Prayer News | Where Christians Pray Through the News

Prayer List: Stampede Kills

A graduation celebration turned into a nightmare when a fight began and a tear gas canister exploded. 500 people were in the Venezuelan club in Caracas and 17 died during the ensuing stampede to escape. The Associated Press reports, “Family members wept and embraced one another after identifying the remains of their loved ones at a nearby hospital.”

Prayer List

* Pray for the Holy Spirit to comfort the families and friends of the deceased.
* Pray for physical healing for the five people injured in the incident.
* Pray for the teenagers detained for allegedly using tear gas in the club to repent of their sins.
* Pray for Christians to provide emotional support for the people impacted by the explosion and stampede.

Unreached People of the Day



Monday: Mwani in Mozambique
Tuesday: Bulang in China

Operation World Prayer Focus




Tuesday: Iceland
Wednesday: India: Andhra Pradesh

Birthday Prayer Lists


Have you prayed for the salvation of all your friends? Why not turn your Facebook friend list into a prayer list? It shouldn't take long to pray for each friend on their birthday.

Some Christians also pray for entertainers, politicians and media personalities on their birthday.

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Baptist Press

  • EDITORIAL: Solidaridad Ministerial
    Muchos de nosotros que hemos vivido en Latinoamérica conocimos, hemos oído o leído sobre Francisco Lacueva. ...
    - 4 days ago 14 Jun 18, 5:16pm -
  • LifeWay to 'provide biblical resources for the world'
    LifeWay Christian Resources has begun giving away Bibles to help churches share the Word of God, LifeWay President and CEO Thom S. Rainer told messengers at the Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting in Dallas on Wednesday (June 13).
    - 4 days ago 14 Jun 18, 5:10pm -
  • WRAP-UP: Greear, Pence, #MeToo draw SBC's focus
    At an annual meeting that saw what chief parliamentarian Barry McCarty called an "extra heavy volume of business" on its opening day, the Southern Baptist Convention elected J.D. Greear as convention president and heard an address by Vice President Mike Pence.
    - 4 days ago 14 Jun 18, 4:48pm -
  • Disciple-making task force atop NAMB report at SBC
    Findings and recommendations of a disciple-making task force were relayed to messengers during the North American Mission Board's report to the SBC annual meeting.
    - 4 days ago 14 Jun 18, 4:36pm -
  • IMB Sending Celebration: 'why we came together'
    Missions is "the reason we came together in the first place," IMB President David Platt says of the Southern Baptist Convention during a Sending Celebration of missionaries June 12.
    - 4 days ago 14 Jun 18, 4:14pm -

Berean Research

  • newSolving Misogyny- You’re Doing It Wrong
    When Christian women are being sinned against by Christian men, is the answer to “elevate” women to places of leadership? An unequivocal No! says Bible study author, speaker and blogger Michelle Lesley. Then what should Church leadership do when there’s abusive behavior toward women? According to Michelle, God has made the answer crystal clear in His Word, […]The post Solving Misogyny- You’re Doing It Wrong appeared first on Berean Research.
    - 4 hours ago 18 Jun 18, 6:25pm -
  • To Unpack Roma Downey’s Box of Butterflies Is to Discover a Core False Teaching
    New Age, Roman Catholic mystic Roma Downey has a new book to sell. So she has turned to several evangelical luminaries to help promote her book. Check out who the people are who “rave over Roma’s every word.” Names are included as well as a few key words/phrases taken from their glowing testimonials. But this is not […]The post To Unpack Roma Downey’s Box of Butterflies Is to Discover a Core False Teaching appeared first on Berean Research.
    - 3 days ago 15 Jun 18, 5:02pm -
  • Dr. David Jeremiah endorses Jesus Calling
    We share this out of concern for the hundreds of thousands who follow popular teacher Dr. David Jeremiah, who has reportedly has joined other prominent leaders (Max Lucado, Mark Batterson, Lysa TerKeurst, Jennie Allen, Lee Strobel, Ann Voskamp, Sheila Walsh, Christine Caine, Roma Downey, Dr. Jack Graham, etc.), in promoting and endorsing the “Jesus Calling” […]The post Dr. David Jeremiah endorses Jesus Calling appeared first on Berean Research.
    - 7 days ago 11 Jun 18, 11:03pm -
  • Is the Pope Catholic?
    Dr. Peter Jones begins with a response to his own question: You laugh! Like the question, Who wrote the Gospel of John? the question, Is the Pope Catholic? hardly seems to deserve a reply. Well, not until a few weeks ago. He then reports on the reasons many people, including faithful Catholics, are asking this […]The post Is the Pope Catholic? appeared first on Berean Research.
    - 7 days ago 11 Jun 18, 2:52pm -
  • A Comment to the Snowflake Society: Breathe in, breathe out, move on
    Blogger Elizabeth Prata takes on the victim culture in a piece over at The End Time.  Prata reminds us that while Christian celeb Beth Moore receives attention for playing the victim card in a blog post to Christian men and churches where she complained about being ignored “dismissed and ridiculed and talked down to,” a large number […]The post A Comment to the Snowflake Society: Breathe in, breathe out, move on appeared first on Berean Research.
    - 10 days ago 8 Jun 18, 3:13pm -

