Crackdown in China deepens
Luke Randall
Date posted: 19 Feb 2026
The suppression of religious belief in China continues to deepen, with a “full-scale institutional restructuring” making many church activities illegal on grounds of national security, according to new research.
According to ChinaAid’s annual report concerning religious freedom in China for 2025, the nation’s government has moved from a “high-pressure stability maintenance” model to a new approach of “institutional reconstruction”, which has seen them embed control over religious activity “into the core of regime operations” through a variety of legal, technological, cultural and international means.
Council of Europe calls for ‘conversion practices’ ban
Luke Randall
Date posted: 18 Feb 2026
The Council of Europe has called upon member states to ban “conversion practices” which seek to alter a person’s sexual identity.
Parliamentarians voted for the motion calling on nations to “provide criminal sanctions based on a clear and comprehensive definition of the proscribed practices” at its assembly in Strasbourg.
Asia: Bible translation and distribution progress
Lydia Houghton
Date posted: 18 Feb 2026
The Trinitarian Bible Society’s (TBS’) work translating, publishing, and distributing Bibles and evangelical texts spans continents. The countries of Nepal and Myanmar, and the state of Karnataka in South India are just some of the places TBS is working to translate God’s Word into people’s heart languages.
Nepal
“The need is very great in Nepal,” says TBS. More than 120 languages are spoken in the country, and many are without their own translation of the Bible.
Children’s ministry in Moldova: ‘My daddy fixes children’s hearts’
Abbie Watts
Date posted: 18 Feb 2026
“The love of Christ compels us.” Taken from 2 Corinthians 5v14, this verse is the strapline of Christian Mission International Aid (CMIAID) and underpins everything the Christian charity does.
I recently arrived back in the UK after spending two weeks with CMIAID in Moldova. Started by Matthew and Ruth Hillier and Dan Marianciuc, the multi-faceted organisation does whatever it takes to share the light and truth of the gospel to those of all ages and stages of life in Moldova and other Eastern European countries.
updates from the mission field
Mission: Across the street and across the world
OMF International UK
Date posted: 11 Feb 2026
In this piece, mission organisation OMF International UK provides en readers with an update on its work.
The worker bee has represented Manchester’s hardworking spirit since the Industrial Revolution. In keeping with that spirit, OMF UK has been a hive of activity as we moved our office from Kent to Manchester in 2025.
Sudan: UAE role in war highlighted
Luke Randall
Date posted: 4 Feb 2026
Christians have called on the football Premier League to raise the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) role in the devastating conflict in Sudan with Manchester City’s owner at a protest at Etihad Stadium.
The action was staged by Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) outside the club’s stadium because Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan is the UAE’s vice president and deputy prime minister.
Ukrainian soldiers reached with the gospel
Lydia Houghton
Date posted: 3 Feb 2026
A day after I wrote this article, en was informed that Andrew Killick had died. This article has been amended accordingly. It is a great privilege to tell the story of his desire for Ukrainian soldiers to hear of God’s love. (Written by Lydia Houghton.)
What began as a quiet conversation over church coffee has ended with 1,000 Christian books being distributed to Ukrainian soldiers.
EU rules will ‘bring death’ to unborn
Luke Randall
Date posted: 31 Jan 2026
New legislation requiring the European Union (EU) to raise funds to provide greater access to abortion in member states will “bring about more death to the unborn” and “trauma” for affected mothers, according to a Christian Institute source.
The new “My Voice, My Choice” legislation comfortably passed through the European Parliament by 358 votes to 202. While it does not give the EU the ability to interfere with abortion laws relating to its member states, it does provide an option for nations to obtain financial support to provide safe abortions, in line with their own laws, to citizens otherwise without such access, as reported by Evangelical Focus.
China: Reformed believers jailed
Human Rights Watch
Date posted: 30 Jan 2026
Chinese authorities have detained half a dozen members of an underground Protestant church based in Chengdu, Sichuan province, Human Rights Watch says.
