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Today’s News Headlines:

SECRET DOCUMENT OUTLINES ANTI-CHURCH CAMPAIGN IN CHINA PERSECUTION INCREASES AS EVANGELICALS MULTIPLY IN MEXICAN STATE MINISTRY EXPANDS IN DEM. REP. OF CONGO DESPITE BROKEN PEACE ACCORD 80,000 YOUNG EUROPEAN CHRISTIANS MEET IN PARIS FOR ANNUAL EVENT 2 NEW FM STATIONS IN ALBANIA ADD DAILY CHRISTIAN RADIO PROGRAMS SURVEY: U.S. MOST RELIGIOUS AMONG WEALTHY NATIONS

Today’s News Stories:

SECRET DOCUMENT OUTLINES ANTI-CHURCH CAMPAIGN IN CHINA A confidential document titled “Work Plan of the Baoding Municipal Public Security Bureau to Prohibit Christian Illegal Activities” calls for specific action against unregistered house church Christians in China’s Hebei province in the months leading up to the Communist Party Congress last November. The document states the aim of the repressive campaign is “to protect legal [religious activities] and to prohibit illegal ones; to resist infiltration and to strike down criminal acts; and to ruthlessly strike down all cult activities masquerading under the banner of Christianity.” A special leadership team led by Li Yunlong, head of the Public Security Bureau, carefully coordinated the campaign. The incident, say China watchers, provides proof of continuing government action being taken against unregistered house churches in China. (Religion Today)

PERSECUTION INCREASES AS EVANGELICALS MULTIPLY IN MEXICAN STATE Evangelical Christians in the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico, say traditionalist “caciques” (village leaders) have renewed persecution against Tzotzil-speaking believers. “The year 2002 was a tough one,” said veteran pastor and religious rights attorney Esdras Alonso Gonz ¡lez. “There has been a change in the Chamula district government. They are looking for ways to thwart evangelical growth.” Evangelical Christianity has grown steadily throughout Chiapas since taking root there 40 years ago. Census figures indicate that 35 percent of the state’s population is evangelical, up from 16 percent in 1991. Chiapas now has more Protestants per capita than any state in Mexico. In the caciques’ view, evangelicals are a bad influence on the local population because they don’t take part in semi-pagan religious festivals or drink large quantities of alcohol as Tzotzil custom dictates. Caciques have resorted to threats, beatings, arson and other forms of harassment to drive Christian families from their rural communities. (Compass)

MINISTRY EXPANDS IN DEM. REP. OF CONGO DESPITE BROKEN PEACE ACCORD In the Democratic Republic of the Congo a peace accord has evaporated and a humanitarian crisis appears to be spreading. Paul Calhoun of Medical Ambassadors International says despite the renewed fighting, his organization continues to minister in the area. “The essence of community health evangelism is that it will be sustainable, by itself, indigenously, because the projects are really owned by the people of the villages. But this was a test that was rather severe, and we were holding our breath.” The ministry has expanded to 113 villages, and Calhoun maintains that the future is bright. “We continue to visit and get our headquarters’ people into the area four times a year, but if that again is thwarted, we still will be able to rely on the fact that this program is community owned and will not only sustain itself, but increase.” (Mission Network News)

* HCJB World Radio works with local partners in the Democratic Republic of Congo to broadcast the gospel on FM stations in Boma, Bukavu and Kinshasa. Programs go out in English, French, Kikongo Fioti, Lingala, Luba and Swahili. Weekly programs in the Songe and Kikongo San Salvador languages also air from local FM stations in the country. In addition, HCJB World Radio airs Kikongo Fioti programs to the country via shortwave from Ecuador.

80,000 YOUNG EUROPEAN CHRISTIANS MEET IN PARIS FOR ANNUAL EVENT More than 80,000 young European Christians — evenly split between Eastern and Western Europe — attended a five-day meeting sponsored by the France-based Taiz © Community in Paris Dec. 28-Jan. 1. Each day the participants, mainly teenagers and those in their 20s, joined together for prayer in the vast exhibition halls of the Porte de Versailles. In addition, workshops provided opportunities to reflect on the sources of faith and on people’s commitment to their home, church, local communities, workplaces, towns and cities. Participants from the Balkan countries said the event helped them renew their faith in humanity after a decade of ethnic strive. A young Croatian, in spite of his experience of the Balkan wars, said, “I rediscovered my faith in humanity. I discovered that human beings can be good.” The Paris event came a year after a similar meeting in Budapest, Hungary, one of that country’s biggest Christian youth events since the collapse of communism in the region in 1989. The Paris meeting was part of what organizers described as a “pilgrimage of trust on earth” when the planet is struggling with conflicts and the U.S.-led war against terrorism. Taiz © is an ecumenical, international community founded in 1940 in Taiz ©, France (about 235 miles southwest of Paris) by Brother Roger. (Assist News Service)

2 NEW FM STATIONS IN ALBANIA ADD DAILY CHRISTIAN RADIO PROGRAMS A radio outreach in Albania is growing again with the help of a local church. Lee DeYoung of Words of Hope says believers are working hard to build relationships in the Balkans. “As a result, our Albanian programs are now on the air on two new local radio FM stations in Albania,” he says “One is in the town of Korce near the Greek border in southern Albania that is closely connected with Immanuel church, Radio Immanuel. They’re also carrying a Gypsy broadcast in the Balkan-Romani language.” The second station carrying programs from Words of Hope is Radio-7 in the Albanian capital of Tirana. “Daily programs are being heard twice a day in each case, five days a week in Tirana,” he says. “We’re grateful for the increased impact that we believe will come from a better coverage on FM.” (Mission Network News)

SURVEY: U.S. MOST RELIGIOUS AMONG WEALTHY NATIONS A recently released study found that wealthier nations tend to place less importance on religion — with the exception of the U.S. — than poorer nations. The 44-nation survey, conducted by the Philadelphia-based Pew Charitable Trust, found that religion is “very important” in the lives of 59 percent of Americans. The study reveals that Americans are more religious than other wealthy nations, making them more in tune with the religious views of those surveyed in the developing countries. This percentage is about four times higher than wealthy countries in Western and Eastern Europe, and nearly twice that of Canadians. People in Japan and South Korea are “far less likely to cite religion as personally important than those in poorer nations of the region.” In countries such as Indonesia, India, Philippines and Bangladesh, religion is important to up to 80 percent of the population. Kermit Netteburg, communication director for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America, says that while a majority of Americans claim to have religious values “more people also exhibiting a lack of ethics in business, politics, personal lives, and education. Americans seem to have lost sight of the central issue: Christianity provides the principles by which we make decisions in our lives, or Christianity does not have value.” Eddie Gibbs, a world Christianity expert at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., said in a commentary reported in Charisma News that the “predictions from the 1960s that American church attendance and conventional belief would decline did not come true. But I think it’s true that beliefs are no longer impacting the culture.” (Adventist News Network)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * James A. Ferrier HCJB World Radio U.S. Ministries Communications Director E-mail: Phone: 1-719-590-9800 Fax: 1-719-590-9801 Web: http://www.hcjb.org http://www.beyondthecall.org * * * * * * * * * * * * *

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