TAIWANESE SHORT-TERM MISSION VOLUNTEER DIES IN THAILAND

INDIGENOUS MINISTRY TAKES GOSPEL TO IRAQI REFUGEES IN SYRIA

ZIMBABWE OUTREACH MOVES AHEAD DESPITE GOVERNMENT CHALLENGES

CHRISTMAS ON THE WAY TO ORPHANS IN FORMER SOVIET UNION

GERMAN PROTESTANT, CATHOLIC CHURCHES CONTINUE TO LOSE GROUND

INTERACTIVE WEB CHURCH REOPENS IN RESPONSE TO DEMAND BY VISITORS

Today’s News Stories:

TAIWANESE SHORT-TERM MISSION VOLUNTEER DIES IN THAILAND Wu Pei-jen, 29, a member of Pa-ter Presbyterian Church in southern Taiwan’s Kaohsiung county, was killed in a car accident the evening of Sunday, Dec. 5, while serving as a short-term volunteer in Thailand. Also seriously injured in the crash were another church member, Chiou Chi-ming, and the resident missionary, Rev. Wang Jen-nae. The three were returning from a service project in a mountainous area near Chiang-mai when the accident occurred. Pei-jen, the first and only Christian in her immediate family, was on a two-month mission to Thailand, and planned to return home at the end of December. Chi-ming suffered internal injuries and was expected to remain in intensive care for a week. Jen-nae returned home after undergoing surgery. (Taiwan Church News)

INDIGENOUS MINISTRY TAKES GOSPEL TO IRAQI REFUGEES IN SYRIA War has caused tens of thousands of Iraqis to flee to neighboring Syria. Native missionaries are seizing the opportunity to reach these mostly Muslim refugees with physical aid and spiritual truth. Syria first officially opened its borders to Iraqi refugees in 2003. By the end of that year, an estimated 40,000 Iraqis had streamed into Syria, and thousands more have continued to come since. Though some have been sent back, many stayed and are trying to make lives for themselves. Yet most families are in great poverty, with no access to medical care or education. One indigenous ministry is reaching out to these refugees as missionaries now work among 1,000 Iraqi refugee families in Syria, meeting basic needs while sharing Christ. They provide food and schooling for children of refugees. A clinic also gives medical care to those who cannot afford it. Many Muslim refugees have been drawn to the Lord through this ministry. Regular Christian meetings in refugee communities are well attended. Thousands of Arabic Bibles have been distributed. In addition to Iraqi refugees, the missionaries work among the Sudanese, many of whom have fled the decades-long civil war in their native country. Two Sudanese refugees who became Christians went on to attend a six-month Bible training school. (Christian Aid Mission)

ZIMBABWE OUTREACH MOVES AHEAD DESPITE GOVERNMENT CHALLENGES Christian World Outreach’s Onais Tapera says Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s government is causing trouble for the mission which works in pastoral training, leadership development and AIDS orphans in the country. Mugabe’s administration is clamping down on help from foreigners, and there are shortages of basic supplies within Zimbabwe. In spite of the difficulties, Tapera says there is a strong link between child outreach and pastoral training. “In our last camp, we had about 60 children and 37 of them received Christ as their personal Savior,” he said. “I’m working with one of the local pastors to find ways to disciple these children because where they live, they don’t have churches.” (Mission Network News)

CHRISTMAS ON THE WAY TO ORPHANS IN FORMER SOVIET UNION Christians in the former Soviet Union’s Commonwealth of Independent States are working to spread the gospel in through a program called, “Christmas for Orphans.” Tom MacAdam of Slavic Gospel Association (SGA) estimates that 700,000 orphans live in the region, and many have never heard the gospel. “We’re giving [national believers] an opportunity to go into the orphanages and conduct a special evangelistic Christmas programs for the kids,” he said. The goal of the program, officially launched by SGA last year, is to “provide each child in the orphanage with a wrapped gift, some Russian language Christian literature or a children’s Bible and some warm clothing items.” SGA aims to reach 10,000 children in about 50 orphanages this Christmas. MacAdam said the ministry’s ultimate desire is to see these children come to Christ. SGA also hopes to open the way for members of the local evangelical churches to visit these children on a regular basis, providing Bible lessons and offering opportunities for them to grow in their faith. (Mission Network News)

* 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 across the nation. In 2000 HCJB World Radio helped launch New Life Radio, the first Christian Russian radio satellite network. Nearly 50 downlinks have been placed in more than 35 cities in Russia and neighboring countries.

GERMAN PROTESTANT, CATHOLIC CHURCHES CONTINUE TO LOSE GROUND Church membership in Germany continues to decline, dropping by more than 1 percent in 2003, indicate statistics published by the headquarters of the mainline Protestant churches in Hanover and the Roman Catholic Church in Bonn. The losses are mainly due to the aging population as the number of deaths continues to exceed the number of infant baptisms. But there are also significant numbers of dissatisfied or nominal church members who cancel their membership — mainly to avoid church tax. In 2003 the Protestant churches suffered membership losses of 1.6 percent, dropping by 375,000 to 25.8 million. The Catholic Church shrunk by 1.1 percent to 26.2 million. In addition to these major churches, Orthodox churches have 1.1 million citizens on their registers. About 900,000 inhabitants belong to evangelical and charismatic churches such as Baptists, Methodists and Pentecostals. About a third of Germany’s 82.5 million inhabitants are Protestant and a third are Catholic. The rest belong to other religions or are unaffiliated. Church affiliation has dwindled significantly since the reunification of Germany in 1990. (IDEA)

INTERACTIVE WEB CHURCH REOPENS IN RESPONSE TO DEMAND BY VISITORS Church of Fools, the world’s first 3D online church, has reopened as a place for private prayer and reflection. Visitors to churchoffools.com choose a cartoon “double,” then walk around, kneel, pray, shout “hallelujah,” play a hymn, hear a sermon or even ring the church bells. However, they will not see — or be seen by — other visitors to the church. Initially conceived as a three-month experiment, the fully interactive version of Church of Fools was launched last May and ran until September. “Since our pilot project ended, we have continued the interactive part of the church in 2D — through conventional chat rooms and bulletin boards,” explains project leader Simon Jenkins. “But the demand to reopen the 3D environment has been overwhelming.” Jenkins is hopeful that visitors will use the church for personal reflection and prayer. The project, developed by the U.K. web magazine shipoffools.com, attracted tens of thousands of visitors from around the world during its pilot phase — more than half of them less than 30 years old and 60 percent male. (Churchoffools.com)

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