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Today’s Headlines:

U.S. MISSIONARY FOUND SLAIN IN HIS APARTMENT IN LATVIA CHRISTIANS WARY AS NEW INDONESIAN PRESIDENT TAKES OFFICE 5 CHRISTIANS CHARGED WITH ‘WOUNDING RELIGIOUS FEELINGS’ IN INDIA 1,500 LEADERS ATTEND WORLD EVANGELIZATION FORUM IN THAILAND TRIAL DATE SET FOR PASTOR OF MENNONITE CHURCH IN VIETNAM MINISTRY FACILITATES 25,000 ADOPTIONS WORLDWIDE IN 60 YEARS

Today’s News Stories:

U.S. MISSIONARY FOUND SLAIN IN HIS APARTMENT IN LATVIA Police in the former Soviet republic of Latvia say an American missionary has been found slain in his apartment in the capital, Riga. A police spokeswoman said the man was found with a knife plunged in his chest and what appeared to be strangulation marks around his throat. He wasn’t immediately identified. Investigators found the victim’s apartment in disarray and suspect he may have been robbed. The U.S. embassy said it was trying to contact the victim’s family. There are Mormon, Baptist and Jehovah’s Witnesses missionaries working in Latvia. Most of the country’s 2.3 million residents are Lutheran, Russian Orthodox or Catholic. (WorldWide Religious News/Associated Press)

CHRISTIANS WARY AS NEW INDONESIAN PRESIDENT TAKES OFFICE This week’s inauguration of new Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono promises to address sectarian and security issues, but there’s been a marked rise of violence against Christians, says Voice of the Martyrs spokesman Todd Nettleton. Rebels are trying to increase their influence on a new government by creating an administrative diversion, he says. “If the government is less stable . . . they’re less likely to take a strong against radical Islam,” Nettleton says. “For ministries that are working there, obviously, the biggest question is safety. ‘Is it safe for us to meet?’ ‘Is it safe for us to do our work?’ ‘Is it safe for us to be here?’ When you’re thinking about safety [it detracts from the ministry].”

5 CHRISTIANS CHARGED WITH ‘WOUNDING RELIGIOUS FEELINGS’ IN INDIA A court in eastern India’s Orissa state has charged five Christians with the crime of “wounding the religious feelings” of Hindus after a complaint was lodged in the state’s tribal belt. The Christians were released on bail on Thursday, Oct. 28. Lawyer Pratap Chhinchani, who will defend the five in court, said he believed a Hindu extremist group was behind the complaint and that the charges were false. Meanwhile, the World Hindu Council (VHP) continued its “reconversion” drive in Orissa unhindered by local authorities. Christians reject the term “reconversion to Hinduism” since most tribal converts were animists before they became Christians. However, Indian law regards tribal peoples as Hindu in origin. (Compass)

* “The Voice of the Great Southland,” the shortwave station operated by HCJB World Radio-Australia since January 2003, airs more than 108 hours of weekly Christian programming in 11 languages, including the following languages spoken in India: Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi, Nepali, Malayalam, Chattisgarhi, Hmar, Meeitei. Programs in these languages are produced at HCJB World Radio’s studio in New Delhi.

1,500 LEADERS ATTEND WORLD EVANGELIZATION FORUM IN THAILAND “A New Vision, A New Heart and a Renewed Call” was the theme of the 2004 Forum for World Evangelization in Pattaya, Thailand, Sept. 29-Oct. 5. The forum, hosted by the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization (LCWE), drew more than 1,500 Christian leaders from nearly 130 countries to focus on the task of global evangelism. With an emphasis on reaching the people most in need — children, the poor, the oppressed and abused, and those living with disabilities — participants were challenged to recommit themselves and their ministries to evangelism. Prior to the event, an international research effort identified 31 crucial issues affecting global evangelism. Based on that research, forum leaders established issue groups to define each issue, conduct research and collect information on ministries already successfully engaging the concern. Paul Cedar, outgoing LCWE international chair, and International Director David Claydon stepped down from their posts at the end of the event. Cedar will now serve Lausanne as a senior adviser while Claydon has been named ambassador-at-large. Rev. Douglass Birdsall, president of Asian Access, was elected LCWE executive chair, and Ted Yamamori, president emeritus of Food for the Hungry International, was appointed LCWE international director. (Assist News Service)

TRIAL DATE SET FOR PASTOR OF MENNONITE CHURCH IN VIETNAM Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang, a prominent rights activist and general secretary of the Mennonite Church in Vietnam, is scheduled to be tried on Friday, Nov. 12, in a case that has been plagued by irregularities and inconsistencies. Contrary to Vietnamese law and practice, authorities refused to give Quang’s wife a copy of the indictment which was turned over to the court by police investigators more than a week ago, and they refused to give her a copy of the court’s decision to try him. She was also denied her biweekly visit with her husband on Friday, Oct. 15, and went to the prison daily after that in an effort to see him. She was finally told a week later that she would not be allowed to see her husband unless she agreed to try to convince him to admit to his “crime.” Quang was arrested on June 8 on the charge of “inciting others to resist officers of the law doing their duty.” Meanwhile, constant pressure is being placed on Mennonites in Vietnam’s central highlands. On Friday, Sept. 24, attackers destroyed a Mennonite church, office and home of another pastor named Chinh. (Compass)

MINISTRY FACILITATES 25,000 ADOPTIONS WORLDWIDE IN 60 YEARS An evangelical organization responsible for placing thousands of orphans with families worldwide is celebrating 60 years of service. Bethany Christian Services not only facilitates adoptions, but helps with a crisis pregnancy center, other counseling and meeting humanitarian needs. “Throughout the years we’ve been able to place about 25,000 children into adoptive families,” said ministry spokesman Roger Bouwma. “Of those, about 9,000 are international children. We work in 16 different countries, doing both international adoption work and social service work.” In addition to adoptive families, Bouwma says more people are needed to support poor families financially. (Mission Network News)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * James A. Ferrier HCJB World Radio U.S. Ministries Communications Director E-mail: Phone: 1-719-590-9800 Fax: 1-719-590-9801 Web: http://www.hcjb.org http://www.beyondthecall.org * * * * * * * * * * * * *

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