news in brief
Netherlands: Euthanasia increases
The number of deaths by euthanasia in the Netherlands rose by 10% last year. The regional euthanasia review committees found that the vast majority of the 9,958 people to have been euthanised in 2024 had advanced physical illnesses, but doctors have been urged to take great care when dealing with psychiatrically unwell patients.
The Guardian reports that the number of people who died by euthanasia increased by nearly 1,000 between 2023 and 2024 and, perhaps most startlingly, the number who were killed due to psychiatric illness rose from just two in 2010 to 219 last year.
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.
news in brief
New rural ministry focus in Scotland
The Free Church of Scotland has launched a Centre for Rural Ministry in a bid to boost rural congregations and modernise rural ministry across Scotland.
The denomination revealed that more than £8,200 has been raised since the start of August, enough to see the project spearheaded by the Skye and Wester Ross Presbytery come to fruition. Twenty per cent of Scotland’s population is based in rural areas and, while the centre will be based on the Isle of Skye, it will support rural ministry across the whole country. Ivor MacDonald, minister of Hope Church, Coatbridge, has been appointed as the Free Church Director for Rural Ministry. He has previously served as a minister in rural congregations on Skye and is a graduate in agriculture and theology.
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.
news in brief
Urban missionary launch
A free hub – created by and for urban missionaries – has just been launched by The Message Trust. The Proximity urban mission resource hub has been created for churches, individuals and other organisations sharing the gospel in UK estates and inner-city communities.
It ranges from videos and podcasts to advice and teaching and further topics ‘covering all areas of mission’. Proximity is also to create virtual and online communities with regular gatherings across the UK. The Message Trust explained why it has launched Proximity: ‘We know just how tough urban mission can be … sadly many have told us they feel isolated and under-resourced. We don’t want that to be the case anymore.’
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.
news in brief
USA: SBC not to ban women pastors
The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) has just failed to achieve the two-thirds majority vote needed to place a ban in its constitution on women being church pastors.
Issues impacting women are prominent at this year’s annual meeting of the SBC, taking place in Indianapolis. Church leaders also approved a resolution condemning in vitro fertilisation. The SBC is the largest Protestant denomination in the US, with over 50,000 churches and over 14 million members, and is now a serious political force in the country.
news in brief
The Goodness of God
The songs Goodness of God, 10,000 Reasons and In Christ Alone have topped a new list of favourite contemporary worship songs.
CCLI (Christian Copyright Licensing International), has published a roundup of the latest favourites among UK churches who are licensed with the organisation. The top ten also includes How Great Is Our God (4), What a Beautiful Name (5), O Praise The Name (Anástasis) (6), Here I Am To Worship (7) and Cornerstone (8). Other favourites making the list include How Deep The Father’s Love For Us at number 20, Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone) (22), The Servant King (37), There Is A Redeemer (46), Come People Of the Risen King (50) and The Power Of The Cross (94). The list does not include classic Christian hymns as they are already in the public domain and not within CCLI’s remit.
news in brief
Hope Church Blackwood and Kirkmuirhill celebrates tenth anniversary
Hope Church (Blackwood and Kirkmuirhill) recently celebrated their tenth anniversary as a Free Church of Scotland congregation. Original members of the congregation, along with minister Rev. Ian Watson, had left the Church of Scotland in 2014.
The church’s anniversary weekend featured a meal and ceilidh on the Saturday and a service focused on the anniversary on the Sunday, which included Communion. Rev. Watson said: ‘as we review the past decade the verse that keeps coming back to us is Psalm 118:23: ‘The Lord has done this, and it is marvellous in our eyes.’’
news in brief
Andy Croft resigns from Soul Survivor
On 23 November, it was announced that Senior Pastor Andy Croft would leave Soul Survivor Watford. He made the decision despite being allowed to return to ministry following an investigation into his safeguarding practices, and the practices of his former colleague Mike Pilavachi (who was found guilty of an abuse of power and spiritual abuse across 40 years of ministry).
In a letter to his congregation, Andy shared that he made the decision ‘after much soul searching and prayer’ and said that he and his family ‘intend to stay as part of the congregation’ while they discern their next steps. ‘I need to acknowledge that I myself have also been deeply impacted by aspects of Mike’s abusive behaviour’, he added.
news in brief
Central America –
evangelical majority
Evangelicalism is now the majority faith
in Central America, a new survey shows.
42% now identify as Protestants (mostly
evangelical) while under 40% identify as
Roman Catholics.
The research was carried out in Nicaragua,
Guatemeala, Costa Rica, Panama, El Salvador
and Honduras
by M&R Consultores.
In Nicaragua,
for example,
the Catholic
Church has lost 60% of its adherents since
1950 and currently only one person
in
three claims to be Catholic. Non-Catholics
represented only 4% then, but by 2023 that
number has risen to 65%.
news in brief
Uganda: wife killed for
becoming a Christian
40-year-old Abudullah Waiswa, a Muslim
in Bugiri, eastern Uganda has killed his
wife for converting to Christianity. Amina
Nanfuka, 31, had returned from a medical
check-up
in Kampala, where
she also
attended a worship service at a church.
A
relative
said
‘We went
inside
the
bedroom and
found Amina unconscious
with blood coming out of her mouth. She
was rushed to a nearby clinic, but the doctor
pronounced her dead upon arrival. She had
been strangled and hit with an object around
her mouth’. The couple had three children,
aged 3, 6 and 9.
news in brief
Kenya: 36,000 hear the
gospel
The Message School of Evangelism (part
of the Message Trust) has held an exciting
week of mission in Nanyuki, Kenya, in
partnership with The Global Network of
Evangelists.
