June 12 2000

ARTICLE TOOLS

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The Nigerian Baptist Convention celebrated its 150th anniversary in April. Olusegun Obasanjo, president of Nigeria and a declared Baptist, joined in celebrating the convention, which has more than 7,000 churches in the nation. Obasanjo called on Christians and Muslims to fast and pray for peace in light of continued ethnic and religious violence. Riots destroyed the Baptist Theological Seminary in Kaduna and killed five students in February (CT, April 3, p. 29).German evangelist Reinhard Bonnke was the target of a foiled assassination plot during his string of six crusade events in Khartoum, Sudan, in April. Local police arrested three well-armed

"would-be sniper assassins"

who had infiltrated the grandstand behind Bonnke, according to a statement by Bonnke's Christ for All Nations. Daily attendance at the events peaked at 210,000 in the mostly Muslim country.The government of Nepal has refused to register the Nepal Bible Society because its Christian board members converted from Hinduism. A directive from the nation's supreme court ordered recognition of the group. But a district office has refused to complete the registration, saying the group's members are defying the country's constitution by not practicing the beliefs of their ancestors. The church continues to grow rapidly in Nepal, prompting many Hindus to fear Christianity is eroding traditional Nepali culture (CT, April 3, p. 56).