Today’s Headlines:

ERITREA SEIZES TITHES, ARRESTS 9 CHRISTIAN AID TRUCKERS

FAITH-BASED GROUPS JOIN NEW NETWORK TO BATTLE MALARIA

MOROCCAN CHRISTIANS RELY ON DISCRETION, TECHNOLOGY

DARFUR CONFLICT WORSENS, MORE AID AGENCIES LEAVE SUDAN

‘THE WORDLESS BOOK’ GOES ROUND WITH ‘EVANGEBALL’

Today’s Top Stories:

ERITREA SEIZES TITHES, ARRESTS 9 CHRISTIAN AID TRUCKERS

In an ultimatum delivered to the Orthodox Church in the East African nation of Eritrea on Tuesday, Dec. 5, the state demanded all offerings and tithes collected by the church be deposited directly into a government account.

The unilateral order, effective immediately, called for the monthly salaries of all Orthodox priests to be paid out from the same government-controlled fund. In addition, the government also announced new limits for the number of priests to be allowed to serve in each parish. Any “extra” priests will be required to perform required military service.

Sources within Eritrea also confirmed the arrests of nine truck drivers working with the aid agency Samaritan’s Purse who were ordered to leave the country last month. Authorities intercepted the men on Monday, Dec. 4, as they were driving toward the Eritrean-Sudanese border where Samaritan’s Purse had projects assisting the nomadic Beja tribe.

The detained drivers, most of whom are known to be evangelical Christians, remain in custody in Asmara. Samaritan’s Purse is the 11th aid agency to be expelled from Eritrea this year. (Compass Direct News)

FAITH-BASED GROUPS JOIN NEW NETWORK TO BATTLE MALARIA

A White House summit on malaria hosted by President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, launched a nonprofit network of organizations, corporations and faith-based groups called “Malaria No More” (MNM). The new cooperative entity announced commitments for funding as well as 150,000 volunteers to reach 12.5 million people in Africa with training on the prevention and treatment of malaria. “This is a grassroots movement to engage individuals and private institutions in supporting a comprehensive approach to controlling malaria,” said MNM Chief Executive Officer John Bridgeland. The network aims to get more Americans involved. As part of this, Scholastic Books will help distribute materials to nearly every U.S. elementary school, demonstrating how children can help with the fight against malaria. A $10 contribution covers the cost of a bed net along with delivery and training about the disease. More than 1 million durable, insecticide-treated bed nets will be provided to protect approximately 2.5 million lives in Africa. Despite the fact that malaria is said to kill one African child every 30 seconds, polling data shows that Americans rate the disease last among serious diseases worldwide. MNM aims to make Americans more aware of this problem. (Christian Newswire)

MOROCCAN CHRISTIANS RELY ON DISCRETION, TECHNOLOGY

Under the suspicious eye of the police and Muslim clergy, Moroccan converts to Christianity discreetly hold church gatherings. “There are about 1,000 of us in around 50 independent churches across the big cities of the kingdom,” said the 30-year-old Christian who coordinates these evangelical Protestant groups. The state tolerates them, but they continue to “conduct ourselves as a clandestine organization.” In Morocco Islam is the state religion, and the few recognized Christian churches are only for foreigners. Technology has broken down some of Islam’s monopoly on Moroccan religion. “Television and the Internet are very efficient methods,” said the coordinator. “In our church a soldier became a Christian through the Al Hayat channel.” Jack Wald, 55, an American pastor at Rabat International Church (one of the “official” Christian churches), also cites the role of technology. “It means that a country or religion cannot isolate itself from the rest of the world,” he said. “Radio, television and the Internet have opened up doors for people to hear a different message than the one the imam preaches on Fridays.” (WorldWide Religious News)

* HCJB World Radio reaches across North Africa, the Middle East and Europe with Christian Arabic programming aired via shortwave, satellite and local stations. The mission’s Arabic satellite network airs programs direct-to-home 24 hours a day. This region has the world’s highest concentration of personal satellite dishes.

DARFUR CONFLICT WORSENS, MORE AID AGENCIES LEAVE SUDAN

Despite the already-bad situation in western Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region, the situation has worsened, forcing many relief groups and individuals to flee the country. “It’s unbelievable for any human being to imagine that [all of] Darfur right now is unsafe, even in the cities,” said Motasim Adam, a Darfurian refugee and president of the Darfur People’s Association of New York. With the exodus of relief workers, security in the refugee camps has also deteriorated. “Forget about the camps. One week ago they were safe because the human rights organizations and humanitarian organizations. Now everything is screwed up,” said Adam. Mission Aviation Fellowship has reported helping evacuate some Christian workers in southern Sudan due to the escalating violence despite the fact the ministry doesn’t have a base in Sudan. An estimated 70,000 people have died from starvation alone in Darfur during nearly four years of conflict and genocide. (Religion Today)

‘THE WORDLESS BOOK’ GOES ROUND WITH ‘EVANGEBALL’

An evangelistic technique more than a century old has been given a new kick by an invention that E3 Partners calls the “EvangeBall.” Charles Spurgeon first preached about “The Wordless Book” in a sermon in 1866. He told of an unnamed minister who used three colored pages to remind him of his sinfulness (black), of Christ’s blood poured out for him (red) and the cleansing provided (white). As the idea gained popularity among Christians, a green page signifying growth and a gold page representing heaven were later added. D.L. Moody began regularly using the book in his meetings in 1900. Now, expanding the use of the Wordless Book’s rich history, the EvangeBall places the same colors on different panels of a soccer ball. Teams can gather a group, play a soccer match and then use the colors on the ball to share a message about Jesus. After the demonstration, the idea is to leave the colorful ball in the community along with an air pump and gospel tracts. (Mission Network News)

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