A year after the devastating tsunami hit the shores of the Indian Ocean Dec. 26, 2004, leaving an estimated 200,000 dead and thousands more injured and homeless, Christian groups are finding unprecedented openness to the gospel.

Strategic World Impact’s Kevin Turner says the outreach set up a Life Center in the days following the first wave of relief in Indonesia.. “This center is completely run by the Indonesian Christians, and they continue to do job training, computer training, Internet services, copying centers and trauma counseling,” he said. “Muslim seekers who have always wanted to know and now have the opportunity and have come to Christ through hearing the gospel, a clear presentation. . . . Many Muslims have had exposure to the true gospel, what it really is, for the first time.”

Bruce Smith of Wycliffe Associates says staff members worked in Indonesia before the tsunami, but not in the hardest hit area of Banda Aceh. “It’s been fairly closed to Christian missionaries, but of course the opening of the area to relief and responsive support after the tsunami was really unprecedented.” While physical work has been ongoing, it’s paving the way for future outreach, he said. “It’s created an open opportunity for us to do additional language research and be in contact with people groups we didn’t have contact with previously.”

John Frick of Food for the Hungry added that prior to the tsunami, Indonesian Christians were leery of going into the Aceh province because of the persecution. But Frick says the organization is now looking at this as a mission field. “We are entrenching a group of Indonesian believers into the mix of everything that we’re doing there,” he said. “With our objective being to share the love of Christ through a very tangible way, when the opportunity arises, when people ask questions, then we can answer them.”

In India, Gospel for Asia is working in areas where the mission was previously unwelcome. “When our people previously went there with the gospel, they were thrown out of those places,” said GFA President K.P. Yohannan. “But after the tsunami . . . the very people who opposed our brothers and beat them up are the very people who received them and became believers and they are part of the church.” There are now 150 to 200 places “where people are gathering for worship as a result of ministering among these tsunami victims,” he said. GFA has provided medical clinics, replacement fishing boats, homes and churches. (Mission Network News/BBC)

* HCJB World Radio has worked with local partners to establish more than 12 local Christian radio stations across Indonesia since 2004. Broadcasts from HCJB World Radio-Australia’s shortwave station in Kununurra also encourage listeners nationwide. In addition, HCJB World Radio has helped with relief efforts since the Dec. 26, 2004, earthquake/tsunami and subsequent quakes that devastated parts of Indonesia..

SECTARIAN VIOLENCE IN INDONESIA CONTINUES DESPITE PEACE DEAL

Despite a peace deal, bombings, shootings and other attacks on Christians have continued in Sulawesi, Indonesia. Security officials say Muslim islanders avenging those who died in the Muslim-Christian violence from 2000 to 2002 and terrorists bent on fomenting a new war are behind the attacks. “They want to see Poso [a small town in Sulawesi] become alive with the spirit of jihad again,” said Fahirin Ibnu Achmad, an Afghan-trained militant. The U.S. is monitoring the situation. Along with the Philippines, the “Sulawesi scene . . . is perhaps the major issue right now in Southeast Asia because there the enemy have the opportunity to gather and train and build cohesive groups and from there deploy outward,” said Henry Crumpton, the U.S. State Department’s counterterrorism coordinator. Despite an Indonesian crackdown, militants are still able to move within the region and there is evidence that extremists are honing their bomb-making skills at terror training camps, said Maj. Gen. Ansyaad Mbai, Indonesia’s anti-terror chief. Sulawesi’s 25 million people are split nearly evenly between Muslim and Christian communities. (FoxNews.com)

JEWS, CHRISTIANS IN U.S. OVERCOME BARRIERS, SOMETIMES SHARING FACILITIES

Jews and Christians are overcoming centuries-old barriers by sharing worship space and, in some cases, even constructing buildings together. Pastors and rabbis from New York to California say the unusual partnerships have strengthened faith in their own religion while inspiring greater mutual respect for those of other beliefs. “In a world that had experienced the Holocaust, it was necessary to show that Jews and Christians could trust each other in this profound way,” said Jewish congregational member Marilyn Scott, former president of Michigan’s Temple Beth Emeth which has shared space with St. Clare of Assisi, an Episcopal church, since 1969. While some congregations that share space rarely mingle, others have created traditions together. The Church of St. Paul & St. Andrew and Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in Manhattan, for example, run a homeless shelter and offer joint classes. “We actually have some couples where one is Christian and one is Jewish,” said Rabbi Felicia Sol, “and they jointly belong to both congregations.” (Religion Today/Religion News Service)

