Iraqi Christians pessimistic after vote
Luke Randall
Date posted: 20 Dec 2025
Many Christians boycotted recent elections in Iraq due to the hijacking of their minority representation seats by a hostile party. Some are believed to have given up on the electoral process altogether, while others no longer have the right to vote in the Muslim-majority country.
Due to their minority status, five of the Iraqi parliament’s 329 seats are reserved for Christians, but have been hijacked in the past by the Babylon Movement, a Chaldean Catholic party which purports to stand up for believers. But it is said by many Christians to be effectively a militant Shia Muslim party supported by Iran.
New report reveals Gen Z's priorities - not just in the West, but worldwide
Lydia Houghton
Date posted: 12 Dec 2025
A new report, published today and authored by Peter Dray, reveals that "Generation Z" prizes living better, not just living longer.
Gen Z Insights for Global Student Ministry - published by the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES) - examines four "Gen Z" traits across multiple countries: pursuit of wellbeing; digital immersion; cultural awareness; and spiritual openness.
letter from Japan
Please pray urgently for Japan today
John Newton Webb
Date posted: 4 Dec 2025
Recent survey results from the Japanese Government, combined with an estimate of the Japanese population who are Bible believing Christians suggests that the number has fallen from around 500,000 in 2019 to less than 350,000 in 2024 or from 0.4% to 0.28% of the population. Amongst university students, just 0.01% (one in 10,000) are thought to be Christians.
What does this mean for the future of the gospel in Japan? Research predicts that if present trends continue, half of Japan’s Protestant churches will close by 2030. Some of these are churches which have drifted from the Bible, others have not been evangelising; still others have been damaged by splits. But many of them are faithful, prayerful, gospel-preaching churches, who are simply not seeing people converted. Though numbers of missionaries coming to Japan are going up, there is a dire shortage of Japanese full-time gospel workers. Pastors are retiring or dying with no-one coming to replace them. Some Bible Colleges have closed recently due to a shortage of students.
USA: Car parking space – decision reversed
Luke Randall
Date posted: 3 Dec 2025
The decision to deny permission to a senior student at a Colorado high school to paint a Bible verse alongside a Christian image on her personal parking space has been reversed.
Sophia Shumaker wanted to paint a text from 1 Corinthians 13 v4 alongside an image featuring a shepherd, but her request was refused by the school despite it being allowed by other schools within the same district. However, following a letter sent to the school on her behalf by the First Liberty Institute, the school has revised its policy and granted her permission.
Politics USA
Donald Trump: An imperial president?
Tony Bennett
Date posted: 2 Dec 2025
The term “the imperial presidency” gained popularity in the USA in the early 1970s as a consequence of a book of that title by the historian Arthur Schlesinger.
Schlesinger charted what he saw as the abuse of power by successive presidents, most especially by Johnson (1963–69) and Nixon (1969–74). The presidency, claimed Schlesinger, had come to resemble more an imperial court than the office envisaged by the Founding Fathers back in the 1780s.
China: Thirty church leaders arrested
Luke Randall
Date posted: 28 Nov 2025
Over 30 church leaders in China have been arrested as the ruling Chinese Communist Party continues to clamp down on beliefs that do not adhere to state control.
Release International reports that raids have taken place in seven provinces in what their partners describe as “the most extensive and coordinated wave of persecution” against house churches in 40 years. Those arrested include pastors and other church leaders, and include Jin Mingri, founder of the Zion Church network. The state is believed to be using digital surveillance and wrongful charges as it goes after those it deems a threat to state authority.
Pastor freed from North Korean prison
Release International / Voice of the Martyrs
Date posted: 28 Nov 2025
Deacon Jang, a Christian who worked on the border of China and North Korea, has been released from jail after 11 years.
Jang was kidnapped from China in November 2014 and sentenced to 15 years in a North Korean prison. He had been ministering to North Koreans who crossed the border into China and had seen a number of them come to faith in Christ.
Daughter of Hamas founder finds Christ
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 27 Nov 2025
The daughter of a Hamas founder and former wife of a Hamas member has spoken about how she became a Christian after seeing Jesus in a dream.
Juman Al Qawasmi was born and raised in Qatar. In a recent interview, she said her parents raised their children to hate Israel, Jews, Christians – “everyone who does not belong to Hamas”.
Bible app marks a billion downloads
Luke Randall
Date posted: 26 Nov 2025
The founder and CEO of YouVersion has described the influence of their Bible app as “unimaginable” as it celebrates its billionth download less than 20 years since its inception.
The rapid development of AI has prompted questions around how far technology should go when it comes to matters of faith. However, Bobby Gruenewald believes the news that the world’s most popular Bible app is celebrating its billionth download worldwide shows the positive potential of modern technology for gospel opportunities.
