Dozens were involved in the high-profile martyrdom of India missionary Graham Staines and his two sons in 1999, when Hindu extremists attacked them in their sleep and burned them alive. But although police originally arrested more than 50 men in connection with the murders, only two have been sentenced.

However, recent arrests may finally raise this total.

Update: According to a statement from Wycliffe Bible Translators president and CEO Bob Creson, Wycliffe and SIL plan to implement the WEA's recommendations "as soon as possible."

"Wycliffe USA is committed to maintaining the integrity of God’s Word through accurate, clear, and natural translation," Creson said. "We are driven by a single passion: providing access to the Word for every person on earth in the language they understand best."
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Bible translations that avoid the phrase "Son of God" have proven successful among Muslims. But dismay by some missionaries and scholars recently led at least two denominations—including the three-million-member Assemblies of God—to threaten boycotts of Wycliffe Bible Translators unless it ended the practice.

In hopes of ending the controversy, Wycliffe asked the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) to referee the debate. Today, the WEA's panel of experts released 10 recommendations.

Update (April 12): Libya has released the four Egyptian Christians whom Libyan officials arrested for proselytising in exchange for two "senior Qaddafi-era officials ... who face charges in Libya of corruption." All charges against the Christians have been dropped.
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Libya has announced that it will free from jail four foreign missionaries who were arrested last month on allegations of evangelism, according to Bloomberg News.

On Tuesday (Feb. 19), renowned Christian photojournalist Don Rutledge died at his home in Virginia. He was 82.

Weeks before the release of a nearly two-year investigation into allegations of sexual abuse of missionary kids, the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism (ABWE) has fired and replaced its investigator, Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment (GRACE).

The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) has officially rebuked Wycliffe Bible Translators' approach to translating the phrase "Son of God" for Muslims, and recommended that the small denomination's churches withdraw financial support from such Bible translations if they remain uncorrected.

Wycliffe, already at risk of losing support from the 3-million-member Assemblies of God over its guidelines for Muslim translations, has agreed to a review of its practices by the World Evangelical Alliance. The Assemblies of God has delayed its decision until the review is completed, likely by year's end.

But yesterday the 40th General Assembly of the 347,000-member PCA overwhelmingly approved an investigative committee's recommendation that "Bibles should always translate divine familial terms using common biological terms" because "social familial terms fail to capture the biblical meaning of 'Son' (huios) and 'Son of God' (huios tou theou) applied to Jesus and 'Father' (pater) applied to God."

The resolution is similar to last year's PCA condemnation of "translations of the Bible that remove from the text references to God as 'Father' (pater) or Jesus as 'Son' (huios), because such removals compromise doctrines of the Trinity, the person and work of Jesus Christ, and Scripture.” However, this year's report also recommends that "PCA churches and committees should redirect missions resources away from projects which deviate from the translation principles articulated in this report," should "loving attempts" at correcting such translators fail.

The report also expresses skepticism of past explanations by Wycliffe regarding its approach to Muslim translations. "Current evidence from agencies points at best to a lack of unanimity, and in some cases to frank resistance, concerning a strong commitment to biological divine sonship terminology," notes the report. "Given the inadequate attention they have given heretofore to the theological implications of Jesus’ begotten-ness, we lack confidence at the present time to accept blanket statements made by translation agencies or their representatives that there exist languages in which the use of non-biological kinship terms constitutes best practices."

The committee will spend one more year assessing what specific actions the PCA should take on "insider movements" more broadly.

Missionaries to Muslims recently agreed to soften criticisms of each other over contextualization practices.

Who was really the first Protestant missionary from America?

This title has traditionally been bestowed upon Adoniram Judson and his wife Ann, who left for Burma in 1812. But last week, Southern Baptist pastor Dwight McKissic proposed that delegates to today's SBC annual meeting challenge this tradition and instead recognize George Liele, a freed slave who started a church in Jamaica 30 years before the Judsons left New England, as "America's First Missionary."

Today the SBC acknowledged but dodged McKissic's request by passing a resolution affirming "African American Contributions to American Baptist History." Delegates affirmed that "historiography has not always reflected the contribution of African American Baptists," thus "we celebrate pioneers such as African Americans George Liele, who many acknowledge as the first overseas missionary from the United States in 1782."

The debate over whether Liele trumps the Judsons largely rests on the fact that the Judsons were "sent out" as missionaries, while Liele was not. CT's sister publication, Christian History, tells the story of how Liele had to emigrate to live and worship freely.

Wolfgang Langhans, a Tokyo-based field director for missionaries, calls the week since the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan "the busiest and most stressful week of my life."

But when those twin crises created a third -- the threat of dangerous radiation leaks from a damaged nuclear plant -- the balancing act between living out a missionary calling and keeping safe became particularly difficult.

"That was and still is a great concern," said Langhans, a German Baptist who works for the group OMF International, which has some 100 missionaries in Japan.

"We constantly inquire about the latest news and advice and have prepared evacuation places in the west of Tokyo should radiation danger reach Tokyo," he said in an e-mail Friday between rolling power blackouts.

His organization has left evacuation decisions up to individual staffers. So far, seven have decided to leave Japan.

Across the devastated country and back home in the United States, missions leaders are grappling with whether staffers should stay put or move away, either to other parts of Japan or out of the country entirely.

The Southern Baptists' International Mission Board also has moved its staffers in eastern Japan to a region southwest of Tokyo.

"The safety and security of our personnel is very important," said board spokeswoman Wendy Norvelle on Friday. "We are also mindful of the Japanese people and want to minister to them in any way we can."

The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod has relocated three missionaries from Tokyo to Kobe, in southern Japan. Two others in the western city of Niigata are not being moved.

"The move is more of a precautionary measure as the situation has worsened given the nuclear crisis," said spokeswoman Vicki Biggs.

Danny Pye, a Christian missionary to Haiti, was freed March 15 after being jailed without charge for 5 months.

"Around 6 pm he walked out of the jail," said Annmaria Runion, Pye’s mother-in-law. Danny’s wife, Leann, is due with their second child March 27. She has been staying with her mother in Florida since January.

Runion said Pye is "in the air right now," en route to Florida. His family, including his wife and 4-year-old daughter Riann, are eager to see him, Runion said.

He's scheduled to land in Fort Lauderdale between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. Thursday evening, said Martha Detalma, a family friend.

"Our prayers, tears, and words have been heard and responded with a YES!!" Leann Pye posted on her blog Wednesday. "Danny is free and is out of Jacmel spending some time with the kids. We will be unavailable until next week. Thank you all for your support and prayers. God is good!"

After his release, Pye briefly spoke to the Associated Press, and said he plans to return to Haiti "soon" to continue his work at a Jacmel orphanage. "It's been an experience I'll never forget," he told the AP. "It's a little surreal. ... I sometimes wonder if it was all a dream."

