Today’s Headlines:

CHRISTIAN WORKER JAILED UNDER INDIAN STATE’S ANTI-CONVERSION LAW

HUNDREDS MISSING IN GUATEMALAN MUDSLIDES CONSIDERED DEAD

CHINESE CHRISTIAN ACTIVIST BEATEN FOR PROVIDING AID

CHRISTIANS STEP UP MINISTRY IN KYRGYZSTAN AMID OPPOSITION

LAUSANNE COMMITTEE TO DISCUSS CHURCH’S ROLE IN CONFRONTING AIDS

Today’s Top Stories:

CHRISTIAN WORKER JAILED UNDER INDIAN STATE’S ANTI-CONVERSION LAW

A Christian worker is in jail in Indore, in north-central India’s Madhya Pradesh state after authorities arrested him Friday, Oct. 7, for “converting young children from poor Hindu families to Christianity.” Indore police arrested Sunny John under the state’s anti-conversion law after members of the Dharma Raksha Samiti (DRS or Religious Protection Committee), a Hindu extremist group, surrounded the Heera Nagar police station protesting “conversions,” reported The Pioneer, a national daily newspaper. John, an independent worker, runs three schools for children. He was accused of converting 11 children between the ages of 5 and 10 who were residing at his children’s home in Sunder Nagar Extension in Indore. Indira Iyengar, a member of the State Minorities Commission, noted that none of the children had converted to Christianity or complained of attempted conversion, and John denied the charges. (Compass)

HUNDREDS MISSING IN GUATEMALAN MUDSLIDES CONSIDERED DEAD

The 1,400 people still missing in last week’s horrific mudslides of Guatemala are now considered dead. Search and rescue operations are wrapping up after Tropical Storm Stan caused the mountainsides to crumble. Aid is slow in coming to the area, despite emergency supplies and relief being flown in by the Guatemalan government, the U.S., Spain and other countries. Karen Hawkins of Bible Pathway Ministries reported that contact has been made with partners John and Sharon Harvey in the hardest hit region. “Two of their churches they know have been obliterated. One of them had just been dedicated a couple of months ago. They’ve been unable to reach a number of their pastors,” she said. The couple has a Bible school and medical clinic up in the mountains with about 300 students — many have family in the destroyed valley. (Mission Network News)

* HCJB World Radio has worked with local partners to put Christian stations on the air in three Guatemalan cities: Guatemala City, Santa Elena and Chichicastenango. Through ALAS, the ministry’s Latin American satellite radio network, 16 AM, FM and shortwave outlets nationwide use Christian Spanish programming from the network.

CHINESE CHRISTIAN ACTIVIST BEATEN FOR PROVIDING AID

On Tuesday, Oct. 11, a prominent Christian activist, Hua Huiqi, was arrested in his home in Beijing. He was accused of aiding Sun Xiaodi who was arrested last spring for seeking to appeal to government authorities in Beijing to stop the religious persecution that she and her house church were facing in her native Gansu province. Hua was released after seven hours of interrogation during which he was handcuffed and beaten. He was kicked repeatedly, and whenever he was asked a question, he was slapped in the face before being given a chance to answer. “Even though I was beaten by the interrogators repeatedly, I told them I love and pray for them instead of hating them. They told me I am a strange man.” (Voice of the Martyrs)

CHRISTIANS STEP UP MINISTRY IN KYRGYZSTAN AMID OPPOSITION

In the aftermath of a March coup and successful elections in the Central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan, Christians are facing growing opposition in their outreach attempts, says Malcolm Smith of Bible Mission International. “As they’re going out in some of these villages, some of the more fanatical parts of the religious groups are trying to put pressure on them and not allowing them to come and work in the villages,” he said. While the country’s change in leadership has resulted in economic problems and land repossession, it has opened people’s hearts to receive the gospel. “We’ve been able to come in with humanitarian aid and bring in food and to bring clothes and to meet them where they have need,” Smith said. “And at that level then we can share the gospel with them. We’ve handed out more than 1 million gospel tracts and over 100,000 Gospels in the Kyrgyz language. There are some great things happening there despite the difficulties.” With increasing political uncertainty in neighboring Uzbekistan, Christians also have more opportunities to share their faith. More than 700,000 Uzbeks live near the border of Kyrgyzstan. (Mission Network News)

LAUSANNE COMMITTEE TO DISCUSS CHURCH’S ROLE IN CONFRONTING AIDS

For the first time the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization will host the North American Consultation on the Role of the Church, addressing the HIV/AIDS pandemic Monday, Nov. 10. The committee hopes to draw prominent North American church pastors and Christian leaders to speak out on the AIDS crisis and to urge the churches in the U.S. and Canada to get involved. AIDS is increasingly seen as the greatest humanitarian emergency in the history of the world, and leaders are looking not only for medical answers but for a way to introduce the gospel to those affected with the disease. (Religion Today/Religion News Service)

* Sheila Leech, HCJB World Radio’s international healthcare director, and two Ecuadorian doctors will travel from Quito, Ecuador, to attend the event.