Zprávy HCJB 21.6.2009 - 27.6.2009

 Misijní organizace reagují na hladomor v Keni
   Deseti milionům obyvatel Keni hrozí kvůli suchu i kvůli politickému neklidu hlad. World Gospel Misiion (WGM) pomáhá americkým křesťanům poskytovat potravinovou pomoc nejvíce zasaženým oblastem Keni. „Asi třetina obyvatel Keni dnes hladoví,“ řekl Tim Rickel, viceprezident WGM pro rozvoj. „Potřebují jídlo a WGM má infrastrukturu i lidi na místě, aby potravu rozdělovali těm, kdo ji opravdu potřebují.“ Roky sucha a neúrody, politicky motivované násilnosti, raketově stoupající ceny paliva i potravin – to vše se podepsalo na keňské krizi. Jen 18 procent rozlohy Keni je vhodné pro pěstovaní plodin, srážky jsou nepravidelné a tak je potravin pro 37 milionů obyvatel stále méně. „Ale misionáři WGM i jejich místní spolupracovníci v Keni jsou připraveni pomoci,“ řekl Rickel. „Jen potravin je třeba dopravit víc. Třicetikilové pytle pšenice jsou po 50 dolarech, přitom každý z nich pomůže od hladovění celým rodinám.“ Zdroj: Christian Newswire
 
 Křesťanské děti osiřelé při cyklónu Nargis se skrývají v barmské džungli
   Tisíce dětí Myanmaru (Barma) osiřelých po zničujícím cyklónu v roce 2008 jsou obětí vražedné hry na schovávanou s vojáky barmské armády. Britská mezidenominační křesťanská pomocná organizace Barnabas Fund odhaduje, že asi 3000 vesničanů – Karenů, včetně osiřelých dětí opustilo svá horská společenství kvůli obnoveným potyčkám s barmskou armádou. „Armáda útočí na horské vesnice, střílí jejich obyvatele snažící se utéci, nebo je chytá a posílá do pracovních táborů, kde se upracují k smrti jako otroci. Někdy je používá jako hledače min,“ řekl mluvčí Barnabášova Fondu. „Pak vojáci vesnice rozstřílejí, případně domy zaminují a z mrtvých udělají minové nástrahy, aby zabili každého, kdo by se chtěl pokusit o návrat. Z těch, kdo utečou do džungle, mnoho zahyne od jedovatých hadů, na nemoci nebo podvýživu.“ Protože barmská vláda nechce přijmout zahraniční pomoc, sirotci jsou ponecháni, aby se o sebe postarali sami. Patrick Sookhdeo, mezinárodní ředitel Barnabášova Fondu řekl, že Karenové jsou i nyní pronásledováni jednak pro svůj etnický původ, jednak pro svou křesťanskou víru. Zdroj: Assist News Service
 
 Všechny zprávy v angličtině
   MISSION ORGANIZATION RESPONDS TO WIDESPREAD FAMINE IN KENYA

Source: Christian Newswire
With more than 10 million people in Kenya facing starvation due to drought and political unrest, World Gospel Mission (WGM) is helping Christians in the U.S. get much-needed food supplies to Kenya’s hardest-hit areas. “Today about a third of Kenyans are hungry,” said Tim Rickel, vice president of development at WGM. “They need food, and WGM has the infrastructure and the people on the ground to distribute it and make sure it gets to those who need it.” Years of droughts that yielded poor harvests while political violence and skyrocketing fuel and food prices have added to the crisis in Kenya. Only 18 percent of Kenya’s land is suitable for farming, and unstable rain patterns have resulted in a shortage of food for the country’s 37 million people. “But WGM’s missionaries and Kenyan partners are ready to help,” said Rickel. “They just need more food to give away. Fifty-pound bags of corn cost $50 each and will keep whole families from starving.”

* HCJB Global Voice has worked with local partners to install eight radio outlets in seven cities of Kenya.

MIDDLE EAST TV BROADCASTING MINISTRIES ANNOUNCE MERGER

Source: Assist News Service
SAT-7’s international board voted last week to fully integrate TURK-7 into the ministry’s network of television channels by January 2010. SAT-7 Chief Executive Officer Terence Ascott believes the merger is a good step forward for both ministries. “We have great expectations regarding TURK-7’s potential to grow significantly once it becomes a fully-integrated member of our family,” he stated in a press release. “In many ways, it is a sensible and cost-effective move because, in the long-term, it will mean we can avoid duplication of effort and provide support services to all four channels simultaneously.” TURK-7 was created as an independent Turkish Christian television ministry in 2003. Based in Istanbul, the ministry utilizes locally based Christians and other television professionals to create original programming as well as some dubbed programming. It is largely funded by a group of 28 partners, half of which ar e local churches and ministries. SAT-7 is a founding member of the partnership, providing expertise, funding and four hours of daily satellite airtime for TURK-7 to broadcast its Turkish Christian programs.

