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Source: Christian Post, February 23, 2025
Nearly 2,000 Ohio State University students made decisions to commit to following Jesus Christ during a massive campus revival event [in February] the organizers said. The event, held at The Schott sports arena, drew a crowd of over 6,500 students despite the chilling temperatures, which dipped into the teens. In an extraordinary display of commitment, students were baptized in the backs of U-Haul trucks parked at the site, CBN News reported.
On social media, UniteUS founder Tonya Prewett expressed awe at the spiritual movement unfolding on college campuses. Prewett added, “God is moving in this generation, and we know that He’s just getting started!”
The UniteUS movement’s outreach efforts began in September 2023. Since then, more than 70,000 students across various campuses have participated in the ministry’s events, experiencing the transformative power of the gospel, according to the ministry.
Source: Global Christian Relief, February 27, 2025
The growth of Christianity is notably strong in countries with higher population growth rates and in regions where the faith is newer and often embraced by the youth. The Global South—particularly sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and parts of Asia—has seen some of the most substantial increases in Christian populations. Factors like migration, high birth rates, and the influence of revivalist movements are all contributing to the rapid growth.
Read the story. It includes links to reports about each country from various sources. Evidently the data is from Gordon Conwell’s Center for the Study of Global Christianity, though a quick search didn’t show an exact source for this particular list.
Do any of the countries surprise you?
Source: Mission Network News, February 25, 2025
Many Christian groups operate child sponsorship programs. Monthly gifts from sponsors in the West provide education, food, and discipleship for children in needy countries. Set Free’s program goes further in East Africa, teaching kids about their identity in Christ and empowering them to reach others.
Set Free’s Zippora Benting says, “Some of these children are 11 years old, and they’re talking about being able to disciple their friends and even their parents.”
One student says fear used to hold her mother captive. Her mom was deathly afraid of her stepmom, a practicing witch. Then, the little girl shared Bible verses from her weekly lessons, and it helped her mom replace fear with faith.
“When they learn that they are set free in their identity in Christ, they are unstoppable, even at eight years old,” [says Benting].
Discipleship continues at Set Free’s Christian high school, where more than 150 students recently asked to be baptized.
Read the full story or learn about Set Free.
You might also be interested in another article about children. This one is focused on missionary kids but surely has broader application. Read The Incredible Power of Positive Childhood Experiences (A Life Overseas).
Source: Christian Today, February 19, 2025
The situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has continued to deteriorate, with more than 2,000 people killed since M23 rebels seized the eastern city of Goma.
The ongoing conflict has seen millions of people displaced from their homes and many thousands of people wounded.
M23 is allegedly backed by the DRC’s eastern neighbor, Rwanda. Rwanda is accused of wanting to annex the DRC’s mineral reach eastern territories. In turn, Rwanda has accused the DRC of sponsoring anti-government militias in Rwanda and of harboring fugitives responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
On the ground, Catholic missionary Father Marcelo Oliveira has said the situation is increasingly desperate, with hospitals becoming crowded and even refugee camps becoming targets for attack.
Speaking to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), a Catholic charity, Father Marcelo said that distributing emergency aid was becoming increasingly difficult as the Goma airport has been closed, its control tower vandalized, and hardware stolen.
The missionary also said that over a hundred female prisoners in Goma’s central prison were raped after male prisoners escaped during the fighting and broke into the women’s wing. He added that many women and children have been killed in the violence.
Despite the horrors he has witnessed, Father Marcelo said that the Church would remain with the people during their time of suffering.
“We keep our eyes set on Jesus, leading his people.”
Read the full story or go to the source, Aid to the Church in Need.
See also Pray for the DRC from INcontext Ministries. It includes a graphic, video, and prayer points.
Source: Forum 18, January 28, 2025
On January 21, President Sadyr Japarov signed two new laws that continue to restrict freedom of religion or belief, the presidential website announced. The new religion law continues to ban all unregistered exercise of freedom of religion or belief, making it impossible for communities with fewer than 500 adult citizen members to gain legal status (up from 200). For the first time, it requires places of worship of registered religious organizations to also register and bans sharing faith in public and from door to door. Among the Violations Code changes are sharply increased fines for violating the Religion Law.
The new Religion Law [came] into force on February 1, 2025.
“The Law is very strict, particularly to Muslims,” a religious expert told Forum 18 in January. “The State has chosen one school of thought and has made it the official version of Islam. The authorities want to control all Muslims through this and especially the growing young generation of Muslims.”
Read the full story. Also from Forum 18, read a more thorough report on the state of religious freedom in Kyrgyzstan. Recently Human Rights Watch described the regime as “relentless in its crackdown on civil and political rights.”
Source: Haggai International, February 20, 2025
Throughout my life, my mother’s harsh criticism and lack of affection, coupled with my severe stutter, led to four suicide attempts. I thought my mother hated me. Only after I was born again at the age of 18 did I understand God’s purpose in my stutter: to inspire others who stutter, raise awareness, and show God’s goodness through my testimony.
Yet, as I neared my fiftieth birthday while caring for my mother, who had been fighting cancer for seven years and was now bedridden, I found the bravery to inquire why she had never shown pride in me.
“I have always been proud of you,” she replied, “You have accomplished so much.”
Her words healed my heart, answering a longstanding question, even though I had forgiven her long ago. God revealed his love and goodness to me in a profound way that I had never felt before.
Read more about the author and the International Stuttering Association. She is doing SO much!
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Source: Back to Jerusalem, February 8, 2025
I came across a social media post and also saw a video of a man named Aadesh Soni calling 5,000 people to gather on March 1, 2025, to join “Gau Nyay Yatra,” which means “cow justice parade.” He is asking to enter three villages in Chhattisgarh, India—Bishrampur, Janakpur, and Ganeshpur, where the majority of residents are Christians.
He is urging the people to invade homes, violate their daughters and their daughters-in-law, and publicly commit obscene acts. He justifies this by accusing Christians of slaughtering cows, which are considered sacred in Hinduism, and claims to have the support of the administration.
In another video, a Hindu priest has called on 1,000 people to kill those accused of cow slaughter, stating that they should kill them first and then get hanged by the government.
Can such incidents happen? Yes, they can.
Please, if you are reading this, take a moment to pray for the protection of these women and our Christian family in this state. What is being threatened is worse than getting arrested or going to jail.
Read the full story and pray for peace in this region.
See also a recent report, Hate Speech Events in India. It states,
“The number of hate speech incidents targeting religious minorities [in India] surged from 668 in 2023 to 1,165 in 2024, marking a staggering 74.4% increase. Dangerous speech—defined as speech that ‘increases the risk that its audience will condone or participate in violence against members of another group’—also saw a significant rise” (Center for the Study of Organized Hate).
Source: Jubilee Campaign, February 12, 2025
Egyptian authorities detained Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo without trial [for three years, including] several months in solitary confinement solely for exercising his freedom of religion and expression. Today, Abdulbaqi is finally free and reunited with his family in Canada, thanks to persistent international and domestic pressure.
Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo is a Yemeni Christian from a Muslim background. After threats from family and community members, he, his wife, and children were preparing to leave the country when his wife was tragically murdered. Abdulbaqi, now a widower, and his four children fled Yemen to Egypt in 2014.
Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo was registered with the UNHCR and later remarried. On December 15, 2021, plainclothes police raided his home at 2:00 am. The authorities confiscated his mobile and laptop and those of his family members. Authorities kept Abdulbaqi under pre-trial detention for more than the two-year limit prescribed by law. This practice has been heavily criticized by human rights experts.
See also two articles related to religious liberty in other regions from International Christian Concern.