A ministry of HCJB World Radio

Today’s News Headlines:

Chinese Police Arrest 170 Christians Meeting at House Church Pakistani Authorities Accuse Christians of Killing Catholic Priest Officials Refuse Moldova Methodists’ Applications for Registration Thousands of U.S. Churches to Mark 9/11 With Special Services Conference in Germany Unites Israeli, Palestinian Youth Leaders Suriname Missionaries Train Believers to Evangelize Remote Tribe

Today’s News Stories:

CHINESE POLICE ARREST 170 CHRISTIANS MEETING AT HOUSE CHURCH Police in Nanyang county in China’s Henan province recently arrested 170 house church Christians in a crackdown of unregistered churches. The believers had assembled for worship when Public Security Bureau officers raided the meeting place. After the arrest, police started processing the detainees to identify the leaders. Fourteen of the leaders remain in detention while the rest of the detainees were forced to pay fines before being fingerprinted, warned and released. The 14 leaders face more serious charges and may be imprisoned. Local believers are concerned that they will be beaten and tortured. Nanyang County is one of the strongest Christian areas in China after a revival began in the 1970s and continues today. Up to 50 percent of the 1.1 million population in the county are believers. Some villages are entirely Christian. Throughout the years, Nanyang has been the scene of some of China’s strongest and most diabolical persecution. The country has produced many of China’s house church leaders. (Religion Today/Voice of the Martyrs)

PAKISTANI AUTHORITIES ACCUSE CHRISTIANS OF KILLING CATHOLIC PRIEST Pakistani police investigating the July 5 murder of a Roman Catholic priest have accused three local Christians of killing Fr. George Ibrahim during an armed robbery attempt. Together with a Muslim suspect identified as a repeat offender burglar, the three Christians have denied any involvement in the crime. All four are jailed near the Renala Khurd village where Ibrahim was shot to death by six gunmen. Police said robbery was the motive for the murder, but church leaders believe the priest was targeted by the former principal of a girls’ school who had threatened him. When local police refused to question her, Catholic leaders filed a petition Thursday, Sept. 4, on behalf of the four arrested “suspects” before the Lahore High Court. “The presiding judge gave an order to the police to reinvestigate the case,” a Catholic official said from Lahore. (Compass)

OFFICIALS REFUSE MOLDOVA METHODISTS’ APPLICATIONS FOR REGISTRATION After numerous registration applications and refusal to pay a bribe to acquire registration, two Methodist congregations in the separatist republic of Transdniester in eastern Moldova live a “twilight existence,” said spokesman Dmitri Hantil. “We can’t rent anywhere for services and we can’t afford to buy property. We have to meet semi-legally in private flats.” He alleged that registration applications in 1997 and again in 2000 were stalled because church members refused to pay a bribe of at least US$500 to local officials. Transdniester’s 1995 religion law requires only 10 founding members of a religious community to be registered — a criterion met by the Methodists. Hantil claimed that other religious groups have obtained registration in Transdniester, but only after paying bribes to local officials. (Forum 18 News Service)

THOUSANDS OF U.S. CHURCHES TO MARK 9/11 WITH SPECIAL SERVICES Thousands of churches nationwide will pay special tributes to heroes Thursday, Sept. 11, to mark the second anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Coordinated by the Mission America Coalition (MAC), “Honor Our Heroes” services will remember the courage and sacrifice of police, firefighters and emergency medical personnel during and after the attacks while recognizing the importance of community heroes. “We are recommending that pastors encourage people to bring to the service those who have been a hero in their own lives, so that they may be honored as well,” said Rev. Glenn Barth, the events’ national coordinator. Some 80,000 people made decisions for Christ during 9/11 services in 2002, MAC officials said. More than 60 denominations, representing more than 200,000 churches and dozens of ministries such as Campus Crusade for Christ and the International Bible Society are endorsing the events.

President George W. Bush will attend a morning prayer service of remembrance and observe a moment of silence to mark the 9/11 anniversary, the Associated Press reported. He will attend a service at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., which is frequently attended by presidents. Then the president, his wife, Laura, and members of his staff will gather outside the White House to observe a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m., the time when the first plane hit the World Trade Center. Bush also plans to sign two proclamations, one of them designating Sept. 11 as a national day of prayer and remembrance and another designating the day as Patriot Day. It also will call on Americans to hold candlelight vigils and prayer services to mark the day and will direct the nation’s governors to fly the flag at half-staff in honor of the victims of the terrorist attacks. (Charisma News Service)

CONFERENCE IN GERMANY UNITES ISRAELI, PALESTINIAN YOUTH LEADERS A conference in Olfen, Germany, Aug. 24-29 joined Palestinian and Israeli youth leaders in an event organized by Salim Munayer and the team from Musalaha, a reconciliation ministry based in Jerusalem. “The Lord formed a group of dynamic youth leaders from across Israel and the Palestinian areas,” Munayer said. Participants ranged in age from 18 to 45. He said that young people living in the Middle East face a reality that is conflict-ridden. “People not only have to cross borders to meet with each other, but have to make an emotional and spiritual journey as well,” Musalaha said. His vision is to bring youth leaders to an event where they can understand the importance of reconciliation and equip them to bring youth into the process. “We focused on topics such as communication, creativity, vision, evangelism, and planning youth programs,” Musalaha added. “The experience created a special bond among the participants. Two of the young people, during the visit to Heidelberg, were looking for a place to buy water. They ended up finding water for sale in a bar, and began talking about the Lord with the bartender. He was skeptical. One of them said, ‘Hey look at us, an Arab and an Israeli together. If God can do that, he can do anything!'”(Assist News Service)

SURINAME MISSIONARIES TRAIN BELIEVERS TO EVANGELIZE REMOTE TRIBE A national missionary couple from Suriname is working to equip believers in one of the country’s remotest tribes to spread the gospel among their own people. Perry and Roline Smit serve with World Team, training believers in the Trio tribe to evangelize and teach others. Perry says even though the evangelists face tremendous obstacles, they’re committed to sharing the gospel. “They only have the New Testament [translated into their own language], and still they’re going beyond their own village and even to neighboring countries to bring the gospel to other tribes. . . . We train the leaders, and they go and train their own people. It’s a multiplication ministry.” Perry says training local believers to share the gospel is the most effective way to evangelize the tribe. “Sometimes they leave their whole family behind to go and spread the gospel.” The remoteness of the tribe and the threat of illness make reaching these people for Christ especially challenging. (Mission Network News)

* Staff members from the HCJB World Radio Engineering Center in Elkhart, Ind., worked with partner Word and Music Ministries in Paramaribo, Suriname, to install a 500-watt FM transmitter, antenna, studio equipment and Wings station automation system in early 2001.

FREE WORLD WALL MAP: Full-color, 22-inch by 34-inch world wall map. To order, e-mail your name and mailing address to or visit http://www.hcjb.org.

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

Editor’s Note. Feel free to forward this to any interested friends. Our lists are distributed for information purposes and to encourage prayer. HCJB World Radio does not necessarily endorse or support the activities on which it reports. _______________________________________________ HCJBDaily mailing list

with subscribe in the subject line.

— Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).