PROTESTANTS IN UZBEKISTAN COMPLAIN OF GOVERNMENT CRACKDOWN

PROPOSED CHANGES TO KENYA’S CONSTITUTION CONCERN BELIEVERS

CANADIAN CLERGYMEN SAY GAY MARRIAGE THREATENS RELIGIOUS FREEDOMS

FOOD FOR THE HUNGRY PROVIDES CLEAN WATER IN RWANDA

PROMISE KEEPERS TO HOLD FIRST EVENT OUTSIDE OF U.S.

Today’s Top Stories:

PROTESTANTS IN UZBEKISTAN COMPLAIN OF GOVERNMENT CRACKDOWN

Protestants have complained of a widespread crackdown affecting churches across the Central Asian country of Uzbekistan, reported the Forum 18 News Service. For example, Presbyterian churches were recently closed down in Yangiyul and Angren (towns near Tashkent) as well as a congregation in the small town of Farhad in the Syrdarya region south of Tashkent. That church’s pastor spent a week in prison. In Termez, a town near Uzbekistan’s southern border with Afghanistan, police took a pastor to the police station where he was beaten and held in handcuffs. Police held his entire congregation, including 10 children (ranging in age from 6 months to 14 years) for 24 hours in the place where the church met for services. They reportedly were given no food or water. Police also raided a Protestant church in the town of Urgench during the congregation’s worship service on Sunday, June 26, Protestant sources said. Some of the 60 church members present were detained briefly for questioning. The congregation has unsuccessfully tried to register for the past two years, but local agencies have refused to consider the church’s request. (Religion Today/Charisma News Service)

PROPOSED CHANGES TO KENYA’S CONSTITUTION CONCERN BELIEVERS

Christians in Kenya are concerned that proposed changes in the country’s new constitution could have a negative impact on religious freedom. Religious freedom has not typically been a problem, although there are some concerns that modifications in a draft headed for referendum may affect choice. Even so, Evangecube’s Dana Crawford says Kenyans are choosing Christ by the hundreds. “We were in the Eldoret area. We helped with the national churches there and we came alongside them and helped plant three new churches, and we saw 547 professions of faith.” Crawford says with so much activity, the greatest need is for discipleship, and Evangecube teams are poised to assist local churches. “We start doing fellowship and Bible study and discipleship of those new believers right there that very day, and that’ll work completely through the week while we’re there. And then it’ll be picked up on by the local pastor and the local churches and carried through to the extent of 24 particular lessons that we help them get prepared for their people.” (Mission Network News)

CANADIAN CLERGYMEN SAY GAY MARRIAGE THREATENS RELIGIOUS FREEDOMS

Canadian evangelicals and the nation’s most prominent Roman Catholic clergyman agree that same-sex marriage is threatening Christians’ religious freedom. Quebec Cardinal Marc Ouellet told a Canadian Senate committee that priests are wary of preaching the church’s teachings from the pulpit for fear of being branded as “homophobes.” Janet Epp Buckingham of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada says, “There’s a tremendous amount of concern and fear in our community — feelings that we are being targeted and marginalized.” Cardinal Ouellet said homosexual couples arrive to have their children baptized, expecting to be recognized as two fathers or two mothers — something the church cannot do. (Agape Press/Associated Press)

FOOD FOR THE HUNGRY PROVIDES CLEAN WATER IN RWANDA

Food for the Hungry (FFH) sent a team of 12 individuals into the impoverished region of Kagarama, a community in Rwanda, during the first week of July. The team is building a rain water catchment system at Kagarama’s primary school. The system will gather rainwater and greatly improve sanitation and drinking water for the children. This is just one of a number of short-term projects with which FFH is involved. “We applaud any movement that brings the plight of the poor and oppressed into the public eye,” said FFH president Ben Homan. “It can only help us as we work everyday in reaching out to those the world has forgotten.” While the enormity of solving world hunger and poverty is challenging — more than 1,000 people each hour die of hunger — FFH believes that “since they die one at a time, we can save them one at a time.” “We are committed to intensify our efforts to end world hunger and to provide hope for those in hopeless circumstances,” said Homan in the same news release. “We go into very challenging areas — places such as Sudan, Rwanda and Indonesia’s tsunami- ravaged areas. It is our way of bringing light into very dark circumstances.” (Assist News Service)

PROMISE KEEPERS TO HOLD FIRST EVENT OUTSIDE OF U.S.

Promise Keepers (PK) will hold a historic event in the Caribbean this fall in the hopes of sparking a worldwide revival among men. The first PK event outside the U.S., “Bahamas Awakening 2005 and Beyond” at Nassau’s Clifford Park Nov. 7-12, is expected to draw attendees from across the Bahamas and the U.S. This is the first time that a government official from a foreign country has invited the Denver-based ministry to hold a conference. It also marks the start of expanding PK’s vision. “I think it’s an opportunity to share our gifts and talents with men from another nation,” said PK President Tom Fortson. Myles Munroe, pastor of Bahamas Faith Ministries International Fellowship and chairman of the International Third World Leaders Association, added, “We are hoping . . . this will create a groundswell of a revival and motivation for men to be activated, to receive the gospel and return to their responsibilities as men.” (Religion Today/Charisma News Service)