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        <title>Christian Daily International | Evangelism & Discipleship</title>
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                                                        <item>
                <title><![CDATA[From mission field to mission force: Indonesia's churches aim to send 30,000 missionaries by 2033]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/from-mission-field-to-mission-force-indonesia-s-churches-aim-to-send-30-000-missionaries-by-2033</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/from-mission-field-to-mission-force-indonesia-s-churches-aim-to-send-30-000-missionaries-by-2033</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Timothy Goropevsek]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Dr. Bambang Budijanto, chair of ALUSIA and general secretary of the Asia Evangelical Alliance, speaks to Indonesian diaspora church leaders in Queens, New York, on Oct. 21, 2026.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Christian Daily International ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Dr. Bambang Budijanto, chair of ALUSIA and general secretary of the Asia Evangelical Alliance, speaks to Indonesian diaspora church leaders in Queens, New York, on Oct. 21, 2026. Budijanto noted that people from about 120 nations live in a single area of the borough. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Sat, 31 Oct 2026 09:02:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[For nearly five centuries, the story of Christianity in Indonesia has largely been one of arrival: missionaries came to the archipelago, and churches grew from their work. A coalition of Indonesian churches and mission organizations now aims to reverse that direction]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
For nearly five centuries, the story of Christianity in Indonesia has largely been one of arrival: missionaries came to the archipelago, and churches grew from their work. A coalition of Indonesian churches and mission organizations now aims to reverse that direction, with the goal of seeing 30,000 Indonesian missionaries serving other nations by 2033.
The effort is coordinated by ALUSIA, the Indonesian Alliance for World Mission, formed in 2023. This month, its chair, Dr. Bambang Budijanto, who is also general secretary of the Asia Evangelical Alliance, met with Indonesian diaspora pastors in New York and Philadelphia. The meetings were the first in a planned series of gatherings with Indonesian churches abroad.
The U.S. meetings are one part of a larger strategy. Budijanto traces its roots through decades of revival, persecution and prayer in Indonesia, and through earlier attempts to build a sending movement.
"If we dream it alone, it will not happen," Budijanto told Christian Daily International in an interview on the sidelines of the New York event. "If many people dream together, it could happen."
A debt to other nations
The first missionaries reached the Maluku Islands, in what is now eastern Indonesia, in 1534. Budijanto noted that the first missionary died about a year after arriving.
The 500th anniversary of that arrival falls in 2034, one year after ALUSIA's target date. Budijanto said he hopes that by then Indonesia will be recognized as a significant mission force in its own right.
Indonesia received the gospel from others, and today it has about 30 million Christians. "We owe other nations," he said. When describing ALUSIA's purpose, he pointed to the biblical image of the beautiful feet of those who bring good news.
Budijanto recounted Indonesia's history of revival and considers it as preparation for sending. He pointed first to the 1965 revival in Soe, on the island of Timor. Mel Tari described it in his books "Like a Mighty Wind" and "The Gentle Breeze of Jesus," including reports of miracles and of believers who carried the movement to other places.
In the 1970s, revival spread among the Dayak people of Borneo. In the late 1970s and 1980s it reached Indonesia's major cities. By 1984, Budijanto said, Jakarta alone had more than 5,000 prayer groups.
"God blessed Indonesia with a lot of revival for a purpose. That's how I read it," he said. "We are blessed to bless others."
He also sees a warning in the more recent data. Church growth in Indonesia has plateaued, and he believes the two are connected. "If you continue to be selfish, then the blessing will stop," he said.
Prayer for persecution, so the Church would unite
In the 1980s, Budijanto worked as a translator for Brother Andrew, the founder of Open Doors, during his visits to Indonesia. On one visit, Brother Andrew walked to the village where Budijanto lived, because there was no road access.
At the time, Budijanto said, Indonesia's churches were divided and often competing with one another. He recalled that at one pastors' conference, Brother Andrew asked those present to pray that God would send persecution, so that the Church would be united.
In the years that followed, Indonesia went through waves of anti-Christian violence. Budijanto said more than 500 churches were burned and many people died, including in the conflict between Muslims and Christians in Maluku.
"But then the church united," he said.
