Canada
Sadly, the Anglican turmoil over same-sex relationships is getting worse. Those who resigned ministries under liberal regimes to take them up again under the jurisdiction of the evangelical Archbishop Venables of the Southern Cone (Dr. James Packer among them), called a conference in late April in order to strengthen each other, but convened it in Vancouver under the very nose of their former Archbishop – as a red rag to a bull! When Venables announced his intention to attend from Argentina, the bull was angrier still! But he was told that since it was a visit to those who were no longer members of the Anglican Church in Canada, it was of no interest to his jurisdiction. It is all very distressing but Anglican realignment is already a fact; watch your newspapers re the developing situation. As the ‘weather’ experienced in North America invariably crosses the Atlantic, we do well to pray that God will soon bring the conflict to his preferred solution.
Paraguay
The number of evangelical Christians is multiplying but many interior villages still have no Biblical witness the country needs a truly spiritual awakening. It was nothing short of a political earthquake when socialist revolutionary Fernando Lugo won the presidential election in April ending the right-wing party’s hold on power in Paraguay that had lasted 61 years! Many Paraguayans had abandoned all hope in the democratic process; nowhere has corruption done more to wreck a country. Pray for Christians in Paraguay at this time of great change. Pray also for the new government as they seek to overcome some of the country’s many problems.
Brazilians
Some 5,000 Brazilians have now left their homeland to serve Christ in over 100different countries aroundthe world [Operation World]. Given their ethnicity andnatural friendliness, they have often found themselves more warmly welcomed than European missionaries might have been. The Brazilian Assemblies of God has a School of Theology with extramural programmes in Portugal, Canada, the United States and Japan. With so many Brazilians of Japaneseparentage travelling east to discover family roots, there are now great efforts in Japan to spread the Word there, both to them and through them. Pray for plans to gather Brazilians from all over Europe to a conference in Switzerland next year.
Christian Literature
‘Letra Viva’ is a network of Spanish-speaking evangelical publishing houses whose members agree to promote each others’ titles, rather than competing. They assess suitable works for translation and help to train and encourage would-be authors. As a result, more than 100,000 new Christian titles in Spanish hit the bookstalls every year! Such networking is highly significant in Latin America where vast distances separate individual ministries and the church surges ahead so fast that there is a dire shortage of experience and technical expertise. Pray for the planning of an international training conference to be held in Mexico in October.
Belize
Despite its British colonial history, the country hasattracted few missionary personnel from Britain perhaps because the population is small and most profess to be Christians. Nevertheless, there is much to be done in combating nominalism,superstition and black magic. Although English is the official language, 50% of the population speak Spanish as their first language.
Correspondent: Dennis Smith
