China: Pastor imprisoned
Luke Randall
Date posted: 8 May 2025
A Hui Christian pastor has been imprisoned for nine months for “organising illegal gatherings” in China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.
Ma Yan, 32, had pleaded guilty to the charge after being accused of organising the gathering of ten or less believers because other charges are punished more harshly, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) reports.
letter from Russia
Gospel hope melts Siberian hearts
Mark Foster
Date posted: 7 May 2025
In Far East Russia, believers endeavouring to share the truth of the gospel face problems which are peculiar to the context in which they work. Harsh wintry conditions, isolated scattered communities, impassible roads and, most critical of all, strong resistance to Christian truth and a suspicion of believers, must all be overcome if the gospel is to take root and conquer hearts.
One approach has been proving encouraging and effective – the building of “Hope Centres” in communities where there is resistance to gospel witness, and no ready acceptance of evangelists from “outside”.
Pope Francis 'world's foremost false teacher' says well-known evangelical
en staff
Date posted: 6 May 2025
Well-known Canadian reformed pastor, speaker and author Tim Challies says Pope Francis was "the world's foremost false teacher".
Writing on his blog, which he has updated regularly since 2003, Challies describes the late Pontiff as someone who "communicated heretical doctrines to more people than any other human being".
More Finnish teens believing in God
Luke Randall
Date posted: 29 Apr 2025
The number of teenagers in Finland who say they believe in God has increased greatly in recent years, with more young men than women now saying they believe, a new study has found.
New research found that as many as 62% of boys who attended confirmation classes said they believed in God in 2024, while about half of girls expressed the same belief. These statistics represent a large increase amongst both genders, with up to 50% of boys in the nation expressing a belief in God in 2023, alongside about 35% of girls.
France: One new church planted ‘every ten days’
Luke Randall
Date posted: 28 Apr 2025
There are encouraging reports of new gospel growth in France – with evangelicals claiming one church is being established every ten days, and a new study revealing younger Protestants are increasingly likely to identify as evangelical.
Data collected by the French Institute of Public Opinion (IFOP) on behalf of the Protestant Federation of France reveals that younger people and those on lower incomes who regard themselves as practicing Protestants in France are increasingly likely to identify as evangelical Christians.
letter from America
The US and UK: Transatlantic lessons
Josh Moody
Date posted: 27 Apr 2025
I recently returned to the UK for a preaching tour. I preached 13 times in about as many days. Godcenteredlife.org had a conference in London. We did a missions conference with Crosslinks in Belfast. And more.
It’s made me reflect, with renewed up close and personal experience, on the differences, strengths and weaknesses of the different church scenes. Obviously, there are many more, and much bigger, churches in the USA. Right before I came to the UK, I heard of another church in the USA of about 15,000 people in attendance – a church that previous to that brief awareness moment I had never heard of. If there was a church in the UK with 15,000 people in attendance I would have heard of it and been quite familiar with it. But the size difference is not the most notable, nor in some ways, the most important distinction.
Escalating discrimination in India
Luke Randall
Date posted: 26 Apr 2025
Discrimination against Christians in India increased last year, with the number of incidents recorded almost four times higher than a decade ago, according to a study of discrimination against Christians in the nation.
The Evangelical Fellowship of India’s Religious Liberty Commission’s (EFIRLC) latest annual report recorded 640 verified incidents of persecution against believers in 2024 (with another 200 reported cases unverified), up from 601 the previous year. Perhaps more shockingly, it also revealed that the number of incidents has increased fourfold from just 147 cases recorded in 2014.
Myanmar: ‘Your prayer is our hope...’
Luke Randall
Date posted: 24 Apr 2025
Following the devastating earthquake in Myanmar, which has killed thousands and destroyed many buildings, evangelicals are reporting a desperate need for aid – and glimmers of gospel opportunity.
The 7.7 magnitude quake has prompted an immediate humanitarian crisis in a country which has been gripped by civil conflict for four years, with missionaries in the nation already experiencing a “tenfold increase” in requests for missionary aid even before the earthquake.
Ukraine: Drone strike kills father and daughter
Luke Randall
Date posted: 24 Apr 2025
A father and daughter have been killed in Kyiv following a Russian drone strike on an evangelical church.
The mother survived despite being thrown 50 metres away from the scene by the force of the blast. She was subsequently treated in hospital.