Haitian authorities agreed to release Pye without citing a reason or commenting, according to the American Center for Law and Justice, which said it had been working on Pye's behalf for the past week. "The fact that he was detained and held for months in jail with no charges of any kind is very troubling and points to the fact that the judicial system in Haiti is badly in need of reform," said the ACLJ's Jay Sekulow.

President Obama today awarded the United States' highest civilian honor to Dr. Tom Little, a Christian worker for the International Assistance Mission (IAM) who was murdered in Afghanistan last August.

"Tom Little could have pursued a lucrative career," President Obama said during the ceremony for Little and 14 other recipients. "Instead, he was guided by his faith, and he set out to heal the poorest of the poor in Afghanistan. For 30 years, amid invasion and civil war, the terror of the Taliban, the spread of insurgency, he and his wife Libby helped bring Afghans—literally—the miracle of sight."

Little, an optometrist, was leading an eye care team in the remote northeastern region of Badakhshan when he and nine others were found dead last summer. According to Compass Direct news service, the attack's motive is still unclear. Though the Taliban, who claimed responsibility, alleged that the group had been proselytizing and carrying Bibles in the Dari language, the IAM insisted that neither was true.

Christian workers Glenn D. Lapp, of the Mennonite Central Committee, and 32-year-old Cheryl Beckett, a pastor’s daughter from Tennessee and a graduate of Indiana Wesleyan University, also died in the attack.

Little's widow Libby Little accepted the award on her husband's behalf. Last year, shortly before his death, Libby Little wrote an essay for Christianity Today's Global Conversation project. In her essay, she suggested that mission agencies were sometimes too quick to evacuate when a mission field grew dangerous, and missed "the fruitful door of opportunity to embrace suffering in service." She related two stories of times when she and Tom reaped benefits from sticking around in a troubled spot.

"God blessed those occasions and visited us with his power," she wrote. "His amateur followers, stricken with stage fright, forgetting their lines, were acting out in miniature something of his own Grand Narrative—Immanuel, God with us—in the miserable mess. The scenes set the stage for the Holy Spirit to work in a mighty way."

In his remarks, President Obama characterized Little as "a humanitarian in the truest sense of the word: a man who not only dedicated his life to others, but who lived that lesson of Scripture: 'Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.' "

Little's was the only posthumous Medal of Freedom awarded this year.

Media attention for Cape Town 2010, the global gathering held October 17-25 by the Lausanne Movement, peaked and faded. But the work of Lausanne continues.

Two key developments just one week apart:

First, on Friday Part II of the Cape Town Commitment will be released. Chris Wright and the Statement Working Group delivered Part I of the Commitment near the end of that international conference. That half-document framed a missional theology in the language of love: love for God, love for the gospel , love for God’s word, etc. The result was a doctrinal statement that moved readers beyond mental assent to passionate action.

But what action? That’s the point of Part II, which was originally promised for November. I’ll analyze Part II on Friday, and Christianity Today will also belatedly post my review of Part I (which was printed in the magazine's December issue but somehow never got posted on its website).

Second, just last Friday we received the official invitation to attend Orlando 2011.

Almost two years ago, we featured Kendall Ciesemier as one of two U.S. teen activists who had raised millions of dollars in their quests to join the fight against HIV/AIDS and poverty in Africa.

Ciesemier's work had caught the eye of Oprah Winfrey and Bill Clinton, and now it's got the attention of the readers of Glamour magazine, who voted Ciesemier their Readers' Choice winner in the publication's annual Women of Year issue. The brief article notes that Kendall's organization, Kids Caring 4 Kids, has raised over $840,000, funding a girls’ dormitory in Kenya and meals for AIDS patients and orphans in Zambia. She has a goal of raising $1 million before she heads to college next fall.

New Reformation

Ever since Martin Luther Christians have been calling for new reformations, with varied levels of seriousness. (In 1982 Robert Schuller published Self-Esteem: The New Reformation.) However, Chris Wright's call on Saturday morning of the Cape Town 2010 congress had a note of unusual authenticity. His address was followed by Femi Adeleye's take-no-prisoners talk on prosperity teaching, which he labeled "another gospel." More to the point, much of Saturday was devoted to repentance and prayer, as participants were asked to reflect deeply on their lack of humility, integrity and simplicity.

Wright made a detailed comparison to the state of the church now and in the Roman Catholic church before Luther. In both cases, he said, the ordinary people were deprived of the word of God, but rather were offered a religion based on a bargain: give to the church and reap blessings. The clergy in both cases often benefit, with sumptuous lifestyles and unaccountable power.

"What is the greatest obstacle to God's mission in the world?" Wright asked. "It is not other religions, or a resistant culture. Our idolatry is the single biggest obstacle to world mission. We are a scandal, a stumbling block to the mission of God. Reformation is the desperate need of our day, and it must start with us. If we want to change the world, we must first change our world."

In a subsequent press conference Wright said the congress should not be "a jamboree of evangelical triumphalism."

Wright serves as International Director of Langham Partnership International, which supports ministries to strengthen Christian leadership and preaching in the Majority World.

Quite a number of Sudanese Christian leaders have come to Cape Town 2010. Yesterday they held a press conference along with the leaders of the World Evangelical Alliance to draw the church's attention to the upcoming referendum on January 9, 2011. Sudanese citizens of the South--largely Christians and animists in an Islamic country--will vote on whether to secede and form a new nation. The church leaders, including Anglican bishop of Khartoum Ezekiel Kondo, spoke of the deep anxiety of Christians as the day of the referendum approaches. It is not clear whether the north-dominated government will allow the referendum to go forward. Should the referendum proceed and the citizens of the South elect to secede, there is great uncertainty about the possibility of civil war. And even in the best of circumstances, Southerners displaced to the north may be prevented by force from returning to their southern homes. If they return they face dangers from land mines planted during the civil war, massive problems of food supply, and other issues. Christians who make their home in the north pleaded for Christians around to globe to advocate for them, too. Reverend Elizabeth Aya, head of the Anglican Mother's Union, pleaded for Christians to help. "We need you to join us in prayer," she said. "We want our freedom. We have been suffering."

The World Evangelical Alliance under Geoff Tunnicliffe, who also participated in the press conference, is organizing churches to pray and volunteer as election monitors.

At a conference of 4,000 Christians from every part of the world, the most fascinating learning doesn't necessarily come from the platform addresses. It can come from introducing yourself. Seated next to you is likely to be someone from a different world and with an incomparable experience. Here are notes on three fascinating conversations I have had:

I’m in Cape Town for the third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization. Four thousand delegates are here in what is being described as the most representative gathering of Christian leaders in history. But one group is notably underrepresented: prominent figures associated with evangelical Christianity in the United States, especially pastors of large churches. Rather than name names, let me put it this way: pick a celebrated American evangelical church leader, especially one who founded his current congregation, and I will give you 5-1 odds that he (and most of the missing are “he”s) is not here, at least not as part of the official US delegation.
 
For better and for worse, these absences tell us a lot about power, influence, innovation, and the future of global movements like evangelical Christianity. Here are a few lessons from the ecclesial Realpolitik of the no-shows (in rough order from brutally honest to genuinely hopeful) . . . .