A national prayer movement also took shape during that period. Budijanto said it began in 1991, with seven coordinators who met monthly and held prayer gatherings in different provinces. Today, more than 500 Indonesian cities, 534 by his count, maintain 24-hour prayer in what participants call "towers of prayer." The model has spread to Myanmar and other countries, and Indonesians have played a significant role in global prayer networks.
Asked what Indonesia might contribute to the global Church, Budijanto pointed to that movement. "Maybe that's the prayer movement," he said, describing it as the effort that has been sustained over many years.
Earlier attempts stalled, ‘but now is the time’
The idea of Indonesia as a sending nation is not new. Since the 1970s, Budijanto said, church leaders have expressed the desire repeatedly, but none of the efforts took hold. "It's like starting and then stalling again, stopping again, dying again," he said.
One of those efforts grew out of the prayer movement. Soon after it began, Budijanto said, interest in mission increased, and a mission initiative was formed in 1992. He was given the task of building a training center.
That work took him to Europe. Thousands of Indonesian students were studying in the Netherlands and Germany on government scholarships, and many had become Christians. When they returned home, many could not find work that matched their training, and they left again for the Middle East or Australia.
Around the same time, Brother Andrew sent Budijanto to Israel. Budijanto said strangers there would ask where he was from and then assume he was Muslim. To him, this showed that an Indonesian identity could open doors across the Middle East.
He concluded that Indonesian graduates with European degrees could serve in the region with relative ease. From 1992 to 2002, he ran a five-week summer mission school in the Netherlands, working with Fuller Seminary. The initiative also tried to send two missionaries to China.
The organization did not last. "I think we were not mature enough to work together," Budijanto said. "But now is the time, I think."
A kairos moment for the Indonesian Church
In 2023, Budijanto invited leaders from about 14 Indonesian organizations that already had experience sending missionaries abroad. He said all of them agreed on one point: "This is the right time, this is the right moment, this is the kairos of God."
The group met again in Bandung to define its vision and how its members would work together. It registered ALUSIA as a legal association in Indonesia, with a general assembly of members as its highest authority, a structure Budijanto compared to that of the World Evangelical Alliance. A soft launch in Jakarta drew about 50 church leaders, along with leaders of mission organizations from abroad. ALUSIA then commissioned baseline research with Bilangan Research and launched nationally at a conference in Bali.
After the launch, Budijanto said, churches and organizations that had been hesitant began to approach the alliance. A second national conference followed in Jakarta. In 2026, ALUSIA moved to regional conferences in provinces including Central Java and North Sumatra, and more are planned for additional cities.
The alliance describes its role as a catalyst with three tasks. The first is to activate churches, which Budijanto called "the primary carrier of the global mission." The second is to connect them with each other and with the wider global Church. The third is to provide resources, including research data and training tools.
From 800 to 30,000: ‘not easy, but doable’
The baseline is modest. In 2020, Budijanto said, Indonesia had about 800 missionaries, and more than half of them were serving Indonesian communities abroad rather than people of other nations.
The target of 30,000 by 2033 amounts to about 0.1% of Indonesia's roughly 30 million Christians. "It's not easy, but it's doable," he said.
Budijanto acknowledged that missionaries are hard to count today, because people may serve as professionals, migrant workers or in other roles. For that reason, ALUSIA treats 30,000 as an aspiration. It measures progress by the number of churches that become missional.
Its goal is for at least 20% of Indonesia's churches to meet that standard. Budijanto referred to government data listing about 73,000 officially recognized church buildings, which belong to Protestant denominations, not including Catholic churches. He estimates the total is closer to 100,000 when congregations meeting in shops and other spaces are included.
ALUSIA has proposed five indicators of a missional church: giving to global mission; sending people, or taking part in sending them; praying for global mission; building mission capacity through training or programs; and collaborating with other churches or organizations. A church that meets four of the five would qualify as a missional church following this definition.
Budijanto said many churches also join the alliance for its data, which they otherwise lack.
The 30,000 figure has also spread beyond ALUSIA, Budijanto noted, pointing to at least four other Indonesian networks that have adopted the same number. He also heard of an Indonesian church leader at a mission conference in Vietnam who spoke of sending 30,000. "This is a common aspiration that we have," he said. "It doesn't belong to any organization, but to Indonesia."
Who counts as a missionary
ALUSIA defines mission by intent and discipleship, not geography. Budijanto said the work must be rooted in the Great Commission, intentionally helping people move from being far from Christ to "knowing Christ, growing in Christ, becoming like Christ."
