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3,200 teenagers and adults from all over Europe (and beyond) came together to TeenStreet (TS) 2018 in Oldenburg for a week full of worship, Jesus, passion, life and fun.

As different as all the countries, cultures, backgrounds and churches might be, one thing connects everyone at TS: they know Jesus and want to grow closer in their relationship with him.

One hundred people plus Pastor Wang Yi of the Early Rain Church in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, were arrested over the weekend of 8-9 December.

Sensing that arrest was imminent, the pastor drafted a letter, asking that it be made public two days after his arrest. In it he expresses his ‘disgust’ for Communist persecution of Christians, but says he is not interested in changing the country’s social system. His goal is to bear witness through non-violence and to denounce violations of religious freedom. God will bring down the Communist regime. The church has existed for thousands of years, but no political power has lasted thousands of years.

In December, the Revd Dr Andrea Zaki joined the South Sinai Governor to lay the foundation stone for the first evangelical church in the Red Sea city of Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

Dr Zaki, President of the Protestant Churches in Egypt, said the church will seek a holistic mission by serving everyone equally.

Zambesi Mission (ZM) celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2017.

It was established in 1892 as a self-supporting, self-propagating mission in Malawi (formerly Nyasaland), a place then described as ‘beyond the habitation of white men’.

Many churches in the UK have been using the various evangelistic courses developed by Christianity Explored Ministries for several years. There are an increasing number of countries who now have access to them in their native languages.

Following the launch of Christianity Explored (CE) in Albania in May, the evangelistic course has had a major impact across the nation.

For a new believer in northern India, it’s not uncommon to be baptised at midnight, not because it’s more meaningful by moonlight, but because the cover of darkness offers more safety in a region where Christians increasingly face persecution.

For a new believer, gaining ultimate freedom in Christ often means losing other freedoms, like drawing water from the community well or walking down the street without fear of being beaten. Amazingly, churches are growing where many of the 400 million people are in desperate poverty and most have never heard of Jesus.

This year’s theme, SENT is at the heart of what the Keswick Convention has long been about: mission.

Mission overseas and mission ‘right where you are’, a going out into the world sharing the good news of the gospel through word and deed. This year, visitors to the Keswick Convention will have the opportunity to take a peek into the world of mission and experience some of the many opportunities we have, as Christians, to reach out to the lost and suffering. For the first time ever, the Global Village Experience will be available at the Convention and will be hosted on the pencil factory site right next to the missions exhibition tent, Base Camp.

‘Reaching Carcassonne’ 2018 took place from 21–28 August, in partnership with La Voix des Prophètes, United Beach Missions (UBM) and with the support of La Maison de la Bible.

The team of 29, aged between 17 and 67, included students, professionals, civil servants and retired people from different countries in Europe. It was an encouragement to see several recent converts from the local church participating in the outreach.

A decorated US Army chaplain who faced a court martial over accusations of discrimination against a lesbian couple was cleared of all charges, it was reported on 25 August.

Major Scott Squires was investigated and faced dereliction of duty charges after he told a soldier he could not lead a marriage retreat that included a same-sex couple. The chaplain had to pull out of the event when he learned of the same-sex couple and arranged for an alternative chaplain to take over, but his actions were deemed discriminatory.

The first students graduated from groundbreaking St Frumentius’ Anglican College, in Gambella, western Ethiopia in the summer.

For these students, the road to graduation has been especially challenging: two of the seven graduates are refugees and the others are from two different ethnic groups that have a history of conflict. 

In contrast to the UK prayer breakfast in Parliament where the leaders of the nation were called to listen to someone speak from the Bible, the Southern Baptists took up the request from Vice-President Mike Pence to speak at their convention in mid-June.

In a piece for The Gospel Coalition, Jonathan Leeman wrote: ‘… having a political leader address our churches or associations of churches tempts us to misconstrue our mission. Our mission is not the mission of the Republican, Democratic or any other party. Our mission, when gathered, is to work toward Great Commission ends. To bring in a politician risks subverting our gospel purposes to the purposes of that politician’s party. … it undermines our evangelistic and prophetic witness … it hurts the unity of Christ’s body’. There would inevitably be divided political opinions in a church over any individual or party.

A viewer survey in July by Christian satellite TV channel SAT-7 produced hundreds of viewer testimonies, showing that SAT-7 is changing perceptions towards Christianity and is providing valuable support for believers across the Middle East and North Africa.

Over 5,000 people responded to the survey, which was promoted on social media. Viewers rated SAT-7 highly on almost all criteria including image, sound, and content quality. SAT-7 says that the viewer testimonies are ‘compelling evidence that SAT-7 is succeeding in its mission of making God’s love visible in the Middle East and North Africa’.

The eyes of the world were on Japan in 2011.

This was when it was left reeling from the triple disaster of a powerful earthquake, a devastating tsunami and a catastrophic nuclear accident. Seven years later, Japan is gearing itself up for a happier return to global attention – the Rugby World Cup in 2019 and the Olympics in 2020. Sporting occasions can be a fantastic opportunity to bring a nation together in unity and celebration.