Two new attacks against Protestant Christians were confirmed last week in Eritrea as 15 church members were admitted to the hospital following severe beatings on Thursday, April 17. In a separate incident the following day, 11 members of the Mesert Christos Church in Asmara were detained for a day after security police arrested them during a church meeting. The 15 Christians, all members of a renewal group within the Orthodox Church in Kushte (six miles from the capital city of Asmara), were injured so severely that they were admitted to Hahaze Hospital. Most were bleeding from their injuries, and one had a serious eye wound. About 10 individuals, four of them reportedly Orthodox Church priests, pushed their way into the room where the group was gathered to the study the Bible in a private home and began beating them with sticks and hurling stones at them. All but one of the victims remains in the hospital. In the second incident, the 11 detained Protestants were released the evening of Friday, April 18, after a strict warning from the police that they should not try to meet again. In February and March Eritrean security police arrested, jailed and threatened 170 other Protestant Christians, all members of Pentecostal and charismatic churches that the Asmara government ordered closed last May. (Compass)

500 MEMBERS OF CATHOLIC GROUP IN CANADA ISOLATED BY SARS OUTBREAK

Nearly 500 members of an international charismatic Catholic community in Canada are being quarantined for 10 days after public health officials identified a cluster of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) cases that spread during a mass and prayer meeting, affecting at least 29 members. All are part of the Philippines-based Bukas-Loob sa Diyos Covenant Community which has a chapter in Toronto, Ont. The 10-day home quarantine order came after health officials discovered that the victims shared something in common -- all were members of Bukas-Loob sa Diyos (Open in Spirit to God) and had participated in the group's gatherings. Ten members of this group are believed to have SARS, and another 19 are suspected of having the virus. Three of the cases are children under the age of 10 who are receiving medical care. They are reported in good health. The community was founded in the Philippines and has chapters throughout Canada and the U.S. It is noted for its spiritual programs focusing on marriage and youth. SARS spread to the community after several members attended a wake on April 3 for a person who, it was later learned, died of the illness. Some members of the deceased's family were coming down with the disease at the wake, and officials say they may have passed the infection to some people who attended. (Religion Today/Inquirer News Service)

JAILED MISSIONARY IN NEPAL MAY SOON BE RELEASED ON BAIL

Manja Tamang, an imprisoned missionary with Gospel for Asia (GFA) in Nepal, may soon be released on bail. Tamang has served several years of a 20-year prison sentence for a crime he did not commit. GFA recently received word that due to court restructuring in the country, he may soon be released on bail. His appeal hearing is rescheduled for later this month, and GFA members are hoping he will be able to return to his wife and two children soon. (Mission Network News)

RELIGIOUS CONFLICT IN NIGERIA BEGINS TO AFFECT EDUCATION

Religious tension among Muslims and Christians in Nigeria has moved to yet another social arena -- education. In February Muslim extremists attacked Christian mission schools in the city of Ibadan, injuring hundreds of students and teachers. The violence spread across the city, bringing commercial activities to a standstill for hours before police intervened to restore order. The National Council of Muslim Youth Organizations of Nigeria organized the attacks, saying in a press statement that the objective was to press administrators to require female students to wear the hijap, a Muslim head covering. Police arrested 51 of the assailants. In another development, Muslim teachers in Ondo state rejected calls by churches to return to them all Christian mission schools seized without compensation in 1977 by the government. The teachers argued that returning the confiscated schools would amount to "privatization and commercialization of education." (Religion Today)

U.S. EVANGELIST BRINGS HOPE TO DESPERATE SITUATION IN AFGHANISTAN

While the world's attention has been on the war in Iraq, American evangelist Sammy Tippit recently completed an intercessory prayer effort in the needy country of Afghanistan. "There's a need for food, and there's a need for restoration and reconstruction of the whole infrastructure of the country," he says. "We saw where the Taliban had literally bombed out schools and hospitals and places of great need. So there's great need for reconstruction in the country." Tippit was also pleased to find a network of Christians in Afghanistan, but they must meet in secret. "We're hoping to extend a broadcast into the country with many of my devotional messages [to encourage] the believers there and disciple them," he said. Other programs have an evangelistic thrust. Plans are also being made to distribute CDs and players to those who don't have radios. (Mission Network News)

* HCJB WORLD RADIO REFOCUSES LATIN AMERICAN RADIO OUTREACH

HCJB World Radio, the world's first missionary broadcast organization, is refocusing its radio ministries in Latin America for greater impact in the region and as part of a strategic global media mix.

The mission's purpose -- through its core ministries of mass media, healthcare and education -- remains unchanged: To communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ to all nations so that people are transformed and become active, vital parts of the body of Christ.

From its founding in Ecuador in 1931, HCJB World Radio's shortwave ministry grew until 80 percent of the world's populated landmass was under its signal.

As the world's job seekers began migrating from rural areas into the cities where choices of media are greater, their radio preferences also migrated from shortwave to available local AM and FM. HCJB World Radio responded by developing regional offices in Euro-Asia, North Africa/Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia/Pacific, and by partnering with other ministries to plant local Christian radio stations around the world.

Today the mission and its partners are working in more than 100 countries, and more than 200 local stations are on the air broadcasting in nearly 120 languages and dialects.

HCJB World Radio President David Johnson says the ministry's "growth around the world now allows the Latin America regional office to shift its attention from reaching the world to better reaching its neighbors with the gospel. We are adjusting how we use our resources, so we can have greater regional impact."

International ministries operating from Ecuador are being resized and reshaped for a strategic media mix. Regional broadcasts will continue in Spanish, Portuguese, Quichua, Waorani, Cofán, German and Plautdietsch, but releases to North America, Europe and Africa will be phased out in 2003.

North American shortwave listeners have a growing number of Christian stations available, and the ministry is working to move European and African broadcasts to facilities in those areas. South Pacific and Asia broadcasts have already been moved to the new shortwave facility in Kununurra, Australia.

Depending on listener response, an abbreviated morning shortwave release in English targeting missionaries serving in Latin America is under consideration.

The HCJB World Radio English Language Service will transition from a broadcast-focused ministry to a production focus, providing quality English programming to air in all regions around the globe.

Using the model that has been so successful worldwide, HCJB World Radio is looking to move from owning and operating local AM and FM stations in Latin America to finding self-supporting national partner ministries to manage the outlets, while the mission provides ongoing training and technical support.

This will allow the mission's regional staff to focus on facilitating, training and equipping national partners to plant new stations in the many cities of Latin America that do not yet have a local Christian radio station.

HCJB World Radio also is working to expand from a large, single base for regional operations in Quito, Ecuador, to multiple smaller bases throughout Latin America to increase effectiveness and relevancy within each cultural and geographic context.

"We want to focus more and more on equipping national leaders to reach their neighbors with the gospel through mass media, healthcare and education," Johnson said. "These strategic changes in Latin America will allow us to move from a single regional base to a number of flexible, mobile teams that can be quickly deployed as God continues to open doors for ministry." (HCJB World Radio)