Cape Town 2010 is no congress of old lions. The theme of "God on the Move" is frequently repeated, and the emphasis is on the church's future, not the past. Most participants are in the prime of their working life, and a sizable number are in their twenties. Wednesday night the worship band had them dancing in the aisles.

But Wednesday night's last presentation featured the living memory of Lausanne in the persons of Rene Padilla and Samuel Escobar, seated on stage and recounting the history of the Lausanne movement. It was a fond moment for the many delegates who know the two or have been influenced by them. The two Latin Americans remembered congresses from the 1960s, including the 1966 Berlin World Congress on Evangelism, that led up to the first Lausanne congress in 1974. Escobar recalled his work on the drafting of the Lausanne Covenant, now so widely embraced but then subject to intense pressure and criticism. Both men recalled not only the major conferences in Lausanne and Manila, but many smaller and regional gatherings affiliated with Lausanne that worked to clarify and direct the evangelical movement. The affirmation of wholistic ministry--the embrace of both evangelism and social involvement, integrated together--clearly remains a central achievement of the movement, as Escobar and Padilla think of it. And that, too, is a pointer to the future.

Hackers launched millions of hits from several locations on Cape Town 2010 websites, according to Joseph Vijayam, IT chair for the Lausanne Movement. He and other conference officials declined to speculate about the source of the malicious attack, which interrupted global links for the first two days of the conference. Doug Birdsall, executive chair of the conference, told Christianity Today that he was hugely disappointed. "Why would anybody do such a thing? This is not consistent with values of any kind."

Seven hundred sites in 95 countries were prepared to extend the congress to a wider audience, in addition to individuals accessing presentations on their own computers. As a result of the cyber attacks internet broadcasts were impossible for the first two days of the congress. "Finally, after two rough days, they are being served as planned," said Victor Nakah, GlobaLink chair for the congress.

Officials also clarified that an internal virus, brought in by a mobile phone, had affected convention computers.

The problems were solved primarily by two cousins from Bangalore, India--IT experts who had registered as volunteers to help with routine IT tasks. Unknown to conference organizers, they had the skills needed to respond to the unexpected attack.

Libby Little gave a stunning testimony of grace under suffering at this morning's Cape Town 2010 session. Speaking immediately after John Piper exposited Ephesians 3 and spoke of the role of suffering in displaying God's glory, Little spoke quietly of her husband's recent death in Afghanistan.

The violent murder of ten International Assistance Mission workers was prominently publicized in news accounts in early August. Little read from her notes of the daily one-minute satellite phone calls she received from her husband Tom during his medical visit to a remote Afghani valley.

She also shared from what appears to be the bloodstained notes, recovered from her husband's body, of his last talk while on the Afghan mission. The Littles have lived in Afghanistan for more than 30 years. Little shared her family's decision to stay through multiple armed conflicts in Christianity Today's Global Conversation.

We will post the transcript of her talk if it becomes available.

Editor's update: Libby Little's earlier piece about the Christian call to suffering in mission is on the Global Conversation Project's website.

Communications officials for Cape Town 2010 say that malicious attacks were responsible for internet woes that kept global links from operating during the first three days of the congress.

An important part of the plans for Cape Town 2010 has always been global participation through the internet. Hundreds of sites have been established to download and show video of the congress; and people throughout the world are encouraged to follow the congress through the Lausanne Cape Town 2010 website. These plans were disrupted, apparently because an unknown malicious agent attacked the website. At the same time a virus was unleashed within the convention computers, which caused internet connections to slow or crash.

The internal virus has been eliminated, officials said, and the internet assaults defended against. So far the attacks have not been repeated. A press conference this afternoon will give further details. As of today, Cape Town 2010 officials said, congress materials are up to date on the website.

Editor's Update: Find updated videos, photos and more information about Cape Town 2010 on Lausanne's website.

Photo courtesy of the Lausanne Movement Flickr stream.

When executive chair Doug Birdsall invited Malaysian Methodist bishop Hwa Yung to work with him in planning Cape Town 2010, Hwa Yung had one question. "Which kind of conference do you want to have? A normal kind of congress dominated by old western leaders? Or one that represents what the church is today?"

Cape Town 2010 was designed to represent the global evangelical church, but the devil is in the details. I spent some of the conference's third day finding out those details.

How did 4,000 church leaders get invited? Who chose them? Who decided how many to invite from the US, or from Burundi, or from China? And how? Here's the short version of what I learned.

The process started with a selection committee, chosen from the Lausanne network including one representative from each of 12 regions globally. That committee chose a selection director for each of 200 countries. According to Lindsay Brown, international director for Cape Town 2010, the committee looked for "Christian statesmen" who would be fair-minded in trying to represent the whole church in their country, not merely their friends or fellow church members. That chair gathered a selection committee, vested with the authority to choose delegates for their country.

How many?

I have never before attended a congress or convention that put out a press release on its problems with internet access. Cape Town 2010 told us last night--whether proudly or despondently was not quite clear--that their internet use had overwhelmed the system at Cape Town's sparkling convention center.

Not even the recent World Cup had used nearly so much capacity. Even today, the third day of the conference, wi-fi access was very spotty. Conducting interviews with Cape Town 2010 leaders this morning, I was regularly interrupted by technicians apparently trying to upgrade capacity. If they have been successful, you couldn't prove it by me.

Being no IT expert I will not guess whether the beautiful city of Cape Town or its gleaming convention center are substandard in these matters. I am sure of this, however: evangelicals are connected.

IT issues on such a scale would have been unthinkable at Lausanne in 1974 (the first conference) or at Manila in 1989 (the second). With virtually every nation in the world represented here, it appears that few evangelical leaders fail to possess a cell phone and a laptop. They are connected to the world.

More to the point, they can write and talk to each other globally--and they do. And they will.

Photo of Krish Kandiah, executive director of Churches in Mission at Evangelical Alliance, U.K., courtesy of the Lausanne Movement Flickr stream.

Before the busy schedule of Lausanne's Cape Town 2010 began, an American friend and I took a brief driving tour of Africa's most European city. Our guide was a retired newspaper editor, and as a colored citizen of South Africa, he had tales to tell about the days of apartheid.

One beautiful part of the city to which he took us stacked its houses up a tall hill, giving the residents glorious, expansive, but expensive views. We parked at the end of the neighborhood's highest street and climbed a steep dirt path to get the best possible view. The dirt path was unstable, slippery, covered in loose rocks. So on our descent my friend, a Wheaton alum, talked about a lesson she'd learned when she took a mountain climbing course while a student. I learned you should always keep your eye on where you are, she said. Not where you're going or where you've been. If you look ahead or behind, you'll just freeze.

My friend knew it was a metaphor for life.

So it seemed like a providential moment when Doug Birdsall, executive chair of the Lausanne Movement, introduced the first event for the gathering's 4,500 participants. He reminisced about the great leaders who led the first Lausanne gathering back in 1974.