Christian Headlines

Christian Post

Christianity Today

  • HQ Trivial?
    Ministries find a central hub is less and less essential to taking the gospel global.When the owners of Ralph D. Winter’s missions mecca opted to sell much of it, they weren’t just parting from the California campus that long housed the late missiologist’s US Center for World Mission (now Frontier Ventures).Frontier Ventures and the affiliated William Carey International University (WCIU) were also saying goodbye to the traditional notion of a single headquarters for their global ministry—instead adapting, like many missions groups have, to base more of their efforts outside the United States.“We’re envisioning multiple collaboration points globally—closer to where the Global South sending movements are, closer to where the unreached people groups are—in order to disperse the DNA this place is known for,” said WCIU president Kevin Higgins.He and Frontier Ventures president Fran Patt believe the move to decentralize best positions their organizations to carry on Winter’s call to minister to the world’s unreached people groups. That’s how they explained their decision to sell to the disappointed alumni and supporters who donated decades ago to secure the then-$15 million Pasadena property as the mission center’s permanent home.Critics aren’t buying it and have spoken out against a deal announced in April with EF Education First, a global education company that plans to turn the missions headquarters into a boarding school in 2020. “They are secular, they are focused on business and government, and they are focused on preparing people to work in those realms in a global market,” said David Clancy, a former employee involved in the hundreds-strong Save the Campus campaign. “This is not at all about the gospel. ...Continue reading...
    - 31 days ago 18 May 18, 12:00pm -
  • The Increase of Women’s Involvement in Violent Extremism
    Christians must reach out to their Muslims neighbors and together prevent extremist abuse and violence.While there is growing interest in the #METOO and #TIMESUP movements, and rightly so, we must not forget the women who are subjected to religious-based violence every day of their lives. Gender equality is not only defined by glass ceilings, pay raises, and workplace sexual harassment. No, there are millions of women subjugated to violent extremism all over the globe.The women’s empowerment movement, including women of faith, must reach out to the toughest regions of the world with their message of freedom of belief and the sanctity of life.In the last year a record-high 137 women carried out bombings in which 4,310 people were killed. In May 2018, a band of young sisters acted on their plan to bomb various locations throughout London after their fiancés died fighting for ISIL in Syria. Earlier in the month, a family of suicide bombers attacked three churches in Surabaya, Indonesia, killing at least 13 and seriously wounding a dozen more.I recently had the chance to collaborate with Camille Tucker, Director of the CELLULAR short film, which chronicles the journey of a young Arab woman in Los Angeles ensnared in a local terrorist plot.After receiving startling news, she begins her unexpected journey away from radicalism. I got excited about this project because Muslim and Christians partnered together to film the film, aiming to promote peace and security (Article 1325). To me, the counter-extremism film has an important sanctity of life theme that makes a case for why we must mobilize women for peace in the modern age.Rather than being just mothers to future jihadists, women around the world are now radicalized and used as propagandists for ISIL. Women terrorists increase numbers, garner media attention, and ...Continue reading...
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  • A Conservative Christian Alternative to Panic Politics
    Bruce Ashford models a refreshingly amiable approach. But perhaps he could have used a little more fire and brimstone.For those Americans who think of themselves as residing within the conservative Christian orbit, things might feel a bit odd these days. On the one hand, they have a president who is rather explicit about protecting their interests and advancing their priorities, even though his personal life does not, to put it gently, match up with their ideals. On the other hand, they feel increasingly besieged, as their moral views—especially about sexuality—have put them at odds with our society’s cultural elites (and sometimes with broader trends in public opinion). They are, it seems, a politically influential and especially controversial moral minority.Responses to this odd moment have ranged from an almost shameless embrace of political Machiavellianism to calls for a defensive redeployment into friendly institutional redoubts. Bruce Riley Ashford’s Letters to an American Christian takes a bit of a different tack, offering a contemporary defense of what amounts to a pretty standard set of conservative political nostrums in the context of his Christian convictions.As the title suggests, Ashford, who is provost and professor of theology and culture at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, offers his arguments in the form of 26 letters written to a college student named Christian. Each letter covers a particular question—Should Christians be involved in politics? What’s the right view of gun control? How should Christians think about transgender issues?—and Ashford’s answers are always well-constructed, amiable, and fairly generous. Few people will agree with everything Ashford argues for, but if more conservative Christian political engagement was marked by the spirit of these letters, ...Continue reading...
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  • The Gospel in Major City Centers
    What does it look like for church leaders in Chicagoland and other large cities to actually seek the peace and prosperity of the city?Chicago has been my home town only for the past four years. I spent most of my adult life in Boston, the San Francisco Bay area, and the Inland Northwest. But perhaps since I grew up in the Midwest (Cleveland, Ohio), somehow Chicago feels even more like home than other places where I’ve lived much longer.As a matter of fact, I think I am falling in love with the city!My husband and I just spent a beautiful spring night downtown catching a Broadway show and dinner to celebrate our 44th wedding anniversary. That evening reinforced my infatuation with Chicago. The vibrancy of Chicago’s culture and business, its gorgeous architecture, fabulous food, top shelf entertainment options, and the diversity of its population—9.4 million people—are just a few of the things I love about it.But let’s face it, even the most attractive love relationships we have (even if it’s with a city) have an unappealing side that prevents a five-star rating. In Chicagoland, as in other metropolitan areas, broken social structures are tearing apart communities and causing a plethora of serious problems.Broken families. Fractured relationships. Racial divisions. Violence. (An estimated 1,000 gunshot murders occurred in the metro area in 2017.) Drugs. (About 1,500 people died from drug overdoses in Chicagoland last year.) Chicago is regularly on national news for having more than its share of violence, gangs and shootings.Undoubtedly, more and more people in Chicago are also suffering from chronic loneliness. The health insurer Cigna just released a study revealing that loneliness is widespread in America. Nearly 50 percent of respondents in a nationwide survey reported that they feel alone or left out always or sometimes. ...Continue reading...
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  • Canada’s Supreme Court Rejects Country’s Only Christian Law School
    Trinity Western University’s loss over its LGBT stance is seen as a blow to religious freedom.Trinity Western University has lost a years-long legal fight to launch what would be the only Christian law school in Canada.The Supreme Court of Canada considered a pair of appeals cases involving regional law societies that refused to accredit the Trinity Western program due to the evangelical institution’s student covenant, which prohibits sex outside of traditional marriage.In Trinity Western University v. Law Society of Upper Canada and Trinity Western University v. The Law Society of British Columbia, justices sided 7-2 against TWU, calling it “proportionate and reasonable” to favor the rights of LGBT students over the school’s religious convictions.Some legal experts say Friday’s decision has essentially “gutted” religious freedom protections. It also quashes the future of the school, which was slated to open as early as 2019 if the ruling had been in its favor, since Canadian law schools require the approval of provincial law societies to operate.“Without question, the Trinity Western community is disappointed by this ruling,” said Earl Phillips, executive director of TWU’s proposed law school. “However, all Canadians should be troubled by today’s decision that sets a precedent for how the courts will interpret and apply Charter rights and equality rights going forward.”According to CBC News:The majority judgment said the covenant would deter LGBT students from attending the proposed law school, and those who did attend would be at risk of significant harm.It found the public interest of the law profession includes promoting equality by ensuring equal access, supporting diversity within the bar and preventing harm to LGBT students.“In ...Continue reading...
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Forum 18 News Service

