Zprávy HCJB 13.6.2007

 Rychlý úbytek členů presbyteriánské církve v USA
   Členstvo presbyteriánské církve (USA) se loni snížilo o dvě procenta a její představitelé říkají, že v budoucnu přijde další úbytek. V roce 2006 ubylo 46 000 členů a presbyteriánská církev má nyní 2.3 milionu členů, což je polovina stavu z nejlepších dob před 40 lety. I když loňský pokles byl trochu nižší než v roce 2005, církev odhaduje letošní úbytek na 150000. Pokles křtů dospělých osob klesl také (o tři procenta), což naznačuje, že stále méně členů církve dokáže svědčit druhým lidem o své víře. To je smutný úkaz v církvi snažící se obnovit své základy. „Je mi z toho zřejmé, že prebyteriáni něvědí, jak sdělit ‘dobrou novinu’ o spasení a uvítat křtem nové lidi v naší církvi,” napsal rev. Eric Hooey, ředitel pro evangelizaci a církevní růst. Pokles členstva je poslední z řady potíží presbyteriánské církve, které dopadají na vedení církve spolu s kritikou některých sborů nad vleklými diskusemi o homosexualitě. Zdroj: Mission Network News
 
 Všechny zprávy v angličtině
   18 YEARS OF PRAYER BEHIND FRANKLIN GRAHAM’S ‘SMALLER’ FESTIVAL

Sources: Christian News, Billy Graham Evangelical Association
Franklin Graham’s June 8th-10th festival in Binghamton, N.Y.—a location significantly smaller than most of his crusades—brought together nearly 400 churches of various denominations to help with the approximately 27,600 people who attended.

The story as to why Graham accepted the invitation to come to Binghamton starts with a group of local pastors who started praying about 18 years ago for a “revival” in the Binghamton area. The Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin reports that about seven years ago Graham watched his son, Edward Bell Graham, in a collegiate wrestling tournament at Binghamton University. Following the tournament, Graham stopped at a nearby restaurant where a waitress recognized him and said, “There is a group of us praying to bring you someday to Binghamton.”

About three years ago, several dozen local pastors wrote letters to Graham asking him to hold a festival in the Binghamton area. Then in early 2006, according to the report, someone on Graham's staff said, “We have an invitation from Binghamton, New York, but we're not anticipating accepting it.” It was then that Graham said he remembered the waitress. “A little light went on. I said, ‘No, we are going to accept that invitation,’” Graham recalled.

More than 2,775 people committed their lives to the Lord Jesus Christ at the festival which was translated into Russian, Spanish, Laotian, Korean and Haitian for the diverse audience. CUBAN ‘PRISONER OF CONSCIENCE’ RUSHED TO HOSPITAL, REMAINS DETAINED

Source: BosNewsLife
Speaking by telephone from Las Mangas prison in eastern Cuba, one of Cuba’s leading “prisoners of conscience,” Dr. Jose Luis Garcia Paneque told his mother, Moralinda Paneque, that he was taken to hospital after experiencing “an excruciating pain in the abdomen.” His family and fellow dissidents said in a statement, “Through an ultrasound, the prison doctors diagnosed him with having a cyst on the upper region of his bladder.” Paneque, a physician, journalist and librarian, was among nearly 80 people, including many active Christians, who were arrested as part of a crackdown on dissidents in 2003. Paneque, 42, was eventually sentenced to 24 years in prison on charges of “serving foreign powers,” under laws governing the protection of the Cuban State. Paneque had supported an independent network of librarians providing access to books banned in Cuba, including literature by authors such as Martin Luther King and George Orwell. Paneque's latest health problems came after dissidents and family members claimed his weight dropped from 189 to 110 pounds because of “intestinal mal absorption syndrome” that causes him severe chronic diarrhea and abdominal cramps. His family and dissidents continued to say that “poor conditions in prison” were to blame.

RUSSIA/US RELATIONS DON’T SLOW CHURCH LEADERSHIP TRAINING

Source: Assist News Service
Despite recent heated Cold-War-like rhetoric between Russia and the U.S., Anita Deyneka, President of Russian Ministries says hearts are warming to the gospel through a program run by her ministry. “Politically, it's unsettling to hear these threats coming out of Russia and to see a clamp down on democracy and religious rights,” observes Deyneka, “but there are thousands of young national Christian leaders in Russia, Ukraine and elsewhere in the former Soviet Union who are warming the hearts of their people through compassionate ministries to needy and hurting people and children.” Russian Ministries’ “School Without Walls” has 2200 national leaders enrolled for the 2006-2007 academic year who are being equipped for ministries like church planting and evangelism. “As these young national Christian leaders are trained,” she explained, “they are then ready to step into leadership in their churches, and step out into their communities and tackle issues such as HIV/AIDS, homelessness, drug and alcohol abuse and street children and orphans head on.” Deyneka concludes, “No matter what political changes might occur in Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union, there is a national force of young leaders who are on the move for Christ. And they are ready to lead the evangelical church in outreach ministries that will transform their nations for Christ.”

* HCJB Global Voice 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 Global Voice 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.

WORLD VISION: LEBANON AID WORKER DEATHS ‘A DANGEROUS PRECEDENT’

Source: Mission Network News
World Vision says the death of two Lebanese Red Cross workers in Northern Lebanon sets a dangerous precedent. They died when mortar shells exploded just outside the Palestinian refugee camp two days ago. The violence Monday capped a weekend of fighting that claimed the lives of 11 additional soldiers and injured more than 100. Since fighting began May 20, more than 133 people, including 57 soldiers, have been killed at the Nahr el Bared camp. The violence threatens the already fragile lifeline to thousands of civilians still trapped there. Recent fighting has also displaced more than 30,000 people. World Vision is providing critical survival items and food support, as well as providing a haven for the children. They report unsanitary conditions in the cramped quarters which has given rise to fears of infectious disease outbreaks, including lice and scabies. Relief operations now include Bourj el-Barajneh and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps to which smaller numbers of families have fled. Among the displaced adult population are more than 200 pregnant women expected to give birth soon.

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH U.S.A. MEMBERSHIP IN RAPID DECLINE

Source: WorldWide Religious News
Membership in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) slipped two percent last year, and church leaders say further declines lay ahead. The church lost over 46,000 members in 2006, dropping its membership to 2.3 million, just over half its peak membership 40 years ago. Though the decline was slightly less than 2005, the church is projecting losses of as many as 150,000 members by the end of next year. The drop in adult baptisms also fell three percent, meaning there are fewer members able to share their faith with others, a troubling development for the church as it attempts to regain its footing. “This tells me very clearly that Presbyterians do not know how to share the ‘good news’ of their faith and welcome people into our churches through baptism,” wrote the Rev. Eric Hooey, director of evangelism and church growth. The numbers drop was the latest in a series of setbacks for the church, which has cut staff at its headquarters and drawn criticism from some congregations over a long-running debate on homosexuality.

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