DRC: Christians caught in crossfire
Luke Randall
Date posted: 21 Feb 2025
Church services have been cancelled as fighting continues to intensify in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – with 70 Christians found beheaded in one church.
M23 rebels, who have been seizing territory since early 2022 with the help of around 4,000 Rwandan troops, now control the two of the largest cities in DRC - Goma and Bukavu.
New church takes off in Serbian city
Elma Mackay
Date posted: 28 Jan 2025
An evangelical church has been planted in Serbia’s fourth largest city, with ministry in Serbian and Portuguese.
The new congregation in Kragujevac consists of around 25 people and is the fruit of collaboration between Serbian believers from other towns, missionaries from Brazil, and the Scotland-based Christian organisation Blythswood Care.
letter from Uganda
From Essex to Uganda: ‘Culture shock and feelings of panic’
Philip Knight
Date posted: 5 Dec 2024
In November 2023, my wife Heidi and I pulled up our roots, leaving our Essex home and the church I had pastored for 28 years, for Koboko, North West Uganda.
Our mission? To help the team of Keliko believers who are translating God’s word into their mother tongue. The work is supported by Wycliffe Bible Translators and Grace Baptist Mission.
letter from Latvia
Introducing the prophets in Latvia
John Woods
Date posted: 6 Jan 2025
I am writing this letter while in Latvia on one of my regular visits to teach at the Latvian Biblical Centre (LBC) in Riga.
Over three weekends I am contributing to four of LBC’s programmes. So far, I have been teaching on Identity for the School of Christianity, Work and Society, Introducing the Prophets for the foundation course: Theology and Ministry, and The Kingdom of God on the Missional Church Programme. This is an example of the range of things that LBC offers. My final weekend in Latvia will be with the School of Preachers Course that I started in 2018. This is a two-year programme consisting of eight weekend teaching sessions with regular cluster group meetings for application in between these weekends. There have been 44 graduates from the course so far. It is a joy to see some of our students coming back to preach at our weekend sessions and field questions on how they approached their preparation.
news in brief
USA: Evangelicals not equipped to share faith
A survey has revealed that, while most American evangelicals believe it is their duty to share Biblical teachings, many feel unprepared to do so.
Conducted by the Institute of Faith and Culture, the 2024 Survey on Christian Cultural Engagement found that 92% of evangelicals agree Christians should share truths from God’s word with those who hold different views. But only 35% feel ‘ready for most opportunities’ to discuss the Bible’s stance on cultural and controversial issues. 18% say they are ‘ready for any opportunity’ to share Biblical truths, while 32% said they could only discuss a few topics.
news in brief
Pakistan: Judge rules in Christian’s favour
A judge in Pakistan has overturned a ruling which had prohibited a Christian from correcting his name and religion on his national identity card after he was the victim of a fake conversion to Islam.
Morning Star News reported that the original ruling had said that 24-year-old Christian Sufyan Masih could not be listed as a Christian again due to his supposed conversion to Islam. His lawyer revealed that due to an inability to read or write, he had unwittingly put his thumbprint to the fraudulent form without knowing what he was affirming.
Fear and fervent prayer: lessons from South Korea's Christians
David (Sung Tae) Kim
Date posted: 12 Dec 2024
South Korea, long recognised as a symbol of democracy in Asia, now faces significant fear and uncertainty after President Yoon Suk-yeol's recent declaration of martial law.
This move included attempts to restrict civil liberties, suppress political activities, curb media freedoms, and grant the military authority to take control of the National Assembly. These measures have stirred widespread fear and protest across the country.
‘The baby was struggling to breathe...’
Gary Clayton
Date posted: 18 Oct 2024
Thanks to MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship), three vulnerable infants received urgent medical attention in Papua New Guinea.
‘One Monday afternoon,’ reports MAF Pilot Tim Neufeld, ‘I was thinking it was time to wrap up, but was asked to do a 15-minute flight to Nomane. A small baby was struggling to breathe, and recent heavy rains had caused several landslides, making it impossible to reach the nearest medical centre.’
letter from Australia
Year-long mission lifts off for 2024
David Robertson
Date posted: 1 Feb 2024
A national student mission in Australia is getting underway after more than 2,000 undergraduates attended a special conference in preparation.
The Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students (AFES) is the largest student campus ministry in Australia. At the end of 2023 over 2,000 students (across Australia and many parts of the world) were transformed by, trained in, and sent with the gospel of Jesus at the AFES National Training Event.
200 killed by Islamic extremists in Burkina Faso
Luke Randall
Date posted: 15 Nov 2024
Over 200 people have been killed in a series of repeated attacks on a community in Burkina Faso which is believed to be predominantly Christian.
Fides News Agency, which informs people about mission work and conditions faced by Christians around the world, reported that the attacks started in early October in Manni village in the east of Burkina Faso, which saw Islamic extremists attack a military patrol, before attacking the local village market the next day.
letter from America
How weather affects the US psyche – and the UK’s too
Josh Moody
Date posted: 4 Nov 2024
At time of writing, Hurricanes Helene and Milton have had significant impact on parts of America.
The regularity of natural events like this (the ubiquitous insurance moniker ‘Acts of God’) is surprising for those who grew up in the more placid weather patterns of the UK. Yes, hurricanes can hit there too – I remember the one that (as the joke was) turned leafy Sevenoaks into ‘One oak’. I actually slept through that hurricane, awakening to the sound of other teenagers rushing around with hilarity at the mild effects of broken glass and the like where our dormitories were.
Nigeria: Horrific death toll of Christians
Luke Randall
Date posted: 1 Nov 2024
The Observatory of Religious Freedom in Africa (ORFA) has called for the Nigerian government to strengthen religious rights, following their discovery that Christians have been the most violently persecuted group in Nigeria during the last four years.