  • Belarus: State official vetoes foreign Orthodox, Catholic priests
    In early June the senior state religious affairs official rejected a request from the Catholic Bishop of Vitebsk for permission for a priest from Poland to replace another who is leaving. Leonid Gulyako has already in 2018 rejected another Polish Catholic priest and two Orthodox priests from Russia.
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  • Russia: Longest jail term yet for religious meeting
    In the longest known jail term so far for meeting with others for religious study, a Dagestan court sentenced Ilgar Aliyev to eight years' jail plus two years' restrictions for meeting to study Muslim theologian Said Nursi's writings. Similarly, a Krasnoyarsk court fined another Muslim, Aleksei Dedkov, more than six months' average local wages.
    - -
  • Russia: Further raids, arrests of Jehovah's Witnesses
    Law enforcement agencies launched multiple armed raids on Jehovah's Witnesses' homes in four further regions. Long interrogations followed, including of an 83-year-old woman. Courts put another five people in pre-trial custody as they face criminal investigation. Twelve Jehovah's Witnesses are now behind bars, with at least 30 facing criminal cases.
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  • Kazakhstan: Restrictive legal amendments reach Senate
    Wide-ranging amendments to Kazakhstan's Religion Law and 11 other laws that seem set to increase still further the already tight restrictions on freedom of religion or belief begin consideration in Parliament's upper house. Working Group chair Sergei Ershov was unable to say if he would send the draft Law for an OSCE review.
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  • Uzbekistan: Women targetted, due process violations, unfair trial
    After an August 2017 raid on a Protestant meeting, interrogations of and charges against the same Protestants continue. Women in an Urgench church continue to be targetted by male officials, accompanied by flagrant violations by police, bailiffs, and a court of due legal process.
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Get Religion

  • newSeven can't-miss takes on use of Romans 13 to defend policy on separating immigrant families
    Move over, Two Corinthians.There's a new Bible reference making lots of headlines: Romans 13.Who knew that Donald Trump and his administration would bring such attention to Scriptures?In case you somehow missed this controversy, here are the basic details via The Associated Press: WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Jeff Sessions cited the Bible on Thursday in his defense of his border policy that is resulting in hundreds of immigrant children being separated from their parents after they enter the U.S. illegally. Sessions, speaking in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on immigration, pushed back against criticism he had received over the policy. On Wednesday, a cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church said that separating mothers from their babies was “immoral.” Sessions said many of the recent criticisms were not “fair or logical and some are contrary to law.” “I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13, to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained them for the purpose of order,” he said. “Orderly and lawful processes are good in themselves and protect the weak and lawful."Sessions' remarks — coupled with White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders' declaration that "it is very biblical to enforce the law" — have sparked a wave of press attention exploring the meaning and history of Romans 13.For those interested in insightful, enlightening coverage, here are seven can't-miss links:
    - 59 mins ago 18 Jun 18, 9:55pm -
  • newBBC puts half the facts in its Trinity Western lede, adding note of confusion to this story
    When you look at prestige brand names in the world of news, it's hard to find institutions that can match the global impact of The New York Times and BBC News.Journalists here in America are constantly aware of the impact of the Times, in terms of shaping the priorities of other newspapers from coast to coast. It's hard to find a small circle of journalists with more power than the editors who decide what goes on A1 in the Times.However, anyone who has traveled around the world and gazed at hotel-room televisions knows that the BBC is omnipresent and very powerful just about everywhere.Thus, let me add an editorial note to my GetReligion colleague Julia Duin's report -- "Trinity Western law school gets nixed, while the Canadian news coverage is mixed" -- focusing on how Canadian journalists covered the Trinity Western University decision at the Supreme Court of Canada.In particular, I would like to focus on how this short report produced by the gatekeepers at the BBC handled a key detail in the community covenant (or as the CBC described it, the "so-called community covenant") that defines the doctrinal standards that guide life on that evangelical Protestant campus.The headline on this report is certainly blunt, but it is accurate: "Canada's Supreme Court rules LGBT rights trump religious freedom." This brings us to the story's lede: Canada's top court has ruled in favour of denying accreditation to a Christian law school that banned students from having gay sex.Now, let me say right up front that this statement is accurate, sort of, and half-way true.
    - 7 hours ago 18 Jun 18, 4:11pm -
  • newTrinity Western law school gets nixed, while the Canadian news coverage is mixed
    Just after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a Colorado baker was discriminated against for his Christian beliefs that forbade him to make special same-sex-themed wedding cakes, the Canadian high court has have come out with a ruling that elevates gay rights over religious rights.The Vancouver Sun, located not too many miles west of the Trinity Western University campus, was one of a number of Canadian outlets covering the ruling. Curiously, they used a Canadian Press wire service story instead of assigning one of its own reporters to it.  The Sun did provide a local react story by a reporter stationed on Trinity’s campus but it seems a bit odd to run wires for the main story when the subject is in your own back yard. Anyway, here was the top of this story (as we look for a winner in the most-biased lede competition): Societies governing the legal profession have the right to deny accreditation to a proposed law school at a Christian university in B.C., the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled. In a pair of keenly anticipated decisions Friday, the high court said law societies in Ontario and British Columbia were entitled to ensure equal access to the bar, support diversity and prevent harm to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer students. The cases pitted two significant societal values -- freedom of religion and promotion of equality -- against one another. Trinity Western University, a private post-secondary institution in Langley, was founded on evangelical Christian principles and requires students to adhere to a covenant allowing sexual intimacy only between a married man and woman.Well, at least that final paragraph accurately described the school's doctrinal covenant -- sort of. Notice that it's "evangelical" to teach doctrines common in all traditional Christian churches. The Toronto Globe and Mail had a more gracefully written intro:
    - 10 hours ago 18 Jun 18, 1:00pm -
  • Attention media folks: That White House PR event upset many on Southern Baptist right
    To understand what's happening at the top of the Southern Baptist Convention these days, you really have to be willing to believe that, in the end, many religious believers truly believe that religious doctrine matters more than partisan politics.Yes, I know. The headlines insist otherwise. Headlines tend to increase a few picas in size the minute the word "evangelicals" gets connected to the words "Donald Trump."Here's a case in point. This past week, The New York Times basically ignored the dramatic national meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention -- with lots of developments linked to women and Baptists of color -- until it was possible to write a story with this headline: "Pence Reaches Out to Evangelicals. Not All of Them Reach Back."But, hey, at least that one story did make an important point: One of the crucial tensions inside this particular SBC gathering was between clashing camps of solid "evangelicals." Actually, lots of people on both sides of that SBC debate about the Pence appearance would, under other circumstances, be called "fundamentalists" in the sacred pages of the Times.This brings me to this weekend's think piece, which was written by Jonathan Leeman, editorial director of the 9Marks Journal and an active leader at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. He is also the author of a new book entitled, "How the Nations Rage: Rethinking Faith and Politics in a Divided Age."The headline: "Truth, Power, and Pence at the SBC." Here's how this essay opens:  I’m sitting here at the Southern Baptist Convention. Earlier today Vice President Mike Pence addressed the convention. We were told he initiated the offer to speak. I wish we had not accepted. Don’t misunderstand. I’m grateful to God for our nation. I want him to bless it. But here’s a question for my fellow Southern Baptists and evangelicals more broadly: can you name a place in the Bible where God sends a ruler of a (non-Israelite) nation to speak to God’s people? Is the pattern not just the opposite?Now, what's this all about? Is it a missive from a "moderate" (which means "liberal," in current SBC speak) at an urban church in a blue-zip DC zip code within shouting distance of the Capitol dome? 
    - 1 day ago 17 Jun 18, 5:00pm -
  • What did America’s three founding presidents believe about religion?
    THE QUESTION:Here’s one for July 4th:  What were the religious beliefs of the three founding presidents of the United States, George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson?THE RELIGION GUY’S ANSWER:The Fourth of July, 1826, the 50th anniversary of American independence, was the date when both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died.What were the odds?! The two served on the five-man Continental Congress committee responsible for the Declaration of Independence, and Adams, who recognized Jefferson’s golden pen, ensured that his younger colleague would be the author.The immortal prose had a distinctively religious flavor, with non-sectarian affirmation of peoples’ unalienable human rights that were “endowed by their Creator,” citation of the laws bestowed by “nature’s God,” appeal to “the Supreme Judge of the world,” and with “firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence” during the improbable and risky rebellion against mighty Britain.These two Founders coincided otherwise in life, as in death. Adams was the nation’s first vice president and Jefferson its first secretary of state in the administration of the first president, George Washington. Adams was then elected president in 1796 with runner-up Jefferson as his vice president. After the nasty 1800 campaign, during which Jefferson was assailed as a religious infidel, he turned the tables and defeated the incumbent Adams.Adams was so furious he even boycotted Jefferson’s inauguration. Though these allies of independence had become fierce rivals, they reconciled later in life and exchanged fascinating letters that enrich the recent book “Friends Divided: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson” (Penguin) by prize-winning Brown University historian Gordon S. Wood.
    - 2 days ago 16 Jun 18, 6:00pm -

