Dear praying friend,

Welcome to:
, 18 Dec 2006
Report on Church Life in the Former Soviet Union, by Robert Hosken
Published fortnightly. See HOSKEN-NEWS Daily for news updates.

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Your prayers can change world history: please read and pray!

FIRST, THE NEWS:

BELARUS: RELIGIOUS FREEDOM SURVEY, DECEMBER 2006
by Geraldine Fagan, Forum 18 News Service

(14 Dec) "Killing a frog by warming up the water very gradually" is how one Protestant describes Belarus' religious policy in Forum 18 News Service's survey analysis of religious freedom. President Aleksandr Lukashenko has brought religious believers back to the late Soviet period, legally unable to practise religion in community without explicit state permission. State registration does not guarantee religious freedom, as has become increasingly clear in the spheres of youth activity and building and hiring places of worship.

The state's tendency to harass religious communities for alleged "irregularities" means that some communities are voluntarily restricting or even stopping religious activity. A major reason for the state's eagerness to control religious communities is its preservation of an extensive Soviet-era secret police, religious affairs and ideology bureaucracy. Recently, the state has started focussing upon Protestant evangelicals as a political threat, one of whom notes that "it is not Jesus' example to sit down and accept what happens in your community." As state pressure steadily mounts, Forum 18 observes that religious believers are increasingly putting aside confessional differences in organised resistance. [read more...]

PRIEST AND HIS FAMILY PERISH IN FIRE IN UNCLEAR CIRCUMSTANCES IN TVER REGION
from Interfax

(11 Dec) Father Andrey Nikolayev, an Orthodox priest in the Pryamukhino village near Tver, and his three small children perished in fire in their own house on the night of December 2, Father Mikhail Prokopenko, head of the Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations communication service, told Interfax on Sunday.

The late Father Andrey already suffered from a fire set to his house not long ago. Drunkards repeatedly invaded his church, stealing icons and church vessels and then drinking them away ? the facts which were reported in major mass media. Ultimately, Father Andrey had to stand guard over his church every night with a gun in his hands. [read more...]

KAZAKHSTAN: FOREIGN BAPTIST FORCED OUT FOR "ILLEGAL" BIBLE DISCUSSION
by Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service

(12 Dec) After seven law-enforcement officials secretly filmed a foreign church member taking part in a Bible discussion at a state-registered Baptist church, he was forced to leave the country Forum 18 News Service has learnt. Dan Ballast, an American who belonged for 11 years to the Spring of Water Church, was fined the equivalent of three months average salary and given a deportation order. This is the latest in a series of expulsions known to Forum 18. "This violates both freedom of religion and freedom of speech," a friend of Ballast's said.

Kazakh law professor Roman Podoprigora told Forum 18 that "there are no provisions in law which prohibit foreigners from participating in religious ceremonies in different roles," and that "under the existing Religion Law, service in a registered religious organisation is not recognised as missionary activity." Asked by Forum 18 how officials knew to attend the service and film it, one church member responded: "Someone rang them. These things happen here." Ironically, officials had earlier praised Ballast for his educational work. [read more...]

UKRAINIAN GREEK CATHOLIC SYNOD MEETS IN LONDON
from Religious Information Service of Ukraine

(7 Dec) The Permanent Synod of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) has begun a session in London, to be held from 6 to 9 December 2006. The bishops will prepare the next Patriarchal Synod of Bishops, dedicated to youth issues, to be held at the end of September 2007. Until 2004, the Permanent Synod of the UGCC only held sessions in Ukraine, but, as the UGCC functions outside the country as well, the bishops decided to hold sessions once a year outside Ukraine, in order to become better acquainted with the life of the UGCC in other countries.

"In addition to the business of the session which is being held in London, we intend to meet with the clergy of our church that serve on the territory of Great Britain, to meet the local Latin hierarchy, and government representatives. The meeting with local authorities will be held in the matter of our immigrants, among whom are many faithful of the UGCC. During the discussion with officials, we will discuss the protection of their civil rights," said Patriarch Lubomyr (Husar), head of the UGCC. [read more...]

NOW, OUR VIEWS:

On Sunday, 10 December, the official presentation of Agape-Biblia's second edition took place at our church in Moscow. After the service several people came to me requesting copies of Agape-Biblia. You can find out more about this new edition of the Russian Bible by clicking on the "SECOND PRINTED EDITION" button at www.agape-biblia.org.

Yesterday, 17 December, we showed the same presentation at Cheryl's home church in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. That's why we're a bit late in sending out this issue of Hosken-News, because of travelling to Eau Claire and back. Thursday last week we were also travelling... from Moscow to the U.S., over 24 hours enroute. So we are just now getting over jetlag. We need to get new visas, and this Friday Cheryl is having surgery. Her recovery is supposed to take six weeks, so we plan to return to Russia in early February.

Evgenia suffered a serious stroke and until we heard about her, had been lying in bed for 16 months without rehabilitation. Her husband aquired a hospital bed and was giving her basic care but didn't know about rehabilitation, so during this time Evgenia's weight had fallen by 40 kg. (88 lbs.) and much of her muscle tissue had atrophied: she could not even hold her head up. Here our coworker Elena is massaging Evgenia's arms. She has begun responding to this, and is sitting up longer and regaining some strength.

Just before we left Moscow, I finished getting my book The Ministry Driven Church translated into Russian and placed it on our website: www.agape-biblia.org/Propovedi.htm. If you'd like to read it in English, please go to: www.agape-biblia.org/ministry.

In our last issue we let you listen to the Christmas story in English at https://agape-biblia.org/Christmas.htm. Here it is in German at https://agape-biblia.org/Weihnachten.htm -- share these with your friends!

Prayer and Praise:
1. Pray for "the frog in the kettle," believers in Belarus who are gradually being deprived of religious freedom.
2. Pray for the church parish in Pryamukhino village near Tver, Russia, whose priest and family were killed in a fire.
3. Uphold in prayer Dan Ballast who was fined and expelled from Kazakhstan for participating in a Bible study.
4. Praise the Lord that the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is planning how to effectively reach the youth in Ukraine.
5. Pray for Cheryl's upcoming surgery on Friday, for a quick recovery, and for our new visas.
6. Thank God for the official presentation of Agape-Biblia's second printed edition on 10 December.
7. Pray that Evgenia will gain strength, will be able to sit up and move around in a wheelchair.

  Please remember to pray for Russia, and for...

  Your fellow-servants,

  Bob & Cheryl
 

Agape-Biblia: www.agape-biblia.org
Agape Rehab Society: www.agape-restoration-society.org
Ministry Driven Church: www.agape-biblia.org/ministry

p.s. Children are unpredictible: you never know what inconsistency they will catch you in next.

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