Story number 1 for 27 Jun 2000

We begin today’s newscast in Sri Lanka where a crisis has been ongoing in the wake of warfare. In recent weeks, several agencies have expressed concern about the plight of believers as fighting in the north has intensified. Open Doors’ Mike Yoder says, because the violence has risen dramatically, Brother Andrew held a conference for Sri Lanka’s embattled Christians. “About 220 pastors from around this nation came together to have this conference called ‘Equipped to Stand’, which basically was a conference devoted to preparing the evangelical community there for increasing and growing persecution.” Yoder says although the circumstances are extremely complex, believers need to pray because: “The difficult situation is that the evangelical Christian community of Sri Lanka is made up of the Tamil-background people and the Buddhist-background people. So, the evangelical Christians are attacked on both sides.”