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Today’s Headlines:

CHRISTIAN WORKERS TAKE PRECAUTIONS AS VIOLENCE MOUNTS IN BOLIVIA ONE OF 3 CHINESE HOUSE CHURCH CHRISTIANS RELEASED FROM PRISON 11 KILLED IN ATTACKS ON 5 CHRISTIAN VILLAGES IN INDONESIA FIRE AT RADIO STATION IN MONGOLIA BECOMES ‘BLESSING IN DISGUISE’ NEW EVANGELISM COURSE GIVES CREATIVE WAYS TO REACH AUSTRALIANS POLL SHOWS MORE GERMANS PREFER DRINKING THAN WORSHIPING

Today’s News Stories:

CHRISTIAN WORKERS TAKE PRECAUTIONS AS VIOLENCE MOUNTS IN BOLIVIA Christian workers in Bolivia are taking extra precautions as political violence escalates in the South American country. More than 70 people have been killed in demonstrations against the free-market policies of Bolivian President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada. Ben Homan, president of Food for the Hungry, says the conflict has been “brewing for some time.” All roads leading out of La Paz are blocked, leaving the ministry at a standstill. “We have more than 200 staff members in Bolivia,” he says. “Our staff is not allowed to even go into our offices, and our operations because of the security situation. So, in terms of function right now, the entire country is in a state of alert.” The ministry helps Bolivian families physically and spiritually through local churches. Homan urges believers everywhere to pray for peace and for many to turn to Christ. “The way the situation is right now, there’s an opportunity for the people of Bolivia to get on their knees and to pray for their nation,” he says. “The gospel is not going to be stopped. No political change, no change in the actual situation will stop the forward move of the gospel. In the long term, it will not prevent our work from being carried out.” Reuters reported that an estimated 74 people have been killed in clashes between security forces and mostly indigenous protesters who are furious with endemic poverty and inequality in South America’s poorest country. A U.S.-led effort to eradicate coca plantations and an unpopular plan to export natural gas sparked the unrest. (Mission Network News/Reuters)

* HCJB World Radio has worked with local radio partners to plant local AM and FM stations in the Bolivian cities of Santa Cruz, Tarija and Tupiza. Four stations with eight transmitters in four cities (La Paz, Caranavi, Santa Cruz and Sucre) are also affiliated with the ALAS, the ministry’s Latin American satellite radio network that makes Spanish programs available to local stations 24 hours a day.

ONE OF 3 CHINESE HOUSE CHURCH CHRISTIANS RELEASED FROM PRISON China has released one of three detained Chinese Christians who played a key role in the country’s growing house church movement, reported Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) Wednesday. Ding Guizhen, a house church Christian in Henan province, was released last Saturday, Oct. 11, after 15 days of “administrative detention.” But her husband, Zhang Yi-nan, along with Xiao Bi-guang remain jailed at the notorious Detention Center of Lushan County despite mounting international pressure. Their case is being directed from the provincial Public Security Bureau (PSB) headquarters and the Bureau of State Security. The three were arrested last month because of their involvement in an unregistered house church. Guizhen was working as a nurse in the operating room of the Jianghe Machine Factory Hospital, assisting with a surgery, when police arrested her Sept. 26. “PSB officers forced hospital administrators to send another nurse into the operating room, then detained Guizhen and drove to her home where officers searched and confiscated documents and a computer. Then they placed her in custody for allegedly concealing evidence,” VOM reported. Yi-nan and Bi-guang faces charges of “conspiracy to subvert the national government and socialist system.” If convicted, they could face punishments ranging from five years in prison to the death penalty. (Assist News Service/Voice of the Martyrs)

