Thirty house church leaders from Langzhong City in China’s Sichuan province were arrested on May 27-28 and forced to pay fines. The leaders were attending a church co-worker’s fellowship meeting when 15 members of the Public Security Bureau raided the meeting, arriving in six police cars. Sixteen leaders were released on May 28 while 14 received criminal detention notices. Several of those detained are major leaders of the Chinese House Church Alliance which was established in 2004 and has more than 300,000 members across 21 Chinese provinces. Eyewitness from China Aid Association sources reported that during both the arrests and interrogations the Christians were beaten heavily. Pastor LI Ming, who is one of the seven top national leaders of the House Church Alliance, was observed to have been kicked in the head and abdomen by six policemen about during his arrest. (Assist News Service/China Aid Association)

AT LEAST 55,000 PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS KILLED EACH YEAR

In a recent lecture to the Protestant Association of the Christian Democratic Union in Dresden, Germany, professor Thomas Schirrmacher said that at least 55,000 Christians are killed each year for religious reasons. Christians in India, Indonesia and Pakistan run the highest risk of losing their lives, and three out of four cases of severe persecution are directed at Christians. Schirrmacher encouraged politicians to increase efforts for religious freedom instead of being reluctant with Islamic nations who persecute Christians. He believes interest in religion worldwide is on the rise and cited the shrinking of "the communist atheistic realm" as part of that along with phenomenal Christian growth outside the Western world. The number of Christian worshipers in China now exceeds Sunday-service attendance in Europe where Christian growth is decreasing. Since 1970 the number of Christians has tripled in Africa and Asia and doubled in Latin America. (Assist News Service)

4 NUNS ARRESTED IN INDIA FOR TRYING TO ‘CONVERT HINDU PATIENTS’

Four nuns from a group known as the Mother Teresa sisters were attacked by a crowd of Hindu fanatics and arrested by police in southeastern India’s Andhra Pradesh state Sunday, June 25. The nuns, known worldwide for their altruism and dedication to the poor modeled after the work of the late Mother Teresa, were in the middle of their weekly hospital visit with terminal AIDS patients in the city of Tirupati when a group of about 50 Hindu fanatics broke into the hospital and blocked the nuns in. They accused them of trying to "convert Hindu patients." The crowd quickly swelled to more than 300 until police took the four women into custody. Archbishop Oswald Gracias stated, "The nuns were terrified and trembling because of the climate of intimidation all around the police station." Gracias denied charges that the nuns were proselytizing, and produced permits and hospital administration agreements giving access to the nuns. "Mother Teresa sisters are known to be doing exclusively social work," he said. (WorldWide Religious News/AsiaNews)

RICK WARREN INVITED TO SPEAK TO CHRISTIANS IN NORTH KOREA

Well-known evangelical pastor/author Rick Warren has been invited to preach to about 15,000 Christians in the communist nation of North Korea this summer. As part of a 40-day, 13-country tour to meet with presidents, business leaders and pastors in countries like Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Rwanda and South Korea, Warren also received the invitation to visit North Korea. He was told he could use a larger venue if he could fill the seats. North Korea is on the U.S. State Department list as a "country of particular concern" under the strict rule of Kim Jong Il, and religious freedom does not exist. Highly choreographed visits by religious leaders such as Billy Graham have been allowed in the past. In response to concerns about whether his visit might be a setup to draw out Christians for punishment, Warren replied, "I know they’re going to use me, so I’m going to use them." (Christians in Crisis)

RADIO HELPS PLANT CHURCHES, TRAIN LEADERS IN MOZAMBIQUE

Trans World Radio’s (TWR) 15 years of radio broadcasting in the East African country of Mozambique has led to more than 300 new churches. As a result, leadership training is in high demand, and radio is once again helping meet the need. TWR’s program, "Words of Hope," and its Theological Training by Extension have been vital to the training of more than 1,750 local pastors and church leaders in the past nine years. TWR is building a new studio and office building in Mocuba to replace the modified shipping containers that acted as the original production studios. Future plans also include an FM station that will make use of the new studio. (Mission Network News)

* Eight hours of daily Christian Portuguese programs airs on an FM station in Maputo, Mozambique, as the result of a cooperative effort involving HCJB World Radio, Trans World Radio and Radio Africa Network.

