From: World Convention of Churches [info@worldconvention.org]
Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2005 6:38 AM
To: info@worldconvention.org
Subject: ChristiaNet Number 23 - February 2005

'ChristiaNet' 

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 23 - FEBRUARY 2005
To contact us, or discontinue, write only to worldconv@aol.com - 
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New Church Plant in Brazil

A Church has been planted in Campo Limpo Paulista (Brazil). The dedication of this new church was conducted over three days January 21-23. Over 3.000 invitations were distributed, a sound-equipped car announcing the dedication was on the streets during the day, and announcements at the local radio station were made reports missionary Jeff Fife of River of Life Ministries/Ministerio Rio de Vida. A large crowd gathered at all the events despite bad weather. Pray that the Lord will impact the city with His Gospel through this new church plant.

 

New church movement now at 25 percent of goal

In the year 2000, US Disciples may have wondered if achieving the 2020 vision of 1000 new congregations in 20 years was possible.  In just four years, Disciples have started 262 new congregations passing the 25 percent mark two years ahead of previous predictions, and providing an encouraging indication that the 1000 goal is achievable.  With the addition of 12 new Haitian congregations and a new African-American congregation now affiliating with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the total number of new Disciples churches in 2004 is 75.  This is the second year that the effort has experienced a two percent growth rate.  

The most recent report from the Refugee and Immigration Ministries of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) shows Disciples helped resettle 758 refugees in 2004.

 

Good News in India

Good News Productions regional center in Chandigarh, India recently released its most current project. It is an audio recording of music and teaching. This combination of music and teaching has been very well received by the people in the Punjabi region. The recording is available on both CD and cassette. Meanwhile in the Philippines, the weekly, nationally-televised program Asin at Ilaw is celebrating its tenth anniversary! Not only are they celebrating this milestone accomplishment, but also Asin at Ilaw and WWJD made it again to the winner's list of the ANAK TV SEAL 2004! The winners were chosen by more than 2,000 people from all walks of life. They emphasized that the programs were selected for content, not popularity and value promotion rather than celebrity attraction or production values.

 

South African Need

Paul and Karen Reyman report that Tigane is a community of about 20,000 people and is extremely poor. We met with the committee that has been established to oversee the feeding of about seventy children twice a month. This is as often as they are able to feed right now with the resources available. But the plan is to increase the meals to once a week or more as donations increase. A family at Northside Christian church where they attend also went to Tigane with donations of rice, beans, samp, maize meal and sorghum porridge. For more information about this feeding scheme, please email them at PaulReyman@xc.org.

 

Million Zimbabwe kids need homes.

Nearly a million children in Zimbabwe have lost one or both parents to Aids and HIV-related illnesses, said the United Nations Children's Fund. Girls as young as nine were caring for siblings or for ailing parents and relatives in Zimbabwe, Unicef said in its annual state of the world's children report. With an estimated 26% of the country's 12.5 million people infected with HIV, orphans were dropping out of school, often with malnutrition, and were "more likely to be involved in hazardous forms of labour" including prostitution, said Festo Kavishe, Unicef's chief representative in Harare. The fund's report on Zimbabwe said the social and economic consequences of HIV/Aids were underscored by the decline in life expectancy from age 52 to 37 since 1990. Zimbabwe is facing its worst economic crisis since independence, with soaring prices and record unemployment. The Associated Churches of Christ in Zimbabwe have established Khayelihle Children's Village which is attempting to care for many of these needy children. Currently 36 children are in care at KCV and a further 98 children in their Community Orphan Care Programme. 

 

Faith on decline in Britain

A recent poll indicates a striking decrease in the number of people in Britain who believe in God. In 1968, a Gallup poll found that 77 percent of people said they believe in God, but that number has fallen to just 44 percent today, according to the Telegraph in London. Britons also believe their nation is becoming a more secular country, though many wish it wasn't
so: 81 percent acknowledged the increase in secularism while 68 percent regret the fact. Forty-six percent said they were agnostics, 35 percent claimed the atheist title and 18 percent said they didn't know, the Telegraph said. Among the 44 percent of believers, 87 percent described themselves as believing in one God, 3 percent as believing in more than one god, and 10 percent as believing in some other kind of Supreme Being. Today, just 38 percent of Britons believe in heaven and 23 percent believe in hell, the Telegraph found. 

 

Global day of prayer for Burma

March 13, 2005 is the upcoming date for the global day of prayer for Burma. We hope that this date will be marked on your calendars and that all of you can join the people of Burma in asking for God's will to be done in their country. A prayer booklet and videos about the situation of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) of Burma are available. The prayer booklet in PDF form will also be on, www.prayforburma.org  . 

Dorothy Jeffries, longtime member of the Hillcrest Christian Church (UK) and a retired missionary of the Christian Church /Disciples of Christ in Canada passed away on the January 11.

Coming Up

February 22-24    Johnson Bible College Homecoming - Presenter Mark Moore

March 13              GLOBAL DAY OF PRAYER FOR BURMA 

April 15-16           Stone Campbell Journal Conference - Cincinnati Bible
Seminary - Presenter Danny Carroll 

Registration: stone-campbelljounal.com

March 10              Good News Productions International Annual
Appreciation Banquet - Joplin Missouri

 

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