A study by ORFA revealed that 16,700 Christians have been violently killed out of an overall civilian total of 55,900, mainly by Islamist extremists. This makes them the most discriminated-against people group in the country. Other groups to feature high on the list were security forces and terror group members.
news in brief
Nicaragua: Legal status cancelled
Scores of Protestant churches, the Nicaraguan Evangelical Alliance, and the Latino-Islamic Cultural Association, were among 169 civil society organisations whose legal status has been cancelled by the Nicaraguan government.
The move follows the similar cancellation of 1,651 civil society organisations last month, and brings the total number of organisations that have arbitrarily lost their legal status since 2018 to 5,552. Among those cancelled are two historic Protestant denominations: the Episcopal Church of Nicaragua (dating back to 1612), which belongs to the Global Anglican Communion, and the Moravian Church of Nicaragua, established in 1847.
Jewish mission marks anniversary
Charles Gardner
Date posted: 1 Apr 2024
Christ Church Jerusalem, the city’s headquarters of the Church’s Ministry among Jewish People (CMJ) is celebrating its 175th anniversary.
Founded in London in 1809 by William Wilberforce and others, CMJ last year celebrated the bicentenary of its involvement in the Holy Land. But it was not until 1849 that Christ Church was built.
Middle East: ‘sleep-deprived and anxious’
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 26 Oct 2024
‘We are sleep deprived and anxious,’ evangelicals at the centre of the Middle East conflict have told en, ‘but we keep faith in God.’
As the conflict involving Israel, Gaza, Lebanon and Iran reached ever-higher temperatures, staff at Christian TV station SAT-7 reported how they are caught right in the heart of the terrifying situation.
Prayer times literally ‘out of this world’
Luke Randall
Date posted: 8 Oct 2024
During the Covid pandemic, Christians had to learn how to engage with church differently because of national restrictions. Now, two NASA astronauts have taken virtual church to a whole new level.
Christians Barry Wilmore and Tracy Dyson, who were among the four astronauts on the Boeing Starliner’s flight to the International Space Station (ISS) in June, are members of Providence Baptist Church in Pasadena, Texas.
Christian Afghan women fear ‘double persecution’
Luke Randall
Date posted: 25 Sep 2024
Christian women in Afghanistan are now facing ‘double persecution,’ according to an evangelical mission agency, as draconian new Taliban restrictions take force.
All women have been banned from speaking or showing their faces in public in the Taliban’s latest infringement on women’s rights since reclaiming power in 2021.
When pens are an answer to prayer
Luke Randall
Date posted: 17 Jul 2024
God answers prayer in amazing ways, and He did so in Kenya with just a few pens and pencils, as Robbie Toop of Mission Africa revealed.
The organisation has been sending mission teams to the African nation for ten years and sent Kathryn Lindsay, its first long-term worker, in 2023.
letter from Madagascar
Prosperity gospel challenges evangelicals
Joel Morris
Date posted: 12 Sep 2024
Last month, I had the privilege to visit our ministry partner in Madagascar, Pastor Faly, who is based in a local church in the capital, Antananarivo.
His ministry is doing an impressive amount of gospel work in the community and across the nation – from publishing and printing theological books, to training preachers, a youth camp, a new medical ministry, and working with people with disabilities.
Nigeria believers face ‘brutal violence’
Luke Randall
Date posted: 10 Sep 2024
The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) has said, in a statement at the 56th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review in Geneva, Switzerland, that the Nigerian government must do more to protect Christians from the ‘brutal violence’ of extremist groups.
The WEA spoke of ‘patterns of repeated violence’ by extremist groups in Nigeria which are wiping out communities and displacing thousands. It called on the country’s government to do more to ‘disarm violent groups’ and ‘boost security’ in the nation.
We need divine help more than ever, Ukraine pastors say
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 31 Jul 2024
Only divine intervention can bring about a lasting peace in Ukraine, church leaders there say.
That’s the message from a mission organisation working in the heart of the ongoing and bloody conflict caused by Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked invasion.
news in brief
Laos: pastor murdered
A pastor has been shot and killed by masked gunmen on motorbikes in a village in Northwestern Laos, as reported by The Christian Post.
Thongkham Philavanh, aged 40, who was a pastor in Vanghay Village and the head of Lao Evangelical Church, was shot seven times as he was feeding his chickens and ducks. He died on his way to hospital, leaving his wife and two teenage children in mourning.
letter from Spain
God at work - even in Benidorm
Trevor Ramsey
Date posted: 30 Aug 2024
It started as a normal Friday. We had gathered in the rented church building in Benidorm to remember our Lord’s death with the breaking of the bread - a service which we held every Friday morning. It was just a small gathering but we are always aware that we are honouring Christ and always expectant for lives to be changed.
About 20 were about to start worshipping the Lord when a young lady walked in. She was bilingual with an English mother and Spanish father - one of the thousands of similar individuals along Spain’s famous Costa Blanca.
letter from Moldova
A ‘big God’ for a small and suffering land
Graeme Innes
Date posted: 1 Jul 2024
Until a couple of years ago, Moldova was a largely obscure backwater but, due to the war on its doorstep, Moldova now finds itself near the new dividing line between East and West.
Though great upheaval continues to dominate the region, Operation World statistics show that Moldova, and her neighbours Romania and Ukraine, are the three countries which have seen the greatest gospel growth within Europe in the last 35 years. After significant openness to Christ during the period following the collapse of the Soviet Union, there is now a deepening hunger for faithful Bible preaching amongst numerous evangelical churches in Moldova.