Today’s Headlines:

TWO AMERICANS AMONG DOZENS OF CHRISTIANS ARRESTED IN CHINA

INCIDENCE OF HIV/AIDS ON THE RISE AGAIN IN RURAL UGANDA

GROWING UNREST IN HAITIAN CAPITAL HAMPERS CHRISTIAN OUTREACH

POLL: GERMAN CLERGY LOSE PROFESSIONAL ESTEEM

3 MILLION CHILDREN ACROSS U.S. ATTENDING VBS THIS SUMMER

Today’s Top Stories:

TWO AMERICANS AMONG DOZENS OF CHRISTIANS ARRESTED IN CHINA

Two American theology students were arrested and roughed up along with dozens of Chinese Christians at an underground church in central China last week, a U.S.-based religious watchdog reported. They were about to worship along with 41 Chinese believers at a house church in the town of Lutou in Hubei province Tuesday, Aug. 2, when 30 plainclothes officers stormed the meeting and arrested them, reported the China Aid Association. The two students, believed to be from Westminster Theological Seminary campuses in Texas and California, were handled roughly and handcuffed. They were released after a seven-hour interrogation, and some of their belongings, including their Bibles, notebooks and religious books, were confiscated. The 41 worshipers from the evangelical South China Church were held at a detention centre in Zaoyang city. Thirty have since been released, but 11 remain in custody. A local officer said that the Christians were arrested for “illegal evangelism” and confirmed that some were still being held. (WorldWide Religious News/AFX)

INCIDENCE OF HIV/AIDS ON THE RISE AGAIN IN RURAL UGANDA

Uganda’s HIV/AIDS rate appears to be on the rise again. Five years ago the country led the war against the disease, successfully dropping its infection rate to 7 percent from a high of 30 percent in the 1990s. But recently the infection rate, especially in rural areas, has been climbing, reaching more than 8 percent. To help tackle the growing problem, AMG International’s Paul Jenks says the ministry has formed a partnership in southwestern Uganda to launch an AIDS clinic that opens on Saturday, Aug. 20. “We’ve started a project to minister to young girls, especially, but also some young boys are involved,” he said. “The older girls, when their parents die, are often given the responsibility to care for their younger siblings.” Jenks says the clinic will provide both education and medical care to people in Bugongi, a rural village about 250 miles southwest of the capital city, Kampala. “The whole project is based in our child-care ministry, and we offer the opportunity both at the clinic and in the childcare facilities for children to hear the gospel and to respond,” he added. (Mission Network News)

GROWING UNREST IN HAITIAN CAPITAL HAMPERS CHRISTIAN OUTREACH

Escalating civil violence in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, is directly affecting ministry in that beleaguered country, says Tim DeVries of the Bible League which ministers in the country. “One of the biggest struggles right now has been a wave of kidnappings and [robberies] and armed people who will stop you on the street,” he said. “We’ve had to be more careful. We can’t go out and do training at churches at night.” While the ministry has been forced to cut back its hours of operation, DeVries says outreach continues as people are desperate for God. Attendance at small-group Bible studies is up, and church planting continues to move ahead. (Mission Network News)

* Staff members from the HCJB World Radio Engineering Center in Elkhart, Ind., are working with OMS International to establish a satellite radio network based at 4VEH outside the city of Cap-Haitien that will deliver programs to FM stations nationwide. Downlinks have been installed in Tortue Island, Pignon and Beaumont, and at least two more are planned. HCJB World Radio also helped partner World Gospel Mission with a small station in Port-au-Prince.

POLL: GERMAN CLERGY LOSE PROFESSIONAL ESTEEM

The clergy are still held in relatively high esteem in Germany, but their prestige is deteriorating, according to a poll conducted by the Allensbach Institute. Thirty-four percent of the population appreciates the clergy more than any other profession. Pastors placed fifth after physicians (71 percent), nurses (56 percent), the police (40 percent) and university professors (36 percent). The clergy dropped down three places from the No. 2 position they held in a poll taken two years ago. At that time, only physicians were respected more than pastors. Professionals with the lowest esteem in Germany are labor union leaders (5 percent), politicians (6 percent) and television presenters (6 percent). (Assist News Service/IDEA)

3 MILLION CHILDREN ACROSS U.S. ATTENDING VBS THIS SUMMER

An estimated 3 million children are attending vacation Bible school (VBS)

this summer, but a survey finds that many churches have quit offering VBS because of a shortage of available teachers. The Barna Research Group estimates that 38,000 fewer churches are conducting VBS this summer than in 1997. Those most likely to still offer VBS are Southern Baptist and mainline churches, black congregations and congregations with more than 250 adult members. Since a doctor’s wife came up with the concept in 1898, VBS became an important way for Protestant churches to evangelize. Within the Southern Baptist Convention, for example, more than a quarter of baptisms are prompted by VBS. (Agape Press/Associated Press)