27 August 2008

Presbyterians Week Headlines

[1] Ghanaian Presbyterian Leader Calls for Great Commission Outreach to Muslims
[2] Presbyterian Church of Nigeria Holds First National Convention
[3] Coca-Cola Cans To Celebrate Ramadan
[4] DNC Interfaith Gathering Includes President of Organization Tied to Muslim Terrorists
[5] Virginia Seminary Welcomes First Muslim Exchange Student
[6] Muslim Mob Storms Indonesia Church, Calls For Ban
[7] Iraqi Christians Fleeing to Lebanon
[8] Nine Detained Yemeni Christians in Grave Danger
[9] Virginia Judge Rules In Favor Of Breakaway Groups Regarding Church Property
[10] Church of Scotland Heroine Featured in New Book by British Prime Minister


[1] Ghanaian Presbyterian Leader Calls for Great Commission Outreach to Muslims

At the 14-16 August 2008 meeting of the Presbyterian Global Fellowship in Long Beach, California, Pastor John Azumah, an ordained Minister of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, spoke about his own Muslim family and told an audience of 1000 that Muslims have “a right to gospel of Jesus Christ,” but for several reasons the Christian church “has neglected the Muslim world.”

Azumah said, “Muslims have the right to accept or reject [the gospel], but they must have the opportunity to hear it,” and that the inadequate Christian outreach to the Muslim world “is the greatest omission of the Great Commission.”

Azumah pointed out that may Christians consider evangelizing Muslims to be a waste of time, but pointed out that “…if Saul could become Paul then there is nothing and no one the Holy Spirit cannot reach.”

Azumah counseled humility when evangelizing Muslims and said, “we are sent as witnesses and not as advocates or judges. The Holy Spirit is the one and only advocate and God is the one and only judge.” He added, “It is not our duty to judge, but to witness, to tell truthfully what we have seen. If only we can just mind our own business, then the Holy Spirit will do the rest of it.”

+ Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202, 888-728-7228, Fax: 502-569-8005

+ Presbyterian Global Fellowship, C/O Peachtree Presbyterian Church, 3434 Roswell Road Northwest, Atlanta, Georgia 30305, 404-846-4386, pgf@presbyterianglobalfellowship.org


[2] Presbyterian Church of Nigeria Holds First National Convention

After 161 years of gospel witness, the Presbyterian Church Of Nigeria held its first National Convention 16-19 August 2008 when 20,000 people gathered at the Hope Waddell Training Institution in Calabar, Cross River State.

Moderator the Rt. Rev. Dr. Ubon Bassey Usung spoke on ‘The Urgency of Evangelism And Missions’, based on Matthew 24:3-14 and 2 Thessalonians 3:6-10, and made application saying:

“For every Presbyterian, it would be disastrous if we allow ethnic dichotomies [to] distract us from evangelism and mission. We have to stop the in-fighting and quarreling that cause us to lose grounds and members to others and even to the kingdom of darkness. We should rather unite and go out and bring souls into the kingdom of God. It is important however for all Christians to note that true witnessing is not the conversion of members from one denomination to the other; rather, non-Christians should be targeted, preached to and persuaded to repent and believe in the saving grace of Jesus Christ.”

Additionally, the church this month is opening Hope Waddell University in Ohafia, Abia State. Spokesman the Rev. Kalu Eme wrote, “…that the university project [is] in line with the church’s tradition of deliberate involvement in the education sub-sector as a vehicle for the emancipation of mankind and the overall development of the society.”

Erne added, “it is in this regard that the church set up one of the foremost educational institutions in Nigeria – the Hope Waddell Training Institution – which was founded…in 1895.”

+ Presbyterian Church Of Nigeria, 26 Ehere Road, Post Office Box 2635, Aba, Abia, Nigeria, 082-234-780

+ Punch on the Web, 1, Olu Aboderin Street, Onipetesi, P.M.B. 21204, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria, 01-7748081, editor@punchontheweb.com


[3] Coca-Cola Cans To Celebrate Ramadan

The Gateway Pundit blogger on 18 August reported that Coca-Cola will celebrate Ramadan by placing the Islamic crescent and star on its cans.

The same day, blogger Bob McCarty sent several emails to the Coca-Cola Company asking if they were planning to put a cross on Coca-Cola cans at Christmas, and as of 27 August had received no answer.

+ Coca-Cola Company, 1 Coca Cola Plaza Northwest, Atlanta, Georgia 30313, 404-676-2121


[4] DNC Interfaith Gathering Includes President of Organization Tied to Muslim Terrorists

As a kickoff to their 2008 convention, the Democratic National Committee on 24 August held their first ever “interfaith gathering” at the Colorado Convention Center including speaker Ingrid Mattson, president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA).

ISNA is suspected of having worldwide ties to terrorist groups, is an unindicted coconspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror funding case, and is supported by the Muslim Brotherhood, a radical organization that calls on Muslim organizations in America to dedicate themselves to "a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and 'sabotaging' its miserable house by their hands ... so that ... God's religion [Islam] is made victorious over all other religions."

