The pastor of a Louisiana church was charged Tuesday with defying state efforts to curtail the coronavirus outbreak. Tony Spell of the Life Tabernacle Church near Baton Rouge faces six counts of misdemeanor for holding services in violation of state-wide orders to stay home and to limit essential gatherings to 10 persons. Spell has said the government is infringing on the right to religion and that he will continue to hold services.
A Christian watchdog group in the UK published a new report this week on the erosion of religious freedom in China under President Xi Jinping, whose ‘sinicization’ campaign has set out to absorb faith into the Chinese socialist system.
A pastor and a team of youth missionaries from his church were abused and falsely charged in India earlier this month for providing food and clothing to the poor, in another instance of police complicity with the radical Hindu nationalist agenda.
The lead pastor of a Florida megachurch was arrested for violating state public health orders during the coronavirus pandemic.
The coronavirus stimulus package signed into law last week not only serves to bolster individuals, families and for-profit companies impacted by the ongoing pandemic but also offers relief to churches and ministry staff as well.
At least one person has died, and 43 people have fallen ill at an Illinois Pentecostal church, with at least 10 testing positive for coronavirus so far.
Authorities in Africa and Europe are evacuating churches and detaining pastors as governments say they prohibit worship services to halt the spread of the new coronavirus COVID 19. Video footage obtained by Worthy News showed the head pastor of the Open Arms Ministries congregation in Ghana’s city of Kumasi taken into custody during a recent worship service. The pastor, Kofi Nkrumah Sarkodie, was rushed to a police pickup truck. Several worshippers protested the move and applauded the pastor.
Peter Tumbelaka wasn’t in a hurry to become the pastor of Jakarta’s largest Pentecostal churches where many Muslims convert to Christianity. “I thought I could remain an architect and an engineer. But God had different plans,” the 52-year-old preacher told BosNewsLife in Indonesia’s bustling capital.
A Montagnard Christian in Vietnam was released from prison in February following sixteen years of torture by the Vietnamese government for protesting its treatment of ethnic and religious minorities.
Two churches in Sudan have been burned down by arsonists in the last month, Sudanese Radio Dabanga reported. This is despite Christian hopes for religious freedom following the ousting of dictator Omar al-Bashir in April 2019. Radio Dabanga was notified of the attacks by Dimas Marajan, a local lawyer and human rights activist.
The Indonesian Baptist Church of Tlogosari has resorted to legal action in fighting local opposition to the construction of its church house. Referring to pressure being placed on the government to block his church’s legitimate building work, Pastor Wahyudi told Beritasatu.com: “We will continue to fight for this, because if left unchecked it will set a bad precedent for freedom of religion and worship in Semarang.”
Francis Chan encouraged the Church to view the coronavirus pandemic as ‘one of our greatest opportunities to reach a lost world and show them we haven’t lost our love, joy, and peace’ instead of succumbing to fear and anxiety.
An Arkansas pastor who was recently struck with the deadly coronavirus along with his wife, Dena, and more than 30 others connected to his church is now warning others not to underestimate how dangerous the virus is and treat it with ‘wisdom and restraint.’
A congregation in Ohio decided to host ‘Drive In Church’ services as a way of gathering people together for worship while being wary of concerns over spreading the coronavirus.
A young pastor in India and his congregation were attacked by a 200-man-strong mob of Hindu nationalists brandishing hockey sticks last week, sending the Christians to prison, where they endured a demonic level of police brutality.
Wycliffe Associates, an international organization that empowers mother-tongue Bible translators and partners with local churches in the advancement of Bible translation, aims to launch Bible translations for 600 new language groups in places of oppression and persecution for Christians.
CBN News has learned that President Trump, Vice President Pence and Secretary Ben Carson spoke to hundreds of pastors on a conference call Friday afternoon, with President Trump specifically asking them to pray for, ‘stamina’ and for the, ‘health of our country.’ Meanwhile, Vice President Pence commended pastors for the vital work churches are doing throughout this ordeal. ‘You’re putting hands and feet on your faith,’ the vice-president told the pastors. Secretary Ben Carson encouraged the group by saying, ‘God still has his hand on this nation.’
China is using the widespread coronavirus outbreak within its borders as an opportunity to attack Christian faith, with the communist government demolishing churches or removing their crosses over the month of March.
Wycliffe Associates held a dedication service for its newly published Symbolic Universal Notation (SUN) New Testament on February 20, 2020, at its worldwide headquarters in Orlando, Florida.
When we look at the state of Christianity in the world today, we see a decidedly mixed picture. In many parts of the world, there is incredibly good news: God is authoring a season of multiplication instead of addition in many parts of the world.