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Today’s News Headlines:

* NUMBER OF LIBERIAN REFUGEES SEEKING SHELTER AT ELWA REACHES 2,100 PRESBYTERIAN COURT WON’T FORCE CHURCHES TO PAY DENOMINATION DUES FEBC CELEBRATES 30 YEARS OF BROADCASTING IN SOUTH KOREA HIGH GOVERNMENT FEES DETER UZBEKS FROM VISITING TURKMEN HOLY SITES HUNGARIAN MISSION PRACTICES THREE-PRONGED APPROACH MINISTRY AIMS TO TEACH VALUES IN OVERLOOKED U.S. COMMUNITIES

Today’s News Stories:

* NUMBER OF LIBERIAN REFUGEES SEEKING SHELTER AT ELWA REACHES 2,100 The number of Liberian refugees seeking shelter at Radio Station ELWA’s facilities in Monrovia reached 2,100 on the weekend as fighting among rebels and government forces continues to intensify in the capital. SIM Liberia Business Manager Joe Wankollie said an additional 500 to 600 displaced persons arrived at the ELWA campus on the weekend. “In addition, there is starting to be a serious food shortage in the area,” he said in a telephone conversation with SIM Liberia Associate Director Rick Sacra this morning. “A 50 kg bag of rice that had been selling for US$20 was selling for US$35 a bag — but now can hardly be found.”

Sacra described fighting this weekend as the “heaviest yet” as LURD rebels continued attacking key bridges from the port area into other parts of the city. “The fighting seems to be a standoff,” he said. “Neither side is strong enough to convincingly defeat the other. Today is the 11th day in the present siege on the city, and supplies such as food and medicine are all running short. There is no functioning port in Monrovia now, so no way to get in bulk shipments.”

There were also reports on the weekend of fighting between the government and the MODEL rebel group in Buchanan, Liberia’s second-largest city, 20 miles southeast of Monrovia. Many civilians had fled to Buchanan during the last seven weeks of fighting. Sacra urges people to pray that believers will stand firm amid the turmoil, for successful peace talks in Ghana, for safety of civilians and for the arrival of peacekeeping troops, primarily Nigerians.

ELWA continues Christian broadcasting a message of hope — music, Bible teaching and testimonial programs such as “Unshackled” — on a reduced schedule of about three hours each morning and evening. “The ELWA hospital also remains open and is treating many sick people, coming especially from the nearby soccer stadium where thousands of displaced people are taking shelter,” Sacra said.

HCJB World Radio works in partnership with ELWA, a ministry founded by SIM in Monrovia in 1954, to air the gospel across the country and West Africa. The radio station was destroyed twice by civil war, first in 1990 and again in 1996. ELWA went back on the air in 1997 with a small FM transmitter. Then in 2000 HCJB World Radio provided a low-power shortwave transmitter, again enabling the station to cover the region. ELWA broadcasts the gospel in 10 languages and plans to add more as resources become available.

In recent developments, a Nigeria army spokesman said the first peace troops could deploy as soon as Tuesday for a force seen as crucial to ending two months of fighting for the capital. In Accra, Ghana, however, another day in what have been weeks of off-and-on talks on the peace mission brought no immediate announcement of any firm deployment date. The U.S. has said that West African nations and the U.N. must take the lead in any multinational rescue mission for Liberia. Officials of debt-strapped Nigeria, however, have asked the U.S. for greater assistance.

Meanwhile, shelling and other fighting accompanying rebel assaults on the capital have killed hundreds of civilians since June. One rocket, fired by troops loyal to Liberian President Charles Taylor troops from a high building this morning, fell short and plowed into the bedroom of a home on the government-controlled side of the capital, injuring eight civilians, aid workers said.