+ Christian News Wire, 2020 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington DC 20006, 202-546-0054, newsdesk@christiannewswire.com

+ Florida Security Council, info@floridasecuritycouncil.com


[5] Virginia Seminary Welcomes First Muslim Exchange Student

Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS) on 20 August 2008 welcomed Salih Sayilgan as its first Muslim exchange student. The seminary says that it is encourage[ing] deeper cross-cultural conversations within the VTS community and equip[ping] students to envision new and creative ways to undertake ministry in the world.

In June, VTS received a three-year grant from the Henry Luce Foundation that provides support for visiting Muslim scholars to teach at the Seminary.

+ Episcopal Church Center 815 Second Avenue New York, New York 10017, 800-334-7626, cdawkins@episcopalchurch.org

+ Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, 110 West Franklin Street, Richmond, Virginia 23220, 800-346-2373


[6] Muslim Mob Storms Indonesia Church, Calls For Ban

On Sunday 17 August 2008, a Muslim mob stormed a church service in Cipayung, East Jakarta, forcing Christians to flee and then erecting banners in the street declaring a ban on “churches and religious services.”

While church members were celebrating the nation’s Independence Day at the service, the angry assailants arrived at the Pentecostal Church of Indonesia in Pondok Rangon village, Cipayung, at 9:30 AM shouting “Allahu Akbar!” or “God is greater!”

Some in the mob were neighbors, but the majority were not local residents, according to pastor Chris Ambessa. Local officials made no effort to intervene or prohibit the illegal banners.

Ambessa has been in a dispute over his house church. Previously, Cipayung officials had ordered him to dismantle the second floor of his home. On 13 July, the officials ordered him to cease religious activity for an indefinite period following neighborhood protests against his house church. Neighbors had demanded that Ambessa completely demolish the building.

+ Compass Direct News Service, Post Office Box 27250, Santa Ana, California 92799, 949-862-0304, Fax: 949-752-6536, info@compassdirect.org


[7] Iraqi Christians Fleeing to Lebanon

The recent military successes of coalition forces in Iraq have forced al-Qaida fighters into their last stronghold in northern Iraq, which includes Christian communities where their gunmen frequently threaten the residents with death if they do not convert to Islam.

As a result, many Iraqi Christians have fled to Lebanon where they face squalid living conditions and receive no protection from the Lebanese because they are considered illegal immigrants regardless of their status as refugees fleeing religious persecution.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says that as many as 40 percent of the Iraqi refugees come from Christian minorities, despite representing only four percent of the Iraqi population.

+ Assyrian International News Agency


[8] Nine Detained Yemeni Christians in Grave Danger

International Christian Concern (ICC) reports that nine Yemeni Christians who converted from Islam are being detained by the Political Security Office which is known “for carrying out extrajudicial killings, torture and other egregious human rights violations with impunity.”

ICC notes that Associated Press and Fox News are now following the story, and asks those concerned to sign a petition to the Yemeni Embassy in the United States.

+ International Christian Concern, 2020 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest #941, Washington DC 20006, 800-422-5441, Fax: 301-989-1709, superadmin@persecution.org


[9] Virginia Judge Rules In Favor Of Breakaway Groups Regarding Church Property

In the third ruling so far in this case, Fairfax County Circuit Judge Randy I. Bellows ruled 19 August 2008 that an 1867 law allowing a majority of a breakaway church to retain church property applies to the eleven conservative and now Anglican District of Virginia churches that broke away from the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia over issues of biblical authority and the 2003 election of the openly homosexual Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire.

A trial is set for October where additional issues will be addressed, and where the Diocese of Virginia will continue in their view to, “…[remain] firmly committed to ensuring that loyal Episcopalians, who have been forced to worship elsewhere, will be able to return to their Episcopal homes."

+ The Washington Times, 3600 New York Avenue Northeast, Washington DC 20002, 202-636-3205

+ Anglican District of Virginia, 10520 Main Street, Fairfax, Virginia 22030, 703-273-1300 x440, Fax:703-591-0737

+ Episcopal Church Center 815 Second Avenue New York, New York 10017, 800-334-7626, cdawkins@episcopalchurch.org

+ Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, 110 West Franklin Street, Richmond, Virginia 23220, 800-346-2373


[10] Church of Scotland Heroine Featured in New Book by British Prime Minister

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will soon publish a book about wartime heroes that includes the story of Church of Scotland missionary Jane Haining.

Haining went to Budapest, Hungary in 1932 to work as the matron of the Church of Scotland-run girls' home where 400 mostly-Jewish girls studied. Ordered by the Church to return home after Hungary joined the Nazi Axis, she chose to stay in Budapest with the girls and was reported to have used her leather luggage to resole the girls’ shoes.

In 1944, Haining was betrayed to the Gestapo by a Nazi school employee, and was charged with working among the Jews and with weeping when she saw her students forced to wear yellow Stars of David on their clothing.

Haining was sent to Auschwitz and died two months later when she is thought to have been killed in the concentration camp’s gas chambers.

Haining is honored in Jerusalem on the Mount of Remembrance and the Avenue of Righteous Gentiles. A movie about her life is in the planning stages and awaits sufficient funding.

+ The Scotsman, Barclay House, 108 Holyrood Road, Edinburgh, Scotland EH8 8AS, 0131-620-8620

+ Church of Scotland, 121 George Street, Edinburgh, Scotland EH2 4YN, 0131-225-5722