© Copyright 2006 - HCJB World Radio - Colorado Springs, CO USA

Partners of Open Doors in Iraq have noted an increase in harassment and persecution as well as direct threats to Christians. "We do know that the churches are being bombed, and we know that churches are being targeted," said Carl Moeller of Open Doors. However, Christians are being emboldened to witness." The internal chaos in Iraq is causing mass exodus of more than 130,000 families. "Much of the displacement is going along sectarian lines with Sunnis and Shiites fleeing and Christians and Kurds also being forced to flee from ethnically mixed neighborhoods," he said. Moeller added that opportunities are arising for Christians as authorities notice that they are neither Shiites nor Sunnis. (Mission Network News)

PAKISTANI CHRISTIAN FLEES TO NETHERLANDS AFTER ‘BLASPHEMY’ CHARGES

Pakistani "blasphemy" suspect Yasaar Hameed applied for asylum status in the Netherlands after years of mistreatment including being tortured for two weeks and denied food for a month. Hameed, a political activist and comparative religion scholar, continues with judicial wrangling dating back to 1993. He has been accused of blasphemy multiple times and has been shot on six different occasions, one of which left a bullet embedded in his shoulder. Much of the violence directed at Hameed stems from his comparative studies between Christianity and Islam, leading him to author the book, Islam: The Enemy of Humanity, and to form the activist group called the Religious Research Institute. He and his family did not become Christians until 2004. The rogue status of this organization riled Muslims to bomb offices and murder Hameed’s younger brother and other co-workers. Hameed has turned the judicial tables on his accusers, charging them with "insulting religion." His wife and two children remain in hiding in Pakistan where controversial blasphemy laws are routinely used to persecute religious minorities. (Compass Direct/Religion Today)

* HCJB World Radio sent two medical teams from Ecuador to Pakistan following the Oct. 8, 2005, earthquake that left tens of thousands dead and thousands more injured and homeless. Staff members helped SIM International with relief efforts.

BILLY GRAHAM TO PREACH AGAIN AT FESTIVAL IN BALTIMORE

Evangelist Billy Graham, 87, announced that he is coming out of retirement to preach at the 2006 Metro Maryland Festival led by his son, Franklin Graham, in Baltimore July 7-9. Cliff Barrows, long-time associate of the elder Graham, reported the plans to The Christian Post. Barrows added that a third member of the Billy Graham team, 97-year-old singer George Beverly Shea, also plans to participate in the festival. The Washington Post reported that the elder Graham will give the final sermon at the three-day event following the preaching by his son and musical performances by multiple artists, including country star Randy Travis and gospel legend Andrae Crouch. Franklin Graham said that although his father held his final crusade last year in New York, "he never told the world that he wouldn’t keep preaching." (Religion Today/Washington Post)

ETHIOPIAN MUSLIM CAMPAIGN STIRS TROUBLE FOR CHRISTIANS

A recent campaign in the Ethiopian city of Alaba (south of Addis Ababa) has brought various pressures on the minority Christian population. The citywide push that "Alaba is Muslim and Muslim is Alaba" has caused several incidents, including an incident on Wednesday, June 7, when a group of Muslim teens took over the microphone and threatened to bombard the building. Four days later Muslims interrupted a meeting of Christian high school students. On June 15 and 17, building materials for a new Christian elementary school were destroyed and stolen. The Christians do not anticipate cooperation from state officials due to strong Muslim control on all levels of state government. (Christians in Crisis/Voice of the Martyrs)

* Staff members at HCJB World Radio-Australia’s studios record Oromo language programs that air to 28 million speakers in Ethiopia and Kenya via FEBA Radio’s shortwave facilities.

