Christian

As Haiti reels under years of gang-led terror, chronic violent political instability, and poverty, a group of Christian ministers led by Kenya’s first lady Rachel Ruto recently participated in a “marathon” prayer event seeking God’s help for the Caribbean nation and asking His protection for the 2,500 multinational police force Kenya is now leading to support Haitian police.

Known as a country where 50% of the population say they do not believe in God, France saw a record 12,135 baptisms this Easter, America Magazine reports. The French Bishops Conference said in a new report that 7,135 adults and more than 5,000 children aged 11-17 were baptized during Easter services this year.

Australian police say Monday’s stabbing attack at a Sydney church in which a bishop, priest, and churchgoers were injured during mass was a “terrorist act.”

The world’s largest Baptist denomination, the US Southern Baptist Convention, lost a record 1,200 congregations in 2022, a new study by Lifeway Research shows. The data for 2022 is the latest available; a report for 2023 will be published soon, Lifeway said.

Convinced that Jesus is the only answer to the decades-long crisis of illegal immigration on the United States’ southern border with Mexico, an evangelist leader of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC) is hosting ‘Revival On The Border,’ a 3-day evangelistic and prayer event that will be held in Texas from March 27-29.

A new report by the Pew Research Center shows that in 2021, the governments of almost all the world’s countries imposed restrictions on religion, including Christianity. The findings were published in Pew’s 14th annual report on countries that restrict the religious expression of some groups while granting benefits to others.

An international Christian mission has been ministering to thousands of Ukrainian refugees who fled their homes for the former USSR country of Moldova after the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine began two years ago, CBN News reports. Headquartered in Tennessee, USA, Mission Eurasia has outreaches in the 13 countries of the former Soviet Union and Poland.

PEACECOREA, an indigenous Christian ministry in South Korea is encouraging local believers to pray for neighboring enemy state North Korea and to actively share the Gospel with North Korean defectors, CBN News reports.

Wycliffe Associates, an international organization that empowers mother-tongue Bible translators and partners with local churches in the advancement of Bible translation, is working to provide Christians in 35 language groups across Indonesia and Southeast Asia with Bible Translation Acceleration Kits (BTAKs)—and the training to use them.

he tragic deaths of 11 YWAM missionary leaders in a road traffic accident in Tanzania last month has highlighted the neglect of road safety measures across the African continent, Christian Daily reports. The 11 missionaries had been participating in the “Executive Masters in Leadership” course, based at YWAM Arusha, Tanzania when a truck suffered a brake failure and crashed into the bus they were traveling in on Feb. 24, killing them and severely injuring others.

One of the largest Christian colleges in the United States, Liberty University has agreed to pay the federal government a record $14 million fine for failure to properly report on crime and safety on campus. Liberty University has over 15,000 students at its Virginia campus and 130,000 enrolled worldwide, and received $874 million in federal student aid, the Roys Report (TRR) reports.

Eleven members of the US-founded international Youth With A Mission (YWAM) evangelistic ministry were among those killed in a devastating traffic accident in the city of Arusha, northern Tanzania on Saturday, the Christian Post reports. The names of those involved in the accident have not yet been disclosed for security reasons.

Amid a surge of reports that revival is taking place on US college campuses, Christian author and founder of IF:Gathering Jennie Allen announced Friday that Florida State University (FSU) saw up to a thousand students going forward to put their faith in Christ during a free worship event the evening before, CBN News reports.

A newly published survey shows that support for Israel dropped by a dramatic 50% among young American Evangelicals in just three years between 2018-2021, the Jerusalem Post reports. The data is consistent with the outpouring of anti-Israel sentiment that was unleashed worldwide, including in the US, following the Oct. 7 attack on the Jewish state by the Hamas Palestinian terror group.

An estimated 10,000 Christians from different faith traditions gathered in Lebanon’s capital city Beirut last month for a groundbreaking ecumenical worship event intended to encourage unity and hope in the Body of Christ, CBN News reports. Titled “Beirut 2024,” the event was held on Jan. 20 as part of celebrations for the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and the 50th anniversary of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), CBN News reports.

A recent report on the status of Christianity around the world shows that – despite intense persecution in many countries there – the largest number of Christians are in the Global South, and that Asia (five regions) has the fastest growing Christian populations of all. Titled ‘Status of Global Christianity, 2024, in the Context of 1900–2050,’ the report was published by the US-based Center for the Study of Global Christianity (CSGC).

A court in Vietnam has sentenced an evangelical Christian man to 4 1/2 years imprisonment on charges of “secession and incitement” for holding prayer meetings in his home, the Christian Post reports.