Mission Network News

  • Somalia sees bloodiest terror attack in country’s history
    https://www.mnnonline.org/news/somalia-sees-bloodiest-terror-attack-countrys-history/Somalia (MNN) -- Over 300 people were killed in Somalia's bloodiest attackThe post Somalia sees bloodiest terror attack in country’s history appeared first on Mission Network News.
    - 17 Oct 17, 4:00am -
  • Emergency medical flight gets conjoined twin infants to life-saving surgery
    https://www.mnnonline.org/news/emergency-medical-flight-gets-conjoined-twin-infants-life-saving-surgery/DRC (MNN/MAF) -- Conjoined twins saved through ministry’s medical flightThe post Emergency medical flight gets conjoined twin infants to life-saving surgery appeared first on Mission Network News.
    - 17 Oct 17, 4:00am -
  • Christmas short-term mission opportunities!
    https://www.mnnonline.org/news/christmas-short-term-mission-opportunities/Int'l (MNN) -- Short-term mission trip opportunities this ChristmasThe post Christmas short-term mission opportunities! appeared first on Mission Network News.
    - 17 Oct 17, 4:00am -
  • The faces and stories behind World Food Day
    https://www.mnnonline.org/news/faces-stories-behind-world-food-day/International (MNN) -- On World Food Day, ministry spotlighting long-term solutionsThe post The faces and stories behind World Food Day appeared first on Mission Network News.
    - 16 Oct 17, 4:00am -
  • State elections draw near in India, spark anti-Christian sentiment
    https://www.mnnonline.org/news/state-elections-draw-near-india-spark-anti-christian-sentiment/India (MNN) -- Christians are being watched closely The post State elections draw near in India, spark anti-Christian sentiment appeared first on Mission Network News.
    - 16 Oct 17, 4:00am -

PE News

  • newRun for the Wall Finds Chaplains in Ministry Mode
    AG chaplains annually join in with hundreds of other bikers on a 3,000-mile cross-country trip that honors veterans and opens the door to ministry.
    - 7 hours ago 18 Jun 18, 3:30pm -
  • newCall to Worship
    Band guitarist finds a higher music purpose playing at church.
    - 17 hours ago 18 Jun 18, 6:00am -
  • Deaf Interpretation
    For decades, James and Ramona Banks have helped those who can’t hear to truly grasp gospel concepts.
    - 3 days ago 15 Jun 18, 1:00pm -
  • Southeastern Students to Advocate for Persecuted Christians
    Southeastern University to start an International Christian Concern club following participating in ICC event in Washington, D.C.
    - 3 days ago 15 Jun 18, 11:00am -
  • Drawing the Unchurched
    People formerly disinterested in Christianity find a home in a young Santa Fe congregation.
    - 4 days ago 14 Jun 18, 3:30pm -

