Hanna Tuma, caretaker of the Anglican Church of St. George the Martyr in Baghdad, is back with his family after being abducted by armed looters in the aftermath of the Iraq war. A handful of broken, dust-covered communion wafers is "all the looters left behind," said Tuma. The church was built at the end of World War I in memory of British troops fallen in combat. The safe that had contained the communion chalice was opened with a grenade. The stained-glass windows were broken, lights stolen and a leftover Christmas tree uprooted next to a smashed crib. It was April 19 when the thieves descended on the compound, the eve of Easter. Tuma was in the church hall, which doubles as his home, when 20 armed men burst in and threw him to the floor. With hands and feet bound and a revolver stuck to his head, he watched the looting of his modest home. The thieves then attacked the church. It was two days before passersby heard shouting and set him free. (Episcopal News Service)

BELIEVERS RALLY AFTER RECORD FLOODS INUNDATE ARGENTINE CITY

The worst floods in Argentina's history have inundated one-third of Argentina's Santa Fe province and 60 percent of the city of Santa Fe, forcing 150,000 people from their homes. Continued downpours caused the Salado River to begin overflowing its banks in early May. Waters rose so rapidly that many people had little or no chance to evacuate. "In some areas, in just a few minutes the water level was [above people's heads], and in some cases it rose as high as 20 feet, reaching the third story of houses," said Christian Aid's Gabriel Prada. The latest available confirmed death toll was 23, but this number is expected to rise as the waters recede. Total losses are estimated at $1 billion. The floods affected ministries such as Santa Fe Outreach which operates a children's home for about 40 children and a day school for nearly 1,000. Classes have been suspended while the building is being used as one of about 200 evacuation centers. Floods also destroyed the Argentina offices of Grace Mission and a relief center as well as the ministry's radio broadcasting equipment. Pastor Emilio Monti, representing the Argentina Evangelical Churches Federation and the National Evangelical Christian Council, says various relief and aid agencies have organized an army of volunteers. "The solidarity of the population has given a quick response to the needs of the victims," he says. "The evangelical churches of the region are working together in a great spirit of unity and solidarity." Monti said local residents have been more open to the gospel since the catastrophe hit. (Missions Insider)

* ALAS, HCJB World Radio's Latin American satellite radio network, provides Christian Spanish programming to more than 100 outlets in 18 countries. These include radio outlets in three cities of Argentina: Buenos Aires, Córdoba and Jujuy.

LIBERIAN CHRISTIANS URGE PRAYER AS PEACE TALKS APPROACH

Liberia's Christians are pleading with American Christians to help them as they seek to bring emergency assistance, peace and hope in a nation battered by more than 13 years of civil war. Church leaders report a proliferation of armed groups, forced recruitment of children aged 12 to 18 years and amputations of men, women and children by the belligerent forces. The fighting has uprooted hundreds of thousands from their homes, driving them into overcrowded camps where the fragile shelters provide inadequate protection in the rainy season which recently started. Fighting has rendered 80 percent of the country inaccessible to relief agencies. Because there are no safe corridors, relief supplies are unable to reach the affected, said Benjamin Lartey, general secretary of the Liberian Council of Churches, in a May 23 situation report. The World Food Program has stopped distributing food to an estimated 200,000 displaced people in camps around Liberia because the rations were being seized systematically by armed raiders as soon as they were handed out. As a result, people are dying from starvation and diseases, Lartey said. The Church World Service is funding the participation of five Liberian church leaders in peace talks scheduled for Tuesday, June 4, in Ghana and has sent food, blankets and personal hygiene supplies for displaced Liberians. The latest aid shipment helped nearly 3,600 pregnant and nursing mothers, children and elderly living in six refugee camps near Monrovia. (Episcopal News Service)

* HCJB World Radio works in partnership with ELWA, a ministry founded by SIM in Monrovia, Liberia, in 1954, to air the gospel across the country and West Africa. The radio station was destroyed twice by civil war, first in 1990 and again in 1996. ELWA went back on the air in 1997 with a small FM transmitter. Then in 2000 HCJB World Radio provided a low-power shortwave transmitter, again enabling the station to cover the region. ELWA broadcasts the gospel in 10 languages and plans to add more as resources become available.

