Missions Catalyst

In this issue:

1. China: Under a Dark Cloud
2. Kenya: Breakthrough for the Thuri People
3. Egypt: Christian Conversion, Persecution, and the Internet
4. Nepal: 24 South Korean Christians Arrested
5. USA: Powerful Revival Hits University Campus, 700+ Receive Christ
6. Mexico: Celebrating the Completion of the Purépecha Bible

… plus links to more

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Source: Asia Harvest, October 12, 2026

There is a famous saying that “history doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes.” In the past, whenever the government [of China] wanted to severely persecute believers, they started by removing all foreign Christians to cut off their influence and to prevent news of what was to follow from reaching the outside world.

In March 2018 we wrote, “You are unlikely to hear much fresh information about the Church in China. Thousands of Western Christians have been expelled from the country, and news about the Church is becoming difficult to access. The government is trying to throw a blanket over the Church so that the rest of the world can’t see or hear what’s going on inside the country.”

The same dark things that occurred in China in the early 1950s were now happening again.

In 2018, Xi Jinping had the constitution amended to make himself “President for life,” and he began to change laws to facilitate his crackdown on religion.

Around this time, many church leaders we know decided it was prudent to cut all communication with believers outside China, as the state was collecting information using unparalleled levels of surveillance, including through 400 million facial-recognition cameras that were installed in every part of China.

Sadly, since that time, everything we predicted has happened. News from China has dried up, not only to us but to every Christian ministry. The news that does occasionally leak out usually tells of mass arrests and persecutions.

The truth is that the Church in China has now gone underground again. It is the sixth or seventh time in history that almost all foreign Christian influence and activity has been shut off from China.

When the Almighty God allowed his bride in China to undergo severe, prolonged persecution a few generations ago, a purified remnant emerged of suffering saints who had discovered a richness in Christ that they would never have otherwise experienced. From the ashes came one of the greatest revivals in Christian history, with at least 100 million people coming to faith in Christ.

Read more.

See also Stories from Inside the Church in China (China Source). Well worth the read.

Source: Global Recordings Network, October 9, 2026

A team recently took six audio players loaded with gospel materials to the Kibera area of Nairobi, Kenya. We gave these players to responsible church members from the Thuri tribe (originally from South Sudan).

The response was incredibly enthusiastic. Two years ago, I had the privilege of creating the first-ever written alphabet and writing system for the Thuri language. Because of this groundwork, we are now seeing a steady stream of new ministry materials.

This caught the attention of the JESUS Film Project. In a major milestone, their leadership officially approved a new language code to record and produce the JESUS film in the Thuri language. This historic recording project is scheduled to take place in late October of 2026. For the very first time, the Thuri people will be able to watch the story of Jesus in their own mother tongue.

After listening to the audio Scriptures we recorded with GRN, [an 83-year-old Thuri woman] wept with joy and said, “Now I can hear God speaking directly to me in my own language.”

Read the full story.

Scripture access is not the only challenge in this part of the world.  Read how attacks are straining churches in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains, a region now home to close to a million people, mainly Christian refugees (Mission Network News).

Source: International Christian Concern, September 30, 2026

Caleb ministers to college students at the National Christian University, one of several private Christian institutions and secular schools [in a country where] public, state-funded schools are Muslim, and Al-Azhar University, the largest public state university, is considered the historic and premier center of Islamic study.

Cairo has 23 million residents, including 3.5 million college students. [Caleb] has observed that many college students increasingly use the internet, especially social media, to explore ideas that challenge their traditional belief systems and allow them to exercise freedom of thought and speech. With internet availability, they can compare Islam with Christianity. At the same time, the internet gives the government an effective tool to surveil users and prosecute those whose posts are deemed violations of blasphemy laws and/or cybercrimes.

In rural areas especially, community pressure adds to the risk of converting to Christianity, with many converts ostracized by their families and communities. Caleb shared that he knew of a young Muslim man who was comparing Islam to Christianity online. His family found out and planned to kill him. His sister warned him, and he fled to safety.

Sadly, the sister was then killed in his place.

The full story includes much more context and analysis.

On a happier note, read Known by Jesus: God at Work in Egypt (Every Generation Ministries).

Source: International Christian Concern, October 14, 2026

Nepalese Police arrested 24 South Korean Christians after complaints were lodged against them for “illegal religious teaching, training, and promotion.”

Sources in Nepal and South Korea state that the Koreans were arrested at a gathering at the Nepal New Covenant College (NNCC) on October 9. NNCC Principal Sarad KC told UCA News that “the visitors were interacting with believers inside a local Bible college and not preaching or sharing the gospel in public with the intention of proselytization” [evidently in violation of the terms of their tourist visas].

Read the full story. Looks like all 24 of the Koreans were released by October 14 and returned to Korea (Korea JoongAng Daily).

According to ICC, there have been increasing reports of South Korean Christians and missionaries being detained and discriminated against in Nepal, Russia, and other nations.

