The Trump administration has condemned the imprisonment of Wang Yi, pastor of one of China’s best-known unregistered house churches, calling it another example of ‘Beijing’s intensification of repression of Chinese Christians and members of other religious groups.’
Researchers have discovered what is thought to be the oldest church in sub-Saharan Africa in Ethiopia, allowing scholars to now reliably date the spread of Christianity to the continent to the Constantinian era.
Christians in central India accused of illegally practicing medicine spent Christmas Eve and Christmas in jail, later discovering that the charges against them applied to prayers for healing in which they had engaged.
Officials in China are extremely threatened by the involvement of Christians in recent mass protests in Hong Kong, with many churches on the mainland pinned for supposed extremism in recent months for their association with Christians in the Special Administrative Region.
Three Bharatiya Janata Party-affiliated people led an attack on a new prayer hall dedicated to Jesus in India’s West Bengal state Saturday, as a mob of 800 people, mostly non-Christians, surrounded the building’s inauguration ceremony.
Nine Iranian Christians who had converted from Islam were sentenced to a total of 45 years in prison for “acting against national security” and “promoting Zionism,” as Iran’s Revolutionary court denied the requests of those who asked for lawyers and transferred them to the country’s worst prison.
A translation from a 56-second video released by the Amaq ISIS news outlet showing the beheading and execution of 11 Christians in Nigeria over the Christmas holiday was provided by the Washington-based SITE Intelligence Group in recent days.
In a gesture of reconciliation following years of persecution, the new religious affairs minister of Sudan, Nasr al-Din Mufreh, attended Christmas celebrations in Khartoum to personally apologize for former dictator Omar al-Bashir’s harassment of Christians.
Chinese pastor Wang Yi was sentenced to 9 years of prison on December 30th, following a year of detention in an unknown location in which he was deprived a lawyer by President Xi Jinping’s Chinese Communist Party.
Brazil has pledged multiple political and economic commitments to Israel in recent days, with leaders promising the country will move its embassy to Jerusalem, designate Hezbollah a terrorist organization, and work with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to launch direct flights between the two nations.
ISIS-affiliated terrorists in Nigeria killed 11 people, many assumed to be Christians, on Christmas day, following the slaying of 7 Christians in Borno State by the organization on Christmas eve.
Russian Christians are answering the call to take the gospel to Mongolia, one of the most sparsely populated and least-reached countries in the world, 26 years after the fall of communism left only 10 believers in the country.
Wycliffe Associates, an international organization that empowers mother-tongue Bible translators and partners with local churches in the advancement of Bible translation, continues to receive requests for help from Christians living in highly volatile regions who are committed to bringing the translated Scriptures to their language groups.
Boris Johnson has vowed to defend Christians around the world in his first Christmas message since becoming U.K prime minister.
A Christian mother in Uganda had to flee her home when her Muslim husband discovered she had been taking their 7-year-old child to church services after her recent conversion in May.
The Christian population of Israel currently stands at approximately 177,000 citizens, or 2% of the overall population, according to data published by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) ahead of Christmas.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday extended Christmas greetings to Christians in Israel and around the globe celebrating the holiday.
A pastor was kidnapped in Nigeria in Adamawa state last week, with no reason given by captors for the abduction, and no ransom demanded.
At least 3 evangelical churches have been closed in Russia over the last 6 months, in spite of President Vladimir Putin’s pledge at a recent conference to “do everything” to protect Christians in the Middle East.
Indonesia has seen 40 anti-Christian attacks in the first 5 months of 2019, a two-thirds jump from last year, and a quadrupling of the rate from 10 years ago.