For many years, the Presbyterian Church of Ireland (PCI) has had a close relationship with the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP) in Malawi. As a result, a team will travel to give varied service to projects within the bounds of the Livingstonia Synod there, departing on July 8th.
Many of the team are members of the youth organisations in 2nd Comber congregation in the North. Mr Tim Gaston, Ms Rosemary Farling and Mr Ron Laird, who is chief planner for the trip, are leaders. A special commissioning service has been arranged in the 2nd Comber church with the minister, Rev Roy McKay, conducting and with a guest speaker, the Rev Terry MacMullan, the churches' convener for overseas service.
A principal reason for the trip is for the group to build new living accommodation for nurses in Ekwendeni Hospital, with which PCI has close ties. But a number of other jobs will be undertaken, including the maintenance of Land-Rover ambulances. Computer software will also be upgraded and pharmaceutical training will be given to members of staff.
Members of the team also plan to support local church work. Services will be held by them in Ekwendeni; Bible clubs for children will be arranged; and general outreach to places in the Malawi countryside is planned.
This project is being supported by the 2nd Comber congregation, which has raised over £37,000 since last October for this purpose. One of the leaders of the team, Mr Gaston, is looking forward to meeting his brother Andrew, who is serving in Ekwendeni as a Church of Scotland medical doctor.
Reports of continued mass killings of Christians by Islamic Jihad holy war warriors, on Halmahera, an eastern Moluccan island in Indonesia, has forced the Rev Prof James Haire to call on the international community to be prepared to send peacekeepers to the Moluccan Islands to prevent further deaths.
Prof Haire, a former Irish Presbyterian missionary to Indonesia , has just returned from a visit to Indonesia and is in constant contact with church and other leaders there. Prof Haire reports perceived ethnic cleansing and genocide of the indigenous population, 50 per cent of whom are Christian. Jihad troops come mainly from Java. The Indonesian government appears unable to stop them engaging in warfare and killing great numbers.
Prof Haire reports that on June 19th, Jihad warriors killed over 100 christians at the village of Duma and took several hundred women and children hostage. They have not been seen since. A phone call from leaders in Duma alerted Prof Haire "to an attack by between 2,000 and 3,000 Jihad warriors on this entirely Christian village". People fled to the church for sanctuary, where they were murdered and the church set alight.
He calls for United Nations troops or peacekeepers to be sent in, if the Indonesian government asks. He requests that pressure be kept on the Indonesian government by the international community stating its preparedness to help, if asked.
The PCI appealed to the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner, Mrs Mary Robinson, and both the British and Irish governments last January to exert whatever pressure they could on the Indonesian government to act immediately to restore order in the Moluccas.