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Today’s News Headlines:

MINISTRY REPORTS ATTACK ON BIBLE SCHOOL IN INDIA ERITREAN CHRISTIAN DEPORTED AFTER 20 WEEKS IN SAUDI ARABIAN JAIL COMPASSION INTERNATIONAL TO RESPOND TO BANGLADESH CRISIS U.S. RELIGIOUS GROUPS RALLY TO SUPPORT 10 COMMANDMENTS CHRISTIAN CAMP IN TURKEY SPREADS GOSPEL TO CHILDREN MINISTRY EVANGELIZING, PLANTING CHURCHES IN GUATEMALA

Today’s News Stories:

MINISTRY REPORTS ATTACK ON BIBLE SCHOOL IN INDIA Open Doors reported recently of an 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 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. (Mission Network News)

* In partnership with FEBA Radio, HCJB World Radio airs weekly Christian programs to eastern India via shortwave in three languages: Bhojpuri, Chattisgarhi and Mundari. A five-hour block of English programs also beams across India from HCJB World Radio-Australia’s new shortwave site in Kununurra, Australia.

ERITREAN CHRISTIAN DEPORTED AFTER 20 WEEKS IN SAUDI ARABIAN JAIL After 20 weeks in a jail in Saudi Arabia for participating in prohibited Christian activities, Eritrean Christian Girmaye Ambaye was deported from Jeddah by plane back to his home country on August 9. According to one of his brothers, Ambaye has remained in Asmara, the Eritrean capital, since his arrival on Saturday night. The brother did not know where Girmaye was staying, but assumed that he is being interviewed by Eritrean authorities regarding the details of his deportation by the Saudi government. Ambaye had been jailed at the Bremen deportation center in the Saudi port city of Jeddah since March 25, when local police put him under arrest for talking to Muslims about his Christian faith. Ambaye, now 42, became active in an Ethiopian-Eritrean Christian congregation in Jeddah five years ago. He had worked as a tailor in Saudi Arabia since 1987. During the past two years, a dozen other members of his congregation have been jailed and deported by Jeddah police authorities, who keep the church leaders under frequent surveillance. (Compass)

COMPASSION INTERNATIONAL TO RESPOND TO BANGLADESH CRISIS Since monsoon flooding began in Bangladesh in mid-June, hundreds have lost their lives, and thousands, their homes. The new concern is water-borne disease. The needs have prompted Compassion International to respond. Spokesperson Mark Yeadon said, “We’ll establish a local office, hire staff, do the logistics of office and infrastructure, and then we’ll begin to respond in some immediate ways to the needs of the poor within the communities of the churches that we choose to work with.” Yeadon said there are many challenges to working in this area. “Bangladesh is a very difficult country. It’s predominately Muslim. Less than one percent of its population is Christian. We pray for the right staff and that God would lead us to the right church partnerships.” (Mission Network News)

U.S. RELIGIOUS GROUPS RALLY TO SUPPORT 10 COMMANDMENTS A United States federal judge has ordered the chief justice of Alabama’s Supreme Court to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the state’s judicial building. Meanwhile, organizers of the “Restore the Commandments Rally” (RTCR) hope to attract thousands of Christians to support Roy Moore this weekend. Last week, Myron Thompson, who ruled last month that a Ten Commandments monument violates the constitutional ban on government promotion of religion, lifted a stay he had previously issued while Moore appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has refused to hear previous cases challenging public display of the Ten Commandments. Thompson gave Moore 15 days to remove the display. “This modern-day Daniel is guilty only of openly practicing his faith in God,” said Rick Scarborough, president and co-chairman of Vision America. Vision America’s RTCR seeks Christians to kneel this Saturday around the Ten Commandments monument on display in the Montgomery courthouse. “A line in the sand needs to be drawn in Montgomery,” said Rev. Patrick Mahoney, of the Christian Defense Coalition. “We’re seeing an incredible erosion of civil liberties in the area of religious free speech and expression.” (Charisma News Service)

CHRISTIAN CAMP IN TURKEY SPREADS GOSPEL TO CHILDREN Nearly 200 children aged 7 through 13 benefited from a Turkish camp ministry called Kucak which was held recently in Cappadocia, Turkey. “Again this year we held two separate camps in Cappadocia for children aged 7-13. We were able to serve these children with the help of almost 50 volunteers,” reported Ibrahim Deveci, Kucak Director. “One thing that particularly pleased us this year was seeing those who had come as campers for many years, now return as helpers and teachers, serving the children in every way possible. We are now beginning to see the fruit of many years of service to the Lord and to the children,” Deveci said. Kucak began in Ankara, Turkey in 1991 out of the need for a children’s ministry in Turkey. “Kucak (pronounced Ku-jak) means ’embrace’ in Turkish. “Our desire is to embrace children with the knowledge and love of Jesus our Lord and Savior,” said Deveci. “It is very difficult for Christian children to grow up in Turkey. Many of their parents have only been followers of Jesus for a few years, so it is difficult for them to know exactly how to guide their children in basic Christian principles. Kucak is trying to help fill in this gap through publications, community involvement, and summer holiday adventures. Today, Kucak is embracing children throughout Turkey and six other countries including Bulgaria, Germany, Switzerland, Holland, England, and the U.S. (Assist News Service)

MINISTRY EVANGELIZING, PLANTING CHURCHES IN GUATEMALA Global Missions Fellowship (GMF) 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 where 30 North Americans joined them along with 27 Guatemalan translators, two El Salvadorian friends and one Cuban. “So, we kind of had this multi-national team all mobilized,” Engracia said. He went on to explain that their goal is to plant vibrant churches through local believers so they are looking for neighborhoods where there is no established church. “We work side by side sharing the Gospel of Christ to help start a spiritual momentum in that community.” (Mission Network News)

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