Daily briefs of the top news stories impacting Christians around the world.
In today's edition:
- Native Christians Respond to Nigeria Bloodshed
- 30-Hour Famine Proceeds Will Help Haiti Recovery
- Sacramento Presbytery Calls PC(USA) to Reject Belhar Confession
- Children's Bible Named a Notable Children's Recording by ALA
Native Christians Respond to Nigeria Bloodshed
ASSIST News Service reports that native Christian are beginning to respond with aid to the injured in the city of Jos, Nigeria. Field surveys are underway to assess damage. "The survivors need our help," says Christian Aid Mission Africa Field Director Rae Burnett, who is already in Africa. More than 500 people, most of them Muslim, were killed in a religious violence last week between Muslims and Christians. Christians and Muslims both attacked the other side. "Jos was once the safest city in all of Nigeria," Burnett said. "The name came from Jesus Our Savior, and it was 100% Christian from its beginning. However, now it a place where, even in the safest of times, almost every foreign missionary who is now in the country stays in big houses surrounded by high walls with watchmen 24/7." The most city's most recent conflict left more than 200,000 people homeless.
30-Hour Famine Proceeds Will Help Haiti Recovery
Christian Newswire reports that a portion of this year's 30-Hour Famine proceeds will go toward Haiti's long-term recovery. Pat Rhoads, World Vision's 30-Hour Famine Manager says, "I'm really excited and grateful that teens here can have a direct impact on teens and children in Haiti. Many wish they could go there and help the people of Haiti. This is a way to directly help them, even if they can't make the trip." The annual 30-Hour Famine has thousands of participants, and money raised during the event goes to World Vision projects in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Uganda, Sudan, Mauritania, Pakistan, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Almost one in every six people in the world has insufficient food and water, while almost one in three people worldwide live on less than $2 a day. The national 30-Hour Famine dates are Feb. 26 and 27. If you'd like to support earthquake relief efforts in Haiti, consider joining some of Crosswalk.com's partners in their work: Global Aid Network (GAiN) USA, Food for the Hungry, Samaritan's Purse, and World Vision.
Sacramento Presbytery Calls PC(USA) to Reject Belhar Confession
The Christian Post reports that some presbyteries in the Presbyterian Church (USA) are preparing to stand against the Belhar Confession as the upcoming biennial General Assembly. The Sacramento presbytery has approved "An Overture on the Belhar Confession," a document they say goes beyond condemning the sin of racism. The presbytery says the confession is a "somewhat confusing document, which some parties ... have attempted to use to press issues other than racial equality," using it to support liberation theology or same-sex causes. The document partly declares "that separation, enmity and hatred between people and groups is sin which Christ has already conquered, and accordingly that anything which threatens this unity may have no place in the church and must be resisted."
Children's Bible Named a Notable Children's Recording by ALA
The children's division of the American Library Association (ALA) has selected The Jesus Storybook Bible Deluxe Edition from Zondervan for this year's list of Notable Children's Recordings. The recordings, written by Sally Lloyd-Jones and read by award-winning British actor David Suchet, are geared for children 14 years old or younger. The audio version of the best-selling Jesus Storybook Bible was released as part of The Jesus Storybook Bible Deluxe Edition last October and was among more than 130 recordings up for consideration by the ALSC. Lloyd-Jones credited much of the recording's success to Suchet's work. "And he didn't just read it. It was as if he was telling a story to a child he loved very much, he acted it, he poured his Christian faith, his heart and soul, and his incredible talent into the story." The recording features 44 stories from the storybook Bible.
