11th August, 2023
CRISTIAN MARTINI GRIMALDI recently made a rare visit to an underground church in China. Read his report on UCANews…
This Week On The Web provides links to interesting and challenging items we’ve come across on the web.
Please note: Sight is not responsible for the content of external sites which may change without our knowledge.
10th August, 2023
More than 120,000 Armenian Christians are trapped behind a blockade of the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Read the report on the Catholic News Agency…
9th August, 2023
Fr Oleksandr Bilskyi, a Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest in the depopulated Ukrainian city of Beryslav, has been serving hot meals to more than 100 people a day. Read SVITLANA DUKHOVYCH and EDOARDO GIRIBALDI’s article on Vatican News…
8th August, 2023
What role should the church play in advancing racial justice Latin America? Read DINORAH B MÉNDEZ’ article on Evangelical Focus…
7th August, 2023
The Biblical figure of Dorcas is inspiring generosity in the wake of Turkey’s earthquake. Read JAYSON CASPER’s report on Christianity Today...
4th August, 2023
Indonesians from all religious backgrounds are responding to the climate crisis. Read PAUL JEFFREY’s article on the World Council of Churches website…
3rd August, 2023
Should children be included in worship services? Read BEKAH MCNEEL’s article on Sojourners…
2nd August, 2023
Cardinal-designate Stephen Chow says his new status will help build bridges with China. Read ELISE ANN ALLEN’s report on Crux…
1st August, 2023
Father Paolo is a Christian monk who disappeared in Syria 10 years ago. Read JOSEPH TULLOCH’s report on Al Jazeera…
31st July, 2023
US actor Dennis Quaid says Christianity helped him through addiction, plans gospel album. Read NALEDI USHE’s article on USA Today…
28th July, 2023
What are “matchmaking churches” in South Africa? Read RAY MWAREYA’s article on Baptist News Global…
27th July, 2023
Looking for something to read? The Gospel Coalition is providing a series of free courses to help you read select works of classic literature through a Christian lens..
26th July, 2023
Why should Christians take UFOs seriously? Read Dr MATTHEW L HALSTEAD’s article on Premier Christianity…
25th July, 2023
How can Christians in professional ministry help the ‘99 per cent’ who aren’t? Read BILL PEEL and JERRY WHITE’s article on the Lausanne Movement website…
24th July, 2023
How can a church get the attention of the neighbourhood? Read SAM RAINER’s article on The Christian Post…
21st July, 2023
Lay people in Pakistan are still waiting to participate in the Catholic Churches’ decision-making bodies. Read KAMRAN CHAUDHRY’s report on UCANews…
20th July, 2023
US Christian speaker and author John Bevere looks at ‘Four questions that will point you to your purpose’. Read the article on Relevant...
19th July, 2023
US pastor BARRY HOWARD outlines five reasons why the separation of church and state is essential. Read his article on Baptist News Global...
18th July, 2023
Christians are either climbing or slipping, writes US pastor GREG LAURIE. Read the article on Outreach Magazine…
17th July, 2023
Megachurches are continuing to grow in the US. Read SCOTT NEUMAN’s report on NPR…
14th July, 2023
Matthieu Sanders, a pastor in Paris, analyses the background of the riots in France in an article by JOEL FORSTER. Read it on Evangelical Focus…
13th July, 2023
Achieving Christian unity doesn’t mean avoiding polarisation, writes HANNAH BOWMAN. Read the article on Sojourners..
12th July, 2023
As South Sudan celebrates 12 years of independence, church leaders amplify peace and hope. Read the article on the World Council of Churches’ website…
11th July, 2023
GAVIN ASHENDEN says appreciating Jesus’ sense of humour gives us a new perspective. Read the article on Catholic Herald...
10th July, 2023
Migrants are taking riskier routes out of African nations. Read the report on The Guardian…
7th July, 2023
How do you turn your church to engaging with mission? Read JOLENE VONGUNTEN’s article on the Mennonite Church USA website…
6th July, 2023
Why does the church need intergenerational leaders? Read MICAELA BRAITHWAITE’s article on the Lausanne Movement website…
4th July, 2023
‘Why a post-Christian world needs pastor-theologians’. Read KEVIN J VANHOOZER’s article on The Gospel Coalition website…
3rd July, 2023
‘Want to combat climate change? Don’t tear down your church’. Read KATIE BEAN’s report on Sojourners…
30th June, 2023
Anti-Christian incidents are on the rise in Jerusalem’s Old City. Read JUDITH SUDILOVSKY’s report in America Magazine…
29th June, 2023
The Congregation of the Sisters of the Infant Jesus is marking 150 years in Japan. Read a report on UCA News…
28th June, 2023
Andrew Crabtree, a musician with hit songs on the Billboard Christian Charts, is being ordained a Catholic priest in the US. Read his story on Aleteia..9
27th June, 2023
US evangelicals have become some of its Saudi Arabia’s most enthusiastic visitors, writes VIVIAN NEREIM in The New York Times. Read the article…
26th June, 2023
See 10 of the most noteworthy Christian churches in Asia. Read the article on the South China Morning Post…
23rd June, 2023
Can Christians do yoga? SURINDER KAUR, in an article on Christianity Today, canvases the thoughts of Indian Christians on what’s traditionally a Hindu practice…
22nd June, 2023
As the Malaysian Government looks at whether to permit online gambling, VANITHA NADARAJ says it’s time for the church to state its position. Read the article on UCA News…
21st June, 2023
God takes joy seriously (and so should you). Read HEATHER CALIRI’s article on Relevant…
20th June, 2023
An algorithm aimed to help Jordan’s poor but a report has found it excluded some. Read RASHI SHRIVASTAVA’s report on Forbes…
19th June, 2023
Alpha pioneer Nicky Gumbel recently addressed the National Prayer Breakfast for Scotland. Read his sermon in full on Premier Christianity…
16th June, 2023
The first Christian church for the Roma people has opened in Serbia. Read JOEL FORSTER’s report on Evangelical Focus…
15th June, 2023
Four Indigenous children made headlines this week when they were found after spending 40 days in the Amazon jungle. Read MANUEL RUEDA’s report on TIME…
14th June, 2023
The German state pays millions of euros to the Christian churches each year. INSA WREDE, in an article on DW, explains why and looks at how shedding the financial burden could cost it dearly…
13th June, 2023
Personality type indicators such as the Enneagram can be powerful tools for doing justice in our communities. Read JOSIAH R DANIELS’ article on Sojourners, ‘Can the Enneagram make us better Christians?’…
12th June, 2023
Is the church of St Pudentiana the oldest in Rome? Read FR JOHN FLADER’s answer on The Catholic Leader...
9th June, 2023
It’s summer in the northern hemisphere and that means people travelling more. MEGAN YOUNG, in an article on Relevant, looks at how summer travel can be a spiritual practice…
8th June, 2023
The future of the Christian movement depends on lay members, according to JERVIS DJOKOTO. Read ‘The Measure of a Servant’ on the Lausanne Movement website…
7th June, 2023
Perched atop a hill, a Russian Orthodox church, built in 2002, keeps watch over the Antarctic outpost Villa Las Estrellas. See a photo essay on ‘The church at the end of the world’ by JOHN BARTLETT and SEAN SMITH on The Guardian…
6th June, 2023
US-based blind Christian artist Blessing Offor, in an interview with American Songwriter, speaks about the meaning of his name, the meaning of “Brighter Days” and why he calls his music the “genre of humanity”. Read CILLEA HOUGHTON’s interview here…
5th June, 2023
How can churches support single people? Read an article by PATRICK PARKINSON, Emeritus Professor at the TC Beirne School of Law at the University of Queensland and executive director of Publica, and MICHAEL JENSEN, rector of St Mark’s Darling Point in Sydney, and chair of Publica, on Australia’s ABC…
2nd June, 2023
What can the church learn from Mary and Martha? Dr CHRISTOPHER COCKSWORTH, the Church of England’s Bishop of Coventry, takes a look in an extract from his new book – ‘Mary, Bearer of Life’, published on Church Times…
1st June, 2023
Iraqi Christians are fighting save Syriac, an ancient dialect of Aramaic, which has been the language spoken by Christians in Iraq and neighbouring Syria for centuries. Read the report on UCA News…
31st May, 2023
Against the backdrop of the ongoing border crisis in the US, ROZALY GUZMAN reflects on what the Biblical story of Hagar shows us. Read the article on Baptist News Global…
30th May, 2023
Christians in North Korea, including children can face death or imprisonment, because of their faith. Read a report on the South China Morning Post…
29th May, 2023
In an interview with World Council of Churches’ Rev Prof Dr Jerry Pillay, the general secretary shares details on a recent meeting with Patriarch Kirill in Russia against the backdrop of the conflict in Ukraine. Read the interview on the World Council of Churches’ website…
26th May, 2023
Faith groups are increasingly joining with communities in Latin America as they seek environmental justice after being impacted by pollution from mining or face conflicts over mining concessions. Read BARBARA FRASER’s report in America…
25th May, 2023
The Church of Scotland will have to close hundreds of churches in the coming years, according to a warning at its annual General Assembly. Read JOANNE MACAULAY’s report on the BBC…
24th May, 2023
Churches are often buildings of beauty. NOELANN BOURGADE, in an article published by Architectural Digest, looks at the ’10 Most Beautiful Churches Around the World’…
23rd May, 2023
Herman Ellis Dyal spent two years photographing the interior of a Texas church which had been at the centre of his family’s life since the 1940s. See a photo essay on The Guardian…
22nd May, 2023
‘Women have historically been excluded from church leadership – but in the Pacific, that’s changing’. Read the report from HILDA WAYNE, KIM LESTER, RACHAEL LUCAS and DAN SMITH from Australia’s ABC…
19th May, 2023
Joe Carter looks at ‘9 Things You Should Know About Christianity in India’. Read his article on the Gospel Coalition website…
18th May, 2023
Almost a decade since Islamic State occupied the region, Chaldean Archbishop Warda speaks of parents returning from the West because they want to rear their kids in a Catholic atmosphere. Read JOHN BURGER’s report on Aleteia…
17th May, 2023
How should Christians live among Muslims? Four Arab Christians speak to JAYSON CASPER of Christianity Today…
16th May, 2023
A new study by the US-based Barna Group says mothers are being overlooked in global evangelism efforts. Read TALIA WISE’s report on CBN…
15th May, 2023
Stephen Chow, Bishop of Hong Kong, made an historic visit to Beijing last month. Read ANTONIO SPADARO’s interview with him on La Civiltà Cattolica…
12th May, 2023
With a rise in the number of people living with disability around the world to 1.3 billion, DAVE DEUEL looks at the role vocational care workers can play in providing spiritual care for them. Read ‘Waking the Sleeping Giant in Disability Ministry’ on the Lausanne Movement website…
10th May, 2023
Australian Rev Canon Glenn Loughrey is a Wiradjuri man, a member of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Anglican Council and the Diocese of Melbourne’s designated advocate for the recognition of First Nations people in the constitution and an enshrined Voice to Parliament. Listen to his interview on Australia’s ABC…
9th May, 2023
As the Middle East Council of Churches approaches its 50th anniversary, Secretary General Michel E Abs reflects on how challenging daily lives can be in the Middle East, the response to the earthquake in Syria and Turkey, and plans to commemorate 50 years of the MECC. Read the interview on the World Council of Churches’ website…
8th May, 2023
Movies about Christian themes have been successful in recent years. But, RYAN SANDERS writes in The Dallas Morning News, they don’t necessary “make disciples”. Read the article here…
5th May, 2023
Many would like the Catholic Bishops Conference of India to once again regain its voice with regard to the persecution of Christians in the country, writes JOHN DAYAL. Read his article on UCA News…
4th May, 2023
Oriol Jara, a successful scriptwriter for comedy TV shows in Spain. In an interview with ONDA PAZ, published on Evangelical Focus, he shares how his life took a radical change when he encountered Jesus…
3rd May, 2023
What does spending time with God look like on a day-to-day basis? Read Relevant‘s ‘Five simple steps to spending more time with God’…
2nd May, 2023
‘Why are weddings so expensive today and why are so few held in churches?’ Read MARK WINGFIELD’s report on Baptist News Global…
1st May, 2023
Since the last bomb fell in Laos 50 years ago, unexploded ordnance has killed 20,000 people. And it could take 100 years to clear it all, reports ANTONIA BOLINGBROKE-KENT on The Guardian…
28th April, 2023
The 17th century monk Brother Lawrence’s book, Practice of the Presence, has been newly translated into English. Read BETSY SHIRLEY’s interview with translator Acevedo Butcher on Sojourners…
27th April, 2023
Archaeologists have uncovered a hidden complex of rooms covered with Christian paintings in Old Dongola, a deserted town in Sudan. Read RICHARD WHIDDINGTON’s report on Artnet…
26th April, 2023
Hong Kong Bishop Stephen Chow’s visit to Beijing is “a sign of just how much pressure is to come on religious freedom in Hong Kong”, writes BENEDICT ROGERS, co-founder and chief executive of Hong Kong Watch. Read his article – Where does Bishop Chow’s China trip lead? – on UCA News…
25th April, 2023
As Christians, we often define ourselves by ideology, but Jesus calls us to a deeper sense of identity, writes RUSSELL MOORE. Read the article – ‘We Are Not Our Worldview’ – on Christianity Today…
24th April, 2023
In an interview marking International Mother Earth Day, NASA’s chief scientist, Dr Katherine Calvin, discussed how viewing the Earth from outer space has driven generations to advance climate action. Read the article on UN News…
21st April, 2023
The evangelical church has not always supported what is now called ‘creation care’, writes SARA KYOUNGAH WHITE. Read the article – ‘How Creation Care Became a Gospel Issue’ – on the Lausanne Movement website…
20th April, 2023
“Peace starts in our hearts,” says the Taize Community’s Brother Richard. Read the feature on the World Council of Churches’ website…
19th April, 2023
The sci-fi genre has the ability to go deep into what it means to be a human yesterday, today and tomorrow, writes ERIC VANVALEN. Read the article – ’10 Sci-Fi Movies That Can Help Shape Your Theology’ – on Relevant...
18th April, 2023
Recently unsealed documents from Vatican archives are sheddng new light on the Catholic Church’s action – and inaction – during the Holocaust, reports OLIVIA B WAXMAN. Read the article on TIME magazine…
17th April, 2023
For millions of people in Haiti, life is a daily, terrifying struggle. Read about the experiences of some who live there in a special report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs…
14th April, 2023
During Thailand’s Songkran water festival, Christians find parallels in honouring their elders but point to the living water. Read TESSA SANCHEZ’s report on Christianity Today…
13th April, 2023
Pakistan’s Christians have long been marginalised and pushed into sewer cleaning work. Now, some are fighting back. Read SAAD ZUBERI’s report on Al Jazeera..
12th April, 2023
A Christian family in the Australian city of Sydney hosted their Muslim friends for Easter Sunday dinner, a meal which also marked the Iftar breaking of the fast for the attendees observing the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Read AFNAN MALIK’s report on SBS…
11th April, 2023
An UN agency project is harnessing the power of bees to help women improve their livelihoods while creating sustainable opportunities in rural communities in the southern African nation of Angola. Read a report on UN News…
6th April, 2023
Writer CHRISTOPHER ROWSE finds “surprising beauty” at a service held in a burnt-out church in London. Read his article in The Spectator…
5th April, 2023
How should Christians respond to Critical Race Theory? Read the response of PETER KERRIDGE, CEO of Premier Insight, on Patheos…
4th April, 2023
A nine-minute 3D film – which provides an immersive experience led by Indigenous leader Raquel Tupinambá in the region of the Tapajós River in the Brazilian state of Paráled – aims to raise awareness about the systematic destruction of the Amazon rainforest and the need to preserve it. Read BIANCA FRACCALVIERI’s report on Vatican News…
3rd April, 2023
Where do Finnish Christians gather on Sundays? Read KAROLIINA RAUHIO-POKKA’s report on Evangelical Focus…
31st March, 2023
Amidst rains in drought-stricken regions in eastern Africa, church leaders and relief agencies are warning the situation is still precarious and the people will need food aid during the next months. Read the article on the World Council of Churches’ website…
30th March, 2023
How would our church cultures be different if every family believed they had a strategic part in God’s story of blessing the nations? That’s the question addressed by CARISSA POTTER and KAREN HARDIN in an article on the Lausanne Movement website…
29th March, 2023
Dwindling attendance has seen a drop in the number of operational churches in regional Australia, and ministers say the church has to change to survive. Read CLARE MCCABE’s report on The Guardian…
28th March, 2023
In the Indian state of Kerala, Christians have a tradition of photographing every aspect of a departed one’s funeral. MERYL SEBASTIAN, of the BBC, reports on why…
27th March, 2023
Chinese Catholic Bishop Joseph Han Zhi-hai of Lanzhou has called on Catholics to abandon ‘undergound’ church in China. Read a report on UCA News…
24th March, 2023
“Every year, in the final months of winter before the warmth and longer daylight of spring fully take hold, my spirit needs renewal, sometimes even revival” writes ADAM RUSSELL TAYLOR. Read ‘Finding God’s rest in a season of “blah”‘ on Sojourners..
23rd March, 2023
What does is mean as a Christian to be a reconciler? Read an article by JOHANNES REIMER, director of the Department of Public Engagement of the World Evangelical Alliance, on Evangelical Focus...
22nd March, 2023
PATTY GUTHRIE met her husband on a dating app. Read her ‘Christian guide to dating apps’ on the Gospel Coalition website…
21st March, 2023
US astronaut Col Jeff Williams says Christ “completely turned my life upside down”. Read NICOLE ALCINDOR’s report on The Christian Post…
20th March, 2023
In Afghanistan, women humanitarian workers are continuing their jobs amid an “environment of fear”. Read a report on the International Organization of Migration website…
17th March, 2023
The proposed design for a church on the Danish Island of Anholt would automatically adjust exterior lighting according to the moonlight. Read as report from THEO NICITOPOULOS in Smithsonian Magazine…
16th March, 2023
The British Wildlife Photography awards have been announced for 2023. See a gallery of the images on The Guardian…
15th March, 2023
Population ageing and ageism are global challenges. How can Christians obey the Biblical command to care for the elderly? Read TOM MCCORMICK’s article – ‘Global Ageing and Mission’ – on the Lausanne movement website…
14th March, 2023
What is Lent all about? Read MIKE AQUILINA’s article – Counting to 40: The early Church’s different ‘layers of Lent’ – on Angelus News…
13th March, 2023
Five years ago, Christine Caine, founder of anti-trafficking organisation the A21 Campaign, experienced what she calls “the most painful season of my Christian life”. Read EMILY BROWN’s article on Relevant…
10th March, 2023
Four Christian women – a social reformer, a lawyer, a doctor, and a peacemaker – all brought change to India. Read SURINDER KAUR’s article on Christianity Today…
9th March, 2023
The recent earthquake in Turkey has significantly impacted the small Christian community in the city of Samandag, already under cultural and economic threat. Read CLOTILDE BIGOT’s report in America magazine…
8th March, 2023
CÉIRE KEALTY is fasting from the “noise of retail frenzy” for Lent. Read the article on the Sojourner’s website…
7th March, 2023
Is every Christian a missionary? ELLIOT CLARK looks at the concept in an article published on The Gospel Coalition website…
6th March, 2023
Arson destroyed Victory Baptist Church in LA last September. Read THOMAS CURWEN’s report on the LA Times about how the church is now grappling with its future…
3rd March, 2023
Could ChatGPT make disciples? JASON WATSON, campus pastor at Eastside Hatfield Church in Pretoria, South Africa, looks at the question on the Lausanne Movement website…
2nd March, 2023
“I have children wandering, and I want them back. My heart aches each day, as I know they willingly seek to be elsewhere.” So writes MAGGIE GREEN in a column – ‘Are Your Children Away From the Church? Keep Knocking on the Door’ – on the US National Catholic Register...
1st March, 2023
‘HIV stigma still not eradicated – but we can change our mindset’. Read GRACIA VIOLETA ROSS QUIROGA’s article on the World Council of Churches website…
28th February, 2023
Christian aid groups are building homes from plywood for Turkey’s earthquake survivors. Read BRODY CARTER’s report on CBNNews…
27th February, 2023
Do you really have to go to chuech every Sunday? Read TYLER EDWARDS’ answer in an article on Relevant…
24th February, 2023
As Ukraine marks a year of conflict, ERIK TRYGGESTAD, of Churches of Christ publication The Christian Chronicle, looks at five prayers to be praying for Ukraine. Read the article here..
23rd February, 2023
Turkish Christians have asked people not to distribute Bibles in devastated areas following the 6th February earthquakes. Read JAYSON CASPER’s report on Christianity Today…
22nd February, 2023
“At what point does the market become adversarial to our Christian faith?” asks Curtis Johnson, author of The Power of Mammon: The Market, Secularization and New York Baptists, 1790-1922. Read his response in an article by JEFF BRUMLEY on Baptist News Global…
21st February, 2023
Soccer player Christian Atsu, who formerly played for Newcastle United in the UK and for his nation of Ghana, is among those who died in the 6th February earthquake in Turkey. Read LOUISE TAYLOR’s tribute – ‘Christian Atsu’s faith and good deeds touched countless lives beyond football’ – in The Guardian…
20th February, 2023
The world’s largest democracy – India – should be protecting the religious rights of all of its people writes DAVID CURRY, president and CEO of Global Christian Relief. Read ‘How America can stop India’s anti-Christian crusade in its tracks’ on Religion News Service…
17th February, 2023
CLEMENT USOO, a 65-year-old Christian Nigerian farmer whose family was massacred by Fulani herdsmen in 2019, shared his story in a testimony by Aid to the Church in Need-USA. Read his story here…
16th February, 2023
The Catholic Church’s historical engagement with slaveholding “is very complex, and it is also widely misunderstood”, writes author CHRISTOPHER J KELLERMAN. Read his article in America..
15th February, 2023
ILYA YASHIN is a Russian opposition politician who, after condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine, was arrested and is currently serving an 8.5-year prison sentence. Read his “message to the outside world from inside a Russian prison” on TIME…
14th February, 2023
There is an “undeniable correlation” between weekly church attendance and positive benefits, writes STEVE BATEMAN, author and senior pastor of First Bible Church in North Alabama, US. Read his article – ‘9 Benefits of Faithful Church Attendance’ – on The Gospel Coalition website…
13th February, 2023
Some of the stars playing in the Super Bowl in the US have opened up about their Christian faith in the days leading up to the event. Read NICOLE ALCINDOR’s report on The Christian Post...
