(Nanyang, Henan–April 21, 2013) A well-known U.S. church leader, Dennis Balcombe, was being held by police under house arrest following a Saturday raid on a house church revival meeting and his current whereabouts are unknown, ChinaAid has learned.
The church of South India has suspended the Bishop in Thoothukudi-Nazareth Diocese for assaulting the church's general secretary during a meeting of the Synod's Executive Council in February.
Yousef Nadarkhani, the Iranian pastor jailed sentenced to death for apostasy from Islam but released after an international protest campaign was re-arrested at his home on Christmas Day, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) reports.
Yousef Nadarkhani, the Iranian pastor jailed sentenced to death for apostasy from Islam but released after an international protest campaign was in London this month to thank Christian Solidarity Worldwide for its advocacy on his behalf.
On 10 Nov 2012 Pastor Nadarkhani spoke to the For Such a Time as This conference through an interpreter thanking Christians in the West for their prayers and petitions on his behalf. The following Sunday he preached at Holy Trinity Brompton in London, speaking to the plight of Christians in Iran.
The Amity Foundation Press reports the last Anglican bishop in China, the Rt. Rev. K.H. Ting, died on 22 Nov 2012 in Nanjing. Bishop Ting Kuang-hsun was 98.
For 57 years Bishop Ting served as president of Nanjing Union Theological Seminary, stepping down in 2010, to become the honorary president of the China’s national Protestant seminary.
The independence of the West Papuan people from their Indonesia overlords is an issue of immediate concern for the churches of Vanuatu – the former New Hebrides – the Anglican bishop of the Pacific island chain, the Rt. Rev. James Ligo.
Speaking before the start of the meeting of the Vanuatu Christian Council, Bishop Ligo criticized the government of Prime Minister Sato Kilman from abandoning its pledge to work for Papuan independence.
A New Zealand court has turned back a legal challenge from an architectural preservation group that sought to block the demolition of Christchurch Cathedral.
On 15 Nov 2012 the court rejected the petition of the Great Christchurch Buildings Trust brought against the trustees of the property, the Church Property Trust (CPT) that argued the earthquake ravaged cathedral could not be torn down as it was protected by an act of Parliament that protected historic church buildings.
A Muslim mob has set fire to a church and looted its school in response to Western acts of “blasphemy” against Muhammad. Reports from Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near the border with Afghanistan remain unclear on the size and motivation of the mob, however, the Church of Pakistan and the security services police have confirmed the assault and looting of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church and St Paul’s High School in Mardan.
The Iranian Christian pastor awaiting execution has been acquitted of the charge of apostasy and released from imprisonment.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) reports that at an 8 September 2012 hearing, the court overturned Yousef Nadarkhani’s 2010 conviction for apostasy, finding him guilty instead of proselytizing Muslims. He was sentenced to three years imprisonment, but released for time served.
6. We note with great sadness the passing of Resolution A049 at the 77th General Convention of The Episcopal Church which authorized a liturgy for blessing same-sex unions. This action confirms our disappointment that The Episcopal Church has no regard for the concerns and convictions of the vast majority of Anglicans worldwide.
7. We stand in solidarity with our brethren in the Communion Partners who have dissented from this action. We uphold them in prayer and support them in fellowship as they continue in their commitment to the evangelical faith and catholic order of the Church, as expressed in their Minority Report known as The Indianapolis Statement.
8. We also appreciate and support all the faithful in Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) as well as those in the Anglican Church in Canada who remain true to our biblical and historic faith.
Church leaders in India have joined the call made by Catholic and Orthodox leaders in Europe to condemn the call to tear down all Christian churches in the Arabian Peninsula made by the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia.
The All Indian Christian Council (AICC) said the comments made by Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah were “bigoted” and “dangerous” for the millions of Christians living Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf states.
The Primate of the Nippon Sei Ko Kai has written a pastoral letter to Japanese Anglicans marking the first anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake. Archbishop Nathaniel Uematsu thanked Anglicans for their outreach to those left homeless by the 11 March 2011 magnitude 9.0 earthquake that devastated Japan’s East Coast province of Tohoku, but noted the experience had shown Japan that it must end its reliance upon nuclear power.
