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Today’s Headlines:

CHRISTIAN SCHOOL REOPENS IN PAKISTAN 2 YEARS AFTER ATTACKS

U.S. COMMISSION ACCUSES AZERBAIJAN OF ‘STIFLING RELIGIOUS FREEDOM’

THOUSANDS OF IRANIANS, AFGHANS COME TO CHRIST VIA TV MINISTRIES

YOUNG RUSSIANS SHOW GROWING INTEREST IN EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANITY

SHORT-TERM MISSIONS INCREASINGLY USED AS ‘RECRUITING TOOL’

SURVEY: EUROPEANS, NORTH AMERICANS REVEAL LACK OF TRUST IN CLERGY

Today’s News Stories:

CHRISTIAN SCHOOL REOPENS IN PAKISTAN 2 YEARS AFTER ATTACKS A Christian school shut down after Pakistani militants stormed it two years ago reopened this week. A plaque commemorating the dead marked the school’s tragedy, and a quiet beginning for Murree Christian School, a facility that provides education to children of missionaries. A source who asked not to be named for security reasons says there have been many changes since the attack on the school, 30 miles east of Islamabad. “It’s a much smaller group with the transition that the school has gone through, but we’re excited that they are able to function again because it means that families serving in Pakistan and in the region will be more likely to be able to remain on the field,” he said. Classes have resumed even though the school has a shortage of teachers. “I still run into the attitude that teaching missionary children is not really doing missions,” the source explained. “In my mind, it’s actually multiplying missions because it enables families who otherwise would need to return for a number of years and in some cases for good, to make sure that their children have the education they need.” In a carefully planned set of assaults, armed Islamic militants shot six people to death at the school on Aug. 5, 2002. Just four days later, extremists hurled grenades at the chapel of Taxila Christian Hospital, killing five more people and wounding 26. All the victims were Pakistani citizens. (Mission Network News/Compass)

U.S. COMMISSION ACCUSES AZERBAIJAN OF ‘STIFLING RELIGIOUS FREEDOM’ Azerbaijan has unleashed a wave of repression to consolidate control over Muslims and other churches and religions, reported the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom in a statement received Tuesday, Aug. 24. The commission said it was “deeply concerned about the deteriorating situation for religious freedom in Azerbaijan,” adding that the incidents were “part of a pattern over the past few years of tightening government control on Islamic practice and restrictions on the activities of minority religious communities, including Protestant Christians, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Hare Krishnas.” Commission Chair Preeta Bansal said the Azeri government is “clearly moving in the wrong direction with respect to freedom of thought, conscience and religion or belief in.” The U.S. Congress created the commission in 1998 to monitor freedom of thought, conscience and religion or belief abroad and to make recommendations to the president, secretary of state and Congress. (WorldWide Religious News/Agence France-Presse)

* HCJB World Radio, in partnership with Hosanna and local partners in Baku, Azerbaijan, has recorded the dramatized Azeri New Testament as part of the Faith Comes by Hearing project. The recordings, completed in 1998, have been made into a series of radio programs.

THOUSANDS OF IRANIANS, AFGHANS COME TO CHRIST VIA TV MINISTRIES Two ex-Muslims who are now pastors in the U.S. have launched separate satellite TV ministries that seek to reach Muslims in Iran — a country where it is illegal to evangelize. Their groundbreaking work has resulted in thousands of Iranians coming to Christ — many of whom become such fervent believers that they risk their lives to share the gospel in the Islamic country. “The religion of Islam has held a grip on this land for more than 1,500 years,” said Reza Safa, 43, pastor of Fishermen’s House Church in Tulsa, Okla., and founder of the Nejat Christian satellite TV station that has made gospel broadcasts available to millions of Farsi-speaking people in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan since May 2003. More than 3,000 Iranians and Afghans have come to Christ as a result of these broadcasts. Nejat means “salvation,” “freedom” or “deliverance” in the Farsi language. “Iranians have seen the true nature of Islam and are desperate for change and the truth,” Safa said. “This is also God’s time of visitation upon that land.” Hormoz Shariat, co-founding pastor of the Iranian Christian Church in San Jose, Calif., and founder of International Antioch Ministries which has broadcast Iranian Christian TV (ICTV) since 2002, agrees. “The population in Iran is 70 million. Seventy percent of the population is under 30, and we are finding that many young people are converting their families and friends after they come to Jesus,” Shariat said. “Still, they have to hide their viewing of the Christian broadcasts as they risk imprisonment, loss of residence and jobs and even death.” Open Doors’ “World Watch List” ranks Iran fifth among persecuting nations. (Religion Today/Charisma News Service)

YOUNG RUSSIANS SHOW GROWING INTEREST IN EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANITY Russian pastor Maxim Baranov reports that interest in evangelical Christianity is growing, especially among young people. But out of 4.5 million residents in St. Petersburg, only 8,000 attend one of the city’s 80 Protestant or evangelical churches. Just eight churches have buildings — the rest meet in offices, homes or shops. One beauty salon doubles as a Baptist church on Sundays. Baranov’s church sponsors a speakers’ club where members of the business and professional community hear talks on management and ethics. Two-thirds of the attendees are not Christians. (News Bytes/World Pulse)

* HCJB World Radio reaches across Russia with a variety of radio ministries. The mission has been sending gospel broadcasts across the country via shortwave since 1941, first from Quito, Ecuador, and in recent years from the U.K. In the early 1990s the ministry began “planting” local radio ministries in Russia and now works with partners in more than a dozen cities. In 2000 HCJB World Radio helped launch New Life Radio, the first Christian Russian radio satellite network. More than 50 downlinks have been placed in more than 35 cities in Russia and neighboring countries.

SHORT-TERM MISSIONS INCREASINGLY USED AS ‘RECRUITING TOOL’ Short-term missions has always been a great tool for recruiting full-time missionaries, but it’s becoming an even more important part the equation now, says Dan Branda of the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism (ABWE). “At our candidate seminar this summer, 69 new missionaries were appointed under ABWE,” he explained. “In surveying them, 79 percent said they had been on cross-cultural missions trips for two to four weeks. That’s significant. . . . Before someone commits to a missionary career, many times they have the opportunity now of going there, seeing it and experiencing it before they actually commit to it.” ABWE expects short-term missionary involvement to increase, providing a growing new pool of potential full-time recruits. (Mission Network News)

SURVEY: EUROPEANS, NORTH AMERICANS REVEAL LACK OF TRUST IN CLERGY Europeans and North Americans trust teachers, doctors, soldiers and police officers more than church representatives, but the clergy enjoy a higher reputation than lawyers, journalists, managers and politicians. These are the findings of recent opinion polls carried out by the Germany-based GfK Ad Hoc Research Worldwide. The firm interviewed 1,000 persons in each of 19 European countries and the U.S. The clergy scored 62 index points, placing fifth behind teachers with 82 points; doctors, 81; members of the armed forces, 70; and the police, 67. Church representatives placed higher than lawyers with 49 points; journalists, 38; managers of large companies, 32; and politicians, 16. Politicians placed lowest in all 20 countries represented in the survey. (Assist News Service/IDEA) * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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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