10th February, 2023
Members of a Protestant House Church in northern China which was forcibly shut down last year have launched a prayer campaign for the well-being of detained pastors, leaders, and their family members amid a government crackdown. Read the report on UCANews…
9th February, 2023
Persevering amid Lebanon’s economic crisis, the new evangelical FM radio station BeLight has found an appreciative audience by offering hope and local Arabic worship. Read JAYSON CASPER’s report on Christianity Today…
8th February, 2023
Christians in Turkey are mobilising to support and pray those impacted by the earthquake in Turkey and Syria. Read a report on Evangelical Focus…
7th February, 2023
Visalia, in California’s Central Valley, is home to the biggest Catholic parish in North America. Read OLIVER WAINWRIGHT’s report on The Guardian…
6th February, 2023
American society is secularizing, and Christianity seems to be in long-term decline but TIM KELLER, founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, says renewal is possible. Read his article ‘American Christianity to due for a revival’ on The Atlantic…
3rd February, 2023
In an article adapted from SIDDHARTH KARA”s new book Cobalt Red, he looks at the plight of children mining cobalt used to make electric vehicle batteries. Read ‘Shocking Truths Behind Smartphone and EV Batteries: Children Mining Cobalt’ in Newsweek…
2nd February, 2023
“Christianity is great, but not everything we say or believe about it is necessarily true,” writes STEPHEN MATTSON. Read ‘Seven lies about Christianity – which Christians believe” on Sojourners…
30th January, 2023
“Beyond doubt, mental health is one of the topmost felt needs in the Asian community,” writes Edmund Ng, founding president of the Asia Christian Counselors Association. Read his article- ‘Mental Health Literacy as a Ministry Skill’ – on the Lausanne Movement website…
27th January, 2023
What is the US debt ceiling and why does it matter? Read JOE CARTER’s explainer on The Gospel Coalition website…
26th January, 2023
Is the West post or pre-Christian? Read an article by ANTHONY FISHER, Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Australia, on First Things…
25th January, 2023
Why is there so much Christian persecution in Nigeria? Read JOHN BURGER’s report on Aleteia…
24th January, 2023
What’s the real reason so many of us avoid spending time with God? Read DARGAN THOMPSON’s take on Relevant…
23rd January, 2023
Adam Kalinin – not his real name – is living “off the grid” in Russia to avoid Vladimir Putin’s call-up to fight the war in Ukraine. Read BEN TOBIAS’ report on the BBC…
20th January, 2023
Pope Francis has to walk a tightrope on anti-Christian violence during his upcoming visit to Africa, writes JOHN L ALLEN JR. Read his article on the Angelus news website…
19th January, 2023
Digital media is now an unavoidable fact of life for many across the world. What does this mean for our Christian communities? Read JONAS KURLBERG’s article on the Lausanne Movement website…
18th January, 2023
SEAN CHENG writes – in a Chinese New Year reflection – about how the Gospel informs our feasting and transforms astrology culture. Read his article – ‘Consider the Rabbit: Applying the Bible to the Chinese Zodiac’ – on Christianity Today…
17th January, 2023
What’s the difference between Bible translations? Read an article by EMERSON POWERY, professor of Biblical studies and the assistant dean for the School of Arts, Culture and Society at Messiah University, on Sojourners…
16th January, 2023
A US church’s ministry to build handicap-accessible ramps has just completed the construction of its 1,000th ramp. Read MICHAEL GRYBOSKI’s report on The Christian Post…
13th January, 2023
Church leaders in eastern Africa are calling for increased humanitarian aid to avert the possible starvation of millions. Read a report on the World Council of Churches’ website…
12th January, 2023
Real ministry has frequently happened from a distance, says DUSTIN ELLINGTON – associate professor of New Testament at the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary in Lebanon. In an article published on Evangelical Focus, he points out that “22 of the New Testament’s 27 books are letters written for the purpose of teaching from a distance”…
11th January, 2023
Which passports offer the greatest travel freedom in 2023? MAUREEN O’HARE reports for CNN…
10th January, 2023
Will the metaverse be your new workplace? Read JANE WAKEFIELD’s report on the BBC…
9th January, 2023
A vessel that sank with more than 200 transported people onboard is being used to humanise the story of slavery. Read SAM JONES’ report on The Guardian…
6th January, 2023
Can you actually know God’s plan for your life? Author NICOLE UNICE answers in an article on Relevant…
5th January, 2023
US author MICHELLE VAN LOON says she is among those working to “change the unhealthy evangelical church culture we helped create”. Read her article – Christian Boomers Like Me Want Change Too – on Christianity Today...
4th January, 2023
Pope Benedict XVI left a legacy of ecumenism writes Dr STEPHEN G BROWN, editor of The Ecumenical Review. Read his article on the World Council of Churches’ website…
3rd January, 2023
Speaking to God in prayer as our Father is a privilege, writes JON BLOOM. Read his article on the Desiring God website…
30th December, 2022
What are people looking for when going to a new church? BENJAMIN BROWN, who serves as minister of students at Second Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia, explores the idea in an article on the Baptist News Global website…
29th December, 2022
Glass barriers are being employed to stop Venice’s iconic 900-year-old church, St Mark’s Basilica, from flooding. Read REBECCA ANN HUGHES’ report on Forbes…
28th December, 2022
Hip-hop artist Lecrae raps about Jesus and Christianity on his new mixtape, Church Clothes 4. Read A Martinez’ interview with the Christian rapper about the new mixtape and how he connects with millennials on NPR…
27th December, 2022
In Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega’s regime is targeting the last bastion of dissent with trial of outspoken Bishop of Matagalpa. Read DAVID AGREN’s report on The Financial Times…
23rd December, 2022
Now a global phenomenon, the tradition of holding Christmas markets traces its roots to medieval Europe. Read ELIZABETH DJINIS’ report on Smithsonian Magazine…
22nd December, 2022
Christmas is irrational – and that’s kind of the point says WESLEY GRANBERG MICHAELSON. Read his article on the Sojourners’ website…
21st December, 2022
Evangelical churches in Russia have been praying for peace and ministering to those in need for six months in Ukrainian cities, reports PAVEL KOLESNIKOV. Read his article on Evangelical Focus…
20th December, 2022
The Biblical story of Christmas contains aspects that those whose reading of the Bible is centred on questions of historicity may struggle with. US Christian ethicist DAVID GUSHEE, in an article on Baptist News Global, reflects not on what he is believing this Christmas, “but how I am believing”…
19th December, 2022
Christmas is on a Sunday this year so how will churches manage services? Read RUTH GRAHAM’s report on The New York Times…
16th December, 2022
Twenty-six-year-old Samyah has no ID card – not Palestinian or Israeli. Read about the struggle of her and her family to gain recognition in terms of an official idea on the World Council of Churches’ website…
15th December, 2022
US author Katelyn Beaty argues in her new book, Celebrities for Jesus: How Personas, Platforms, and Profits Are Hurting the Church, that the very concept of celebrity is hurting evangelicalism by enabling abuses of power. Read an interview with Beatty on Religion & Politics…
14th December, 2022
Some Christians leaving Hong Kong were hoping to find a home in Taiwan. But that hasn’t eventuated as ANGELA LU FULTON reports for Christianity Today…
13th December, 2022
The Middle East is being cleansed of Christians – and the West seems indifferent, write ANDREW BENNETT, program director for Faith Communities at Cardus – a Christian and non-partisan thinktank, and RICHARD MARCEAU, vice-president (external affairs) and general counsel at the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs. Read their article – “For Mideast Christians, this is not ‘the most wonderful time of the year'” – on Canada’s National Post…
12th December, 2022
Amid the declining numbers attending church, JOHN BURNETT of NPR in the US, reports on how some churches and church leaders are adapting how they operate. Read the article here…
9th December, 2022
A new documentary on the late US singer Johnny Cash focuses on his Christian faith. Read MARCUS K DOWLING’s report on The Tennessean…
8th December, 2022
“The angel of the first Christmas called the shepherds to have faith in the divine promise of peace on earth and God’s goodwill towards humanity. Who are people of good will?” That’s a question asked by World Council of Churches Acting General Secretary Rev Prof Dr Ioan Sauca in his Christmas message. Read the full message here…
7th December, 2022
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby recently spent three days in Ukraine, a visit he described as a “show of solidarity” against Russia’s “illegal, unjust, and brutal invasion”. Read his interview with JONATHAN LUXMOORE on Church Times…
6th December, 2022
In the age of US megachurches, taking communion has become a big business. Read ASHLIE D STEVEN’s report on Salon…
2nd December, 2022
Rebin, a Kurdish man who comes from a Muslim family in Iran, became a believer in Christ while in Indonesia attempting to reach Australia. Read his story on International Christian Concern’s website…
1st December, 2022
Thanksgiving may be over but giving thanks isn’t. BETSY SHIRLEY, in an article on Sojourners, looks at ‘9 Thanksgiving prayers and blessings for a more just world’…
30th November, 2022
The Catholic Church in Asian countries has to find prudent ways to give sharks a chance amid rising demand for shark fin, writes BEN JOSEPH. Read his article on UCANews…
29th November, 2022
New Netflix drama The Swimmers tells the true story of two sisters who swam for their lives to escape war-torn Syria with one of them then going on to compete in two Olympic Games. Read a report on UN News…
25th November, 2022
Where are we at the climate change negotiations? Rev HENRUK GRAPE, officer for sustainable development in the Church of Sweden and coordinator of the WCC Working Group on Climate Change, reflects on COP27 in an article on the World Council of Churches’ website…
24th November, 2022
Aid to the Church in Need UK’s annual report into Christian persecutiuon shows that over the past two years oppression or persecution of Christians has increased in 75 per cent of the countries surveyed. Read the Vatican News report…
23rd November, 2022
“Christian Girl Autumn” has become a seasonal internet meme, returning every year around August, writes MALLORY CHALLIS. Read her report on Baptist News Global…
21st November, 2022
An unknown bishop, a goldsmithing priest and an anxious couple have come to light in the discovery of new Byzantine-era mosaics in the Greco-Roman city, Hippos of the Decapolis, above the Sea of Galillee. Read RUTH SCHUSTER’s report on Haaretz…
18th November, 2022
In the English city of Bath, a ‘trauma-informed’ church is taking a radically different approach to healing. Read MEGAN CORNWELL’s report on Premier Christianity…
17th November, 2022
How can churches become more prayerful? JEREMY LINNEMAN, lead pastor of Trinity Community Church in Columbia, Missouri, US, provides some tips in an article published on The Gospel Coalition…
16th November, 2022
Prison Fellowship Ukraine, an organisation affiliated with the international network of the Chuck Colson–founded ministry, has extended its work to include Russian prisoners-of-war. Read JAYSON CASPER’s report on Christianity Today…
15th November, 2022
Christian Brooks, from the Presbyterian Church (USA), encourages people to take a more firm stance on loss and damage related to climate change. Read an article on the World Council of Churches’ website in which she reflects on her work at COP27, and how faith informs her sense of unified advocacy for the climate…
14th November, 2022
A historic Abu Dhabi church which started as a service in a living room and has grown to a congregation of thousands is celebrating 50 years. Read SHIREENA AL NOWALS’ report on The National…
11th November, 2022
What does being a Christian in a ‘Glo-Cal’ (global and local) world look like? Read SAMUEL ESCOBAR’s article on Evangelical Focus…
10th November, 2022
Why should Christians get involved in a church? Read THOM RAINER’s article on Relevant…
9th November, 2022
Amid declining congregations, churches across Australia are being forced to sell their properties. Read MADDIE THOMAS’ report on The Guardian…
8th November, 2022
What does a Christian approach to voting in the US midterms look like? Virginian pastor BOB GUFFEY provides ‘Five suggestions on how to be a Christian citizen when voting’ in an article of Baptist News Global…
7th November, 2022
Data shows today’s teens may be one of the strongest reasons for hope when it comes to preserving a vibrant expression of Christianity in the United States for generations to come, writes DAVID KINNAMAN, CEO of Barna Group. Read his article – ‘Is Christianity fading away? Teens’ thoughts about Jesus give us hope and a challenge’ – on USAToday…
4th November, 2022
What can the life of Moses teach us about Christian leadership? ALAN WILSON, a Bible college teacher and author from Northern Ireland, looks at four lessons “every Christian leader needs to know” in an article on Premier Christianity…
3rd November, 2022
Is there a place for the church in the metaverse? That’s the question a virtual forum of Christian leaders and technology experts looked at last month. Read DANIEL HOFKAMP’s article on Evangelical Focus…
2nd November, 2022
The past decade has seen a surge of interest in US baseballer Jackie Robinson’s life and faith. Read PAUL PUTZ’ article ‘Revisiting the Legacy of Jackie Robinson: the Christian, the Athlete, and the Activist’ on Religion & Politics…
1st November, 2022
Five US states have slavery on the ballot in the midterm elections. Read MAX MATZA’s report on the BBC to find out why…
31st October, 2022
Leadership requires initiative says SAM RAINER, president of Church Answers and pastor at West Bradenton Baptist Church in Florida. Read his article – ‘Pastors with Initiative Build Healthier Church Relationships’ – on the Church Answers website…
28th October, 2022
What does the Bible say about social media? Read RAE TOSH’s take on The Gospel Coalition website…
27th October, 2022
The Korea’s Catholic Church is unique in that it was born and developed under the initiative of lay people, not missionaries. Read CRISTIAN MARTINI GRIMALDI’s article on UCANews…
26th October, 2022
Hundreds of children have been separated from their parents and guardians as people flee rebel attacks on eastern parts of the country. Read SAM MEDNICK’s report on The Guardian…
25th October, 2022
How is the national prayer breakfast movement impacting Africa? Read MICAELA BRAITHWAITE’s article ‘Politics and Prayer in Africa’ on the Lausanne Movement website…
21st October, 2022
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby recently completed a two week visit to Australia. Read MURIEL PORTER’s report on Church Times…
20th October, 2022
God’s humility, and our embodiment of that, is the hermeneutical key for reading the Bible, writes KAREN KEEN, author of The Word of a Humble God. Read ‘Learning humility together as we read the Bible’ on Baptist News Global…
19th October, 2022
Christians have a role to play in defending democracy, writes DANIEL K WILLIAMS, a professor of history at the University of West Georgia. Read his article on Christianity Today…
18th October, 2022
The Vatican has signed an agreement to return three ancient mummies to Peru. Read SEBASTIÁN SANSÓ FERRARI’s report on Vatican News…
17th October, 2022
London-born hip-hop artist M.I.A. talks about what being a Christian means to her. Read TYLER HUCKERBEE’s article on Relevant…
14th October, 2022
Could your local church adopt a care home for the elderly? TINA ENGLISH explores the idea in an article on Evangelical Focus…
13th October, 2022
Differences in collective identity were intended by God to be a rich source of blessing but instead have become one of humanity’s greatest sources of conflict, suspicion, alienation, and violence, writes STEVEN M BRYAN, a professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Illinois, US. Read his article on the Lausanne Movement website…
12th October, 2022
Franz Meurer wants to help the rising number of people living in poverty in Germany. In the basement of his church, the pastor shows how poverty can be fought in a rich country not with politics, but with volunteers. Read the article on Deutsche-Welle...
11th October, 2022
Christians not only have a duty to do good works through individual charity, but also to urge their political representatives to do what is in their power to end hunger in the US and around the world, writes JK GRANBERG-MICHAELSON. Read ‘Christian charity alone won’t end hunger’ on Sojourners…
10th October, 2022
Is it possible to be a ‘sustainable tourist’? UN News looks at 12 ways to make a positive impact on your travels…
7th October, 2022
It is past time to strike down the death penalty, says San Francisco’s Catholic Archbishop Salvatore Joseph Cordileone. Read his article on America Magazine…
6th October, 2022
All Africa Conference of Churches wil host a youth conference from 31st October to 5th November in Ghanawith about 2,000 young people between the ages of 15 and 35 expected to attend. In an article on the World Council of Churches’ website, Rev Dr Lesmore Gibson Ezekiel, the All Africa Conference of Churches’ director of programmes, reflects on the planning and vision for the congress….
5th October, 2022
Country music singer Loretta Lynn, who has died at the age of 90, “was serious about her faith and a devout member of the church”. BOBBY ROSS Jr, of The Christian Chronicle, looks at her life and faith…
4th October, 2022
Kilwarlin Moravian Church in County Down, Northern Ireland, has a unique link to ancient Greece with earthworks laid out as a tribute to the Battle of Thermopylae. Read ROBIN SHEERAN’s report on the BBC…
3rd October, 2022
Eager buyers are snapping up unused churches around Australia and giving historic buildings a new life as homes, accommodation and workspaces. Read MADDIE THOMAS’ article on The Guardian…
30th September, 2022
The Vatican’s silence on Cardinal Zen’s trial in Hong Kong is “disconcerting” writes BEN JOSEPH. Read his article on UCANews…
29th September, 2022
Hundreds of Catholic women in New Zealand wore pink shoes in a provocative public art protest on 18th September calling for equality of women in the church. Read PETER KIRKWOOD’s report on the US-based National Catholic Reporter…
28th September, 2022
A mature faith neither glosses over the glaring problems in our movement, nor abandons it in its time of need, says Rend Collective’s CHRIS LLEWELLYN. Read his article on Premier Christianity…
27th September, 2022
Why are there so many Bible translations and what’s the difference between them? EMERSON POWERY, professor of Biblical studies and the assistant dean for the School of Arts, Culture and Society at Messiah University, explains in an article on Sojourners…
26th September, 2022
What is polycentric mission leadership? The Lausanne Movement’s JOSEPH HANDLEY and MICAELA BRAITHWAITE explain…
23rd September, 2022
Jack Chisnall and Josh Dolphin used to interrogate life via absurdist jokes and sketches. But the questions they had just kept getting bigger – and led them both to embark upon a profound transformation. Read LAMORNA ASH’s story – ‘Divine comedy: the standup double act who turned to the priesthood’ – on The Guardian…
22nd September, 2022
As elaborately painted wooden churches in the Mexican state of Michoacán undergo restoration, new questions are being raised about how architectural conservation ought to work – and whom such projects are really for. Read MICHAEL SNYDER’s report on The New York Times Style Magazine…
21st September, 2022
Facing hypothermia, dehydration, and walking 5,000 kilometres – UN News reports on why Venezuelan migrants risk their lives for a better future…
20th September, 2022
We’ve been hearing a lot about the concept of “quiet quitting”. RUSSELL MOORE, editor-in-chief at Christianity Today, urges people not to “quiet quit” the church…
19th September, 2022
While almost every aspect of official ceremony surrounding the death of Queen Elizabeth II has been steeped in religious significance, accounts from those close to the former monarch emphatically suggest that to her, faith went far beyond protocol and duty. Read ALEEM MAQBOOL’s report on the BBC…
16th September, 2022
Every year thousands of people in the US head to seminaries to “study the complex issues of our society from a theological perspective”. YANAN MELO and AMAR D PETERMAN write about ‘Four things to know about going to seminary’ in an article on Sojourners…
15th September, 2022
Four Black girls were killed when a Ku Klux Klan bomb exploded at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, on 15th September, 1963. Read DEBBIE ELLIOT and TAYLOR JENNINGS-BROWN’s report on how a new book tells the story of how one family coped for NPR…
14th September, 2022
As Pope Francis arrives in Kazakhstan for an interfaith congress of world religions, LISA ZENGARINI looks at the history of the Catholic Church in the region. Read her article on Vatican News…
13th September, 2022
Christian missionaries are turning to the ‘gospel of bitcoin’ in Latin America, writes BEN WEISS. Read his article on Gizmodo…
12th September, 2022
What did Queen Elizabeth II mean to Christians? Read an article by MILES PATTENDEN, a senior research fellow at the Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry at Australian Catholic University, and visiting fellow in the Humanities Research Centre at Australian National University, on Australia’s ABC…
9th September, 2022
In Georgia’s remote Imereti region, monks scale the 40 metre-high Katskhi Pillar in a daring, nerve-jangling ascent with the aim of getting closer to God. Read PRIYANKA SHANKAR’s article on BBC Travel…
8th September, 2022
“In this time of world crisis, Christians are to be a community of peace,” the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, said in a speech to the World Council of Churches 11th Assembly on 7th September. Read his full speech on the WCC website…
7th September, 2022
How can a Christian perspective impact unions and the labour movement? Spanish news website Protestante Digital has spoken to a Christian union leader, a Christian businessman and the head of a ministry focused on discipleship and Christian life training in the workplace…
6th September, 2022
A congregation of Christians who left China to seek asylum in South Korea has now travelled to Thailand to ask the United Nations’ refugee agency for protection from religious persecution, reports CHUN HAN WONG. Read the article on The Wall Street Journal…
5th September, 2022
“Beyond our Christian pursuit of living a simple life focused on the essentials, backpacking and Christianity share many other elements”, writes Dr JIM SCHROEDER. Read his article – ‘Backpacking Is a Quintessential Christian Activity’ – on the National Catholic Register...
2nd September, 2022
RELEVANT have published a list of 25 songs from Christian bands “that are still pretty great”. See the list here…
1st September, 2022
How you preserve and organise your documents now is critical for future leaders’ ability to tell your church’s story of God’s faithfulness, writes CALEB MORELL. Read the article – ‘7 Simple Steps to Preserve Your Local Church’s History’ – on the Gospel Coalition website…
31st August, 2022
US megachurch pastor Rick Warren – famous around the world as the author of The Purpose-Driven Life – gave his last sermon at Saddleback Church on Sunday. SALVADOR HERNANDEZ, of the Los Angeles Times, reports that its message was a lot like his first at the church…
30th August, 2022
A Senegalese monastery’s move to exchange the organ for the kora, a traditional calabash harp, has “transformed sacred music”. Read JULIAN LUCAS’ report on The New Yorker…
29th August, 2022
There are more Christians in Africa than any other continent, write YAW PERBI and SAM NGUGI. Read their article – ‘Africa to the rest’ – on the Lausanne Movement website…
26th August, 2022
What does the Catholic Church say about psychedelics? Read JOE LORENZ’s article on America magazine’s website…
25th August, 2022
Peter Makapela has moved from throwing stone at white people during South Africa’s apartheid years to being a voice of racial reconciliation. Read CHRISTINA STANTON’s article on his life on Baptist News Global…
24th August, 2022
Deng Ziqi, nicknamed “China’s Taylor Swift,” is one of China’s most popular and successful female singers. SEAN CHENG, in an article published on Christianity Today, reports that her new Gloria music video embeds Gospel messages and shares a journey from wasteland to Gospel hope….
23rd August, 2022
“Long COVID” is taking a toll on Christians in ministry. In a three part article, JONATÁN SORIANO of Evangelical Focus speaks with three people working in different aspects of ministry about its impact on them…
22nd August, 2022
How can singing hymns help address the climate crisis? Read REBECCA RANDALL’s report on Sojourners…
19th August, 2022
“Being a Palestinian Christian from the homeland of Jesus is a calling from God,” says Nadine Bitar, general secretary of Christian Youth in Palestine, a group that supports youth leaders in the homeland of Jesus. Read an interview on the World Council of Churches’ website…
18th August, 2022
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is seeking to reinvigorate support for his election campaign among evangelical Christians but believers are now more divided. Read MICHAEL POOLER’s report on the Financial Times…
17th August, 2022
Many children in Ukraine have been forced to adapt to living underground as a result of the ongong conflict. See a photo essay on the UNICEF website…
16th August, 2022
A growing number of religious groups are developing reparations programs for Black Americans. Read JULIA DUIN’s report on Newsweek…
15th August, 2022
An inscription with a plea to St Peter has been found in the remains of an early church by the Sea of Galilee. Read RUTH SCHUSTER’s report on Haaretz…
12th August, 2022
Virgilio do Carmo da Silva of Dili will become East Timor’s first cardinal at the end of August. Read DEBORAH CASTELLANO LUBOV’s interview on Vatican News…
11th August, 2022
What symbols are used in Christianity and what do they represent? Read an article by WHITNEY HOPLER, author of Wake up to Wonder, on Crosswalk…
10th August, 2022
The Banchen monastery in the Chernivtsi region of Ukraine has been supporting and sheltering victims of Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine, a delegation from the World Council of Churches found during a recent visit. Read the article on the WCC website…
9th August, 2022
Elvis was a devout Christian who prayed before shows, his stepbrother has revealed. Read DALYA ALBERGE’s article in the UK’s The Observer…
8th August, 2022
As Japan – and the world – marked the 77th anniversary of the atomic bombing in Hiroshima, Tomoko Kurita, the daughter of a survivor, played the violin as part of a church service aimed at calling for peace and nuclear disarmament. Read a report on UCANews…
5th August, 2022
The Christian church in the US and beyond has seen its share of leadership scandals in recent years. Read KATELYN BEATY’s article – ‘How Should Christian Leaders Handle Their Influence?’ – on Relevant…
4th August, 2022
A Gambian woman who was tricked into being trafficked to Kuwait in 2015 has shared her story of abuse and subsequent activism, in the hope others will be spared the “hell” she went through. Listen to her story on UN News…
3rd August, 2022
Are you open about being a Christian in your workplace? DENISE LEE YOHN, director of the Faith & Work Journey, writes in an article published on The Gospel Coalition website, about why we should be open about our faith…
2nd August, 2022
How should Christians respond to the global issue of human trafficking? MARION LS CARSON, a theologian, teacher, and trainer who serves as chaplain to Glasgow City Mission, Scotland, looks at what we can do in an article on the Lausanne Movement website…
1st August, 2022
Evangelical Christianity is quietly flourishing among migrant groups in the Gulf as churches provide low-paid workers facing horrific abuse with aid in times of crisis, according to local churches. Read ELLE HARDY’s report on The Guardian…
29th July, 2022
After 17 years as vicar of Holy Trinity Brompton – England’s largest Anglican church, Alpha pioneer NICKY GUMBEL has retired. Read the text of his final sermon on the Premier Christianity website…
28th July, 2022
Why are some Christians drawn to conspiracy theories? CHARLES RINGMA, Emeritus Professor at Regent College in Vancouver, Canada, takes a look at the issue in an article published on the Ethos website in Australia…
27th July, 2022
EDWIN, whose real name has been withheld, is a youth leader in the troubled neighbourhood of Cité Soleil in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, where gang conflict has been raging. Read his account of life in the shadow of such violence on UN News…
26th July, 2022
Years after the Australian Government’s Manus Island detention centre in Papua New Guinea closed, more than 100 men from the centre are still in PNG and still uncertain about their futures. Read STEFAN ARMBRUSTER’s report on Australia’s SBS…
25th July, 2022
Fantasy role-playing is hurting America – but not in the way you might think, says RUSSELL MOORE. Read his article on Christianity Today…
22nd July, 2022
Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska addressed the US Congress this week. SIMON SHUSTER, writing for TIME, looks at the role she’s played in Ukraine following Russia’s invasion…
21st July, 2022
Supporting loved ones and friends through a time of tragedy can be hard. LIZ BIERLY, in an article on Sojourners, looks at what to avoid saying…
20th July, 2022
Sri Lanka’s tea farmers are struggling to survive amid the country’s economic turmoil. Read SECUNDER KERMANI’s report on the BBC…
19th July, 2022
UNHCR has published a cookbook featuring recipes from 14 displaced people. You can download From Our Table to Yours: Fusion Cooking for free here…
18th July, 2022
Johnny Cash’s son, John Carter Cash, has written a new devotional featuring quotes and anecdotes drawn from his father’s life.” Read BILLY HALLOWELL’s report on CBN News…
15th July, 2022
Need advice on how to make your church more accessible for all? Read AMY KENNY’s article on Sojourners…
14th July, 2022
Do Christians confuse influence for success? Read ANN SWINDELL’s article on Relevant...
