NEW YORK – The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) released its 2018 overview of the Aid Workers Security Report in time for the commemoration of World Humanitarian Aid Day. The observance is held annually on August 19th. The overview tells a story that we would rather not read. But it…
Kerala, India, is experiencing monsoon rains that have not been seen or experienced since 1924. Reports estimate that 70 to 100 lives have been taken due to the floodwaters. Many homes and businesses have been washed away by severe landslides and rivers overflowing because of the constant downpour. For the first time in its history,…
JAKARTA – The Indonesian island of Lombok was ravaged by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake on 05 August. CBS News reported today that the death toll has reached 426 and more than 350,000 people have been displaced. Indonesia’s national disaster agency estimates that the cost to repair the damage to infrastructure and property will exceed $340…
MINSK – Belarus is a land-locked country in Eastern Europe, formerly a part of the now-defunct Soviet Union. Nine and a half million people live in the heavily-forested country of only 80,000 square miles. Belarus is about the size of Kansas, but with three times as many people. Although the majority of the population self-professes…
ATHENS – The Greek coastal cities of Mati and Rafina in the southeastern region of Attica have been devastated by the worst wildfires in decades that have spread into the small urban areas. As of August 12th, the death toll has reached 94, including men, women, and children. Many were trapped in the flames in…
NEW DELHI – India is among the most inefficient agriculture producers in the world – and all major crops – wheat, sugarcane, cotton – consume large quantities of water. Agriculture consumes 83 percent of India’s water resources, leaving only 17 percent for domestic and industrial use, according to a recent report in The Hindu Business…
EDINBURGH – While nearly the whole of Christendom is aware, at least to some extent – of the persecution being wrought upon the followers of Christ in many countries, the same are blissfully unaware of the attacks upon the church by humanism and secularism. These twin threats to the faith once delivered the saints are…
WASHINGTON, DC – Sam Brownback, the U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom open the first meeting of a three-day Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom conference in Washington DC sponsored by the U.S. State Department. In his opening speech on 24 July, he said, ‘ The lack of religious freedom anywhere is a threat everywhere.” His…
NEW DELHI – This year India will celebrate the 72nd anniversary of its independence, following two centuries of being subject to the domination of the British East India Company and, ultimately, the rule of the British Empire in 1857. In the 18th century Indian subcontinent consisted of an array of local kingdoms. As the British…
KINSHASA – The Congo has been at war for a very long time. Most people who live there have never experienced an extended period of peace. The inability to stabilize the government has turned a country with enormous economic resources into a graveyard for more than six million people. While rebels and militia continue to…
INDIA – South Asia and the Indian subcontinent seem to be facing a perennial water crisis that may be getting worse rather than better. The problem is complex. It is not simply that there is too much or too little. While there is flooding in some regions there is a drought in others. Where there…
HARRISON, AR – Ron Hutchcraft Ministries (RHM) bears a strong similarity to that of Gospel for Asia (GFA) and many other faith-based NGOs in the 21st century. The ministry is a peer-to-peer outreach in which Indian people share the Gospel with other Indian people. By and large, both minister to the poorest of the poor…
WASHINGTON DC – The subject of immigration has become a tinderbox of contention among many Americans as well as Europeans and Australians. The substance of immigration issues is often obscured by a fog of conflicting opinions between personal compassion and the government’s responsibility to ensure the general welfare and domestic tranquility of its current residents….
