Missions Catalyst

1. Russia: People in the Caucasus Putting Faith in Christ
2. World: UK, Australia, and France No Longer Majority Christian
3. Tajikistan: Urgent Call to Prayer as Afghans Face Deportation
4. Iraq: Man Goes from Unreached to Reaching Many
5. Uganda: Former Sheikh Loses Family after Vision of Christ

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Source: Evangelical Focus, August 8, 2025

According to the North Caucasian Evangelical Alliance, at the beginning of 2024, substantial groups of locals in almost every ethnic group in the Russian part of the Caucasus professed faith in Jesus.

Just a few years ago, most of the peoples of the Caucasus were considered unreached by the gospel. Professing Christians were virtually unknown among them. This has changed significantly in the meantime. According to the North Caucasian Evangelical Alliance, at the beginning of 2024, substantial groups of locals in almost every ethnic group in the Russian part of the Caucasus professed faith in Jesus.

Among them are 3,000 Ossetians, 700 Adyghe, 200 Kabardians, 100 Balkars, 70 Chechens, 50 Karachays, 40 Circassians, 15 Abazins, 15 Nogais, 3 Ingush, and around 300 representatives of the peoples of Dagestan.

The ice seems to be breaking. However, this development is less due to the efforts of missionaries, and certainly not to Western missionary efforts in the region, but rather marks an impressive spiritual awakening among the Caucasians.

As far as the Caucasus is concerned, we will probably have to go back to the origins of the Christian faith in the region and restore God’s history with the peoples of the region. Only in this way will they return to their own identity and thus also to the lost faith of their fathers.

Read the full story; quite thought-provoking and includes source info.

Source: Crosswalk, August 4, 2025

A recent Pew Research report found that the number of countries with Christian majorities declined between 2010 and 2020. Despite Christianity being the most geographically widespread world religion, representing 29% of the global population and consisting of the majority in 60% percent of countries, there has been an evident decline in the growing number of people leaving the faith, while there has been an increase in those who are religiously unaffiliated.

The report also found that the most significant changes took place in the United Kingdom, Australia, France, and Uruguay, with a 50% drop in the number of professing Christians in that 10-year span. Meanwhile, Uruguay stood out as the only country in the Americas (as of 2020) without a Christian majority, with 52% of people who are unaffiliated and 44% identifying as Christian.

Read the full story.

See also Where Is the Most Religious Place in the World? (Pew Research).

From the UK, a Pentecostal church has forced London authorities to overturn a ban on street preaching (Christian Post).

Source: SAT-7, August 7, 2025

SAT-7 has been in regular contact with an Afghan man called Alborz, based in Tajikistan, whose brother was killed in Afghanistan for his faith.

“When my brother was killed by the Taliban because of his faith in Jesus, for a long time I struggled to forgive them,” Alborz told our team.

After meditating on the Sermon on the Mount, he felt able to forgive, but the thought of returning to Afghanistan is still extremely concerning for his family, especially for his teenage daughter, Armita.

“Many of our fellow [Afghan] believers have been deported from Tajikistan… and in Afghanistan, unmarried girls like me are being forced into marriage, which is very distressing. I don’t even know how to express the terror we are experiencing. The conditions here are really tough,” [said Armita].

Read the full story.

We also saw some distressing news from Pakistan in Christian Man Dies after Years of Neglect in Prison (ASSIST News Service) and Court Orders Investigation into Growing Abuse of Pakistan’s Blasphemy Laws (International Christian Concern).

Source: Frontiers UK, August 8, 2025

Growing up in northeast Iraq, Kojin was surrounded by a 100% Muslim population. There wasn’t a single follower of Christ.

He read the Quran several times, trying to convince himself that it came from God and that it would be a sin to question its teachings. But in his heart, he couldn’t accept that as true. He understood that ideas have consequences, and it was not possible for him to accept the consequences of this book as divine.

For a while, he tried to be an atheist and freethinker, but he couldn’t sustain that approach. Several times, drawn by fear and conscious of the supernatural, he tried again to faithfully practice the Islamic religion. One day, in the window of a bookstore, he saw a little book titled The Gospel According to Luke. The bookstore owners had only one copy, so they offered to let him pay a daily fee to borrow it. He read it in a single day and loved it.

