*Tato a další zprávy jsou v originální anglické verzi zde.

Police in Vietnam recently disbanded a women's prayer meeting at the home of a jailed Mennonite leader and briefly detained 10 men who came to their aid. On Tuesday, March 8, 32 Mennonite women were meeting for prayer when authorities entered the home in Ho Chi Minh City and told them to disperse, Radio Free Asia reported. None of the women were arrested, but 10 men were taken into custody and released later the same day, said Le Thi Phu Dung, owner of the house and wife of pastor Nguyen Hong Quang, the outspoken general secretary of the Vietnamese Mennonite Church. The New York-based Human Rights Watch reported that Mennonites in Vietnam "have come under fire in recent years, in part because Quang has publicly criticized the arrests of religious and political dissidents, defended land rights cases of farmers from the provinces and used the Internet to call for religious freedom." Quang and three other Mennonites remain in prison on charges of resisting police after a scuffle broke out in March 2004 with undercover policemen who had been monitoring their Ho Chi Minh City church. (CharismaNOW)

TURKMENISTAN ALLOWS ADVENTIST CHURCH SERVICES TO RESUME

More than five years after authorities ordered the demolition of a Seventh-day Adventist church building in the Central Asian country of Turkmenistan, the local congregation received permission to resume weekly worship services this month. Church sources report that between 75 and 80 people attended the opening service, including local city officials from Ashkhabad. "We were allowed to rent a [meeting] place and [it] will be available till the end of this year," Pavel Fedotov, president of the Adventist Church in Turkmenistan, said in a message to church leaders. "We also had official guests from the city administration, and they congratulated our church [on its] first meeting in this hall." In November 1999 a bulldozer was used to level the church building. Last June, however, things began to change as the church received registration No. 0001, the first Protestant congregation registered by the country's Ministry of Justice. (Adventist News Network)

* HCJB World Radio works in partnership with Back to the Bible to air Christian programs in the Turkmen language. Broadcasts began in 2001 and have been aired daily since 2003.

MINISTRY HOPES U.S. OFFICIAL'S CHINA VISIT WILL BOOST RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice brought several sensitive issues to light in China this week. While the country's economic recovery is strong, she urged China to match that strength in political reform. That would also mean embracing religious freedom, said Jerry Dykstra of Open Doors. "China's interpretation of freedom and what is actually going on right now . . . are two different things. So the more attention that we can bring to the house church Christians, I think will help them, perhaps change their minds and relax some of the restrictions on the house church." On Tuesday, March 1, the communist government instituted a new law governing religion in China. In spite of that, Dykstra says believers are hopeful that the impact of Rice's visit will result in better conditions for the underground church. "We're launching a really impactful project this year. It's called the 'Lighthouse Project-China.' The goal is to provide 3.5 million study Bibles, commentaries, hymnals and other resources for the house churches in the rural communities." (Mission Network News)

3,000 CHRISTIANS IN U.K. WHO LEFT ISLAM MAY BE IN DANGER

Some 3,000 Christians in the U.K. may be in danger because they have chosen to convert from Islam, reported Barnabas Fund. "Some are being actively harassed and persecuted, but many church leaders seem more interested in defending their attackers than standing up for the converts." Nissar Hussain and his wife, Christians in Bradford, have had their car torched and rammed, bricks have been thrown through their window, and there have been threats to burn their house down. These attacks and threats, made by local Muslims, have come as a result of Hussain and his wife converting from Islam to Christianity. Rejected by their own community, Christian coverts from Islam often find that the Christian community fails to take their situation seriously, Barnabas reported. Three years ago, when Hussain was first attacked, most church leaders who heard of his situation did nothing. As further attacks occurred, they still seemed "barely interested." Now that the plight of the Hussain family has hit the national press, church leaders seem to be chiefly concerned to absolve from blame the perpetrators of these crimes. Even some in Bradford itself have sought to deny the link with Islam and have attributed this sustained and vicious campaign to the pranks of youngsters. (Voice of the Martyrs/Barnabas Fund)

MEMBERS OF UNREACHED LIBERIAN VILLAGE HEAR GOSPEL FOR FIRST TIME

Native missionaries working in the war-ravaged country of Liberia were recently able to preach in a village that had never been presented with the gospel. More than 200 villagers attended the meetings, and a total of 29, including nine Muslims and the chief, accepted the Lord after hearing the missionaries' message. Missionaries began a weeklong series of evangelistic meetings in the isolated town in late February. Most of the residents were animists, worshiping spirits of nature and ancestors. Reportedly, some even practiced human sacrifice. All 29 people who chose to follow Christ were baptized and are attending a Bible study started in the village. Missionaries were able to build a temporary church building to serve the young congregation, led by a trained pastor for Sunday-morning services. Native missionaries in Liberia have been busy building and repairing church buildings throughout the country that were damaged in the country's 14-year civil war. More recently, there have been outbreaks of fighting between Christians and Muslims. Fighting between religious groups is a relatively new conflict in Liberia as past strife has been along ethnic or political lines. (Christian Aid Mission)

* HCJB World Radio works in partnership with ELWA, a ministry founded by SIM in Monrovia 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 most recently 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 entire region. ELWA broadcasts the gospel in 10 languages and plans to add more as resources become available.

CHRISTIAN MINISTRIES TEAM UP TO REACH UKRAINE'S BUSINESS LEADERS

Christians are partnering together to reach business people with the gospel in Ukraine, says Max Oliferovski, a volunteer with Life Quality International, a daughter ministry of Greater Europe Mission. Life Quality is working with a national organization called International Partnership. "They work with professional people in Ukraine (with the purpose) of reaching them for Christ," Oliferovski said. "They do workshops and Bible study groups and share the gospel with them." American Christian business people travel to Ukraine and hold three-five day business seminars. Once that happens, local Christians handle the follow up by establishing clubs. "These clubs meet in different places once a week to talk about various subjects like business or English, and to promote Christian values," he said, adding that the program has been effective. "Business people are very open to Americans who come here. When teams come here people are very eager to listen to what they have to say and they can share Christ with them as well." (Mission Network News)

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