Missions Catalyst

1. China: A Crackdown on the Influential Zion Church
2. World: New Bible Access List Reveals Global Scripture Crisis
3. Sudan: Christians Call for Safe Route Out of Besieged City
4. Egypt: The Story of the Largest Evangelical Church in the Arab World
5. India: Forced Out for My Faith in Christ

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Source: Global Christian Relief, October 13

In early October 2025, police across several provinces in China moved before dawn, knocking down doors, cutting power, and storming homes where believers were gathered for worship or rest. Among those taken was Pastor Ezra Jin of Beijing’s Zion Church, one of China’s most influential unregistered congregations. Within three days, nearly 30 pastors and staff had been detained or gone silent.

Founded in 2007 with fewer than 20 believers, Zion Church grew into one of the nation’s largest house congregations, more than 1,500 members and 20 pastors meeting in the heart of Beijing.

Then came 2018. New religious regulations effectively outlawed unregistered churches. Hundreds of police flooded Zion’s sanctuary, confiscating everything. Pastor Ezra was placed under surveillance and forbidden to leave the country. His wife and children fled to the United States. He has not seen them in seven years.

You’d think that would end the story. But instead, it began a new one.

“We moved from one sanctuary to hundreds,” Pastor Sean said. “Online gatherings, small fellowships, new church plants. God grew us wider, not smaller.”

What they called the online sanctuary soon connected more than a thousand screens each week. From the ashes of one building rose a hundred new fellowships in 40 cities.

“This is God’s work,” he said. “No one could have imagined it.”

By 2025, the authorities had taken notice.

Read the full story and watch a video (also below). This story was widely covered by other news sources. Sounds like some of those taken were released but about 20 remain in detention.

Source: Open Doors, October 2, 2025

When Wesley first held a Bible in his own language, everything changed. Growing up in a remote Malaysian village where Christianity was just a mark on his birth certificate, he had heard of Jesus but never truly met Him. “I had heard about Bibles, but not about Jesus,” Wesley says. “In my village, there was so much reliance on cultural practices and beliefs that no one really mentioned anything about Jesus.”

Wesley’s story illustrates a crisis facing millions of Christians worldwide—a crisis now documented in the first-ever Bible Access List.

The Bible Access List identifies the countries where access to Scripture is most restricted and Bible shortages are most severe. After several years of research, including hundreds of interviews with country and mission experts, the data reveal an alarming reality: persecution and Bible access are intimately connected.

“Where Christians face the greatest persecution, they also face the greatest barriers to accessing God’s Word,” says Open Doors US CEO Ryan Brown. “This isn’t coincidence—it’s strategy.”

Read the full article. The study ranks Somalia, Afghanistan, Yemen, North Korea, and Mauritania as the countries with the most severe Bible restrictions. Other nations with significant Bible shortages include the Democratatic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Ethiopia, India, and China.

Interested in Malaysia? Hear about believers in that country struggling to get their identity cards changed (Voice of the Martyrs Radio).

While Bible access has its challenges, Bible translation is on the rise. See Bible translation accelerates as millions receive Scripture in their own language (Christian Today).

Recently, we highlighted a biography of Bible translation leader Katharine Barnwell. She passed away on September 29. Read one of many tributes (Wycliffe Bible Translators UK).

Source: Christian Solidarity Worldwide, October 3, 2025

CSW has joined 100 organizations and humanitarian actors in calling for the establishment of safe, voluntary, and dignified passage for civilians trapped in the city of El Fasher in Sudan’s North Darfur State, where an estimated 260,000 people, including 130,000 children, have endured a 17-month siege by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Reports from those who have managed to leave the city indicate that men and boys are being targeted and killed on the road out of the city, making it more dangerous for them to leave than to stay.

The city has been under siege since April 2024, despite a United Nations Security Council  resolution calling on the RSF to lift it. In April 2025, the RSF  seized  the Abu Souk and Zamzam camps for internally displaced persons. The two camps form the largest IDP settlement in Sudan, housing over 700,000 people between them. Both camps have been turned into military bases by the RSF.

Places of worship have been targeted during the siege. Between May and September 2025, the Sudan Episcopal Church was hit six times by RSF shelling. On September 19, at least 70 people were killed when the RSF attacked a mosque near the Abu Souk Camp.

Read the full story and please pray. According to a later report, at least 60 people, including 22 children, were killed in an attack on one of the IDP camps on October 10. The people have no safe way to get out.

Read or watch a video about an effort to free people enslaved in Sudan. Since 1995, they have rescued more than 160,000 people (video just under 13 minutes long).

Source: Mission Network News, October 3, 2025

Kasr El-Dobara Evangelical Church (KDEC), located in Egypt, was founded by Dr. Ibrahim Said in 1949 with a “missions DNA.” Since then, the church has grown into the largest Arab Evangelical congregation, with 12,000 members.

KDEC’s Pastor Sam emphasizes, “It’s not about the number, actually. It’s about the Kingdom. We are Kingdom-minded, not church-minded.

“We the Church exists for the Great Commission, to continue the message that Jesus Christ started, and help people to get to the knowledge of Jesus Christ. We pass the message of hope for people.”

Out of Egypt’s 118 million people, Pastor Sam says, “At least 20 million are Christians. The majority are Coptic Orthodox—93%. Five percent are Evangelicals, and the rest are Catholic. So we are a minority among minorities—but thank God that we can reach the multitude!”

KDEC meets people where they are through creative outreach. Pastor Sam says, for example, “We have the largest sports ministry program in the Middle East. We serve around 750,000 per year across Egypt and also in the Middle East. We are using sports to reach people [with] the knowledge of Christ.”

Another outreach draws thousands to music festivals. “We developed a program called Count It Right in partnership with Palau’s organization. We have a festival, and people come from different backgrounds to watch the shows. In each station, we share…the gospel.”

Whatever the method, Pastor Sam says it all comes down to one goal—telling as many people as possible about Jesus.

Read the full story with photos and prayer points. How encouraging! See also God at Work at Christian Festival in Egypt, a report on last year’s Count It Right event (SAT-7).