PASTOR CHARGED WITH ORGANIZING ‘ILLEGAL WORSHIP’ IN BELARUS

SUDAN’S ANGLICANS STRUGGLE TO REGAIN CHURCH HEADQUARTERS

MOROCCAN LEADER INVITES EVANGELICALS TO ‘BREAKTHROUGH DIALOGUE’

NIGERIANS TAKE TRAINING TO TRANSLATE BIBLE INTO 500 LANGUAGES

FORMER MUSLIM NAMED DEAN OF LIBERTY BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

Today’s News Stories:

PASTOR CHARGED WITH ORGANIZING ‘ILLEGAL WORSHIP’ IN BELARUS Pastor Vyacheslav Goncharenko of the Minsk-based charismatic New Life Church in Belarus is again facing prosecution for organizing worship services without state permission. The 600-member congregation of New Life Church has been worshiping in an unused cowshed since 2002 after being barred from public facilities. Belarus’ 2002 religion law requires state permission for religious gatherings in premises not specially designed for worship. Authorities recently fined the church for meeting in the facility. All official agencies have approved requests to change the designated land usage to that of a church — except for the religious affairs department in Minsk. (Forum 18 News Service)

SUDAN’S ANGLICANS STRUGGLE TO REGAIN CHURCH HEADQUARTERS Nine months after the Anglican Church headquarters in Khartoum, Sudan, was confiscated at gunpoint, the Arab company now claiming ownership of the property has started making renovations to the building in violation of a court injunction. The June 2004 judicial order forbids Al-Ghazal Residence Enterprises from tampering with the property until the courts resolve the ownership dispute. The attorney for the Episcopal Church of Sudan (ECS) filed objections against the renovations before the Khartoum Public Court, prompting a written response from the construction company’s lawyer acknowledging the court injunction — and denying that his clients were working on the premises. During a visit to Sudan last month, former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey raised the issue in a face-to-face meeting with Sudanese First Vice President Ali Osman Taha. Part of the Anglican Communion, the ECS is the largest Christian church in Sudan with about 5 million members. (Compass)

MOROCCAN LEADER INVITES EVANGELICALS TO ‘BREAKTHROUGH DIALOGUE’ Senior pastors from across the U.S. are invited to respond to a “Macedonian call” to serve as “official observers” in Morocco at a “breakthrough dialogue” between American evangelical leaders and Moroccan Islamic officials. The event is scheduled for May 1-9 in the cultural capital of Marrakech. The invitation is being extended by the government of King Mohammed VI of Morocco. A press release indicates there will also be Christian humanitarian relief teams working at various locations during the event as well as the first-ever large-scale Christian music festival featuring some popular American contemporary Christian musicians. A letter of invitation is being circulated to interested pastors by Rev. Rob Schenck, president of U.S. Faith and Action in the nation’s capital. Schenck explains that Morocco is an unusual Arab Muslim nation. “It is consistently ranked as one of the safest countries in the Arab world,” he said. “The people are also intrigued with evangelical Christians and our message.” Schenck says he is “convinced that this is the crack in the door of the Islamic world.” (Assist News Service)

NIGERIANS TAKE TRAINING TO TRANSLATE BIBLE INTO 500 LANGUAGES In Nigeria there are still 500 languages without Scripture translation, and people who speak those languages have no access to God’s Word. The Seed Company is addressing their need by holding workshops in the Gombe region, training and equipping national believers to be translators. President Roy Peterson says 30 people are being trained simultaneously. They will be working on translating the Gospel of Luke into nine different languages. This method of translation work is important because violence and unrest is prevalent in Nigeria, and no one knows how long The Seed Company will be able to stay in the country, Peterson explained. The workshops have been met with enthusiasm. Peterson reported that in one village he visited, “the entire community was there to sing and celebrate and thank us for bringing the training so they might become the translators for their people group.” (Mission Network News)

FORMER MUSLIM NAMED DEAN OF LIBERTY BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY Dr. Jerry Falwell announced the appointment of a converted Muslim, Friday, Feb. 4, to head the evangelical seminary that he founded in 1971. Falwell said that Dr. Ergun Caner, a converted Sunni Muslim and son of an ulema (Muslim scholar), is the first former Muslim to become the dean of a U.S. evangelical seminary. Caner will become dean of Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary on the campus of Liberty University. He replaces Danny Lovett who announced that he was accepting the role of president at Tennessee Temple University in Chattanooga, Tenn., after 12 years at Liberty. Caner, 38, has been a professor at Liberty’s School of Religion for two years. “He is today one of the most electrifying speakers and defenders of the faith that I have ever heard,” Falwell said. Caner also has become a voice for evangelical Christianity in the national media, debating Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and Baha’i leaders on more than 50 college and university campuses.

A Turkish immigrant who converted to Christianity in 1982, Caner immigrated with his family to the U.S. to build mosques in the Midwest. It was while he was in high school in Ohio that a young friend invited him to church and led him to Christ, prompting his family to disown him. Caner later received his bachelor’s degree in biblical studies and languages and received a master’s degree in history from the Criswell College in Dallas, Texas. In 1994 he received his master’s degree in divinity from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C. In 1995 he completed a master’s degree in theology at Southeastern, and in 2000 he completed his doctorate in theology from the University of South Africa in residence in Johannesburg. (Assist News Service)

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.