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

Nine refugees from Vietnam's Montagnard hill tribe who fled to Cambodia have voluntarily returned home, a senior official from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said. The Christian Post reported that the Montagnards, who had been housed in the UNHCR facilities in Phnom Penh since a few months ago, were moved to Vietnam on Friday, March 18, upon their request. The nine were met at the Vietnamese border in southeastern Cambodia's Svay Rieng province by Vietnamese authorities. Another 26 Montagnards will be repatriated "after their paperwork is finalized with the Vietnamese authorities," the official said. Meanwhile, about 780 Montagnards have arrived in Phnom Penh and are being screened by the UNHCR to determine their status. More than 700 Christian Montagnards, often dubbed "America's forgotten allies" for siding with the U.S. during the Vietnam War, fled to Cambodia last April after Vietnamese security forces put down Easter Day demonstrations against religious repression and land confiscation in the country's central highlands. (Assist News Service)

SUDANESE COMPANY TAKES OWNERSHIP OF EPISCOPAL CHURCH PROPERTY

The commercial company claiming ownership of a disputed church property in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum moved into the building last week, ignoring a court injunction barring use of the property. Representatives of the Episcopal Church of Sudan (ECS) said they discovered at a court hearing on Wednesday, March 15, that the United Al Azra Company had taken possession of the church's headquarters -- first confiscated by police at gunpoint 10 months ago. When church officials appealed to Judge Wahhabi Ibrahim of the Khartoum Public Court to enforce the court injunction, he reportedly brushed aside the complaint as well as request from the church to post a guard at the property. In the past decade, the Khartoum regime has followed a repeated pattern of aggression against the ECS, the largest Christian church in Sudan. (Compass)

WORLD VISION RESCUES TRAUMATIZED CHILDREN IN STRIFE-TORN UGANDA

In the midst of 18 years of conflict in Uganda where the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has abducted thousands of children to be soldiers and sex slaves, World Vision is bringing new hope. "In the past 10 years we've helped to rehabilitate 10,500 children who managed to escape from the LRA," said spokesman Rory Anderson. "When World Vision gets them, we go through a series of counseling or rehabilitation because, as you can imagine, these children have gone through great trauma. We have had success, we have managed to reunite children, heal children, help them to understand and feel the forgiveness and love of God in spite of the difficult atrocities that they've been forced to commit against, oftentimes, their own communities. Because of this forgiveness, they are able to then be reconciled with their families." (Mission Network News)

CAMPAIGN SET TO DISTRIBUTE 100,000 BIBLES TO CHILDREN WORLDWIDE

How will children know Jesus loves them unless they have a Bible to tell them so? That's the question that inspired the Bible League's newest international campaign for children that launches Friday, April 1. "There are kids all over the world that desperately need God's Word, and are crying out for Him right now -- not only because they are so susceptible and vulnerable to all kinds of things, but when they get the Bible, the impact is just astounding," explains Mike Dworak. "So we have put together a campaign to do just that." The ministry's goal is to place 100,000 Bibles in children's hands through Bible study programs at churches in five needy regions of the world. "We know God's heart for kids," Dworak said. "We see the Scripture where it says, 'God ordained the praise of Himself from the lips and the hearts of even infants.' Please pray with us that God would have a great impact in providing thousands upon thousands of Bibles for these kids around the world." (Mission Network News)

MINISTRIES JOIN FORCES TO BUILD PRAYER FOCUS IN CHURCHES, BUSINESSES

Now in its 10th year, Minneapolis-based Prayer Ventures (PV), has announced a partnership with Alpha USA/Twin Cities to strengthen prayer support for Alpha courses in the 400 local churches that offer the program. "Prayer is powerful and life changing, and we are eager to help Christians discover the difference that a vital prayer life can make in their lives," said PV President Betsy Lee. The ministry also partners with the Christian Employees Resource Group at Medtronic, a Minnesota-based Fortune 500 company. The resource group is using PV to train members in prayer so they can "reach their marketplace for Christ," Lee explained. Most of PV's work is done in Minnesota, but the ministry also has been active on a national scale. PV hosts daylong retreats for personal reflection and renewal as well as training seminars for prayer ministry. (Assist News Service)

FLORIDA EVANGELIST'S 'LIVE PRAYER' WEBSITE WINS THOUSANDS TO CHRIST

A businessman-turned-preacher is winning souls one click at a time. Bill Keller's website, www.LivePrayer.com, is one of the most successful examples. The ministry completed its 64th month online at the end of 2004 with 100,000 reported decisions for Christ, a daily devotional subscriber list of roughly 2 million, and more than 40,000 prayer requests sent in every day. A volunteer team of more than 700 retired pastors responds personally to each request. Keller believes that mainstream television and the Internet are the key ways to reach lost souls today. Keller isn't the only one using modern technology to reach the masses. The Internet Evangelism Coalition has designated Sunday, April 24, as "Internet Evangelism Day. The organizing team hopes the event will inspire churches to use their web pages for more than just making announcements to their members. A 2001 study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project shows that 25 percent of adult Internet users -- about 28 million people -- had gone online to obtain religious and spiritual material. A conference dealing with Internet evangelism for the 21st century is also planned at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., next month. (Religion Today/Charisma News Service)

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