KOREAN-AMERICAN SOUTHERN BAPTISTS FOCUS ON DIVORCE PROBLEM

The rapid increase in the divorce rate in South Korea led organizers to choose the theme, "Happy Families," for the 25th annual Council of Korean Southern Baptist Churches in America held in Wheaton, Ill., June 19-22. There are now more than 750 Korean-speaking Southern Baptist churches across the U.S., most of which recruit new pastors directly from South Korea, creating a constant influx of first-generation leaders in the Korean-American church. The divorce rate in South Korea is third in the world -- only behind the U.S. and the U.K. The majority of Korean divorces are initiated by the wife after 20 or more years of marriage. The conference speakers addressed a Christian-based model of marriage rather than the "Korean way." Featured speaker Andrew Chung said, "It is only the Christian church that can provide an answer to this [divorce] dilemma." (Baptist Press)

With word of North Korea’s missile test-fire debacle filling news headlines, NATO is urging a firm international response. This could mean international sanctions or more drastic actions, all of which will affect the Korean people. Paul Estabrooks with Open Doors recently completed a book called Escape from North Korea that outlines the Christian situation within the country. He is concerned that sanctions could cause even worse treatment of the 50,000 to 70,000 Christians who are imprisoned in labor camps for their faith. Estabrooks estimates that there are between 100,000 and 300,000 Christians in North Korea who are forced to hide their beliefs. “A lot of people have secret faith in North Korea, but have absolutely no freedom or opportunity to share it with anyone else,” he said. North Korea ranks No. 1 on Open Doors’ World Watch List of nations that persecute Christians. (Mission Network News)

HINDU MILITANTS BURN CHURCH, BEAT PREGNANT WOMAN

Hindu militants with the group Dharam Sena (Religious Army) set fire to a church building in India’s Madhya Pradesh state on Friday, June 30. The alleged arson destroyed 150 Bibles and hymnbooks where the fire started and destroyed the church building. Pastor Jaidi Khan escaped without injury but was unable to save the church. Despite eyewitness testimony, authorities have been unwilling to act, and Police Superintendent K.D. Peshara claims a rival group of Christians initiated the attack. He also claims the church’s motorcycle was burned rather than the church building. Dharam Sena had disrupted a weekly prayer meeting in nearby Chattisgarh state on Sunday, June 25. The group chanted anti-Christian slogans before bursting into the building and violently attacking the gathered Christians. One woman who was eight months’ pregnant was punched and kicked and later rushed to a local hospital complaining of intense pain. (Voice of the Martyrs/Assist News Service)

MUSLIMS OVERPOWER POLICE, CLUB CHRISTIAN WOMAN TO DEATH

Muslim extremists overpowered police officers providing refuge to an unidentified Christian woman in the central town of Izom, Nigeria, stoning and clubbing her to death for doing street evangelism on June 28. The woman handed out tracts and preached to a group of Muslim youth. When Muslim elders heard this they claimed it insulted Mohammed and ordered she be killed. Police took her into protective custody when an unruly mob surrounded the police station. The officer’s attempt to escape out a rear door with the woman was blocked. The police abandoned the woman to save their own lives, resulting in her death. She remains unidentified amid speculation she is from a neighboring village. Street evangelism is common in Nigeria, and there are nine Christian churches in Izom. (Compass Direct)

* HCJB World Radio, together with partners In Touch Ministries, SIM and the Evangelical Church of West Africa, began airing weekly half-hour programs to Nigeria in the Igbo language in 2000. In 2003 weekly broadcasts were added in two additional languages, Yoruba and Hausa. HCJB World Radio also has helped with radio ministries in six cities with more in the planning stages.

BIBLE COMMENTARY ‘FOR AFRICANS BY AFRICANS’ LAUNCHED IN KENYA

The African Bible Commentary was launched this week in Kenya, addressing such issues as HIV/AIDS, ethnic violence and female circumcision. The verse-by-verse explanation of the biblical texts is the first bible commentary “for Africans by Africans.” It includes contributions by 70 scholars in 25 countries. Currently available in French and English, General Editor Tokunboh Adeyemo says the commentary is “an explanation of the whole Bible as seen through the eyes of African scholars who respect the integrity of the text and use African proverbs, metaphors and stories to make it speak to African believers.” Versions in other African languages are being translated. Amid controversy among Anglicans over issues such as homosexuality, Adeyemo says, “The younger church in Africa has stayed closer to biblical ethics and is therefore more conservative than the Western church.” (WorldWide Religious News/Reuters)

* HCJB WORLD RADIO PROVIDES TRANSMITTER FOR NTM IN BOLIVIA

A 500-watt FM transmitter at Horeb Bible Radio, an outreach of New Tribes Mission (NTM) in northern Bolivia, was damaged by a lightning strike six months ago. The staff borrowed a smaller transmitter to go back on the air, but a larger, more powerful transmitter from HCJB World Radio is on its way to increase the station’s effectiveness.