* HCJB Global Voice reaches across North Africa, the Middle East and Europe with Christian Arabic programming aired via shortwave, satellite and local stations. An estimated 1 million households tune in to the broadcasts at least weekly. The mission’s North Africa Satellite Service airs programs direct-to-home 24 hours a day. For more information visit www.onehousehold.com.

WORDS OF HOPE EXPANDS LOCAL BROADCASTS IN SUDAN AS LISTENERSHIP INCREASES

Source: Mission Network News
Words of Hope is preparing to expand its radio broadcasts in Sudan, said Lee DeYoung, Words of Hope’s vice president for broadcasting. Spirit FM, a Words of Hope station, has been broadcasting from Yei, Southern Sudan, since September 2008, covering an area near the Uganda border. Spirit FM broadcasts in five languages and hopes to expand its programming to other local FM stations. “We are exploring relationships with other FM stations,” said DeYoung. “We want to begin, as we have already done in other places . . . to use a greater amount of local FM broadcasting in addition to, and perhaps eventually in place of, shortwave.” The opportunities could extend the success that Words of Hope has already enjoyed in the region. The organization’s shortwave gospel broadcasts in the Dinka and Nuer languages are already among the most listened-to radio programs for these groups.

MISSIONARIES IN NEPAL ENCOURAGED BY RESPONSE TO GOSPEL MESSAGE

Sources: Assist News Service, Gospel for Asia
Despite growing unrest in the Himalayan nation of Nepal, Gospel for Asia (GFA) missionaries in the country have been encouraged lately by people’s eager interest in the gospel as shown by their response to a series of special events. A GFA correspondent reported that radio listeners had been asking for a chance to meet GFA radio speakers face to face. The listeners had this opportunity during the first-ever GFA radio rally to be held in one area of Nepal. Local congregations and a youth group led by a GFA-supported missionary put the rally together. Hundreds gathered to hear from GFA’s Nepalese leader, Narayan. The rally was also aired on a local radio station. Soon after, a church led by a GFA-supported pastor raised money to record three new Nepali worship CDs. These CDs were released during a church service and are available in Nepal to help bring people closer to the Lord. In another area, 200 young people gathered for a three-day youth con ference. “The speakers focused on present-day issues and taught directly from God’s Word,” the correspondent wrote. “It was clear that the participants were hungry for the Word of God.”

* HCJB Global staff members worked with local partners to install two Christian radio stations in Nepal in May. HCJB Global-Australia’s shortwave station in Kununurra also airs a daily 15-minute Nepali program to South Asia.

WHEELCHAIR OUTREACH GIVES MOBILITY, GOSPEL TO DISABLED ZAMBIANS

Source: Mission Network News
A vehicle resembling a large tricycle has been changing the lives of people who can’t walk. Tamlyn Collins of The Mission Society says 100,000 more people in Zambia need Personal Energy Transportation (PET). The vehicles give mobility to disabled individuals, enabling them to visit places they haven’t been able to go previously. Two major causes of disability are the loss of limbs due to polio and war across the border in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Collins describes how “some of them crawl across the dust to get into their PETs, and others are carried by their friends and by family. When they get into that PET, their faces light up, and they just take off in all directions. It’s an incredible sight.” Each person who receives a PET also has the opportunity to hear the gospel, as the vehicles often enable them to attend church and school for the first time. “To be able to show someone through the gift of this vehicl e that they are loved and treasured by God, and to be able to tell them that they are so important that Christ died for them, is just an invaluable opportunity,” says Collins.

* HCJB Global Voice added weekly Bemba programs in 2000. The programs air on Zambia’s Radio One Network, covering the country and much of Malawi, going out via shortwave, AM and FM.

NATIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY ORGANIZATION APPOINTS SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT

Source: Christian Newswire
Wes Willmer has been named senior vice president of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA). Willmer comes to the ECFA from founding member Biola University based in La Mirada, Calif. In his new position, Willmer said he will focus on strategic planning, marketing/communications, resource development, government advocacy and membership development. In accepting this position, Willmer stated: “I am very pleased to be able to apply my God-given gifts and experiences on a national level to assist [ECFA’s] 1,400 members in becoming more effective in fulfilling their missions.” Prior to accepting the position, Willmer served for 38 years as a professor, researcher and administrator in four higher educational institutions. His longest service was for 19 years as vice president for university advancement at Biola. “As a national spokesperson, Wes Willmer brings a wealth of practical and conceptual leadership experience to this position,” added ECFA President Dan Busby. “He has a unique understanding of and passion for the evangelical community, and he is committed to fostering good will among this constituency.”

