News headlines for March 26th 2003

(Iraq)–Headlining today’s news relief organizations are in Jordan ready for the influx of Iraqi war victims, but it’s not happening. Jacob Kramer with the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee[1] is in Jordan. He says there’s a reason the camps are largely empty. “Most of it, I suppose, is that they reacted too late to get out and now the Iraqi divisions are holding the roads there to the north and to the west and are sending the people back.” Kramer says thousand will flood the region after the war because of the collapsed economy. That will give churches a chance to minister. Meanwhile, Iraqi believers are asking Christians to pray for post war rebuilding. “They are very much afraid that they will lose all the freedom that they have had. One said to me, he said, ‘how many churches are in Saudi Arabia? If that group, which is the great friend of the coalition, if they’re approached, what will be left of us as churches.'”

(Iraq)–Next, in search of reliable information about the war, Iraqis often tune in to Christian radio programs. Radio Monte Carlo transmitters in Cyprus broadcast Arabic and Kurdish programs produced by Trans World Radio[2] (TWR) to the Middle East. According to the BBC, Iraqis rely on outside information because Iraqi state radio is controlled. Approximately 600,000 of the 23 million Iraqi citizens are Christians. Please pray for the strength of their testimony and their faith during this troubled time.

(International)–Radio is the tool being used to open avenues to the Gospel in countries not accessible through traditional missionary activity. HCJB World Radio’s[3] Marshall Smith. “Radio is very strong in pre-evangelism. Preparing people to be open to a message. And, also for growth and development, whether it’s music, whether it’s teaching, training, radio is very good in that spectrum. Oh, we hear stories of people in their knees at a radio accepting Christ as their personal Savior. That’s not its strength, but that’s okay, certainly.” Smith says it’s difficult raising money for these types of outreaches because success isn’t always measurable. “Is it okay if somebody goes and doesn’t have the numbers we’re used to seeing – people in the tank, or sprinkled or conversions. Is it okay if there’s less of that, but there’s a measurable increase in the flow of the Gospel in that place, in that people group, in that nation? I think it is.”

(USA)–Elsewhere, linguistic experts believe the Hispanic population’s growth explosion in the United States makes the country the third largest Spanish-speaking country in the world. Migrant workers make up a good portion of this community, which presents a unique challenge for church leaders, so says CAM International’s[4] Gene Purvis. “Immigrant-level Hispanics are very shy people; they’re fearful of this culture, especially of our religious perspective. They come from a specific background, and they are told that this country will take away their religion and substitute a different entity in its place.” Purvis says working with the immigrant population proves to be its own challenge because that forces church leadership to be flexible. It is also why CAM networks Hispanic congregations across the U-S. “As those people move around within the country, then we have a place for them to go to, and we have outreach in different cities that can continue to minister to the mobile population. It also is extremely important as people move back into their countries of origin.”

(Russia)–And, The Bridge International[5] staff is fighting a growing plague in the former Soviet Union. Drug usage is on the rise amongst the younger generation because of cost and accessibility. Church leaders in both Russia and Kazakhstan offer practical solutions in order to reach out and meet people with the Gospel where they live. Drug rehabilitation centers play a key role in The Bridge’s mission. The method is both simple and effective: present Christ to the addict, and watch lives change.

[1] http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/media/group.php?agencyAb=CRWRC [2] http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/media/group.php?agencyAb=TWR [3] http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/media/group.php?agencyAb=HCJB [4] http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/media/group.php?agencyAb=CAM [5] http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/media/group.php?agencyAb=TBI ———————————————————————

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