NewsBytes March 2010

OM International

CONTENTS:

AFTERSHOCKS OF CHILE DISASTER
LARGE-SCALE DEPORTATIONS IN MOROCCO
BLOODY SUNDAY FOR NIGERIAN CHRISTIANS
PAKISTAN: WORLD VISION WORKERS KILLED
IRAN PASTOR TORTURED FOR ‘CONVERTING MUSLIMS’
SET MY PEOPLE FREE! (WORLD)
MORE INDIAN CHURCH PLANTERS COMMISSIONED
WEB REACHES YOUTH IN ASIA
PRAY FOR FRANCE 2010
ATHEISTS GATHER IN AUSTRALIA
JAMAICA FESTIVAL
MUSLIM GANGS IN UK PRISONS
GOOD NEWS FOR RUSSIAN LISTENERS
MISSING FEMALES IN INDIA & CHINA
ORPHAN OUTREACH
CHURCHES EXPLORE INTERNET OPPORTUNITIES
IN FACT: BLINDNESS
RESOURCES:
* Haiti Hub * Materials Needed Overseas * Free Multimedia Website * E-Newsletter for Disabled Artists & Musicians

1. AFTERSHOCKS OF CHILE DISASTER

The massive 8.8 earthquake that struck Chile on 27 February and killed over 500 people was the 7th most powerful quake in recorded history, yet it has attracted far less help than that given to Haiti. Some experts say Chile was more prepared for the tragedy, with stricter building codes. Others say it is donor fatigue. However, the gap between rich and poor in Chile is great and over 2 million men, women and children have been affected, with half a million homes destroyed or badly damaged. Further damage has been caused by more than 120 aftershocks of magnitude 5.0 or greater since the initial quake. Bright Hope International is among the aid groups working with Christian leaders to deliver prayer along with practical care. Habitat for Humanity is providing some of the emergency shelters needed for those living under tarps as the rainy season approaches. Much remains to be done, especially in the tsunami-devastated coastal villages. [MISC. REPORTS]

2. LARGE-SCALE DEPORTATIONS IN MOROCCO

On 6th March police visited two Christian-run orphanages, conducting extensive searches and interviewing staff and children. At the Village of Hope orphanage the police confiscated the passports of all expatriate staff. Two days later the 16 staff members and 10 foster parents were told to leave Morocco, effectively closing down the orphanage. Within 90 minutes all workers were escorted to the border or airport, forced to abandon the 33 children in their care. Citing Western diplomats and aid groups, Reuters reported that as many as 70 foreign aid workers had been deported since the beginning of the month, including U.S., Dutch, British and New Zealand citizens. Police told them their residency permits were being revoked on orders of the Ministry of Justice. An American Embassy spokesman said that Morocco's government informed them that they intend to expel more American citizens for “proselytising”. [MIDDLE EAST CONCERN, COMPASS & MISC REPORTS, 11 March ’10]

3. BLOODY SUNDAY FOR NIGERIAN CHRISTIANS

State Information Commissioner Gregory Yenlong confirmed that about 500 Christians were killed before dawn on Sunday, March 7th by Fulani Muslims. Many women and children and even babies were among the victims slain by machetes in farming villages near Jos, Nigeria. About 75 houses were also burned. Christian leaders say police and military were alerted but did not respond until after the massacre. Police deny the high death toll and claim it was 109 persons. A similar attack in January claimed 100 lives and several churches. Plateau state is predominantly Christian, in a country almost evenly divided between Christians and Muslims. The Muslim minority has been contesting ownership of some of the land. Following the massacre on March 11th thousands of Nigerian women dressed in black and carrying Bibles, crosses, and pictures of victims, marched in protest to the Plateau State House of Assembly. [COMPASS DIRECT, 8 March’10]

4. PAKISTAN: WORLD VISION WORKERS KILLED

World Vision (WV) has suspended operations in Pakistan after 10 gunmen attacked and shot 6 staff members in their North West Frontier Province office on 10 March. Police said the victims, including 2 women, were all Pakistani nationals working for the Christian humanitarian agency. 4 others were wounded. No group has admitted carrying out the attack, but Islamist militants, specifically the Taliban, are suspected. World Vision had been providing healthcare and shelter to the homeless in the area since the 2005 earthquake. [BBC & MISC REPORTS, 10 March’10]

