HENAN PROVINCE – On November 30, 2018, Chinese communist authorities ordered a church in Henan Province to remove its display of the first commandment of the Ten Commandments. The directive came during a regular inspection of a church affiliated with the government-approved Three-Self church movement. Freedom of religion in China has been a consistent and…
“For China’s Christians, these are desperate times.” That was a comment made by U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence in October 2018 in a speech where he described the Chinese Communist Party as “avowedly atheist.” Perspective Magazine, which covers U.S. foreign policy from a Christian perspective observed that “in 2018, China’s religious repression has reached ‘a sustained…
WILLS POINT – While we gather together with our families during this Christmas season there are 68.5 million forcibly displaced people around the world who are separated from home and families and have nowhere to go. According to the UNHCR, people are forcibly displaced faster than one every two seconds as a result of conflict…
HAMPTON, VA — International Cooperating Ministries (ICM) in Hampton recently approved its 8,000th building project to assist Christians in difficult areas. With a vision to establish a healthy church within walking distance of everyone in the world, the 33-year-old charity is currently operating in 91 countries. The 8,000th church project will provide hope for one of Egypt’s…
CHENGDU – Last week Chinese authorities detained Pastor Wang Yi and 100 members of the Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, Szechuan, China.Bob Fu, the president of ChinaAid, said that “the massive overnight attack . . . represents a major escalation of religious persecution in China.”Former U.S. Senator and current U.S. Ambassador at Large for…
Worldwide gathering in San Antonio Jan. 30-Feb. 1 to tackle ‘challenges and opportunities’ facing private Christian school movement COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—Global leaders in the private Christian school community are convening next month to look for ways to reshape their movement and continue offering distinctive, faith-based education in an increasingly pluralistic and post-religious world. Around 1,000…
LONDON – Sadiq Khan is the Mayor of London, England. He had been a Member of Parliament since 2005. He is also a devout Muslim. However, whether politically motivated or out of sincerity, he has proven to be kind to Christians. Just a few days ago on December 16th, he addressed a crowd of 10,000…
MOZAMBIQUE – When a young African boy saw the unguarded cell phone, he knew it might be his only chance to ever have one. It is doubtful that he even knew how to use one. Imagine his surprise when he played with the buttons and discovered that what he had taken was not a cell…
Orlando, Florida, USA — Church leaders from more than 600 language groups around the world have asked Wycliffe Associates for the technology and training to start translating the Bible using a translation method known as MAST (Mobilized Assistance Supporting Translation). “They have the commitment to proclaim Christ, even in the most dangerous areas,” said Bruce…
JERUSALEM – Nightfall on Monday, December 10th marks the end of the Jewish celebration of Hanukkah. Also known as the Festival of Lights, Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. This year the last day of Hanukkah will be marked by the consecration of a stone altar that has been prepared for…
SINGAPORE – Maintenance of religious harmony. It sounds wonderful. An idea that promotes people getting along together. True freedom of religion. But the artwork of legislative ambiguity is misleading in many countries, such as Malaysia and Singapore, the city-state at the southern end of Malaysia. Two men and two women, residents of Finland, were detained…
WASHINGTON – On November 15, 2018, the American Law and Justice Center (ACLJ) published a petition to release John Cao, a U.S. pastor imprisoned in China on fabricated organizing illegal border crossing charges. Cao, whose family resides in North Carolina, was arrested by Chinese officials in March 2017 as he crossed the border between Myanmar…
PARADISE, CA – “Workers fanned out across the cinders, looking for those who didn’t escape the inferno that transformed this town into a wasteland.” That was the lead-in of a Daily Beast article about the California wildfire that destroyed the town of Paradise, California. The fire came upon the people so quickly that there was…
CONROE, Texas — The 2018 International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church was observed by tens of millions of Christians worldwide on Sunday, November 4th. Now many of those believers are seeking tangible ways to help their brothers & sisters in Christ and local churches & ministries which are embedded in areas where persecution…
Forgotten Missionaries International: Building partnerships to empower indigenous church plantersThis is the second article in our new “Spotlight” series that homes in on our primary intent of “Connecting the Church in the West to news of what God is doing through nonprofits around the world.” This article shines the Spotlight on Forgotten Missionaries International (FMI),…
Missions Box News invites you to join tens of thousands of Christians on Sunday, November 4th, in prayer for our brothers and sisters around the world who are persecuted and are suffering because of their faith in Jesus Christ. It’s not likely that most who read this have ever faced persecution. Yet, persecution of Christians…
World Missionary Press: Free Scripture Booklets for the WorldMissions Box News was established by Gospel for Asia (GFA) to “highlight the good works of nonprofits from around the world.” Most often we do that by reporting news “that pertains to the hardships of living in this world” to show the needs of people burdened by poverty…
Gospel for Asia (GFA World) is a nonprofit founded in 1979 committed to serving “the least of these” in Asia. GFA supports national field workers who in turn bring the love of Christ to those living in rural and under-served areas. Whether it’s providing the opportunity for a brighter future for a child in Asia…
IZMIR – Pastor Andrew Brunson is on his way home to North Carolina after more than two years either in prison or, more recently, under house arrest in Turkey. The Trump administration has been tightening the screws on the Turkish economy for its part in getting Pastor Brunson released. While the diplomatic efforts of the United…
IRAN – Mojtaba Hosseini was arrested for being a threat to the national security of his home country of Iran. His crime was being a leader of a house church group. When he was originally arrested, he was placed on probation and warned to cease his church activities. I wonder what I would have done…
SUDAN – Good news is getting hard to find. It just doesn’t seem to be sensational enough to make compelling headlines. Missions Box News is seeking to change that by reporting the good news that Christians should know. Some exceptionally good news has come out of Sudan over the last several days. Sudan is currently…
YANGON – Myanmar, formerly Burma, may best be described a line from Rogers and Hammerstein’s “The King and I” in which the king exclaims, “It’s a puzzlement.” In a recent article, we related the story of a Christian pastor in a small village in the Chin state in northwest Myanmar. The gist of the story…
RANGOON – Most Western people still know Myanmar as Burma – a country somewhere in South Asia. Situated east of the Bay of Bengal, Myanmar borders Bangladesh, India, China, and Thailand. Myanmar, then Burma, was evangelized in the early 1800s by Adoniram Judson who also completed the first Burmese language Bible. In 1950, there were…
Former Chicago Bears back ‘Game of Life’ distribution to fans of ‘the other football’ COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Four NFL veterans have teamed up with Biblica, the International Bible Society (www.biblica.com), to throw their weight behind a sports outreach that aims to score with thousands of young people in South Asia through “the other football.”…
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…
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….