Under the alliance's definition, a missionary is any Indonesian, living anywhere in the world, who intentionally reaches out to and disciples people who do not hold an Indonesian passport.
That work can take place inside Indonesia. As an example, Budijanto cited a Russian community in Bali, formed by people who left Russia after the war began to avoid being drafted. Indonesians who move to Bali to reach that community count as missionaries under ALUSIA's definition.
The key, he said, is intention. Contact with people of other nations has to be purposeful, not incidental.
‘With numbers comes responsibility’
Budijanto pointed to Indonesia's cultural diversity as a strength for cross-cultural mission. He contrasted it with South Korea, which he said has sent about 30,000 missionaries despite being largely monocultural.
He often brings Korean colleagues to Indonesian mission conferences. He said they tell Indonesian audiences that growing up among many cultures prepares them to adapt abroad, something Korean missionaries have had to learn. "You are so privileged. You are so prepared by God," he recalled them saying.
He also cited the size of the Church. Over the past two decades, Budijanto said, significant church growth has come mainly in Africa and Asia. Within Asia, the growth has been concentrated in Southeast and South Asia, where Indonesia's church may be the strongest by numbers. "With numbers comes responsibility," he said.
The largest obstacle, in his view, has been mindset. After a long colonial history, many Indonesian Christians came to see themselves as recipients who could not take the lead. Over the past two years, he said, he has seen that begin to change as churches move from contributing to taking initiative.
Generosity is another asset. Indonesia ranked first in a global generosity index for four years, Budijanto noted. The data he cited also showed a gap between giving and other forms of engagement. About 60% contribute financially to global mission, but only about 30% preach on it from the pulpit and about 16% pray for it.
The diaspora as ‘low-hanging fruit’
ALUSIA sees Indonesian churches abroad as its most immediate opportunity. More than 500 Indonesian diaspora congregations exist worldwide, and more than half of them are in the United States. Budijanto calls them "the low-hanging fruit."
Many of these churches serve only Indonesians, he said, and many are losing their second generation. He believes a new focus could help revive them. "We are here not for Indonesian people, but to prepare Indonesian people to become missionaries for other people," he said.
That is why ALUSIA chose New York and Philadelphia for its first diaspora meetings. Budijanto said the place where a movement launches shapes its impact. He noted that people from about 120 nations live in a single area of Queens, which is where ALUSIA held the event that day. Churches there do not need to travel far to reach other nations. "This is mission training as well," he said. He described Philadelphia as historically important for the United States and home to a larger number of Indonesian churches.
More meetings are planned. ALUSIA intends to hold gatherings in two California cities in November, and pastors in Dallas have asked for a stop in Texas. Meetings in Sydney and Melbourne are planned for next year. Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan, all home to significant Indonesian communities, are also on the agenda.
Toward a global gathering
The next major step is planned for the first week of October 2027. ALUSIA plans to hold the first conference to bring together Indonesian missionaries from around the world, including those in the diaspora. The venue has not been decided, and Bali, Singapore and Malaysia are under consideration.
Budijanto hopes participants will form an association of Indonesian missionaries there, so that they have "a voice" and a community.
The alliance's longer horizon remains 2033, when it hopes to celebrate 30,000 Indonesians serving other nations. Over the past two years, the alliance has spread quickly and found wide acceptance, Budijanto said. He believes this is a sign that the timing is right.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Mozhda TV goes on air as first Afghan Christian TV channel in historic launch]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/mozhda-tv-goes-on-air-as-first-afghan-christian-tv-channel-in-historic-launch</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/mozhda-tv-goes-on-air-as-first-afghan-christian-tv-channel-in-historic-launch</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Mozhda TV, described by its founders as the first Afghan Christian television channel, began broadcasting Saturday, Oct. 24.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Screenshot: Mozhda TV ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Mozhda TV, described by its founders as the first Afghan Christian television channel, began broadcasting Saturday, Oct. 24. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Sat, 24 Oct 2026 12:45:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Mozhda TV, which its founders describe as the first Afghan Christian television channel, began broadcasting Saturday, Oct. 24, as church leaders, mission partners and Afghan believers gathered to mark its launch.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
Mozhda TV, which its founders describe as the first Afghan Christian television channel, began broadcasting Saturday, Oct. 24, as church leaders, mission partners and Afghan believers gathered to mark its launch.
