From Europe comes a report from Mission Network News about the Roma people having no place to call home. Known by many as “Gypsy,” (a term that is considered to be derogatory) the Roma people are having an increasingly difficult time as they have become targets of European governments. France recently expelled 13,000 of them. The Roma tend to concentrate in Romania and other Eastern European countries where they face soaring unemployment and prejudice. There are, however, ministries that are reaching out to the Roma and many of them are embracing Christianity. One Roma church has grown to 3,000 members in a town with a population of 7,000.
The Presbyterian Church in Cameroon (PCC), Africa, reports progress in stemming the tide of HIV transmission. In the Northwest Province, nearly one in seven women aged 25-29 are living with HIV. The church is engaged with health facilities and a successful program that is preventing the transmission of HIV from pregnant women to their infants. Pastors in the region have begun including HIV/AIDS messages in their sermons on a monthly basis. The denomination also instituted an annual offering that is used to help fight HIV/AIDS.
In North Africa, Christians among the indigenous people group Kabyle Berbers are facing increased persecution as their numbers grow to as many as 21,000 of the 10 million Kabyles who live in the region. The Southern Baptist International Mission Board (IMB) reports that a recently completed church building was burned down at the hands of a group of radicals opposed to Christianity. Attacks like this are becoming more common. The IMB requests prayer that Kabyles will continue to come to Christ and that “they will endure and grow amid persecution.” Outreach ministries have distributed thousands of Bibles, Jesus Film DVDs and other gospel materials to Kabyles as they travel back to North Africa from jobs in Europe.