He mentioned Billy Graham and John R. W. Stott, Rene Padilla and Gottfried Osai Mensah. But then he said we are not here to recreate Lausanne I. Our purpose was not to restore some sort of missiological golden age. Nor can we solve the missiological problems that will be faced by our grandchildren. Our duty is in the present. Our challenges are in the present. And those are what we are here to analyse and strategize about.

In a talk later that evening, Birdsall referenced several of the conference's major concerns: how we are to witness to people of other faiths and how we are to cautiously capitalize on the dynamics of globalization. He spoke of priorities: scripture translation and reaching unreached people groups.

He concluded with a call to moving forward in "bold humility."

This morning, on the conference's first full day, four plenary speakers will talk about "making the case for the truth of Christ in a pluralistic, globalized world." Clearly, the ground of pluralism is like the hill my friend and I climbed on day zero--slippery, covered with loose rock. An important element of our strategy must be to look very closely at where we are walking.

At least 50 children were sexually and physically abused at a boarding school in Senegal, Africa, in the 1980s, according to a new report.

The report estimates that 22 to 27 children whose parents were missionaries for Florida-based New Tribes Mission were sexually abused while 35 were physically and emotionally abused.

New Tribes had retained Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment (GRACE) to conduct the study and acknowledged that there was abuse. The report says children were not allowed to complain about the school's conditions.

"They were repeatedly told by those in authority at Fanda that such complaints would hinder their parents' work and result in Africans going to hell," the report said. "In some cases, their letters were censored of all bad news in the name of the Lord's work. The authority of Fanda dorm parents over the children was allowed to trump that even of the parents in their children's lives."

The GRACE report said "no documented efforts were taken to notify local or US authorities regarding criminal actions found in the study."

New Tribes spokeswoman Nita Zelenak said that no one was charged criminally for the allegations. “Because these abuses happened overseas, when we reported them in the United States, we were told that they couldn’t be prosecuted in the U.S.,” she told CT.

She said that New Tribes employees would report the names of offenders and would describe what happened. “In each case, it was explained that because it happened overseas, they could not act on it,” she said.

Some of the alleged abusers named in the GRACE report are still with New Tribes, Zelenak said, noting that the report mentioned new names the organization was not aware of.

New Tribes issued a statement on its website, stating it began implementing recommendations made by GRACE in its report.

GRACE recommended that New Tribes establish a standing fund of $1 million for victims.
It recommends that the organization terminate membership for those still affiliated with New Tribes.

Zelenak said that New Tribes has not paid damages to any children related to the abuse allegations but she said the organization has paid for counseling and other expenses.

"We are deeply saddened by the extent of the abuse reported by GRACE," New Tribes said in a statement. "Individuals in our organization abused children. People in leadership at the time were culpable through inadequate screening and training, creating an atmosphere of legalism and autocracy, and not addressing the abuse properly. This means that we as an organization are responsible and have sinned against these students."

Scott Moreau, professor of missions at Wheaton College, says that on one hand, when this comes up in missions, "it makes a huge splash."

"On the other, it feels to me like it comes up roughly once a decade or so, so it's not 'common' considering how many agencies and missionaries there are around the world," he said. "As expected, it is devastating to the individuals, the organizations, and even the accused."

The Orlando Sentinel first reported the story today.

Earlier this year, Wess Stafford, president of Compassion International, wrote of his childhood abuse in a West Africa boarding school and CT has covered earlier allegations.

Americans this morning woke to news of 10 aid workers murdered in Afghanistan. They were six Americans, one German, one Briton, and two Afghan interpreters working for the International Assistance Mission. The Taliban claimed the traveling medical team was “spying for the Americans” and “preaching Christianity.” The International Aid Mission is a Christian NGO that has operated in Afghanistan since 1966. They do not proselytize or discriminate on the basis of religion in delivering medical assistance.

Read the Voice of America report here and the IAM press release here .

Libby Little, wife of murdered IAM team leader Tom Little, recently wrote for the Lausanne-Christianity Today Global Conversation Project about the Christian call to suffering in mission. Her essay, “A Small Version of the Grand Narrative,” takes on extra poignancy with the news of her husband’s death.

A radical Islamic group which claimed responsibility for the late Sunday terrorist attacks in Uganda's capital city of Kampala bragged about having “killed many Christians,” reports The Wall Street Journal.

So far 74 people have died after Sunday’s three synchronized explosions. The attack injured at least five American missionaries. The Somalia-based militant group al-Shabaab (“The Youth”) released a statement claiming they had carried out the attacks.

The explosions hit an Ethiopian restaurant and a rugby club where crowds of people, including many expatriates, were watching the Spain-Netherlands World Cup soccer final.

"We will carry out attacks against our enemy wherever they are," said Sheik Ali Mohamud Rage, speaking for Al-Shabaab.

"We have reached our objective," said another al-Shabaab representative, who declined to be named, the Journal reports. "We killed many Christians in the enemy capital."

Various news sources are reporting that the blasts injured five or six American missionaries, according to Kathleen Kind, pastor of Christ Community United Methodist Church in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, which sent the missionaries.

"We got [to the restaurant] early so we could be near the screen," said Lori Ssebulime, who regularly hosts mission groups as an American married to a Ugandan, said to the Associated Press. "The blast happened. It was total chaos. I fell over backwards. Everything was gray."

According to the Birmingham News, another group of missionaries from Asbury United
Methodist Church in Birmingham, Alabama had come to the restaurant to watch the game.

The Birmingham group says they were only a few feet away from people who died in the attack.

"There was blood everywhere. There was blood on us," said Allen Nunnally, 23. "At first we didn't know if it was ours. But we were literally untouched. We are so blessed and so in awe of God's protection of us."

Others were not so fortunate. Nate Henn, an American worker for the nonprofit group Invisible Children, was killed at the rugby club. Henn's former youth pastor and others eulogized him. Invisible Children said: "He sacrificed his comfort to live in the humble service of God and of a better world, and his is a life to be emulated."

This is not the first time al-Shabaab has made headlines during the World Cup. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the group has killed at least five people in Somalia for watching the Cup, which they call “a Satanic act.”

According to ABC News, al-Shabaab has mainly confined their activities to Somalia before now, though Somali officials have believed them able and willing to strike elsewhere.

But both mission groups say they plan to continue working in Uganda.

“This church is very mission minded,” Rev. Kind told CNN. “Many people have a strong heart for the people of Africa. Every other year we send a mission to our sister congregation in Uganda.”

"We have big plans for this city," Nunnally says. "Right now, we're giving all glory and honor to God.”

Update (7/13/10): Archbishop Henry Orombi of the Anglican Communion's Church of Uganda has released a statement in which he urged Uganda to be a "good neighbor" to Somalia despite the recent attacks.

"I call upon each one of us to desist from anger and revenge; this will only perpetuate the pain we already feel," Orombi said. "Revenge is not a solution and neither is a sectarian approach to this problem helpful.