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…
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)…
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…
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…
Using nationals to reach nationals, organization promotes evangelism and Bible distribution under stricter laws COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — As the Chinese government clarifies its religious beliefs policy, Bibles For The World (BFTW) President John Pudaite says his organization will focus on the urgent need for effective Scripture distribution while helping believers understand their religious rights. According to Pudaite,…
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…
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…
International Day for the Unreached organizers emphasize need for whole church to respond to Jesus’ Great Commission COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – United by a single goal, the champions of missions to the unreached follow a wide range of paths in taking the gospel to those who have yet to hear of Jesus. The breadth of…
It was a momentous day for the Apostle Peter. He declared his faith that Jesus is the Messiah. The moment after, Jesus starts talking about His upcoming suffering, death and resurrection. All of a sudden, the momentous day for Peter takes a turn. He tells Jesus that he’ll never allow that to happen. Jesus rebukes…
SEOUL – One of the chief ministries of Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) is getting Bibles to nations where the Word of God is restricted. The ministry uses innovative means to place Bibles into the hands of people – in their own language – who would otherwise live their lives without ever reading the Good…
GENEVA – “Wars, other violence, and persecution drove worldwide forced displacement to a new high in 2017 for the fifth year in a row, according to UNHCR’s annual Global Trends report, released on 19 June 2018. The report showed that 68.5 million people were displaced as of the end of 2017. Overwhelmingly it is developing…
Imagine a country where you had to keep your faith silent for fear of being arrested. There are many people living in countries throughout the world that face this threat. Afghanistan is one of them. There are no churches, but mosques can be found on every street corner in the rugged and mountainous terrain of…
NEW YORK CITY – Wednesday, 20 June 2018, is World Refugee Day. The day is especially important because there is, as most people know, a global refugee crisis. The crisis is compounded by the emotional and political conflict regarding the status of refugees. More about that in a minute. First, here are some facts about…
SEOUL – North and South Korea have made a lot of headlines in the past year, including North Korea’s ballistic missile tests and nuclear potential, South Korea’s hosting of the Winter Olympics, and the historic meeting between North Korea’s Kim Jung Un and U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore. While the complete denuclearization of North…
YANGON – Life goes on as normal for Christians and Muslims in Myanmar, just as life goes on as normal for Christians and Muslims in America. Normal is the operative word because what is normal for them is at the extreme opposite of what normal is for us. We often refer to normal as “the…
NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania – On 27 April 2018, The National Assembly of Mauritania passed a law that makes the death penalty mandatory for anyone convicted of “blasphemous speech” and acts deemed “sacrilegious.” Human rights experts from the UN, the African Commission of Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR), and more than 20 NGOs have called upon the…
WASHINGTON, DC – Texas Senator Ted Cruz heads the lineup of speakers and panelists featured at the Capitol Hill Policy Day at the Capitol Visitor Center on June 5, 2018. The conference, sponsored by International Christian Concern, will focus on “the crisis of violence in Nigeria brought about by both Boko Haram and Fulani militants.”…
Wills Point, Texas – GFA (Gospel for Asia) Founder, Dr. K.P. Yohannan recently expressed several powerful insights into the power of oneness in his blog post entitled “When Believers Unite in Doing God’s Will Nothing Will Be Impossible” Acknowledging that the idea of “united we stand; divided we fall” is universal, his article suggests that Christians…
CAIRO – On 11 March 2018, Missions Box News reported that Egyptian government officials had granted licenses for 53 churches as a “first block” toward compliance with the legal requirements. The licensing mandate which had been proposed by the Housing Ministry became law in August 2016. Yesterday the Egyptian Cabinet approved the legalization of 166…
How should we pray for overseas missionaries and pastors? I want to pray, but what do they need? This is a question that often crosses our minds when we hear of the adversity facing those who serve the Lord in areas that are volatilize and prone to hostility. Tamang is a pastor in South Asia who…
ALEXANDRIA – A terrorist attack on two Coptic Christian churches on Palm Sunday 2017 left more than 40 people dead and 125 injured. It also made several men, women, and children widows, widowers, and orphans. One of the deceased was Hanan Dreas, a wife and mother of two children ages six and 10. Her husband,…
