Suspected Muslim Fulani militants in Nigeria have demanded a ransom of 30 million nairas (US$73,600) for the release of Pastor Otamayomi Ogedengbe of Deeper Life Bible Church, whom they abducted at gunpoint from a Bible study at his church building in Akure, Ondo state on May 10, Morning Star News reports.
On May 15, a mob of over 200 Muslims attacked a Christian community in the Chak 5 village of Pakistan’s Punjab province, ransacking homes and seriously injuring eight people, International Christian Concern reports. Pakistan ranks 5 on the US Open Doors watch list of countries that persecute Christians; the persecution level in the country has been rated as “extreme.”
Four Christian men were beheaded in Indonesia earlier this month, in what is believed to have been an attack by East Indonesia Mujahidin (MIT) Islamic terrorists, Christian Today reports. The horrifying attack was carried out just six months after four Christians were murdered at a Salvation Army outpost in Sigi, Central Sulawesi.
Right after leading six Muslims to Christ during a public debate on May 3, a pastor in eastern Uganda was followed home and murdered by Islamic extremists who cut out his tongue and beheaded him, Morning Star News. The killing was the latest murder of Christians by Islamists in Uganda.
Hundreds of people attended a prayer vigil at a Catholic church in New York City’s Brooklyn Friday night, after a vandal entered the church grounds the night before and smashed a statue of Jesus that was there. Police are investigating what is believed to be a hate crime against the St. Athanasius Church, in which the perpetrator also burned the church’s American flag.
A jailed church elder has urged China’s Christians to continue worship services despite revelations that authorities force believers to renounce their faith in brainwash facilities.
China’s Communist authorities have launched a digital revolution against Christianity, according to Christians familiar with the situation.
Rights groups report that Karen Christians in Myanmar are suffering under attacks and massive displacement by the Tatmadaw Burmese military which wrested control of the civilian government in February, and which carries out violent campaigns against ethnic and religious minorities in the country, International Christian Concern has reported. Prayer has been requested for the Karen Christians and all those oppressed in Myanmar.
Islamist militants killed and injured numerous Christians in a church and towns in central and northern Nigeria, Christians confirmed Thursday.
The under-resourced military chaplains of Burkina Faso are struggling to provide adequate support to government troops fighting the onslaught of Islamic extremist violence against this previously peaceful West African nation, Associated Press reports.
Church leaders have expressed concern about the future of Jerusalem and its neighborhood as several people were killed Tuesday in nearly non-stop Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel and Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.
In the first such move by any major US Christian denomination, the Sierra Pacific Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) has elected a transgender person to serve as Bishop, Christian Headlines reports.
The pastor in Canada who last month ordered police and COVID-19 health inspectors to leave his church building was on Saturday arrested for holding an “illegal” service in breach of a new Alberta Health Services order.
As Islamic terrorists continue to kidnap Christians in Nigeria’s Kaduna state, in April a pastor’s wife was abducted from her home, two Christian nurses were taken from a hospital and around 70 residents were kidnapped from a single village, Morning Star News (MSN) reports. According to the Open Doors persecution watch group, 990 Christians were kidnapped in Nigeria last year – the highest number anywhere in the world.
Four devoted Christian men mistreated while in detention in Iran have been temporarily released due to the coronavirus pandemic, activists confirmed Thursday.
Muslim Fulani herdsmen have reportedly killed dozens of Christians in central Nigeria in recent weeks amid ongoing anti-Christian violence in the volatile African nation.
A pastor who was jailed in Laos for more than a year after refusing to end his church services has been released, supporters confirmed Thursday.
On April 28, two Christian preachers in China were arrested and placed in detention, in what has been described as the Chinese government’s effort to root out house churches in the country, International Christian Concern reports. No reason has yet been given for why Preachers Qie Jiafu and Huang Chunzi have been detained: both preachers were part of Zion Church, a large Beijing house church that was founded in 2007 and shut down by authorities in 2018.
The International Christian Concern organization has called on the global Church to pray for Christians in India who are suffering greatly, fighting to survive amid a devastating wave of COVID-19 that is tearing through the country. “As members of the global Church, we must bear this burden as our own. Please join ICC in praying for India and all those suffering due to the current COVID-19 crisis,” ICC said in a report.
The governor of Nigeria’s Benue State has commended American missionary Pastor William Delvin and Nigerian human rights lawyer Emmanuel Ogebe for rebuilding a church that was destroyed during the 2016 massacre of civilians in the Agatu municipality by Fulani militant herdsmen. After visiting the devastated Agatu community in 2020, Delvin and Ogebe raised necessary funds and organized the rebuilding of the area’s Methodist church in time for its opening on Easter Sunday this year.