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Fighting in Liberia has forced tens of thousands of displaced people to flee the camps outside Monrovia in which they were living. In this increasingly desperate situation, heavy rains are complicating the sanitation needs. World Vision International's teams are in the refugee camps to determine where medical supplies are critical. As fighting temporarily subsided around Monrovia, Liberia, the World Council of Churches (WCC) urged the United Nations to send peacekeepers. In the United States, a top relief agency urged the Bush administration to take a more active role in seeking an end to the civil war. The Rev. Konrad Raiser, general secretary of the WCC, urged both factions in the bitter civil war to accept a "credible peacekeeping force. Liberian officials estimate that between 300 and 400 people have been killed in the past week. Like the World Council and Church World Service, African religious leaders called for a cease-fire, resumption of humanitarian assistance and emergency relief, and the deployment of an international stabilization force "to monitor demobilization and re-integration of all military and security personnel" into civilian life. (Mission Network News/ Religion News Service)

REVIVAL IN LIBERIA LEADS TO DESTRUCTION OF WITCHCRAFT FETISHES

Missionaries in Liberia, West Africa, recently conducted revival meetings that led to salvation for many people and the destruction of idols and witchcraft fetishes. In one village, 27 people accepted Christ and were baptized as a result of the four days of meetings. Two of these were elderly women who confessed they had been practicing witchcraft. They had been using voodoo charms and juju dolls to try to kill some young women and children in their village. After they accepted the Lord, they brought these items forward and the missionaries burned them in the presence of all the villagers. "Instantly the power of God descended and the people gave praises to the Lord," the missionaries told Christian Aid. This evangelistic and church-planting ministry in Liberia continues to see advances for the kingdom. In a three-month period ending early this year they saw at least 431 persons accept Christ. They also established three village churches and proclaimed the gospel in 49 mission stations. The missionaries continue to distribute Christian literature and hold evangelistic prayer meetings to draw Africans to the Lord. (Missions Insider)

* 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.

LUTHERAN HOUR ANNOUNCES CUTBACKS TO HELP BALANCE BUDGET

Lutheran Hour Ministries (LHM) announced that it is eliminating 25 of 166 staff positions at its St. Louis county headquarters. The ministry is also closing 18 foreign offices, affecting an additional 60 of its 296 full- and part-time international staff. It is discontinuing production of the "On Main Street" television program as well as the radio program, "Woman to Woman." While announcing the cutbacks, LHM began the rollout of a five-pronged restructuring strategy aimed at presenting the gospel to a broad base of people. On April 26 the ministry's board of governors approved a budget of $25 million, down from the previous year's $31 million budget. The ministry's flagship program, "The Lutheran Hour," will continue radio and Internet-based programming along with animated family-oriented programs. (Lutheran Hour Ministries)

INDIGENOUS CHILEAN MISSION REACHES OUT TO MAPUCHE TRIBE

The Mapuche tribe of Chile has been subject to poverty, illiteracy and unemployment, but now an indigenous mission is reaching out to these marginalized people. José Sanchez Troncoso, the director and founder of the mission, first felt called to help the Mapuche in 1974. He began planting churches in remote villages and ministering to displaced Mapuche in the cities. Many of the Mapuche tribe find their way to Chile's cities in hope of work. But when they arrive, they are met with no jobs. They face abuse and rejection from all sides and often must resort to vices such as prostitution to make money. Overcome by feelings of failure and shame, many are too embarrassed to return home and remain in the cities, homeless and with no way of improving their situation. Sanchez's ministry's goal is to provide these people with the means to lead better lives. The mission has programs to educate the illiterate, give job training, and provide food for the hungry. (Missions Insider)

'JANE ROE' SEEKS TO OVERTURN LANDMARK ABORTION CASE

The former plaintiff known as "Jane Roe" in the landmark 1973 U.S. Supreme Court case that legalized abortion wants the case overturned. In a motion filed this week, she is asking the courts to consider new evidence that abortion hurts women. Norma McCorvey joined the pro-life movement shortly after accepting Christ in 1995. She says she regrets her role in Roe vs. Wade, and said the Supreme Court's decision is no longer valid because scientific and anecdotal evidence has come to light in the last 30 years to show the negative effects of abortion. "We're getting our babies back," a jubilant McCorvey said at a news conference while flanked by about 60 women, some of whom sobbed and held signs that read "I regret my abortion." McCorvey's attorney said he could not remember any other historic case in which the plaintiff had asked to have it overturned: "I think the new evidence will show the court what they thought was goodwill turned out to be an instrument of wrong." McCorvey, 55, filed the motion with the federal district court in Dallas, which ruled to legalize abortion in Texas before the Supreme Court ruling. (Charisma News Service)

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