBH) has sent more than 7,600 Military BibleSticks to military chaplains around the world. The specially-designed devices are digital audio players pre-loaded with the Audio Drama New Testament. A durable device, only about the size of a pack of chewing gum, the BibleStick is intentionally inconspicuous and easily fits into a uniform pocket. The chaplains report that troops enjoy the portability as well as the quality of the recordings. An Army Master Sgt. in Iraq said he’s never seen “an easier way to get into God’s Word.” [FAITH COMES BY HEARING]

17. HOMEMADE INITIATIVE REACHES ARABS

Samuel and Mona Estefanos, an Egyptian-born couple now living in Southern California, were so shocked when 9/11 occurred that they started an Arabic Christian TV channel in their 3-car garage that is now reaching out with the Good News to millions of Arabic speakers in North America and around the world. Says Samuel, “God spoke to my heart and said, ‘You have to reach out to these people. You have to go to their homes and preach the Gospel to them.” Because the couple could find no backers, they decided to take out a huge mortgage to try to get the TV station off the ground. When a city official came to their doorstep in 2006 and told them that they could not run a business out of their home, Alkarma TV—which means the vine or vineyard—moved to a warehouse. The broadcasts have stimulated worldwide letters and phone calls which Mona answers in Arabic. [ANS, 14 Jan.’09]

18. IN FACT:

Countries with the worst gender equality are 1) Egypt 2) Turkey 3)Pakistan 4) Jordan 5)South Korea 6)India 7)Mexico 8)Brazil 9)Greece 10)Venezuela [Aneki.com/BBC]

19. RESOURCES

WorldconneX helps churches send missionaries by doing "missions from the inside out," asking churches to look at the resources within their church (people in the pew) to discover mission strategy. Learn more at: www.worldconnex.org
www.mresourcesconnection.org is committed to providing care for missionaries and their families, including spiritual, mental, and physical health, along with community resources, networking, personal and spiritual growth, MK needs, fellowship and spiritual nurturing.
Good source for missionary bios: http://www.heroesofhistory.com
2000 links to language-related internet resources: www.ilovelanguages.com

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NEWS BYTES is compiled monthly by Debbie Meroff of OM International, based in London, England. Material may be freely copied and forwarded. Items do not necessarily reflect OM’s position and questions should be directed to the original news source.
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