* LISTENERS DIG DEEP DURING SHARATHONS IN ECUADOR, PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Local listeners to Christian radio responded with enthusiasm and sacrificial giving to radio sharathons staged by HCJB World Radio and partner stations in Ecuador and Papua New Guinea earlier this month. Listeners gave what they could even though poverty and unemployment runs high in both countries.

A “bouncy castle” inflatable trampoline appeared on the grounds of Radio Station HCJB in Quito, Ecuador in early December as a listener named “Marcelo” said God’s nudging prompted him to offer its use after hearing that sharathon organizers had included a kid’s area. Telephone calls, visits, financial contributions and in-kind donations poured in during “Misión Compartida” (Spanish for “Sharing the Mission”).

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, listeners to Wantok Radio Light, a partner station in Papua New Guinea, pledged more than 1.2 million kina (about US$400,000) to operate stations across that Asian country.

“This is more than twice what they pledged last year,” wrote Dave and Patti Olson of the mid-November event. “Many listeners called in to say how much they want families and friends to be able to hear Christian radio.”

A woman who sells blocks of ice had been saving for a vacation, but instead felt led by God to donate it. The Olsons wrote that, “now her ‘cold cash’ will be used to warm the hearts of listener with teaching and encouragement from the Bible. What a blessing!”

Wantok Radio Light began in 2003 with a single FM station, serving the capital city of Port Moresby. In 2005, the network expanded so it now airs Christian programming on five additional FM stations plus a shortwave transmitter reaching remote areas of Papua New Guinea. At least 25 additional FM stations are planned.

There are more than 700 tribal languages in this small country, and tribal fighting is still common. But the theme of this year’s sharathon was, “One church, many congregations.” The nationwide events for the sharathon also helped unite Christians from many different churches.

A small boy brought a few kina to Wantok Radio Light because, as he announced, “God wants everyone to love Jesus so they won’t go to hell!”

Many listeners in Ecuador also gave from what little they had, telling stories that touched people’s hearts, said Misión Compartida coordinator Anabelle Villacís. “A man came and said, ‘I have nothing to donate.’ He took off his jacket and left that,” she said. “These are heartbreaking things. At the moment you want to say, ‘Don’t do it.’”

But volunteers and staff received donations large and small alike, finding in people’s stories a renewed appreciation for the mission’s role in Latin America as evangelist, teacher, pastor and friend to radio listeners. This year’s theme was, “Together making God’s glory known.”

Curt Cole, vice president of international ministries, said it was “exciting to once again see the hearts of the Ecuadorian people as they partner with the ministry. This is also a testament to the radio staff and their commitment to quality Christian programming that helps build the church in Latin America.”

Offering Bible meditations, music, news and more, the station represented spiritual sustenance to a donor who spoke with Villacís. He’d met with racial prejudices in local churches, and so radio programs encouraged and discipled him in those times of rejection.

Another listener spoke of foolishly abandoning his relationship with Jesus, but he came back to the Lord after listening to the programming on Radio Station HCJB -- the call letters which in Spanish mean, “Today Christ Jesus Blesses.”

In addition to cash, listeners gave many in-kind donations such as leather goods, clothing, a requinto (guitar tuned in A), a pig, a rabbit and even a rooster that crowed loudly every few minutes! After three days, listeners had pledged more than $95,000 to help defray operating expenses in broadcasting the gospel to Latin America.

The marathon live broadcasts aired on local AM and FM with special programming also on the station’s international shortwave frequencies to Latin America. Hosts and guests featured came from various cultures and countries: Dominican Republic, Mexico, Colombia, Canada, U.S. and Ecuador.