The satellite channel will carry Christian programming to Afghanistan in the country’s languages. Speakers at the event presented it as the product of decades of prayer and a coalition of mission organizations and Afghan Christian leaders.
Christian programs for Afghan audiences have aired for many years, but there has been no channel dedicated to them. Organizers said Mozhda TV is the first television channel to go live as an Afghan Christian channel.
“This day, for the first time in history, the first Afghan Christian satellite channel will start its broadcasting to Afghanistan and around the world,” said Shoaib Ebadi, executive director of the Afghanistan Bible Society, in a recorded video message.
‘Sheep without a shepherd’
Masoud Ghorbani, Mozhda TV’s executive director, delivered the main sermon minutes after the channel went on air. He preached from Mark 6:34, in which Jesus sees a crowd and has compassion on them “because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” Ghorbani asked the audience what they see when they look at Afghanistan, then asked what Jesus would see.
Afghans have endured years of suffering, he said. He pointed to separated families, persecution and discrimination against women, mothers who see no future for their children and young people struggling with despair.
The deepest tragedy for a nation, Ghorbani said, may be not its suffering but that it does not know its true shepherd. He told listeners that millions of Afghans now have an opportunity to hear the gospel.
“Jesus Christ is the good shepherd of Afghanistan,” he said, citing John 10:11.
Ghorbani also commented that the channel could reach many different audiences. “We don’t know who is watching our program for the first time right now, perhaps even the Taliban,” he said. “We need to pray for them.”
'Almost everyone has a television and a satellite dish'
In an earlier Finnish-language interview, Ghorbani and producer Mikael Tunér explained why the team chose satellite television.
After the Taliban took power in 2021 nearly all Christian workers were removed from Afghanistan and Christian materials were banned and destroyed. Internet access has also been cut at times.
“Almost everyone has a television and a satellite dish at home,” Ghorbani told Sansa. “The Taliban control the country, but they cannot control the satellites.”
Tunér, a senior technical specialist and producer who previously spent nearly 20 years at the Persian-language Christian channel SAT-7 PARS, said it matters that Afghans see Christians from their own nation. He told the Finnish outlet that although the Taliban claim there are no Christians in the country, underground churches exist and several thousand Christians live there.
The channel airs programs in Dari and Pashto and plans to add other Afghan languages, including Hazaragi, Uzbek, Turkmen and Baluchi. “Our strategy is to make at least some program in every language, so that every viewer could find something to watch in their own heart language,” Tunér said in the interview.
Programs for women are a central focus. The channel is producing series that women can watch privately at home, including health programs and content that could help them continue their studies.
“We want to tell them that the Lord loves them and that ‘this is not the end; hold on to hope,’” Ghorbani said. Since March, the team has been recording new series.
From gramophones to satellite
At the launch, a former Christian worker who arrived in Kabul with his family in the 1970s traced how gospel outreach in Afghanistan has changed over five decades.
He recalled co-workers returning from mountain villages with records from Gospel Recordings, which had recorded New Testament stories in about 50 of Afghanistan’s languages. Villagers played them on gramophones made of thick cardboard, turning the records by hand with a pen.
In the 1980s, he said, he and a colleague built a cabinet on wheels holding a television and video player. They loaded it into a car, along with a generator, and showed a film on the life of Jesus based on the Gospel of Luke in Afghan homes.
With the new channel, he said, the message will reach “not only one village, not only one home, but the whole of Afghanistan.” He cited Psalm 147, which describes God’s word running swiftly across the earth.
An answer to a prayer from 1986
Harun Ibrahim, the founder of Al Hayat Ministries who was born to a Muslim family in Jerusalem and became a Christian in Finland in 1985, said the vision dates to a youth camp near Tampere in 1986. Participants prayed for a number of countries there, he said, and Afghanistan was among them.
“It was just like this time, the fall, and after 40 years, we have it,” Ibrahim said.
He said Mozhda TV brought together mission organizations from different denominations, which united to launch the channel. He praised the channel’s staff for learning media production within a year and said he expects the channel to not only reach Afghanistan but also its neighboring countries.
The event included worship in Farsi and Dari and a prayer of blessing over the Mozhda TV team.