"Let us instead now focus our energies on being a part of the fight against terrorism in our country....It may cost this nation a lot to try and be a good neighbor to the Somalis who are struggling to have a governable nation."

Baptist volunteer Laura Silsby has been released by Haitian authorities after a court conviction May 17.

According to the Associated Press, Silsby was convicted May 17 of arranging to transport 33 children out of Haiti in late January, following the Jan. 12 earthquake that ravaged the Caribbean country. Silsby was leading a group of 10 Baptist volunteers who were detained by authorities for allegedly failing to obtain the needed documentation to transport the children to an orphanage that was being started in the Dominican Republic.

Silsby, who had completed 15 full weeks in prison, was released for the time she had served, AP reported, and was free to leave the country.

Eight others in the group were freed in mid-February and the ninth was released in early March.

'Radically different' story about Baptists in Haiti emerges
By Michael Foust, Baptist Press

Paul Thompson reads the media accounts describing the journey of him and nine other jailed Baptist volunteers in Haiti who are all now free, and scratches his head. He was there. What he reads is not what he experienced.

Thompson, pastor of Eastside Baptist Church in Twin Falls, Idaho, was one of those 10 Baptist volunteers who went to Haiti in late January with the goal of taking orphans out of the earthquake-ravaged country and into an orphanage being started in the Dominican Republican. That trip took a disastrous turn Jan. 30 when the 10 were shocked to learn they were being charged with child kidnapping, with allegations swirling that the group had plans to sell the kids into slavery, or worse, to harvest and sell their organs.

Such rumors were false, but it took more than 100 days to finally resolve the matter. Eight of them were freed in February, a ninth one released in March, and the final one -- Laura Silsby -- was let go May 17, more than 100 days after the ordeal began.

Despite earlier reports that a judge in Haiti had dropped charges for nine of the missionaries accused of kidnapping children, Judge Bernard Saint-Vil told the Associated Press that the charges still stand.

Staff members who work in the office of U.S. Sen Jim Risch (R-Idaho) said last week that the charges had been dropped against all but one of the missionaries. The missionaries were arrested and held on child kidnapping charges in late January while taking children to the Dominican Republic. Eight of them were released in February 17 but the leader of the group, Laura Silsby, remains in jail, according to the Baptist Press.

In February, CT interviewed a State Department official who suggested the incident might harm future international adoptions.

Thursday, 9 p.m., CDT. Christianity Today news received this eye-witness, first person account from a Christian leader in Manila, where local officials are still counting the dead from the lethal weekend typhoon Ketsana:

* * *

By Rheea Hermoso-Prudente, Manila, Philippines.

Rain—even the kind that drums incessantly on our galvanized iron roofs with a deafening beat for days on end—is no big deal in the Philippines. Floods are also taken in stride. So Ketsana’s persistent downpour didn’t cause any alarm. We just expected the usual traffic and the usual flooding in the usual areas.

Then came status updates on Facebook, from friends not in the normal flood areas. “Our basement is flooded. Water is chest-high. Goodbye car!” “For the first time in 30 years my lola’s house in Merville is flooded!” “Trapped in our house in Makati.”

Pictures and videos appeared next: chocolate-colored water rampaging through trendy Eastwood City; the pedestrian underpass in the central business district of Makati, filled to street level with water; a van slowly sucked down a vortex on Katipunan; drenched families huddled together on the roofs of their houses, raging river just a foot below; people everywhere else, struggling through chest-to-neck-deep water, holding their bags and their babies aloft. The speed of the events blindsided everyone.

Calamities, like rain and floods, are nothing new in the Philippines. But Ketsana was wreaking havoc just a few kilometers from us, on people we know; people who worked, had fellowship, had fun with us. For the first time—for my generation of youngish urbanites at least—a calamity struck so close to home. Or in some cases, struck our homes.

I could only imagine the terror my friend, her husband and young son felt as they watched the water rise rapidly inside their house while they struggled to push their door open, against the raging current outside. My other friend went to work that morning and left her baby and nanny in their home in Marikina. By afternoon, she lost contact with them. What desperation she must have felt, knowing that their village was submerged, yet not knowing what happened to her family.

My husband, daughter and I, though trapped in our subdivision, were safe and dry. We could only monitor updates online with a growing sense of helplessness and worry.

Yet from the disaster emerged stories of courage, sacrifice and hope. Stories of how an 18-year old man saved 30 lives before losing his own. Of a young man, trying to save his belongings, took his neighbors to safety instead. Of families opening their homes to total strangers, sharing what little food they had left.

The outpouring of aid happened quickly as well. As rapidly as disaster updates spread through Facebook, so did updates on how and where to help. Victory Christian Fellowship in The Fort (www.victoryfort.org), where we attend, had a relief operations center up by the evening of Saturday. Other Victory Christian Fellowships around the metro, and other churches too, had their own relief programs.

It amazes me, this resilience and generosity of the Filipinos that come out in times of great need. If you listen to stories of the victims, yes, they talk about their loss. Mostly, they speak of hope.

In the aftermath of Ketsana, I stand with my fellow Filipinos as we praise Him in the storm.

Click here for a powerful slide show of the devastation.

Christianity Today editors have received a number of reports from mission agencies in the region. ACTION Philippines reports:

As of September 30, there are 304 dead and almost 400,000 sheltered in schools, churches and evacuation centers. At least 1.9 million people have been adversely affected one way or another.

Today, relief groups, many of them Christian, are raising funds for emergency relief work in the aftermath of the deadly typhoon in Metro Manila, Philippines.

Here is a heart-breaking You Tube video:

Operation Blessing reports:

Disaster relief specialists Operation Blessing International (OBI) are responding to Typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana), which dumped 13.5 inches of rainfall --an entire month's worth-- in just six hours, leaving the city 80 percent flooded. News reports confirm over 100 deaths so far and many people are stranded on rooftops throughout Manila as roadways are submerged. An estimated 300,000 residents are displaced. OBI has an office in Manila and has worked extensively in the Philippines for over a decade. Under the direction of Dr. Kim April C. Pascual, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Operation Blessing International Philippines, the charity has earned the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) of the Year by the Philippines government for 4 out of the last 6 years.

Dr. Kim, whose own home is underwater, is on the ground directing the relief and recovery operations. Currently, OBI teams are moving quickly to:

* Mobilize food and water distributions
* Deploy medical teams to hardest-hit areas
* Partner with local groups to begin flood clean-up and recovery efforts

Already, OBI teams have been able to feed more than 5,000 affected residents and will continue to expand relief efforts to reach more victims.

Dr. Kim said, "This is Hurricane Katrina of the Philippines. Almost a month's worth of rainfall has submerged riverbank cities like Marikina and Pasig, and buried neighboring cities and provinces under ravaging floodwaters, putting the whole region under a state of calamity."

Other relief groups include:

World Vision

Google list of relief agencies

This list will be updated,.

President Geoff Hammond and three of his associates resigned their positions on the North American Mission Board today after an e-mail circulated that Hammond might be removed over management concerns.