Amid the buzz of activities, people also entered the quiet of the prayer room where they would find chaplains from Hospital Vozandes-Quito and other volunteers anxious to take both praises and personal needs to God’s throne of grace. (Hospital Vozandes-Quito is part of HCJB World Radio’s Healthcare Division.)

Other needs were met by fellow listeners such as the dentist who offered free care to a child who couldn’t accompany his mother to the station because his teeth were severely infected.

“I would say half the volunteers cried during Misión Compartida,” Villacís said, “because it’s difficult to hear these testimonies that make them see a reality far from their own—of hunger, of poverty, but also of hearts so generous it urges them toward a greater devotion.”

In Ecuador’s coastal city of Guayaquil, listeners pledged more than $69,000 toward the expenses of Radio Station HCJB-2. (HCJB World Radio)

© Copyright 2005 - HCJB World Radio - Colorado Springs, CO USA

A 15-year-old member of Believers Church founded by Gospel for Asia (GFA) was killed in Assam, India, as tribal violence has erupted again, says GFA President K.P. Yohannan. Vidya Singh and one of his friends were returning to their recently destroyed village to recover some food when they were ambushed and shot. It was three days before the area was safe enough for his body, which bore nine bullets, to be recovered. Two days later 35 houses in another village were torched. Although Singh was a victim of tribal violence, Christians need to be careful, Yohannan explained. “People take advantage of this kind of opportunity to actually go after believers who have left their tribal customs,” he said. “We have believers in both of these tribes, as a matter of fact. We have very strong work in the Karbi people, including a Bible college.” GFA Bible college students and missionaries, who converted from these tribal customs, continue to share the gospel. “This is an opportunity used by many of the believers to witness to their neighbors and relatives, and people are turning to Christ,” Yohannan added. (Mission Network News/Religion Today/Gospel for Asia)

* Radio programs in 12 languages (English, Urdu, Hindi, Nepali, Chattisgarhi, Bangla, Bhojpuri, Tamil, Telegu, Marwari, Marathi and Santhali) air to India from HCJB World Radio-Australia’s shortwave station in Kununurra. The programs are produced at the ministry’s studios in New Delhi, India.

VIETNAMESE SECURITY FORCES ARREST, TORTURE MONTAGNARD CHRISTIANS

Vietnamese security forces recently entered five villages and arrested a number of Degar Montagnard Christians in the early-morning hours of Thursday, Dec. 8, reported the Montagnard Foundation in a news release. The believers were “handcuffed, then brutally boxed, kicked and beaten with batons until they passed out unconscious. Police then threw them on a truck. All of them remain imprisoned at the prison facility in the district of Cu Se.” The news release added that on Thursday, Nov. 3, security forces from the district of Sa Thai went to the village of Plei Grak and arrested and tortured six Montagnards, accusing them of being pro-American because they follow the “religion of America.” A few days after that incident a teenager was beaten until blood came out of his ears. His father said it was because his son called him in the U.S. Another individual was arrested and tortured because “he did not renounce Christ and stop supporting the Montagnard Foundation to struggle for our people’s right to co-exist with the Vietnamese people equally.” (Assist News Service)

PROPOSED LAW COULD RESTRICT FOREIGN MISSIONARIES IN RUSSIA

A proposed law in Russia that would restrict foreign political action groups funded by other countries could have a negative impact on mission organizations, says Sergey Rakhuba, vice president of Russian Ministries. “It means that (when) many of those missionaries who live in Russia and have foreign affiliation need to renew their visas, they will need to prove that the funds they receive from abroad are used strictly for religious purposes,” he explained. “The Russian government is threatened by the foreign activity and involvement in those democratic revolutions in Ukraine, Georgia and other former Soviet Union countries.” While the law is not a direct attack on mission activity, Rakhuba is concerned. “The Orthodox Church (could) take advantage of this and will put more pressure on the Russian government to use this law against national nongovernmental organizations that are funded by foreign partnerships.” Russian Ministries is a nationally registered organization with 70 percent of its funding coming from outside Russia. (Mission Network News)

* HCJB World Radio reaches across Russia with a variety of radio ministries. The mission began sending gospel broadcasts across the country via shortwave in 1941, first from Quito, Ecuador, and in recent years from the U.K. In the early 1990s the ministry began “planting” local radio ministries in Russia and now works with partners nationwide. In 2000 HCJB World Radio helped launch New Life Radio, the first Christian Russian satellite radio network. More than 63 downlinks have been placed in more than 42 cities across Russia and neighboring countries.

