Hard to reach evangelism - 06/10/2006
There are 364 isolated areas whose inhabitants are considered the hardest to reach for evangelistic work and social services according to new research released Tuesday by Mission Aviation Fellowship, a Protestant fellowship that provides support services for missionaries.
The world's 20 "least-reached" ethnic groups include 15 in Asia, 5 in Afghanistan (Hazara, Pashtun, Tajik, Turkeman, Uzbek) and China (Han, Han-Gan, Kham, Salar, Tu) and two in Nepal (Magar, Rai).
Other groups on the list were located in Djibouti, Guinea, India, Iraq, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Pakistan.
Christian missionaries have difficulty reaching 173 places in Africa, 97 in Latin America and 94 in Asia. In all, two-thirds of the regions had little or no Christian ministry in place.
The "Operation Access" Report focused on "pockets of people who are either forgotten or unreached," and the problems that "prevent or impede peoples access to the Gospel" because of inaccessible locations, language barriers, economic factors, laws and religious opposition.
Associated Press. "Some people are hard to reach" Lewiston Tribune. 10 June 2006: 1D.
Jerry Falwell celebrates 50 years - 07/1/2006
The Rev. Jerry Falwell is celebrating 50 years of ministry at the Thomas Road Baptist Church, that will begin with a service in a new, 6,000-seat sanctuary.
The sanctuary is just a small part of a 1 million-square-foot complex for the
Falwell empire's administrative offices, Liberty University recreational facilities and classrooms and Liberty Christian Academy, which has students from preschool through high school.
A 22-year-old Falwell returned to his hometown fresh out of Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Mo, and started his church with 35 members in an old Donald Duck soda bottling plant. "I began knocking on 100 doors a day, six days a week," he said, to explain how he built his congregation. He would invite people to church, and leave them with his phone number in case they needed his help.
One year later, Thomas Road Church had 864 members with the jovial Falwell as it's minister. Today the rolls number 24,000 with several hundred evangelists going door-to-door in central Virginia.
In 1956, Falwell found a way to expand his reach quickly through a radio program, and then a live Sunday night television show - the "Old Time Gospel Hour" on the Lynchburg ABC affiliate. "Nobody else was doing it," Falwell said. Today, the preacher has his own Liberty Channel as well as shows on other cable networks.
Falwell's influence moved from strictly religious matters to politics in the 1970s, with the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade ruling that established a woman's right to an abortion. "Believing life begins at conception, I became very exercised over this," he said.
The result was the founding of the Moral Majority in 1979, which Falwell used to mold the religious right into a political power. "He is the face of the so-called religious right in America," said the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
Lindsey, Sue. "Falwell celebrates 50 years" Lewiston Tribune. 11 July 2006: 6C.
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