An e-mail from Jason Pettus to trustees was leaked last month, addressing rumors that Hammond might be fired.

"[Trustee chairman Tim Patterson] said that some on the executive committee had strong negative feelings about Geoff," Pettus wrote, according to the Baptist Press. "He said that some on the executive committee were very 'angry' and 'frustrated' with Geoff."

Pettus said Patterson, who is pastor of Hillcrest Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla., identified three issues some trustees have with Hammond:

-- that Hammond had stopped meeting with an executive leadership coach trustees had hired to work with him and was seeking a different coach,

-- that Hammond had hired an administrative associate without consulting trustee leadership,

-- that morale among board staff is at "an all-time low and people within the entity and outside of it are unhappy with the way things are going."

Dennis Culbreth, senior assistant to the president, Steve Reid, senior associate to the president for strategy development, and Brandon Pickett, communications team leader, also resigned.

"Even though the subject of today’s meeting has been the topic of much media speculation, it is important to remember that this is a personnel matter and we will keep the details of today’s discussion confidential," Patterson said in a statement.

For those following the ongoing political crisis in Honduras, evangelical observers at the Tegucigalpa-based Association for a More Just Society have put together a helpful Web site that aggregates news reports and analysis and offers a prayer and advocacy guide. You can find it here.

Also, CT examines the impact of the political crisis on short-term missions in Honduras here.

And our original blog post is here.

Veteran missiologist Ralph D. Winter passed away.last Wednesday, May 20. (Hat tips to @jhgrantjr and @edstetzer for alerting us via Twitter.)

According to the US Center for World Mission website, Winter died peacefully at home in Pasadena, California, "surrounded by three of his four daughters, his wife Barb, and a few friends."

Winter had been battling cancer and had been weakened by radiation treatments. He was 84.

In 2005, Winter was named by Time magazine as one of America's 25 most influential evangelicals. His speech at the 1974 Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization is credited with focusing evangelical mission activity on "unreached people groups."

Update: Friday, Feb. 20,

Police in College Station, Texas, arrested Tracy Goen (inset photo) last weekend on Feb. 14 and charged him with prescription forgery. The local media reports:

A College Station doctor was in jail Saturday, accused of forging a hydrocodone prescription at an area pharmacy. Officials from the Brazos County Special Investigations Unit arrested Tracy Harrison Goen on Friday after pharmacy employees became suspicious of the prescription he had presented to them. The prescription was written on a prescription pad of another doctor, who told pharmacy workers that he had not prescribed the medicine, authorities said. Goen, 47, admitted forging the hydrocodone prescription and told an investigator that he was addicted to the painkiller, officials said. During a search of Goen's vehicle, officers said, they found several vials of urine, additional forged prescriptions and prescription pads from other doctors. Goen was charged with fraudulent possession of a controlled substance, a third-degree felony punishable by up to 10 years behind bars. He was being held in the Brazos County Jail in lieu of $7,000 bail Saturday. Goen is listed as a physician practicing at Brazos Valley Urgent Care in College Station.

But the local press apparently has missed the faith angle on this story. Goen and his physician wife served as medical missionaries in Nigeria for years. In a 2003 Religion New Service report, the couple was featured for their connection to MedSend, which helps new doctors pay down med school debts in exchange for overseas service.

Here's an excerpt:

MedSend isn't a sending agency, but rather partners with Christian ministries that send medical professionals. After a ministry pays MedSend a one-time participation fee, MedSend looks at the candidate's qualifications and financial situation. MedSend assumes the debts for as long as they're in the field. The average grant is $30,000, but grants for physicians can be more than $100,000. Most donors are Christian doctors.

CT wrote about the Goens in 2005.

Goen is also listed as the founder of HELP West Africa, a Christian ministry. In 2007, Goen spoke before a group involved in medical missions. Here's the audio.

The latest details on his court case have not emerged yet.

Sometimes rumors (and dreams) come true.

For months, there has been talk among ministry leaders, Christian journalists, and others that Rick Warren and the Reader's Digest Association were going to launch a magazine.

The announcement came today via email. Here's the basic concept:

The Reader's Digest Association, Inc., and Dr. Rick Warren, Pastor of Saddleback Valley Community Church and the author of the worldwide best seller, "The Purpose Driven Life," today announced a partnership to produce an inspirational multimedia platform called The Purpose Driven Connection.
Together the organizations will pool their international resources to produce and publish this Purpose Driven platform to help people who are seeking their purpose in life and wish to interact with others on their spiritual journeys. The platform will provide a suite of bundled multimedia tools: "The Purpose Driven Connection," a quarterly magazine; Small Group study materials delivered in DVDs, workbooks and downloadable discussion guides; and a state-of-the-art Christian social networking website.
"We are excited about this new partnership and its unprecedented potential for international impact," said Warren, who will serve as Editor-in-Chief and be heavily involved in the conception of each element. "The Purpose Driven Connection represents more than simply integrated multimedia resources; it will become a platform for a movement of people to change the world."
"We are delighted to be working with Rick Warren and the Saddleback team," said Alyce Alston, President of RDA's Home & Garden and Health & Wellness affinities. "This is one of our company's most important and far-reaching ventures ever. Together we will create a category-busting multimedia suite that will help millions of people in their daily lives, including those who already follow the Purpose Driven principles as well as seekers everywhere looking for greater fulfillment."
The Purpose Driven Connection revolves around the theme, "Your Life Matters," and mirrors Warren's book, which has sold more than 30 million copies since being released in 2002 and has been read by 60 million people and translated into nearly 100 languages. It also relates to Saddleback Church's PEACE Plan, initiated by Warren, which mobilizes Christians to combat global problems affecting billions of people, including spiritual emptiness, corrupt leadership, extreme poverty, pandemic diseases and illiteracy. To date, the PEACE Coalition has advanced the program among the public, profit and faith sectors in 68 countries.
The magazine, to launch early in 2009, will include stories of everyday people who have found God's purpose for their lives. The framework for the platform will be designed to provide five practical tools to communicate five spiritual purposes -- Knowing, Relating, Growing, Serving and Sharing -- each through a combination of teaching and testimony.

"The magazine will be consistent with our highest editorial standards," said Frank Lalli, RDA's Vice President of International Editions and Magazine Development. "In the best traditions of RDA, we are commissioning extraordinary photographers, illustrators and writers to travel the world and capture real-life stories that will change how readers think and inspire them to take action to improve society."

Since I have been writing about Saddleback Church, Rick and Kay Warren, the PEACE Plan, and their HIV/AIDS outreach, it has been fascinating to see how the story has taken many ups and downs, twists and turns.

Some parties seem to be missing in action here: Zondervan publishing, Fox broadcasting, News Corp.; and, Rupert Murdoch. In fact, Warren's new seasonal title, "The Purpose of Christmas," is being published by Howard Books. Simon and Schuster, the big New York House, purchased Howard Books in 2006.

Surely, News Corp. would have the global resources to produce The Purpose Driven Connection, but apparently it was a no-go. Hard to sort out why.