Also from ICC, see Seven Letters from the Persecuted Church. Four of the letters are from Nepal with others from India and Bhutan.

Source: God Reports, October 15, 2026

Spiritual revival has reached another college campus as the UniteUS ministry visited Appalachian State University in North Carolina [on October 13], reporting that more than 700 students there made the decision to follow Jesus. The ministry tells CBN News that approximately 100 students were also baptized immediately after the event.

Since the first Unite outreach at Auburn University on September 12, 2023, it has become a nationwide revival movement, reaching more than two dozen college campuses and more than 100,000 students who experienced God in a powerful way.

The next outreaches will be held at the University of South Alabama on October 27 and in Nashville at Belmont University on November 10.

Read the full story or the version published by CBN, which has also produced a documentary about the movement.

Looking further south, we were encouraged to read in Justin Long’s recent Weekly Roundup that on average, a new evangelical church is launched once a day in Chile (European Focus).

Source: United Bible Societies, October 8, 2026

Coinciding with its sixtieth anniversary celebrations and Bible Month in the region, the Bible Society of Mexico (BSM) dedicated the complete Bible in the Purépecha language in Michoacán.

The launch marked the culmination of 23 years of specialized, step-by-step translation, rigorous linguistic reviews, and continuous validation with native speakers to ensure precision and clarity.

This effort builds upon a historical foundation laid in 1968 with the completion of the Purépecha New Testament, which has since seen revised editions, digital releases, and audio formats. The initiative placed an emphasis on accessible media, including audio recordings and Braille portions, as it recognizes that Purépecha culture is predominantly oral and many native speakers do not read or write the language.

Efforts to render biblical texts into Mesoamerican languages date back to the 16th century, when Indigenous scholars and friars produced early translations of the Epistles and Gospels. Many of those historical Purépecha texts were suppressed by the Inquisition and remained scattered for centuries until academic efforts, such as the National Autonomous University of Mexico’s Biblical Philology in Indigenous Languages program, recovered and studied them.

In Mexico, 32% of the population speaks a native language. The official language is Spanish, although there are 280 native languages. Mexico is the largest country in Latin America with a native language speaker population [and home to] 4.7 million people who cannot read or write.

Read the full story and also take a look at a UBS article about the Digital Bible Library, an impressive collection of texts in many forms and thousands of languages spoken by more than 6 billion of the world’s 8.3 billion people.

By the way, November is Global Bible Month. You in?

In this issue:

1. India: What Did God Say About Racism?
2. Thailand: The Story of a Hmong Pastor and a Christian Village
3. World: For More than 500 Million Christians, Bible Access Is Restricted
4. Bhutan: Translating the First Bible Into the Chochangachakha Language
5. Algeria: Twelve Christians Detained After Police Raid
6. World: Could the Church Face a “Silver Uprising”?

… plus links to more

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Source: Beyond, September 16, 2026

Racism and prejudice are unacceptable to God, and casteism is racism to the extreme. Caste teaches that some people are simply better and more valuable than others. It is a huge issue that must be dealt with in movement churches.

North Indian movement leaders knew that new churches needed to learn from the Bible, not from them, because only the Lord can touch a heart. So, they gave Raj, a movement trainer, a list of verses that addressed casteism, the equality of all people in God’s Kingdom, as well as who can take the Lord’s Supper.

Raj brought the scriptures to the new church leaders. They studied God’s Word and discussed what He said regarding casteism and the Lord’s Supper. Raj did not preach or teach. He prayed. He asked questions. Finally, the leaders concluded, “If I am in Jesus, I am no longer Brahmin (or whatever caste I was born into). I can either be a Brahmin or in Jesus, but I cannot be both. If that’s the option, I want to be in Jesus!”

But they went further. After apologizing, the leaders gathered multiple churches with mixed caste-background people, and everyone took communion together.

Read or watch the full story. Another recent story from Beyond illustrates a different discipleship issue that comes up all too often. Read Nothing to Offer But Jesus.

Source: Faith Comes by Hearing, September 18, 2026

This Thai village went from [having] no Christians to almost 90% Christian. When we arrived in this Hmong community in rural Thailand, we met the pastor who had spent years serving the local people there. He told us his story.

At first, very few villagers followed Jesus, but many people could not easily read, and even fewer had access to Scripture in a form they could understand. Then, they began listening to the Bible through audio. Families gathered together. People heard the gospel in their own language, and slowly, the village began to change.

Today, the pastor estimates that nearly 90% of the community is Christian. Not because outsiders forced change on them, but because people heard the Word of God in audio for themselves and responded.

Watch or share the video. It’s encouraging on its own but is also an excerpt from episode 2 of a docuseries, Edge of the World, published online two years ago (YouTube).

Also see a story about a reported turnaround in a completely different context, this one in Europe: Spiritual Awakening Is Happening in One of the Most Secular Nations on Earth (CBN).