A special committee set up to review church registration applications legalised the status of 53 Egyptian churches on 26 February.
In 2016, the Egyptian Parliament voted to abolish Ottoman-era restrictions on church building. But the committee set up to review applications from the many pre-existing churches did not meet until October 2017 – previous restrictions left no option but to worship illegally in unlicensed buildings.
Praise God for answered prayer, as the Egyptian Government has acted on the pledge to legalise Christian places of worship, and give thanks that in January 2018 the Government announced that Christians would be allowed to hold meetings in unlicensed buildings, pending their formal recognition as places of worship. Pray that legality will also be granted to the thousands more churches which still await registration, and that in the longer term the law will be changed so that Egyptian Christians can meet to worship freely without the need to register.
