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(China)–We begin today in China where the SARS virus is no longer causing delays for Bethany Christian Services[1] . Bethany places dozens of Chinese children each year in homes of loving families in the United States. Bethany’s Bill Blackmire says the China program is back up and running. “In the past two weeks, about 30 of our families have received referrals from China and will be traveling in the next several weeks to go pick up their children. Back on May 15th, China suspended giving referrals and invitations for travel to their country due to the SARS epidemic.” Blackmire says placing children in homes is kingdom work. “When a family adopts a child, they cloth the child, feed the child and do all those things, but they also do eternity work with that child, and expose them children to the Gospel and raise them in a Christian environment is just an excellent thing to do with these children.”

(Indonesia)–Next, Indonesia’s military warns that fresh violence could erupt at any time in Maluku. The province saw sectarian violence that forced the central government to broker a peace deal, but sporadic violence against Christians continues. The Southern Baptists[2] confirms the persecution Christians are suffering at the hands of Muslim extremists in Indonesia. They challenge believers to intervene both with the Gospel and with prayer.

(Africa)–Elsewhere, a shift in Worldwide Christian Schools’[3] Africa education programs leads to growth. Spokesman Dale Dieleman says the trend they note is to forward thinking. “What they’re really doing in the requests that they’re making, [is asking for] seed money for self-start, for self-initiated income generation projects, where they can continue to go along on their own and not rely so heavily on the ups and downs of international donations.” Dieleman says the next step in support of their schools comes not only in prayer, but also in teamwork. “We need to cooperate in terms of various international organizations working on community development on local levels; low-tech, high sustainability local inititiatives. I think those are the kinds of things that will really make a difference, particularly as communities become less and less dependent on, not only foreign dollars, but also their own governments.”

(Mexico)–And, YUGO Ministries[4] reports that their Logos Bible Institute is growing. At present, nine Mexican pastors donate their time to teach the classes. YUGO’s national workers fund provides resources for students who can’t afford the tuition or books. The growth is attributed to the summer mission trips to the Mexican state of Sinaloa. The team’s emphasis on outreach was good for the institute, local churches and the field, itself. Please pray for the teams as they adjust to the growth.

[1] http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/media/group.php?agencyAb=BCS [2] http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/media/group.php?agencyAb=IMB [3] http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/media/group.php?agencyAb=WWCS [4] http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/media/group.php?agencyAb=YUGO ———————————————————————

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