NTM missionary and radio technician Bruce Johnson and his family were slated to return to Bolivia this week with a new 2,000-watt transmitter designed and built at the HCJB World Radio Engineering Center in Elkhart, Ind. The new equipment is expected to greatly increase the signal coverage area.

Horeb Bible Radio broadcasts in Spanish and several tribal languages, and the new transmitter will boost the station’s continued, far-reaching impact. There have been encouraging testimonies from several tribes that show the effectiveness of the radio ministry. The damaged 500-watt transmitter will be repaired by HCJB World Radio engineers and returned to NTM for use in another part of Bolivia.

HCJB World Radio has worked with various local radio partners to plant local AM and FM stations in the Bolivian cities of Santa Cruz, Tarija and Tupiza. Four stations with eight transmitters in four cities (La Paz, Caranavi, Santa Cruz and Sucre) are also affiliated with ALAS, the ministry’s Latin American satellite radio network that makes Spanish programs available to local stations 24 hours a day. (Mission Network News/New Tribes Mission/HCJB World Radio)

Following an attack by Hindu extremists last month, four tribal Christians from Toranpada village in west-central India’s Maharashtra state asked police for help. Police responded by taunting the victims, kicking them and finally filing charges of "breaching the peace." The four victims filed a complaint immediately after members of the local Tribal Welfare Committee beat them for converting to Christianity. Upon returning to the police station on Thursday, June 15, to see what actions had been taken, the police turned on the victims. One police officer taunted "Ask Jesus to call me on my mobile phone." Police officers also asked for a demonstration of prayer. When the four knelt down, the officers kicked them and continued taunting. Finally, the four were charged with "breaching the peace." A protest of the officer’s behavior by the State Minorities Commission is under investigation despite police denial of wrongdoing. (Compass Direct)

CHINESE COURT SENTENCES 3 RELIGIOUS LEADERS TO DEATH

Three leaders of the controversial Chinese religious group, Three Grades of Servants, were sentenced to death for murder on Wednesday, June 28. Three others were given a two-year suspended death sentence for the same charge. A total of 17 members of the group were convicted on varying charges. The China Aid Association believes that while many other house churches often consider the group cultic, their constitutional rights remain important as precedent for other religious arrests. The group was convicted of murdering 20 leaders of another religious group. The main leader, 60-year-old Xu Shuangfu, was also convicted of defrauding his half-million followers the equivalent of more than US$4 million. Xu’s daughter, Xu Baiyin, maintains his innocence saying, "The truth will be revealed one day before God’s judgment seat even if justice is not done in this life." Lawyers will appeal the case, claiming that Xu signed the state’s confessions only under severe torture. (China Aid Association)

MYANMAR’S CHIN CHRISTIANS ‘UNDER CONSTANT ATTACK’ BY MILITARY

Minority Chin women in Myanmar (Burma) are "under constant attack" with threat of rape by the Burmese army, according to a newly released report. Titled "Hidden Crimes Against Chin Women," the report was written by the Women’s League of China, an umbrella organization comprising nine separate human rights groups in the country’s Chin state. The Chin are 90-percent Christian and have faced religious and ethnic persecution for decades. The report states, "The fear of rape alone is a powerful weapon against all Chin. By assaulting Chin women, all of the Chin are demeaned and terribly disrespected." One female Chin university student said, "If you are double C -- being a Chin and being a Christian -- you have nothing in Burma." (Christian Solidarity Worldwide)

TV MINISTRY BROADCASTS 24 HOURS DAILY ACROSS ARAB WORLD

Arab Vision Television is now broadcasting 24 hours per day into the Arab World, doubling its broadcasts from a year ago. A growing number of Christian TV stations need suitable, top-quality programming, and Arab Vision has stepped up to meet this demand. Many programs are in use by multiple stations and repeated often, significantly reducing the hourly cost of the broadcasts. The programs, spread across eight different satellite stations, include talk shows, documentaries, dramas, teaching programs and music videos. A team of 45 Arab Christians is producing the shows which "do not include any Western-style, dubbed or subtitled programs," said Arab World’s production manager. The ministry’s international director added, "Our ministry is bearing fruit. Millions are watching the programs. Thousands are responding each month." (Arab Vision)

* MEDICAL TEAM BRINGS HOPE TO INDONESIAN QUAKE VICTIMS

From performing surgeries to staging games for children, a small medical team from Ecuador used various means to show the love of Jesus to Indonesians digging out and rebuilding after a May 27 earthquake that left 6,200 people dead.