CHRISTMAS PARTIES IN ASIA INTRODUCE TRUE MEANING OF HOLIDAY

Southern Baptist workers again hosted Christmas parties throughout southern Asia to introduce Jesus to Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist friends who do not yet know the true meaning of Christmas. The region is home to 1.4 billion people in the countries of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives. Southern Baptist representatives hoped this year’s Christmas parties would again lead friends and neighbors to new life in Jesus. One worker with the denomination’s International Mission Board was looking forward to Christmas Day because they invited five nationals to brunch to hear the Christmas story and to learn why Christians celebrate this holy day. “Each man has received a Bible in advance, so they can read the story prior to Christmas.” A large Christmas party held by the workers a year ago led to the start of three house churches and other fellowships in one city of India. (Religion Today/Baptist Press)

SALVATION ARMY EXPERIENCES TROUBLE RECRUITING WORKERS

The Salvation Army has had trouble recruiting in recent years. Its bell-ringers, disaster relief workers and employees at thrift shops and rescue missions are led by less than 3,700 “officers” (the equivalent of clergy) whose ranks have declined by nearly a third in the past five years. Only 284 “cadets” are now enrolled at the Salvation Army’s four U.S. seminaries. But National Commander Todd Bassett said, “I’m a man of faith so I know we can turn it around.” The denomination’s 113,500 U.S. “soldiers,” the core group among 427,000 members, have taken vows that include a willingness to evangelize and help the needy while abstaining from alcohol, tobacco, drugs, gambling, pornography and profanity. (Agape Press/Associated Press)

© Copyright 2005 - HCJB World Radio - Colorado Springs, CO USA

While civil war in Indonesia's Aceh province may be over after rebels officially disarmed, Voice of the Martyr's Todd Nettleton says peace talks between the rebels and the government were already under way prior to the tsunami of Dec. 26, 2004. However, once the disaster struck, priorities changed. "Both sides saw that in order to facilitate the rebuilding of that part of Indonesia, they were going to need to work together," he said. "It really wasn't a time where there was room for conflict. It was pretty much 'all hands on deck! We're going to have to work our hearts out just to rebuild.'" Nettleton confirmed the connection between humanitarian aid, relationship building and the ongoing potential for evangelistic work. However, prayer remains essential. "Thousands of people around the world prayed for this region because Indonesia is an area that has persecution, that has hostility towards Christians, but the absence of armed conflict is obviously going to be a good thing for the people of Banda Aceh, for the people of the Aceh region," he said. (Mission Network News)

* HCJB World Radio has worked with local partners to establish more than 12 local Christian radio stations across Indonesia since 2004. Broadcasts from HCJB World Radio-Australia's shortwave station in Kununurra also encourage listeners nationwide. In addition, HCJB World Radio has helped with relief efforts since the tsunami and subsequent quakes that devastated parts of Indonesia.

ORTHODOX JEWS DISRUPT MESSIANIC WORSHIP SERVICE IN ISRAEL

Orthodox Jews disrupted a Messianic congregation's worship service in the Israeli town of Beersheba on Saturday, Dec. 24. Two young women were to have been baptized at the service, but as it began more than 300 Orthodox Jews gathered and entered the private property of the Nachalat Yeshua Messianic Congregation. Pastor Howard Bass said the visitors were initially welcomed, but they began to disrupt the service, overturning chairs and tables. They struck Messianic believers in the face, back and stomach, and one received a blow near his eye. Demonstrators outside the building told one woman trying to enter that Christians were Nazis and that she deserved a bullet through her head. (Compass)

