HYDERABAD, India, August 20, 2020 (Morning Star News) – Municipal officials in Nepal ordered a church to stop construction of a worship hall after local Hindus objected to it, sources said.

Some of the area Hindus had threatened relatives who became Christians after pastor Manish Bohra began proclaiming Christ in Galkot in January. When a small church began that outgrew its rented room for worship, in March he leased land on which to build a temporary structure for worship.

The novel coronavirus pandemic halted construction, and after authorities lifted the lockdown on July 21, members of the church in western Nepal’s Baglung District renewed construction on a structure to accommodate 50 people, Pastor Bohra said.

“On July 26, I received a phone call from officials at Galkot Municipality warning us not to construct a church in the area, and that they had received a petition from the local residents opposing Christian activities in the area,” Pastor Bohra told Morning Star News. “When we tried to reason with the officials, they told us that we have gone against the Nepalese laws, and that we must stop all activities in the area and vacate the premises with immediate effect.”

All religious groups except Buddhist monasteries must register as nonprofit organizations to own land or other property, according to the U.S. State Department’s 2019 Report on International Religious…

(RNS) — Pam Schulz has never seen anything like it.

Just about every home in the Cedar Rapids area has been impacted by the storms that swept across the Midwest last week with hurricane-force winds, according to Schulz, the executive director of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, a congregation in Marion, Iowa, affiliated with Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ.

Some have trees downed in their lawns. Some have trees through their houses and on their cars.

Some, more than a week later, still don’t have electricity.

And unlike the flooding that swept Cedar Rapids about a decade ago, the damage is too widespread to escape.

“It’s going to be a long recovery,” Schulz said.

“When we had the flood here in 2008, most people who went to serve could come home to a house with air conditioning and what looked normal. Well, you can’t even drive down the street without seeing damage now anywhere in the entire community.”

In Iowa, churches are working together and partnering with faith-based organizations from across the country to offer aid after the unusual windstorm, called a derecho, left a trail of devastation from South Dakota to Ohio on Aug. 10.

“I feel really blessed that we have the ability to talk to one another and work together in this,” Schulz said.

President Donald Trump surveyed the damage from Air Force One on Tuesday (Aug. 18) after signing…