In Depth:  Evangelical Focus

Christian organisations and networks of churches are responding to the disaster caused by two earthquakes on 6 February in the south-east of Turkey, which also hugely affected the north of Syria.

‘Teams from all over the world and from Turkey are working hard in the region,’ wrote the Association of Protestant Churches in Turkey (TeK, also known as Turkish Evangelical Alliance) in a short update. ‘Please remember them in your prayers.’

The European Evangelical Alliance (EEA) has formally recognised a landmark international definition of antisemitism.

The EEA issued a statement adopting the ‘working definition of antisemitism’ of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, approved in Budapest, Hungary, in 2016.

A NASA astronaut aboard the International Space Station has recently said that sunrises in space reminds him of a Bible verse from the Psalms.

Victor Glover, one of the seven crew members of the space station Expedition 64, posted two images of the sun shining just above Earth’s horizon on Instagram and Twitter.

A group of people of the Tzotzil ethnic group have destroyed five houses of evangelical families in the Mitzitón community, and imprisoned other evangelicals.

Two evangelical families were affected. Before the houses were destroyed, the Catholics imprisoned two of the group.

An ecumenical building proposed for Berlin is being described by former Federal President Christian Wulff as ‘offering unique conditions for dialogue’.

The House of One will be a large building where Jews, Christians and Muslims will have a space to worship. Once it is finished, the building will have a church, a synagogue and a mosque, all connected by a central room.

A monument to the Protestant Reformer Casiodoro de Reina was officially inaugurated by the local authorities in Seville on 29 October.

Reina was the main translator of the Bear Bible (Biblia del Oso), the most influential early translation of the whole Scriptures into Spanish, published in the 16th century.

Thousands of people have taken to the streets of Panama, asking the Supreme Court of Justice to rule in favour of the traditional family in the face of some lawsuits filed by homosexual couples seeking ‘recognition of their union’.

The demonstration was called and organised by pro-family entities, led by the Panamanian Alliance for Life and the Family. Evangelical leaders supported the march and encouraged the participation of fellow believers. Some of them spoke during the event.

As en went to press, evangelicals and other conservatives had won an important vote in the Norwegian Baptist Union.

131 of the 179 votes cast supported a submission made by the board saying that the annual meeting emphasises ‘the lifelong marriage between one man and one woman’ as the biblical form of cohabitation. This confirms a statement made by the annual meeting in the year 2000 saying that living together in same-sex relationships is not compatible with holding leadership positions in The Baptist Union churches.

After 59 years of broadcasts into the Middle East, Yemen was recently added to the group of countries being reached by Trans World Radio (TWR) with a programme called Hope for Yemen.

By far the poorest state in the Middle East, suffering from an ongoing civil war, a humanitarian crisis of massive proportions is adding to the turmoil in Yemen.

More than 50 women accused aid workers with large humanitarian NGOs of sexual abuse during the 2018-2020 Ebola crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo, including some from the Christian group World Vision.

Several women said they were forced to have sex in exchange for a job, or to avoid the termination of a contract. It was reported that this kind of abuse is common in countries where there is a culture of sexual exploitation.

Hundreds of evangelical Christians joined an online day of prayer whilst leaders met physically to pray for the expansion of God’s Kingdom.

The initiative, called Common Movement for Prayer and Brotherly Love, was started in 2017, after 80 pastors from various Protestant confessions put their hearts together. Every couple of months, Christians across the denominations would congregate in a different town, and their regional day of intercession would be broadcast live for the rest of the country.

An evangelical pastor in Minsk says the country’s current turmoil could help open it up for the gospel.

‘Some people have seen us supporting victims … and God in His sovereignty is maybe using this time to recreate the reputation of the evangelical church here.’