Mozhda TV is now available online at mozhda.tv.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Veteran missions leader Daniel Bianchi to lead Arise Latin America]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/veteran-missions-leader-daniel-bianchi-to-lead-arise-latin-america</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/veteran-missions-leader-daniel-bianchi-to-lead-arise-latin-america</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Daniel Bianchi, left, and Rev. Dr. David Ro in a photo Ro shared Oct. 20 announcing Bianchi as director of Arise Latin America.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ David Ro / Facebook ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Daniel Bianchi, left, and Rev. Dr. David Ro in a photo Ro shared Oct. 20 announcing Bianchi as director of Arise Latin America. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Wed, 21 Oct 2026 06:43:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Daniel Bianchi, who has served as the Lausanne Movement's regional director for Latin America since 2017, has been appointed director of Arise Latin America, carrying into the region a youth missions movement that held its largest congress to date in Manila, Philippines, in July.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
Daniel Bianchi, who has served as the Lausanne Movement's regional director for Latin America since 2017, has been appointed director of Arise Latin America, carrying into the region a youth missions movement that held its largest congress to date in Manila, Philippines, in July.
Rev. Dr. David Ro, co-founder and executive director of Arise Asia, announced in a social media post on Oct. 20 that Bianchi had accepted the position. Bianchi will carry into Latin America the work Arise has done across Asia, where it has mobilized young Christians to serve as cross-cultural missionaries.
The appointment follows plans Ro outlined to Christian Daily International after the Arise Asia 2026 Congress.
At the time, he said the movement intended to expand into Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, and Central Asia, and that talks with local leaders in those regions were already underway.
Decades in Latin American missions
Bianchi's background spans several of the region's main missions networks. He became a Christian in Buenos Aires in the late 1970s and later joined Operation Mobilization, known as OM International, serving with its ship Doulos in Europe. Ro's post says he went on to direct OM's work in Argentina.
He later led the missions department of the Argentine Baptist Convention and founded the Agencia Misionera Internacional, a mission sending agency. He also served as a vice president of COMIBAM International, a cooperative network of missions bodies across Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries.
In 2014, Bianchi founded Conexión Oriental, which Ro described as linking Latin American churches with persecuted Christians and mission partners in the Middle East and East Asia. He holds a Doctor of Ministry degree from a theological school in Londrina, Brazil.
Ro and Bianchi served at the same time as Lausanne regional directors for eight years, Ro for East Asia and Bianchi for Latin America. Both worked on preparations for the Fourth Lausanne Congress, held in South Korea in 2024.
From mission field to mission force
Bianchi takes up the role in a region that has spent decades building its own sending movement. At COMIBAM's first continental congress, held in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1987, participants adopted the motto "from a mission field to a mission force," COMIBAM associate director Allan Matamoros told CDI in 2025.
The network now links training centers, mission agencies and local churches in 25 countries, CDI reported. An estimated 30,000 Ibero-American missionaries serve cross-culturally in more than 200 countries and territories.
Matamoros, a Costa Rican who served for more than two decades in the Muslim world, said Latin American missionaries often connect well in Muslim communities and in India, where extended family and close community carry weight. He said they may have less money than Western counterparts but "bring trust, joy, and a way of living" that fits many of the cultures they serve.
Focus on younger generations
Arise Latin America will focus on Generation Z and Generation Alpha, the age groups born from roughly the late 1990s onward, Ro wrote. He said he and Bianchi believe God can raise up a new generation of missionaries from among them.
Its mission, he said, is to challenge young people to "go where there is no gospel," a phrase drawn from Romans 15:20. Its motivation comes from Hebrews 12:1–2, the passage behind the "For the Joy" theme of the Manila congress, and its aim from Acts 20:24, in which the Apostle Paul speaks of finishing the task given to him.
Ro wrote that he hopes to see young people "willing to live sacrificially," crossing cultures so that people who have never heard of Jesus can hear the gospel.
Challenging places will bring forth future missionaries
The Arise Asia 2026 Congress met July 27–31 at Christ's Commission Fellowship Central in Manila. CDI reported that more than 4,000 young leaders from 64 countries attended and that 341 people came forward to commit to long-term cross-cultural mission.
Speaking to CDI after the closing session, Ro said he expects a growing share of future missionaries to come from places marked by conflict, poverty and persecution.
"Those challenging places will actually raise up people to go to challenging places," he said.