LAOTIAN CHURCHES KEEP GROWING DESPITE PERSECUTION, OBSTACLES

The light of Christ is growing brighter in the communist nation of Laos despite persecution and restrictions. Native missionaries with Gospel for Asia are overcoming obstacles, planting churches and training Christian workers. Believers face threats, arrests and even death as Christianity has been declared the No. 1 enemy of the state. (Mission Network News)

CHRISTIAN BROADCASTER, PUBLISHER DIES IN CAR ACCIDENT IN ZAMBIA

Thom Hickling, 51, a broadcaster, publisher and musician from Baltimore, Md., was killed in an automobile accident Tuesday, Dec. 27, while visiting his daughter in Zambia for the Christmas holiday.

He died when the car he was driving was involved in a head-on collision during a five-hour journey from Lusaka to the Meheba Refugee Camp where his daughter, Holly, had been serving as a volunteer relief worker for the past four months. Holly was treated for a broken leg at Kabwe General Hospital before returning to her home in Pittsburgh, Penn. Another relief worker in the vehicle also suffered undetermined injuries.

Hickling helped shape Pittsburgh's evangelical culture in the 1980s and 1990s through his family's radio station (WPLW-AM), a singing ministry, a newspaper and two television shows. He and his former wife, Cathy, founded the monthly Christian newspaper, Expression, in Pittsburgh in 1981. The publication went Web-only in 2002 and folded a year later. Hickling was also involved in Cornerstone Television in Pittsburgh. In recent years he lived in Baltimore where he was a writer for financial publications.

Reid Carpenter, president of the Leadership Foundations of America, said Hickling had a passion for justice and the poor. "Within the evangelical world he was pretty radical, and he had a very, very acute taste for the outsider and a heart for communicating the good news," he said. Memorial services will be held in Baltimore and Pittsburgh, but no dates have been set. (Assist News Service/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

U.S. BUSINESSMAN WORKS TO LAUNCH MEDICAL MINISTRY IN VIETNAM

A businessman from Mississippi is working on a project that would bring medical and spiritual assistance to people in Vietnam. For years Richard Headrick and his wife, Gina, of Laurel, Miss., have traveled the world, supporting and encouraging Christian missionaries. Recently the Headricks traveled to Vietnam where they toured many remote villages along canals, rivers and tributaries. Headrick says God then gave him the idea to develop a ministry that he will call Jesus Boat to provide medical care throughout the country. "Our concept . . . is to use the medical and dental facility and [the care it offers] to allow us entry into the different villages," he explained. "At night we would show the 'Jesus' film. Then some volunteer Vietnamese pastors would actually go out and infiltrate the villages . . .. and tell the people about Christ." Headrick says it could take up to two years before the ministry is operational in Vietnam. He already has received government approval from portions of the project. (Religion Today)

RESEARCHER: CHANGING PRIORITIES, TECHNOLOGY RESHAPE U.S. CHURCHES

Saying church attendance is "grossly overrated as a measure of anything that is spiritually significant," researcher George Barna pointed to four trends that are "indicative of the reshaping of the church in the U.S." The first trend is that local churches tend to give lower priority to three critical spiritual dimensions: ministry to children, ministry to families, and prayer. A second trend defined by Barna is that congregations are rapidly incorporating new technologies into their activities. Among the fastest-growing adoptions are big-screen projection systems, websites and e-mail blasts to congregants. He also pointed to the slow demise of the African American church with the decline in church attendance, Bible knowledge, faith prioritization and reliance upon the faith community for support and relationships. The fourth trend which Barna labeled as somewhat "invisible yet significant" is the "changing of the guard among the leaders of the leaders." Where the media, general public and pastors had previously perceived Billy Graham, Adrian Rogers, Jerry Falwell, John MacArthur, Pat Robertson, Robert Schuller and Charles Stanley to be the leading spokespersons for Christianity in the U.S., today's leading representatives include Rick Warren and T.D. Jakes. (Religion Today/Barna Group)