ROBERT SCHULLER’S DAUGHTER SELECTED TO LEAD CRYSTAL CATHEDRAL

Source: Religion Today
The Orange County Register in California reports that Crystal Cathedral’s new permanent pastor is also a member of the family. Sheila Schuller Coleman, founding pastor Robert H. Schuller’s daughter, will now take over leadership at the church. She takes the reins from her brother, Robert Anthony Schuller, who resigned after differing with his father in their vision for the church. Coleman says she is in line with her father’s vision, and is honored with the task. “Our church didn’t even start ordaining women until 1973,” she said in an interview. “I’m proud of my dad for doing this, and I hope I can serve as a role model for younger women who want to get things accomplished in this church.” The older Schuller told the congregation that he will “motive and clarify the vision” while Coleman acts as a co-leader to implement it.

HOUSE CHURCH IN VIETNAM ATTACKED DURING SERVICE, 2 LEADERS JAILED

Source: Compass Direct News
Police invaded the Sunday service of the Agape Baptist congregation in Vietnam’s Hung Yen province on Sunday, June 7, and beat worshipers, including women, and arrested a pastor and an elder. Christian sources said police put the two church leaders into separate cells, and each man was beaten by a gang of five policemen. Pastor Duong Van Tuan of the house church said officers beat them in a way that did not leave marks--hard blows to the stomach. Police officers had previously disrupted worship services on April 19, May 24 and 31, in one case bloodying Tuan’s mouth with punches. The congregation in Hung Yen, a small but populous province that straddles the Red River 31 miles south of Hanoi, has endured harassment and attacks by police and other officials since April. The persecution comes after the church’s request for registration was denied by local authorities without explanation. Such denials are commonplace for local house churches a nd congregations in this area. Congregants, however, say they are encouraged spiritually when such abuse happens because they see it as an outward sign that God is at work.

CHRISTIAN CHILDREN ORPHANED BY CYCLONE NARGIS HIDING IN MYANMAR’S JUNGLES

Source: Assist News Service
Orphaned by a devastating cyclone in 2008, thousands of children in Myanmar (Burma) are engaged in a deadly game of hide and seek with Burmese soldiers. Barnabas Fund, a U.K.-based interdenominational Christian aid agency, estimates that up to 3,000 Karen villagers, including orphaned children, have fled their mountain communities in recent weeks due to renewed confrontations with the Burmese military. “The army attacks the mountain villages, shooting the inhabitants as they run for their lives or capturing them and giving them extremely heavy labor, literally working them to death as ‘slaves’ and sometimes even using them as human land mine sweepers,” a Barnabas Fund spokesperson said. “They then set fire to the villages or plant landmines around the homes and the bodies to kill anyone who tries to return. Many of those who flee to the surrounding jungle die there from snake bites, disease or starvation.” Because the Bu rmese government was unwilling to accept much foreign aid, the vulnerable orphaned children have been left to fend for themselves. Patrick Sookhdeo, international director of Barnabas Fund, said the Karen people continue to face persecution because of their ethnicity and Christian faith.

* Broadcasts in the Rawang language, spoken by more than 140,000 people in Myanmar, began airing from HCJB Global-Australia’s shortwave station in Kununurra in 2007. Two half-hour programs in this language air daily--one slot in the morning and one in the afternoon.

CHINESE GOVERNMENT RAIDS HOUSE CHURCHES, ARRESTS LEADERS, CLOSES WEBSITE

Sources: Christian Newswire, Assist News Service, BosNewsLife
At least six Christians from China’s Henan province are behind bars after security forces stormed the Panshi (Rock) House Church in Zhengzhou city during a Sunday worship service on June 14, advocacy group China Aid Association (CAA) reported. Security officials arrested six believers, including the pastor and his wife. The six were reportedly fined and sentenced to 15 days’ administrative detention. The raid came just days after more than a dozen Chinese house church leaders were detained on Tuesday, June 9, while gathering in a house church in Langzhong, Sichuan province. “Thirteen leaders were given 15 days’ administrative detention, and five of the leaders were placed under criminal detention,” CAA reported. It is becoming difficult for Christian groups to inform the outside world about their situation via the Internet amid a reported state crackdown on Web sites. “The Websites Surveillance Section of the Beijing Mun icipal Public Security Bureau forcibly shut down the website of Shouwang Christian Church of Beijing on April 13.” The only explanation the church received is that government authorities concluded it was the “website of an illegal Christian organization,” CAA reported. Local Christians said the church was never informed about its alleged “illegal” status and that the site was closed down “without prior notice or an official written explanation.”

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