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In the Democratic Republic of Congo, tribal fighters in the northeast have agreed to demobilize their fighters and give up their weapons. This follows a rough transition from wartime to peace for the thousands of soldiers. A similar transition is taking place in the country's churches. "Somebody who is a child soldier needs so much from us as well as the gospel of Jesus Christ," said Baptist World Aid's Paul Montecute following a recent visit to the country. "People who are hungry -- people who have been abused in all kinds of ways -- need a great deal of help. So it was encouraging to see the way the churches and the church leaders are reaching out to people." Montecute says Christian leaders were warned that the price of peace in Africa isn't cheap. "The price of war is high, but the price of peace is also high because there's a lot of uncertainty and much to be resolved. Obviously that is going to take time. It's going to take a lot of effort and energy to bring about peace in that country." (Mission Network News)

* HCJB World Radio's partner FM station in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo, continues to broadcast a message of hope despite mounting civil unrest in the area. The border between Rwanda and D.R. of Congo has been closed for the past week, and gunshots have been reported near the station. Broadcasting in six languages (English, French, Kikongo, Mashi, Lingala and Swahili), the station is a ministry of Believer's Express Service, Inc., based in Eastanollee, Ga. HCJB World Radio is also involved with partner stations in Boma and Kinshasa. Weekly programs in the Songe and Kikongo San Salvador languages also air from local FM stations in the country.

THOUSANDS RALLY TO DEMAND ISLAMIC LAW IN INDONESIA

Thousands of white-clad, religious Muslim conservatives rallied and prayed in cities across Indonesia Wednesday, March 3, demanding the imposition of traditional Islamic law (sharia) in the world's most populous Muslim nation. Organizers said 20,000 supporters gathered in several cities, but police and witnesses said only about 2,000 marched in the capital, Jakarta, and a few hundred in Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city. Although more than 80 percent of the country's 210 million people are Muslim, only the province of Aceh has implemented the system on a small scale. Indonesia's founding fathers wrote a constitution in 1945 for a secular government and religious tolerance among the Muslim majority and Christian, Buddhist, Hindu and other minorities. Successive governments have fended off calls for Indonesia to become an Islamic state. (Religion Today/Voice of the Martyrs)

CHINESE HOUSE CHURCH NETWORK REBOUNDS FROM KIDNAPPING INCIDENT

In April 2002 the China Gospel Fellowship (CGF) attracted worldwide attention when 34 of its top leaders were kidnapped by the cult known as Eastern Lightning (which preaches that Christ has already returned to China as a woman). All hostages were eventually released. Since then, the fellowship has used in-depth training and experience to root out the influence of Eastern Lightning from its churches. Relations with government authorities in Beijing also have improved to the point that CGF is no longer blacklisted as a "dangerous cult" and its members are able to worship openly. The house church network has about 2 million believers with 23 gospel teams in many different provinces. The fellowship also operates 32 Bible training schools throughout China. An unnamed source for the group in China says, "We started sending out gospel evangelists on a wide scale in 1995. We have also developed what we call 'migration evangelism.' In 1999 we sent out 30 married couples to start a new life in remote areas and to do pioneer evangelism. We're also concentrating on urban evangelism since so many young rural people are leaving the farms to seek work in the cities. We now have 50 believers in intensive training for missions. They are preparing to go to Arabic-speaking countries. We realize this is one of the hardest areas in the world to reach with the gospel. Only the love of Jesus can change men's hearts and melt away hatred. We are a church seriously preparing for mission." (Compass)

MISSIONARY TO ONCE-CANNIBALISTIC TRIBE IN IRIAN JAYA DIES OF CANCER

Carol Richardson, wife of well-known missionary author Don Richardson, died the morning of Wednesday, March 4, after a 17-month battle with cancer. She was 67. The Richardsons moved to a remote swamp in Irian Jaya in eastern Indonesia when they had a babe in arms, Steven, who is now president of Pioneer Missions. The Richardsons lived with the Stone Age cannibalistic Sawi tribe for 15 years. From their time there, they wrote Peace Child, the story of how a tribe of headhunters that honored treachery was transformed into a peace-loving group. While Don was writing a Sawi language alphabet and 19 primers, he taught the men how to read in their native language and translated the entire New Testament into Sawi. All the while, Carol shared her nursing skills with the native people. She treated tens of thousands of patients during those 15 years, sometimes treating the locals skills used by doctors in order to survive. Carol was known to venture out into the jungle at midnight during a tropical downpour to help deliver a baby and was fondly known in the villages as "the woman who ever keeps all the people well." Carol, originally from Iowa, met and married Don at Prairie Bible Institute in Three Hills, Alberta. In addition to her husband, she is survived by four children and 12 grandchildren. (Assist News Service)

ATLANTA-BASED MINISTRY TRAINS, EQUIPS LEADERS IN IRAQI CHURCH

Iraq's newfound religious freedom has created an urgent need in the Middle East nation's emerging underground church. While the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime has given Iraq's people freedom of religion, a lack of church leaders and available resources could hinder the growth of the church in that country. That has prompted EQUIP, an Atlanta-based organization founded by John Maxwell, to provide leadership training for church leaders and pastors in the war-torn nation. Pastor Jule, who can only be identified by his first name for security reasons, says more training for Christians is desperately needed. "The Lord has given us a big vision, and we really feel that we can't fulfill this vision without a big base of leadership within the church," he says. In the capital city of Baghdad, there are only a dozen pastors for 5 million residents. EQUIP is partnering with other U.S. ministries in hopes of assisting the exploding church in Iraq. In 2002 the ministry's board of directors approved the launch of a six-year global initiative called the "Million Leaders Mandate" with the objective of training 1 million international Christian leaders and equipping them with ministry resources by the year 2008. The organization is training more than 235,000 leaders worldwide. (Agape Press)

2,000 EXPECTED TO ATTEND PRO-FAMILY CONFERENCE IN MEXICO CITY

More than 2,000 family activists from more than 60 nations are expected to attend the world's largest conference of pro-family leaders and grassroots activists. The Third World Congress of Families conference, set for Mexico City March 29-31, is being organized by the Howard Center for Family Religion and Society (a pro-family think tank) along with the World Family Policy Center, Family and Society, and The Family Network. Conference officials hope the gathering will improve international understanding of the current status of the family and develop programs to strengthen it. Larry Jacobs, a spokesman for the Howard Center, said the event offers an opportunity for people across the world to join together to strategize globally so they can address some of the "anti-family" agenda being promoted by the United Nations. He said attacks against the traditional definition of the family make the congress especially important both for the U.S. and other nations. The congress proposes solutions by bring together gifted academic people to think through these problems. Speakers for will include U.S. President George W. Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox. Among the issues to be addressed will be the importance of marriage, the family and society, assaults on the family, population control, media and the family, and the family's contribution to a nation's economy. (Assist News Service)

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