Today’s Headlines:

4 CHINESE HOUSE CHURCH PASTORS ‘LIKELY SENT TO LABOR CAMPS’

MULTIETHNIC EVANGELICAL CHURCHES GROWING RAPIDLY IN EUROPE

CHRISTIAN RADIO STATION IN JERUSALEM AIRS WORLDWIDE VIA SATELLITE

FIGHTING LEAVES 2 MILLION ISRAELIS IN NEED OF HUMANITARIAN AID

Today’s Top Stories:

4 CHINESE HOUSE CHURCH PASTORS ‘LIKELY SENT TO LABOR CAMPS’

Four well-known Chinese Christian house church leaders in Sichuan province have likely been sent to labor camp for “re-education.” The four pastors, Li Ming, Wang Yuan, Li Mingbo and Jin Jirong, are major leaders of the Chinese house church alliance who were originally detained on Tuesday, June 27, after trying to negotiate for the release of 14 church members who were taken away by police during a morning worship service. China Aid Association sources expect the four leaders will be sentenced to re-education through labor, meaning three years of 12 to 18 hours of daily work in a labor camp. Seven of the 14 believers initially detained finally received official sentencing to more than five days in detention. The pastors were beaten severely in front of multiple eyewitnesses on the morning of June 27 during the original arrest. (Christian Newswire/China Aid Association)

MULTIETHNIC EVANGELICAL CHURCHES GROWING RAPIDLY IN EUROPE

Evangelical churches in Europe, particularly those attended by immigrants from Africa, Asia and Latin America, are booming when compared to Europe’s steady decrease in traditional Protestant and Catholic churches in recent decades. Statistics show France has shown an eight-fold increase in evangelical Christianity in the last 50 years, from approximately 50,000 to 400,000. Overall numbers remain small, with evangelicals representing only 2 percent of Europe’s population. Despite overall numbers, Christopher Sinclair of the University of Strasbourg says the trend shows that spirituality in Europe is not dead even though secularization continues. Congregations such as the Impact Christian Center in Ivry-sur-Seine, France, are alive and welcoming and have a distinct multiethnic flavor with one parishioner counting 26 different nationalities. “This is just a church focusing on the needs of people,” said Pastor Yves Castanou. (WorldWide Religious News)

CHRISTIAN RADIO STATION IN JERUSALEM AIRS WORLDWIDE VIA SATELLITE

As the Hezbollah-Israeli conflict continues to draw worldwide interest to the Middle East, Jerusalem’s only round-the-clock Christian radio station beams its unique biblical perspective around the world via the Sky Angel satellite network. Voice of Jerusalem radio was first established in southern Lebanon in 1979 where staff personally experienced the violence that has plagued the area. Five staff members have lost their lives in attacks by terror groups. The station was forced to move to Jerusalem when Israeli forces withdrew from southern Lebanon. The radio station continues to “scan all of the available Israeli and international sources to find the stories which we believe our faithful listeners and prayer partners want to hear,” said Voice of Jerusalem Middle East Operations Manager Isaac Gronberg. With three of its own correspondents reporting in the field, the station is able to cover unfolding events from a personal, human-interest perspective. (Sky Angel)

FIGHTING LEAVES 2 MILLION ISRAELIS IN NEED OF HUMANITARIAN AID

With more than 2 million Israelis within range of Hezbollah rockets, up to a third of Israel’s 6 million people could need of humanitarian assistance. Hazon Yeshaya, Israel’s largest food charity organization, is helping. In northern Israel where thousands are unable to safely leave their basic bomb shelters, Hazon Yeshaya aid workers are distributing food under fire to families as they remain in their shelters. The group’s “Necessities for the North” campaign ensures that basic food and drink supplies are available while shops are closed and normal supply lines are disrupted. In addition, Hazon Yeshaya is feeding thousands of families that have fled the northern attack area to relative safety in the south. But the group’s central soup kitchens lack space, so temporary tables have been set up outside to ensure no one is turned away. Another branch of the organization has agreed to provide meals to 500 children who are being hosted at local day camps. The group is also assisting hundreds of children injured in rocket attacks. (Assist News Service)