Religion: Tidings

¶The devaluation of the dollar is going to hurt many U.S. churches in their overseas missionary efforts.

Budget squeezes in the past several years have already forced some trimming of missions, and the number of missionaries has dipped slightly, to about 40,000. Further cutbacks probably lie ahead. Mission boards are facing an average reduction of at least 5% in their overseas purchasing power. In Japan, which ranks second only to Brazil in U.S. mission activity, the drop could run as much as 17%. A spokesman for the biggest U.S. mission board, the Southern Baptists', called...

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