5. IRAN PASTOR TORTURED FOR ‘CONVERTING MUSLIMS’

Pastor Wilson Issavi, 65, has been tortured and threatened with execution since his Feb. 2 arrest in Iran, say sources close to the case. The pastor of the 50-year-old evangelical church in Isfahan is accused of "converting Muslims" in the Islamic state. Iranian intelligence officials told his wife that he might be executed. Police have also arrested Hamid Shafiee and his wife Reyhaneh Aghajary, both converts from Islam and house church leaders. When police went to their home and found boxes of Bibles they began beating the wife, who was alone at the time. The fate and whereabouts of this couple are still unknown. [COMPASSS, 8 March ‘10]

6. SET MY PEOPLE FREE!

‘Set My People Free to Worship Me,’ a worldwide network of individuals, churches and organisations working for the freedom of religious converts to practice their faith without persecution, will hold protest marches on Easter Eve Saturday, April 3, 2010, in New York, London, Cairo, Khartoum, Berlin, Melbourne, and a number of other cities at 12:00 noon (local time). Founder and leader of the network, Kamal Fahmi, says, “We are a non-violent movement that seeks freedom for religious conversion….We believe that it is time to support our suffering Christian brothers and sisters from Muslim backgrounds and raise awareness of the injustices they face.” An online petition to government leaders can be signed at www.petitiononline.com/2010smpf/petition.html

7. MORE INDIAN CHURCH PLANTERS COMMISSIONED

In spite of continued attacks on Christians in many areas, India Gospel League (IGL) is commissioning 1,000 church planters throughout the next 3 to 5 years to minister in places mostly untouched by the gospel. "For 2,000 years, India has been resistant to the gospel. Now, all of a sudden, it seems that the floodgates have opened, and now is the time for us to reap the harvest in India," said David Rice, executive director of IGL. Rice said with the added numbers of national workers, based upon past witnessing in new areas, they could see as many as two million people come to Christ. "These bold Indian brothers and sisters are going into places that you and I could never go.” [MISSION NETWORK NEWS, 22 Jan.’10]

8. WEB REACHES YOUTH IN ASIA

The world has 1.7 billion internet users, and the internet population in Asia comprises approximately 43 percent of the worldwide total. China alone makes up almost half of Asia's Web-savvy population. That is a whopping 360 million Internet users—more than the total population of the United States! Of these, 63% are aged 30 and below. The number of Chinese internet users below 30 is more than the populations of several Asian countries combined. TWR-Asia seeks to reach out to these youth through four different websites, allowing visitors to listen to programs online, download mp3s, learn English, take theology courses and obtain mental health information. About 10 million audio files were downloaded in 2008 and 2009. Said one listener, “It was something I was looking for, for a long, long time.” [TWR]

9. PRAY FOR FRANCE 2010

The 2010 Pray for France campaign is on from March 7-27 with the theme "Together Let's Raise Up the Altars,” taken from 1 Peter 2:5 and 9. A free PDF prayer guide is available from the prayforfrance.org website. 2010 will also see the legal creation of the National Council of French Evangelicals (CNEF) as an independent organisation. For 14 years, France's Protestant population has hovered right around 2% according to the French Institute of Public Opinion. A new study has revealed an increase to 3%. However, less than 1% are evangelical Christians. And around 30% of the population are atheists. [CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF FRANCE & www.prayforfrance.org]

10. ATHEISTS GATHER IN AUSTRALIA

The 2010 Global Atheist Convention sold out with some 2,500 people attending the biggest-ever atheist event in Australia this March 12-14, in Melbourne. Among the speakers is Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion. Some Christians are countering the event with creationist seminars and book giveaways. New Zealand native Ray Comfort, leader of Living Water Ministries, has been busy organising the distribution of thousands of copies of On the Origin of Species on college campuses. Creation Ministries International is also countering the atheist convention and has scheduled a Sunday afternoon seminar to take place the same weekend. According to the 2006 census, the Christian population in Australia is dwindling while the percentage of those claiming "no religion" has grown to 18.7 percent. [CHRISTIAN POST, 10 March ‘10]

11. JAMAICA FESTIVAL

While major relief efforts have been dedicated to Haiti, the quiet neighbouring island of Jamaica waits for spiritual relief. The country of nearly 3 million people is home to a variety of religions and has a large spiritist following. Evangelist Andrew Palau, who will hold a Gospel Festival in Kingston on March 20th, says he accepted Christ in Jamaica during his father Luis Palau’s 1993 Kingston meetings. He also later married a Jamaican. Originally created to provide a wholesome Spring Break alternative for tourists as well as an outreach to Jamaicans, this year the event is anticipated to draw 30,000 people. [ASSIST NEWS SERVICE, 8 March ‘10]

