Kalifa and his family were all Muslims living in a Muslim village. But then, Kalifa placed his trust in Christ during an evangelistic outreach earlier this year, becoming the first Christian in his village. When others in Kalifa’s Muslim community learned about his newfound faith in Christ, they began to persecute him and his family with verbal insults and physical attacks.
Read MoreNearly 60 Iranian Christians were swept up in a sudden wave of arrests across the country in mid-July, crippling ministry work. “Most ministries have stopped their activities,” said a front-line worker. His comments follow reports of three Christians arrested in Tehran on May 9, 2023. Agents of the Islamic Revolutionary Court arrived that morning with search warrants and confiscated mobile phones, laptops, books and pamphlets.
Read MorePema Ongmo, 27, was raised in an animist family and had never heard about Christ until a friend shared the gospel and invited her to church. Her father, a village leader, found out and forbade her to read the Bible the pastor had given her. But she started reading the Bible secretly and began to follow Christ. Her mother became ill, and her father spent all the family’s resources looking for a cure. Pema told her father that the Jesus she read about in the Bible healed many people.
Read MoreMateo and Elena are church planters advancing God’s kingdom in Central Mexico. Elena was diagnosed with a rare brain aneurysm that required surgery. However, in the most recent round of tests, the doctors found that the aneurysm had been healed. One even called it a miracle from God. Still, Elena and Mateo continue to face enormous pressure to stop their gospel outreach, including threatening phone calls, an unexplained fire in their house, and spiritual attacks on Elena and their two young daughters.
Read MoreDuring an Islamist gathering denouncing Christianity and encouraging anti-Christian activity, Juhel stood up and shared his testimony about his faith in Christ. Some in the crowd listened with interest because of his reasonable and gentle approach, while others expressed opposition and anger. Some in the group invited Juhel to speak again in the mosque, planning to attack him there. When he turned them down, they planned an ambush instead.
Read MoreOn Sunday, April 3, 2022, militants from the Ethiopian Orthodox Church attacked a Protestant church in western Ethiopia, the second time in less than a month a Protestant church in that area had been attacked. The attackers injured many Christians and burned buildings. One church leader said, “We were hurt because of our faith in Jesus Christ. We are ready to accept any trial and persecution that comes to us because of our faith.” VOM helped this congregation rebuild as they continue to witness for Christ in their community.
Read MorePray for one Christian woman who has been instrumental in sharing the gospel with a highly restricted minority group. Though she has never received formal training, and despite the physical demands on her frail body, she has been a faithful witness to advance God’s kingdom to this people group.
Read MoreA front-line worker in Colombia reported that he has lost contact with several pastors in the Sucre area in recent months. The state of Sucre is one of Colombia’s “red zones,” where Marxist guerrillas and paramilitaries exercise violent control over large areas. These groups have recently imposed new restrictions against Christians and churches.
Read MorePastor Amadin leads a church in a Muslim community in northern Benin. Three Islamic extremists visited his house while he was away and his children were in school. The men attacked his wife with acid, pouring it into her eyes and forcing her to drink it. When neighbors heard her screaming, they rushed to the house, and the attackers fled.
Read MoreWhen Raissa was a teen, she was kidnapped and raped by a group of Muslim men who wanted to punish her father, a Christian pastor. For years, Raissa felt trapped in her home, unable to leave without being taunted, threatened and retraumatized by her attackers, who had faced no consequences. Raissa asked for help relocating to a larger city where she could be free of her attackers and pursue education and a career.
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