Over 2000 worshipers from across East Asia celebrated the installation last week of the new primate of South East Asia, Archbishop Bolly Lapok.
On 12 February 2012 Archbishop Lapok was installed as metropolitan archbishop of the Anglican church in Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, Nepal, Laos, Indonesia and Brunei at St John’s Cathedral in Kuching.
A high court justice in Kashmir has ordered a stay of proceedings in the case of the Rev. C.M. Khanna on charges that his baptism of Muslim converts had caused a breach of the peace and aggravated religious tensions in the Northern Indian state.
In a ruling handed down last week the Karnataka High Court held that the transfer of properties — including 50 church buildings — in 1972 from a property trust created by the United Basel Mission Church in India (UBMC) to the Church of South India (CSI) Trust Association following the merger of the two denominations is void.
The court ordered the CSI Trust to turn over the former UBMC properties to trustees appointed by the court and to provide an accounting of net income generated from the properties since their purported transfer in 1972.
If the ruling is upheld on appeal to the Indian Supreme Court, it could strip the CSI Diocese of Southern Karnataka of the bulk of its properties. However, as the case has taken 43 years to reach this stage, a final disposition is not expected soon due to India’s clogged civil court system.
Two priests convicted of blasphemy by an Indian sharia law court have been expelled from the state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).
On 19 January 2012 the Deputy Grand Mufti of Srinigar, Muhammad Nasir-ul-Islam held a press conference to report that a sharia court had decided that the Rev. C.M. Khanna of the Church of North India’s All Saint’s Church in Srinigar, Roman Catholic Mill Hill missionary Fr. Jim Borst and two lay catechists, Gavoor Massi and Chandra Kanta must be expelled from J&K – the only Muslim majority state in India.
A Chinese Christian leader sentenced to two years of “reeducation through labour” has been released early from detention, the China Aid Association (CAA) reports.
The jailing of Pastor Shi Enhao, deputy leader of the Chinese House Church Alliance (CHCA), prompted an international outcry last year, and was part of a wider crackdown on evangelical Christians by the Chinese authorities.
The General Synod of the Church of South India has elected a new moderator. At the 13 January 2012 meeting of the synod held at the Bishop Selvamony Retreat Centre, the Bishop in Kanyakumari the Rt. Rev. G. Devakadasham was elected moderator.
Christian leaders have denounced the seizure and demolition by the Punjab government of a two acre site in Lahore that housed a church, a women’s shelter, and seven homes.
The Punjab government has defended its destruction of the properties saying it acquired the land after one of the residents at the shelter announced her conversion to Islam.
A trial court of the Church of South India (CSI) has found the Bishop in Coimbatore guilty of misconduct and directed he be removed from office and deposed from ordained ministry.
On 9 January 2012 the Moderator of the CSI, the Rt. Rev. S. Vasanthakumar released a letter written to the clergy of the diocese reporting that the synod court had “unanimously passed the sentence that Bishop Manickam Dorai cannot be continued as Diocesan Bishop any longer.”
The All India Christian Council has condemned an indictment issued by a Sharia law court in Kashmir that charges two priests with blasphemy by enticing Muslims to convert to Christianity.
On 11 January 2012 Muslim leaders in the Northern Indian state issued a statement saying that "it was proved beyond doubt that the accused" the vicar of All Saints Church in Srinigar, the Rev Chander Mani Khanna of the Church of North India, "along with other accomplices was luring Muslim people to change their religion."
The President of the Palestinian Authority has met with leaders of the Christian Churches of Britain in London following his talks with the British government over the stalled Middle East peace process.
The meeting between Mahmoud Abbas and Dr. Rowan Williams comes at a nadir in Anglo-Israeli relations and on the same day the Israeli Foreign Ministry chided Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg as being grossly “ill informed” about the conflict in the Middle East.
Church leaders are among those arrested by police in the Southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu in a crackdown against activists protesting the construction of the Koodankulam nuclear power plant.
