
Ominous new Decree 95 confirms Vietnam’s intent to control religion
Shutting down churches will be easier, raising and receiving funds much harder.

Shutting down churches will be easier, raising and receiving funds much harder.
When God calls us out from our homes, we go as strangers to lands that are strange to us. Yet, God goes ahead of us and stays with us, challenging us to always trust in him. Here is the experience of one young woman who has been challenged to use her gifts for the sake of the gospel and a better world.
After a miraculous healing and turning to Jesus, an Indian family has faced persistent persecution. Recently it became so fierce they were forced to flee. Nevertheless, a powerful witness to faith in Christ remains in their village that we pray will one day bear much fruit. Here is their first-hand story.
As new Christians (especially if you're non-Western) we are too often taught that our ethnic identity should be ignored or even suppressed in favor of a spiritual identity. Our teachers ignore the fact that Evangelical Christianity is heavily interpreted through a Western lens. Non-Westerners will flourish in Christ if they are encouraged to embrace the redeemed benefits of their unique ethnicity, because that is part of them being a gift from God as a blessing to the Church and the world.
As the younger generation challenges the status quo in Nepal, local churches find their voice, offering hope, and stability in uncertain times. A young Nepali believer, Surendra Bajracharya, writes that this is an opportunity for the church, especially its younger members, to respond to God’s calling and reach out to their peers beyond the church walls—young people burdened with broken dreams in a trembling nation.

In a rare move in Pakistan, police discharged a 72-year-old Christian from a blasphemy case after the complainant admitted she had falsely accused him, sources said.

Muslims fired gunshots and threw fuel bombs at the homes of Christians in a village in Pakistan at 2 a.m. on Monday (Feb. 12) for supporting an opposing political party in last week’s elections, sources said.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Tuesday (Feb. 13) reprimanded the Punjab Province government over its progress report on anti-Christian attacks in Jaranwala, terming it “worthy of being thrown into the dustbin.”

A 72-year-old Christian in Pakistan was arrested and charged with blasphemy on Saturday (Feb. 10) based on a false accusation filed in retaliation over a property dispute, sources said.

Chinese families are coming under pressure to keep the Christian faith from their children. Chinese partners of Release International, an organisation supporting persecuted Christians worldwide, said that schoolchildren are being made to declare whether they are Christians. Those who state that they are must then sign a declaration promising to renounce Christianity.

Last Sunday, I attended a worship service at a church, noticing a one-third reduction in the attendance. Additionally, the number of worship sessions decreased from three to two. Choirs and fellowships are also suspended until the end of February.