11 KILLED IN ATTACKS ON 5 CHRISTIAN VILLAGES IN INDONESIA The precarious peace between Indonesian Christians and Muslims was broken by post-midnight attacks on five Christian villages in Central Sulawesi the weekend of Oct. 10 that left a total of 11 persons dead. The initial attack that began shortly after midnight Friday in Beteleme (Bethlehem) resulted in two persons dead, six missing and 38 homes destroyed. Villagers heard white-clad assailants cry, “Allahu akbar” (God is great), as they attacked the quiet community. One resident, Wedlrina Mbae, a 55-year-old teacher, was killed by a hail of bullets when she answered a knock at her door. Oster Tarioko, 40, died on the way to the hospital after suffering gunshot wounds. A third, Deki Lingkua, 20, is critically ill with stab wounds, while other Christian villagers are in the hospital with less serious injuries. Others fled into the nearby jungle and watched helplessly as their homes were looted and set on fire. Three cars, seven motorcycles and an Assembly of God church were also razed. A group of volunteers from Tentena trekked to the village to search the jungle for the missing persons. International Christian Concern of Washington, D.C., added that four more villages were attacked early Sunday, Oct. 12. Militants armed with machine guns and bombs attacked the villages of Pinedapa, Saatu, Pantagolemba and Madale (near Poso). Nine people were killed, but no others were taken to the hospital. A bomb found at the Protestant church in Madale was discovered and safely detonated. A Muslim extremist group is suspected of coordinating the attacks. (Missions Insider/Compass/Religion Today)

FIRE AT RADIO STATION IN MONGOLIA BECOMES ‘BLESSING IN DISGUISE’ A devastating fire that destroyed Far East Broadcasting Company’s radio station in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, last January proved to be a “blessing in disguise.” The slow-moving electrical blaze that was hard to extinguish claimed the upper floors of the facilities at Wind-FM while smoke and water damage made the rest of the building uninhabitable, says FEBC spokesman Chris Slabaugh. But the fire also opened doors for ministry. “We were able to rent a building directly behind where our previous building was,” Slabaugh explains. “It was a residence, and we rented and converted it [into a temporary station], so we’ve never been off the air [for more than] several hours. The ministry is continuing.” Meanwhile, the team is putting up a new, redesigned building that is superior to the old facility that includes, among other things, a community worship area. “We’re going to get the foundation and the footers in before the real cold sets in for the winter,” Slabaugh says. “Then we’re going to have to let it set until next spring to start the construction of the walls and that kind of stuff.” Building plans are on schedule. (Mission Network News)

NEW EVANGELISM COURSE GIVES CREATIVE WAYS TO REACH AUSTRALIANS “Introducing God,” an evangelism course released this week, could change the way Australian Christians reach out to their neighbors with the gospel. Developed by Dominic Steele, a minister at Annandale Anglican Church and director of Christians in the Media, the course is being produced and marketed through a new company established by four leading evangelical ministries. They include the Bible Society NSW, Evangelism Ministries, Christians in the Media, and City Bible Forum. “The course is focused on people in a post-Christian society who may have heard of Jesus Christ but do not know what it means to be in a relationship with Him,” said Steele. “Unlike some other similar courses, it is produced by Australians for an Australian context.” The six- to eight-week course is based on “Two Ways to Live,” a popular outline that starts with the idea that people are introduced to God through looking at His “biography” — the Bible. The course is similar to the Alpha program that presents the gospel in a non-threatening way. (Assist News Service)

* HCJB World Radio-Australia began operating a shortwave radio facility in Kununurra, Western Australia, in January 2003, reaching across Asia/Pacific with programs in English and Urdu. Additional languages, transmitters and antennas will be added as resources become available. Studios at the office in Melbourne are used to record programs in English as well as Oromo, a language spoken in Ethiopia.

POLL SHOWS MORE GERMANS PREFER DRINKING THAN WORSHIPING Germans prefer drinking to worshipping. This is one of the results of an opinion poll carried out by the Leisure Research Institute of British American Tobacco in Hamburg, Germany. Of the 3,000 men and women questioned about their most recent leisure activities, 17 percent said they had been to a pub during the previous week, while 14 percent had attended a worship service. Churchgoing has remained relatively stable in the last decade. In all polls carried out since 1993, between 14 and 16 per cent of the respondents said they had been to church recently. These figures are somewhat higher than official church statistics. About two-thirds of the Germany’s 82 million people are church members, but nominalism runs high. Only 4 percent of all Protestants and 16 percent of all Catholics worship on a regular basis (excluding those who only attend on holidays such as Christmas, Easter, Pentecost and Thanksgiving). The study also showed that worshipers in Germany tend to be single rather than married. They also tend to be older than 50 years of age and “fairly prosperous.” The institute rejects the notion that people in the countryside go to church more often than city folk. In both cases only one in 10 worship regularly. (IDEA)

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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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