This is the latest in a string of arrests of members of prominent unofficial “house churches” in China in the past year.
letter from America
‘The Times They Are A-Changin’. Again. Tumultuously
Josh Moody
Date posted: 29 Jan 2026
“The times they are a-changin’.” So sang Bob Dylan. “Change” was a prophetic theme when the song first came out. And change is upon us once more, albeit this time a different kind of change. The times they are a-changin’.
Ever since the 1960s, America – and I suppose most of the quote-unquote “Western World” – has lived with the revolution of those turbulent years. Fuelled by protest against Vietnam, and singing along to the tunes of not just Bob Dylan but (of course) The Beatles, and others, much of the discourse and context in which the church lives and works in the Western World has been shaped by the changing times in which we live, and which have been bequeathed by the 1960s.
Persecution trends for 2026 predicted
Luke Randall
Date posted: 29 Jan 2026
Release International’s Persecution Trends Report has been released for 2026, detailing serious concern for believers in various countries, particularly across Africa and Asia.
The report is based on first-hand accounts from Release partners across the globe. Several of the countries which feature prominently are predictable, following much difficulty for Christians within them throughout the last year.
letter from Moldova
Bălți encouragements
www.sga.org.uk
Date posted: 29 Jan 2026
At the end of 2025, a group of 26 students graduated from the Slavic Gospel Association Mission School in Bălți, North Moldova.
It was the 16th such group to complete a two-year Bible training course designed to prepare men and women for a wide range of ministries in their spiritually needy land.
letter from France
Mariam’s story
Blaine Vorster
Date posted: 28 Jan 2026
I still remember the first time she walked up to me before a Sunday service. “I’m new here. I’m not a Christian, and I’ve never been to church before. I’m not sure what I am supposed to do, but would it be okay if I came to your church?”
Mariam (not her real name) was a student studying in France. She arrived from a country with little to no gospel access and no idea how to get it. Yet, for several years, she has had a desire to find out more about Jesus. So, when the opportunity to study in English in Europe arose, she was excited to visit a church for the first time. There was a snag, however, as she did not speak French. Nevertheless, Mariam went to a French church where a few believers who could speak English took her under their wing. They then brought her to the International Church.
Help sent to Afghanistan
Luke Randall
Date posted: 27 Jan 2026
Tearfund partners in Afghanistan are working to help vulnerable people in remote mountain regions survive brutal winter conditions as part of a two-year response plan to support communities most impacted by recent earthquakes.
Those working in tandem with the well-known organisation are handing out winter survival kits to the most vulnerable, many of whom are now living in tents after losing loved ones and their homes, following three earthquakes which ravaged eastern Afghanistan at the end of the summer months, killing almost 2,000 people.
Revised ‘Africa Bible Commentary’ out
Luke Randall
Date posted: 26 Jan 2026
A new and revised Africa Bible Commentary has been produced by African scholars, in partnership with Langham Publishing and HarperCollins Christian Publishing.
The one-volume release has taken seven years to produce and has come out just under 20 years after its predecessor, which had been the first Africa Bible Commentary (ABC) to be produced by African scholars for Christians across the continent.
Venezuela: ‘Extraordinary’ opportunities
Luke Randall
Date posted: 22 Jan 2026
There are “extraordinary gospel opportunities” in Venezuela at the moment, a Christian organisation says.
The capture of President Nicolás Maduro and his transportation to face trial in the US have plunged the South American nation into uncertainty.
Who are Greenland's Christians?
Luke Randall
Date posted: 22 Jan 2026
It’s the largest island in the world (excluding Australia) – yet a country with one of the smallest populations. It’s also a land which is nominally 96.6% Christian – but where the Evangelical witness is small. As Greenland unexpectedly hits the news in 2026 with President Trump vowing to “get” the nation one way or another, en looks into the spiritual landscape of this beautiful land.
Christianity has had a presence in Greenland since the 1000s, when Norse settlers first brought it to the territory. It has since become a noteworthy part of its culture, predominantly in the form of Lutheranism.
Iran: Christians at ‘heightened risk’
Luke Randall
Date posted: 22 Jan 2026
Christians may be at particular risk in Iran at the moment, a Christian organisation says.
Elam Ministries is calling on believers to pray for Iran during the current “significant and uncertain moment,” with the nation experiencing turbulence which could put Christians at “heightened risk”.