Family practice physicians Brad* and Steve from HCJB World Radio in Quito treated up to 200 patients a day for two weeks in early June. Finding a shady spot nearby, Steve’s wife, Dorothy, drew in crowds of children for games, drawing, singing and other activities.

"They were so responsive and receptive to music and to games and art," Dorothy said of the children. "We spent a lot of time just walking around and visiting some of the neighbors there."

Four-hour stretches of entertaining up to 100 kids (often with no interpreter) tested Dorothy’s ability to adapt to the new culture. But she was up to the challenge. Upon running out of paper for drawing, she seized upon the idea of using pieces of wall from flattened buildings, and had her budding artists go to work on those.

"There’s devastation all over the place. Buildings that have toppled over, and homes have been destroyed . . . yet a lot of smiles," Dorothy said on a mid-June afternoon as team members returned to their hotel after working near the quake’s epicenter. "It’s just been a wonderful day."

Brad told of a medical infrastructure that is severely challenged. "The hospitals are either overwhelmed or not functioning because of the earthquake," he added, "so they (people of the communities) have nowhere to turn with their everyday complaints."

He and Steve treated lacerations and checked healing fractures, but consulted with people on their routine health needs as well. Other quake victims weren’t sleeping well, and as Indonesian interpreter Melizza said, "I’m very sad because many people lost their homes and children can’t study very well." Estimates of 40,000 people injured and a million homeless have been reported.

Several communities welcomed the team from HCJB World Radio, even as the German surgeon, Eckehart, anesthesiologist Lowell and Indonesian-speaking interpreter Hildegard worked in a government hospital performing surgeries on victims of the 6.3-strength quake that shook the area.

With quake aftershocks and the nearby active volcano, Mount Merapi, at high alert, there was plenty of opportunity for feelings of fear and anxiety. Two men were killed by a Merapi-released gas cloud just days after the team visited a nearby refugee camp.

One day Brad looked up from his work to see local authorities approaching his portable medical clinic. "We were very concerned about what the local people were thinking -- both from a religious and a political point of view, considering the state of the situation in the world today," he said.

"It turned out that they were very happy that we were there," he explained, summarizing the ensuing visit by a political leader, the chief of police and a military representative. "They were encouraged by what we were doing and really wanted to encourage us." One was impressed that the Ecuador team’s motivations were not financial, and another mentioned that his brother is pastor of an area Christian church.

Elsewhere, a local Muslim leader insisted that physicians not pray with patients. Although Indonesia is a largely Muslim nation, 9 percent of Indonesians are Christians. The medical team worked in an area influenced by the Hindu and Buddhist religions as well.

Pleased with his team’s work in the quake zone, Brad said, "It would be very hard for me to say that I have planned all of this. Really, God has brought together many resources."

Responding to an invitation from local partners, the medical team traveled from Hospital Vozandes-Quito on June 5, joined by Hildegard in Amsterdam and linking up with other interpreters and Lowell upon arriving in Indonesia. They worked with local partners, serving jointly at times with a U.S.-based Christian family practice residency program.

"I’m enchanted by the beauty of the country -- the rice paddies, the rolling hills, blue skies, wonderful food and best of all the people," said Dorothy. "We were amazed to see the people working happily at the early tasks of rebuilding -- salvaging roof tiles, cleaning bricks and clearing debris," Steve added.

Steve compared the Indonesia trip with his work among quake victims last November in Pakistan where people, numbed by loss and trauma, waited for others to spearhead rebuilding efforts. He attributes their apparent paralysis of will and spirit to the fact they were displaced. "In Indonesia while their homes were destroyed, they didn’t have to move," he explained. "They could stay close by and get to the task of preparing for the future."

Eckehart agreed, saying, "They’re all looking to the future. They’re reconstructing. They’re busy all over. It’s incredible."

* Last names omitted for security reasons.

Source: HCJB World Radio