Today’s Headlines:

HINDU MOB AGAIN ATTACKS INDIGENOUS MISSIONARY COMPOUND IN INDIA

HURRICANES HAVE INDIRECT IMPACT ON MISSION WORK IN CENTRAL AMERICA

WORLD’S DEAF POPULATION TO GET GOD’S WORD IN THEIR LANGUAGE

NEW SURVEY EXAMINES WHY PASTORS MOVE TO OTHER CHURCHES

Today’s Top Stories:

HINDU MOB AGAIN ATTACKS INDIGENOUS MISSIONARY COMPOUND IN INDIA

Hindu extremists returned to the Gospel Echoing Missionary Society (GEMS)

compound in the Rohtas district of northeastern India’s Bihar state Sunday, Sept. 25. They injured several Christians at the same compound which they had attacked on Wednesday, Aug. 31, leaving one victim partially paralyzed with a spinal injury. The mob struck a Christian doctor’s head and hands, breaking one of his fingers, and brutally beat another man before throwing him into a field. GEMS, the largest indigenous Christian missionary agency in Bihar, is based in the village of Sikaria, about 124 miles from the state capital of Patna. The Aug. 31 attack injured at least 12 Christian residents. (Compass)

* Radio programs in 12 languages (English, Urdu, Hindi, Nepali, Chattisgarhi, Bangla, Bhojpuri, Tamil, Telegu, Marwari, Marathi and Santhali) air to India from HCJB World Radio-Australia’s shortwave station in Kununurra. The programs are produced at the ministry’s studios in New Delhi, India.

Three women accused of “Christianization” have appealed the conviction handed down by an Indonesian court on Thursday, Sept. 1. Rebekka Zakaria, Eti Pangesti and Ratna Bangun were sentenced to three years in jail after members of the Muslim Clerics Council in Indramayu district, West Java, accused them of trying to convert Muslim children. The judges pronounced the Sunday school teachers guilty of breaching Indonesia’s 2002 Child Protection Act, saying they had used “deceitful conduct, a series of lies and enticements to seduce children to change their religion against their wills.” One of the Muslim protestors at the final court session said that Islamic organizations would continue campaigning against Christian activity and “illegal” churches in the district of Indramayu in coming months. (Compass)

* HCJB World Radio has worked with local partners to establish more than 12 local Christian radio stations across Indonesia since 2004. Broadcasts from HCJB World Radio-Australia’s shortwave station in Kununurra also encourage listeners nationwide. In addition, HCJB World Radio has helped with relief efforts since the Dec. 26 earthquake/tsunami and subsequent quakes that have devastated parts of Indonesia.

HURRICANES HAVE INDIRECT IMPACT ON MISSION WORK IN CENTRAL AMERICA

While Central America was not directly affected by either Hurricane Katrina or Rita, people in the region are feeling the effects, especially financial, as fuel prices have skyrocketed, says Steve Guerink of Worldwide Christian Schools. “Most of the electrical power [for the ministry’s schools in Nicaragua] is generated through diesel. So now that the prices have gone up, they have decided to ration the electrical power because they haven’t been able to come to an agreement with the country on the extra costs to run the generators.” That means education can be a challenge. What’s more, ministry is hard hit, Guerink says. “Most of our contacts in Nicaragua are dealing with about two hours of electricity per day, so they have to be ready to do whatever ministry needs they can, use their computers, things of that nature. When the power comes on, they have to be ready to go. So it’s really disruptive to most of their work in the ministry of education there.” (Mission Network News)

WORLD’S DEAF POPULATION TO GET GOD’S WORD IN THEIR LANGUAGE

More than 6 million people around the world use sign language to talk to their friends, family and God. It’s a language largely ignored by Bible translators. Wycliffe Associates’ Bruce Smith says they’re doing something to change that. “We’ve been working with some experts in this field and are cooperating as part of a project to create some local studios in different studios around the world where unique sign languages (are) being signed. Recently we sent a team to Costa Rica to help complete work on a video studio so that sign language translation could be done in that location.” Wycliffe plans to invest $150,000 in a series of local studios to produce sign language scripture on DVD and video. “When we see somebody who’s from perhaps, Costa Rica, we’d think they’re signing in Spanish,” he said. “Well, that’s not true. What they’re signing in is sign language which has its own unique expressions.” (Mission Network News)

NEW SURVEY EXAMINES WHY PASTORS MOVE TO OTHER CHURCHES

A new survey conducted by Arizona-based Ellison Research finds most pastors who have moved to take a different church say they did so for reasons other than a clear calling from God. The study found the most common reasons pastors gave for changing jobs included getting promoted to a higher position, such as from an associate pastor at one church to the senior pastor of another church (20 percent), 16 percent wanted to pastor a larger church, 15 percent were transferred by their denomination, and 15 percent left to start a new church. Another 27 percent said they moved to another church because they desired to serve in a different part of the country. Ellison Research President Ron Sellers added that only a small minority of pastors moved to another church primarily because they felt it was God’s will. “What we are seeing is that only 12 percent of them simply said the primary reason they moved was that God wanted them in a different place.” Totals add up to more than 100 percent because pastors gave more than one reason for their move. (AgapePress)