World in Brief

The Message School of Evangelism (part of the Message Trust) has held an exciting week of mission in Nanyuki, Kenya, in partnership with The Global Network of Evangelists.

The initiative involved working in schools, visiting prisons, street evangelism and an evangelistic festival. During this time the students shared the gospel with 36,150 people and 6,230 responded. One man, initially hostile, eventually listened to the gospel. He changed from being loud and aggressive to apologising and feeling peaceful. The team prayed with him as he accepted Jesus into his life.

Ex-gay man Matthew Grech, 33, is facing trial in Malta for advertising ‘conversion practices’. If convicted, he could face five months in prison, and/or fined 5,000 euros.

The charges followed a radio interview in 2022 when Grech shared how he had become a Christian and renounced his former homosexual lifestyle and unwanted same-sex attraction. The outcome of this case will have ramifications for the ex-gay community worldwide. It will also impact freedom of the press and anyone who wishes to publicly question and debate ‘conversion practices’ involving LGBT lifestyles.

Sixteen members of Bege Baptist Church, in Kaduna State, central Nigeria, who were abducted by Fulani militants in May, have been released after spending a month in captivity.

Forty members of the congregation were initially seized from the church’s Sunday service but most managed to escape. Kaduna Chair of the Christian Association of Nigeria, the Revd John Joseph Hayab, said that the local Muslim community had paid towards the ransom and had also bought a motorcycle demanded by the abductors as part of the payment.

Pastor R. Kirubendran, from Ghazipur District, Uttar Pradesh, has been bailed and released from prison after a month in captivity.

He was accused of forcible conversion and insulting religion, and was only released after four failed attempts to secure bail. His wife Manju Tiruvendram and their 18-month-old daughter spent 13 days in jail before being bailed. The family believes the incident stemmed from false accusations by Hindu extremists, followed by church closures, where Kirubendran and his wife served.

An electrical fire has destroyed an orphanage in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). More than 200 children and adults escaped unharmed.

ICC has supported the overcrowded orphanage with emergency supplies over the past year, including food, medicine, safe water, clothing, mattresses – and a fish farm. The children, from babies to teens, were orphaned by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) terrorist group that killed their parents and ravaged their Christian communities.

On 1 June, a court in Bahawalpur, Punjab Province, Pakistan handed the death penalty to Noman Masih, a 22-year-old Christian, under the country’s blasphemy laws.

Masih’s lawyer said that the court announced its verdict despite the prosecution failing to provide evidence of the charge against him. He said: ‘I’m extremely disappointed by the conviction, because there was absolutely no case to answer. There was no proof against Noman, and none of the witnesses produced by police could corroborate the blasphemy allegation against him.’

Muslim mobs have stopped Christians from worshipping in two cities of Indonesia’s Sumatra Island.

One group of at least 40 Muslims, led by Yudi Ardiansah and Uztad Alfan Daulay, disrupted the midday worship service of the Mawar Sharon congregation, at a café in Binjai in North Sumatra Province. In Riau, in southern Sumatra, Muslims halted the service at Bethel Indonesia Church.

A primary school in Utah has banned the Bible for its ‘vulgarity and violence’ after a parent complained that the King James Bible contains material unsuitable for children and violates a 2022 state law making it easier to remove ‘pornographic or indecent’ content from school libraries.

The parent also said the Bible ‘has “no serious values for minors” because it’s pornographic by our new definition’. The complaint has been called a form of revenge, as controversy has raged over the removal of books in several states, with conservative groups mainly targeting books about gender and sexuality.

Senior Anglican clergy have strongly condemned the violent kidnapping of a bishop in South Sudan. The Rt Rev Amosa Data Elinoma of the Diocese of Morobo was abducted at gunpoint by militants from the National Salvation Front – an armed group which has been fighting the government since 2017.

The Archbishop of Central Equatoria said the attack happened as the bishop travelled to a Diocesan Council meeting. His car was stopped and driven into the bush, where his bags were looted of two mobile phones, his Bible and prayer book.

The Association of Pastors of Tegucigalpa have organised a peaceful march in the capital of Honduras to demand respect for life and ‘God’s design for the family’.

Thousands participated in the march which, although initiated by evangelical pastors, was also attended by Roman Catholics. Those churches have the support of more than 70% of the population, according to polls conducted in the country.

Among those present were presidential nominee Salvador Nasralla, who said it was ‘A celebration of thousands of people marching for the respect of the Christian principles that have sheltered our lives’.