Today’s Headlines:

CHURCHES IN PHILIPPINES RETAIN HOPE DESPITE TYPHOON, VOLCANOES

CHINESE PROSECUTORS POSTPONE CHARGES AGAINST 6 CHRISTIANS

ROCK STAR’S ADOPTION DRAWS WORLD ATTENTION TO MALAWI

ARCHBISHOP: CHINESE CHURCHGOING RIVALS EUROPEAN PERCENTAGES

Defending the Christian faith is the focus of a series of programs from HCJB World Radio-Australia this week and next, featuring guests from Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (http://www.rzim.org). This week’s guest apologists are L.T. Jeyachandran from India and Stuart McAllister from Scotland.

Podcast or listen online by checking the following link:

http://www.hcjb.org/worldwide/australia/world_radio_programme.html

Today’s Top Stories:

CHURCHES IN PHILIPPINES RETAIN HOPE DESPITE TYPHOON, VOLCANOES

Pastors and churches in eastern Philippines’ Bicol province were among those impacted by the typhoon that wracked the island nation in late September. The typhoon was one of the strongest storms to hit the nation in a decade. Bicol is one of the most depressed areas of the nation and, before the storm, the region had not yet recovered from powerful volcanic eruptions that caused widespread ash falls. A two-member Philippine Nazarene Compassionate Ministries team visited the area in October to determine the extent of the damage. Several area churches were damaged, one collapsing in the storm, while others escaped unscathed. Many of the church members’ homes and farm crops were destroyed before they could be harvested. Regardless, many believers remained joyful. As Pastor Carvin Cayetano worked to patch his roof he said, “Our homes may not be standing up, but praise God we are still standing up. We will continue to stand up for Jesus!” (Evangelical News)

CHINESE PROSECUTORS POSTPONE CHARGES AGAINST 6 CHRISTIANS

Local prosecutors in the city of Hangzhou in China’s Xiaoshan district have decided at this time not to prosecute the six church leaders arrested on July 29 when officials demolished a newly completed church. The case has been returned to the local Public Security Bureau (PSB) to gather more evidence. Reports that the Christian leaders implored the military police to postpone entering the construction site while at the same time urging the congregation to leave quickly in order to avoid a large-scale conflict have left PSB charges of “incitement to resist law enforcement” untenable. The six leaders, some as old as 76 years, remain in prison. The PSB may be investigating a 2004 incident where many of the same leaders held an open-air gospel meeting for migrant workers without permission from China’s Religious Affairs Bureau. (China Aid Association/ WorldWide Religious News)

ROCK STAR’S ADOPTION DRAWS WORLD ATTENTION TO MALAWI

Rock star Madonna’s adoption of orphan David Banda is drawing international attention to the Sub-Saharan African nation of Malawi and its orphans. However, Hopegivers International Executive Director Michael Glenn says Banda is “only one in a million.” While Madonna recently declared intentions to donate $1 million to support an orphan care center in Malawi and plans to help build a $3-million orphanage for the children there. Hopegivers and its partner, CitiHope International, already have an established, long-term program in place. By the end of this year Hopegivers will have provided more than 10,000 meals daily and delivered another $2.2 million in life-saving medicine to more than 10,000 beneficiaries in 40 public, private and church-sponsored institutions since 2004. Nonetheless, the situation for orphans in Malawi remains dire. “In Malawi we see and experience first-hand the desperate needs of AIDS orphans. Estimates of up to 50 percent of the orphans are believed to be infected. And they are part of vulnerable families who are coping with severe famine, extreme poverty and life-threatening diseases,” Glenn said. (Assist News Service)

* In partnership with African Bible College, HCJB World Radio helped plant a Christian radio station in Lilongwe, Malawi, in 1995. The station airs programs in Chichewa and English. Staff members from the HCJB World Radio Engineering Center in Elkhart, Ind., also installed FM transmitters at stations in two Malawian cities, Blantyre and Mzuzu, in 2000. Recently HCJB World Radio has joined with the Partners in Hope Medical Clinic, assigning a missionary couple to the outreach.

ARCHBISHOP: CHINESE CHURCHGOING RIVALS EUROPEAN PERCENTAGES

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams believes that in some regions of China the percentage of the population attending church on Sundays is as large or larger than in most countries in Western Europe. Following his two-week trip to China, Williams made his remarks from the residence of the British ambassador in Beijing on Tuesday, Oct. 24. Williams said the purpose of the visit was to “gain a better understanding of the Christian Community in China (Catholic as well as Protestant), and to explore how we might build a lasting and deeper relationships among the Church of England, the Three-Self Patriotic Movement and the Chinese Christian Council.” When asked about his overall perception on the church in China, Williams replied, “Whether it’s getting better or worse on the ground, I can only say that I heard far more consistently than I had expected . . . positive things about the role of religion and positive willingness to support religiously inspired projects. How that plays out in a remote village I can’t say, but I think what I’m trying to say is that it’s not only at national level that we’ve heard some of these more encouraging signs.” (Ecumenical News International)