Bangalore, India, 25 February (ENI)--Church leaders joined hundreds of mourners at the funeral in Chennai of D. G. S. Dinakaran, said by his peers to have been one of India's greatest lay evangelists who could pull in crowds from all faiths, after his death at the age of 74.

Dinakaran founded India's Jesus Calls Ministry and he died on 20 February of coronary problems and kidney ailments after being hospitalised for three weeks. His funeral was on 22 February. "He is one of the greatest evangelists India has seen," Richard Howell, general secretary of the Evangelical Fellowship of India, told Ecumenical News International. "His capacity to draw thousands of people to his evangelical conventions was remarkable," added Howell.

Describing Dinakaran has a "holistic evangelist", Howell said that Dinakaran had also set up several education centres from engineering colleges to training centres for social work as part of his evangelisation mission "He was a great evangelist and could draw thousands with his sermons," Church of South India Bishop Jeyapaul David, president of the National Council of Churches in India, told Ecumenical News International on 25 February.

Dinakaran was born into a CSI family in the village of Surandai in the diocese of Thirunelveli which is now headed by Bishop David. The evangelist grew up in poverty and people close to him said he nearly committed suicide at the age of 20 by trying to put his head under a train. However, his uncle prevented him from doing this and instilled in him faith in Jesus, which Dinakaran later acknowledged had given him "immediate peace and a new purpose for in life".

After completing his education, Dinakaran joined a bank while he spent his spare time holding evangelical meetings, often in the streets. Dinakaran quit his bank job in 1970 and began a fulltime evangelisation ministry. After founding the Jesus Calls Ministry, he broadcast sermons on Christian and other radio networks, and organized massive conventions. Thousands of people, including Hindus and Muslims, attended these evangelical conventions across India at which Dinakaran's focused on "God's love and compassion", and healing for those who believed in God.

Dinakaran's son Paul and his wife Evangeline were also involved in the Jesus Calls Ministry. He also cultivated relations with political leaders, and one of the first to reach the hospital on hearing of his death was Kalaignar M Karunanidhi, chief minister of Tamil Nadu state. [415 words]

[COURTESY TO ENI AS SOURCE]

Thrissur, India, 22 February (ENI)--Churches in Pakistan have hailed the victory of the opposition parties that routed the ruling party owing allegiance to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf who had captured power in a bloodless coup in 1999. "People wanted a change and they are happy with the results," said the National Council of Churches of Pakistan in a statement on 21 February hailing the "free and fair elections" held under intense international scrutiny.

"The results of the elections were unexpectedly beyond the imaginations of many parties," said the NCCP, which groups four Protestant churches in Pakistan. The opposition parties swept the polls, led by Asif Ali Zardari, of the Pakistan People's Party, and Nawaz Sharif, the head of the Pakistan Muslim League-N. The ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Q), better known as the King's Party, which owes allegiance to Musharraf, suffered a stinging defeat garnering a mere 40 seats in the 272-member national parliament while many federal ministers lost their parliament seats.

The Pakistan People's Party of Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated during the election campaign on 27 December, won 87 seats and the Pakistan Muslim League-N party of Sharif who had been sent into exile by Musharraf, won 66 seats. "The people's will has manifested itself despite bloodshed and fear," Peter Jacob, executive secretary of the Commission for Justice and Peace of the Roman Catholic Church, told Ecumenical News International.

More than 200 people had been killed in suicide blasts and clashes during the extended campaign for the 18 February elections for the National Assembly and four provincial legislatures, after the poll had been postponed for six weeks following the assassination of Bhutto. "This election is a victory for the democratic aspirations of the Pakistani people," noted Jacob. Victor Azariah, NCCP general secretary, told ENI that "the success of the transparent elections holds hope for the country". He noted, "The defeat of the religious parties is also a real good news especially for the minorities,"

Islamic fundamentalist parties also had been routed in the elections losing more than 50 of the seats they held in the previous National Assembly. Still, no party is in a position to form a government on its own. "This is the time of test for the politicians to prove their worth and put the wrong into right such as restoration of the constitution, judiciary and abolishing of all…discriminatory laws," said Azariah. [410 words]

[COURTESY TO ENI AS SOURCE]

Geneva, 14 February (ENI)--For the first time a church from Laos has formally joined the World Council of Churches swelling the membership of the largest global Christian grouping to 349. Joining the WCC are the Independent Presbyterian Church in Brazil and the Lao Evangelical Church, the Geneva-based church grouping announced at the 13-21 February meeting of its main governing body, its central committee.

The WCC said in a 13 February statement that under its new membership guidelines, both churches had been received for an interim period at its September 2006 central committee meeting, allowing for a time of interaction and further evaluation. WCC general secretary, the Rev Samuel Kobia, read recommendations from the WCC executive committee that both bodies be officially accepted, and the central committee affirmed them.

The Lao Evangelical Church is the first WCC member from Laos, a nation of some 6 million people, a nation where some Christian activist groups have said members of their faith have faced persecution. Growing out of mission work from the late 19th century, the church in Laos was formally established in 1956 and today has about 100 000 members in 300 congregations. It is the largest denomination officially recognised by the government.

The Independent Presbyterian Church in Brazil (www.ipib.org) has about 95 000 members and 500 congregations. It was formally organized in 1903, developing a variety of mission projects, social work, and education programmes during the next century. It is the sixth WCC member church from Brazil, which hosted the 2006 meeting of the WCC's highest governing body, its assembly, which is held every seven years. [274 words]

[COURTESY TO ENI AS SOURCE]

Bangalore, India, 13 February (ENI)--Church leaders have rallied round the president of the National Council of Churches in India, Bishop Jeypaul David, who was assaulted at his cathedral in the southern state of Tamil Nadu by people said by the cleric to be linked to disgruntled lay officials in his diocese. David was set upon by a group of assailants, after he arrived at Trinity cathedral in Thirunelveli on 5 February to chair a diocesan clergy meeting.

"They started assaulting me when I got down from the car and luckily for me, the priests rushed and circled me. They bore the brunt of the beating," Bishop David told Ecumenical News International. Bishop David said the attack was the work of lay officials in the diocese who had lost a key election in the diocese, and who had accused the bishop of manipulating the elections.

"We condemn this heinous act and want the government to take strong action for those who assaulted Bishop Jeypaul," Bishop John Wilson Gladstone, moderator of the Church of South India, to which bishop David belongs, told Ecumenical News International on 8 February. Bishop Gladstone said he had already sent a protest letter to the Tamil Nadu government demanding "stringent action" against those who assaulted the president of the NCCI.

"We have arrested seven people for the attack. But, Thinakar was not present with the group," The police commissioner of Thirunelveli, M. N. Manjunath, told ENI that seven people had been arrested in connection with the attack on the bishop. The NCCI general secretary, Bishop Dinesh Kumar Sahu, described the attack on Bishop David as "shocking". The church council groups 29 Orthodox and Protestant churches in India. [291 words]

[COURTESY TO ENI AS SOURCE]