Pastor Georgi Vyazovsky of the Minsk-based Christ’s Covenant Reformed Baptist Church was imprisoned for 10 days for conducting religious worship in his own home. This is the first time in nearly twenty years that religious worship has incurred a prison sentence on the territory of Belarus. “We expected that my father would be found guilty,” the pastor’s son Stanislav Vyazovsky remarked on the day of the trial. “[The punishment, however] was a real shock to all of us who were present.” The church tried and failed to get re-registration under Belarus’ highly restrictive 2002 religion law, which bans all but occasional religious worship in private homes. District administration officials raided Vyazovsky’s church several times “with the aim of exposing religious organizations without registration.” (Forum 18 News Service)

HINDU NATIONALISTS SEEK TO CLOSE CHRISTIAN ORGANIZATIONS IN INDIA

Christians continue to be the targets of violence in India’s Rajasthan State, hitting the ministry of Hopegivers International especially hard. Hopegivers Bill Bray says Hindu nationals are upset with a book of comparative religions that takes a negative view of Hinduism. Bray says even though it wasn’t published by Hopegivers, the Hindu government is reacting as if it were. “In Cota, where our headquarters is located, they have revoked all of the licenses of all of our institutions en masse. So, the police are going around, putting up cease and desist orders on the schools, on the hospital, on the orphanage.” Despite the pressure, Hopegivers healthcare workers and orphanage workers aren’t giving in. “The doctors and the nurses said, ‘well, you can take us and the patients to jail if you want, people will die. We can not close the hospital.’ It’s a statewide organized effort.” The national government is concerned by the thousands of people coming to Christ in Rajasthan. “The National Human Rights Commission, of the federal government, has appointed an investigator, which is a good sign.” In the meantime, Hopegivers has established a legal defense fund for those that have been arrested. (Mission Network News)

* 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.

TRIBE FROM INDIA SENDS MISSIONARIES TO EVANGELIZE WALES

Tribes from India that were converted to Christianity by missionaries from Wales decades ago are now sending their own missionaries to evangelize the Welsh because they believe that the country is in a state of religious decline. The diocese of Mizoram in northeastern India sent one missionary to south Wales and is planning to send a second in April, helping the Welsh Presbyterian Church with its shortage of ministers. Rev. Hmar Sangkhuma, who now works in Wales as a “mission enabler” in Maesteg, said that many people in Wales are suffering from a “spiritual void.” People from the Mizoram area were converted to Christianity by the Welsh between 1840 and 1960 until more than 80 percent of the population became Christian. Wales is traditionally seen as one of the most religious areas in Britain following the great revival of 1904. However, that has declined, and the 2001 census showed that fewer than one in 10 people in Wales regularly attended church or chapel. (WorldWide Religious News/Telegraph)

VOICE OF THE MARTYRS SENDS GOD’S WORD INTO RESTRICTED NATIONS

Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) has launched what it calls the “Bibles Unbound” program giving Christians in the U.S. a chance to help get copies of God’s Word to nations where access to the Scriptures has been limited or virtually nonexistent. VOM spokesman Todd Nettleton notes, “We’re working directly with our brothers and sisters inside these restricted nations. They are the ones collecting the addresses and the names for us to send these Bibles to, and they are planning ways that they can follow up after a Bible mailing has been done.” Bibles Unbound participants are encouraged to pray for the people they are mailing the Bibles to, with a reminder that this may be the first time that anyone has prayed for them by name. VOM is able to mail the Bibles directly into many restricted nations using non-U.S. postage provided in cooperation with United Parcel Service and the International Remail System. New Testaments are now being sent to China and Egypt through the Bible Unbound program. (Evangelical News/Agape Press)

SURVEY: MOST U.S. CHRISTIANS ‘BAFFLED BY HOLINESS’

The concept of holiness is woven throughout the Bible and is one of the foundational teachings of many Protestant churches, but a new nationwide telephone survey conducted by the Barna Group indicates that most adults remain confused, if not daunted, by the concept. Three out of every four adults (73 percent) believe that it is possible for someone to become holy, regardless of their past. Only half of the adult population, however, says that they know someone they consider to be holy. Fewer than half that number actually consider themselves to be holy (21 percent). The views of born-again Christians are not much different from the national averages. When pressed to describe what it means to be holy, adults gave a wide range of answers. The most common reply was “I don’t know,” offered by one out of every five adults (21 percent). Evangelicals and people with a biblical worldview were among respondents most like to say that God expects them to become holy. The survey results also indicated that young adults (39 or younger) are less likely than middle-aged and older adults to believe that God expects holiness of His people. (WorldWide Religious News/Barna Research Group)

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