On October 26, 2024, Islamist militants attacked a church in Nalgbangou in northern Togo. During the attack, the Islamists burned houses and killed eight men in the village. They also filled the local church with bullet holes, knocked the metal sheeting roof down and set the building on fire.
Read MoreA Kazakh evangelist requests prayer for effective outreach to tribal leaders and heads of families. “In the very beginning, we should approach families rather than individuals,” said the Kazakh pastor, who explained that approaching an entire family group or the head of a household first can build bridges of trust that help prevent misunderstandings. The pastor said he uses a “person of peace” evangelism strategy based on Luke 10:6. In that approach, he tries to find “the person the Holy Spirit has been preparing for the gospel,” he said.
Read MoreJampa is a Christian who has experienced persecution and deprivation since coming to faith in Jesus Christ. She was beaten for praying, had to trek through the jungle to attend a distant church, and kept her Bible hidden in the woods so it would not be found and destroyed. When police disrupted a worship service she was attending, she was detained and questioned, and now her in-laws have kicked her out of their home because of her faith, leaving her to live in unsafe and unsanitary conditions.
Read MoreDespite her suffering, a Christian woman is standing firm in her faith and discipling others as well. Lenna was raised as a Muslim in northern Benin. When she came to faith in Christ a few years ago, her Muslim husband abandoned her and her three children. Not long afterward, Lenna was in a motorcycle accident and lost her right hand and part of her arm. She then struggled to support herself and her children.
Read MoreSecond-grader Khristopel Butarbutar, who was part of a Christian tribal group on Indonesia’s island of Sumatra, came home from school on May 19, 2025, injured and in pain. He had been beaten by five older Muslim boys in his school, the culmination of a week of bullying that included taunting him about his Christian faith. Khristopel continued to suffer and weaken physically, and his parents took him to the hospital, where he died on May 26. The autopsy showed the cause of death as a ruptured appendix, which may or may not have been the result of the beating, but the autopsy also showed internal bleeding and bruises that were consistent with blunt force trauma.
Read MoreChristian refugees in Türkiye face persecution and possibly death if they are forced out. Türkiye, which has the largest refugee population in the world, is actively working to reduce its numbers as roughly 3.5 million have fled there from neighboring countries. “Türkiye has been ramping up deportations in recent years,” said a front-line worker. “But in the past few months, they significantly escalated the number of refugees they are sending back to their home countries.” Some refugees are Christians who fled persecution.
Read MoreFront-line workers have reported that the risk of advancing the gospel in Iran has increased since the Twelve-Day War in June of 2025 – but so has the opportunity to advance it. “In the past, if Christians were arrested for distributing Bibles or Christian literature, they were typically charged with unauthorized possession and distribution and ‘actions against national security,'” said one front-line worker. “Now, they fear being charged with espionage, which carries an automatic death penalty.” Despite this pressure, Christians say there are new opportunities to share their faith.
Read MoreWhen Algerian Muslims become followers of Christ, they often experience rejection from their families or job loss. Once the local Muslim community knows of their new faith, Christian converts may struggle to find replacement work. With the help of the global body of Christ, one convert who has had difficulty providing for his family since becoming a Christian is now starting a dairy business, hoping to sell cheeses to provide for his family. Another Christian, who formerly worked as an Islamic teacher in an area where many radical Islamists live, is struggling to provide for his family since losing his job.
Read MoreOn April 16, 2025, prison authorities in India’s Odisha state released one of the men who had murdered Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons, Philip and Timothy, in January 1999. Mahendra Hembram, who set fire to the car in which the family was sleeping, was sentenced to life in prison in 2003 but was granted early release for good behavior. Hembram’s release was celebrated publicly by Hindu nationalist organizations such as Vishwa Hindu Parishad, who called it “a good day for us.” The convicted murderer was greeted at the gate of the prison by crowds chanting Hindu slogans and welcoming him as a hero.
Read MoreSix Christians, including a pastor, were killed in an Islamist attack. On May 23, 2025, shortly after noon, a large group of Islamists riding on motorbikes invaded a village and began searching for the local pastor. They rode to his house while he was meeting in his courtyard with several other Christians. Hearing the roar of the motorbikes, the Christians fled on foot. The Islamists chased them and captured six, including the pastor, and shot them to death.
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