13th July, 2022
News from the latest Australian census data that the numbers of Christians in Australia are declining is not devastating for people of faith, writes BARNEY ZWARTZ, a Senior Fellow of the Sydney-based Centre for Public Christianity. Read ‘Despite numbers falling away, core Christianity will continue’ on The Age website…
12th July, 2022
Thousands of Malians have fled conflict to seek shelter in Mauretania. Read NICK ROLL’s report on The Guardian…
11th July, 2022
As Mozambique looks to move on from its violent past, a UN-led programme is supporting efforts to reintegrate former combatants. Read ‘From fighting to farming: Supporting peacebuilding in Mozambique’ on the UN News website…
8th July, 2022
Digital e-funerals are causing some controversy as migration redraws Africa’s bereavement norms. Read AUDREY SIMANGO’s report on Baptist News Global…
7th July, 2022
What’s the future of the Catholic Church in Australia? Listen to a roundtable discussion on The Religion & Ethics Report on Australia’s ABC…
6th July, 2022
The new Star Wars series, Obi-Wan Kenobi reminds us of the value of monasticism, writes ELYSE DURHAM. Read the article on the Sojourners’ website…
5th July, 2022
Six months after the La Palma eruption in the Canary Islands, “there is still much pain”. Read JONATÁN SORIANO’s report on Evangelical Focus…
4th July, 2022
We are hardwired by God to listen and we can be trained to listen better, says DAVID BENNETT, of the Lausanne Movement. Read his article, ‘A Listening Posture: 8 practices to listen with humility, love, and hope’, on the movement’s website…
1st July, 2022
What are the hallmarks of a healthy churches? ABBY PERRY, in an article on Christianity Today, details ‘5 Things Thriving Churches Do Well’…
30th June, 2022
How churches are involved in empowering underprivileged women and their children to alleviate poverty – including by the Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar in India – was among subjects discussed at a recent meeting of the World Council of Churches central committee. Read a report on the World Council of Churches’ website…
29th June, 2022
The Catholic Church in Asia must end its silence on the nuclear arms race writes BEN JOSEPH on UCANews. Read the article here…
28th June, 2022
How has modernist architecture influenced church design? Read MARIA-CRISTINA FLORIAN’s article – ‘Sacred Modernity: An Exploration of the Modernist Movement in Mid-Century Holy Architecture’ – on ArchDaily…
27th June, 2022
A BBC undercover investigation has exposed a human trafficking network smuggling disabled children from Tanzania to Kenya. Watch NJERI MWANGI’s report from Nairobi…
24th June, 2022
Has church become too casual? GREG MORSE asks what happened to Christian reverence in an article published on the John Piper-founded website desiringGod.org…
23rd June, 2022
Greece’s famous Parthenon, originally dedicated to Athena Parthenos, the Greek goddess of wisdom and war, later served as a Christian church for almost 1,000 years. Read PHILIP CHRYSOPOULOS’ report for the Greek Reporter…
22nd June, 2022
A recent report published by a group of Christian institutions seeks to shed light and raise awareness on the deleterious impact of Christian self-censorship in all spheres of Western societies. Read SOLÈNE TADÍE’s report on the National Catholic Register…
21st June, 2022
The World Council of Churches elected Rev Prof Dr Jerry Pillay as the ninth general secretary at its 17th June meeting. In an article on the WCC website, the theologian talks about his belief that growing up during a period of conflict and suffering in South Africa will stand him in good stead when he takes up his position as the head of the ecumenical body…
20th June, 2022
Church-goers in the US were commemorating Juneteenth during their services on Sunday. TEKELLA FOSTER explains how in an article on NPR…
17th June, 2022
Christian themes and Bible stories have undergirded some of the best films of the last century. PAUL KERENSA canvasses some of them in an article on Church Times…
16th June, 2022
Kirk and Violeta Nowery of Hope Partners International have dedicated their lives to helping impoverished people worldwide including in Ukraine where the organisation has helped almost 11,000 men, women, and children cross the border to Romania since the war began. Read BRODY CARTER’s report on CBN News…
15th June, 2022
Faith and firearms is the subject of a new episode of the God Forbid podcast on Australia’s ABC. Listen here…
14th June, 2022
Four missionaries from different denominations have planted “Kanisa in Madrid”, an Arabic church that brings the Gospel in Arabic to a large unreached sector in the Spanish capital. Read DANIEL HOFKAMP’s report on Evangelical Focus…
10th June, 2022
The first Dalit cardinal in history, Cardinal-elect Anthony Poola of Hyderabad, India, describes his mission as “helping as many poor children as possible”, and reflects on serving India’s poorest and often-forgotten “untouchables”. Read DEBORAH CASTELLANO LUBOV’S article on Vatican News…
9th June, 2022
In Belarus, Orthodox priest Fr Andrei Nozdrin was transferred to a remote parish after he publicly spoke out against the war in Ukraine. He spoke to OLGA GRACE of Oslo-based Forum 18…
8th June, 2022
“Is a world without violent conflict really possible?”. That’s the question Archbishop Justin Welby addresses in an article published on The Guardian website…
7th June, 2022
June should have meant the start of the summer holidays for the young Ukrainians – but almost two out of every three children have been wrenched out of home, school and playground. Read JEFF FOUNTAIN’s article on Evangelical Focus…
6th June, 2022
‘The Great Resignation’ is underway in the US and elsewhere. TYLER HUCKABEE reports for Relevant Magazine…
3rd June, 2022
“Our numbness to gun violence is a spiritual failure”, writes ADAM RUSSELL TAYLOR. Read his article in Sojourners here…
2nd June, 2022
The Church of Christ in the Ukrainian border town of Chernivtsi has become a hub of relocation and relief for those fleeing the war. Read ERIK TRYGGESTAD’s report on The Christian Chronicle…
1st June, 2022
Women in low-income communities often have to make between catering to their own critical needs and providing food and other basics for their families. Read a report on the Lutheran World Federation website about how churches in northern Venezuela are supporting women to access safe and affordable menstrual hygiene, while empowering them to establish alternative income sources and discuss early prevention of gender-based violence…
31st May, 2022
Using Bibles as a prop to sell guns is never OK, writes EMMA FOWLE. You can see her article on Premier Christianity…
30th May, 2022
In an age weary with suffering, how can we pray? W DAVID O TAYLOR, associate professor of theology and culture at Fuller Theological Seminary, suggests ’15 Prayers for a Violent World’ in an article on Christianity Today…
27th May, 2022
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity will be held from 29th May to 5th June. In an article published on the National Council of Churches in Australia website, CRAIG BROWN looks at the importance of the event…
26th May, 2022
Nigeria is one of the worst countries in the world to be a Christian as they face discrimination and persecution. Read BABATOMIWA M OWOJAIYE’s article – Christian persecution in Nigeria: A Biblical response to an insensitive government – on the Lausanne Movement website…
25th May, 2022
The Catholic Church played an instrumental role in the ousting of Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Now his son, Ferdinand Marcos, Jr, has been elected President. CHAD DE GUZMAN reports in an article on TIME – ‘Marcos Jr May Have Won This Battle Against the Catholic Church, But the Struggle Isn’t Over’…
24th May, 2022
The recent attack on a Californian church “underscores the unique challenges churches face as they balance safety and security with serving as beacons of welcome and hospitality for everyone”, writes PAT MCCAUGHAN. Read the article on Episcopal News Service…
23rd May, 2022
Peter Cook, the head of the New York State Council of Churches, says that n the aftermath of the Buffalo racist shooting white Christian denominations have a duty to act. Read EDWARD HELMORE’s report in The Guardian – ‘The Christian leader trying to break America’s link between faith and guns’…
20th May, 2022
As church bells resounded over Paralimni, Cyprus, last Sunday, the congregation gathering at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint George welcomed into their midst representatives of a wide range of Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches around the world. See ALBIN HILLERT’S photo essay – ‘Sunday service “a manifestation of visible unity” as Orthodox churches gather in Cyprus’ – on the World Council of Churches’ website…
19th May, 2022
As Australia heads to the polls for a national election this weekend, CAMERON MCADAM, minister at The Village Church in Mt Eliza, Victoria, writes about his approach to discerning God’s voice in the election season. Read the article on Ethos – The EA Centre for Christianity and Society website…
18th May, 2022
Archaeologists have unearthed a major underground city in south-eastern Turkey which researchers believe might have been a city for early Christians to hide from Romans. Read ANTONY ASHKENAZ’s report on the UK Express newspaper…
17th May, 2022
Overwhelmed and desensitised by the news lately? In an article on the Lausanne Movement website, USHA REIFSNIDER and MICHAEL DU TOIT look at how to navigate a way forward through the cross…
16th May, 2022
The arrest of the retired Archbishop of Hong Kong Joseph Zen suggests China just doesn’t get the Catholic Church, writes JOHN L ALLEN, Jr. Read his article on Crux…
13th May, 2022
Orthodox Christian churches in the US are drawing in far-right converts, reports ODETTE YOUSEF. Read the report on NPR…
12th May, 2022
They’re mentioned briefly in the Bible but what exactly are the Nephilim? In an adapted article from his new book – The Characters of Creation: The Men, Women, Creatures, and Serpent Present at the Beginning of the World – published on Chrstianity Today, DANIEL DARLING takes a look…
11th May, 2022
The evangelical church in America spent 40 years at war with secular culture but is now at war with itself, writes TIM ALBERTA. Read his article on The Atlantic…
10th May, 2022
A network of fake accounts is promoting Russian President Vladimir Putin on Twitter. JULIANA GRAGNANI, MEDHAVI ARORA and SERAJ ALI investigate for the BBC…
9th May, 2022
Converts to Christianity in Iran face, where it is illegals for Muslims to do so, face extreme persecution. Read MICHAEL SCOLLON’s report on Radio Free Europe’s website…
6th May, 2022
A woman ended the reign of one Marcos. Now eyes are fixed on whether a woman will deny the presidential bid of another. JOSE MARIO BAUTISTA MAXIMIANO, writing for UCA News, looks at whether Filipinos will repeat history in their upcoming election…
5th May, 2022
Who were the Kakure Kirishitan, the hidden Christians of Japan? BURCU BASAR tells their story through visits to five places in Nagasaki…
4th May, 2022
Four women are credited with composing songs in the Bible. SOPHIA HUNTER, writing for Sojourners, takes a look at who they are…
3rd May, 2022
How are Australian churches responding to family violence? Read JULIA BAIRD’s article – ‘From faith to fear: churches put to the test’ – on The Sydney Morning Herald website…
2nd May, 2022
Can you be a NIMBY and a Christian? DOUG SMITH, writing for the Los Angeles Times, reports on how ex-Motown singer Larry S Buford struggled with a new homeless shelter being built in his South LA neighbourhood…
29th April, 2022
Jonah didn’t get swallowed by a whale, Mary may not have ridden a donkey and there were not three wise men – or at least the Bible doesn’t tell us so, says PAUL KERENSA. Read his article on Premier Christianity…
28th April, 2022
US Masters winner Scottie Scheffler made headlines with his comments praising God after his win. Read an article by LUKE KERLEY on Religion Unplugged…
27th April, 2022
How are Russian Christians viewing their nation’s invasion of Ukraine? Read JAYSON CASPER’s reports on Christianity Today...
26th April, 2022
Churches in South Africa have been providing relief to those impacted by the floods in KwaZulu-Natal. Read a report from FREDRICK NZWILI on the World Council of Churches’ website…
22nd April, 2022
Interested in the stories behind the creation of Christian worship songs? Relevant looks at how five classic songs came to be created…
21st April, 2022
US churches shouldn’t automatically get tax exemptions, according to ROBERT REPINO, essayist and an editor of religious studies and history for Oxford University Press. Read the article on Sojourners…
20th April, 2022
US Christian ecologist Rick Lindroth says faith is important to combatting deep despair over climate change. Read SARAH PULLIAM BAILEY’s article – ‘To fight climate despair, this Christian ecologist says science isn’t enough’ – on The Washington Post…
19th April, 2022
Aboriginal photographer Wayne Quillam has been travelling across Australia for 30 years, documenting its hundreds of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups. See ISABELLE RODD’s video on the BBC…
14th April, 2022
Large attendances at Holy Week celebrations in Iraq’s north are a sign that Christians are slowly returning to their homes. Read INÉS SAN MARTÍN’s report on Crux…
13th April, 2022
Christian volunteers in Jerusalem hope to build bridges with their Muslim neighbours by hosting Iftar meals. Read JUDITH SUDILOVSKY’s report on Catholic News Service…
12th April, 2022
Ivan Rusyn, a Ukrainian seminary president whose Bucha home was looted by retreating Russian soldiers, describes the spiritual impact of Christians serving amid death and devastation. Read JAYSON CASPER’s article on Christianity Today…
11th April, 2022
Religious Australians are pushing for climate action, and want church leaders and politicians to get on board, according to a report by BARBARA HEGGEN. Read her report on Australia’s ABC…
8th April, 2022
What did Christian worship look like in Europe in the Middle Ages? Professor Nicholas Orme provides some answers in an article on History Extra…
7th April, 2022
The war in Ukraine has raised many questions about the role and powers of the UN. UN News canvasses some of them in a “deep dive” into the UN Charter…
6th April, 2022
Welcoming a new pastor in your church? In an article published by Baptist News Global, US pastor BARRY HOWARD outlines 10 suggestions to help them feel at home…
5th April, 2022
Churches across US denominations are acknowledging that their wealth was often built off of enslaved labour and committing parts of their endowments to reparations funds. Read MICHELA MOSCUFO’s report for NBC News…
4th April, 2022
Dr Kurt Kramer, known as “Monsieur Bimbam”, is a world-renowned campanologist who has examined and restored countless church bells for more than 40 years. Watch TERESA KAMMERLANDER’s report on Deutsche-Weller…
1st April, 2022
Ukraine has accused Russia of damaging or destroying at least 59 religious sites across the country since its invasion began including an Orthodox cathedral which had its steeple ripped apart, a Jewish school struck by shelling and parish churches left almost totally destroyed. Read JACK HUNTER’s report on the BBC…
31st March, 2022
Netherlands-born photographer Roman Robroek has captured a series of 100 images of abandoned churches in Italy, finding everything from old podiums and broken stained-glass to mummified bodies during his explorations. Read HANNAH FRISHBERG’s story on the New York Post…
30th March, 2022
The COVID-19 crisis has put pressure on hard-hit nations with millions of caregivers dead – but family is still preferred over institutional care. Read ADAM MACINNIS’ report on Christianity Today, ‘Christian Ministries: Say No to Orphanages’…
29th March, 2022
In a special report, the BBC takes a look at what life is like inside North Korea’s prison camps. Read LAURA BICKER’s report…
28th March, 2022
With the help of an innovative mobile phone service, UN agencies are working with the Government of Rajasthan, India, to combat child marriage. Read the report on UN News…
25th March, 2022
The Protestant Christian community in Algeria is under siege from its own government, writes MILES PJ WINDSOR, senior manager for strategy and campaigns at the Religious Freedom Institute. Read the article on Newsweek…
24th March, 2022
Life has changed for everyone as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. In an article published by the National Catholic Reporter in the US, DANIEL P HORAN, looks at ‘5 Christian virtues to help us learn to live in a new “new normal”‘…
23rd March, 2022
DALE RECINELLA, a former Wall Street finance lawyer who assists prisoners on death row in Florida together with his wife Susan, shares his experience and tells the stories of those he meets. Read his article on Vatican News…
22nd March, 2022
A church leader in South Sudan is urging the international community to keep its focus on the growing humanitarian crisis in the world’s youngest nation, as the globe beams its attention on the conflict in Ukraine. Read FREDRICK NZWILI’s article on the World Council of Churches’ website…
21st March, 2022
The UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo – MONUSCO – is helping foreign combatants with armed groups in the country to demobilise and adjust to a new life after they stop fighting. Read the article on UN News…
18th March, 2022
The Saint-Valery church in Varengeville-sur-Mer – which inspired Impressionist painters including Monet – is in danger due to rising sea levels. Read GEORGES WASER’s report on the church in Normandy, France, in The Art Newspaper…
17th March, 2022
In an open letter to the world, Vytaly Vlasenko, general secretary of the Russian Evangelical Alliance and pastor of a Baptist church in Moscow, laments his country’s military invasion of Ukraine. Read the letter on the Evangelical Focus website…
16th March, 2022
What was Jesus’ advice for growing in Christian maturity? Be like children. Read JARED KENNEDY’s article on The Gospel Coalition…
15th March, 2022
In India, clothing choices are signalling the country’s deepening religious divides. Read RHEA MOGUL’s report on CNN…
14th March, 2022
Other popes have managed to temper tyrants – can Francis do anything about Vladimir Putin? That’s the question PAUL ELIE, a senior fellow at Georgetown University, looks at in his article published by The New Yorker, ‘The Pope, the patriarchs, and the battle to save Ukraine’…
11th March, 2022
For almost five years translator JOST ZETZSCHE has been collecting and curating data about how languages around the world translate the Bible in different and often insightful ways. Read ’10 Biblical Terms I Wish Christians Had in English’ on Christianity Today…
10th March, 2022
For the first time in almost 500 years, a Roman Catholic mass was celebrated in Geneva’s Protestant St-Pierre Cathedral earlier this month. Read the article on the World Council of Churches…
9th March, 2022
In an article marking International Women’s Day, OLIVIA BARDO looks at ’10 Christian women shaping the church in 2022′ in the US. Read the article on Sojourners…
8th March, 2022
Catholic bishops in the Philippines have been at the forefront in attempting to address environmental issues plaguing the nation and the planet writes Catholic scholar JOSE MARIO BAUTISTA MAXIMIANO. Read his article on UCANews…
7th March, 2022
The Paralympics have begun in Beijing. CNN has gathered together some of the best photos so far…
4th March, 2022
Looking for guidance on how to pray for Ukraine? Pastor ATTILA NYÁRI provides his perspective in an article on the Lausanne Movement website…
3rd March, 2022
What does a cathedral “of guns and glory” reveal about Putin’s Russia? Read LENA SURZHKO HARNED’s article on The Conversation…
2nd March, 2022
Hundreds of children were evacuated from areas under Russian-backed separatist control in the east as well as from around the besieged capital of Kyiv to Lviv in the country’s west in a secret operation. Read TOM JOYNER’s and ISABELLA HIGGINS’ report on Australia’s ABC…
1st March, 2022
One church in the area of Seattle in the US used the end of the Beijing Winter Olympics as a chance to engage with the local Uyghur community. Read CARLOS SNELLENBERG-FRASER’s report on Sojourners…
28th February, 2022
Where did Peter – one of the 12 apostles – live? RUTH SCHUSTER reports on the debate for Haaretz…
25th February, 2022
Bibles are in great demand in Ukraine as the nation is enveloped in war, says ROBERT L BRIGGS, president and CEO of American Bible Society. Read his report on Christianity Today…
24th February, 2022
Striking images showing the aftermath of wildfires, portraits of bushmeat hunters and shots taken at the US Capitol riot are among the works which have made the finals of the 2022 Sony World Photography Awards Photographer of the Year. See a gallery of the images on CNN…
23rd February, 2022
Explorer TARA ROBERTS took up diving to learn about the human side of a tragic era but wound up connecting with her family’s inspiring past. Read her account – ‘The search for lost slave ships led this diver on an extraordinary journey’ – on National Geographic…
22nd February, 2022
KATHY PIERRE has compiled a list of ‘Six Women of Black History You Probably Don’t Know About – But Should’. See the list on Relevant…
21st February, 2022
Seville plans to dedicate several streets to women who were important figures in the Spanish Reformation. Read a report on Evangelical Focus Europe…
18th February, 2022
Want to explore Jerusalem’s Christian Quarter? Read RIVKAH LAMBERT ADLER’s article – Jerusalem’s Christian Quarter: A virtual tour – on The Jerusalem Post...
17th February, 2022
Sisters Fazila and Shagufa Haidary fled Afghanistan in August, 2021 and are seeking asylum in Ukraine. Now they fear for the future of their adopted homeland. Read MICK KREVER’s article on CNN…
16th February, 2022
Calvin College historian Kristin du Mez, best-selling author of Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, speaks with GREG GARRETT about Christian masculinity, culture and racism. Read the interview on Baptist News Global…
15th February, 2022
In a Valentine’s Day special, members of the World Council of Churches’ central committee – in an annual tradition that’s part of the WCC’s work toward gender justice – have shared some thoughts around the theme of ‘Love heals, not hurts’. Access the messages here…
14th February, 2022
As centuries-old chapels in Mexico undergo restorations, the buildings raise new questions about how architectural conservation should work – and whom such projects are really for. Read MICHAEL SNYDER’s report on The New York Times…
11th February, 2022
Looking to have an ethical Valentine’s Day? CHANTELLE MAYO, of Baptist World Aid Australia, canvasses some of the issues…
10th February, 2022
The international Christian community is not taking responsibility in promoting reconciliation, writes DANIEL MUNAYER in an article in which he outlines six stages for building peace between Israel-Palestine and other nations. Read it on the Lausanne Movement website…
9th February, 2022
Tongan Christians have felt the prayers of people all around the world after a volcano eruption and tsunami impacted the island nation. Read MORGAN LEE’s report on Christianity Today…
8th February, 2022
Church leaders in the UK have joined in congratulating Queen Elizabeth II on the 70th anniversary of her accession to the throne. Read HATTIE WILLIAMS’ report on Church Times…
7th February, 2022
A new book features sermons from Episcopal Church Bishop Michael Curry preached during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic. He spoke with SANDI DOLBEE of The San-Diego Union Tribune…
4th February, 2022
How did the right of ‘sanctuary’ work in medieval churches? Read KENNETH F DUGAN’s article – Sanctuary in medieval churches: how criminals found protection from capture and punishment – on History Extra…
3rd February, 2022
Cardinal Charles Maung Bo of Yangon has repeatedly called for the release of political prisoners, dialogue and the end of all violence. A year after Myanmar’s military coup, he spoke to KEVIN CLARKE of Jesuit publication America...
