World in Brief

Three churches have been bombed in El Fasher, Sudan in an attack by Rapid Support Forces (RSF) which saw five people killed. The Sudanese Episcopal Church, the African Inland Church and the Roman Catholic Church were damaged, according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide.

The priest of the Roman Catholic Church was injured in the attack and died soon afterwards. El Fasher is the only city in the Darfur region the RSF do not control and the Islamic fundamentalist forces have laid siege to it for over a year.

An eight-year-old Christian boy in Indonesia has died after sustaining critical injuries in a brutal assault by older Muslims. It is unclear whether the beating caused the ruptured appendix which eventually caused his death, but the incident did leave him needing hospital treatment, according to Morning Star News.

The boy’s father revealed that his son had been bullied because of his ethnicity and Christian faith, which led to him being beaten by five Muslim boys aged 11–13. He was left with bruises on his stomach and thighs, before dying due to a ruptured appendix.

A Christian woman in Somalia has been thrown out of her home by her Muslim family, leaving her struggling to provide for her three young children. Having given her life to Christ early this year, she was evicted by her parents after showing them the ‘Jesus Film’ during Ramadan.

Morning Star News reports that after expressing shock that she referred to Jesus as God’s Son when watching the film’s depiction of His suffering on the cross, her father told her to leave with her children and convinced her husband to divorce her.

Foreigners who attempt to undertake Christian work in Russia face a greater risk of removal from the country following the implementation of new laws surrounding “illegal missionary activity”. According to Forum 18, the authorities can now fine and expel foreigners without a trial if they are perceived to be engaging in illegal practices.

The amendments to the Administrative Code, which came into force earlier this year, make it harder for foreign nationals to appeal against such decisions, and it is likely that those charged will have been deported before their appeals are heard.

A Christian wedding celebration has been attacked by a mob in Raipur, India, with angry villagers cutting off the venue’s electricity supply, damaging guests’ vehicles and setting the building ablaze.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide reports that, after having stones thrown at them when trying to defend their mothers, some in attendance called the police from a nearby house. The authorities quickly arrived and arrested one person, but he was swiftly released due to fears of a local backlash.

Evangelicals in Honduras have called for the authorities to investigate the murder of more than 30 pastors over the last 12 years, which they claim have gone unpunished. According to Evangelical Focus, a statement released by the Association of Pastors of Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela (APT) also called for the banning of the right to own firearms in the country.

The APT described the pastors’ deaths as “a loss for the whole country”, and said in their statement: “We reject the culture of violence fuelled by criminal structures, generational machismo and a state that allows a person to have several registered weapons.”

A self-confessed paedophile who led a choir in an evangelical church in Valencia has been sentenced to 12 years in jail for sexually assaulting at least six children. The offences took place on a continuous basis between 2009 and 2020 and it was ruled that he used his position to gain the trust of his victims, reports Evangelical Focus.

The abuse was discovered when two of the victims, who are siblings, told their parents, which helped lead to four more victims being discovered. The judge stated that the man used his position to gain time alone with the children.

The general secretary of the European Evangelical Alliance (EEA), Jan Wessels (photo middle right), declared that he was very impressed by Ukraine’s “resilience” which is being aided by the nation’s churches. After a meeting in Kiev with Denys Shmigal (photo left), the country’s Prime Minister, Wessels also spoke about the horror of the suffering experienced during nightly bombings by Russia in the city.

Evangelical Focus reports that the meeting between the pair was one stop on a tour of Ukraine following an invitation from evangelical churches to the country, during which Wessels assured the Ukrainian church that the Europe’s evangelicals “are close to the Ukrainian people”.

About 1,300 young people aged between 13 and 20 from the Balkans attended the Srcokret Fest 2025 in Šibenik, Croatia. The multi-lingual event featured talks from Balkan church leaders, concerts, and over 50 workshops covering a wide range of topics, all aimed at strengthening the faith of young people, reports Evangelical Focus.

Some who attended the six-day conference camped in tents in the coastal town, while others stayed in bungalows. The event also featured a strong emphasis on evangelism and provided opportunities for new gospel partnerships to be formed.

A Christian girl in Pakistan has escaped from the Muslim man who kidnapped her, forced her to marry him and convert to Islam two years ago, when she was aged just 14. She has revealed that she was repeatedly sexually assaulted during her time in captivity and beaten regularly with an iron rod, having initially been tortured.

According to Morning Star News, the girl from Muridke, Sheikhupura District, was kidnapped at gunpoint at night when her family were asleep. She managed to escape when she was left unguarded in a house.

A Christian is being detained in Saudi Arabia and is not being allowed to leave the country, but is also not allowed to renew his residency permit in the kingdom. From a Muslim background but converted ten years ago, the man, referred to as “Sam”, is in legal limbo as he is unable to work or do anything of note, reports Release International.

While he is not being badly mistreated, Sam is suffering from health problems because of the conditions of his detention, which involves routine questioning. He tried to leave following a deportation order but was detained en route to Riyadh.

A Christian has been secretly baptised in a bathroom in a remote village in Vietnam while believers kept watch outside amidst strict government oversight in the area, which operates under a ‘zero-Christian’ policy. Christians face possible imprisonment in the region, meaning the new convert’s nearest Christian community is 200km away, according to Open Doors.

The convert, referred to as Danh, became a Christian after speaking to Pastor Luca, an Open Doors missionary who evangelises in remote villages in Vietnam. He described Danh as “resolute” throughout and said there was “no turning back”.

Inscriptions of the Lord’s Prayer, written in Swedish, have been found on a stone slab from ancient Swedish runes near Wawa, Ontario in Canada. Researchers had been unable to decipher what the inscriptions said when they were originally discovered seven years ago, but an archaeologist has revealed their meaning, Premier Christian News reveals.

Experts believe the site is a 200-year-old place of worship originally used by Swedish workers, but they noted that writings like this are rare, leaving them uncertain as to why this was inscribed in the stone slab.

A new Anglican church is to be planted in Benissa on the Costa Blanca in Spain, following a recent Anglican Convocation Europe (ACE) conference. Bishop Andy Lines welcomed Josep Rosello to the diocese and Rosello is now working to start King’s Church in his home town.

The new church will provide a much-needed boost to evangelicals in the area, with Benissa located in the centre of ten towns without an evangelical church. Rosello and his family have travelled to Spain having previously planted a diocese spanning Brazil and Venezuela.

Luke Randall