Persecution Blog

  • Missionary Pilot Shares The Rest of the Auca Martyrs' Story
    Growing up the home of missionary parents in Ecuador, Gene Jordan has always known the story of five men—Nate Saint, Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Peter Fleming, and Roger Youderian—who gave their lives in the jungle to reach an isolated Indian...      Related StoriesNate Saint Memorial School: End of an EraVOM Radio: "When We Say Yes to God"Missions: "Safety Is Not Our Primary Goal" 
    - 24 Jul 17, 4:06pm -
  • After Arrest, "I Was Terrified"
    “Dr. Andrew” is working to share the gospel in the Middle East, but he hasn’t always had a heart to share Christ’s love with Muslims. Growing up in a nominal Christian family, Andrew was harassed by Muslims his whole life....      Related StoriesBeing a True Vessel for God's UseMissionary Pilot Shares The Rest of the Auca Martyrs' StoryVOM Radio in Central Asia 
    - 27 Jun 17, 10:07pm -
  • Being a True Vessel for God's Use
    “Brother Matthew” is a pastor and church planter in South Asia, working among Muslims to share the gospel. After threats against his life and an attack on his brother, he was encouraged by family members to leave his country. He...      Related StoriesVOM Radio in Central AsiaAfter Arrest, "I Was Terrified"Openness in Pakistan? 
    - 7 Jun 17, 4:56pm -
  • VOM Radio in Central Asia
    "Tanya" is a Christian worker in Central Asia, living and ministering in a country where she must always be cautious about what she says openly and who she says it around. Listen to hear how Christians in the former Soviet...      Related StoriesBeing a True Vessel for God's UseMissionary Pilot Shares The Rest of the Auca Martyrs' StoryAfter Arrest, "I Was Terrified" 
    - 9 May 17, 7:17pm -
  • Nate Saint Memorial School: End of an Era
    The end of an era comes next month. In August 1985, I clutched my mom’s hand and squeaked my rubber flip-flopped way down the gravel path from the Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) “base” to the cinderblock Nate Saint Memorial school....      Related StoriesMissionary Pilot Shares The Rest of the Auca Martyrs' StoryVOM Radio: "When We Say Yes to God"Missions: "Safety Is Not Our Primary Goal" 
    - 27 Apr 17, 8:14pm -

Religion News Service

  • newEvangelicals visit Palestinians to see life — and Christian faith — on the other side
    NABI SALEH, West Bank (RNS) — Christ at the Checkpoint, organized by the tiny evangelical community in the West Bank, brings hundreds of Western evangelicals to the town of Beit Jala to learn about Palestinian story and hear theological arguments against support for the Jewish state.The post Evangelicals visit Palestinians to see life — and Christian faith — on the other side appeared first on Religion News Service.
    - 1 hour ago 18 Jun 18, 9:26pm -
  • newTrinidad and Tobago Catholics aid Venezuelan migrants amid government crackdown
    PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago (RNS) — Following the April deportation, Archbishop of Port of Spain Charles Jason Gordon spoke out against the government’s treatment of Venezuelans and other refugees. He warned citizens against being 'stingy' — and his new initiative is anything but.The post Trinidad and Tobago Catholics aid Venezuelan migrants amid government crackdown appeared first on Religion News Service.
    - 4 hours ago 18 Jun 18, 6:45pm -
  • newFinally! A new Mormon hymnal, designed for a global church
    (RNS) After 33 years and many requests for an update, the LDS Church is revising its hymnal to reflect Mormonism's global membership.The post Finally! A new Mormon hymnal, designed for a global church appeared first on Religion News Service.
    - 5 hours ago 18 Jun 18, 5:43pm -
  • newPRESS RELEASE: Internationally renowned musicians from Jewish, Christian, and Muslim backgrounds come together to sing and pray for the Holy City
    Nation invited to Songs for the Holy City June 20, 2018: The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) will host a unique gathering of clergy, vocalists, and musicians from the Jewish, Muslim, and Christian traditions. “Songs for the Holy City: An Interfaith Evening of Music and Prayer” will feature Rabbi Tamar Elad Appelbaum, spiritual leader of Kehillat […]The post PRESS RELEASE: Internationally renowned musicians from Jewish, Christian, and Muslim backgrounds come together to sing and pray for the Holy City appeared first on Religion News Service.
    - 6 hours ago 18 Jun 18, 4:33pm -
  • newPRESS RELEASE: New Religious Novel #1 in its category on Amazon bestsellers list
    A new religious novel by author Carol Orsborn, “Angelica’s Last Breath”, shot to the top of its category on Amazon this week. The novel, inspired by “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”, Leo Tolstoy’s 1886 masterpiece, tells the story of a celebrated tai chi guru who over the course of her final breath confronts, absolves and […]The post PRESS RELEASE: New Religious Novel #1 in its category on Amazon bestsellers list appeared first on Religion News Service.
    - 7 hours ago 18 Jun 18, 3:50pm -

Today's Creation Moment

  • newPrivate Interpretation
    The Apostle Peter reminds us in 2 Peter 1:20 that “no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation.”read more
    - 18 hours ago 18 Jun 18, 5:00am -
  • God-Breathed
    The Apostle Paul wrote: “All Scripture is breathed out by God.” Some versions have: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God.” This means the same thing because the word inspiration has changed its meaning somewhat over the centuries. Colloquially, we remark that a brilliant inventor had an inspired idea, but that is not really what is meant by inspiration in this context.read more
    - 4 days ago 15 Jun 18, 5:00am -
  • Itching Ears
    In a previous Creation Moment, we saw how people often do not want hygienic teaching. The Greek word translated “sound”, in the phrase “sound teaching”, is actually hugiano, from which we derive our word hygienic.read more
    - 5 days ago 14 Jun 18, 5:00am -
  • Clean Teaching
    “The time is coming,” said the Apostle Paul to his young protegé, Timothy, “when people will not endure sound teaching.”read more
    - 6 days ago 13 Jun 18, 5:00am -
  • The Originals Might Be Different
    “How can you possibly believe the Bible to be inerrant?” the argument goes. “We don’t even have the originals. The originals might be different from the Bible we have today.”This is a common enough argument against inerrancy but is born out of a misunderstanding about the nature of original documents.read more
    - 7 days ago 12 Jun 18, 5:00am -

