Category: News Briefs

Source: Catalyst Services, April 2026

As missions resources multiply around the globe, increasingly complex collaborations seek to maximize what each entity brings to the task. Indigenous leadership is proving key to the long-term success of these multifaceted partnerships.

The Three Waves Movement is one such collaborative effort seeking to combine three very different missional forces, or waves, in South America. These waves came sequentially, but each continues to impact missions endeavors across the continent today: the first—a foreign (largely North American) wave of missionaries and churches, the second—a wave of engagement by Latino/national churches and networks of churches, and third—a growing wave of visionary indigenous churches and networks.

Determined to collaborate better, churches, individuals, and networks from each of these three waves have come together under the Three Waves Movement banner to develop strategic alliances in six South American countries. Their shared vision is to reach and disciple the 400+ tribal nations of the Amazon and South American lowlands.

The full story includes interviews with facilitators from each wave and advice for those seeking to build partnerships.

For more stories about gospel collaboration, read Ethiopian believers prepare for freedom ministry conference (Mission Network News) and We’re all part of the gospel chain. Which link are you? (A Life Overseas).

Source: International Mission Board, April 20, 2026

Daniel Bates couldn’t believe his eyes. But there it was, tucked between a pastel row of cafés and cobblestone alleys in downtown Ljubljana, Slovenia—a friendly local game store. He pulled [his wife] Heather through the door and into a world alive with colorful miniature role-play scenes and towers of board game boxes.

It had been hard for the family to make close local friends when [their church] first sent them to Slovenia through the IMB. Their Slovenian language skills were still a work in progress, so most interactions with parents at the kids’ school or with neighbors stayed polite and surface-level.

But in this game shop, the connection through board games was immediate. The owner invited Daniel to join a weekly game night in another town. The distance wasn’t an issue. Slovenia, after all, is roughly the size of New Jersey, and the gaming group drew people from every direction. They used a Discord channel to keep in touch during the week.

“We use different social platforms—Reddit, WhatsApp, Messenger, Discord—as part of our digital engagement strategy for ministry. This is where people gather, so we want to be there too,” Daniel said. “We’ve found most will never talk to you in person, but they will chat on the computer with you.

“But taking these relationships from digital to physical is hard,” he continued. “That’s what made this gaming group so different. It’s hybrid. They meet physically and use their Discord channel to keep in touch during the week.”

Read the full story. Always good to see people leveraging their interests to connect with those who enjoy the same things. Evidently Daniel loves board games (and Slovenians). 

Source: Mission Network News, April 15, 2026

Many ethnic groups in Ethiopia are still unaware of the hope found in Christ. The Argobba people are one of them—but reaching them comes with a unique challenge: They are constantly on the move.

The Argobba are a traveling people, an unreached Muslim group of no more than 250,000. Farming and trade shape their daily lives. However, external pressures (conflicts between majority people groups) continue to disrupt their stability.

“And you’ve got this small group like the Agobba, who just want to live peacefully and tend their plots of land. But others are coming in, pushing them out, and moving them from place to place. Those are the dynamics that make gospel witness very challenging,” [says Greg Kelley of Unknown Nations].

This is where [the] ministry partners with local believers who know their country. Kelley explains, “They’re distributing our solar-powered audio Bible in their local dialect, their local language, and listening groups are forming.” As a result, Argobba people are beginning to know Jesus as they hear the gospel.

Read the full story.

Another MNN story explores challenges to ministry in the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa). nd for another interesting read, see Nomads in the Shadow of Iran’s War (Nomadic Peoples Network).

Source: Morning Star News, May 1, 2026

On April 13, two men of traditional tribal religion assaulted a pastor and his family for their Christian faith in an attempt to chase them from their land and home, sources said.

The two men came with a mob to his home [in Chhattisgarh], where his church meets, accusing Pastor Motu Sodi of luring villagers from their tribal religion and fraudulently converting them to Christianity. The two men assaulted the pastor, his wife, his non-Christian sister, and a niece.

The attackers warned, “We won’t let you stay in the village or on your own property. We want to chase you away,” he said.

After the assault on April 13, the two adherents of tribal religion filed a complaint against Pastor Sodi. Early the next morning, the two men returned, assaulted the family again and disclosed that they had filed a police complaint against them for fraudulent conversion.

Pastor Sodi then went to the police station and filed a counter-complaint against them for assaulting them.

Police registered the complaint as a “scuffle” between Pastor Sodi and the two men “related to a land dispute,” he said, denying that he fought back. “We told the police that we did not indulge in the assault but that they came and assaulted us brutally and injured us,” said Pastor Sodi.

He said he clearly told the officer that the two men targeted the family because of their faith in Christ, and that they had no argument or dispute over land. Police refused to listen.

The atmosphere in the village remains tense, he said.

Read the full story.

Meanwhile, in Egypt, a Coptic Christian YouTuber faces five years in prison and hard labor after sharing his faith online (ADF International).

