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The story of the Chibok girls has gone around the world to make many people aware of the brutal activities of Boko Haram in Nigeria.

The very name conjures fear and conveys their conviction that Western (or Christian) education is wicked. Education standards in the area had been in decline because of the low priority given to schools. The outbreak of the Boko Haram insurgency in 2009 gave a further deadly blow to the little that was left of education in the region. Most schools in Borno State have remained closed since 2013 with many of the children in stop-gap camps or in the homes of relatives across different parts of the country as internally displaced persons.

Kavana, a 22-year-old in Asia, shared her story of God’s faithfulness in her life.

‘When I was 16 years old, my father suddenly passed away. After that, my mother and I became helpless. We had no work to earn money and meet our needs.

Christians in the south of Nigeria are failing to help their persecuted compatriots in the north, according to a veteran humanitarian campaigner, it was reported in late December.

Baroness Caroline Cox, who has made numerous aid missions to the country said: ‘My personal view is that many of those churches are immensely wealthy and I would hope they could do more to help those who are suffering in the north, particularly the internally displaced people who are left. They could work with churches [in the north] who know the needs to reach those most in need. From a Christian point of view, St Paul said that where one part of the Body of Christ suffers, we all suffer. There is an obligation to help our Christian brothers and sisters.’

Homemade jam is bringing integral mission to Quechua communities of Cusco, it was reported in early August.

For the past four years, ATEK, an organisation that seeks to strengthen local churches through the use of Quechua Scriptures, has provided training in needy communities of Paruro province.

Grace (GIS) is an amazing school for missionary children in Northern Thailand that was set up in 2004 by a group of parents who wanted to keep missionaries on the field.

They recognised a need for a good, affordable education for missionary children, that would enable their parents to stay serving in Asia, to support and care for their children, third culture kids with different needs. Grace is more than a school, to many it is family.

The kidnap of a pioneering American missionary on 14 October is a ‘terrible tragedy’ for the communities he served for 24 years, according to the local mayor, and it has raised security concerns among the country’s missionary community.

Jeff Woodke, 55, who worked for a branch of the US-based Youth With a Mission, was abducted by unknown assailants from the town of Abalak in northern Niger. They killed two guards and he was taken to eastern Mali where Mujao – a radical Islamic group – have a stronghold.

On 14 November a judge in eastern Sudan ordered a Christian school, that had been taken over by government officials, to resume classes under the prior Christian administration, according to the headmaster.

The Appeal Court for Administrative Affairs in Madani, Al Jazirah state, thus cancelled an order by the Madani commissioner calling for the closure of the Evangelical Basic School, which armed police along with civilians from Khartoum and elsewhere had seized on 24 October, said the Revd Samuel Suleiman Anglo, headmaster at the school.

Authorities in southeastern Sudan arrested the headmaster of a Christian school on 5 September and took over its property.

Armed police and officials from the National Intelligence and Security Services arrested the Rev Samuel Suliman and 12 teachers at the school in Madani, capital of Al Jazirah state. The Christians were accused of supporting the Sudan People’s Liberation Army-North (SPLA-N), a rebel group fighting government forces.

Six years after the Third Lausanne Congress came the Third Lausanne Younger Leaders’ Gathering (YLG2016) in Jakarta.

YLG2016, held in August, was probably the most connected gathering of leaders ever. Its planning was chaired by a Brazilian, Sarah Breuel who, with her young family, is serving in Italy with IFES. In the previous year, an online platform was launched.

On July 10 1966 the Evangelical Church of Papua New Guinea (ECPNG) was born.

So, in July this year, there was much rejoicing and celebrating in the various districts as we remembered how God had brought his messengers with the wonderful Good News that ‘Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners’ – sinners from every tribe and nation in the world, including this island with 850 tribes!

You might be walking through a snow blizzard in Hokkaido, or in the warm Caribbean sunshine of Trinidad, or in the shade of the forests of Belgrave Heights outside Melbourne, or driving along the sophisticated streets of Helsinki.

But in all of these locations you will see banners and posters advertising Keswick!