United Methodist News Service

World Magazine

  • newArgentina one step closer to legalizing abortion
    Pro-life advocates are prayerfully awaiting a decision from Argentina’s Senate on whether to keep the country’s legal protections for the unborn.After about 23 hours of debate, Argentina’s lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, voted 129-125 last week to legalize abortion through 14 weeks gestation. The bill would overturn current protections for unborn babies in every case except rape and danger to the mother’s life.The measure still needs approval from the more conservative Senate. If it passes there, the bill has a clear path to becoming law: President Mauricio Macri indicated he will not veto it.Human Life International urged pro-lifers to continue praying for a good outcome. “There is much at stake, and we ask God’s blessing on Argentina, especially the unborn,” the group’s spokeswoman, Deborah Piroch, told me.Shenan Boquet, president of Human Life International, called the bill a “violent assault upon the youngest and most vulnerable of Argentina’s society—the unborn child.”Both supporters and opponents of the bill rallied regularly in the weeks leading up to the vote. In May, about 3.6 million people marched through cities across Argentina to protest the measure. Nearly a half million people signed a petition urging representatives to vote against it. Earlier this month, thousands of pro-abortion demonstrators flooded the streets of Buenos Aires to rally support for the bill.When the lower house passed the legislation, news outlets reported crowds of crying, cheering, and partying abortion supporters. Heartbeat International president Jor-El Godsey said the celebration echoed the elation of abortion advocates in Ireland after a referendum repealed that country’s constitutional protections for unborn babies.“In a sense it’s just dark, because these are the first times abortion has actually been voted in,” he said. “The celebration is kind of odd, because abortion seems to empower men to be less responsible, under the guise of women seemingly being more responsible for their ‘reproductive health.’”But Godsey noted that the celebration was more political than practical. While abortion is illegal in most cases, it goes virtually unprosecuted. That on-the-ground reality has given rise to a growing movement of pro-life pregnancy centers ready to increase their outreach if the country fully legalizes abortion.“There are about 30 pregnancy centers spread across Argentina helping women have an alternative to abortion,” Godsey said. “[With it] being illegal, you would think that would not be necessary, but it has been necessary. And there is already a group of people dedicated to helping women not feel forced into an abortion. Every woman should be loved and supported in her pregnancy, and these groups are already in place around the country.” Facebook Illinois state Rep. Peter Breen Pro-lifers fight taxpayer funding for abortion in IllinoisThe Thomas More Society, a pro-life legal group, continued last week to argue its case against an Illinois law allowing taxpayer funding for abortion. The law, signed by Gov. Bruce Rauner, a Republican, last year, removes language from state law that kept taxpayers from funding abortion through state Medicaid funds and state employee health insurance plans. It also removes language protecting life from conception.Pro-life groups and legislators filed suit in December, citing Illinois’ balanced budget requirement: The state had not earmarked existing funds to pay for abortions. Official estimates put the cost at about $1.8 million a year.A Sangamon County Circuit Court judge threw out the case in December, and Thomas More attorney Peter Breen, also an Illinois state representative, argued the case before a state appellate court in Springfield on Wednesday.Breen described the justices as “very engaged in the arguments.” While Breen said it’s impossible to predict which way they will decide in the fall he hopes they will consider the wider financial ramifications. “Illinois is known as the country’s fiscal basket case,” Breen said. “To now take the lone limitation on the general assembly’s power to spend money and throw it out the window, that’s just devastating to anyone who’s paying taxes in the state of Illinois.”In the meantime, Breen said it is possible that no taxpayer dollars have yet gone to pay for abortions. While the law technically went into effect Jan. 1, money had not yet flowed to abortion providers in April, when local media outlets asked about it. Breen added that legislators are closely watching the case unfold: “If there's even a deterrence effect from the fact that our lawsuit is on file, then that’s a positive impact we’ve made.” —S.G. Associated Press/Photo by Susan Walsh Pro-life and pro-abortion supporters gather outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington earlier this year. Poll shows close split between pro-life, pro-abortion viewsMost Americans think abortion should be illegal in most or all circumstances, a new Gallup poll shows.Oddly, more Americans think abortion is morally wrong (48 percent) than identify as pro-life (46 percent). The number of people who think abortion should always be legal is slightly higher today (29 percent) than it was shortly after the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 (21 percent).But only 43 percent want abortion legal in all or most cases, as opposed to 53 percent who would protect the unborn in all (18 percent) or most (35 percent) cases.Catherine Glenn Foster, president of Americans United for Life, found the statistics hopeful. Pro-life measures are becoming law at a record rate, and most Americans want more protections for the unborn and restrictions on abortion funding, she noted.“Millennials are trending towards support for life, with more than half believing abortion should be illegal in most circumstances,” Foster said. “This increasingly life-affirming mentality has helped bring America’s abortion rate to historic lows—the lowest rate since Roe v. Wade.” —S.G.Ireland debates conscience protections after abortion voteShortly after the Irish referendum to legalize abortion, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said doctors must either perform abortions or refer women to an abortionist.The National Association of General Practitioners requested any abortion legalization bill include the option for conscientious objections to performing and referring for abortions, but Varadkar rejected that suggestion: “What we can’t allow is the suggestion that a GP who doesn’t provide the service would then refuse to refer their patient on to somebody who would.”Anthony McCarthy, communications director for the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, blasted Varadkar’s comments: “As many rightly feared, the regime in Ireland, not content with implementing abortion on demand, is now proposing to ride roughshod over the conscience rights of the medical profession.” —S.G.Missouri defunds Planned ParenthoodMissouri cut funding to Planned Parenthood on Friday as part of a budget requirement Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican, said he intends to approve. The redirection of funds will affect 11 Planned Parenthood facilities in the state. —S.G.Pope calls abortion eugenics with ‘white gloves’Pope Francis told an Italian family group that abortion is just as bad as what the Nazis did during World War II: “Last century, the whole world was scandalized by what the Nazis did to purify the race. Today, we do the same thing but with white gloves.” The pope said we should accept children “as God gives them to us.” —S.G. Image: Deck: Pro-lifers praying the country’s Senate will nix bid to overturn protections for unborn babiesCategory: Pro-LifeKeywords: AbortionArgentinaIrelandReligious LibertyCourtsGovernmentSlug: AbortionArticle Title: Argentina one step closer to legalizing abortionAuthor: Samantha GobbaDigital Branding: VitalsHide from Archive?: 0
