Headlining today’s news violence against Christians continues in Indonesia and
it has at least one missionary broadcaster concerned. President of Far East
Broadcasting Company Jim Bowman says it has had a direct impact on their ministry.
“A number of our broadcasts, one in particular the Acahnese broadcast, we’ve had to
suspend that because of the extreme tension. There’s what we consider at least five hot
spots in Indonesia right now. One is Aceh, up in Sumatra. The others are Jakarta,
Timor, Irian Jaya and Ambon because there’s a lot of threats against Christians right
now.” Bowman says despite the threats, they don’t have any plans to stop
communicating the Gospel there. “We’re broadcasting in 14 languages from Manila on
short-wave, then locally things are going ahead quite fine right there in Jakarta even
though a little more than 30 days ago there was a major burning of a Christian
institution there. This is so often the case – where there’s the most upset, people are
very often the most open to the Gospel.”
News Archives
Meanwhile, Monrovia, Liberia’s ravaged capital, is reaching out for Jesus
Christ after seven years of fighting. Although the West African country’s civil war
ended in 1997, its effects are still being felt. It is in this atmosphere that the translation
work of Lutheran Bible Translators continued. LBT’s Jim Laesch. “Lutheran Bible
Translators saw the Bandi New Testament completed and dedicated. The dedication
service was on January 6th. The project goes back many years, it actually started in
1976. God protected the manuscript of the Bandi New Testament. Several times
during the course of the war, missionaries were evacuated.” Laesch says in spite of this
triumph, there are still obstacles to overcome. “The Bandi area, up in Lofa County is
still a difficult area. There’s been a lot of fighting and unrest there-in fact, they had to
postpone the dedication ceremonies in that part of the country. Pray that their
distribution can be done through informal methods and then pray that they can find their
way to the different Christian churches.”
Native actors who perform in the same language and lifestyle as the people of
India see the message of Jesus Christ in Dayspring International’s film
“Dayasagar”. The film has been taken throughout the country and shown by mobile
film teams and as John Gilman says, ministry plans continue. “We’re so excited about
Dayspring International’s goals this year. Last year, we launched 100 new mobile film
teams. And, this year, we’re adding 100 new teams and we will include some video
teams using VCR and VHS copies of the film.” Gilman asks that people uphold their
work in prayer. “There are nearly 95-percent of the people who are without Christ, so
it’s a prayer that those who have never heard the Gospel, even once, might have that
opportunity to hear the story of Jesus and His love.”
Next, evangelicals from around the world will fast and pray during Lent for
every ethnic group in the world. Pray World! 2000 has been organized with the help
of Campus Crusade for Christ. Their goal is to unite churches in every country to use a
40-day calendar to strategically and simultaneously pray for the fulfillment of the Great
Commission. Leaders from each country are being sought to help organize their effort.
Lent will take place from March 8th through April 16th.
Headlining today’s news, the evangelical mission community has been touched
by the Kenya Airways crash. The plane went down in the ocean Monday after taking
off from the Ivory Coast. Summer Institute of Linguistics’ Stuart Shepherd says two of
their workers, Bob and Ruth Chapman from Canada, were on the plane. “They have
not found them among the survivors, but of course, we’re guessing that the search is
going on. So, it doesn’t look very hopeful, but we can not categorically say either way
what has happened to them.” Shepherd says the Champman’s are leaders in the
organization. “Bob and Ruth were within a few months ago, were recently appointed to
this work, to head up the work of Bible translation and linguistic analysis in the
continent of Africa. So, this is a blow.” Shepherd is asking people to pray for fellow
staff members and the Chapman family as they deal with this tragic situation.
Meanwhile, in war torn Liberia, Christian ministries are helping the needy both
physically and spiritually. Feeding Starving Children International is helping the
West African Children Support Network provide safe drinking water for areas outside
Monrovia. The Network’s Maria Luykan explains. “They drink water from nearby
creeks. And these creeks are the same water way that they bath in, they drink it, the
pigs are in there. I mean they use it for latrine. People there suffer from river blindness,
all kinds of disease, cholera, dysentery.” Luykan says churches can share Christ’s love
easily in Liberia because everything is needed. “They certainly need a lot of clothing,
food, educational materials to interest them, toys, they don’t even have that. Anything
you can possibly think about in your household is really needed in Liberia right now.
But, more specific is the medical, educational and food.”
The National Religious Broadcasters have declared victory following the FCC’s
reversal of guidelines for Christian broadcasting. NRB president Brandt
Gustavson says there was a huge outcry from broadcasters, citizens and members of
Congress protesting the so-called “additional guidance” the FCC wanted to impose for
religious programming. Since its inception in 1944, the NRB has tried to maintain
access to the airwaves for the Gospel message.
Elsewhere, we turn to the United States where World Servants is seeing fruit
from a ministry in the Appalachian area. Ruston Seaman explains how they’ve built
up the outreach. “We kept asking ourselves, ‘What more could we do to help the local
churches develop a complete ministry?’ So, World Servants developed a community
leadership training to help these pastors and leaders understand their position in Christ
and their ability to work together. Each of these community groups has been able to
develop programs out of that training.” Seaman says as with most ministries, there are
tests as well. “Pray that the mission experience would not just be a one-week event
either in the lives of the participants or at the community level. [Pray] that people would
[not only] understand how God can use the mission teams as a way to begin
something, but that also, the ongoing work of ministry in these small neighborhoods
really is the responsibility of the local congregations, and that God would raise up
faithful leaders with a vision for the future.”
We begin today’s newscast with a look at an ominous anniversary. It was seven
years ago today that missionaries Mark Rich, Dave Mankins and Rick Tenenoff were
taken hostage by Colombian guerrillas. They, along with their families, were working
among the people of Panama with New Tribes Mission. Mission spokesman Guy
Sire says while they know very little about their whereabouts, but they have been
checking leads. “One lead that was a sighting of the men turned out to be false,
however another lead arose that states the men are alive and so we’ve yet to pursue
that one. Defecting guerrillas claim that the men were executed some years ago,
however their accounts conflict with each other.” Sire is encouraging people not to give
up. “We are doing our best to try to resolve this as quickly and thoroughly as we can
and we just need folks to just continue to stand with us in prayer and we appreciate
everyone that does.”
Next, Compass Direct is reporting that Saudi Arabian officials continue to hold
four Filipino Christians in jail, but have released their wives and children. Saudi
religious police arrested 16 believers at a home Bible study in early January. Earlier
reports indicated that the children’s imprisonment was intended to pressure their
parents into revealing more about the activities of the Church. Currently, those that
remain in jail are in solitary confinement and face a possible deportment.
