These articles were first published in our November edition of the newspaper, click here for more.
Former Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis has been ordered to pay $100,000 to a gay couple who sued her after she refused to issue same-sex marriage licences.
Her stance was reported around the world. It followed a Supreme Court’s decision that all states are required to conduct same-sex marriages. She argued that issuing such licences violated her religious beliefs that marriage is between a man and a woman. Davis was briefly jailed for contempt of court at one stage.
The Gospel Coalition (TGC) has launched The Carson Centre for Theological Renewal. Named after TGC co-founder Don Carson, it currently provides thousands of ready-to-search Bible and theology resources.
Future translation projects are underway. Over the next few years digital resources such as a full-Bible commentary; a ‘curate a sermon’ library and free courses on hundreds of topics will, TGC claims, provide excellent theological support for the next generation of Biblical scholars and theologians from around the world.
The Archbishop of Canterbury has told the Armenian people they are in his daily prayers during a five-day trip to promote peace in the region.
Justin Welby expressed support to His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians during a visit to the Armenian Genocide Memorial amidst conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The Archbishop also saw refugees and church projects as part of a visit to learn about how the Church of England can help bring about peace in the ongoing conflict.
The Argentinian parliament has passed a draft law to make 31 October a national day of Evangelical and Protestant Churches. The day was selected as it marks the date when Martin Luther published his famous 95 theses in public in 1517, beginning the Protestant Reformation.
The draft law will now be discussed in the Senate, where it is expected to be approved. According to a 2019 survey, about 15% of the Argentinian population identify as evangelicals.
The Israeli police have arrested five people for showing hostility towards Christians in Jerusalem. Video footage appeared to show adults and children spitting at Christians as they walked past them.
An investigation will address complaints of hostile behaviour towards Christians by extremists ahead of the city’s annual Jerusalem March, which draws large crowds including thousands of Christians. Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu said that authorities would take ‘immediate and decisive action’ following the incidents.
An elderly couple’s home has been destroyed by their Muslim relatives in eastern Uganda following their conversion to Christianity.
70-year-old Sula Mugundi and his wife, Aisha Mugundi, 62, had converted during a church’s recent evangelistic campaign of house visits. They returned home after attending an all-night prayer vigil to find their house destroyed and fled the scene immediately. The church helped to move them to another location, where they hope they will be safe from their relatives.
Evangelist Philip Bere was beaten to death with a large rock by Muslim extremists, following an evangelistic event in eastern Uganda where many Muslims come to faith in Christ.
The 33-year-old had been cycling home with his assistant Mudenya Sirasi. He said he heard the assailants preparing to attack them at the side of the road. When Bere was struck, Sirasi hid in a tunnel, and watched as Bere died. Local police have taken statements and are searching for the killers.
Security officials have stopped a church service in a house in Khampou Village, Laos and threatened the Christians they found there with arrest.
The believers were told they would face large fines if others in the village became ill or died, because they had angered spirits or gods by becoming Christians. Two Christians from another village who attended the service were threatened with arrest if they rejoined the church in future. This follows other incidents of persecution towards Christians by officials in the country.
Russian evangelical Vyacheslav Reznichenko has been sentenced to two years and six months in prison because he refuses to fight with the Russian army in Ukraine on the grounds of religious conscience.
Footage shared on social media platform Telegram shows him entering a detention centre. He has appealed the charges and appeared in five difference courts, but has been unsuccessful each time. Reznichenko is married with a four-month-old son. He is a member of a free evangelical church near Russia’s borders with China and North Korea.
Seven months after suffering several devastating earthquakes, humanitarian aid is still not arriving in Syria fast enough.
Syrian churches have asked for help from other countries and sought to provide aid to those who need it most. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says that up to 15million Syrians need humanitarian aid, and Abdallah Homsi (pictured), pastor of the Evangelical Christian Alliance Church in Aleppo, said people are ‘living by God’s grace,’ with the situation not much better than it was when the disaster struck.