Ro also said the next Asia-wide Arise gathering is planned in three years. ]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[U.S. Senate recognizes Prison Fellowship’s 50th anniversary]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/us-senate-recognizes-prison-fellowships-50th-anniversary</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/us-senate-recognizes-prison-fellowships-50th-anniversary</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
                                                                                                                            <media:content  url="https://www.christiandaily.com/media/original/img/0/53/5376.png">
                            <media:title><![CDATA[Chuck Colson]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Photo: Prison Fellowship ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Chuck Colson (Oct. 16, 1931 - April 21, 2012) founded Prison Fellowship in 1976 after his incarceration for Watergate-related crimes and dedicated the rest of his life to serving the incarcerated and their families. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Fri, 02 Oct 2026 14:33:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[The U.S. Senate has passed a resolution recognizing the 50th anniversary of Prison Fellowship, honoring the nation’s largest Christian nonprofit serving currently and formerly incarcerated people and their families.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
The U.S. Senate has passed a resolution recognizing the 50th anniversary of Prison Fellowship, honoring the nation’s largest Christian nonprofit serving currently and formerly incarcerated people and their families.
Founded in 1976 by Charles “Chuck” Colson following his incarceration for a Watergate-related crime, the Washington-based organization has grown over five decades into a nationwide ministry serving people affected by incarceration, advocating for criminal justice reform and providing faith-based programs inside correctional facilities.
The bipartisan resolution was co-sponsored by Sens. Christopher Coons, D-Del., and James Lankford, R-Okla., and recognizes Prison Fellowship’s five decades of prison ministry.
Heather Rice-Minus, president and CEO of Prison Fellowship, expressed gratitude for the Senate’s recognition, attributing the organization’s legacy to God’s faithfulness.
“Over the past 50 years, God has been faithful to use Prison Fellowship to bring hope and purpose to people impacted by incarceration,” Rice-Minus said in a statement. “What began with Chuck Colson’s transformation became a movement of individuals who believe no one is beyond God’s reach.”
Coons reflected on his personal connection to prison outreach, noting that his first visit to a maximum-security prison occurred when he was 12, accompanying his father on a prison ministry visit.
“For 50 years, Prison Fellowship has brought that transformation to communities across the country, answering Jesus’ call to love our neighbors no matter where or who they are,” Coons said.
Lankford emphasized the ministry’s role in offering individuals a path toward redemption and family restoration.
“Prison Fellowship has spent 50 years helping people understand that a mistake does not have to be the end of their story,” Lankford said. “Their work points people to Christ, helps restore families, and gives people the opportunity to change.”
In addition to its in-prison ministry, Prison Fellowship has engaged lawmakers on criminal justice policies focused on human dignity, public safety and second chances.
Scott Peyton, senior director of advocacy for Prison Fellowship, said the resolution reflects support for restorative approaches to criminal justice.
“We have worked with leaders across the political spectrum to advance reforms that strengthen families and promote safer communities, while creating pathways for people to pursue a second chance,” Peyton said.
As it enters its sixth decade, Prison Fellowship said it remains committed to expanding its reach, supporting families affected by incarceration and advocating for policies that balance accountability with restoration.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Gospel Publishing House name returns as Assemblies of God publishing ministry resets]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/gospel-publishing-house-name-returns-as-assemblies-of-god-publishing-ministry-resets</link>
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                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[gospel Publishing House]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ GPH Facebook ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Gospel Publishing House logo ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Thu, 24 Sep 2026 14:45:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Gospel Publishing House, the founding publishing brand of the Assemblies of God in the United States, is returning to its original name after operating as My Healthy Church since 2010.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
Gospel Publishing House, the founding publishing brand of the Assemblies of God in the United States, is returning to its original name after operating as My Healthy Church since 2010.
The name change marks a return to the roots of the Pentecostal denomination’s publishing ministry, which operated under the Gospel Publishing House name from 1914 to 2010.
The Gospel Publishing House name predates the formal establishment of the Assemblies of God, originating with T.K. Leonard’s publishing operation in Ohio before he helped draft the preamble to the denomination’s constitution.
Moving forward, the publishing ministry will organize its output under three distinct imprints. The primary GPH imprint will serve Pentecostal ministers and congregants with traditional church resources, while Salubris Resources will serve the broader evangelical community. A third imprint, Logion Press, will publish academic works designed to train ministers and leaders on college campuses and online.
