Croatia: 4 July gay pride parade
A Gay Pride parade will be held in Zagreb Saturday. Participants will walk under the slogan Louder and Braver: Anti-fascism - Without Compromise. LGBTIQ persons will send out a message that they are not taking part in the parade only as lesbians, gays, bisexuals, trans-gender, inter-sexual and questioning persons, but as citizens who will not stand by and watch in silence the wheel of history going back. The organisers expect two thousand people to join them. They are using the façade of ‘gay rights’ and then highlighting their dissatisfaction and concern about the political situation in the country and are dedicating the event to the citizens of Croatia. ‘As long as there are people incessantly calling for war, we will fight for a society of peace, co-existence and solidarity. We must stop further political, economic and moral destruction of society. The response to radicalisation and hatred must be a single voice of a broad, united progressive front,’ said the organisers. Left-wing, centre-left, and green political parties are proponents of LGBT rights, while right-wing, centre-right political parties and some NGOs and the Roman Catholic Church oppose LGBT rights. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Croatia
Bulgaria: Trafficking in human beings
Some 500-550 Bulgarians a year become victims of human trafficking, according to official statistics, cited Bulgaria’s National Commission for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings. On Monday 29th there was a press conference to launch a project aimed at fighting human trafficking. The project envisages the training of a large number of officials from the law enforcement and security institutions and courts and will acquaint people involved in the fight against human trafficking with specific aspects of the problem. Human trafficking is a cross-border crime and requires joint efforts by Bulgaria and all other EU countries. Currently large numbers of human traffickers are handed suspended sentences, causing victims to give up on reporting cases to the police. (in 2014 92 people were convicted of human trafficking and 60% ended with suspended sentences). The most common profile of a victim is a young woman from a region with high unemployment and poverty.
Bosnia: Challenges for Prayer
The largest religion in Bosnia is Islam with 2,036,217; followed by Christians with 1,540,698 and Evangelicals numbering 2,207. Expatriate Christian input is definitely needed for believers in Bosnia to have a greater impact and there are many ways to impact the nation. Operation World asks us to pray that those engaged in leadership development, aid, rehabilitation, outreach and church planting ministries might fully identify with the people, and that through these a harvest may be won. The largest agencies: Pioneers, OM, Novi Most International and TE use creative means of sharing Christ’s love including the Alpha Course, house construction and repairs, ESL and German-language acquisition. There are also handicrafts, coffee bars, sports and camps, youth ministries and, most strategically, prayer and intercession – the foundation for all other ministry.
Belgium: Christian outreach
There are a variety of mission agencies working in Belgium who need our prayers. OMF has nine Chinese churches and the AoG has one couple working among the Chinese. BEM has a Japanese couple working within the Japanese community and have planted a Japanese church. A number of other Asian communities (Korean, Vietnamese, Sri Lankan, Iranian, Filipino) have at least one church each. The Eastern European population is rapidly growing – Poles, Russians, Bulgarians, Kosovars, Romanians and others. Only the Romanians have a significant number of evangelical congregations; the Polish and Kosovars have none. There is little or no outreach to these peoples. There is a student population of over 250,000 in 17 universities and numerous colleges. Outreach to the student community is a major challenge. IFES has a ministry in seven Flemish universities (Ichthus with 150 students involved) and in several French universities. The small work grows very slowly. (Source: Operation World 2015)