2nd February, 2022
What does ‘Christian non-violence’ actually mean? Read an interview with David Cramer, an Anabaptist pastor and theologian, and Myles Werntz, an ethicist and theologian at Abilene Christian University, about their new book A Field Guide to Christian Nonviolence on the Sojourners website…
1st February, 2022
Sister Ann Rose Nu Tawng has been detained several times by security forces after standing up to Myanmar’s military junta. But she has paid a price for her stance. Read a report on UCANews…
31st January, 2022
Baptists in western Ukraine are preparing to open their homes and churches if brethren have to flee the eastern border. Read DIANE CHANDLER’s report on Christianity Today…
28th January, 2022
Streaming church services isn’t without pitfalls, writes DOMINIC PINO in an article on The National Review. Read ‘Churches Need to Consider Potential Downsides of Streaming’ here…
27th January, 2022
Albania might become a success story of Christian mission using schools as a tool to build a church strong enough to support itself and work for the kingdom of God, according to an article on Evangelical Focus. Read JOHANNES REIMER’s article here…
26th January, 2022
In California, the Orange County Rescue Mission, a Christian homeless shelter, is taking an innovative approach to helping those in need. Read LISA VANDENBOOM ASHLEY’s story on Religion Unplugged…
25th January, 2022
In the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, a new generation of ‘narco-pentecostals’ are embracing Christian symbols. Read TOM PHILLIPS’ report in The Guardian…
24th January, 2022
Devil or fool? Several churches in Germany have stained-glass windows portraying Adolf Hitler. Who were the artists and what are the artworks all about? Read RAYNA BREUER’s article on Deutsche Welle…
21st January, 2022
“The learning from this pandemic has been of our shared vulnerability – and shared fate – as one humanity,” Rev Prof Dr Ioan Sauca, acting general secretary of the World Council of Churches shared in a discussion hosted by the Institute for Ecumenical Studies of Angelicum University recently. Watch a video of the event here…
20th January, 2022
Hundreds of “Trump prophets” predicted that former President Donald Trump would win a second term. While a few have since acknowledged they were wrong, others have not. Read JULIA DUIN’s report on Newsweek…
19th January, 2022
New mosaics from the site of Ashdod in Israel have added to the evidence for female deacons in antiquity, write SARAH E BOND, an associate professor of history at the University of Iowa and SHAILY PATEL,assistant professor of early Christianity in the Department of Religion and Culture at Virginia Tech. Read their article on the Los Angeles Review of Books website…
18th January, 2022
Michel Boutros is a 90-year-old Christian in Syria’s Idlib and is said to be the last Christian in the city. Read MOUNEB TAIM’s report on Al-Monitor…
17th January, 2022
Artist BRYN GILLETTE writes about how he recreated a Christian painting for a Muslim context. Read ‘Finding Christ’s Beloved in Islamic Artistic Traditions’ on the Lausanne Movement website…
14th January, 2022
Pastor Siv Limstrand is the world’s northernmost priest, running the Svalbard Church in Longyearbyen in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago. See a photo essay by GIUIA BESANA on The Guardian’s website…
13th January, 2022
What do we think of God when life is delivering some harsh blows? US pastor David Schuman reflects on this in an article – ‘Seeking God’s Goodness When Life Seems Bad’ – published on Relevant Magazine…
12th January, 2022
The New York Times‘ list of destinations to visit this year features spots where visitors can be part of the solution to problems like overtourism and climate change. See the list here…
11th January, 2022
Ryan Burge, assistant professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University, says that many in the US are choosing to eschew the label of Protestant in favour of the broader term Christian. Read his article on Christianity Today…
10th January, 2022
In a warehouse on Staten Island, the Archdiocese of New York stores altars, statuary and other relics that can be reused in churches around the world. JOHN FREEMAN GILL reports for The New York Times…
7th January, 2022
Across the world, churches are involved in efforts to end child abuse. Read ‘Across the world, churches work to end child abuse by bringing it “Out of the Shadows”’ on the World Council of Churches’ website…
6th January, 2022
The attack on the US Capitol signalled a “post-Christian church, not merely a post-Christian culture”, says RUSSELL MOORE in an article on Christianity Today. Read it here…
5th January, 2022
When is the celebration of Epiphany and what’s it all about? SOO KIM explores in an article on Newsweek…
4th January, 2022
International aid is essential for Christians to survive in Syria, according to a report on Vatican News. Read it here…
31st December, 2021
Let’s measure the new year in love, says president of Sojourners, ADAM RUSSELL TAYLOR. Read his article here…
30th December, 2021
Catholic churches in the US have increasingly been the target of vandalism this year. JULIA DUNN reports for Newsweek...
29th December, 2021
The World Bank has published 11 charts illustrating inequality during the coronavirus pandemic. See them here…
24th December, 2021
Kashmir’s oldest church, built in 1896, is expected to reopen for Christmas. SYED SHAHRIYAR reports for Religion Unplugged…
23rd December, 2021
The National Library of Israel in Jerusalem has announced that some 1,600 Christian manuscripts from Saint Catherine’s Monastery, home to the world’s oldest working library, can now be viewed by the public online. Follow this link to access them…
22nd December, 2021
What were the top 10 discoveries in Biblical archaeology this year? GORDON GOVIER takes a look in this article on Christianity Today...
21st December, 2021
A group of women, including a 13 refugees, set out to climb Mount Toubkal – Morocco’s highest peak – to highlight the struggle to end violence against women recently. Read a report on the UNHCR website…
20th December, 2021
Pastors are among those who are walking away from their jobs as part of what’s been described as the ‘Great Resignation’ in the US. Read US pastor MELISSA FLORER-BIXLER’s discussion about why on Sojourners…
17th December, 2021
To tree or not to tree? That’s the question that faces Jewish-Christian families each December. Read SAMIRA MEHTA’s article on The Conversation…
16th December, 2021
There has been a rise in attacks on Christians in southern India, according to a new report. Read BIJAY KUMAR MINJ’s report on UCANews…
15th December, 2021
The largest Catholic church in the Gulf region and the Arabian Peninsula, the Cathedral of Our Lady of Arabia, has been inaugurated in Bahrain, more than eight years after King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa donated land for the initiative. Read HUDHAIFA EBRAHIM’s report on The Jerusalem Post…
14th December, 2021
Christians in Aleppo, Syria, numbered about 150,000 before the conflict in the nation but today there are 30,000 left. Read JEAN-CHARLES PUTZOLU’s interview with Monsignor Joseph Tobji, Maronite bishop of Aleppo, on the Vatican News website…
13th December, 2021
The Catholic Church in Singapore has celebrated its 200th anniversary. Read NG KENE GENE’s report in The Straits Times…
10th December, 2021
Europe is spending millions on military-grade surveillance systems and other technologies to deter refugees. Read KAAMIL AHMED and LORENZO TONDO’s report on The Guardian…
9th December, 2021
Episcopal Migration Ministries in the US will pass a significant milestone this month, having helped 100,000 people establish new homes in the US after fleeing war, violence and persecution in their home countries. DAVID PAULSEN reports for Episcopal News Service…
8th December, 2021
Missionaries travel the world to spread the word of God. But what happens when things go wrong? LUCY SWEENEY reports for Australia’s ABC…
7th December, 2021
Christian communities are in decline all across the Middle East. Listen to author Janine di Giovanni discussing her book The Vanishing: Faith, Loss, and the Twilight of Christianity in the Land of the Prophets with Haaretz Weekly...
6th December, 2021
Will church ever be the same post-pandemic? See JANET ADAMY’s picture-driven report in The Wall Street Journal…
3rd December, 2021
Rights groups in India have recorded more than 300 attacks on Christians and their religious places in the first nine months of this year. NEEL MADHAV and ALISHAN JAFRI look at why in a report on Al Jazeera…
2nd December, 2021
Baptisms are taking on different shapes in some US evangelical churches. Read RUTH GRAHAM’s article – ‘Horse Troughs, Hot Tubs and Hashtags: Baptism Is Getting Wild’ – in the New York Times…
30th November, 2021
Christian leaders, supported by radio ministry TWR, are helping to break-down prejudices against and provide support for Europe’s Roma. Read DANIEL JURSA’s column on Evangelical Focus…
29th November, 2021
The Church of Sweden has apologised and embarked on a process of reconciliation with Indigenous Sámi people. JOHN LAST, of CBC News, reports…
26th November, 2021
Father Charles Patrick Edward Borrows has spent nearly five decades helping fishermen in Kampung Laut to overcome poverty, illiteracy and disease. Read KONRADUS EPA’s report – ‘On a mission to end poverty and suffering in Indonesia’ – on UCANews…
25th November, 2021
Churches are helping Iraqi Christians displaced by Islamic State. Read DALE GAVLAK’s report on Angelus News…
24th November, 2021
If Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison acted on his strong Christian faith, he would phase out coal, says TIM COSTELLO. Read his article on The Guardian…
23rd November, 2021
What can stand-up comedians teach the church? RUSSELL MOORE, who leads the Public Theology Project at Christianity Today, explores the subject…
22nd November, 2021
Orthodox church of Agia Fotini of Mantinea in Greece is described as one of the “most mysterious” churches in the world. Read PAULINA KARAVASILI’s report in the Greek City Times…
19th November, 2021
A Nigerian Christian who survived a kidnapping at the hands of terrorist group Boko Haram credited her escape to a deal she made with God during a press conference announcing International Christian Concern’s 2021 ‘Persecutor of the Year’ Awards this week. Read RYAN FOLEY’s report on the Christian Post…
18th November, 2021
The “virtual utopia” that Mark Zuckerberg’s metaverse offers “will not lead to community or belonging, but rather it will exacerbate our social depravity by making participants less human”, writes AMAR D PETERMAN. Read his article – ‘How the metaverse will pull us further apart’ – on Sojourners…
17th November, 2021
Austria’s controversial lockdown is a hot topic among Christians in the European nation. Read JOEL FORSTER’s report on Evangelical Focus about the different approaches churches are taking…
16th November, 2021
What should be done with old churches that dioceses can no longer afford to keep? That’s the question JOHN CHRISTMAN looks at in his article published on the US Catholic website…
15th November, 2021
TIME has an exclusive look inside facilities making COVID-19 vaccines in Germany. See ALICE PARK and ARYN BAKER’s report…
12th November, 2021
A group of friends in the UK town of Chatham have started a church aimed at bringing the Christian faith to fans of metal. Read POPPY JEFFERY’s report on the BBC…
11th November, 2021
The world’s water crisis is being ignored at COP26, says WaterAid. Read SARAH JOHNSON’s report on The Guardian…
10th November, 2021
For a century, Pakistani Christians have had a unique resource to draw upon – a translation of the Book of Psalms known as Punjabi Zabur, which is said to be the “most read, sung, recited, and memorised part of Scripture by the body of Christ in Pakistan”. Read YOUSEF SADIQ’s report on Christianity Today…
9th November, 2021
Seen by their guardians as sacred, Ethiopia’s church forests are protected and cared for by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. See a photo essay by KIERAN DODDS, who tells the story of the country’s spiritually driven conservation movement in a new book ‘The Church Forests of Ethiopia’, in The Guardian…
8th November, 2021
On Sunday, Christians around the world marked the annual International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. Read Prof GPV SOMARATNA’s article – ‘A Biblical theology of persecution’ – on the IDOP website…
5th November, 2021
A large number of single women are leaving the church, writes KATIE GADDINI. See why in the article in Relevant…
4th November, 2021
‘As Facebook evolves to Meta, what is the future of consciousness and control?’ Read RICK PIDCOCK’s article on Baptist News Global…
3rd November, 2021
CAROLYN WINFREY GILLETTE, author of more than 400 hymns siungs by congregations across the world, has written a hymn focusing on climate change. See The Climate is Changing on Sojourners…
2nd November, 2021
China “aids and abets” North Korea’s abuse of Christians, according to a report in US-based The National Interest. Read ARIELLE DEL TURCO’s article…
1st November, 2021
Since May, 2020, there have been at least 100 violent incidents affecting US Catholic congregations, according to a report by KELSEY DALLAS on Deseret News. Read ‘Church vandalism is on the rise. Here’s how congregations heal’…
29th October, 2021
Baptist World Aid Australia has released a free 10 day devotional focusing on our care for the environment. Download the ‘The Earth is the Lord’s!’…
28th October, 2021
Work is not the result of the Fall with Scripture framing work as a “good thing, an essential part of what it means to be human”, write JOHN STONESTREET and GLENN SUNSHINE in an article published on The Colson Center’s Breakpoint. Read it here…
27th October, 2021
Want to keep on top of the acronyms and buzz words that will be used at COP26 (an example in itself). The UN has published a handy guide here…
26th October, 2021
Politicians are being banned from pulpits in Kenya. Read EMMANUEL ONYANGO’s report for the BBC…
25th October, 2021
On its 75th anniversary last year, the United Nations asked people around the world to share their vision of #TheWorldWeWant and received more than 50,000 responses. See a selection here…
22nd October, 2021
Christian leaders have always grappled with tough issues surrounding finances and faith. JENNIFER WOODRUFF TAIT, a priest at St John’s Episcopal Church in Corbin, Kentucky and editor of Christian History magazine looks at what they teach us today in an article on Christianity Today…
21st October, 2021
The fabled ‘Church of the Apostles’ in the Biblical village of Bethsaida has been lost for 1,000 years. But new finds are leading researchers to believe they may have found it. Read RUTH SCHUSTER’s report on Haaretz…
20th October, 2021
“The Church I so loved has lost its way. I simply HAD to leave”. In an article published in The Daily Mail, the former Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, explains decision to leave the Church of England and move to the Catholic Church…
19th October, 2021
Is it time to separate church and social media like we have separated church and state? That’s the question CURTIS RAMSEY-LUCAS asks in an article published by The Christian Citizen…
18th October, 2021
Churches, clergy are being targeted by Myanmar military. Read NU NU LUSAN and EMILY FISHBEIN’s report on Al Jazeera…
15th October, 2021
New York City’s Rabbi Moshe Margaretten and his organisation – the Tzedek Association – has helped dozens of activists, judges, and others who either worked with the former Afghan Government or as interpreters for British and US forces in the country to leave Afghanistan. Read MAL SIRET’s report on the BBC…
14th October, 2021
The World Week for Peace in Palestine and Israel may be officially over for the year but for Fuad Giacaman, it continues as he promotes education, peace building and dialogue in the Palestinian cities of Bethlehem, Ramallah and Hebron. Read a report on the World Council of Churches’ website…
13th October, 2021
The Polish Catholic Church’s “experimental approach to church design” was a “deliberate affront” to the Communist regime that ruled the country until 1989, writes JO HARPER. Read the article on Euronews…
12th October, 2021
The authors of a new book – Endgame: The Church’s Strategic Move to Save Faith and Family in America – assert that the decline in church attendance in America is inextricably linked to the decline of marriage reports LEE HABEEB. Read the article on Newsweek…
11th October, 2021
Retired world champion boxer Manny Pacquiao is running for president in the Philippines. LEOCCIANO CALLAO writes about former boxer’s Christian faith in an article on Religion Unplugged…
8th October, 2021
When were pews put in churches in medieval England – and were they ever filled? NICHOLAS ORME, Emeritus Professor of History at Exeter University and author of Going to Church in Medieval England, explores the issue in an article in Church Times…
7th October, 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic illustrates global and ecumenical interdependence, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said in a statement to an interfaith conference in Landau, Germany, this week. Read JEFF BRUMLEY’s report on Baptist News Global…
6th October, 2021
Hiring people with a criminal record – known as “second chance employment” – can be good for business, argues investment strategist and author JEFFREY KORZENIK. Read his article in Newsweek…
5th October, 2021
How did the Renaissance change the church? Read LESLEY KENNEDY’s report on History.com…
4th October, 2021
Christians in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh are living in fear amid claims of ‘forced conversions’. Read HANNAH ELLIS-PETERSEN’s report in The Guardian...
1st October, 2021
Oxford University recently apologised for hosting a Christian event. Cambridge lecturer GEMMA SIMMONDS, writing in Premier Christianity, looks at whether it was an attack on religious freedom…
30th September, 2021
Just who was Martha, the sister of Mary found in the Gospels? Read KRISTEN PADILLA’s article, Martha: Busy Hostess or Dragon Slayer?, on Christianity Today…
29th September, 2021
‘South Sudan church leaders work for peace, but soldiers won’t listen’. Read PAUL JEFFREY’s report on Angelus…
28th September, 2021
In a new US documentary The Jesus Music, brothers Jon and Andy Erwin construct an “eye-opening historical overview of how the contemporary Christian music industry started and how it’s going”, according to a story on Alabama.com. Read GREG GARRISON’s story here…
27th September, 2021
In an article published by the Theos thinktank in the UK, PETE WHITEHEAD looks at the impact some strands of ‘New Atheism’ had on the internet, and how they shaped our discourse today. Read it here…
24th September, 2021
Members of the World Council of Churches-Ecumenical Water Network are worried that violence against activists who are taking a stand against the over-exploitation of natural resources, like land and water, is on the rise. Read the article on the World Council of Churches’ website…
23rd September, 2021
What are the key issues in the German election? JOEL FORSTER, of Evangelical Focus, speaks with journalist Jonathan Steinart…
22nd September, 2021
Facebook wants to make ‘Instagram for kids’, says LUCY KIDWELL – co-chair of the Interfaith Work Group at Fairplay’s Children’s Screen Time Action Network in an article warning that “Christian parents should keep their kids far, far away from it”. Read her article on America Magazine…
21st September, 2021
What are the implications of a global rise in non-Western Christian leadership? MARY HO explores the question in her article ‘When leaders drink tea together: A critique of Western Christian leadership in light of global trends’ published in this month’s Lausanne Global Analysis…
20th September, 2021
A ground-breaking educational institute for the blind, the Blindenstudienanstalt, has been instrumental in transforming the German city of Marburg into a ‘Blindenstadt’ -a city adapted to make life for the blind and partially sighted as easy as possible. Read SOPHIE HARDACH’s report for the BBC…
17th September, 2021
US Christian author Rebekah Lyons spoke to Relevent about her new book, A Surrendered Yes. Read the interview here…
16th September, 2021
As Brazil struggles to care for COVID-19 orphans, church agencies are trying to help. Read EDUARDO CAMPOS LIMA’s report on the US National Catholic Reporter…
15th September, 2021
The right to critique America is part of the brilliance of America, says ADAM RUSSELL TAYLOR in an article published on Sojourners. Read ‘Is a redemptive patriotism possible?’…
14th September, 2021
Thirteen years ago in the eastern Indian state of Odisha, almost 100 Christians were killed while thousands of others fled to jungles during weeks of unabated violence in what was the worst anti-Christian violence in modern Indian history. ANTO AKKARA reports for the National Catholic Register…
13th September, 2021
Christina Ray Stanton was near the World Trade Centre when terrorists flew two planes into the towers 20 years ago. Now a tour guide in NYC, she writes on Premier Christianity about what she wants Christians to know about the most deadly terror attack in America’s history…
10th September, 2021
As the latest in a Washington Post series looking at the future of the Black church in America, JUDITH CHRISTIE MCALLISTER writes that it will include its musical heritage. Read the article here…
9th September, 2021
Over the past year-and-a-half, Asian American Christians across denominations have been calling out the anti-Asian bias they see in their own church congregations. SARAH NGU reports for NBC News…
8th September, 2021
What can the sport of cricket teach religion? That’s the question asked by PAUL BICKLEY as he looks at cricket’s new competition, The Hundred, and examines what it can teach the church in an article published on the UK’s Theos thinktank website…
7th September, 2021
CURTIS CHANG, co-founder of Christians and the Vaccine in the US, says religious exemptions to coronavirus vaccine mandates “make a mockery of Christianity and religious liberty”. Read his article – ‘A Christian’s Case Against Exemptions to Vaccine Mandates’ – on The New York Times…
6th September, 2021
Becoming President has brought Biden into direct conflict with conservative Catholics on the issue of abortion. Read RUBY CRAMER’s report -‘”A Private Matter”: Joe Biden’s Very Public Clash With His Own Church’ – on Politico…
3rd September, 2021
In his new book Same Words, Different Worlds, Italian theologian and evangelical pastor Leonardo De Chirico defends the need to understand the theology that differentiates evangelicals and Roman Catholics. Read JOEL FORSTER’s interview with him on Evangelical Focus…
2nd September, 2021
The Church of England’s plans to set up 10,000 new Christian communities in England over the next decade – many led by lay people and based in village halls, cafes, warehouses, empty shops and other unconventional venues – has prompted a ‘Save the Parish’ campaign. Read HARRIET SHERWOOD’s report in The Guardian…
1st September, 2021
What is church now? CHRISTINA COLÓN investigates in a piece for Sojourners…
31st August, 2021
Are UFOs a threat to traditional religious belief? Read TERRY MATTINGLY’s response on Religion Unplugged…
30th August, 2021
One out of three Fender guitars purchased in the US are used for worship says the company. Read DANIEL SILLIMAN reports for Christianity Today…
27th August, 2021
Among those competing at the Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan, are the six athletes in the Refugee Paralympic Team. Read MALCOLM FOSTER’s report on the UNHCR website…
26th August, 2021
Twenty-one South Korean delivery drivers have died during the pandemic with unions claiming it’s because of overwork. Read CARRINGTON CLARKE’s report on Australia’s ABC…
25th August, 2021
The epicentre of the Christian church around the world has moved from the West to so-called ‘Majority World’ nations. As indigenous missions gain ground in many nations, KIRST RIEVAN, in an article published in Lausanne Global Analysis, looks at whether foreignors are still needed in mission work…
24th August, 2021
Polish researchers have discovered evidence of an early Christian settlement – dated to the sixth century AD – in the ancient city of Marea, Egypt. Read TARA WU’s report in Smithsonian Magazine…
23rd August, 2021
How is a Christian to respond to the scenes unfolding in Afghanistan? Read RICH MCKINLESS’s article – ‘What American Christians Owe the People of Afghanistan’ – in America…
20th August, 2021
This month marks 80 years since theologian CS Lewis have the first of a series of talks on the BBC that would evolve into Mere Christianity, “probably one of the most influential books of the 20th century”. Listen to a discussion about it on Australia’s Centre for Public Christianity’s Life & Faith podcast…
19th August, 2021
In Hong Kong, the complete dismantling of the city’s freedoms, democracy, autonomy and rule of law has happened so quickly, writes BENEDICT ROGERS, co-founder and chief executive of Hong Kong Watch. Read his article on UCANews, ‘Never forget the tragedy unfolding in Hong Kong’…
18th August, 2021
Australian Baptist Ministries launched a new publication – Justice 2021: Toward a More Just Australia – which looks into eight specific justice issues including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, refugees and asylum seekers, domestic violence, affordable housing, aging population, climate change, extreme poverty, and forced labour. Follow this link to download the report…
17th August, 2021
Latasha Morrison has made it her mission to help Christians of different races talk about racial justice – and maybe even form genuine friendships. Read CAROL KURUVILLA’s report on The Guardian…
16th August, 2021
Americans John and Jan Bradley have spent years building schools and trying to improve life in war-torn Afghanistan. CHERYL MANN BACON, writing in The Christian Chronicle, reports on how they are now working to help volunteers leave…
13th August, 2021
In an edited version of a speech delivered at the Jeju Forum for Peace and Prosperity, former Australian Prime Minister KEVIN RUDD outlines a way for the world to work together on distributing COVID-19 vaccines. Read his article on TIME…
12th August, 2021
Christian ministries and organisations are not alone in facing challenge of intergrating leadership of different generations – it’s one felt in every workplace write NANA YAW OFFEI and OLE-MAGNUS OLAFSRUD. Read their article – ‘Befriending Our Generational Neighbours – Three ways to bridge the leadership gap’ – on the Lausanne Movement website…
11th August, 2021
The tiny Central American nation of Belize is home to 12,000 of the world’s most conservative Mennonites, a group of Christians that live in closed communities and shun modern technology including, in some cases, electricity. Read OSCAR HOLLAND’s report on CNN…
10th August, 2021
Christian author Walter Wangerin, Jr, passed last week. PHILIP YANCEY pays tribute in an article published on Christianity Today…
9th August, 2021
Christians need to recover the “lost art” of patience, writes US pastor and author TYLER EDWARDS. Read his article on Relevant…
6th August, 2021
Many religious institutions are often seen as traditional and a bit out of touch. But, Germany’s Deutsche Weller reports that mainline churches are actually huge commercial enterprises and are using modern management methods to stay relevant and make a profit…
5th August, 2021
Now a minister in Nottingham, England, Paul Traynor is a former “career criminal”. Read SANDISH STOKER’s story of his remarkable journey on the BBC…
4th August, 2021
