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Opponents of a European initiative paving the way for governments to rule on the legitimacy of religious groups and reduce home schooling rights won a battle in mid April in the Council of Europe.

In Europe, where public education often includes teachings on morality at odds with churches and officially unrecognised religious groups are labelled sects, the stakes were high at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

At face value, Australia and Malaysia share a number of common features. Both are medium-sized nations, with Australia having a population of 22 million and Malaysia 28 million.

Both are multifaith societies. Australia’s 61% Christian majority sits alongside a non-religious minority of 22% as well as smaller numbers of Buddhists (2.5%), Muslims (2.2%), Hindus (1.3%) and others. Malaysia’s 60% Muslim majority shares the country with Buddhists (19%), Christians (9%), Hindus (6%) and others. In effect, both societies are highly pluralistic in terms of both faith and ethnicity.

‘I grabbed my six-year-old and we were all screaming and praying for God’s grace. I saw our walls falling down, then we ran out.’ Dalia’s tears began to slip down her cheeks as she re-lived the terrifying morning of 15 October 2013. The 7.2 magnitude earthquake that struck the Philippines island of Bohol.

‘We stayed in an evacuation centre for two, almost three weeks, then in a tent. When we went back to check the church we found it destroyed. We still sleep in the tent but we’ve put it inside a small bamboo hut that we built during the rains. When people ask me, ‘how can you smile?’ I say I smile because I am alive! That’s something to thank God for.’

On March 26, two days after World Vision in the USA had announced that it would employ Christians in same-sex marriages, the relief organisation reversed its decision.

World Vision’s American branch had announced, on March 24, that it would no longer require its more than 1,100 employees to restrict their sexual activity to marriage between one man and one woman. World Vision president, Richard Stearns, made it clear by saying: ‘The new policy will not exclude someone from employment if they are in a legal same-sex marriage’.

Living out a missional lifestyle was one of the main themes at the second day of the third Mission-Net Congress held from December 30 to January 2 in Offenburg.

The key topic of the first day was ‘Mission with a Migrant Background’. In mostly interactive seminars, the participants discussed several aspects of this theme, such as why classical mission strategies seem to fail in today’s church and why people are actually talking about a missional lifestyle. Vivid discussions ensued and at the end there were more questions than answers.

Since the start of January 2014, a Christian group in Guatemala has begun meeting the practical needs of some of the young abused girls from Guatemala’s streets and introducing them to Jesus at the same time.

For a long time, the Oasis centre had received calls from Guatemala’s Child Protection Agency, as well as organisations like International Justice Mission, asking if they could provide help for girls as young as ten, who had suffered from systematic sexual abuse and were pregnant.

As the news hit the media about atrocities in Sudan, EN received a report on December 20 from a Christian living in Sudan.

‘We have experienced heavy fighting between soldiers loyal to President Salva Kiir or to his former vice president, Riak Machar, on December 15. The government called it an attempted coup but it was actually a political difference that arose over party meetings and the president’s dictatorial tendency that sparked the fight. The president wants to eliminate all his political critics in hope of becoming a full dictator. Unfortunately, the fight turned quickly into tribal conflict targeting people that come from Nuer tribe in Juba.

SOAR International Ministries, an Alaska-based organisation dedicated to missions and outreach in Russia, has partnered with local Russian churches during the Sochi Winter Olympic Games, to spread the gospel to tourists and communities converging on the event.

The ministry sent 40 volunteers to Russia to establish a number of ‘fun zone’ hospitality centres in local church buildings. They will also go out into parks and other public venues to invite others to partake in their activities.

Most Christians are familiar with Jesus’ command, the Great Commission, to make disciples of all nations.

But with the average Christian giving less to mission than the cost of a coffee, once a month, it appears that the church is omitting the commission, it was concluded in December by Gospel for Asia.

Consensus is emerging to begin ‘contingency planning’ to send a UN peacekeeping force to the lawless Central African Republic (CAR), the UN’s No.2 official said in mid-November.

‘The country in the heart of Africa is descending into complete chaos before our eyes and requires a capable security force on the ground’, UN Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson told the UN Security Council. The occupation: ‘must be robust and prevent what has the high potential to result in widespread atrocities’.

On September 1, Lawrence Tong took over as the new international director of Operation Mobilisation (OM). He succeeded Peter Maiden who retired from the role after serving for ten years and George Verwer who founded OM in 1957.

Everyone expects big changes when a new leader takes the reins. So what can we expect from Lawrence? For the first time the position of international director will be filled with a non-Westerner, Lawrence is from Singapore and with that he brings his own certain Global South flavour. Another noticeable change, as Lawrence puts it, is that there will be ‘an intentional emphasis on the globalisation of OM — to make OM more user-friendly for non-Westerners’.