Meanwhile, an evangelistic ministry is celebrating a milestone. Adventures in Missions’ Ron Ovitt says they have experienced exhilarating growth and they are reaching new goals. He asks that people: “Pray for our expansion. This is our tenth year anniversary. As we face a new century and new millennium, we’re looking to expand AIMS’ vision into the future. Our goal is to have 65-hundred young people out in the mission field. We’re expanding our base-we’re opening up in West Virginia, in Philadelphia, the inner city. We’re looking at opening up other inner city ministries.” Ovitt points out that the growth they’ve seen is end result of what happens once people become aware of their surroundings and of how God’s love changes community. “All of the sudden, they’re seeing an area where poverty isn’t just a block or two, they’re seeing poverty as a way of life for many people. You see the gratefulness of people when you tell them about the love of God and you help them with a house.”
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American Leprosy Mission has partnered with Habitat for Humanity India to further the purpose of the their mission. ALM’s Baskaran Richard says this new cooperative is part of their approach to healing. He explains why housing is an important part. “The main objective is to assist the leprosy patients to own a reasonably good hygiene house, which is one of the basic needs, we feel. With that objective, we’ve committed to construct 50 houses for the leprosy patients. We have completed nearly 13 houses.” Richard says even though they work in Muslim areas, the people have learned to respect the work of ALM. “They accept us by seeing our work, our Christian love, and the honesty and the dedicated services we provide them. They feel that we care for those patients. That’s the main reason they come to a Christian organization like Leprosy Mission.”
Elsewhere, Dayspring International is preparing to release an all-African and an all-Chinese version of their Life of Christ Film “Dayasagar”. The film is currently done with an all-Indian cast and has been translated into several of the major Indian languages. So far, it has reportedly been viewed by more than 60 million people with more than 4 million decisions for Christ. With these two new films, Dayspring officials estimate they will be able to reach millions of new people with the message of the Gospel.
Today, we continue our look at the Ukraine’s future for evangelism and note the irony that the crucial run-off election falls on the same day as the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. World Concern’s Elaine Leslie says she’s concerned about the election because some people are disillusioned and want to return to Communist rule. “It’s very troubling to us because that means those people are not thinking they could lose their freedoms. They feel there’s a 50-50 standoff to choose between Communism and the present president. November 14th is going to be a very important day to our projects.” Leslie adds the window of opportunity may be closing. She says political problems have begun to effect their outreach. “This year, five schools refused to let us have the Bible classes that we’ve had since 1990. We’ve had to go and find other schools that would allow that [Biblical teaching]. Our focus is on the children because we feel that they are the future of that country.”
Next, evangelism is thriving in Taiwan after this century’s worst earthquake there. More than 13-thousand after-shocks have hit Taiwan since the September 21st quake that killed more than two-thousand people. Send International Missionary Victor Loa (low) says people are now more open to the Gospel. “We were distributing Gospel tracts and we found out that the people were reading it right away. Before, people just threw them away. We have started Bible studies. One of the ladies living near our church prayed to accept church in one of our meetings.” Loa says because people are still fearful counseling sessions are opening evangelistic doors. “We still have to be careful with the way we approach them. This Christian counseling center here would share with them how they can really find peace and they might know that this is very normal. And of course this is where we introduce them to the Lord.”
Bethany Christian Services is prayerfully watching the movement of the proposed Adopted Orphans Citizenship Act. The proposed measure makes it easier for the adopted children of US citizens get their citizenship. Right now, the process may take a year or more. Under this bill, the requirements for the adoption process are equivalent to those of a US citizen whose biological child was born overseas. BCS shows the compassion of Christ by helping children and families through a variety of social services.
Meanwhile, ministries who are reaching out to the spiritual needs of people in China are meeting this weekend in Thailand. President of International Aid Ralph Plumb is there today. He explains why they’re meeting together. “For reasons of security we don’t identify the name of the conference or the attendees, but this is one of about two major gatherings that ministry partners come together and share what’s happening in the different provinces. International Aid has had a long history of ministry in China and so we’re looking forward to expanding our base of networking with other ministries and evangelists and church leaders.” Plumb says Christian work has been largely successful in China. “75 to 100 million Christians (is) the range of estimates currently. Despite the fact that Christianity is not encouraged, there is a strong growth taking place both in the Three Self church and also in the variety of house churches.” Mission Network News Greg Yoder will be with International Aid next week in China.
We begin today’s newscast in the Ukraine where incumbent President Leonid Kuchma (kooch-ma) is pitted against Communist challenger Petro Symonenko (sim-mon-YEN-ko) in a runoff election later this month. What this means for evangelistic ministry, Russian Ministry’s Peter Deyneka explains. “The fear is that if Mr. Symonenko is elected, he will return to past Communist ways of doing things. There’s fear among the Protestants that his emphasis will be more toward nationalism than the Protestants and that would diminish the opportunities for evangelism and church planting.” Deyneka says they’re using the time they have for planning for the future of missions in Ukraine. “Our goal is to train as many nationals as possible because we don’t know how long this window of opportunity will be open. It would remain open under Kuchma, but no one can predict what could take place under Mr. Symonenko. We’re praying that freedom will continue and opportunity will continue because there’s actually a great deal of interest.”
Next, we turn to Saudi Arabia where we get news that thirteen Filipino Christians have been released from custody. International Christian Concern reports the group was detained for 24 days because of their Christian faith. The group was arrested because they were considered to be key leaders in two house churches. However, their ordeal is not over. The group has been given ten days to make preparations before being deported. Saudi Arabia tops Open Doors’ list of the countries most known for persecution of Christians.
Despite celebrating 10 years of freedom next month, mission groups are asking people to pray for evangelical ministry in the former Soviet Union. Next week will be the anniversary of the Iron Curtain falling. New Hope International’s Rei Abrudan (ray AH-broo-dan) conducts youth ministry training in Romania. He says a lot has changed in 10 years. “If I have to try to describe ministry in those times it was high quality, but very low quantity. Now, the quantity of ministry is huge. Like, the churches are involved in all sorts of ministries.” However, the now quality of ministry is lacking. Abrudan says there is a great need of youth ministry training. “Our closest goal is to go in those churches that are opening their doors to help develop their area of youth ministry. Then, there is a huge need for training youth workers. There is no school in Romania that is doing training for youth workers or youth ministers. In Romania there is only one youth pastor that is paid by the church.”