The rebrand comes alongside several recent product launches, including an updated Radiant Life curriculum, new titles from Logion Press and the launch of the YouthRoadmap discipleship strategy through the Bible Engagement Project app, which currently serves more than 960,000 weekly users. The publisher plans to release more than 25 new resources over the next 18 months, alongside its newly launched digital storefront.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Gospel of Luke presented entirely in sign language to reach millions of Deaf people]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/gospel-of-luke-presented-entirely-in-sign-language-to-reach-millions-of-deaf-people</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/gospel-of-luke-presented-entirely-in-sign-language-to-reach-millions-of-deaf-people</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Chris Eyte]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Luke Gospel]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Photo by Tim Wildsmith / Unsplash ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Tue, 22 Sep 2026 08:04:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[A new resource designed to reach Deaf and hard-of-hearing communities around the world with the gospel has been launched by biblical media company RevelationMedia in partnership with the International Mission Board (IMB).]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
A new resource designed to reach Deaf and hard-of-hearing communities around the world with the gospel has been launched by biblical media company RevelationMedia in partnership with the International Mission Board (IMB).
The animated resource will present the Gospel of Luke word-for-word in American Sign Language (ASL), with the characters themselves signing throughout the story rather than using a sign-language interpreter at the bottom of the screen.
The Luke ASL resource aims to help Deaf communities know Jesus. The producers say there is a significant need to reach the more than 70 million people worldwide who are deaf, although some estimates put the number as high as 400 million, depending on how deafness and hearing loss are defined. The community is considered one of the most unreached people groups, according to a joint news release from the two organizations. Only 2% are considered “reached” with the gospel.
“In many parts of the world, Deaf individuals are treated as second-class citizens,” said Steve Cleary, founder and CEO of RevelationMedia, based in Richardson, Texas.
“Disconnected from the hearing world, these individuals often feel forgotten and unloved. Our mission is to bring the hope and good news of the Gospel into their hands through a compelling, visual format they can understand.”
The project uses production technology developed for iBIBLE, the world’s first visual and interactive Bible that presents the entire biblical narrative as one cohesive story. With the characters signing throughout the story, the producers aim to create a fully immersive experience for viewers.
Integrating ASL directly into the animation will allow Deaf audiences to engage with Scripture in a more meaningful and accessible way, according to the producers.
“We are excited to partner with RevelationMedia to leverage innovative technologies to bring God’s Word to life and accelerate the translation of the Bible for Deaf peoples,” said Victor Hou, chief of staff administration at the International Mission Board.
RevelationMedia plans to produce 24 episodes, one for each chapter of Luke. The producers say it will be the world’s first natural sign-language animation of the Gospel of Luke in ASL.
After the first chapter of Luke is complete, the scenes will be reanimated in more than 300 sign languages used around the world. This would allow Deaf individuals to experience the Gospel in their own native languages.
“This new project will impact the over 70 million Deaf people in the world with the good news of the Gospel,” said Cleary. “We are honored to partner with groups such as the IMB to make this dream a reality.”
Award-winning Christian writer Emily Owen is an advocate for the Deaf community in England. She was diagnosed as a teenager with NF2-Schwannomatosis, a neurological condition, and underwent multiple surgeries. NF2 led to brain surgery that caused her to lose her hearing overnight in November 2001 at age 21.
Owen also serves as a team member and email compiler for Open Ears, a U.K. charitable organization that facilitates fellowship for Christians who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Owen called the Luke Gospel project “innovative.”
“I’ve never heard of animated sign language like this before,” said Owen. “My immediate thought is how clear will the signs be — will it be the equivalent of mumbling, i.e., hard to decipher?
“Handshape is very important in sign language.”
Owen said she liked the concept “if it works.”
“I know there are projects ongoing to humanly translate the Bible into sign,” she added.
“Perhaps this way will be quicker than that.”
Owen is aware that human translators work very hard to convey the meaning of biblical texts for Deaf audiences.
“So theirs will not be word-for-word — as I see the animation will be — as ‘word for word’ in English does not work in sign,” she pointed out.
“So for full sign language users, potentially the sign in English word order will not be fully accessible. For someone like me, who is deaf but prefers English word order, it would be good though.”]]></content:encoded>
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