The initiative involved working in schools,
visiting prisons, street evangelism and an
evangelistic festival. During this time the
students
shared
the gospel with 36,150
people and 6,230
responded. One man,
initially
hostile,
eventually
listened
to
the gospel. He changed from being
loud
and aggressive to apologising and
feeling
peaceful. The team prayed with him as he
accepted Jesus into his life.
news in brief
Refugee call
Evangelical
refugee
campaigner
and
en contributor, Dr Krish Kandiah, says
news in brief
Church disability support
trebled
A charity’s support for disabled people in
churches across the UK is being trebled,
thanks to a £150,000 grant from Benefact
Trust. It will mean that disability inclusion
charity Through the Roof will be able to
increase the number of disabled people it
can support from 9,000 to 30,000 within
just three years.
The additional
funds will be used
to
recruit three regional co-ordinators to build
up local Roofbreaker networks of volunteers
across the UK; provide specialist resources
and support; and help disabled Christians
in
leading
training and organise events.
According to the Lausanne Committee for
World Evangelization, just five to ten per cent
of disabled people ever hear the gospel in
their lifetime.
news in brief
Spain: becoming less religious
According to a new report, Spain is becoming less and less religious.
Secularism in Figures 2023, published by the Ferrer Guàrdia Foundation, reveals that 40% of the Spanish population identifies as atheist, agnostic or indifferent to religion. The figure rises to 58% among young adults aged 25 to 34, and to 60% among those aged 18 to 24. ‘Religious practice has declined considerably, especially after the pandemic’, the Foundation says. Only 19% of respondents consider themselves to be practising believers.
news in brief
FGM: campaigner honoured
Campaigner, humanitarian aid-worker and Church Mission Society mission partner Dr Ann-Marie Wilson received an MBE in King Charles’ first New Year’s Honours List. The citation reads that Dr Wilson is being recognised ‘for services to the prevention of Violence Against Women and Girls’, in particular her pioneering to end Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
Ann-Marie’s charity 28 Too Many sought to end FGM in 28 African countries where it is prevalent. Building on more than 3,000 FGM survivors’ stories and mobilising grassroots organisations with advocacy tools, Dr Wilson has helped secure widespread change.
news in brief
Hatun Tash
The Metropolitan Police have apologised
to evangelical street preacher Hatun Tash,
paying her £10,000
compensation
for
wrongful arrest and unlawful imprisonment.
A former Muslim, Tash had asked the police
for assistance on two occasions when she was
being harassed by Muslim demonstrators
– but
they arrested her
instead.
In one
case, she was held in custody for 24 hours
before being
released without charge. A
police inspector wrote and apologised for
the distress she suffered and acknowledged
‘that on these occasions the level of service
did fall below the requisite standard’.
news in brief
Iran: Christians released
Human-rights
advocates
are mystified
about why two Christians, imprisoned in
Iran for their church leadership roles, have
been freed a few days after a fire broke out
in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison.
The
leaders
are Pastor Naser Navard
Goltapeh, who had spent two months
in
solitary confinement, and Fariba Dalir, who
was jailed for starting a house church. She had
spent 38 days in solitary confinement. Both
pardons were unexpected and had previously
been denied. One theory is that Evin Prison
is hosting Mahsa Amini protestors and is
quickly running out of space.
news in brief
Jesus loves journalist
Journalist Matthew
Parris
(see photo)
was
‘curiously
moved’
after
a
young
Deliveroo
cyclist
stopped
alongside him and
asked if he believed
in the Lord Jesus.
In his regular The
Times column, Parris, a former Conservative
MP, wrote:
‘I replied that I’m sure Jesus
existed, and love and respect the character
whose description has come down to us
through the ages, but that I do not believe
he was the Son of God, and do not believe in
God at all. ‘“But He said He was,” said the
young man. I replied that Jesus probably was
under a misapprehension. The cyclist paused
to think. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘Jesus loves you even
if you won’t acknowledge him. I will pray for
you.’ And with that, he cycled off. I walked on, curiously moved.’
news in brief
Egypt: Christians attacked
by Muslim
A Christian man and his son have been
attacked by a Muslim man in Giza, Egypt.
Joseph Israel and his son were attacked
by Ahmad Mouhammad outside Mr Israel’s
wine shop. Mr Mouhammad attacked both
with a knife before
some of Mr Israel’s
Muslim neighbours
intervened and beat
the assailant badly. Mr Mouhammad, Mr
Israel and his son are currently in hospital
receiving medical
treatment
for
their
injuries. Journalist Nader Shokry suggested
that
these attacks are
the
result of hate
speech and
sectarian
incitement by
local
Islamist preachers.
news in brief
Mexico: evangelical
leader sentenced
Naasón
Joaquín García,
the
leader
of
Mexico’s largest evangelical church, has been
sentenced to nearly 17 years in prison for
sexually assaulting three teenaged girls from
his church. He will also be required to register
as a sex offender for life.
The 53-year-old
led
the
congregation
La Luz Del Mundo based in Guadalajara,
Jalisco, Mexico, which
runs churches
in
several
locations
throughout
the United States and Mexico.
news in brief
Cost of living
As
the cost of
living crisis deepens,
the
Evangelical Alliance
(EA)
is urging UK
churches to use their power to take action,
such as helping with the means that churches
already have; and supporting other Christians
in what they are doing in the community.
Writing on the EAUK website, advocacy
coordinator Jo Evans said:
‘As Christians
who trust in a good God who commands
us to love our neighbour as ourselves, we
should be motivated above all other sectors
of society to take action and do something about the problem at hand.’