Meanwhile, the Bridge International has continued to share the Gospel in
Russia despite the recent upheavals in the economic and political realms along
with the war in Chechnya. In fact, the Bridge’s R.K. Ulrich says their work has seen
encouraging results in St. Petersburg. “We have completed a full year’s course of
training of church planters. They have a Bible school there-they call it the “Bible
Training Center”-their people that graduated from the school just before Christmas,
they are being dispatched in various areas this month.” Ulrich says, because of the war,
there is a lot of desperation. “In the midst of that whole atmosphere, just sending those
young people into these communities to say there is hope, here is a Bible-there is
something to look forward to. We are starting up again in March, and my prayer is that
God will send the right people to the Bible school…the students called to apostolic
work.”
News Archives
Two years ago, Hurricane Mitch swept through Central America, killing 11,000
people and displacing 3 million. The devastation was complete, setting both
Nicaragua and Honduras back more than five decades. However, Christian
Reformed World Mission’s Mark Volkers says due to their teams’ work, they’ve
seen a positive. “As a result of Hurricane Mitch, two new churches have been
added-there are now five new churches in this suburb, because the people there have
seen the concern and the care, not only of the missionaries, but of the Christian
Reformed people there, the Nicaraguan Christian Reformed people. They’ve seen how
these people are in it for the long haul, how they take great care and help people get
their lives back together, both physically and spiritually.” Volkers says their approach
has opened doors to evangelize. “That’s been one of the things that has spoken to a lot
of the people there-the Christian Reformed Church has been there before Mitch, they
stayed during Mitch, and they’re still there long after Mitch and don’t plan on going
anywhere, but want to continue helping these countries rebuild.”
Next, Baptist International News is reporting a suspected arson has completely
destroyed a boys’ dormitory building on a church campus in the Philippines.
Preliminary reports indicate that the fire was started in the middle of the wood floor in
the only unlocked room in the building. However, there were no students in the building
at the time of the fire and no injuries to anyone. Please pray for the students and
administrators as they rebuild the young men’s lives and the boys’ dorm.
Headlining today’s news violence against Christians continues in Indonesia and
it has at least one missionary broadcaster concerned. President of Far East
Broadcasting Company Jim Bowman says it has had a direct impact on their ministry.
“A number of our broadcasts, one in particular the Acahnese broadcast, we’ve had to
suspend that because of the extreme tension. There’s what we consider at least five hot
spots in Indonesia right now. One is Aceh, up in Sumatra. The others are Jakarta,
Timor, Irian Jaya and Ambon because there’s a lot of threats against Christians right
now.” Bowman says despite the threats, they don’t have any plans to stop
communicating the Gospel there. “We’re broadcasting in 14 languages from Manila on
short-wave, then locally things are going ahead quite fine right there in Jakarta even
though a little more than 30 days ago there was a major burning of a Christian
institution there. This is so often the case – where there’s the most upset, people are
very often the most open to the Gospel.”
Meanwhile, Monrovia, Liberia’s ravaged capital, is reaching out for Jesus
Christ after seven years of fighting. Although the West African country’s civil war
ended in 1997, its effects are still being felt. It is in this atmosphere that the translation
work of Lutheran Bible Translators continued. LBT’s Jim Laesch. “Lutheran Bible
Translators saw the Bandi New Testament completed and dedicated. The dedication
service was on January 6th. The project goes back many years, it actually started in
1976. God protected the manuscript of the Bandi New Testament. Several times
during the course of the war, missionaries were evacuated.” Laesch says in spite of this
triumph, there are still obstacles to overcome. “The Bandi area, up in Lofa County is
still a difficult area. There’s been a lot of fighting and unrest there-in fact, they had to
postpone the dedication ceremonies in that part of the country. Pray that their
distribution can be done through informal methods and then pray that they can find their
way to the different Christian churches.”
Native actors who perform in the same language and lifestyle as the people of
India see the message of Jesus Christ in Dayspring International’s film
“Dayasagar”. The film has been taken throughout the country and shown by mobile
film teams and as John Gilman says, ministry plans continue. “We’re so excited about
Dayspring International’s goals this year. Last year, we launched 100 new mobile film
teams. And, this year, we’re adding 100 new teams and we will include some video
teams using VCR and VHS copies of the film.” Gilman asks that people uphold their
work in prayer. “There are nearly 95-percent of the people who are without Christ, so
it’s a prayer that those who have never heard the Gospel, even once, might have that
opportunity to hear the story of Jesus and His love.”
Next, evangelicals from around the world will fast and pray during Lent for
every ethnic group in the world. Pray World! 2000 has been organized with the help
of Campus Crusade for Christ. Their goal is to unite churches in every country to use a
40-day calendar to strategically and simultaneously pray for the fulfillment of the Great
Commission. Leaders from each country are being sought to help organize their effort.
Lent will take place from March 8th through April 16th.
Headlining today’s news, the evangelical mission community has been touched
by the Kenya Airways crash. The plane went down in the ocean Monday after taking
off from the Ivory Coast. Summer Institute of Linguistics’ Stuart Shepherd says two of
their workers, Bob and Ruth Chapman from Canada, were on the plane. “They have
not found them among the survivors, but of course, we’re guessing that the search is
going on. So, it doesn’t look very hopeful, but we can not categorically say either way
what has happened to them.” Shepherd says the Champman’s are leaders in the
organization. “Bob and Ruth were within a few months ago, were recently appointed to
this work, to head up the work of Bible translation and linguistic analysis in the
continent of Africa. So, this is a blow.” Shepherd is asking people to pray for fellow
staff members and the Chapman family as they deal with this tragic situation.
Meanwhile, in war torn Liberia, Christian ministries are helping the needy both
physically and spiritually. Feeding Starving Children International is helping the
West African Children Support Network provide safe drinking water for areas outside
Monrovia. The Network’s Maria Luykan explains. “They drink water from nearby
creeks. And these creeks are the same water way that they bath in, they drink it, the
pigs are in there. I mean they use it for latrine. People there suffer from river blindness,
all kinds of disease, cholera, dysentery.” Luykan says churches can share Christ’s love
easily in Liberia because everything is needed. “They certainly need a lot of clothing,
food, educational materials to interest them, toys, they don’t even have that. Anything
you can possibly think about in your household is really needed in Liberia right now.
But, more specific is the medical, educational and food.”
The National Religious Broadcasters have declared victory following the FCC’s
reversal of guidelines for Christian broadcasting. NRB president Brandt
Gustavson says there was a huge outcry from broadcasters, citizens and members of
Congress protesting the so-called “additional guidance” the FCC wanted to impose for
religious programming. Since its inception in 1944, the NRB has tried to maintain
access to the airwaves for the Gospel message.