Desperate to know more about Jesus, Kojin searched. But he found no further information anywhere.

“When I took the book back to the bookstore,” he said, “I asked them if they had any other books about Christ. They said, ‘No, that’s all we have.’”

A few years later, Kojin finally met some followers of Jesus, people who had been discipled by our team. After that, everything changed—not just for him, but for the many people in his region that he eventually led to the Lord. Read the full story. It also describes the great progress made in engaging unengaged Muslim groups since the Vision 5:9 campaign was launched in 2001. Frontiers is now focusing on 100 priority groups, with a growing number of its new teams going to those groups each year.

Source: Morning Star News, August 18, 2025

A Muslim who put his faith in Christ after receiving a vision in a mosque in Uganda was hospitalized after relatives beat him, demolished his home, and took in his wife and six children.

Wambuzi Maka Uthman, a 39-year-old former sheikh (Islamic teacher), went to Friday prayers in Mayuge town council, Mayuge District in eastern Uganda on August 1 as usual, then went to sleep in a corner of the mosque, he said.

“There I saw a man dressed in white, long clothing, surround[ed] by four angels – the man called me by my name, ‘Uthman, Uthman, Uthman,’ three times,” Uthman told Morning Star News. “I was so frightened as I drew near to Him, knelt down and worshiped Him. Thereafter, He told me to go to my people and to tell them to repent and turn to the living God.”

As he returned home, he met a pastor from Elim Church.

“I shared with him the strange message that I received of repentance,” Uthman said. “He took me to his church and shared deeply about the vision that I had. I then understood that it was Issa [Jesus] who had sent me to my fellow Muslims to repent.”

[Then] he began telling his wife and six children, as well as his neighbors, about Christ.

Read the full story to hear what happened next.

See also God’s 21st-Century Smugglers, an interview with Open Doors president Ryan Brown about how ministering to the persecuted church has changed since founder Brother Andrew’s day (Christianity Today).

1. World: Why Missions Training Still Matters in 2025
2. Mexico: First Zoque Believers Baptized
3. Turkmenistan: New Visas for Visitors
4. Syria: Targeted Christians Fear for Their Lives
5. Nigeria: Fulani Missionaries Prepare for Outreach
6. Bhutan: Christian Worship in a Tiny Asian Hermit Kingdom

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Thanks for reading!

Source: Global Frontier Missions, July 23, 2025

In an age of rapid technological advancement, instant communication, and global access to information, some may wonder: Is formal missions training still necessary? With Bible apps in seemingly every language and translation tools at our fingertips, the idea of preparing for years before going to the mission field can feel outdated. But the truth is, missions training in 2025 is more essential than ever. Here’s why.

1. Cultural complexity has increased.
2. Theological foundations are more critical than ever.
3. Spiritual warfare is real.
4. Long-term impact requires preparation.

Read the article and encourage those you influence to get trained. GFM offers excellent options, and you’ll find others on our mission events calendar.

Also from GFM: Spiritual Warfare on the Field: What Every Missionary Should Know and Language Learning Tips for New Missionaries.

Source: International Mission Board, July 17, 2025

International Mission Board missionary Tammy Richardson knelt beside the river with her phone.

Her husband, Clay, and their local pastor stood in the river, preparing to baptize Leana—the first Zoque believer to make a public confession of faith in more than a decade of ministry in southern Mexico.

As she got ready to capture the moment of Leana’s immersion, suddenly, her teammate leaned down and said, “There’s one more.”

Richardson glanced up in surprise. A moment later, tears flowed unchecked down her face.

Over the last 12 years, in raw moments of prayer, Richardson has wrestled with questions like ‘Should we go somewhere else?’ and ‘Is this ground just too hard?’

When they moved to Mexico in 2013, the Richardsons were not prepared for how long it would take to see gospel transformation among the Zoque people. Or, that it would all begin with an unexpected relationship, right under their very own roof.

Read the full story with pictures.

For more good news from Mexico, read Seeing God at Work: Reflections on Culiacan (Global Recordings Network).

From the U.S., two rather different stories about spiritual hunger:

• The Witches of Etsy describes GenZ interest in the occult (World).
• Praise God for this: 35,000 Worship and 3,200 Accept Christ in Portland, One of America’s Most Secular Cities (CrossWalk).