KATMANDU – The 14th graduating class of the Believers Eastern Church vocational training class in the Diocese of Pokhara, Nepal, completed their work on 14 July 2018. A total of 24 women received their tailoring certificates at the end of the six-month course. A century ago, sewing and tailoring was a necessity for women in…
SRI LANKA – While, as we reported recently, parts of northern India are suffering from a major drought, southern parts of the country have been besieged by flood-producing monsoons. Either problem can generate both immediate tragedy and long-term suffering. India’s island neighbor of Sri Lanka is still suffering from the effects of monsoons that hit…
MUMBAI – A recent study conducted by the Azim Premji University (APU) and the Center for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) concluded that “There is a distrust of leaders from outside the community across all classes, and all caste-class intersections.” Put simply, the majority of Indians prefer leaders with whom they identify most. Voter…
SEWICKLEY HEIGHTS, PA – Christians in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia have been struggling to keep churches open and maintain home Bible studies in the face of opposition. Not all of the opposition they face comes in the forms of physical abuse, assault, and terror attacks. Much of the opposition is coming now in…
LONDON – Imagine, if you will, a 55-year-old man reading the Bible aloud in front of a church. Imagine that it is not just any church, but the iconic St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. Then imagine that the church staff asking him to stop reading the Bible and leave the property, after which he was…
VIENTIANE – At approximately 8:00 p.m. local time on 23 July, the Xepian-Xe Nam Noy dam on the Xe Pian River in Laos collapsed. Within minutes, eight Laotian villages were completely destroyed whilst others were inundated, making travel and escape impossible. Reports on the number dead, injured, or missing vary as time goes by. It…
KIGALI – Thousands of churches across Rwanda look like this one. Empty. While government closure of churches has grown all too common in many countries where governments enforce state religions or cultural nationalism, nearly half of the population is Protestant, 43 percent are Catholic, and the remaining seven percent includes all other faiths. The KT…
REDDING, CA – Witnesses to the devastation wrought by the Carr fire in Northern California have been describing the scene as apocalyptic. As of this morning, the fire is about 20 percent contained, but it has already consumed nearly 100,000 acres. Nearly 40,000 people have been evacuated. More than 500 buildings, including at least 300…
WARNER ROBINS – Jalen Manns is nine years old. For the most part, he is a pretty normal kid. He loves dogs and, in particular, German Shepherds. He has a collection of stuffed German Shepherds in his bedroom. He calls them his guard dogs. He also has something that most nine-year-old boys don’t. Doctors discovered…
ADDIS ABABA – The North African nations of Eritrea and Ethiopia have formally agreed to end the longest-running war on the continent. Christians in Ethiopia are praying that the agreement will present new opportunities to spread the Gospel. “With this new peace agreement, borders will be reopened and trade reinstated between the two countries. The…
NEDLANDS, WESTERN AUSTRALIA – Slavery is not a thing of the past. Despite the efforts of William Wilberforce, Abraham Lincoln, and others, slavery did not end in the 19th century. In fact, according to the 2018 Global Slavery Index, over 70 million people are caught in the throes of 21st century slavery. More than 70…
HO CHI MINH CITY – Hospitals and churches something in common. They are places where many people do not want to go. Unless they are hurting. People suffering from pain will often eagerly seek a place that can bring relief. Hospitals and churches are recognized as places for healing. Some of Christian Aid Mission’s (CAM)…
NEW DELHI – The sad story of 3,500 Indian construction workers in Kuwait began in June 2016. They had been working for the Karafi National Company on the construction of major infrastructure projects. The Kuwaiti-based company is engaged in infrastructure development, construction, fabrication services, and facilities management in Egypt, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates….
DAMASCUS – Hundreds of thousands of innocent people have been killed in the seven-year-long Syrian Civil War. An estimated 11 million people have been displaced from their homes, creating one of the greatest refugee crises in history. Over 270,000 people have fled to southern Syria during the month of July. The single largest displacement of…
JAIPUR – According to a report by IndiaSpend, “Anemia . . . impacts half of Indian women of reproductive age, increases the risk of maternal mortality, infection, preterm delivery, poor fetal and infant health, and puts children at lifelong risk of issues involving cognitive development and physical growth.” The report summarized the results of a…
IZMIR – Despite heightened optimism that a Turkish court might release U.S. pastor Andrew Brunson from prison today, expectations were dealt a blow when the court ordered him to remain in custody. The next hearing, his fourth, is scheduled for 12 October 2018. Brunson, 50, a native of North Carolina, has lived in Turkey for…
LONDON – WaterAid, the international NGO that is driving the United Nations sustainable goal to provide clean water for the entire global population by 2030, has just released a shocking new report. Based on current status and progress, the report claims that the goal is unreachable within the allotted time. Using data provided by the…
ABUJA – The militant African group Boko Haram has terrorized Nigerians for nearly 10 years, destroying churches, schools, and homes. The infamously mass murder entire villages of people before burning the villages to the ground. They have taken more than 3,000 women and schoolgirls captive and attempt to convert them to Islam. Those who refuse…
BANGKOK – Ardoon Sam-aon is a talented 14-year-old. He plays the piano and the guitar and participates in the youth program and praise team at Mae Sai Grace Church where he accepted Christ in March 2018. He has a 3.94 GPA as an eighth-grader at Ban Wiang Phan School. He is an avid volleyball and…
BEIJING – Chinese officials successfully closed and barred the doors of Beijing’s largest house church on July 8th, occupying it with ‘thugs’ to prevent members from entering. The closure is yet another in a growing list of moves by agents of the government to either gain oversight of or close Christian churches in China. The…
DHAKA – Imagine it is a rainy Sunday morning. You wake up, you consider the downpour, and you decide that the weather is too bad for anyone to go to church. And you are the pastor! Now imagine that you live in a country like Bangladesh and that it is the monsoon system, which it…
HAMILTON, MA – The estimated total population in the world is between 7.3 and 7.6 billion people. (It’s hard to keep an exact count. The number keeps changing!) It is probably even more difficult to assess how many Christians there are and where they live. First, by the time a count is determined, it has…
ALGIERS – Idir Hamdad is a native Algerian. He was born into and raised in a Muslim home. In 2002, he and his family converted to Christianity which led to harassment from their neighbors. Islam is the state religion in Algeria, so conversion to any other religion is considered apostasy and is punishable by death….