Gaza conflict: ‘We must endure the cross and carry it’
Luke Randall
Date posted: 23 Apr 2025
As conflict between Israel and Hamas continues in Gaza, there are an estimated 600 Christians remaining in the territory attempting to salvage what is left of their homes and to encourage one another.
In a recent interview with Open Doors, a Christian man, who preferred to remain anonymous, described what daily life is like for believers who remain in the region, with most living in tents under the shelter of church buildings and struggling to acquire basic necessities.
Papua New Guinea officially declared a Christian country
Emily Pollok
Date posted: 22 Apr 2025
Papua New Guinea is officially a Christian country after its Constitution was modified last month.
Prompted by Prime Minister James Marape, the Constitution has been amended to state that: “(We, the people of Papua New Guinea) acknowledge and declare God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit as our Creator and Sustainer of the entire universe and the source of our powers and authorities, delegated to the people and all persons under the geographical jurisdiction of Papua New Guinea.”
Canada: Christians urged to engage
Luke Randall
Date posted: 19 Apr 2025
The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) has called on Canadian Christians to fully engage with the political process ahead of the national federal election, describing voting as a “privilege and responsibility”.
The upcoming election, called by newly elected Liberal Party leader and prime minister Mark Carney and due to be held on 28 April, will be the first contest the liberals have faced without former prime minister Justin Trudeau at the helm in ten years, and Carney’s party is neck and neck with the Conservatives in the polls.
USA: New task force to remove ‘anti-Christian’ bias
Emily Pollok
Date posted: 18 Apr 2025
President Trump is on a mission to get rid of “anti-Christian bias” in the US, creating a task force especially for the purpose.
Headed up by Attorney General Pam Bondi, the task force is to “immediately halt all forms of anti-Christian targeting and discrimination within the federal government”, Trump announced in Washington recently during National Prayer Breakfast events.
Christianity loses out to ‘religious switching’
Luke Randall
Date posted: 16 Apr 2025
People around the world are increasingly abandoning the religious identity they were raised with – and Christianity and Buddhism are enduring the biggest losses, according to new research.
A pattern dubbed religious switching has seen people leave their Christian roots behind, particularly across many Western countries. The new study by Pew Research, which questioned almost 80,000 people across 36 countries from six continents, found that the majority of people who switched moved from the religious upbringing of their childhood to an unreligious position, with Christians suffering the greatest losses in most countries.
Could Sudanese conflict move south?
Luke Randall
Date posted: 14 Apr 2025
Tensions in Sudan are threatening to impact other surrounding nations, and neighbouring South Sudan is reportedly on the brink of its own civil war - potentially leaving Christians facing further persecution.
Following the Sudan Armed Forces’ (SAF) recapture of the nation’s presidential palace in Khartoum, after two years under Rapid Support Forces (RSF) control, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) partners revealed to en that Christians could face further strain should civil war break out in South Sudan.
India: Christian couple granted bail
Luke Randall
Date posted: 5 Apr 2025
A Christian couple sentenced to five years behind bars for an attempted conversion have been granted bail and will be released once all required paperwork is completed.
According to Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), they were sentenced earlier this year under legislation which prohibits religious conversion achieved through force, misrepresentation, coercion or other fraudulent means. CSW said that the charges should never have been brought against Sheeja and Jose Pappachan and they are urging the authorities to repeal anti-conversion laws immediately.
The lifesaving flights battling sorcery and snakebites
Gary Clayton
Date posted: 5 Apr 2025
Whether it’s snakebite or sorcery, Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) flights are making all the difference to the people of Papua New Guinea (PNG).
Growing up in Dodomona, in the Middle Fly District of Western Province, PNG, Titus Yabua witnessed many members of his community dying from treatable illnesses, accidents, snakebites and pig bites.
There’s snow discouragement… ski church growing
Luke Randall
Date posted: 5 Apr 2025
A skiing ministry in a village in the Swiss Alps is continuing to grow after almost 40 years, having developed from a small chaplaincy programme into a thriving church.
Verbier, a small village 1,500 metres above sea-level with a population of about 3,000 permanent residents, is a top ski and summer resort which hosts many English-speaking residents and holidaymakers, in which a small-scale winter chaplaincy programme was formed in 1986.