12. MUSLIM GANGS IN UK PRISONS

The Muslim prison population in England and Wales has risen 50% in the last 5 years to 12% of the population. Just under a third of 500 prisoners at the high-security prison Whitemoor, in Cambridgeshire, are Muslim. A BBC reports that both inmates and officers claim that gangs are an increasing threat. One former inmate openly admits to helping to convert non-Muslim inmates to Islam and has meted out violence against anyone who dares to "disrespect" his religion. Colin Moses, national chairman of prison workers' trade union, the POA, acknowledged there was a growing problem and that staff needed a better understanding of Islam. [BBC News, 12 March ‘10]

13. GOOD NEWS FOR RUSSIAN LISTENERS

In the former USSR, Communists left behind extensive radio and television networks using thousands of local repeater stations. Today these networks in 25 countries are available at low cost to indigenous evangelists such as Slavik Radchuk, and they are being extended further through the growing use of internet radio/TV. Slavik’s broadcasts from Kiev penetrate all the countries of Central Asia that are closed to outside missionaries and many other places, to a potential 100 million Russian listeners every week. His entire broadcasting budget of about $100,000 annually is made possible by gifts from Christian Aid. Listener mail comes in by the truckload! Residents who, under Communism, were required to install hard-wired radios in their homes to hear daily propaganda messages can now hear about new life in Christ. [ANS, 2/10]

14. MISSING FEMALES IN INDIA & CHINA

A new United Nations Development Program (UNDP) report released March 8th highlights the fact that sex-selective abortion continues to increase the gender imbalance in developing countries. "China and India together account for more than 85 million of the nearly 100 million 'missing' women estimated to have died from discriminatory treatment in health care, nutrition access or pure neglect or because they were never born in the first place." It is believed that a preference for sons is the root cause of sex-selective abortions. [EVANGELICAL NEWS, 9 March ‘10]

15. ORPHAN OUTREACH

About 250,000 children are adopted each year, but another 14 million grow up as orphans. And every day, another 5760 children around the world are orphaned. Orphan Outreach (OO) is focused primarily on orphans who have been affected by the AIDS crisis. In 2009, their Mission Backpack project provided over 10,000 new backpacks for such children, filled with school supplies and Bibles and the message that God loves them. In Honduras, the ministry is working with Love, Faith & Hope School started for the 300 children working in the Tegucigalpa dump. While many are still forced to pick the dump, they can look forward to a half day of school. Orphan Outreach is working with such groups to change the law to insure attendance and provide hope for the future. [HOME FOR GOOD FOUNDATION, ORPHAN OUTREACH]

16. CHURCHES EXPLORE INTERNET OPPORTUNITIES

Internet Evangelism Day, an annual focus for churches, is scheduled this year for Sunday, April 25. Fellowships are urged to explore the exciting opportunities for sharing the good news online. Ready-made free downloads--PowerPoint, video clips, handouts, drama scripts and music--can be easily built into a presentation of 5 minutes or 50. Since the initiative's launch by the Internet Evangelism Coalition in 2005, digital media have developed dramatically. IE Day's website is a one-stop resource covering many subjects including: how to build a church website that is 'outsider friendly', using Twitter in evangelism, and ideas for effective blogging. www.InternetEvangelismDay.com

17. IN FACT

The World Health Organization estimates that 75% of the world's blindness could be prevented or treated. And as many as 900 million children and adults in the world today are visually impaired due to refractive errors that could be corrected by prescription eyeglasses.

RESOURCES:

HAITI HUB: Real-time information re: ongoing relief efforts by Christian organisations and churches. www.haitihub.org
Christian Resources International is looking for all sorts of materials—CDs, children’s and adult’s books, study books and Bibles, magazines, teaching material—to send to missions and missionaries worldwide. See http://cribooks.homestead.com
Free multimedia for churches and Christians including flash movies and cartoons and a Teen Page. http://www.newchristian.org.uk/churchresources.html
A new, free newsletter with ideas, resources, events and opportunities is now available called ‘Enabling Disabled Artists and Musicians’ (EDAM). Subscribe by emailing Grace Wiebe at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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