Church leader condemns terror after French killings;
Sudan forces Christians out; South Sudan under severe strain; Church to renew its thinking on mission and evangelism; Gafcon related conference in London
Church leader condemns terror after French killings
Christian Today – The head of the World Council of Churches has condemned violence against religious and ethnic minorities after a spate of murders in southern France. A 32-hour siege ended in Toulouse after a police sniper shot dead Mohamed Merah. The 23-year-old claimed to have carried out three separate attacks in which three soldiers and four people at a Jewish school were killed. The victims at the school included a rabbi, his two sons, and another child, all of whom were laid to rest in Jerusalem.
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/church.leader.condemns.terror.after.french.killings/29524.htm
Sudan forces Christians out; South Sudan under severe strain
Barnabas Fund – Hundreds of thousands of people originating from the mainly Christian, mainly African, South Sudan are effectively being forced out of Sudan, having been stripped of their citizenship.
They have until 8 April either to leave the strongly Islamic and Arab northern country or to be treated as foreigners under a regime that is extremely hostile to non-Muslims and non-Arabs. The deadline was announced last month.
An estimated 500,000-700,000 people, who are mainly Christians of Southern origin, are affected by the ultimatum. Many of them fled north during the long civil war and have been there for decades. Few have ties with the South.
A senior Church leader said:
We are very concerned. Moving is not easy … people have children in school. They have homes… It is almost impossible.
After the South voted to secede in January 2011, Sudan removed citizenship rights from all those of Southern origin. The Khartoum government considers that people in the North whose parents, grandparents or great-grandparents were born in South Sudan, and those who belong to any Southern ethnic group, are nationals of that country.
http://www.barnabasfund.org/UK/News/Latest-emergencies/Sudan-forces-Christians-out-South-Sudan-under-severe-strain.html
Christians Targeted in Sudan’s ‘Ethnic Cleansing’
Crosswalk – The “ethnic cleansing” that Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has undertaken against black Africans in the Nuba Mountains is also aimed at ridding the area of Christianity, according to humanitarian workers. By targeting Christians among people who are also adherents of Islam and other faiths in the Nuba Mountains, military force helps the regime in Khartoum to portray the violence as “jihad” to Muslims abroad and thus raise support from Islamic nations, said one humanitarian worker on condition of anonymity.
http://www.crosswalk.com/news/christians-targeted-in-sudan-s-ethnic-cleansing.html
Church to renew its thinking on mission and evangelism
With more than 200 participants from around the globe, an event of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME) started yesterday in Manila, the Philippines. Its aim is to seek renewed thinking on mission and evangelism, developing a draft of the WCC statement on mission and evangelism that succeeds a statement of thirty years ago. Hosted by the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP), the event will continue from 22 March to 27 March, focusing on the theme “Together towards life: mission and evangelism in changing landscapes”. Participants will analyze a draft of the statement on mission and evangelism to be presented at the WCC 10th Assembly in Busan, Korea in 2013. On the opening day, church leaders stressed the values of embracing dynamism, transformation and diversity as part of the statement on mission and evangelism.
http://www.oikoumene.org/en/news/news-management/eng/a/article/1634/church-to-renew-its-think.html
Gafcon related conference in London
More than 200 delegates from 30 Provinces of the Anglican Communion will gather in London in April to build on the work of the GAFCON conference in Jerusalem and in the words of the organisers to ‘help turn the present crisis moment into a visionary future’.
The leaders are clergy and laity, men and women from 29 countries.
“We are committed to building networks and partnerships of orthodox Anglicans, strong in their witness to Jesus Christ and the transforming power of His Spirit, to face the challenge of mission around the world” said the Most Rev’d Eliud Wabukala, Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Kenya and Chairman of the GAFCON Primates Council.
The gathering is the first leadership conference since the landmark GAFCON meeting in Jerusalem in 2008.
The General Secretary of the FCA, Archbishop Peter Jensen says “Many more leaders will be included in leadership gatherings and another larger GAFCON meeting, but we are praying that this will lay a good platform for the future of the movement.”
“The aim of the conference is to unite us behind the goals of FCA and equip us to fulfitl them. It is vital that we understand the nature of the gospel and the nature of the church and so the theme is the uniqueness and sufficiency of Christ, the One who is the heart of the gospel and the Head of His church” said Dr Jensen.
Members of the FCA have affirmed the Jerusalem Declaration and also the goals of the movement.
The five days of the conference include daily worship and testimony, Bible studies and plenary sessions to explore and apply the Lordship of Christ over the world, over the church and over the individual.
http://www.gafcon.org/news/anglican_leaders_gather_to_work_towards_visionary_future/