Algerian Christians showing ‘great resilience’ in face of harassment, writes NGALA KILIAN CHIMTOM. Read the article on Crux here…
3rd August, 2021
In the US, Facebook is now inviting users to share prayer requests on the platform. Read GINA CILIBERTO’s report on Sojourners…
2nd August, 2021
Seventy years ago, the 1951 UN Refugee Convention was signed to protect refugees. Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon writes in TIME that too many leaders are failing to uphold that promise…
30th July, 2021
Tokyo’s homeless community have faced pressure to hide from sight during the Summer Olympics, according to report on the BBC. Watch the report here…
29th July, 2021
ANDREW WONG, an orthopaedic surgeon based in Florida, argues that taking the COVID-19 vaccine is the “Christian thing to do”. Read his op-ed piece on USA Today…
28th July, 2021
Christians are among those competing at the Tokyo Olympics. MORGAN LEE, in an article on Christianity Today, profiles some “women and men who make their faith a priority as they compete in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics”…
27th July, 2021
MICHAEL FOUST, in an article on crosswalk.com, looks at six faith-based films expected to be released in the US later this year…
26th July, 2021
Christians from North Korea who escaped into China are smuggling “holy rice” back across the border as food supplies in North Korea are believed to be close to catastrophic collapse. Read REBECCA PAVELEY’s report on Church Times…
23rd July, 2021
Known as the “apostle of the apostles”, Mary Magdelene shows us how to live with faithfulness and courage writes THERESA CIVANTOS BARBER on Aleteia. Read ‘3 Inspiring lessons for the modern Christian from St Mary Magdalene’s life’…
22nd July, 2021
A bombing in Iraq this week left at least 30 people dead in Baghdad while, four days earlier, 70 children received their first communion in the city of Telskuf. Read INÉS SAN MARTÍN’s report – For Iraqi Christians, scenes of both horror and hope – on CruxNow…
21st July, 2021
Pakistani Christian woman Asia Bibi, imprisoned on death row for over eight years based on trumped-up blasphemy charges, told the recent International Religious Freedom Summit how that experience helped her “grow strong in faith”. Read RYAN FOLEY’s report on The Christian Post…
20th July, 2021
Myanmar Cardinal Charles Bo is again asking people in his nation, especially the military, to lay down their guns and join hands in fighting the common enemy, the virus. Read ROBIN GOMES’ report on Vatican News…
19th July, 2021
A study has found that regular Bible readers experienced more stress in 2020 but also more hope. ADAM MACINNIS reports for Christianity Today…
16th July, 2021
Hundreds of people are taking part in weekly ecumenical retreats hosted by the Lutheran Bishop of Uppsala Karin Johannesson and the Catholic Bishop of Stockholm Cardinal Anders Arborelius in Sweden. Read a report on The Lutheran World Federation’s website…
15th July, 2021
Recent data released by the Public Religion Research Institute in the US showed that Protestants who do not identity as evangelicals in the US now outnumber those that do. RYAN BURGE, in an article published on Religion Unplugged, says that’s unlikely…
14th July, 2021
An online exhibition at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC, in the US, shines a spotlight on seven churches and monasteries in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. See ‘Ancient Faith: The Churches of Nagorno-Karabak‘…
13th July, 2021
It’s believed by some that Christianity has been present in India since the 1st century yet they make up just 2.4 per cent of India’s population. Read a Pew Research Center report on ‘8 key findings about Christians in India’…
12th July, 2021
Generosity is a key call for Christians to follow. But what about when you have no money yourself? ART RAINER, in an article on Relevant, looks at ‘Five Ways to Be Generous Even If You’re Broke’…
9th July, 2021
Bishop Teresa Jefferson-Snorton, ecumenical officer for the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church and presiding bishop of the Fifth Episcopal District, reflects on the vital role of churches in reducing vaccine hesitancy and increasing vaccine equity. Read an interview with her on the World Council of Churches website…
8th July, 2021
Esau McCaulley’s new book Reading While Black “grapples with the question of how a just and salvific God views racism and police violence, and how Christians can find hope in moments of profound grief about how Black people are treated in America”. Read EMMA GREEN’s interview on The Atlantic…
7th July, 2021
Westminster Abbey has launched a free online resource designed to help schools and families explore Christianity through 10 treasures from the Abbey’s collection. See ‘Explore Christianity in 10 objects’…
6th July, 2021
After spending years living in UN-supported camps in Kenya, some 220 former refugees from Somalia now work as farmers in the US state of Maine, growing crops ranging from beets to broccolini. Read a report on UN News…
5th July, 2021
While throughout history the church has stood outside its culture as resident aliens, “in our present age, the church does not look very different from its surrounding context,” writes IRENE ALEXANDER, a spiritual director and author. Read her article – ‘Release to the Captives: the majority world’s invitation to freedom from the cultural captivity of the West’ – on Australia’s Ethos – the EA Centre for Christianity and Society website…
2nd July, 2021
The church of St Margaret of Antioch in the English village of Barley in Hertfordshire, has been decorated with more than 1000 handmade flowers to help raise funds for its renovation and upkeep. Read the report – and see the pictures – on the BBC website…
1st July, 2021
More than 100 pastors have died during the coronavirus pandemic in Nepal. SURINDER KAUR reports for Christianity Today…
30th June, 2021
“I fear that we are thinking more about the survival of Christianity than about sharing the good news of the risen Christ,” says Metropolitan Emmanuel, number two in the hierarchy of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. Read ANDREA TORNIELLI’s report for Vatican News…
29th June, 2021
Christianity is flourishing in Iran, according to DANIEL PIPES, president of the Middle East Forum. Read his article – ‘Iran’s Christian boom’ – published on Newsweek…
28th June, 2021
The Chosen is as well-made and entertaining, says CHRIS DEVILLE in an article published by The Atlantic. But, he adds, its relative invisibility to secular audiences is no surprise. Read ‘Christian America’s Must-See TV Show’…
25th June, 2021
Nicargua’s President Daniel Ortega has been condemned for his crackdown on opposition figures in recent weeks. WILL GRANT, of the BBC, reports…
24th June, 2021
With the Tokyo Olympics scheduled to start in less than a month, Catholic churches say they are continuing to maintain infection control measures despite the Japanese Government lifting the state of emergency. Read the report on UCANews…
23rd June, 2021
The Australian Government says it has been blindsided by a recommendation by UN science advisers that the Great Barrier Reef be placed on the world heritage “in danger” list. Read GRAHAM READFERN’s in-depth report looking at the details on The Guardian…
22nd June, 2021
Originally from Tigray in Ethiopia, TEMESGEN KAHSAY, an assistant professor at the Norwegian School of Leadership and Theology, writes to his fellow Ethiopian Christians that “our faith does not condone genocide”. Read the article on Sojourners…
21st June, 2021
Sustainability solution or climate calamity? Read a UN News reports on the dangers and promise of cryptocurrency technology…
18th June, 2021
G7 leaders have failed to deliver financial support for less wealthy nations, according to Tearfund UK’s RUTH VALERIO. Read her article – The G7 summit was all talk and not much action: Christians need to keep praying for more – on Premier Christianity…
17th June, 2021
As US states legalise the use of marijuana recreationally, there is growing pressure on pastors to address the issue. KELSEY DALLAS, in an article on Deseret News, reports…
16th June, 2021
The American church is in a mess, writes Anglican priest and author TISH HARRISON WARREN in a story on Christianity Today. Read why she’s still hopeful…
15th June, 2021
What was the experience of children around the world during the coronavirus pandemic? Read a report from JEFFREY KLUGER AND ALLISON SINGER on TIME…
14th June, 2021
A recent report found that women inside Australia’s Anglican Church are significantly more likely to have experienced abuse than those in the broader population, says broadcaster, historian and author JULIA BAIRD. Read her article – ‘The church stripped bare: high rate of domestic abuse among Anglicans exposed’ – on the Sydney Morning Herald…
11th June, 2021
Bishop Kortu K Brown, president of the Liberian Council of Churches, has called for an end to the “culture of impunity” in resolving land conflicts in the country. Read an interview with him on the World Council of Churches website…
10th June, 2021
Struggling with doubt? JESSE CAREY, in an article published on Relevant, looks at seven “prominent Christian thinks who wrestled with doubt”…
9th June, 2021
A number of new films and documentaries are putting a spotlight on evangelical youth culture in the US. DL MAYFIELD writes, in an article published on Sojourners, about the “complicated nostalgia of seeing my evangelical childhood on film”…
8th June, 2021
Experiencing God and engaging in social responsibility are keys to church relevance, writes US minister JASON KOONS. Read his article on Baptist News Global…
7th June, 2021
A Benedictine abbey on the Scottish island of Iona reopens this week after a £3m renovation. Read HARRIET SHREWOOD’s report on The Guardian – ‘Scotland’s ‘cradle of Christianity’ on Iona is saved by small mercies’…
4th June, 2021
About 60 church members of a church from southern China are seeking asylum in South Korea, citing persecution by the Communist Party. CHUN HAN WONG and JOSH CHIN report on their story in The Wall Street Journal…
3rd June, 2021
The ‘Reasons for Our Hope’ project seeks to promote dialogue between Christians and Muslims. Read about it in an article on Vatican News…
2nd June, 2021
Eve Pitts, the Church of England’s first Black female vicar, has spent decades fighting racism and is now pushing the church to honour the enslaved people it exploited. Read KEHINDE ANDREWS report on The Guardian…
1st June, 2021
Germany’s long-awaited apology for last century’s mass killing in Namibia has opened fresh questions about how Europe confronts its colonial past in Africa, argues Namibian analyst EMSIE ERASTUS. Read the article on the BBC…
31st May, 2021
Some churches in the US are reassessing their need for real estate during the COVID-19 pandemic. Read NOREEN MARCUS’ report on US News & World Report…
28th May, 2021
How should Christians approach social media? Read the article by ANN GARRIDO – ‘Showing up Christian online: 8 ways to be “leaven” on social media’ – on the National Catholic Reporter…
27th May, 2021
Renowned archaeologist Eilat Mazar, who spent five decades excavating sites in the Holy Land, died on Tuesday at age 64. DANIEL SILLIMAN reports on her extraordinary career on Christianity Today…
26th May, 2021
Should churches remove slavery-tainted statues? Read HEATHER TOMLINSON’s report on Premier Christianity…
25th May, 2021
Syrian Catholic Patriarch Ignace Joseph III Younan has called on Western countries to lift “all economic sanctions against Syria, because they only harm the innocent”, saying the situation in tye country could see it emptied of Christians for good. Read DOREEN ABI RAAD’s report published on the Catholic Courier...
24th May, 2021
Scotland’s finance secretary, Kate Forbes, said in an interview with the BBC’s Political Thinking podcast, that while she’s never tried to her faith – she is a a member of the Free Church of Scotland, she has often been “guilty” of “tiptoeing around” it. See the article here…
21st May, 2021
In an article published on the UN website, LIVIA HENGEL, of the World Food Programme, looks at three common myths about famine. Read – ‘3 things you may not know about famine – and how to prevent it’ – here…
20th May, 2021
As employers in the US report a shortage of labour, MATT BERNICO looks at what the Bible says about workers deserving fair wages. Read ‘Wage Against The Machine’ on Sojourners…
19th May, 2021
In Indonesia, churches say deforestation around Lake Toba on the island of Sumatra is a “ticking timebomb”. Read KONRADUS EPA’s report on UCANews…
18th May, 2021
What lessons does Europe have for the rest of the world when it comes to evangelism? See a discussion between Tim Keller, Tim Vreugdenhil, René Breuel and Stephan Pues on City to City Europe’s YouTube channel…
17th May, 2021
STEPHANIE SALDANA, a writer based in Jerusalem, reflects on life as a Christian in Jerusalem as another conflict erupts. Read her article – ‘A Christian in Jerusalem at the Start of Another War’ – on America Magazine…
14th May, 2021
Ben Kirby, the person behind the popular Instagram account @PreachersNSneakers which offers side-by-side comparison of the shoes a pastor is wearing with their price tag, recently released a new book, PreachersNSneakers: Authenticity in an Age of For-Profit Faith and (Wannabe) Celebrities. Read an interview with MITCHELL ATENCIO’s on Sojourners…
13th May, 2021
Germany’s two biggest churches are facing similar issues during the coronavirus. Deutsche Welle reports on how the German Protestant Church Assembly and Central Committee of German Catholics are holding a digital ecumenical assembly to address them…
11th May, 2021
The biggest threat to Christian vitality is “not persecution, affluence, education, or pluralism”, writes NILAY SAIYA, co-author of a study published this month in the journal Sociology of Religion, “It’s state support”. Read the article – ‘Proof That Political Privilege Is Harmful for Christianity’ – on Christianity Today here…
10th May, 2021
“The crucial thing that the Bible brings to a mature understanding of love and marriage, as opposed to much of the messaging of contemporary culture, is that love is not ultimately an emotion, it is an act of will,” writes BARNEY ZWARTZ, a senior fellow of Australia’s Centre for Public Christianity. Read his article – ‘In the Christian covenant of marriage, there’s always a third party’ – in The Age…
7th May, 2021
The future of the Catholic Church in Ireland after the COVID-19 pandemic will be “very different”, according to Bishop Michael Duignan of Clonfert. Read PATSY MCGARRY’s report on The Irish Times...
6th May, 2021
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is “too Christian for some, not Christian enough for others”. So writes JOHN WARHURST, emeritus professor of political science at the Australian National University, in an article published by The Canberra Times..
5th May, 2021
Churches have become a COVID-19 battleground in Brazil, writes MICHAEL POOLER. Read his report on the UK’s Financial Times…
4th May, 2021
In rural Africa, Catholic priests have been resorting to “unorthodox means to sustain themselves and their parish communities and churches”, writes TAWANDA KAROMBO in America Magazine. Read the article – ‘The African priests brewing beer (and auctioning pigs) to keep their churches afloat amid COVID-19 crisis’ – here…
3rd May, 2021
A cult or a church? CARRINGTON COOKE, SOOK-YOUNG LEE and MITCH DENMAN WOOLNOUGH, report for the Australian Broadcasting Corp on South Korea’s Shincheonji Church of Jesus. Read the report – ‘Cult or church? This Korean sect has thousands of devotees, but ex-believers lost faith and money’ – here…
30th April, 2021
What role can the church play in the coronavirus crisis unfolding in India? Relevant‘s TYLER HUCKABEE spoke with Franklin Jones, head of Disaster Management for World Vision India…
29th April, 2021
Catholic leaders in Australia are backing a national campaign to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14 years. Read MARILYN RODRIGUES’ report on The Catholic Weekly…
28th April, 2021
The 27th April was the 100th anniversary of the birth of Christian leader John Stott. In an article on Christianity Today, Canon J JOHN looks at his life and legacy…
27th April, 2021
A new campaign in the US aims to address vaccine hesitancy among evangelical Christians in the US. Read COREY SIEMASZKO’s report ‘”Christians and the Vaccine” project: Combating ethical qualms of evangelical communities” on NBC…
26th April, 2021
A new book names the top 50 ‘must-visit’ churches in the Philippines. Read the report on ABS-CBN news…
23rd April, 2021
Christians in Egypt are fearful following the killing of Copt Nabil Habashi by members of a branch of the Islamic State in northern Sinai. Read a report on Al-Monitor…
22nd April, 2021
“I care about climate change because I’m a Christian”, Katharine Hayhoe, a leading climate science expert, told GINA CILIBERTO recently. Read her article on Sojourners – ‘Despite hate from evangelicals, Katharine Hayhoe sees climate hope’…
21st April, 2021
Churches around the Anglican Communion are deeply involved in the fight against racism, both within the structures of the church itself, and in wider society, according to a report on Anglican Communion News Service. Read how here…
20th April, 2021
Father Truc has won the hearts of disadvantaged Mnong villagers in Vietnam after helping them to live more comfortable lives, writes DAK NONG in an article on UCANews. Read ‘Vietnamese missionary’s labor of love’ here…
19th April, 2021
Sister Juliet Lithemba, a 77-year old nun from the southern African country of Lesotho, survived a deadly outbreak of COVID-19 in her convent and is now urging others to take the vaccine. Read her story on UN News…
16th April, 2021
How does Biblical geography shape our view of God’s mission? KELSA GRAYBILL looks at five ways in an article on Christianity Today…
15th April, 2021
Christian authors Duke Kwon and Greg Thompson want to refame the debate in the US around racial identity by “putting reparations through restitution and restoration at the forefront”. Read SARAH PULLIAM BAILEY’s interview published in The Washington Post…
14th April, 2021
Persecution of Christians is rising in Turkey, according to LELA GILBERT, a fellow at the US-based Hudson Institute. Read her article on Newsweek here…
13th April, 2021
This week, the world marks the International Day of Human Space Flight. Head here to see a film produced in July, 1990, featuring 17 astronauts and cosmonauts from 10 countries describing their perceptions of Earth as seen from space…
12th April, 2021
Former Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, is among those who has paid tribute to Prince Philip in the wake of his death and reflected on his own encounters with him. Read TOM RICHMOND’s report in The Yorkshire Times…
9th April, 2021
A series of portraits has been taken depicting chaplains in London, UK, during the coronavirus pandemic. See VICKY WALKER’s report on the Church Times…
8th April, 2021
Christians are marking 500 years of the faith in The Philippines this year despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Read SIMONE ORENDAIN’s report on Catholic News Service…
7th April, 2021
In a special which was released last month to mark a year since the coronavirus pandemic was declared, the World Bank published six stories of “everyday entrepreneurship” which celebrate human resilience, ingenuity, and creativity. Read ‘One Year Into The COVID-19 Pandemic, Six Stories That Inspire Hope’…
6th April, 2021
US President Joe Biden last week proclaimed 31st March, 2021 as ‘César Chávez Day’. GINA CILIBERTO, writing for Sojourners, looks at who Chavez was and his impact today…
1st April, 2021
Decorating Easter eggs is an ancient Christian tradition. Read a report on Catholic News Service about how Marek Dojs, who teaches students to do so in the Pysanky Slavic style, ties in spiritual aspects…
31st March, 2021
Churches in Germany are grappling with what coronavirus-related restrictions mean for Easter services (and the broader impact on church attendance). Read ‘Germany’s Christian churches in meltdown’ in Deutsche-Welle…
30th March, 2021
The journalist’s calling is a “holy responsibility” says JENNY JAMES TAYLOR, UK-based writer, journalist and consultant. Read her article on Lausanne Global Analysis…
29th March, 2021
Rights groups say it is “near certain” that brands sourcing apparel, textiles, yarn or cotton from China’s Uighur Region are profiting from human rights violations including forced labour, against the Uighur people. So how do you know what products such cotton is used in? ALIX KROEGER reports for the BBC…
26th March, 2021
What has the COVID-19 pandemic taught churches about gender? MEGAN POWELL DU TOIT looks at the issue in an article on Ethos, a publication of Australia’s EA Centre for Christianity and Society…
25th March, 2021
Spain is set to trial the four day week. LISA ABEND, writing for TIME, looks at the idea and whether it could “go mainstream”…
24th March, 2021
‘Dinner churches’, which put sharing a meal together at the heart of their worship, have, like other churches, been forced to move their activities online during the coronavirus pandemic. Read KENDALL VANDERSLICE’s article – ‘How are dinner churches surviving the pandemic?’ – in The Christian Century…
23rd March, 2021
A number of properties which were unlawfully confiscated from Christians and people of other minority groups in Iraq have been returned to their rightful owners recently, earning the praise of Christian leaders. ELISE ANN ALLEN explores the issue of property theft and recent remediation moves in Crux Now…
22nd March, 2021
The new 18 kilometre-long Emmaus Trail, which allows pilgrims to follow in Jesus’ footsteps, has opened in Israel. LINDA GRADSTEIN reports for The Jerusalem Post…
19th March, 2021
In an interview with the New York Times‘ columnist DAVID BROOKS, Esau McCaulley, a New Testament professor at Wheaton College, described what Brooks called “a distinctly Christian vision of social justice”. Read his thoughts here…
18th March, 2021
Two Baptist congregations in the US state of Georgia – one Black, one white – have been separated since slavery and were healing deep racial wounds when the pandemic hit and they were seperated again. MYA JARADAT, in an article first published on Deseret News, reports on how they’re now looking to the future…
17th March, 2021
The discovery of ancient Christian ruins by a French-Norwegian team in Egypt’s Western Desert is throwing new light on monastic life in the early 5th century. Read a report on The Guardian…
16th March, 2021
COVID-19 has seen many churches consider a future which doesn’t centre on a building. ERIK TRYGGESTAD, of The Christian Chronicle, a publication for Churches for Christ, looks at how churches may be different post-pandemic…
15th March, 2021
In a special report, Australia’s ABC looks at a decade of war in Syria. See the report here…
12th March, 2021
The coronavirus pandemic has had many impacts – large and small – on the world. Read ED BROWNE’s article, ‘Four Surprising Ways COVID Changed the World a Year Into the Pandemic’ on Newsweek…
11th March, 2021
In a podcast on Christianity Today, MORGAN LEE looks at what the experiences of Prince Harry and his wife Meghan with family can teach us about living out the fifth commandment to honour our parents. Listen to ‘Quick to Listen’ here…
10th March, 2021
UK Christian songwriter Tim Hughes reflects on how COVID-19 has changed the way we worship, saying it’s time to kill the “obsession with excellence”. Read SAM HAILES report on Premier Christianity…
9th March, 2021
What does racial discrimination or prejudice in mission organisations look like? Read KIRST RIEVAN’s article ‘Uncovering Discrimination in Missions’ on Lausanne Global Analysis…
8th March, 2021
With more than 45,000 Christian denominations around the globe, DONAVYN COFFEY, writing for Live Science, looks at why so many…
5th March, 2021
Is America a “Christian nation”? CBSN Originals asked several pastors – with very different views – for their perspective…
4th March, 2021
Founded in the 7th century, the Rabban Hormizd Monastery near the Iraqi town of Alqosh has survived being sacked, surrounded or occupied by Mongols, Persians, Arabs, Kurds and Ottomans. Read JOHN DAVISON’s report on Reuters, ‘An ancient monastery in Iraq is a symbol of Christian survival’…
3rd March, 2021
What was the experience of women pastors during the coronavirus pandemic? SUSAN M SHAW, a senior columnist with Baptist News Global, asked some in her article ‘What I learned by listening to women pastors during the pandemic’…
2nd March, 2021
The Sri Lankan church has declared 7th March “Black Sunday” to demand justice for victims of the 2019 Easter Sunday terror attacks. Read a report on UCA News…
1st March, 2021
It’s a year ago since the Taliban signed a peace deal with the US. Read JOEL GUNTER’s report – ‘Afghanistan: A year of violence on the road to peace’ – on the BBC website…
26th February, 2021
An evangelical megachurch was the site of one of the first COVID-19 clusters in France. In an article in the Washington Post, RICK NOACK visits the church a year on from the outbreak…
25th February, 2021
The concept of relationship is a key part of the Christian life. Read TERRANCE KLEIN’s article – ‘Relationship is essential to God’s life – and ours’ – in America Magazine…
24th February, 2021
“Over the last year, the worldwide web has started to look less worldwide,” writes CNN’s RISHI IYENGAR. Read ‘The worldwide web as we know it may be ending’…
23rd February, 2021
Iraq’s ancient Christian community has been hollowed out thanks to years of violence. Read SARAH NENHAIDA’s report – ‘Iraq’s ancient Christian community, decimated by violence, fear’ – on Yahoo! News…
22nd February, 2021
Despite the events of the past few months in the US, a number of Christian “prophets” continue to promote former President Donald Trump’s return. Read JULIA DUIN’s report on Politico…
19th February, 2021
NASA’s Perseverance rover has touched down on Mars to start its mission of collecting samples to send back to Earth. Read JON JACKSON’s article on Newsweek, ‘Mars Rover Perseverance Offers the Best Chance Yet of Finding Signs of Life on Red Planet’…
18th February, 2021
How have Christian bookshops survived the coronavirus pandemic in the US? Read DANIEL SILLIMAN’s report on Christianity Today…
17th February, 2021
A Catholic philanthropist’s project, known as the Wall of Jesus, is helping needy Christians and Muslims in the Pakistan city of Lahore. Read KAMRAN CHOUDHRY’s report – ‘The Wall of Jesus stands tall in Pakistan’ – on UCANews…
16th February, 2021
The coronavirus pandemic has created special challenges for eastern churches – and those challenges are part of the focus of the Vatican’s Congregation for Oriental Churches. Read ALESSANDRO DE CAROLIS interview with its prefect, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, on Vatican News…
15th February, 2021
With Christian football players rejected from clubs playing in the Egyptian league, the Je Suis (I am) team provided a new opportunity for them to play. Read NADA SHAKER’s report – Meet Egypt’s Christian soccer team – on Al-Monitor…
12th February, 2021
Christian prophets are on the rise in the US, reports RUTH GRAHAM. But what happens when they’re wrong? Read her report on The New York Times…
11th February, 2021
What does discrimination in mission organisations look like? Read KIRST RIEVAN’s article – Uncovering discrimination in missions: Towards a ‘third culture’ of oneness in Christ – in Lausanne Global Analysis…
10th February, 2021
Churches around the world have been forced to adapt they way they operate thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. In an article on Baptist News Global, LAURA BETH BUCHLEITER looks at lessons she’s learned from visiting 50 churches online….
