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BREAKING NEWS! In what appears to be a policy bid by the
Turkmenistan government to rid the country of religious minorities, churches and temples have been On November 9, the Seventh-day Adventist Church received a notice stating that its building in Ashgabad would be destroyed and warning the pastor to remove his belongings since he lives on the church premises. Five days later the demolition crew arrived and the building was bulldozed to the ground. The destruction order was signed by the city council following the refusal of the country's religious affairs committee to give legal status to the Adventist Church in Turkmenistan. The committee is composed of the Moslem mufti, an Orthodox leader, and a civil official. The Adventist Church in Turkmenistan was legally registered during the Soviet regime, and permission to construct the building was given by the Turkmenistan president in 1992. In 1994, a law on religious organizations was passed, requiring a minimum of 500 adherents for re-registration. Despite providing the required list, registration was repeatedly refused, and the church members subjected to police harassment and fines for attending illegal meetings. Since the church continued operation, the authorities decided to destroy the building, reports Viktor Krushenitsky, Secretary-General for the International Religious Liberty Association Russian Chapter (IRLA-Russia) who received the information. "This is not an isolated incident," says
Krushenitsky. "Since September, the Turkmenistan authorities have destroyed a Hare Krishna temple and
closed down Baptist meetings. The local Baptist pastor has been imprisoned since that time and has not yet
been tried. Adventist Church workers have been arrested, fined, and some have also been jailed."
"This is a very bad situation in general," adds Anatoly Krasikov, president of
IRLA-Russia. "These actions are a complete violation of religious freedom
and are a tragic reminder of continuing intolerance Concluding his comments, Krushenitsky appealed for
action against this clear violation of religious rights. "If we keep silent on this situation in
Turkmenistan, such actions may be repeated in other Africa-Indian Ocean Division The Africa-Indian Ocean Division, as of September 30, reported 528,579 baptisms thus far for the current quinquennium. Division leaders had set a baptismal goal of 500,000 for the five-year period ending June 30, 2000. The Sahel Union is currently leading the division with the highest percentage of goal reached. With 7,324 baptisms the Sahel attained 168 percent of their goal. The Rwandan Union has lead the division in the highest number of baptism. Baptisms in Rwanda total 169,061, or 155 percent of the union goal. "I was overwhelmed when I received the good news [of the baptisms]," said president Luka Daniel. "By God's special grace, before the quinquennium ends, we shall reach a faith goal of 700,000 new souls." Along with the baptisms, the division also approved
three new entities, the South-Central Cameroon, New West Nigeria, and East Ghana conferences.
Being organized as conferences, church members can elect their own leaders and they support the world-
wide work of the Adventist church. The total number of conferences in the division now stands at 15, as
compared to eight at the beginning of the Outreach Meetings Double Attendance For Kansas Church When Adventist members in Bazine and LaCrosse, Kansas, decided to reach out to the city of Hays they tried a unique approach, says John Treolo, Kansas-Nebraska Conference communication director. They won friends in the community before holding an outreach
series. The two congregations organized three Christian concerts. At the third program recording artist Steve
Darmody introduced evangelist Richard Pollard to those in attendance. On the opening night more than 250
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