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(Bangladesh)–Bangladesh’s monsoon season top today’s news. Since flooding began in mid-June, hundreds have lost their lives, and thousands, their homes. The new concern is water-borne disease. In spite of the devastation, the catastrophe appears cyclical, because the poor are pushed onto the floodplains of Bangladesh. Their need prompts Compassion International[1] to respond. Mark Yeadon. “We’ll establish a local office, we’ll hire staff, we’ll do the logistics of office and infrastructure, and then we’ll begin to respond in some immediate ways to the immediate needs of the poor within the communities of the churches that we choose to work with.” Yeadon says more than that, there are other challenges to working in this area. “Pray for openness. Bangladesh is a very difficult country. It’s predominately Muslim. Less than one percent of its population is Christian. And so, we could pray for the right staff. Pray for the churches that God would lead us to the right church partnerships.”

(Liberia)–Next, the war in Liberia created a widespread food shortage. That was exacerbated when rebels took a port area that held humanitarian supplies. As peacekeepers move in response, the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee[2] joined a coalition readying for immediate action once security stabilizes. CRWRC is also collaborating to share the love of Christ by providing essential non-food items to Liberians in need. Please pray for the teams.

(India)– Open Doors[3] reports on a recent attack on the students and staff of a Bible school in Dabwali, Haryana state, India. A mob accused the 25-member student body of converting people in the area, and also objected to a film shown on the life of Christ. The crowd also burned Bibles and Christian literature, vandalized the school and beat the students. Haryana state is considered to be the most unresponsive to the Gospel in India. Pray for emerging churches there suffering the brunt of persecution.

(Guatemala)–Meanwhile, Global Missions Fellowship[4] is starting a new evangelism saturation program in Mazatenango, Guatemala. GMF’s Sam Engracia says they just returned from a successful campaign in the region. “We had 30 North Americans that joined us. We had 27 Guatemalan translators come from the capitol city down to Mazatenango with us. Two El Salvadorian friends came over and also one Cuban. So, we kind of had this multi-national team all mobilized. As a result of the saturation evangelism the Lord gave us 548 professions of faith on the campaign.” Engracia says the goal is to plant a vibrant church through local believers. “So, what they’re doing is targeting neighborhoods where there’s no established church of an evangelical witness and then we work side by side sharing the Gospel of Christ to help start a spiritual momentum in that community.”

(USA)–And, according to the World Health Organization, more than one billion people in the world lack access to clean drinking water. Living Water International’s[5] Lew Hough says that’s one hurdle barring the way to development. “The idea of providing a sanitary borehole, or some means of cleaning surface water, and then teaching sanitation, health and hygiene, is absolutely crucial if an area is to stabilize and begin to develop.” Churches, in partnership with Living Water, can meet spiritual and community needs Hough says they’re looking to teams to be formed to work their projects, one of which is Guatemala. “We have a training program here in Houston for individuals who would like to learn how to utilize our equipment. We have short-term mission trips; I take groups down to Guatemala, and these are people who don’t have a background in water well drilling, but just people that have a heart for ministry.” Hands-on training includes equipment maintenance and operations, along with the opportunity to hear how God’s uses the work around the world.

[1] http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/media/group.php?agencyAb=CMP [2] http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/media/group.php?agencyAb=CRWRC [3] http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/media/group.php?agencyAb=ODM [4] http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/media/group.php?agencyAb=GMF [5] http://www.gospelcom.net/mnn/media/group.php?agencyAb=LWI ———————————————————————

Mission Network News, a service of Cornerstone University of Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA. http://www.MNNonline.org