Today’s Headlines:

AFRICAN CHURCHES SENDING ‘SCORES OF MISSIONARIES’ TO THE WEST

INCREASING NUMBERS OF GERMANS CONVERTING TO ISLAM

CHURCH DEMOLISHED BY NEIGHBORING FERTILIZER PLANT IN PAKISTAN

4 BUSES HIRED TO CRASH CHRISTIAN MAN’S SUV IN BANGLADESH

SUDDEN CHANGE IN PLANS TEACHES LESSON TO MISSIONS TEAM IN BRAZIL

Today’s Top Stories:

AFRICAN CHURCHES SENDING ‘SCORES OF MISSIONARIES’ TO THE WEST

With church attendance waning in Europe, Africa’s vibrant Protestant churches are sending scores of missionaries to the West to win souls and input new vitality into shrinking congregations. Kenyan minister Patrick Mukholi, who works for the Anglican Church Missionary Society in Blackbird Leys, England, says, “The church in the U.K. has become shy about faith. Maybe as African missionaries we can encourage them to be more exuberant about knowing God.” African pastors began coming to Europe and the U.S. to minister to African immigrants from their own countries back in the 1970s. But in the 1980s, African evangelicals — including some Anglicans, Baptists, Lutherans and Methodists — decided to take a more systematic approach toward reaching what they saw as an increasingly godless West. “We couldn’t just throw up our hands and see these churches turned into nightclubs or mosques,” Tokunboh Adeyemo, former general secretary of the Association of Evangelicals in Africa, told Reuters in a telephone interview. (WorldWide Religious News/Reuters)

INCREASING NUMBERS OF GERMANS CONVERTING TO ISLAM

Last year in Germany, approximately 4,000 people became Muslims according to the Central Islam Institute in Soest, Germany. The annual number of converts has been rising since the year 2000 with no explanation regarding the trend. The institute’s director, Salim Abdulah says there are 3.2 million Muslims in Germany, many of them Turkish immigrants. However, the number of mosques is expected to double in the next few years. The Islamic Fellowship of Germany, associated with the radical Muslim brotherhoods, is attracting the especially high percentage of 500 converts per year. By comparison, Protestant Churches have about 25.6 million members while Roman Catholics number 25.8 million. The churches believe interest in religion in Germany is increasing, but is not focused on Christianity. Buddhism and Islam appear more “intriguing” to the German population. (Assist News Service)

* Radio Station HCJB in Quito, Ecuador, has been broadcasting German programs worldwide via shortwave since 1953. Fourteen hours of programming weekly air to Europe, South America and the South Pacific. In addition, 10.5 hours of Low German programs air each week from Quito.

CHURCH DEMOLISHED BY NEIGHBORING FERTILIZER PLANT IN PAKISTAN

The Christian community of Multan in Pakistan’s central Punjab province is protesting the alleged illegal destruction of a local church. On Friday, Aug. 4, about 150 protesters burned tires and blocked a principal roadway, claiming that the Pak-Arab Fertilizers Ltd. factory had destroyed a Protestant church shortly before a court issued an order not to demolish it. Shahbaz Bhatti, chairman of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA), said a nearby mosque was untouched. “Only the church, a symbol of the vulnerability of the Christian minority, fell victim to the intolerance of these industrialists,” he said. The fertilizer company, which legally owns the land on which the church was built, claims there was no “religious motive” but destroyed the church to “allow the industry to expand.” Company spokesmen say the community had been given advance notice to vacate the church. (WorldWide Religious News/AsiaNews)

* HCJB World Radio sent two medical teams from Ecuador to Pakistan following the Oct. 8, 2005, earthquake that left tens of thousands dead and thousands more injured and homeless. Staff members helped SIM International with relief efforts.

4 BUSES HIRED TO CRASH CHRISTIAN MAN’S SUV IN BANGLADESH

Four drivers of four different buses were hired by a militant Muslim group in Bangladesh to crash into an SUV driven by a Christian man they call “Andrew” to protect his identity. On April 24 on his way to visit 17 Muslim convert families, a bus rammed the front passenger seat of his vehicle, breaking his left elbow and severely cutting his right forearm. Immediately following the collision, the bus driver ran from the scene to report Andrew’s death to leaders of the Islamic group that had hired him. However, Andrew survived despite receiving shoddy medical treatment, perhaps due to pressure placed on the hospital staff from the militant Islamic group. More recently, Andrew has received threatening telephone calls in which group members identify the make, model and color of the vehicle he is to be transported in on a certain day as well as the date and location of upcoming medical treatments. In spite of the pressure, Andrew remains committed to reaching Muslims for Christ. (Voice of the Martyrs)

SUDDEN CHANGE IN PLANS TEACHES LESSON TO MISSIONS TEAM IN BRAZIL

A short-term missions team learned that God can use weather to direct His plans. A team with Teen Missions International in northern Brazil was somewhat disappointed when a storm prevented them from reaching the village they had intended to visit. Team members found themselves “stuck” in the larger town of Salvaterra. While there, they put on children’s programs for more than 120 children with 50 making decisions to follow Jesus. They also presented the “JESUS” film in two locations in the town with more than 180 people attending. More rain during a second night of outreach caused the ministry to move inside the church. Regardless, 13 adults prayed to receive Christ that night. The team had a real-life experience showing that man’s plans are not always God’s plans. (Mission Network News)

* HCJB World Radio broadcasts the gospel in Portuguese to Brazil via shortwave from Quito, Ecuador, and maintains a world office and radio studios in Curitiba. Portuguese programs, which have been on the air continuously since 1947, generate more listener letters than any language service at Radio Station HCJB in Ecuador. The ministry’s Portuguese programs also air on local radio stations across Brazil.