But, bloggers and others have been critical of Warren's association with Murdoch at least since 2007. You might hate World Net Daily. But click here for their 2007 account of the criticism.

In mid-2008, I interviewed Rick on the phone for close to an hour, but only a small portion of the interview was published in CT. Keep reading for one on-the-record out-take from that interivew.

In light of tightening financial times, and the heightened scrutiny of household spending that follows, some churches are making it easier for congregants to follow the money. Waterfront Community Church in Schaumburg, Illinois, gives 100% of its offerings each week to local households identified by a partnering Christian agency. This practice allows a church member, in pastor Jim Semradek's words, to "see a face on the other side that you're blessing."

How does the church take care of its own operating costs? Eight sponsors cover rent and salaries, freeing it to use all of its offering in this way. The model is an attempt to restore trust in local churches and return mission to the core of their identity. Its mission-minded sponsors believe freeing Waterfront from concerns about its own expenses does just that.

Waterfront is, of course, not alone among local churches experimenting with new budgetary models as it rethinks mission.

Here's the latest report from the Salvation Army about the preparations for post-landfall and Hurricane Ike:
Salvation Army Supporting Shelter and Evacuation for Hurricane Ike With Meals for Thousands of Evacuees and Emergency Workers

The key quote:

"A storm of this size and intensity threatening a metropolitan area presents an enormous danger," said Major James Taylor, Texas Divisional Secretary for The Salvation Army. "Hurricane-force winds and wide-spread flooding could not only cause loss of life and property, but could displace thousands of people for an indefinite period of time. We'll need public support to ensure a viable long-term response effort for the many people we expect will be in need."

The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has this news:

As Deadly Hurricane Looms, Rapid Response Team Springs into Action

The Wall Street Journal reported that the families of five missionaries are suing Chiquita. The missionaries were killed by Colombian guerrilla fighters. The suit comes after the company paid a $25 million fine when it admitted to paying money to the FARC, which is listed as a terrorist organization by the state department.

The protection money was "motivated to protect the lives of our employees and their families," company spokesman Ed Loyd said. "We are contesting the suits vigorously and believe we have a strong defense."

The missionaries were members of the New Tribes Mission, which has had its own controversy over whether or not to pay money to terrorist groups.

Taliban officials recently told media outlets that the South Korean government paid at least $4 million for the release of 21 hostages.

Newsweek reports that an anonymous senior commander said the South Korean government delivered the cash to the insurgents in the Pakistani frontier city of Quetta.

Twenty-three church volunteers were abducted in July while traveling in Afghanistan on a medical-aid trip. The missionaries were released after six weeks and two men were killed.

The commander told Newsweek that the Taliban knew that U.S. and Afghan intelligence were closely watching the hostage negotiations that were taking place between South Korean and Taliban officials so they agreed on a secret payoff.

South Korea has been criticized for negotiating with the Taliban. After the hostages were released, Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi told the Associated Press that he plans to abduct more foreigners, reinforcing fears that South Korea's decision would create more hostage situations.

A South Korean presidential secretary told Newsweek, "We aren't aware of any new developments in the case. Our government position is we didn't pay any ransom for the hostages."

Considering the Taliban's militant reputation and that they spoke on the condition of anonymity, it is difficult to trust anything the officials say.

Kidnapping foreign citizens is not new. In 2003, Christianity Today covered Philippines missionary Gracia Burnham, who believed her husband would be alive if someone had paid a proper ransom. CT has also covered the United State's Kidnapping Policy.

Previous coverage of the hostage situation includes:
In the Aftermath of a Kidnapping | The South Korean missionary movement seeks to mature without losing its zeal.

Costly Commitment | In wake of abductions, Korean Christians take heavy criticism.

South Korean Politicians Blame U.S. for Taliban Hostages | Korean officials seek direct negotiations with kidnappers.

Compass Direct
A news service that provides reports, interviews, and analyses of Christians worldwide who are persecuted for their faith.

Dictionary Of African Christian Biography
An ever-growing collection of African Christians' biographies, written largely by African Christians. Many people profiled here whom you won't find in print.

Lausanne
Site of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization. Includes the Lausanne Covenant and Manila Manifesto, the Lausanne Occasional Papers, newsletters, conference materials, Lausanne World Pulse, among other resources.

Mission Atlas Project
Interactive site with up-to-date information, maps, tabular data sets, and more. Will help you assess the current status of missions throughout the world.

MisLinks
This directory of links, which I helped create, is like a bibliography of bibliographies. Provides links to several thousand missions sites arranged by topic (including short-term missions, people groups, member care, and so on).

Mission Network News
A news service dedicated to keeping Christians informed on evangelical missions activity around the world.

Strategic Network
Over 17,000 articles on missions in a "knowledge base," as well as support for professors who want to use any of those articles for reserve readings.

World Christian Database
Provides comprehensive statistical information on world religions, Christian denominations, and people groups. Full use requires subscription.

Many news outlets, including CT, have covered the Department of Homeland Security's refusal to grant refugee status to anyone who gave "material support" to terrorists under the 2001 USA Patriot Act.

The law was riddled with problems: many who are seeking refugee status are doing so because they were forced to give ransoms and temporary housing at gunpoint.

And then there's the problem of governments that operate much like terrorist groups, including Myanmar's military junta. Chin Duh Kam, a Burmese pastor in America, told me about government officials forcing Christians in Chin State to make ropes and transport military equipment. The New York Times referred to another UN report that

3,000 villages of the Karen and nearby tribes have been destroyed, and more than 500,000 people have been driven from their homes. Government troops are accused of systematically raping girls and forcing children to join their ranks.

So the law's broad ban on everyone giving "material support" unfortunately includes those who are victims of terrorists.

But there is good news for some refugees: Homeland Security has begun to issue waivers for those who were clearly forced to give material support to terrorists, said Jenny Hwang of World Relief.

The Associated Press reports that the U. S. State Department also "waived provisions of the Patriot Act that barred 9,300 ethnic Karen from entering the U.S. because of their association with Myanmar rebels." These Burmese refugees fled their homeland long ago; they are not among those who participated in the August to September protests.

The AP story says the exponential growth in refugee immigration to U. S. cities such as Utica, St. Paul, and Minneapolis is overwhelming aid groups:

Resettlement agency Exodus Refugee has doubled its Indianapolis staff to eight people over the past 11 months but still can't keep up, job specialist Zach Tennant said recently while handing out envelopes with $25 spending money to each adult refugee arriving at Indianapolis International Airport.

In Utica, the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees has received 300 people over the past 11 weeks, including 109 one week, before the end of the federal fiscal year brought a respite. Director Peter Vogelaar said the biggest challenge is finding them safe, clean homes and jobs. He's finding work for 30 to 40 refugees per month.

"Refugees are survivors and they are incredibly resilient," Vogelaar said.

* * *

I wondered whether "Burma" or "Myanmar" was more proper, so I asked.

