Today’s Headlines:

UNCERTAINTY IN JAPAN SPARKS INCREASED INTEREST IN THE GOSPEL

CRIPPLED HOUSE CHURCH PASTOR GETS 2 YEARS FOR PRINTING BIBLES

CHURCH-LED PROGRAM HELPS BOOST LITERACY IN PHILIPPINES

THEOLOGIAN MAKES CASE AGAINST ‘NEW COVENANT TITHING’

RESEARCH SHOWS U.S. POPULATION GROWTH EXCEEDS CHURCH GROWTH

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Today’s Top Stories:

UNCERTAINTY IN JAPAN SPARKS INCREASED INTEREST IN THE GOSPEL

Uncertainty in Japan caused by North Korea’s aggressive displays of its new nuclear capability has created fertile ground for evangelism. The JESUS Film Project is making plans to send a team to Japan in December. Jacqueline Celum of the JESUS Film Project says the Japanese people are among the world’s least-reached people groups with just 0.07 percent putting faith in Christ. Despite the needs, Celum says DVDs of the “JESUS” film have helped spur interest in Christianity. “The Japanese people really like black gospel music,” says Celum. “I don’t know why, but in the DVDs we hand out, not only is there the ‘JESUS’ film on it, but it’s more interactive, and it includes black gospel choirs and singers.” JESUS Film Project is seeking additional team members to help hand out the DVDs. (Mission Network News)

* Weekly one-hour Japanese broadcasts air from HCJB World Radio-Australia’s shortwave station in Kununurra. Programs are also available on the Internet via on-demand archives and air via a digital satellite network in Japan. An HCJB World Radio representation site opened in Tokyo in August.

CRIPPLED HOUSE CHURCH PASTOR GETS 2 YEARS FOR PRINTING BIBLES

Prominent Chinese house church Pastor Wang Zaiqing from China’s Anhui province was sentenced on Monday, Oct. 9, to two years in prison on charges of “illegal business practices.” He was also fined the equivalent of US$12,500, and all books in his home and funds for printing were confiscated. Wang, who has been crippled since age 5, had been printing and distributing Bibles and other Christian literature from his home free of charge. This resulted in his arrest on April 28. Wang and his lawyer contended that for the printing to be considered an illegal business practice, the accused must make a profit. The court disagreed and sentenced the former pastor to two years in jail. Wang and his attorney said they won’t comply with the sentence and will appeal to a higher-level People’s Court. (China Aid Association)

CHURCH-LED PROGRAM HELPS BOOST LITERACY IN PHILIPPINES

Volunteer teachers from an evangelical church in Manila have been spearheading a church-led initiative to battle illiteracy in the Philippines. Teachers at the Community Bible Church have been running a Saturday literacy program for the indigent for about one semester. The students are mostly poor illiterate people from their church (although anyone is welcome), ranging in age from their early teens to their 60s. This semester the group is seeking more teacher volunteers to train and is working to attract more male participants. Vic Mandalupa, a volunteer at the church, recalled the example of a “61-year-old woman who didn’t touch the hymnbook in church because she didn’t want people to know she was illiterate. Now she reads and sings from the book with gusto.” According to the 2003 Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey, one in every 10 Filipinos or 8.5 million people between the ages of 10 and 64 are illiterate. (Assist News Service)

THEOLOGIAN MAKES CASE AGAINST ‘NEW COVENANT TITHING’

Theologian Dr. Russell Earl Kelly believes the tithing principle taught in the Old Testament was never commanded as an “eternal moral principle of the new covenant to the church.” He believes churches ignore the context of Malachi 3:10 when they teach mandatory tithing. Kelly says a growing number of Christians are also opposed to the doctrine. In his book, Should the Church Teach Tithing: A Theologian’s Conclusions About a Taboo Doctrine, Kelly contends that if the doctrine put forth in Malachi applied today, “then millions of poor tithing Christians would have escaped poverty and would have become the wealthiest group of people in the world instead of remaining poor.” Because that has not happened, Kelly says it shows that the vast majority of poor people are never blessed financially even though they tithe. A report by Christian Financial Concepts in 2000 stated that 80 percent of monies contributed to evangelical churches comes from 20 percent of their members, the remaining 20 percent comes from 30 percent of the members, and roughly half of church members give nothing. (Agape Press/Religion Today)

RESEARCH SHOWS U.S. POPULATION GROWTH EXCEEDS CHURCH GROWTH

Recent research based on a database of more than 300,000 churches across the U.S. indicates that the overall population is growing faster than the church. Director Dave Olsen of the American Church Research Project, which has been working for years to record actual attendance data from churches nationwide, said overall church attendance is virtually unchanged from 15 years ago despite the fact that the country’s population has grown by 52 million. Olsen’s research shows the northeastern U.S. as the only part of the country where the church growth rate exceeds the population increase. His research also shows the evangelical church to be changing. “The evangelical church is becoming suburban, affluent and educated,” Olson said. “The Christian community needs a restoration of its understanding of the message and mission of Jesus. It needs to be less self-righteous, individualistic and materialistic. It needs to be more biblical, Christocentric and holistic.” (Religion Today)