    - 4 hours ago 18 Jun 18, 6:43pm -
  • newPassing the baton
    Passing the batonEvangelicalismReligionChurchesThe SBC and the PCA elect new leaders at summer assembliesDenominationsAlex DukeThe big news from this year’s Southern Baptist Convention gathering in Dallas concerned two presidencies.On Tuesday, June 12, nearly 70 percent of the 10,000 “messengers”—delegates—elected J.D. Greear the denomination’s new president. This election of Greear, the senior pastor of a multisite megachurch in Raleigh and Durham, N.C., marks a key change for America’s largest Protestant denomination.Why? Because Greear is a Calvinist. He’s socially conservative, yet unafraid to criticize the Republican Party. At 45 years old, he’s the youngest SBC president in nearly four decades—and in a sea of wingtips and pinstripes on the convention floor, Greear stood on the stage in blue jeans and Air Jordans.On Wednesday, June 13, another presidency loomed large as Vice President Mike Pence appeared and said, “I’m a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican in that order. ... No podium that President Trump or I stand behind will be of greater consequence than the pulpits you stand behind every Sunday.” Andy Jacobsohn/The Dallas Morning News/Associated Press Vice President Mike Pence at the Southern Baptist Convention During the past 30 years, Republican sitting presidents or vice presidents have spoken at the Southern Baptist gathering and Democrats have not. Bill Clinton—himself a member in good standing of a Southern Baptist church upon his election—never spoke to the convention. (In 1993, the messengers adopted a resolution to pray for Clinton, that he might reconsider his aberrant pro-abortion views.) Barack Obama also never appeared, but both Presidents Bush and Vice President Dan Quayle did.When Pence spoke of the U.S. Embassy’s move to Jerusalem and the recent release of hostages by North Korea, most messengers stood and applauded. Pence’s closing line became controversial: “With your support and prayers … with President Donald Trump in the White House, and with God’s help, we will make America safe again, we will make America prosperous again, and—to borrow a phrase—we will make America great again.”Before Pence spoke, a motion to rescind his invitation cited Southern Baptist church unity, gospel clarity, and overseas missionaries’ safety. Others, though, cited Biblical commands to pray for leaders and show hospitality—and the motion failed resoundingly. After the speech, Greear said the decision to have Pence speak “sent a terrible mixed signal,” since Southern Baptists should emphasize “commissioned missionaries, not political platforms.” Handout Irwyn Ince While Southern Baptists met in Dallas, the Presbyterian Church of America’s annual General Assembly met in Atlanta and unanimously elected Irwyn Ince to be its moderator—that’s the PCA equivalent to the SBC presidency.Ince, a teaching elder in the Potomac Presbytery and the director of Grace DC’s Institute for Cross-Cultural Mission, becomes the first African-American moderator in the denomination’s 46-year history.By Alex Duke EvangelicalismReligionEditor's Notes: NotesUpdated byChangedCreated http://www.bpnews.net/51059/jd-greear-elected-sbc-presidenthttp://byfaithonline.com/irwyn-ince-elected-moderator-of-46th-general-assembly/rachelfbeatty06/18/2018 - 13:4806/18/2018 - 13:38
    - 5 hours ago 18 Jun 18, 5:38pm -
  • newSupreme Court punts gerrymandering back to states
    The U.S. Supreme Court issued rulings Monday resolving two state disputes over gerrymandering but leaving open questions about how states draw political districts. The justices unanimously ruled against Wisconsin Democrats who challenged legislative districts that gave Republicans a huge edge in the state legislature. The high court said the plaintiffs in that case failed to prove they had the right to sue on a statewide basis rather than challenge individual districts. In a separate unsigned opinion, the court ruled against Maryland Republicans who objected to a single congressional district. Both cases will proceed in lower courts. “This is definitely not the end of the road,” said Sachin Chheda, director of the Fair Elections Project, which organized the Wisconsin lawsuit. “There is no vindication for the state’s rigging of the maps and disenfranchising of our voters here.”Image: Category: Supreme CourtArticle Title: Supreme Court punts gerrymandering back to statesKeywords: PoliticsSupreme CourtCourtsCongressWisconsinAuthor: Lynde Langdon
    - 6 hours ago 18 Jun 18, 5:14pm -
  • newKoepka captures second U.S. Open in two years
    Brooks Koepka has won just three events on the PGA Tour, but two of those victories have come at the U.S. Open last year and on Sunday in Southampton, N.Y. The 28-year-old professional golfer tamed a tough Shinnecock Hills course, shooting a final round 2-under-par 68 to finish the tournament at 1-over and one stroke ahead of Tommy Fleetwood, who fired a 63 Sunday, tying a U.S. Open record. “I don't want to say I didn’t think I could do it, but I knew that it was going to be that much more difficult,” Koepka said of his back-to-back titles. “And to finally do it, it’s much more gratifying the second time. I can really appreciate how hard it is to win a major, and to win back-to-back is special, and my second major is cool.”Image: Category: SportsArticle Title: Koepka captures second U.S. Open in two yearsKeywords: SportsGolfAuthor: Mickey McLean
    - 6 hours ago 18 Jun 18, 4:45pm -
  • newFormer Trump adviser says he turned down Russian offer
    Special counsel Robert Mueller is looking into a meeting between a former adviser to President Donald Trump and a man who wanted to sell disparaging information the Russians gathered on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign. The Washington Post first reported on the meeting, which was described in a pair of letters sent Friday to the House Intelligence Committee. The adviser, Roger Stone, said he briefly met at a Florida cafe in May 2016 with a Russian expat who asked for $2 million in exchange for the info, the Post reported. Stone said he swiftly rejected the offer because neither Trump nor he would ever pay for political information. And now he thinks the associate could have been an FBI informant trying to trap him. Stone previously told the Post he never had any contact with anybody who was “identifiably Russian,” but he forgot about this meeting until Mueller brought it up, he said. Trump supporters cite the information as evidence the FBI was working to undermine his presidential campaign, and his detractors say it shows dishonesty and potential corruption among Trump’s associates.Image: Category: ElectionsArticle Title: Former Trump adviser says he turned down Russian offerKeywords: PoliticsElectionsWashingtonCampaign 2016RussiaAuthor: Lynde Langdon
    - 7 hours ago 18 Jun 18, 4:05pm -