Dane Ortlund: Young men today lack social skills
en staff
Date posted: 25 Nov 2025
Popular pastor, author, and speaker Dane Ortlund says young men who learn basic social skills will be "in the top three per cent" of their peers.
Setting out a checklist of behaviours which he says they should learn, he claims that "rudimentary inter-personal skills" are getting rarer year by year.
WEA fires up believers from 100+ nations
Luke Randall
Date posted: 24 Nov 2025
Over 900 evangelical leaders attended the World Evangelical Alliance’s (WEA) General Assembly for 2025 in Seoul.
The four-day event featured representation from 124 of the world’s 152 regional and national evangelical alliances, and was centred around the theme “The Gospel for Everyone by 2033”.
letter from Australia
Christians stand against conversion law
David Robertson
Date posted: 23 Nov 2025
Sydney Anglicans are taking a strong stand against the new conversion therapy laws introduced by the New South Wales Parliament.
The Sydney Anglican archbishop, Kanishka Raffe (pictured) made the following clear declaration: “I want to say this clearly and publicly to you all, that I will stand by any clergy person or church worker who finds themselves brought before a tribunal or court because of this poorly conceived law … We must not be silenced or intimidated from teaching God’s good plan for human sexuality and relationships. We will insist on the freedom to do so respectfully, but without fear, we will obey God. We can do nothing less.”
Jihadists ‘suffocate’ Malian capital
Luke Randall
Date posted: 23 Nov 2025
Islamic extremists are “suffocating” Mali’s capital city through a fuel blockade and dictatorial new rules enforced on those within it, including that women must wear headscarves when travelling by bus – a worrying development for Christians.
Malian church leader and Open Doors partner Charles Yabaga Diarra* revealed to that the attackers, who are believed en to be loyal to Jama’at Nasrat al Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM), have led attacks in several areas across Mali and are now concentrating their efforts on cities bordering the Ivory Coast – where fuel comes from – including the capital, Bamako.
Iran: Jailed believer fractures spine
Lydia Houghton
Date posted: 22 Nov 2025
Aida Najaflou, an imprisoned Christian convert in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison, Iran, recently fractured her spine after falling from her bunk bed. She was briefly taken to hospital, where doctors recommended urgent surgery, but was returned to prison the same day, still in pain, and without receiving the necessary treatment.
According to Article 18 and Open Doors, her condition is particularly fragile; she lives with rheumatoid arthritis, and warned prison officials that climbing to a top bunk was dangerous for her. Her requests for a lower bed were ignored. “With a fractured vertebra and limited medical access, Aida faces additional suffering that could have been prevented,” Open Doors shared on X.
Screwtape takes to the stage in the US
Lydia Houghton
Date posted: 21 Nov 2025
An American theatre company is bringing C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters to stages across the United States.
Fellowship for Performing Arts (FPA), based in New York City, is a not-for-profit production company creating theatre and film from a Christian worldview. Its founder, Max McLean – famous for depicting Lewis in biopic The Reluctant Convert (2021) – spoke of his personal connection with the book: “I was an adult convert to Christianity and, after reading the New Testament, someone gave me a couple of Lewis’s books. The one that really hit me was The Screwtape Letters.
Nicea 1,700: Global leaders gather
Joel Morris
Date posted: 21 Nov 2025
Istanbul, Turkey – Over four days, 22–25 October, more than 470 Christian leaders from around the world convened in Istanbul to commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed, a foundational statement of Christian faith established in 325AD.
The conference, held in a Muslim-majority country, was notable not only for its historical significance to the church but also for its diverse international participation. Attendees included speakers and teachers from Egypt, Dubai, Kenya, Italy, Russia, India, USA and the UK, offering rich teaching and reflections on the enduring relevance of the Creed.
South Korea: Gospel work thrives
John-Edward Funnell
Date posted: 20 Nov 2025
I recently returned from a wonderful trip to Seoul in South Korea, where I was asked to speak at the “East Meets West” Conference held at SaRang Church as part of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) Assembly [see additional WEA article here].
SaRang Church has a membership just short of 40,000 and has a heart for mission. They give huge amounts of resources to the re-evangelisation of Europe. “East Meets West” is led by Sam Ko, who has supported many revitalisation projects and church plants across our continent and has a lead role at the Union School of Theology in Wales.
Sudan: Suffering continues amid worsening crisis
Luke Randall
Date posted: 20 Nov 2025
Thousands continue to be killed and displaced in Sudan as the nation’s civil war rages on.
The situation has become increasingly desperate in El Fasher, where people have resorted to eating animal feed and animal skins due to an extreme food shortage.