9th February, 2021
An Iranian-born reverend now known as John Smith was arrested twice after secretly converting to Christianity before he fled to Australia where he has established a unique church for others like him. Read ABBY DINHAM and PEYMAN JAMALI’s report on Australia’s SBS…
8th February, 2021
“Western Christianity is fundamentally African, in the way that Eastern Christianity is fundamentally Greek,” writes author MIKE AQUILINA. Read his article ‘If you’re a Western Christian, your spiritual ancestry is African’ on Catholic news website Angelus…
5th February, 2021
Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Church of England is facing an existential crisis, writes EMMA THOMSON, a rural parish volunteer in England. Read her article – ‘Holy relic: what will be left of the Church of England afterthe pandemic?’ – in The Spectator… (Update: Read the Church of England’s response to the article)
4th February, 2021
JESSE CAREY, writing for Relevant, looks at “eight movies with Christian messages that will restore your faith in redemptive films”. Read “Eight Underrated ‘Christian’ Movies”…
3rd February, 2021
Bible Society Vietnam has opened the country’s first piblic Christian library in the capital of Ho Chi Minh City. Read a report on Evangelical Focus…
2nd February, 2021
Catholic churchgoers in Dubai were emotional this week as St Mary’s Catholic Church in Oud Maitha opened its doors for services for the first time since last March. Read SAMAN HAZIQ’s report on the Khaleej Times…
1st February, 2021
Netflix’s My Octopus Teacher has received plaudits from across the globe. Read JOHN STONESTREET and MARIA BAER’s article – “My Octopus Teacher and the God-shaped Hole in Every Human Heart” – looking at lessons from the film on Breakpoint…
29th January, 2021
Ongoing farmer protests in India against agricultural reforms turned violent this week when Red Fort in New Delhi was stormed by what farm union leaders have said were rogue elements. SOUTIK BISWAS, of the BBC, looks at what’s next for the protestors…
28th January, 2021
Newsweek photographer Steve McCurry has a released a new book – In Search of Elsewhere: Unseen Images – featuring 40 years of his photos from around the globe. See some of his stunning images here…
27th January, 2021
In a culmination of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, the World Council of Churches held its first ever online global ecumenical prayer on 25th January. Read the report on the WCC website…
26th January, 2021
As Australia Day is marked, Christian movement Common Grace has published a list of 10 ways to engage in #January26. See the list, compiled by BROOKE PRENTIS and BIANCA MANNING, here…
25th January, 2021
Christians displaced from their homes in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state in 2018 remain living in the outskirts of Yangon. Read a report on Channel News Asia…
22nd January, 2021
Southern Baptist theologian Russell Moore has been a staunch critic of former US President Donald Trump in what he describes as a “lonely position”. He spoke with TIME‘s BELINDA LUSCOMBE about the cost of his stance…
21st January, 2021
CHRIS SEIPLE, president emeritus of the Institute for Global Engagement, looks at the lessons learned from the improvement of religious freedom in Vietnam. Read his article on Christianity Today, ’10 Best Practices for Improving Religious Freedom in Complicated Countries’…
20th January, 2021
Norway is in danger of losing its stave churches, according to a report on Life in Norway. Read ‘Why Norway’s Spectacular Stave Churches Are At Risk’…
19th January, 2021
From an historical perspective, Christianity is not a European religion, says ANDREW MESSMER. Read his article ‘The height of Christian expansion’ published on Evangelical Focus…
18th January, 2021
This week will see Joe Biden inaugurated as the US President. ELLY DUNCAN, writing for Australia’s ABC, looks at some of the more memorable moments of past inauguration ceremonies…
15th January, 2021
Korean sculptor Han Jin-seop has created series of sculptures of altars, pulpits and statues in Korean churches. Read ‘Korean Catholic sculptor crafts artwork for all’ on UCANnews…
14th January, 2021
Creation Justice Ministries in the US are working to turn churches into hubs for climate resilience. Read BRIANNA BAKER’s article about the initiative on Grist…
13th January, 2021
In an excerpt from DAN KIMBALL’s book, How (Not) to Read the Bible, he writes that “crazy-sounding Bible verses all have backstories that help us better understand what they meant to the people at the time they were given”. Read the excerpt on Relevant…
12th January, 2021
What’s the case for keeping churches open during a pandemic? MARK IRELAND, in an article published in the UK’s Church Times argues that the public and mental-health benefits of public worship are significant…
11th January, 2021
The disppearance of loved ones, the victims of abductions, remains a scourge in many nations around the world. Writing from the Philippines, where her own son, who is still missing, was abducted in Manila in April 2007, EDITA TRONQUED-BURGOS, writes about her experience in La Croix International…
8th January, 2021
10 people died and more than a thousand were evacuated as a landslide struck the village of Ask in Norway on 30th December. SUSAN KIM, in an article published by the World Council of Churches, speaks with the Rt Rev Atle Sommerfeldt, Bishop of Borg in the Church of Norway, about how the church is bringing hope in the circumstances…
7th January, 2021
The Christian celebration of Epiphany was marked around the world this week. JAYMI MCCANN, of iNews, explains what the event is all about…
6th January, 2021
There are ongoing concerns over Christian heritage sites in the Nagorno-Karabakh region following a ceasefire between Azerbaijan and Armenia which ended a seven week war between the two nations. In an article on Christianity Today, CHRISTINA MARANCI looks at six sites which are feared lost…
5th January, 2021
As Christianity spreads in China, the Communist Party fears a threat to its political control, writes WALTER RUSSELL MEAD in The Wall Street Journal. Read ‘Beijing’s Collision With Christians’…
4th January, 2021
This year marks 500 years since Martin Luther’s excommunication. Read Deutsche Welle‘s report…
31st December, 2020
In a five part series, UN News has been looking at the impact of the coronavirus pandemic around the world on everything from economics to education and refugees. See the latest in the series here…
30th December, 2020
What did 2020 look like? See TIME‘s top 100 photos of the year…
29th December, 2020
Coronavirus had a massive impact on the what was happening around the world during 2020. HELIER CHEUNG, of the BBC, takes a look at how it affected some key events – from the US election to protests in Hong Kong…
24th December, 2020
US-based website Crosswalk has compiled a list of 10 Christian Christmas movies “about the true meaning of Christmas”. See the list here…
23rd December, 2020
In a year in which conspiracy theories have been prevalent, some Australian pastors are taking a stand, according to a report from JOEY WATSON, of ABC Radio National. Read ‘As churches prove ‘fertile ground’ for conspiracy theories, some pastors are taking a stand’…
22nd December, 2020
Some 117 witnesses have provided details of North Korea’s persecution of Christians in a new report from the Korea Future Initiative. Read JAYSON CASPER’s report on Christianity Today...
21st December, 2020
The Observer‘s picture editor is leaving his post after 25 years. GREG WHITMORE looks at some of the images that have shaped the last quarter century…
18th December, 2020
How to celebrate Christmas in a time of COVID-19? DIARMUID PEPPER writes that it’s a “Christian duty” to keep others safe in an article published in The Tablet in the UK…
17th December, 2020
A letter from a Holocaust survivor – in which he details life in a Nazi extermination camp – has been delivered to its intended recipient 75 years after it was written. SAMANTHA LOCK reports for Newsweek…
16th December, 2020
Is Christian theological engagement with sharia law possible? That’s the question asked by JOSHUA RALSTON, a Reader in Christian-Muslim Relations in the School of Divinity at the University of Edinburgh, and director and co-founder of the Christian-Muslim Studies Network, in an article published by Australia’s ABC…
15th December, 2020
This is a “grievous and dangerous time for American Christianity”, writes US columnist and author DAVID FRENCH. Read ‘The Dangerous Idolatry of Christian Trumpism’ on The Dispatch…
14th December, 2020
Joe Biden is set to be the first publicly church-going US President in decades, report MICHAEL WARREN and ARLETTE SANCHEZ for CNN. Read ‘Biden’s Catholic faith will be on full display as the first publicly churchgoing president in decades’…
11th December, 2020
Looking for some new Christmas music? MELISSA ZALDIVAR, of Christianity Today, provides a list of new releases…
10th December, 2020
TIME has named rescue animals as its 2020 ‘Pet of the Year’. Read MEGAN MCCLUSKEY’s article about why…
9th December, 2020
Jesus was “the God with dirty hands – helping the rest of us out of our own mess”, writes JOHNNIE MOORE, author of Dirty God: Jesus in the Trenches. Read his article – ‘Christians should get dirty’ – on Relevant magazine…
8th December, 2020
“Like Mary, women the world over have had their childbirth plans disrupted by the pandemic, their path to motherhood rerouted, especially women of color” writes LIUAN HUSKA. Read her article on Sojourners, ‘Mary and other displaced brown mothers’…
7th December, 2020
Churches mustn’t “go back to normal” when it comes to connecting with families living with disability writes LOUISE GOSBELL, Dean of Students and lecturer in New Testament at Mary Andrews College, Sydney. Read the article on the ABC’s Religion & Ethics website…
4th December, 2020
Kashmir is “on the cusp of a new dawn”, writes JACOB DANIEL in an article published by Lausanne Global Analysis. Read his “call to global prayer” here…
3rd December, 2020
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has faced criticism after he announced he would be taking a three month sabbatical next year. But MARK MELLUISH, writing in Premier Christianity, explains why he supports the decision…
2nd December, 2020
To be Christian is to be anti-racist, writes Dr JIM LANGLEY. Read his article in the US-based Denver Catholic…
1st December, 2020
Two months after a fire destroyed a camp for migrants on the Greek island of Lesbos, thousands of people are preparing to face another winter in a new camp. JONATAN SORIANO, of Evangelical Focus, reports…
30th November, 2020
US churches are paying off millions in medical debts owed by Americans. In an opinion piece published on The New York Times, ELIZABETH BRUENIG asks why such acts of charity are needed to rescue Americans from crushing medical bills?
27th November, 2020
Many Wampanoag hoped that the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower landing in the US would be a galvanising event – then came COVID-19. Read OLIVIA B WAXMAN’s report on TIME…
26th November, 2020
The war in the Tigray region of Ethiopia is dividing Christians, reports JACK BRYAN. Read his article – ‘Tigray Crisis Tests Ethiopian Christians Along Tribal Line’ – in Christianity Today…
25th November, 2020
Various Brazilian church denominations have joined in calls for racial justice following the brutal killing of 40-year-old Black man Joao Alberto Silveira Freitas, at the hands of two white security guards in Porto Alegre. Read ‘Brazilian churches call for transformative racial justice’ on the World Council of Churches’ website…
24th November, 2020
Ideas like equality and doing no harm predate the Enlightenment and French Revolution, writes RONAN MULLEN in The Irish Times. Read ‘Many exalted western values rooted in Christian tradition’…
23rd November, 2020
Displaced women from Venezuela are being targeted for abuse amid pandemic border closures, reports MARTA MARTINEZ for CNN. Read the report here…
20th November, 2020
A new initiative by the National Churches Trust in England is showcasing six of most beautiful and historic Catholic churches and chapels. Read ALEX RAMSEY’s report on The Tablet…
19th November, 2020
Christian leaders are among those advocating for fair distribution of coronavirus vaccines, according to a report published by Christianity Today. Read REBECCA RANDALL’s story…
18th November, 2020
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has urged Christian leaders to “testify to hope in difficult times”. Read his interview with ALESSANDRO GISOTTI of Vatican News in which he speaks about the challenges facing Christians due to the pandemic, the ecumenical importance of the encyclical Fratelli tutti, and his hopes for peace in South Sudan…
17th November, 2020
‘Trump caused deep splits among Christians. Will they ever be healed?’ Read ROBERT DOWNEN’s article published on the Houston Chronicle in the US…
16th November, 2020
The coronavirus crisis has led to rising violence against women all around the world. MEGAN CORNWELL, in an article published on the UK’s Premier Christianity, looks at the role the church can play in addressing the crisis…
13th November, 2020
There are fears fighting in Ethiopia’s Tigray region could become an ethnic civl war. Read JONATÁN SORIANO’s article on Evangelical Focus…
12th November, 2020
Hong Kong’s news stands are a symbol of the city’s freedoms but the societal changes taking place in the city are being reflected in their decline. Read GRACE TSOI’s article, ‘Hong Kong’s dying news stands tell a story of change’, on the BBC website…
10th November, 2020
A Catholic priest discusses the many challenges still facing Christians in northern Iraq, two years after the trumpeted defeat of Islamic State. INES SAN MARTIN, of Crux, reports…
9th November, 2020
Colombia is among nations with the highest death rates during the global coronavirus pandemic. LUKE TAYLOR, of Australia’s ABC, reports on the devastating toll the virus has taken on the nation…
6th November, 2020
Why are there fears of civil war in Ethiopia? BRENT SWAILS and DAVID MCKENZIE, of CNN, explain…
5th November, 2020
One or twice a month, a team of musicians and singers attend the psychiatric unit at University College Hospital in Ibadan, Nigeria, to share their music. KEMI FALODUN, writing for The Guardian, reports on the differance it makes…
4th November, 2020
Christians are finding a “spiritual side” to board and video games, according to a report on ABC Radio National in Australia. Read ROHAN SALMOND’s report…
3rd November, 2020
Can you be a good Christian and eat meat? German Catholic priest Rainer Hagencord, who runs the Institute for Theological Zoology near Munster, spoke to Deutsche-Welle…
2nd November, 2020
How should US Christians respond if the candidate they voted for loses? US pastor ANDY STANLEY has some suggestions in an article published on TIME…
30th October, 2020
The remains of an ancient church, believed to be the location of the site where Jesus told Peter “on this rock, I will build my church”, has been unearthed in Israel’s Banias Nature Reserve. AMANDA BORSCHEL-DAN reports for The Times of Israel…
29th October, 2020
In an article published by Christianity Today, author JEN POLLOCK MICHEL talks about why reading Old Testament books together can be a good way of sharing your faith with “spiritual seekers”. Read her article here…
28th October, 2020
“Proximate love” is our calling as Christians, “now more than ever as COVID-19 does its cruel work of separating people just when human proximity is most desperately needed”, writes BILL WISER in an article published on the Bruderhof wesbite. Read ‘Combating a Pandemic of Loneliness’ here…
27th October, 2020
A global survey has revealed just how widespread COVID-19-related conspiracy theories, including scepticism over possible vaccines, are. JON HENLEY and NIAMH MCINTYRE, writing for The Guardian, report…
26th October, 2020
Justin Bieber and Kanye West “may be the new faces of modern Christianity”, reports SIOBHAN HEGARTY. Read her report on Australia’s ABC…
23rd October, 2020
For the past four years, Catholic priest Reginald Piperno has dedicated most of his time to helping migrant workers from Indonesia working in Malaysia, reports KONRADUS EPA. Read his article – ‘The priest Indonesian migrant workers can turn to’ – published in UCANews…
22nd October, 2020
Issac J Bailey, an award-winning journalist and author, spoke with The Independent‘s CATHERINE BROWN about his latest book, Why Didn’t We Riot? A Black Man in Trumpland. Read her article – ‘The challenges of being a Black man in Trumpland, where white Christians vote for un-Christian things’ – here…
21st October, 2020
Turkish evangelicals have sought forgiveness on behalf of their nation from Armenians for the Armenian Genocide in the arly 20th century. JAYSON CASPER, in an article published by Christianity Today, looks at, with the ongoing war in Nagorno-Karabakh, whether there is also a path forward for Azerbaijan’s believers…
20th October, 2020
JANE ARRAF, of NPR in the US, spoke recently with Christian refugees from Iraq who are now living in Jordan about their new lives. You can listen here…
19th October, 2020
North Korea marked the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Workers’ Party of Korea earlier this month. Against that backdrop, in an article on Premier Christianity, Christian TIMOTHY CHO talks about how he escaped North Korea…
16th October, 2020
DANIEL BURKE, CNN’s religion editor, looks at QAnon and how its drawing in Christians. Read ‘How QAnon uses religion to lure unsuspecting Christians’…
15th October, 2020
Outspoken China critic Cardinal Joseph Zen was in Vatican City recently where he had hoped to meet with Pope Francis. Read TIMOTHY NEROZZI’s report – ‘I Will Not Stay Silent’: Cardinal Zen Of Hong Kong Struggles Against The Vatican – on Religion Unplugged…
13th October, 2020
Fr Stan Swamy, an ailing 83-year-old activist and Jesuit priest, is the oldest person to be accused of terrorism in India. Read SOUTIK BISWAS’ report on the BBC…
12th October, 2020
Religious violence targeting Christians is growing in Nigeria despite the coronavirus pandemic. Read PATRICK EGWU’s report published on Foreign Policy...
9th October, 2020
The use of drones by Azerbaijan in its conflict with Armenia over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh provides an insight into the future of war, argues Seth J Frantzman, executive director of the Middle East Center for Reporting and Analysis. Read his article on Newsweek…
8th October, 2020
Coronavirus church closures are not persecution, says Knox Thames, a former special advisor for religious minorities at the US Department of State, serving in both the Obama and Trump administrations. Read the article on Christianity Today here…
7th October, 2020
The concept of ‘Christian nationalism’ has come under increasing scrutiny in the US. LIZ THEOHARIS, a theologian, ordained minister, and anti-poverty activist, offers her thoughts in an article published on Salon…
6th October, 2020
French President Emmanuel Macron recently announced a plan to target Islamist “separatism” in the country. Evangelical Focus reports that in the wake of the announcement, the country’s evangelicals have reiterated their willingness to work for social unity, and warn against unjustified restrictions of religious freedom…
5th October, 2020
Pope Francis’ new encyclical, Fratelli Tutti (Brothers All), “challenges our country and our church”, says MICHAEL SEAN WINTERS, writing in the US-based National Catholic Reporter. Read the article here…
2nd October, 2020
Kizito Mihigo, the late Rwandan Catholic Gospel singer, song writer and organist, was last month honoured with the Vaclav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent. Read FREDRICK NZWILI’s report on Crux…
1st October, 2020
Religious women voters will play a major role in determining the outcome of the US election, according to an op-ed from a group of US female faith leaders published under the umbrella of Faith in Public Life. Read ‘Calling all women: It’s time to take our stand together against tyranny and injustice’, published by Religion News Service, here…
30th September, 2020
Young evangelicals in the US are taking a different approach to climate change than many of their elders, writes KYLE MEYAARD-SCHAAP, national organiser and spokesperson for Young Evangelicals for Climate Action. Read his article on CNN…
29th September, 2020
An unbalanced spiritual diet in church is stunting growth of Christians, according to Oscar Amaechina, president of Afri-Mission and Evangelism Network based in Abuja, Nigeria. Read his article on The Christian Post…
28th September, 2020
Showing kindness to an “enemy” is difficult yet expected of followers of Christ, says Heart for Lebanon’s Camille Melki. Read KATEY HEARTH’s article ‘Lessons from Lebanon: how to love an enemy’ on Mission News Network’s website…
25th September, 2020
The Netflix docu–drama The Social Dilemma is a reminder that we are “not autonomous as we think we are”, according to NATAN MLADIN. Read his article – The Social Dilemma and the Human Question – published on the website of UK thinktank Theos…
24th September, 2020
“Welcoming the stranger is an integral part of Christian heritage,” says Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece. Read an interview with CLAUS GRUE and XANTHI MORFI published on the World Council of Churches’ website…
23rd September, 2020
The coronavirus has changed the way Christians have celebrated key moments in the annual church calendar. In an article published on Lausanne Global Analysis, J KWABENA ASAMOAH-GYADU reflects on some key lessons learned…
22nd September, 2020
What you do and say on social media matters, says TIM ARNDT writing on Relevant. He gives some tips to “help us better represent Christ online”…
21st September, 2020
Tall, tower-like wooden churches with shingled roofs are a feature of Romania’s remote north-western region of Maramures. Read KATY DARTFORD’s article on Euronews…
18th September, 2020
What is ‘toxic positivity’ and how does it impact Christians? CHERYL MCGRATH takes a look at the issue in an article published on the Ethos: EA Centre for Christianity and Society website…
17th September, 2020
Catholic priest Alfonsus Biru Kira is working to support people in Indonesia’s easternmost region by helping people make the most of their land’s natural resources. Read KATHARINA R LESTARI’s report on UCANews, ‘Indonesian priest stimulates Papuan growth through coffee’…
16th September, 2020
Advocacy in the public square is a way for Christians to express their love for one’s neighbour, writes US pastor CHRIS ELLIS in an article on Baptist News Global. Read ‘Christian advocacy puts words and actions together in following God’…
15th September, 2020
The US election represents a “moment of truth for white Christianity,” says Sojourners founder JIM WALLIS. Read his article on Sojourners…
14th September, 2020
COVID-19 outbreaks linked to churches in South Korea have damaged their public image. Read DAVID LEE’s report in the South China Morning Post…
11th September, 2020
Protestant Reformer John Calvin believed pursuing the good of others is a way to love God, writes KEVIN P EMMERT. Read his article on Christianity Today, ‘John Calvin: Justice is a form of worship’…
10th September, 2020
CS Lewis, author of the Chronicles of Narnia, reached people with the Gospel “not through apologetics or theology but through imagination”, writes DAVID RUSSELL MOSLEY. Read his article on US Catholic…
9th September, 2020
Western secularism poses a greater threat to Christians than persecution, according to long-term missionary, Uruguayan Fr Martin Lasarte. Read ELISE ANN ALLEN’s report on Crux…
8th September, 2020
The church is “alive and well in North Korea, but hidden, impoverished, and persecuted”, according to a documentary from the Lausanne Movement. Watch ‘Lausanne Global Classroom: North Korea’ here…
7th September, 2020
Best selling British author and historian of classical antiquity Tom Holland says the #MeToo movement, political secularism and the widespread sympathy for the Black Lives Matter protests all point to the residual influence of Christianity on the west. Listen to his conversation with MEREDITH LAKE on Australia’s Radio National…
4th September, 2020
Black Christian athletes are speaking out on the issue of race in the US. Read PAUL PUTZ’s article on Christianity Today – ‘Black Christians Play a Crucial Role in Athlete Activism’…
3rd September, 2020
What is humility? JAYSON D BRADLEY in an article published on Relevant, looks at ‘4 “Humble” Things That Aren’t Actually Humble’…
2nd September, 2020
Catholic nun Sr Philomena Alicandro has spent 30 years helping to empower women in Muslim-majority Bangladesh. STEPHAN UTTOM tells her story in an article published on the UCAnews website…
1st September, 2020
In a pandemic, should Christian missionaries leave or stay? That’s the question Kirst Rievan delves into in an article published on the Lausanne Movement website…
31st August, 2020
Recent scandals involving high profile Christians reveal the problems with ‘celebrity culture’ writes HEATHER TOMLINSON. Read her article ‘The problem with pedestals’ on Premier Christianity…
28th August, 2020
What role did the Ethiopian church play in the Reformation? JENNIFER POWELL MCNUTT – Franklin S Dyrness Associate Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies at Wheaton College – gives her view in an article published by Christianity Today…
27th August, 2020
Using Minecraft to teach children about faith? In an article published in The Christian Century, US Lutheran pastor CLINT SCHNEKLOTH talks about how he’s used the game with children over the past year….