TEGUCIGALPA – With a total area of 43,433 square miles, it would seem that reaching everyone in a country of that size with the Gospel would be fairly easy. But then, the ability to reach people is not always defined by the square mileage in which they live. The Tolupan people, as seen in the…
HIROSHIMA – The death toll keeps rising by the in Hiroshima Prefecture and seven other prefectures in the south of Japan. More than two million people have been forced to evacuate after record rainfalls have inundated the area. The Japan Meteorological Agency reported that 14.3 inches of rain had fallen within a period of two…
HAVANA – Reports indicate that people are coming to Christ in Cuba in numbers rarely seen before. Lest we think that this is happening because of improved relationships between Cuba and the United States, we must remember that ministries from other countries have been working in Cuba for many years. The awakening that is happening…
COLORADO SPRINGS – The mission of Bibles For The World is to be a catalyst for individual and cultural change through Christ and the power of His Word. This means sharing the Good News of God’s love in Christ Jesus by ministering to unreached peoples, to the Church, and to Christian leaders in developing nations,…
VIENTIANE – The constitution of the nation of Laos guarantees its citizens freedom of religion. Specifically, it recognizes their “right and freedom to believe or not to believe in religion.” In addition, Laos is “a state party” to the seven core international human rights treaties under which they are obligated to “respect, protect, and fulfill…
MUMBAI – India Spend recently inteview Naina Lal Kidwai. Kidwai was the former head of HSBC in India, the first woman in India to become the head of a foreign bank in the country. She is the current vice-chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Water. She was instrumental in founding the…
PORT AU PRINCE – Haiti is a popular country for short-term missions trips because its needs are great and it is a relatively short distance for small church groups. As the pastor of a church in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, said, “We want to serve the Haitians with compassion and offer real hope.” That pretty well…
GENEVA – The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW) have collaborated to publish a new manual of guidelines for a “faith-sensitive approach” by faith-based organizations (FBOs). The 88-page document outlines guidelines by the UN-affiliated Inter-Agency Standing Committee for acceptable approaches for FBOs offering humanitarian responses to people in need around the globe….
LONDON – British MP (Member of Parliament), Fiona Bruce tabled an Early Day Motion (EDM 1478) on 03 July 2018 proposing that the UK develop better mechanisms for tracking incidents of religious persecution and that it develop “strategic action plans” to prevent the escalation of those incidents into “mass atrocities.” Further, the motion calls upon…
KENYA – Margaret Njuguna is a native of Kenya. She was fortunate to have received training that qualified her to work at the Kenyan and Ugandan offices of World Renew, the global relief ministry of the Christian Reformed Church. When she made it clear that she wanted to do “something more,” a co-worker urged her…
ITANAGAR, ARUNACHAL PRADESH – Pema Khandu, the BJP Chief Minister of India’s northeastern-most state, Arunachal Pradesh, announced on 28 June 2018 that he would move to repeal the state’s Freedom of Religion Act of 1978 when parliament enters into its next session. It is the Freedom of Religion act that contains the ban against “conversion…
JERUSALEM – The Jerusalem Post summed up the relationship between Israel and Syria saying “Jerusalem and Damascus have never had diplomatic relations and have been officially at war since Israel was established in 1948. In 1967 Israel took control of the 1,200 square kilometers of the Golan Heights from Syria during the Six Day War…
AMMAN – Leading the Way, the ministry founded by Dr. Michael Youssef, has been partnering with ministries to Iraqi refugees in Jordan. Leading the Way is supplying local pastors with Navigator audio bibles pre-loaded with an Arabic New Testament as well as dual language Arabic and English Leading the Way sermons. One local pastor said,…
COLORADO SPRINGS – You can almost hear his feet as they crunch the pebbles on the dirty street as he passes a man selling a birdcage to a customer. You can almost feel the quiet despair as they go about their daily routine of existence. What is missing in this picture is any appearance of…
