Monthly Global News and Information for members and friends of the
Christian - Churches of Christ - Disciples of Christ family of churches around the world from 'World Convention’

Number 26 – May 2005
To contact us, or discontinue, write only to worldconv@aol.com 
ChristiaNet uses a send-only address.

New President for Historical Society

The Board of Trustees of the Disciples of Christ Historical Society has elected Dr Glenn Carson to be the next president of the society from July 1^st, 2005. Dr Carson, 45 years of age, currently serves as Moderator of the Greater Kansas City Region Disciples Ministers Association and as a member of the Greater Kansas City Region Executive Committee with responsibility for leadership development.  He is Consulting Pastor of Broadveiw Christian Church in Kansas City. He is the author of “Calling Out the Called: The Life and Work of Lee Rutland Scarborough.”

New Office and Postal Address for World Convention

The World Convention office has now relocated to 2704 Greystone Road, Berry Hill, Nashville. Our Postal Address is now P.O. Box 41487 Nashville, TN 37204-1146 USA. Our phone and fax numbers remain unchanged. We would love to see you if you are in our area. A photo and full report are in the June edition of World Christian.

Report from Ashley Barker

Many were challenged by the World Christian article concerning the work by Ashley and Anji Barker in the Klong Toey slum of Bangkok. Ashley now reports that; “in April on our soccer/Bible Study camp by the beach all thirty-five young men made first time commitments to Christ. We have been working with these guys for over a year. Please pray the discipleship groups in the Rong Fork, Klong Toey proper and Peenung slums will help ground these guys in the faith. Please pray for more Christian workers to make the most of these opportunities and invites from these slum neighborhoods for schools, churches and football.”

New Zealand Website

The Associated Churches of Christ in New Zealand have a new website, it can be found at www.churchesofchrist.org.nz It is a great site with lots of information.  Unfortunately Association President John Fulford has been diagnosed with "Multiple Myeloma" with a 76% degree of infection of the bone marrow. John recently spent a week in hospital being stabilized and tested. He is now into chemotherapy as an outpatient on a schedule to run several months. John reports; “I have some hurts in my bones and I generally move pretty slowly, I have some sores on my tongue, but by the grace of God there is actually right now practically nothing else I can figure out that is really wrong with me -- though this is the period in which they say if my temperature goes over 38C they want to rush me into hospital!!! (It is staying around 37!).”  Please uphold John in your prayers.

Global Ministries African Executive resigns

Bonganjio Goba who has led the African office of Global Ministries (Disciples of Christ/UCC) in Indianapolis for three years has resigned due to personal and family circumstances and will return to his homeland in South Africa. Bonganjio  Goba is a well respected pastor in Africa were he has served for over 35 years as a pastor, professor, dean of faculty, vice chancellor and principal of a number of educational institutions.

2nd Antenna in Alaska is finished

World Christian Broadcasting report that their second antenna in Alaska is now finished and ready for service. This will enable them to double their broadcast hours to twenty. They will do ten hours in Mandarin Chinese, six hours in Russian and four hours of English programming each day. A special dedication will be conducted June 17-19. World Christian Broadcasting has just launched an Arabic website to compliment their English, Russian and Chinese sites. 

Anti conversion laws strengthened

The government of Chhattisgarh, India, intends to strengthen the state’s anti-conversion law. The state government has prepared a draft to amend the provisions of the Dharma Swatantraya Adhinayarn (Freedom of Religion) Act, making them more stringent to restrict conversions of poor tribals to Christianity. Under current provisions, a conversion offense is punishable with imprisonment for a maximum of two years, and a maximum fine of 10,000 rupees ($230). If proposed changes take effect, “An offense under the law will be non-bailable and punishable by imprisonment of up to four years and a fine up to 100,000 rupees ($2,303).”  A person wishing to convert will be required to contact district officials 30 days before the conversion. Religious leaders are also required to send a list of would be converts to district officials 30 days in advance. Officials must approve the conversions before they take place. The new provision apply only to adults aged 18 years or older and only senior police inspectors are permitted to handle these cases. (Vishal Arora, Compass Direct Feature News)

Australian work begins in Vietnam

Australian John Dean working in South Vietnam with COCOA (Churches of Christ Overseas Aid) reports; “We have been approved to receive a $10,000 USD grant from the New Zealand Embassy in Hanoi for one of the water projects in Binh Phuoc Province.” John says he needs $6,000 US to complete the two projects which will supply fresh water to rural based people. The Australian churches also have two women teaching conversational English in the same province which is near the border with Kampuchea.

Give your donation on-line

The World Convention website now offers a secure site for making your donation to our work. Called PayPal it is easy to access, just go to our website; www.worldconvention.org and click on the “support World Convention” line. This will bring up a number of options, just scroll down to PayPal and click. Please note PayPal will take a fee of 1.9% + $0.30 USD to 2.9% + $0.30 USD for processing your donation. PayPal will email you a receipt for this transaction.

Diamond Campaign

Giving a gift to the Diamond Campaign is a great way of celebrating the 75^th anniversary of the World Convention. Those who give a gift of $75 US or more will receive one of our specially cast anniversary key rings.  With a gift of $750 US you choose between a gift of “The Encyclopedia of the Stone Campbell Movement”, or a special desk top 75^th anniversary world globe. Those who give a gift of $1000 US will receive a free entry to the 2008 World Convention (What a great way for Churches to reward their Pastor).

Events for prayer:
- May 9-14 Vanuatu Conference of Churches of Christ Annual General Meeting.

- May 24 – 26 North American Christian Convention (West) Crossroads Christian Church, Corona, CA.

- June 5-7 Stone – Campbell Dialogue, Dallas, TX

- June 25 Cane Ridge Day - all welcome to share at this historical site.

- June 28 – 30 North American Christian Convention (Midwest) Southland Christian Church, Lexington, KY

World Convention seeks to build up fellowship, understanding and common purpose within the Christian - Churches of Christ - Disciples of Christ family of churches, now serving and witnessing as part of Christ's church in no less than 178 countries. 
 
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'I pray that you may have your roots and foundations in love, so that you, together with all God's people, may have the power to understand how broad and long, how high and deep, is Christ's love ... and so be filled with the very nature of God.'  Ephesians 3: 17b-19.