EVANGELISM ALLIANCE TO HOLD FIRST MEETING IN COLORADO SPRINGS

Leaders from the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) and the Mission America Coalition (MAC) will meet in Colorado Springs, Colo., Thursday, June 5, to focus on implementing a new strategic evangelism alliance between the two groups. The alliance, announced in March, forms a close relationship between the organizations for an initial period of three years. MAC Chairman Paul Cedar says the alliance builds on the strengths of both coalitions -- NAE in its historic strong voice for evangelicals in the political/social arenas of culture and the "MAC with its major focus on evangelism -- encouraging churches and Christians to pray for, care for and share Jesus Christ with those around them." NAE President Ted Haggard, senior pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, says the formation of the alliance is a "strong signal of renewed interest in evangelism. It will make our nation a better place, help churches grow and encourage Christians nationwide in the fact that they are members of a strong, healthy, growing body of believers." (Assist News Service)

SURVEY: RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY RISES WHILE PERSONAL FAITH WANES

A Barna Research Group study of U.S. churches in the last year indicates that while religious activity is on the rise, personal involvement in practical faith remains mainly unchanged. American Missionary Fellowship's Lee Iseley says that describes the ministry's most difficult dilemma in outreach. "Our greatest challenge, in terms of recruitment, is finding people who are willing to commit themselves to the task of full-time evangelism. As we find the need growing in America, we find our need for people in America to reach America, to be our No. 1 challenge." Iseley says once that challenge is met, there is another to be met through prayer and vision. "Pray for open doors of opportunity, that there would be the opportunity in various communities to go in and establish Bible-learning communities; and secondly, for personnel to be going through those open doors and reaching people for Christ." (Mission Network News)

* PARTNER STATION IN MADAGASCAR TO REACH CITY, ANIMISTIC TRIBE

More than 500,000 people living in and around the Madagascar city of Ihosy will soon have the opportunity to hear the gospel via radio as the result of a four-year partnership involving Madagascar Mission, Radio Africa Network (RAN), four local churches and HCJB World Radio.

In addition to covering the city, the broadcasts will reach members of the Bara tribe, the area's least-reached people group, says Dinah Ratsimbajaona of the South Africa-based Madagascar Mission. Tribal members live in the country's south-central plains.

Adopt a People says the Bara tribe consists of 1 million semi-nomadic cattle herders who are known for their dancing and woodcarving. "The people are in bondage to demonic powers. They fear their ancestors who have great power to curse. The Bara are animists who have had little contact with the gospel. In 2001 there were only five known believers in this tribe!"

RAN Administrator Sandy Day in Cape Town, South Africa, said the station could go on the air by late July after a 250-watt FM transmitter and other equipment are delivered from the HCJB World Radio Engineering Center in Elkhart, Ind. "We finally got permission to import the radio equipment duty-free," Day said in an e-mail report. The approval came after local partners met with Madagascar government officials, including Finance Minister Radavidson Andriamparany.

The equipment will be delivered to Ihosy this summer. Engineer Herm Grey, who is affiliated with RAN, and his wife, Corlie, plan to install the equipment in late July. The station will be on the air 18 hours a day, broadcasting primarily in the Malagasy language with some programs in French. The frequency is 104 MHz.

Members of the Madagascar Mission took the initiative on starting the station. "They approached us at RAN," Day explains. "They worked with three local churches (Rhema Biblique, Assemlee de Diue and Eglise Rhema de Madagascar) and applied for the license. The Reformed Church has since joined this cooperative effort."

RAN guided the station through the licensing process and supplied the studio equipment and some transmission equipment. HCJB World Radio supplied the antenna tower and will provide the 250-watt transmitter along with technical advice.

Pastor Oliva Randrianirina and his wife, Monique, from Eglisa Rhema de Madagascar will run the station with the help of a Bara speaker. "In addition to spreading the gospel through the station," Day adds, "they also want to provide training for the community with programming on such topics as agriculture, healthcare and education."

The Madagascar Mission and local believers are also considering the possibility of another radio station in Mahajanga, the capital of the Sakalava province, an area where few people have heard the gospel. "The country is fairly flat in that area, so we could reach a vast number of people with radio from there," they say. (HCJB World Radio)

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