Under international pressure to intervene, President George W. Bush has ordered U.S. ships to take up positions off the coast of Liberia to offer still-unspecified support for a West African-led force. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz on Sunday repeated U.S. insistence that any American role in the peace force would depend on the West Africans deploying first, and on the departure of Taylor who says he will leave only when peacekeepers arrive. Since June, Taylor has held out promises to step down, only to later renege. (HCJB World Radio/SIM/AP)

Presbyterian Court Won’t Force Churches to Pay Denomination Dues The highest court in the Presbyterian Church (USA) has ruled that local churches cannot be forced to give money to the denomination, but cautioned that withholding funds in protest is a “serious breach of trust and love.” A number of conservative groups, upset with a perceived leftward drift of the denomination, have advocated withholding money in protest. The 2.5 million-member church funds most of its programs with “per capita” funds, or dues, sent by local churches. That money is funneled into 189 regional districts called presbyteries which then send the money to church headquarters. The court ruled that payments are voluntary, but said church members are “bound together . . . through our union to God Almighty in Jesus through the Holy Spirit. We have a high moral obligation based on the grace and call of God to participate fully in the covenant community.” (Religion Today)

FEBC CELEBRATES 30 YEARS OF BROADCASTING IN SOUTH KOREA Far East Broadcasting Company recently celebrated 30 years of ministry via Radio Station HLAZ in South Korea. FEBC President Jim Bowman said political pressures forced the ministry to move into South Korea during the turbulent 1970s. The ministry had been broadcasting from Okinawa, but when the island reverted to Japan, authorities did not allow Christian organizations to have radio stations. The station was relocated to Jeju Island and “the South Korean government granted us a license for 250 kilowatts,” Bowman says. The station in South Korea allows the ministry a foray into both China and North Korea — countries traditionally hostile to the gospel. “We’re looking to the day when those countries will be open and the gospel can be broadcast locally,” he says. “Until then, we’ll have to broadcast from offshore.” (Mission Network News)

HIGH GOVERNMENT FEES DETER UZBEKS FROM VISITING TURKMEN HOLY SITES Prohibitively high visa fees make it impossible for many Uzbek Muslims living near Turkmenistan from crossing the border to visit family graveyards and places of pilgrimage. “We can see our forebears’ graves through the barbed wire, but if we want to reach them and perform religious rituals, we have to pay money to the Turkmens,” said Nodyr Formanov, an imam from Manak village in western Uzbekistan’s Khorezm region. Vladimir Artemyev, director of the Uzbek branch of a UNESCO project for the preservation of ancient monuments, said the “visa regime between Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan” encroaches on the rights of Muslims to practice their religion. (Forum 18 News Service)

HUNGARIAN MISSION PRACTICES THREE-PRONGED APPROACH A Hungarian church planter told Christian Aid that as his congregation prepares for a new building, the believers hope to set a “model for churches within Hungary and internationally.” This plan, incorporating ministry to the body of Christ, outreach to the community, and training of young leaders, is the result of years of steadfast prayer and hard work on the part of pastor Geza Kovacs, his wife, and the staff of his ministry. Kovacs’ three-pronged plan enables his church to function as a congregation, a community house and a training center. As a community house, the facility is open seven days a week for all age groups. Plans are also being made to use the facility to train Christian leaders. He hopes to have facilities for training and housing university students who are dedicated servants of Jesus and eager to achieve excellence in their own fields of study. When Kovacs first felt called to plant churches in his native land, he realized that “church planting is the key need for the revitalization of the Hungarian church.” (Missions Insider)

MINISTRY AIMS TO TEACH VALUES IN OVERLOOKED U.S. COMMUNITIES More missionaries are needed in the U.S. are needed to help reach the lost with the gospel, says Lee Iseley of American Missionary Fellowship (AMF). The ministry is establishing Bible studies, vacation Bible schools, and school-based programs to help young people turn to Christ at a young age. Iseley says targeting young people is important. “As many as 90 percent of people who come to know the Lord do so before they are 25 years of age. So the priority for us is that we reach our children and youth during their growing up years with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Iseley believes the U.S. needs more programs to help teach biblical values. That’s why AMF is moving forward with a new program. “In the next year w hope to establish Bible studies in overlooked, under-reached communities. We’re trying to recruit people who will take this on as a missions assignment, and finding these types of people is difficult these days.” (Mission Network News)

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* * * * * * * * * * * * * 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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