26th August, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on Rohingya refugees living in camps in Bangladesh. Read FARID ALAM’s first-hand account published in The Guardian…
25th August, 2020
What does the Bible say about cremation? CANDICE LUCEY, writing for Crosswalk, canvasses the issue in her article ‘Why is there controversy over cremation’…
24th August, 2020
Blame is being directed at some of South Korea’s evangelical churches for a recent surge in coronavirus cases. Read JUSTIN MCCURRY and NEMO KIM’s report for The Guardian, ‘How South Korea’s evangelical churches found themselves at the heart of the COVID crisis’…
21st August, 2020
Thanks to pioneering medics, the world has made great advances in keeping hospitals clean. Read RICHARD HOLLINGHAM’s report ‘The pioneering surgeons who cleaned up filthy hospitals’ on the BBC…
20th August, 2020
Amid debates about the opening of schools during coronavirus, what can we learn from past experience? THERESA WALDROP, writing for CNN, looks at what happened when students went to school during the 1918 pandemic…
19th August, 2020
Dubbed an “internet sensation”, Rev Chris Lee has more followers on Instagram than the Archbishop of Canterbury and tens of thousands watch his 60-second sermons. Read SAM HAILES’ interview with him on Premier Christianity…
18th August, 2020
Some Australian female theologians are calling for changes to leadership in the Catholic Church, according to a report by SIOBHAN HEGARTY on Australia’s ABC. Read ‘After the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse crisis, female theologians are calling for changes to leadership’…
17th August, 2020
What is the role of the Holy Spirit in art? Read SARA GROVES’ and W DAVID O TAYLOR’s discussion in Christianity Today…
14th August, 2020
US evangelicals were instrumental in bringing a new deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates to the table, reports MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMAN. Read the Jerusalem Post report, ‘How Trump traded annexation for his Christian base – analysis’…
13th August, 2020
To date, North Korea hasn’t confirmed a single case of COVID-19 but experts are sceptical. DEBRA KILLALEA, writing for Australia’s ABC, examines the situation in her report – ‘Kim Jong-un says North Korea has avoided a coronavirus outbreak. His grip on power may depend on it’…
12th August, 2020
Christian groups and leaders are among those responding in the aftermath of the Beirut blast. Read JAYSON CAPSPER’s report on Christianity Today looking at how 16 Beirut-based ministries are responding…
11th August, 2020
Following Jesus is about being faithful, not right, says Michael Hidalgo in an excerpt from his book Changing Faith: Questions, Doubts and Choices About an Unchanging God published on Relevant magazine. Read ‘Being a Christian Is Not About Being Right’…
10th August, 2020
Former London gang member Mo Campbell saw more than 600 people in prison give their lives to Christ after he became a prison. Read his story on Premier Christianity’s website…
7th August, 2020
Lebanon’s Maronite Catholics have appealed for assistance in the wake of this week’s blast. Read Catholic News Service’s report…
6th August, 2020
Seventy six-year-old Yasuaki Yamashita describes the moment an atomic bomb hit the city of Nagasaki. He was just five years old at the time. Watch the video on the UN’s YouTube channel…
5th August, 2020
Three years after fall of Mosul, one-time capital of the Islamic State of Iraq, Christians ousted from the area are finding little incentive to return. Read PAUL GADALLA’s report on the Atlantic Council website…
4th August, 2020
In an extract from her book about the case against George Pell published by The Guardian, MELISSA DAVEY talks to Robert Richter, the man who defended the cardinal against charges of child sexual abuse. Read ‘Defending George Pell: ‘I believe Pell’s a good man”…
3rd August, 2020
This month marks 75 years since the US dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima towards the end of World War II. In a picture special on the BBC, British photo-journalist Karen Lee Stow photographed and interviewed three women who have vivid memories of the bombings…
31st July, 2020
In his new book, White Too Long, Robert P Jones, CEO of the Religion Research Institute, says churches in the US need to come to terms with the legacy of white supremacy. Read TERRY GOSS’ interview with him on NPR…
30th July, 2020
The Greek Orthodox Church has ruled yoga is “incompatible” with Christianity. Read the report on the BBC…
29th July, 2020
It’s 20 years since Coldplay released their debut album. In an article on Premier Christianity TIM BECHERVAISE looks at band’s faith inspired songs…
28th July, 2020
Plant remains and other archaeological artifects discovered in Israel’s Negev have revealed how ancient Christian communities rose and then fell due to a combination of pandemic, political tensions and climate change. ROSSELLA TERCATIN reports for The Jerusalem Post…
27th July, 2020
Seventh Day Adventists advocate a vegetarian diet. SIOBHAN HEGARTY, reporting for Australia’s ABC, looks at why…
24th July, 2020
The late pastor-theologian JI Packer played an important role in strengthening both Christian evangelical institutions and the leaders who run them, says CHRISTINA DARNELL. Read her article – JI Packer Leaves Mark On Important Evangelical Institutions – on Religion Unplugged…
23rd July, 2020
Bernice King, minister and youngest child of Martin Luther King, Jr, talks to the BBC about her hopes for ending racial inequality. See her conversation with 5 Live presenter Colin Murray…
22nd July, 2020
Evangelical theologian JI Packer died on 17th July at the age of 93. Read LELAND RYKEN’s obituary on Christianity Today…
21st July, 2020
Christian artists in Vietnam are using their artwork to bring people closer to Christ. Read a report on Catholic publication UCANews…
20th July, 2020
A Christian summer camp in the US state of Missouri ended up with 82 cases of coronavirus. Read RUTH GRAHAM’s report on Slate…
17th July, 2020
Amid fears the coronavirus pandemic could set gender equality back years, seven women explain the struggles it has brought and their hopes for the future. Read the report on The Guardian – ‘From hunger to abuse: how Covid-19 has affected women worldwide’…
16th July, 2020
The coronavirus pandemic has failed to end violence against Christians in India, reports UCANews. Read BUJAY KUMAR MINJ’s report…
15th July, 2020
Where are the world’s most isolated places? Newsweek’s ALEXANDRA SCHONFELD takes a look…
14th July, 2020
What was the fate of the 12 Apostles? PHILIP KOSLOSKI takes a look in his article – Whatever happened to the Twelve Apostles? – on Catholic publication, Aleteia…
13th July, 2020
The church of England faces “turbulent times ahead”, the new Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, said as he was confirmed in the past. Read The Guardian‘s report here…
7th July, 2020
The ‘sober curious’ movement – which prompts people to “make intentional choices about what, why, and how often they drink” – is taking off among younger generations in the US. HALEE GRAY SCOTT looks at its rise in an article, ‘A ‘sober curious’ quarantine broke my Christian perfectionism’, published by Christianity Today…
6th July, 2020
Entrenched poverty in South America is a key reason behind why the region has been so badly impacted by the coronavirus, according to a a report from The Guardian‘s EMMA GRAHAM-HARRISON. Read her article ‘Poverty, not just populists, to blame for Covid-19’s impact on Latin America’…
3rd July, 2020
Protesting injustice is a fundamentally Christian act, writes THOMAS GRAFF. Read his article in America magazine…
2nd July, 2020
More than 30 evangelical pastors in Nicaragua have died in the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report on Evangelical Focus. Read about why that might be the case…
1st July, 2020
Watch a BBC special report on how the coronavirus has impacted the world over the past six months. Watch ‘Coronavirus: Six months that changed our world’…
30th June, 2020
Government attitudes towards Christians in the UK have changed dramatically over the past decade, TIM WYATT says. Read his article, ‘How Number 10 opened its door to evangelicals’, on Premier Christianity…
29th June, 2020
Despite belonging to one of the oldest churches in the world, Christians in Turkey continue to face persecution, says Alexander Görlach, a senior fellow with the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs and a senior research associate at the Religion & International Studies Institute at Cambridge University. Read his opinion piece on Germany’s Deutsche Welle, ‘Christians a welcome scapegoat in Turkey’…
26th June, 2020
Writing in Sojourners, KELLY BROWN DOUGLAS makes a Christian call for reparations over slavery. Read the article here…
24th June, 2020
Some 80 per cent of people in the Indigenous Shipibo community of Caimito in Peru have shown symptoms of coronavirus, according to a local nurse. But the nearest hospital is an eight-hour boat ride away. Read GUILLERMO GALDOS and GENA SOMRA’s report on CNN…
23rd June, 2020
The Trinity is absent from Christian worship songs, according to a new study. Read Daniel Silliman’s report – ‘The Trinity Is Missing from Christian Worship Music’ – on Christianity Today…
22nd June, 2020
COVID-19 is sweeping through Brazil’s Indigenous peoples. Read DOM PHILLIPS report on The Guardian, ‘We are facing extermination’: Brazil losing a generation of indigenous leaders to Covid-19’…
19th June, 2020
An ancient Christian cross has been found in the mountains of northern Pakistan. Read the report on UCANews…
18th June, 2020
Secret church services are reportedly being held in Mexico and Brazil in defiance of coronavirus restrictions. Read ANALY NUNO and CAIO BARRETTO BRISO’s report published in The Guardian this week…
17th June, 2020
The Elijah Interfaith Institute has launched a project which brings together more than 30 world religious leaders – including Christian leaders such as Pope Francis, Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Patriarch Sahag Mashalian of the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople/Turkey – to provide their insights on faith during the time of the coronavirus. You can see the reflections on the ‘Coronaspection’ project page…
16th June, 2020
In a TIME special report, staff members spent a month in a hospital in Brooklyn, New York, looking at how it responded to the coronavirus. Read SIMON SHUSTER’s report with photographs by MEREDITH KOHUT…
15th June, 2020
What is ‘weird Christianity’? SIOBHAN HEGARTY, of the ABC’s The Religion and Ethic report speaks with Tara Isabella Burton, America-based author of the forthcoming book Strange Rites and a member of the self-proclaimed “Weird Christian” movement. Read ‘Weird Christianity’ and why young people are embracing orthodoxy online and in church’…
12th June, 2020
Christian groups are urging governments to learn lessons from the COVID-19 crisis by introducing reforms to help the poorest and most vulnerable, according to a report published by Church Times. Read JONATHAN LUXMOORE’s article, ‘Learn lessons of Covid crisis in Europe, say Christian charities’…
11th June, 2020
For US evangelical Christian leaders, “crafting a response to [George] Floyd’s killing is complicated by their view of sin in individual, not societal, terms and their belief in the need for personal salvation above all”, writes TOM GJELTEN on NPR. Read his report, ‘Evangelical Christians Grapple With Racism As Sin’…
10th June, 2020
Experts say the mental health toll from the coronavirus could rival that of the disease itself. Read ADAM PIORE’s report on Newsweek…
9th June, 2020
The message you prepare for your congregation is also meant for you, writes MATTHEW BARRETT in an article on Christianity Today. Read ‘Preach a Double-Edged Sermon’…
5th June, 2020
Young Australian climate activist OSCAR DELANEY recently wrote a piece for Anglican Focus in which he reflected on growing up in Indian slums, how climate change will hit the worst-off first and hardest and why he is taking on mining tycoon Clive Palmer. Read ‘Slumdog takes on millionaire’…
4th June, 2020
Episcopalian and author DIANA BUTLER BASS says she was “mortified” and “shocked” when US President Donald Trump posed outside a Washington, DC, church, holding a Bible this week. Read her op-ed piece published on CNN, ‘As a Christian and a human being, I was appalled by Trump’s church photo op’…
3rd June, 2020
Pakistani Christian couple Shagufta Kausar and her husband Shafqat Emmanuel have spent the last six years in jail waiting for an appeal against their death sentence for “blasphemy” to conclude with the final hearing to be held in Lahore this week. SECUNDER KERMAMI reports for the BBC…
2nd June, 2020
George Floyd, known as “Big Floyd”, opened up Christian ministry opportunities in the Third Ward housing projects in Houston prior to moving to Minneapolis where he died after his neck was knelt on by a police officer last week. In an article on Christianity Today, KATE SHELLNUTT looks at his life including his role in supporting Christian ministry…
1st June, 2020
Czech missionary Petr Jasek was imprisoned in Sudan for more than a year before his release in February, 2017. In an article written by SAMUEL SMITH, of the Christian Post, he talks about how he brought others to Christ during that time…
29th May, 2020
The death of black man George Floyd while in police custody in the US city of Minneapolis – which has sparked protests in the city and an outcry across the US – was the subject of a panel discussion involving black ministers and an investigative reporter convened by The Christian Chronicle. Watch the video here…
28th May, 2020
Australian missionary Andie Steele-Smith works among gangs in Cape Town, South Africa. Read GABRIELLE LYONS’ report on Australia’s ABC, ‘Mortal enemies call truce to distribute food, after Australian pastor helps bring rival gangs together during coronavirus’…
27th May, 2020
The coronavirus-related lockdown in the UK has meant a reprieve for asylum seekers who were freed from detention centres, liberated from the threat of imminent deportation and no longer obliged to report to the government. But amid fears things will return to the way they were, CLARE CONSIDINE, reporting for The Guardian, looks at calls for a rethink on how the issue of immigration is approached…
26th May, 2020
The coronavirus pandemic has taken an enormous toll on the elderly in northern Italy. Read a report from BEN WEDEMAN and NICOLA RUOTOLO on CNN…
25th May, 2020
‘When will the monstrous become unacceptable?’ asks Sojourners founder JIM WALLIS in an article in which he looks at the recent killing of unarmed black man Ahmaud Arbery against the background of ongoing racism in America. Read the article here…
22nd May, 2020
Should Christians eat less meat? David Clough, professor of theological ethics at the University of Chester and a Methodist lay preacher says the coronavirus pandemic shows the ‘hard limits’ in our treatment of animals. Read ABIGAIL FRYMANN ROUCH’s story on Church Times…
21st May, 2020
Marking five years since Pope Francis’s encyclical, Laudato Si’: On care for our common home, THEA ORMEROD, president of the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change, says the encyclical offers a vital contribution to the post-COVID-19 recovery. Read her article on Australia’s ABC here…
19th May, 2020
Too many evangelical Christians fall for conspiracy theories online and gullibility is not a virtue, according to ED STETZER, a professor at Wheaton College and executive director of the Billy Graham Center, and ANDREW MACDONALD, associate director of the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center. Read their column on The Dallas Morning News…
18th May, 2020
With the numbers of people killed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic around the world now well over 300,000, it can be easy to disassociate the death toll from the fact there are real people behind the statistics. TIME staff take a look at the lives of some of the individuals who have died…
15th May, 2020
Christian nurses and doctors are on the frontline of tackling the coronavirus in Bangladesh. Read STEPHAN UTTOM’s reports for UCANews here…
14th May, 2020
The BBC asked young people in 14 different countries to record their day during lockdown. Watch the results here…
13th May, 2020
Israeli archaeologists are examining how an early Christian settlement in the Negev Desert flourished before suddenly coming to an end. Read RUTH SCHUSTER’s report on Haaretz…
11th May, 2020
In a case that has sparked an outcry across the US, Ahmaud Arbery was shot dead while out jogging. Read KHUSHBU SHAH’s report for The Guardian, ‘”They lynched him”: Ahmaud Arbery’s father on the killing of his son’…
8th May, 2020
In 2010, lawyer Stephen Rache offered his services to the Chaldean Catholic Church of Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan and has since dedicated his life to preserving this ancient community. He speaks with Christianity Today’s JAYSON CASPAR…
7th May, 2020
“The UK Blessing” video – in which people from more than 65 churches came together to “sing a blessing over the nation” – went viral on the net. In an interview with SAM HAILES of Premier Christanity, Tim Hughes, one of the worship leaders behind the project, talks about why…
6th May, 2020
In Pakistan, descendants of lower-caste Hindus who converted to Christianity centuries ago are still marginalised and “relegated to dirty jobs and grim fates”, according to an article on The New York Times. Read ZIA UR-REHMAN and MARIA ABI-HABIB’s report…
5th May, 2020
Israel has green lit a new GOD TV channel to broadcast in Hebrew. Read JUDY MALTZ’s report on Haaretz…
4th May, 2020
Violent demonstrations, called the ‘hunger protest’, have rocked the Lebanese city of Tripoli as it began to loosen coronavirus-related restrictions. TAMARA QIBLAWI and GHAZI BALKIZ report for CNN on the background the protests…
1st May, 2020
When will churches in Europe open again? Evangelicals give details in JOEL FORSTER’s article on Evangelical Focus…
30th April, 2020
Hundreds of people from across the world participated in a livestreamed webinar featuring a lineup of speakers who shared insights in how churches across the world have quickly transformed their services because of COVID-19. Watch the seminar, organised by the World Council of Churches, here…
29th April, 2020
The Philippines has one of the world’s toughest coronanvirus-related lockdowns. AMY BAINBRIDGE and SUPATTRA VIMONSUKNOPPARAT report on what life’s like there for Australia’s ABC…
28th April, 2020
Speculation about North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s health has thrust his sister Kim Yo-jong into the spotlight. But who is she? Read AMY GUNIA’s article on TIME…
27th April, 2020
Gullibility is not a spiritual gift, says Ed Stetzer in Christianity Today. Read his article concerning Christians spreading coronavirus-related conspiracies…
24th April, 2020
The 29th April marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the infamous Nazi concentration camp of Dachau in Germany. OLIVIA B WAXMAN, of TIME, takes a look at the scenes which confronted its correspondents…
23rd April, 2020
5G does not spread Covid-19, steam inhalation is not a cure and skin colour can’t protect from catching the virus, according to BBC Reality Check. Watch CHRIS MORRIS’ report debunking some of the key myths making the rounds…
22nd April, 2020
Known as ‘Napalm Girl’, Kim Phuc is recognised globally as the nine-year-old running from a napalm attack during the Vietnam War. In an article published by Premier Christianity, she talks about how bombs led her to Christ…
21st April, 2020
Christians who resist public health measures during this coronavirus pandemic are forgetting that one of the key attributes of early Christians which set them apart in the world in which they lived was that they cared for the welfare of the suffering, writes MATTHEW GABRIELE, a professor of medieval studies and chair of the Department of Religion & Culture at Virginia Tech in the US. Read his article on TIME…
20th April, 2020
More than 260 million Orthodox Christians celebrated Easter Sunday last weekend with worshippers asked to stay home amid lockdowns in response to the coronavirus pandemic. See a gallery of images on Aljazeera…
17th April, 2020
Drawing on her experience as a cross-cultural worker in South-East Asia, REBECCA OAKLEY, a 2020 Fellow with Australia’s Anglican Deaconess Ministries, provides some lessons in a time of social distancing on working remotely. Read her article ‘Navigating this new distance: Three lessons from Cross Cultural Workers on effective, but remote, interactions’ on the ADM website…
16th April, 2020
Medical staff’s triage decisions about “who will be saved by artificial ventilation and who will be allowed to die as a result of not receiving the life-saving treatment they need” are not just clinical decisions but ethical decisions, write MARGARET ADAM and DAVID CLOUGH. Read their article ‘Christian ethics and the dilemma of triage during a pandemic’ on Australia’s ABC website…
15th April, 2020
Work on the rebuilding of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris – largely gutted in a fire last year – has largely ground to a halt as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Read LUCY WILLIAMSON’s report on the BBC…
14th April, 2020
Rev Dr WILLIAM J BARBER II, president of Repairers of the Breach and co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, and Dr LEAH HUNT–HENDRIX, co-founder of Way to Win, write that amid the global pandemic, “Easter offers a moment for us to reflect on the role of suffering and the possibility of radical solidarity”. Read the article on The Guardian…
9th April, 2020
As Christians around the world mark Maundy Thursday ahead of Good Friday, Rev STEPHANIE LOBDELL, in an article published by Sojourners, looks at Christ’s command to love one another…
8th April, 2020
Until now, the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu has been spared the coronavirus. But, as YASMINE BJORNUM, reports for The Guardian, efforts to stop its arrival have been hampered by Cyclone Harold…
7th April, 2020
As the coronavirus death toll soars in Spain, drive-through funerals are being held to observe social distancing measures. Read SCOTT MCLEAN and LAURA PEREZ MAESTRO’s report on CNN…
6th April, 2020
In a documentary aired on Australia’s ABC on 5th April, three Australian Christians reveal what leads them to take non-violent action in support of the climate emergency. Watch the Compass episode, ‘For The Love Of Creation’, on the ABC’s iView…
3rd April, 2020
The coronavirus outrbreak has changed how Christians observe Lent. Read TRENT TOONE’s article ‘Coronavirus has influenced how Christians observe Lent’ on the Deseret News…
2nd April, 2020
TIM COSTELLO, social activist and former World Vision Australia CEO, says we must be prepared to “rediscover the art of lament” during the current coronavirus crisis. See his article ‘We need to be physically distant, but we need to share our collective pain’ on The Guardian here…
1st April, 2020
Christianity Today has collated a series of articles looking at how Christian communities have responded to outbreaks over the centuries. See them here…
31st March, 2020
Sojourners founder JIM WALLIS looks at the importance of the Lord’s Prayer during the coronavirus pandemic. Read his article ‘The Lord’s Prayer in a Pandemic’…
30th March, 2020
A 5,000-year-old sword was discovered at a Venetian monastery. Read FRANCESCA GIULIANI-HOFFMAN’s report on CNN…
27th March, 2020
Images taken from space show the impact of the coronavirus lockdowns and social distancing measures on locations around the world. See a gallery on Newsweek…
26th March, 2020
UNICEF has published an article with eight tips to help comfort and protect chuildren at this time. Read ‘How to talk to your child about coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)’…
25th March, 2020
Christian doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers are on the frontline of the fight against the coronavirus in Spain. JOEL FORSTER reports in an article published by Evangelical Focus…
24th March, 2020
Hundreds of millions of people are in lockdown in India as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. BILLY PERRIGO reports for TIME…
23rd March, 2020
Some US churches are considering reviving the idea of “drive-in” churches as coronavirus stops gatherings. Read DANIEL SILLIMAN’s article on Christianity Today…
20th March, 2020
Having faith does not mean recklessly flouting coronavirus guidance, says Rev Will van der Hart, author, pastor and a director of Mind and Soul Foundation. Read his article on Premier Christianity…
18th March, 2020
Christians have handled many plagues of the past, says LYMAN STONE, a research fellow at the US-based Institute for Family Studies and an advisor at the consulting firm Demographic Intelligence. Read his article ‘Christianity Has Been Handling Epidemics for 2000 Years’ on Foreign Policy…
17th March, 2020
Faith communities are “key partners” in planning for a coronavirus outbreak, says BRIAN ADAMS, director of the Centre for Interfaith and Cultural Dialogue at Griffith University and bishop of a Latter-Day Saint congregation in Brisbane. Read his article on Australia’s ABC…
16th March, 2020
Often called the “forgotten war”, the ongoing conflict in Yemen has taken an enormous toll on the ciry of Taiz, once the nation’s “capital of culture”. LYSE DOUCET reports for The Guardian…
13th March, 2020
Christians and churches around the world are grappling with how to respond in the light of the coronavirus. Read Rev ADAM R TAYLOR, executive director of US organisation Sojourners, response, ‘The time to act like a community is now’…
12th March, 2020
TIME magazine has published interactive maps showing the spread of coronavirus around the world. You can see them here…
11th March, 2020
Indian Archbishop Peter Machado of Bangalore has condemned the removal of a 12-foot tall statue of Christ from a Christian burial site by police. Read NIRMALA CARVALHO’s report on Crux…
10th March, 2020
Members of churches in Nashville, Tennessee, destroyed by tornadoes last week gathered on Sunday for worship, some against the backdrop of the ruined buildings. Read the article on USA Today…
9th March, 2020
German evangelicals are singing worship songs in English – part of a growing trend fuelled by the arrival of transnational evangelical groups like Hillsong in Germany. KEN CHITWOOD, writing for Christianity Today, reports…
6th March, 2020
Filipino President Manuel Quezon rescued 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust in a story being told in a new film, Quezon’s Game. Read MATT NEAL’s report on Australia’s ABC…
5th March, 2020
A marble tablet, known as the Nazareth Inscription and long thought to have been connected to the disappearance of Jesus’ body, is actually likely to have belonged to a Greek tyrant called Nikias whose grave was desecrated after his death, say scientists. Read about their findings in this report by HANNAH OSBORNE on Newsweek…
2nd March, 2020
In demand for a key metal used in the manufacture of electronic circuit boards that power smartphones, game consoles and computers, the coltan mining industry in the Democratic Republic of Congo is also known for its exploitation of children. Read the report of ESDRAS TSONGO, of Australia’s ABC…
28th February, 2020
Iran-supported fighters are “making life hell” for Christians living in Iraq’s Nineveh Plains. XAVIER BISITS, in an article published by America magazine, reports on how…
27th February, 2020
Missiologist Jim Memory says Europeans need a “fresh encounter with Christ, not a campaign to make Europe Christian again”. Read his interview with JOEL FORSTER published on Evangelical Focus…
26th February, 2020
It may have faded from the headlines but the political crisis in Venezuela is continuing with Brazil reporting growing numbers of unaccompanied minors crossing its borders from the neighbouring nation. EMILY COSTA reports for The Guardian…
25th February, 2020
Katherine Johnson, a pioneering NASA mathematician whose story was told in the film Hidden Figures, died this week at the age of 101. JORGE SOLIS, in an article published on Newsweek, looks at five facts about the renowned scientist who not only pushed for racial equality as the first African American woman in the space agency but also broke new ground in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education...