Chin Duh Kam prefers "Burma," which he pronounced with great warmth. "I use the old name," he told me. Pastor David says he uses "Myanmar" in the country and "Burma" outside it.

It turns out that as far as Burmese grammar goes, "Burma" is the colloquial name of the country; "Myanmar" is the formal, literary name. But the names took on a political cast when the government decided in 1989 that it wanted the country to be officially known as the Union of Myanmar. The U. S. State Department still calls it the "Union of Burma."

As far as adjectives go, "Burman" is usually the majority ethnic group, and "Burmese" refers to nationality.

The 19 South Koreans freed by the Taliban returned to Seoul Sunday as the church that sent the group fields critical remarks for sending members to such a volatile country.

We've moved the rest of the story to our main site, here.

The Taliban freed the seven remaining South Korean missionaries it was holding hostage in Afghanistan this evening, The New York Times reports.

The freeing marks the end of a six-week hostage situation, after 23 church volunteers were abducted in July while traveling in Afghanistan on a medical-aid trip.

"After brokering a deal in face-to-face negotiations with a South Korean delegation on Tuesday, the Taliban freed 12 hostages on Wednesday. All 19 of the freed hostages are expected to fly back to South Korea together in the ne[x]t several days," the Times reports.

Shortly after taking the hostages, the Taliban killed two men and released two women earlier this month.

The Korea Times reports that the government will seeks compensation from the church because the costs were covered by taxpayers' money.

"This is the first time for the government to seek compensation from any organization in Korea for freeing hostages," the newspaper said.

South Korea agreed to withdraw its 200 troops in Afghanistan before year's end and vowed to prevent missionaries traveling to the country.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi told the Associated Press that he plans to abduct more foreigners, reinforcing fears that South Korea's decision to negotiate directly with the militants would create more hostage situations.

"We will do the same thing with the other allies in Afghanistan, because we found this way to be successful," he told the Associated Press via cell phone from an undisclosed location.
While politicians around the world fear that South Korea's deal could set a precedent for future Taliban action, religious leaders are discussing how this might affect short-term missions.

The Taliban is apparently releasing the South Korean Christian aid workers a few at a time. The Associated Press reports:

The first group of three women were released in the village of Qala-e-Kazi. Several hours later, four women and one man were released in a desert close to Shah Baz, said the reporter, who witnessed both hand-overs. None of the eight said anything to reporters.

It is remarkable that the Taliban agreed to terms that require no additional effort by anyone. (There are no news reports of any ransom being paid.) It's almost a happy ending. But the kidnappers have killed two of the Christian aid workers to prove they were serious about their demand for a prisoner exchange.

So is the freeing of the hostages today a testimony to the power of face-to-face negotiations with terrorists? Or is it testimony the power of not negotiating with them? Both forces were at play here: The Korean government held the talks, but had no power to meet the Taliban demands. Those who could release military prisoners -- the U.S. and Afghanistan governments -- refused to consider the possibility. It looks to me like this resolution came about precisely because the South Korean government was talking face-to-face (giving the Taliban something they wanted even more than a prisoner exchange: an air of legitimacy) and because the South Koreans couldn't really do anything.

The other key factor in the freeing of the hostages was internal division within the Taliban. There were many within the group, as well as from key Islamic leaders outside the group, who criticized the kidnapping of women.

South Korean presidential spokesman Cheon Ho-sun said the Taliban will release 19 Christian aid workers "on the condition that South Korea withdraws troops by the end of year and South Korea suspends missionary work in Afghanistan." However, it sounds unlikely that the Taliban will wait until the end of the year to free the hostages.

The Associated Press notes that the agreement may not be as shocking as it sounds: "South Korea has already said it planned to withdraw its troops by the end of the year. Some 200 South Korean soldiers have been deployed in Afghanistan for reconstruction efforts, not combat." Similarly, the Koreans held by the Taliban probably wouldn't have been affected by a ban on "missionary work in Afghanistan" since the church that sent them has repeatedly insisted that the hostages are aid workers, not missionaries.

The Koreans have been held for a biblically resonant 40 days. Two have been killed, two others released.

The Associated Press will continue publishing updates from Afghanistan and Seoul, and I'll update this blog post as more details are available.

Compass Direct News is corroborating earlier reports from China Aid Association that there is significant crackdown underway right now inside China against Christians and other religious groups.

Compass says:

Christians throughout China fear tough restrictions on their freedom to worship in the coming year following the launch of a government crackdown ahead of August 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Christians across China are reporting a shortage of Bibles, even in cities where Bibles previously were readily available. There are reports of ongoing house church raids and arrests, and an unprecedented number of foreign Christians have been expelled from China in recent months. In addition, research presented at a government meeting in January revealed that the number of Christians in China may have reached 130 million, including 20 million Catholics – much higher than previous government estimates, according to a report from the China Aid Association (CAA).

If there are 130 million Christians within the borders of China, that is a staggering number and it suggests an utter failure of the central government's grand strategy of managing religion through the Public Security Bureau, the United Front, and the Three Self system.

If there are 130 million Christians within the borders of China, that forms the largest population of Christians in all of Asia's 3.9 billion people. Japan itself has a population of 127 million.

Who knew the church could grow so persistently?

From reporter Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra:

English Language Institute China (ELIC) denied that any of its English teachers have been expelled from China for illegal religious activity, as reported today by the China Aid Association Inc.

China Aid released a statement accusing the Chinese government of systematically deporting more than 100 suspected foreign missionaries since February 2007. Two of them were English teachers sent to Tibet by ELIC, the statement said. ELIC is a Christian organization that sends English teachers to China.

"We haven't had anyone who was asked to leave," said Gary Lausch, Vice President of Human Resources for ELIC. "We did call China Aid and let them know that was not accurate and they said they would correct it."

The story of government expulsion came as a surprise, Lausch said. He said ELIC has not been feeling any unusual pressure from China lately.

The highly credible China Aid Association on July 10 posted a news release that reports:

According to reliable China Aid sources and collaborated reports by at least five different mission agencies, over 100 foreigners accused of being involved in illegal religious activities in China have been expelled or
deported this year between April and June. Sources inside the Chinese government informed CAA that the Chinese government launched a massive expulsion campaign of foreign Christians, encoded Typhoon No. 5, in February 2007.

This development is an ill omen for supporters of religious freedom inside China.

In recent years, China's communist leaders have encouraged Westerners to come to China to teach English, work as university professors, and work in business. The government's crackdowns on religion have focused on indigenous pastors, evangelists, and others who create faith-based organizations that are outside the government mechanisms of control, including the Three-Self movement for Protestants and the state-recognized Catholic church.

But according to CAA, even American teachers of English are at risk. Two instructors working in Tibet were kicked out.

CAA reports:

This is the largest expulsion of foreign missionaries since 1954 when the Chinese Communist government expelled all foreign religious workers after taking power in 1949.

My hypothesis is that China's government needs to be watched for what it does, not what is says -- especially when it comes to management of religion.

Are China's leaders worried about religious protests during the 2008 Olympics, or what?