World Watch Monitor

  • Sunni Arabs ‘helped drive out’ Mid-East Christians
    Amid the push by Iraqi government forces to retake Mosul from Islamic State (IS), some former inhabitants of Christian villages in the Nineveh Plains and northern Syria are refusing to go back because they believe their former Sunni Muslim neighbours were complicit in driving them out, says Middle East analyst and former journalist, Patrick Cockburn, in News Deeply. Christians returning to Nineveh believe Sunni Arab villagers were complicit in “taking their houses, killing and raping people,” he says.Cockburn adds that, in Syrian towns occupied by IS, Christians believe their Sunni Arab neighbours were similarly cooperating with IS and that returning Christians might drive Sunnis out in turn. There’s a “real, very high level of friction and hostility on the ground, which I think is going to be extraordinarily difficult to reverse”, he says.“A longer-term and very dangerous shift in both Iraq and Syria is that communities in general can’t live together any longer.”In November Archimandrite Emanuel Youkhana, a priest in the Assyrian Church of the East and head of CAPNI (Christian Aid Program Northern Iraq), said that defeating IS won’t guarantee Christians’ return. “What are the guarantees that it will not happen again?” he asked, noting that Iraqi Christians had been targeted not only since IS’s sudden appearance in 2014 but since the US-led invasion in 2003, after which he said the fabric of Iraq “was broken”.In the decades before IS, more than a million Christians left Iraq, which had turned increasingly hostile towards them, the minority population felt.
    - 13 Mar 17, 1:01pm -
  • ‘Freedom of religion or belief must be protected’
    Countries around the world are urged to act now to promote and protect the right to freedom of religion or belief by a UN expert.The Special Rapporteur, Ahmed Shaheed, made his appeal at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, as he set out his priorities for the mandate of freedom of religion or belief, which he took up last November.Mr. Shaheed expressed concern about a rise in the number of incidents of violence - for religiousreasons - by extremist groups, vigilante mobs and others.“State and non-State actors, alike, continue to impose restrictions, or limitations, and engage in targeted harassment, intimidation of, or discrimination against religious minorities, unrecognised religious communities and dissidents, who are often confronted with threats to their freedom, safety and security,” he said.“I am particularly alarmed by continuing reports of mass atrocities and violence that threaten the very existence of religious minority communities, including some groups that have existed for over two millennia.”Mr. Shaheed pointed to a number of mechanisms for the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of religion or belief that have already been developed, and for which consensus among states already exists. He said his agenda for the next three years would be focused on the implementation of these state obligations.The Special Rapporteur stressed that policies adopted to enhance the capacity of security forces to combat terrorism by limiting fundamental rights (such as freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly) often have dire consequences for the enjoyment of the right to freedom of religion or belief.He welcomed efforts to promote that right at national and international levels by governments, parliamentarians, national human rights institutions, human rights and faith-based organisations, and educational institutions.
    - 10 Mar 17, 6:39pm -
  • Iraq urged to allow UN investigation into genocide
    International human rights lawyer Amal Clooney has called upon the Iraqi government to allow a UN investigation into the treatment of Yazidis by the so-called Islamic State (IS), reports Reuters.A year ago, the UK Parliament joined US Secretary of State John Kerry, the US House of Representatives, the EU Parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in describing the actions of IS (or Da’esh) as genocide. In June last year, UN experts reported that IS militants seek to destroy the Yazidi group, whose beliefs combine elements of several ancient Middle Eastern religions, through murder, sexual slavery, gang rape, torture and humiliation that amounts to genocide.Some religious leaders and other sources, including Vienna-based legal counsel Ewelina Ochab, believe that the campaign of genocide also extends to Christians. Prior to the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, there were 1.4 million Christians in the country. Today there are thought to be fewer than 200,000. World Watch Monitor reported in May last year that Christianity “could disappear” from Iraq and Syria withinfive years, according to Catholic sources. Britain is drafting a UN Security Council resolution to establish an investigation, but Clooney said the Iraqi government needs to send a letter formally requesting the inquiry before the council can vote.Clooney, who represents Yazidi victims of IS, told reporters, “We do want to see an investigation take place with the cooperation of the Iraqi authorities, but ultimately if that support is not forthcoming in terms of real action, then the UN has to think of other ways in which to achieve accountability.”Since 2014, when IS took control of parts of Iraq, Yazidis and Christians have been under severe, and often violent, pressure with many Christians being given four options: to leave, convert to Islam, pay the jiyza (tax), or be killed. A report last October highlighted this accelerated targeting of “disproportionately suffering” Middle East Christians.
    - 10 Mar 17, 1:08pm -
  • Iranian mother and son Christian converts arrested
    An Iranian mother and son who converted to Christianity have been arrested in the north-western province of West Azerbaijan. Anousheh Reza-Bakhsh (known as Veronika) and her son Soheil (known as Augustine) were arrested on 20 February at their home in Urmia, the provincial capital. Mohabat News reports that it is the first known arrest of Christians in the city since 2008. Urmia, with nearly 700,000 inhabitants, is famous for housing the Cathedral of St. Mary the Mother of God, whose origin dates back to the 16th Century. Middle East Concern (MEC) reports that the mother and son, who had become Catholics, were baptised in Istanbul in August last year, after which they returned home and “continued to read and learn about the Christian faith”. Christian material was reportedly found at their home, as Augustine, reported to be a psychology student, had been “a keen follower of online Christian theological training programmes and Christian satellite TV channels”, according to MEC. There has been no further update on their whereabouts or safety, though they are believed to have been taken to an intelligence office of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. They are both reported to have health issues. Iran, which is no. 8 on the 2017 Open Doors World Watch List of countries where it is most difficult to live as a Christian, continues to monitor and persecute Christians across the country. Often, detainees are subject to psychological and physical harm by the authorities. Iranian and European human rights and religious rights organisations have urged the international community to use new opportunities for trade with Iran since the nuclear agreement to hold the government there to account over its treatment of Christian converts.
    - 9 Mar 17, 3:23pm -
  • Pope: ‘Persecutors don’t care about denominations’
    Pope Francis has urged all Christians to pray for fellow believers who are persecuted for their faith, saying that “those who persecute them make no distinction between the religious communities to which they belong”.“How many people are being persecuted because of their faith, forced to abandon their homes, their places of worship, their lands, their loved ones!” Francis says in the video that shows three representatives of different denominations: Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox – standing as if in a police line-up accused of a crime. “They are persecuted and killed because they are Christians,” the Pope continues, adding, “I ask you, how many of you pray for persecuted Christians?”The one-minute video, which also includes images of broken religious statues and a burnt-out church, is the latest to be produced by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network and contains his prayer intention for March: the support of persecuted Christians through prayers and material aid from all the Churches.Francis has spoken frequently about an “ecumenism of the blood” to emphasise that persecution is affecting many parts of the Church and should be met with ecumenical solidarity.
    - 8 Mar 17, 2:31pm -