1. North Korea: What About Bible-Delivery Drones?
2. Pew Study Shows Buddhism in Worldwide Decline
3. Finland: New Study Explores Why Young Men Are Embracing Christianity
4. USA: Building New Pipelines to Send African American Pastors
5. Iran: Prison Conditions Worsen for Christians and Other Inmates
6. The Netherlands: Disciples Making Disciples

Read or share the email edition or scroll down for more.

Source: Back to Jerusalem, April 13, 2026

In February of this year, BTJ hosted a Hackers Conference to focus on ways to smuggle Bibles into North Korea. One method to deliver Bibles into closed nations like North Korea is by drone. This is why BTJ has a dedicated hackers team to help develop the newest drone technology that focuses on getting Bibles into closed countries.

Oftentimes, our hackers can learn a lot from what others are doing on the ground, and this year, they were surprised to see how cheap homemade unauthorized drones could easily breach North Korean defenses.

Early this year, several civilian drones reportedly flew over North Korea. These were just simple, cheap, non-military drones, but they were able to go for considerable distances before being detected. In some cases, the drones were flown into North Korea and back out again without anyone in North Korea even knowing it.

BTJ is currently working on special drones that cannot be discussed in public, but the capability to deliver Bibles safely and largely undetected in closed countries is an amazing development in 2026.

Read the full story.

In another story from BTJ, a pastor reports that at least 100 Muslim converts have been baptized in Afghanistan so far this year.

Source: Christian Today, March 16, 2026

The number of people identifying as Buddhist worldwide fell over the past decade, with researchers pointing to an aging population and a growing trend of people abandoning the religion in adulthood.

A major new analysis by the Pew Research Center found that Buddhism was the only major world faith to record a decline between 2010 and 2020.

During that period, the number of Buddhists worldwide dropped from around 343 million to 324 million—a fall of about 5%—even as the global population expanded by roughly 12%.

Researchers say the change reflects a combination of demographic pressures and religious switching, with more people leaving Buddhism than adopting it.

While Buddhism continues to attract converts, it loses a greater proportion of those raised within the tradition than any other major faith examined in the study.

Read the full story. Looks like the study, published in 2025, reported that Muslims grew the fastest while Christians lagged behind population growth.

Source: Christian Today, April 9, 2026

A new peer-reviewed study suggests that, in one of Europe’s most secular countries, a growing number of young men are finding Christianity compelling because it offers what the researchers describe as a fuller framework for identity, meaning, stability, and belonging.

Published in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, the article by theology scholars Kati Tervo-Niemelä and Pietari Hannikainen examines why young men in Finland are apparently showing more interest in the Christian faith.

Based on interviews with 30 young men, the research points to “a possible reversal” of long-established gender patterns in religiosity, with young men becoming more engaged with Christianity.

Read the full story. Sounds like an awfully small sample size, but includes some thoughtful analysis.

In more discouraging news, last year’s report about the UK’s “quiet revival” study has been retracted due to fraudulent responses within the research sample. Read a statement from the Bible Society.

Source: International Mission Board, April 1, 2026

Of the approximately 3,600 IMB missionaries on the mission field worldwide, only 30 are African American.

On each of my mission trips to Africa over the past six months, I’ve heard Africans say they love the brothers and sisters who come from America to bring the gospel. Yet the epiphany was hearing how excited they are to see people who look like them presenting the gospel. One person said, seeing black brothers and sisters traveling to the Motherland to teach makes them feel so special.

Jeremy Westbrook, executive director of the State Convention of Baptists in Ohio, said, “What a joy it is to partner with the IMB in helping create pipelines to help prepare and send future missionaries from our own mission field right here in the Buckeye State.”

The SCBO is committed to sending teams of Ohio African American pastors to mission fields over the next five years. The hope is that Ohio will help increase the number of African Americans who become missionaries.

Read the full story and another about IMB work in Africa that reports, From ICU to cellblock to classroom: Baptist chaplains transform Kenya’s hospitals, prisons and schools.

See also: Life as a Foreign Christian in Libya (International Christian Concern).

Source: Morning Star News, March 27, 2026

Conditions in Iran for Christians imprisoned for their faith and other inmates have deteriorated dramatically since the U.S. and Israeli bombing of the Islamic regime in the past month, according to human rights groups.

Guards and some prison officials across the country have largely abandoned their posts, leaving hardliners from the paramilitary group known as the “Counter-Terrorism Special Force” (or NOPO) in charge, rights groups say.

When the U.S. and Israeli bombing campaign began, there were at least 48 Christians in prisons scattered across Iran serving sentences on charges related to their religious beliefs or activities, including at least 16 in Evin Prison.

Read the full story and a related article with prayer points from Middle East Concern.

Also related to the recent violence in the region, read Lebanon’s Refugee Crisis at Breaking Point (INcontext International). For the latest developments in Lebanon, check Relief Web, a helpful news source.