MAOIST INSURGENTS IN NEPAL KIDNAP CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY THOUSANDS OF NIGERIANS STILL DISPLACED 3 MONTHS AFTER CLASHES MINISTRY AIMS TO PLANT 100,000 CHURCHES IN NORTHERN INDIA BY 2011 INJURED TURKISH CHRISTIAN SHOWS SIGNS OF MAKING FULL RECOVERY ‘OPERATION BLESSING’ BRINGS RENEWED HOPE TO NEEDY ARGENTINEANS 1,600+ VOLUNTEERS INVOLVED IN MINISTRIES AT OLYMPIC GAMES

Today’s News Stories:

MAOIST INSURGENTS IN NEPAL KIDNAP CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY Maoist insurgents in Nepal abducted a missionary with Gospel for Asia (GFA)

last week, mission leaders learned on Thursday. Although details of the kidnapping are sketchy, the life of the pastor, known as Besh, is believed to be in jeopardy. He is well known in the community as a Christian pastor and evangelist, and authorities in an area where he was ministering a year ago noticed his activity and asked him to leave. Maoist rebels have abducted and killed more than 200 teachers, students, village officials and other people in recent years. The insurgency, which has claimed some 9,000 lives since 1996, has hindered mission work in the country as missionaries face increasing risks when they travel to share the gospel. Elsewhere in Nepal, authorities have ordered two Christian workers — pastor Basu and native missionary Imansingh — to vacate their area of ministry within a week. More than 200 pastors and 356 native missionaries serve with GFA in Nepal. (Gospel for Asia)

THOUSANDS OF NIGERIANS REMAIN DISPLACED 3 MONTHS AFTER CLASHES Three months after a spate of Muslim attacks on Christians in Kano, the largest city in northern Nigeria, thousands of people are still displaced from their homes and in need of shelter. “I want to go home,” said Emmanuel James Okon, a 26-year-old Christian living in the Panshekara in an interview with the U.N. Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN). Since Muslim rioters attacked Kano’s Christian minority May 11-12, killing at least 30 people, Okon has been living with 2,000 other refugees on an open soccer field at an abandoned police training school. Clutching a plastic bag of clothes, a toothbrush and a loaf of bread given to him by a kindhearted passerby, Okon was making his way to the main road in preparation for another hour-long walk to the factories of Kano’s industrial area in search for work. Since his rented apartment was set ablaze by rioters, Okon has nowhere else to live. Now he wants to leave Kano and the predominantly Muslim north of Nigeria to go back to his home in Cross Rivers state in southeastern Nigeria. Nearly 30,000 people fled their homes during the May riots in Kano. These were provoked by a Christian massacre of Muslims in Yelwa, a small town in Plateau state 200 miles to the south. (WorldWide Religious News/IRIN News)

MINISTRY AIMS TO PLANT 100,000 CHURCHES IN NORTHERN INDIA BY 2011 World Help is targeting the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh with an intensive strategy to establish 100,000 churches with 10 million believers by 2011. The ministry plans to send 500 church-planting teams throughout the state in an effort to establish organized churches. World Help will use its proven three-part strategy of training national church planters, supplying support for church-planting teams, and providing an “organized church” with a building. Northern India is one of the least-reached regions of the world with fewer than one believer per 1,000 people. Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Islam are the predominant religions in the region. (Mission Network News)

INJURED TURKISH CHRISTIAN SHOWS SIGNS OF MAKING FULL RECOVERY For the first time since he was beaten into a prolonged coma by ultra-nationalists opposed to his conversion to Christianity, Yakup Cindilli, 31, has made personal contact with his Christian acquaintances in Turkey. Without telling his conservative Muslim family, Cindilli left his

home in Orhangazi in late July and made the three-hour bus trip to Istanbul where he met with some of his Christian friends. They noted that Cindilli spoke rationally, but was not always able to pronounce his words clearly. “He showed us that he did not have full use of his right arm,” said one of his friends. “But he was able to walk normally and seemed to be in good spirits.” Another friend said, “He prayed that God would bring him back to full health. His faith appears to remain intact, even after all that has happened.” Cindilli was beaten at the local office of the Nationalist Movement Party on Oct. 19, 2003. He later pointed out in court the three men who attacked him for distributing New Testaments and “doing missionary work.” The three attackers were initially jailed on charges of assault and battery and later released. All three suspects categorically denied Cindilli’s charges. (Religion Today/Compass)

‘OPERATION BLESSING’ BRINGS RENEWED HOPE TO NEEDY ARGENTINEANS Calling his effort “Operation Blessing,” Claudio Freidzon of the 15,000-member Iglesia Rey de Reyes (King of Kings Church) in Buenos Aires, Argentina, has been taking teams of volunteers to remote areas throughout Argentina to distribute supplies such as food, clothing and medicine, and to host evangelistic meetings. Freidzon said he felt God calling him to “bless” his country after an economic crisis rocked Argentina in late 2001, leaving thousands without jobs and the peso losing 70 percent of its value. Freidzon and his wife, Betty, launched Operation Blessing in the province of Tucum ¡n in April 2003 with more than 35,000 people in attendance. Thousands have reported making decisions for Christ. Outreaches since then have made an impact on Argentina’s northern, central and southern regions. At the final event of this year’s tour, more than 9,000 people gave their lives to Christ. (News Bytes/Charisma News Service)

1,600+ VOLUNTEERS INVOLVED IN MINISTRIES AT OLYMPIC GAMES More than 1,600 volunteers are working with churches and various ministries to reach out to athletes, spectators and residents during the Olympic Games and the upcoming Athens Paralympic Games Sept. 17-28. The Greek Bible Society is handing out thousands of Scriptures in various languages, including modern Greek. The Greece-based Hellenic Ministries has organized “Operation Gideon” evangelistic teams on 80 Greek islands. And Athletes in Action has arranged for 60 international staff chaplains to hold services and prayer for contestants. The Jesus Film Project is handing out 30,000 copies of a special edition of the story of Christ on video and DVD called “More Than Gold.” It is available in 40 different languages. Greek evangelical churches are running a “Crown of Life” outreach under the overall umbrella of “FLAME 2004.” Volunteers are also involved in water distribution, staffing a church welcome center, literature distribution, cleanup and other activities. (News Bytes/Christian Herald)

EDITOR’S NOTE: A story in Thursday’s news update regarding a poll taken of U.S. pastors was inadvertently picked up from a website. The survey was taken about four years ago. We apologize for any inconvenience.

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