World News Briefs - September 2009

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Kenya

Continuing Drought Leaves Millions Hungry

Three consecutive years without significant rainfall is creating a growing food crisis in East Africa. More than 2.5 million people in Kenya have no reliable source of food and the number is expected to reach 2.9 million by November. Numerous Christian-aid groups are working in the region to provide emergency food supplies, applying improved growing methods and training communities to conserve water and land resources.

Source: Christian Post

Scotland

Church Members Write Personal ‘Ward o’ Scripture’

Scottish Seventh-day Adventists are participating in a unique project to develop a Scottish Adventist Bible. Members are submitting handwritten passages of the Bible to their national church office. Organizers say the project is designed to help members make personal connections with the scriptural passages. Some members are accomplishing that goal by choosing to write in an authentic Scottish vernacular.

Source: Adventist News Network

Norway

Adventist to Head Bible Society

Tor Tjeransen, a Seventh-day Adventist pastor, is now the chair of the Norwegian Bible Society. Tjeransen is the first member of a free church in Norway to hold this position. Since 1816, the Norwegian Bible Society has been headed exclusively by bishops of the Norwegian State Church. The society promotes Bible reading at home, oversees translations of the Bible into Norwegian and sponsors Bible work around the world. Tjeransen says he is honored by the appointment, which signals a level of trust among church leaders in Norway.

Source: Adventist News Network

Laos

AWR Begins Broadcast, Despite Christianity Ban

On July 16, Adventist World Radio began airing Lao language programming in the country of Laos. This is the first Adventist media broadcast to the people of Laos in their own language. Laos is a communist country with very strict regulations on religious liberty. The AWR broadcast began just days after officials in the Lao village of Katin announced a complete ban on Christianity. The village chief declared that spirit worship is the only acceptable form of worship in the community. The 53 Christians in the village risk losing their property and rights if they do not abandon their faith.

Source: Adventist News Network, Christian Post

Botswana

Prisoners Receive Hope Via Satellite

Thanks to a new partnership between the Hope Channel and the Botswana Ministry of Home and Labour Affairs, inmates in the African nation now have access to Seventh-day Adventist programs. Church leaders donated televisions and satellite receivers for use in the nation’s 23 prisons. Adventists are actively involved in prison rehabilitation programs throughout Botswana.

Source: Adventist News Network

Featured in: September 2009

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