24th February, 2020
As the coronavirus outbreak continues to grow, science journalist and author SONIA SHAH says a “potentially more fearsome and shadowy pandemic” is also growing. Read ‘The Pandemic of Xenophobia and Scapegoating’ on TIME…
21st February, 2020
Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán’s “family friendly” policies have been warmly received by many Christians in the country but as MATTHEW SCHMITZ reports for the Catholic Herald, “family values” do not always align with Christian faith. Read ‘Orbán and the trouble with “Christian identity”‘…
20th February, 2020
Meekness does not mean weakness, Pope Francis said this week. Read CAROL GLATZ report on Crux…
19th February, 2020
Amid speculation Wuhan doctor Li Wenliang, the coronavirus whistleblower who died on 7th February, was a Christian, YAN YILE, in a story published on Christianity Today says the church has something to learn from his life whether that’s the case or not. Read ‘It Doesn’t Matter If the Coronavirus Whistleblower Was a Christian’…
18th February, 2020
Xia Baolong, a long-time ally of China’s President Xi Jinping and responsible for the demolition of thousands of Christian crosses on churches has been appointed the new head of China’s office in Hong Kong. VERNA YO reports for The Guardian…
17th February, 2020
Fr Columba Stewart, a Benedictine monk from St Joseph’s Abbey in the US state of Minnesota, has travelled to Timbuktu with a team of experts to try and persuade imams of the city’s three great mosques to allow them to digitise their highly endangered manuscript collections. Listen to the BBC’s report…
14th February, 2020
Christians in northern Syria have been worrying since Turkish troops entered the area in November to attack Kurdish forces, after US forces withdrew. Read and listen to JANE ARRAF’s report ‘It’s A Dangerous Time For Christians In Northeastern Syria’…
13th February, 2020
Christian Sonic the Hedgehog fan art? COLIN SPACETWINKS, writing for New York magazine, looks at the nexus in ‘The Pious World of Christian Sonic the Hedgehog Fan Art’…
12th February, 2020
Grammy Award-winning Billie Eilish’s music can help parents understand teenage anxiety, says BRAD M GRIFFIN, senior director of content at the Fuller Youth Institute and author. Read his article on Christianity Today…
11th February, 2020
In a private meeting, Middle Eastern Catholic patriarchs have told Pope Francis they are concerned about the survival of the Christian church in the Middle East. DOREEN ABI RAAD, of Catholic News Service, reports in this story published by Angelus News…
10th February, 2020
A ‘Christian garden’ – the first of its kind – is being created for this year’s Chelsea Flower Show in London. Read VALERIE ELLIOTT’s report on The Telegraph…
7th February, 2020
Mass shootings dominate the national conversation on gun control in the US, but some two thirds of gun deaths are suicides. How do you solve a problem hardly anyone talks about? JOEL GUNTER, of the BBC, reports…
6th February, 2020
Historian, broadcaster and writer TOM HOLLAND recently debated philosopher AC Grayling during which he was asked what has Christianity done for humanity? In an article published by Premier Christianity in the UK, Holland responds…
5th February, 2020
Pope Francis has overseen the conversion of a 19th century palace in Vatican City into a homeless shelter. See this report on Australia’s ABC…
3rd February, 2020
With the Super Bowl capturing worldwide attention on the weekend, MEGAN FOWLER, writing for Christianity Today, profiles the 49ers chaplain Earl Smith. Read ‘The 49ers Chaplain Went from San Quentin to the Super Bowl’…
31st January, 2020
Young Christian communities in Africa are “imperilled by a fast-growing and violently intolerant Islamist trend”, according to NINA SHEA, director of the US-based Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom. Read her article – Africa’s Young Christian Communities Are Now in Islamic-Extremist Crosshairs – in the US National Catholic Register…
30th January, 2020
Based in Hawaii, the Daniel K Inouye Solar Telescope has produced the highest resolution image of the sun’s surface ever taken. ASHLEY STRICKLAND reports for CNN…
29th January, 2020
‘Africa has the world’s most under-reported humanitarian crises – but why are we turning a blind eye?’ ZENA CHAMAS investigates for Australia’s ABC…
28th January, 2020
The 40 metre high Katskhi pillar in Georgia is home to one of the world’s “most isolated churches”. NATHAN KAY reports for CNN…
27th January, 2020
Indian soldiers known as the “missing 54” are among those who have disappeared during the troubled history of the Kashmir region stradding India and Pakistan. SOUTIK BISWAS reports for the BBC…
24th January, 2020
TONY RINAUDO, senior climate action adviser at World Vision Australia, writes about what he learned about the Australian bushfires while living on the edge of the Sahara Desert. Read his article on Australia’s ABC here…
23rd January, 2020
MATTHEW SHANDLE, writing for the Catholic America magazine in the US, argues that war crime pardons dishonour the “Christian roots of the modern military”. Read his article here…
22nd January, 2020
The discovery of the 39 bodies of Vietnamese nationals in the back of a trailer in an industrial park in Essex, UK, last October shone a light on the subterranean world of people smuggling and human trafficking. Read CAT MCSHANE’s report for the BBC – ‘How a boy from Vietnam became a slave on a UK cannabis farm’…
21st January, 2020
More than 20,000 Christian pilgrims were baptised in the Jordan River last weekend. Read EMILY JONES’ report on CBNNews…
20th January, 2020
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2020 kicked off on Saturday. For resources and how you can take part, visit the World Council of Churches’ website here…
17th January, 2020
The Guardian has published a series of images showing the impact of bushfires in Australia on small communities in New South Wales and South Australia. See the images here…
16th January, 2020
As the US looks to mark Martin Luther King, Jr, Day on 20th January, R Drew Smith, in an article published by Sojourners, looks at what two recent films show us. Read ‘”Until we are all free”: Learning from Tubman, King and Stevenson’…
15th January, 2020
What future for Christians in the Middle East? STEPHEN M RASCHE, director of the Institute for Ancient and Threatened Christianity at the Catholic University in Erbil, Iraq, and author of the upcoming book, The Disappearing People: The Tragic Fate of Christians in the Middle East, takes a look in this article published by Angelus…
14th January, 2020
There’s a plethora of Bible translations – but what’s the difference. JIM DENISON, in an article published on The Christian Post, explains…
13th January, 2020
New satellites have enabled the delivery of Christian TV to remote Western Australian communities. Listen to ERIN PARKE’s report on the ABC’s AM program…
10th January, 2020
How a Christian book club led to the creation of an opioid support group. ANNA BOIKO-WEYRAUCH and MICHELLE W MARTIN report for NPR in the US…
9th January, 2020
What to do when you can’t hear from God? GRANT J REYNOLDS responds in an article on Relevant Magazine…
8th January, 2020
The Gospels were originally written in Greek and, in an article published in Aleteia, DANIEL ESPARZA looks at ‘Three Greek words every Christian should know’…
7th January, 2020
In Pakistan, the law allows victims or their families to forgive suspects in a number of serious crimes, including most instances of murder. SECUNDER KERMANI investigates the impact of such laws in an article on the BBC website…
6th January, 2020
Canadian climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe talks about why she wrote an article last year in which she disclosed she was an evangelical Christian. Read HANNAH JACKSON’s report on Canada’s Global News…
3rd January, 2020
The Christian faith is stronger than ever in Iraq despite instability, says Archbishop Najib Mikhael Moussa, the Chaldean Archbishop of Mosul. Read DEVIN WATKINS report on Vatican News…
2nd January, 2020
Michael Sweet, frontman of band Stryper, talks about the difficulty in taking their music to the mainstream. Read JAMES VARNEY’s article, ‘Stryper illustrates Christian bands’ struggle to crossover to mainstream’, published by the Washington Times…
31st December, 2019
A “scrappy network” of Christians is helping Congolese asylum seekers as they arrive in the US via Mexico. Read BEKAH MCNEEL’s story on Christianity Today…
30th December, 2019
Can the Christian faith be independent of politics? TIM COSTELLO, a senior fellow at the Centre for Public Christianity, responds in an article published in the Sydney Morning Herald…
24th December, 2019
What’s Christmas like for those behind bars? TOM LOWREY reports for Australia’s ABC on what happens at Canberra’s Alexander Maconochie Centre…
23rd December, 2019
Should Christians be offended by the use of ‘Xmas’?. CHANSHI CHIBWE, writing for the Christian Post, explains…
20th December, 2019
Christmas music is both loved and loathed. America Magazine has compiled a list of “the worst (religious) Christmas songs of all time”. Read ISABELLE SENECHAL’s report…
19th December, 2019
World-renowned German-born evangelist Reinhard Bonnke died earlier this month at the age of 79. Kenyan writer JESSE MASAI, writing for the BBC, looks at the legacy of the man sometimes called the “Billy Graham of Africa”…
18th December, 2019
Founded almost 1,400 years ago, the Rabban Hormizd Monastery in Iraq is a tenacious survivor. CHARLIE D’AGATA, of CBSNews in the US, reports on challenges to its existence, old and new…
17th December, 2019
Urban Christian missionary GAYLENE DEMPSEY writes in an article published by Canadian broadcaster CBC about her wrestle with Christmas. Read ‘”I’m a Christian who pretty much despises Christmas”: How a Winnipeg street preacher gets through the holidays’…
16th December, 2019
‘Tis the season for Christmas music. TANYA RICHES, in an article in Christianity Today, looks at ‘Our Favorite New Christian Christmas Albums of the Year’…
13th December, 2019
Cardinal Louis Sako, Chaldean Catholic patriarch, has appealed for Christian relief in the towns of the Ninevah Plain, the historical cradle of Christianity in Iraq, as they continue to rebuild lives in the wake of their liberation from the so-called Islamic State. DOREEN ABI RAAD reports on Crux…
12th December, 2019
The discovery of a church in northern Ethiopia, close to the heart of what was the Aksumite Kingdom, has shed new light on the early history of Christianity in the region. Read ANDREW LAWLER’s report – ‘Church Unearthed in Ethiopia Rewrites the History of Christianity in Africa’ – in Smithsonian Magazine…
10th December, 2019
Palestinians in Bethlehem have long watched tourists arrive in their thousands to spend a few hours at the site where Christ was believed to have been born. But, AP reporters MOHAMMAD DARAGHMEH and JOSEPH KRAUSS, find that recent years have seen a new form of tourism take root, one which is focused on the West Bank town’s Palestinian residents, their culture and history and their struggles under Israeli occupation…
9th December, 2019
Christian satellite TV network, SAT-7, is bringing hope, education and entertainment to millions of Arabic-speakers in 21 countries across the Middle East and North Africa. As LINDA BORDINI of Vatican News reports, it’s taking up the challenge of doing more for the suffering Christians in Iraq and in Syria…
6th December, 2019
In an article published on RELEVANT magazine, HALEY WHIGHAM looks at ‘What if Christians Actually Did What Jesus Did?’…
5th December, 2019
In an article published by Sojourners, JONATHAN WILSON-HARTGROVE says “any attempt to live out…faith in public life must begin with repentance”. Read ‘Reviving the soul of America’…
3rd December, 2019
Hungary last week hosted an International Conference on Christian Persecution. MARLO SAFI, writing for The Spectator, writes that ‘Hungary isn’t afraid to call “Christian persecution” what it is…
2nd December, 2019
In an article to mark World AIDS Day on 1st December, Newsweek looks at some facts and figures. Read the article here…
29th November, 2019
Cathedrals, churches and other landmarks around the world were illuminated in red this week as a sign of solidarity with persecuted Christians. PETER ROSENGREN reports on Australia’s Catholic Weekly…
28th November, 2019
Christ came to proclaim Good News to the poor. But, according to an article published by Christianity Today, they’re leaving the church. Read RYAN BURGE’s article…
26th November, 2019
What were the 100 best inventions of 2019? See TIME‘s annual list…
25th November, 2019
The history of Christianity in Japan is a tragic one. Against the backdrop of Pope Francis’s visit to the Asian nation, YVETTE TAN, writing for the BBC, looks at it in her article, ‘The Japanese Christians forced to trample on Christ’…
22nd November, 2019
How to stop prayer turning into an “empty exercise”? TYLER SPEEGLE provides a perspective in his article ‘Why Your Prayers Aren’t ‘Working’’ published on Relevant Magazine…
21st November, 2019
With Pope Francis visiting Japan this week, there has been a focus on the country’s so-called ‘Hidden Christians’. Read LINDA SIEG’s report ‘Japan’s aging ‘Hidden Christians’ fear they may be their religion’s last generation’ on The Japan Times…
20th November, 2019
The Australian ABC’s ‘God Forbid’ podcast recently grappled with the idea of doubt. Listen to ‘Is doubt the death of faith?’…
19th November, 2019
Up to two million Christians in Lebanon face “dire threats” as the nation “hurtles toward economic collapse and political anarchy”, writes NINA SHEA, a senior fellow and directs the Center for Religious Freedom of the Hudson Institute, in an article published by Fox News. Read ‘Lebanon’s Christians threatened, need US help’…
18th November, 2019
UK politicians recently launched a new venture to tackle genocide. EWELINA U OCHAB, author, legal researcher and human rights advocate, explains in an article on Forbes…
15th November, 2019
In an article published by Premier Christianity in the UK, retired intensive care doctor Professor JOHN WYATT shares his unique perspective on what it means to die well. Read ‘Dying well: How to face death with faith and not fear’…
14th November, 2019
LELA GILBERT, in a story published by Religion Unplugged, looks at the plight of Syriac Christians in light of recent events in northern Syria. Read ‘Ancient Christian Communities Caught In Syria’s Crossfire Need Shelter This Winter’…
13th November, 2019
‘They Tried to Save the Lives of Immigrants Fleeing Danger. Now They’re Facing Prosecution’. JASMINE AGUILERA AND BILLY PERRIGO report for TIME…
12th November, 2019
In a “Life & Faith” podcast published by Australia’s Centre for Public Christianity, Australian actor Anna McGahan “tells with searing honesty her story of fame, and of unexpected faith”. Listen here…
11th November, 2019
Christians are called to be “rebels against evil”, Catholic Cardinal Christian Tumi said on a program on state television in Cameroon which brought together various Christian leaders to discuss relations between church and state. Read a report on Crux…
8th November, 2019
Australia has a ‘man drought’ and its worse for Christian women, according to a report on Australia’s ABC. Read KAREN TONG’s report, ‘Australia’s ‘man drought’ is real – especially if you’re a Christian woman looking for love’…
7th November, 2019
Melpomeni Dina was a teenager and an orphan when she risked her life to hide and protect the Jewish Mordechai family during the Holocaust. She was recently reuited in Jerusalem with members of that family. Read CAROL KURUVILLA’s story on the Huffington Post…
6th November, 2019
A church model which thrives in a “post-Christian” context? Read KARA BETTIS’ article, ‘This Church Model Thrives in Post-Christian Contexts’, on Christianity Today…
5th November, 2019
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has warned that current tension between Russia and the West is putting the world in “colossal danger” due to the threat from nuclear weapons in an interview with the BBC. See it here…
4th November, 2019
US President Donald Trump once wanted to build a megachurch, his longtime personal pastor Paula White-Cain, recently appointed to lead the White House’s faith initiative, has told the Washington Examiner. Read the report here…
1st November, 2019
Church registration increases in Uzbekistan could signal greater freedoms for Christians, reports UK-based persecuted support agency, the Barnabas Fund. Read its report here…
31st October, 2019
The past few decades have seen increasing numbers of men are staying at home to look after the kids while their wives go out to work. NATHAN SCHNEIDER, writing for Jersuit publication America, looks at the issue in ‘The Christian argument for more stay-at-home dads’…
30th October, 2019
Wildfires are again raging in California. Read TIME‘s special report and see a map of where they are…
29th October, 2019
Don’t expect God to use you if you’re not prepared, columnist JAMIE FERNANDEZ writes in Evangelical Focus, a publication linked to the Spanish Evangelical Alliance. Read ‘I am ready’…
28th October, 2019
Nationalism, authoritarianism and militant Islamism are creating a “perfect storm” for Christians living in Asia, according to a report on the UK’s Catholic Herald. Read JOHN PONTIFEX’s report, ‘The unprecedented scale of anti-Christian persecution in Asia’…
25th October, 2019
Communal singing in church may not be as vital as some may think, says Rev Peter Laws in an article published in Premier Christianity. Read ‘5 reasons why singing in church is a bad idea…for some’…
24th October, 2019
Thomas Harvey, academic dean of the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies, looks at the ‘sinicisation’ of religion in China. Read his article on the website of the Lausanne Movement…
23rd October, 2019
Craig Keener, a professor of Biblical studies at Asbury Theological Seminary, has written a new book in which he argues the Gospels should be treated as serious historical sources rather than works of fiction. Read CHRISTOPHER REESE’s interview with him on Christianity Today…
22nd October, 2019
Who is my neighbour? JIM WALLIS, president of Sojourners, says the opposite of loving your neighbor is being indifferent to them. Read his article here…
21st October, 2019
The Christian Post looks at five Christian films due for release this season in the US. Read ‘5 films highlighting Christian faith topics coming fall 2019’…
18th October, 2019
Christian musician David Crowder has spoken with Fox News’ JULIUS YOUNG ahead of the 50th Dove Awards. Read ‘Christian musician David Crowder reflects on his journey: ‘I kind of stumbled into this whole thing”…
17th October, 2019
St Mary’s Church in the UK county of Sussex has set up a Brexit prayer chapel. Read SAM DIXON-FRENCH’s report on the Littlehampton Gazette…
16th October, 2019
Should the US stars of contemporary Christian music be speaking out on the “widening political and racial divisions in the Trump era”?. JOHN BLAKE, in an article published by CNN, reports in the issue in his story ‘Why Christian music’s biggest stars refuse to change their tune for the Trump era’…
15th October, 2019
An international software firm developing smartphone keyboards specifically designed to write in traditional languages is helping people protect their language. Read GARY-JON LYSAGHT’s report on Australia’s ABC…
14th October, 2019
A “perfect storm of plummeting global coffee prices, coupled with the spread of a disease that can put a coffee plantation out of business for years” is leading some in Honduras to leave their homes and head north. Read CHANTAL DA SILVA’s report on Newsweek, ‘The Coffee You Drink Could Be Connected to Why Many Hondurans Are Fleeing to the US Border’…
11th October, 2019
In an article on Relevant Magazine, MARK BOWERS – who writes and trains for the Chalmers Center, a church equipping organisation focused on breaking the spiritual, social, and material bonds of poverty, looks at how people can put their love for immigrants into action in their local community. Read ‘How to Love Your Immigrant Neighbors Through Housing’…
10th October, 2019
The Christian Batak people of Sumatra in Indonesia have farmed pigs for generations. But calls for greater reagulation surrounding the consumption of the animals in a bid to attract more Muslim tourists have sparked a backlash. Read DAVID PIERSON’s story ‘A Christian community proud of its pork resists change to attract Muslim tourists’ on The Los Angeles Times…
9th October, 2019
Working in ministry can be isolating but it doesn’t have to be. Read COLE HARTIN’s article – ‘Why Do People Keep Pastors at Arm’s Length?’ – in Christianity Today…
8th October, 2019
Don’t blame incivility on religion, says DANIEL DARLING, author and vice president of communications at The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission in the US, it’s the fact that we have strayed from what we believe. Read his article, ‘Don’t blame incivility on religion. Christian principles are an antidote to nastiness’ on USA Today…
7th October, 2019
Media reports in recent weeks have suggested archaeologists have unearthed a Biblical city. CHRIS SINKINSON, of Premier Christianity, takes a closer look…
4th October, 2019
Brandt Jean’s forgiveness of convicted murderer, hugging Amber Guyger as she was sentenced for killing his brother Botham Jean, and telling her he didn’t want her to go to jail but to give her life to Christ has made headlines across the world. Read BILL CHAPPELL’S and RICHARD GONZALES’ report on the case and subsequent response on NPR…
3rd October, 2019
Myanmar’s Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, of Yangon, has expressed his dismay over the silence of religious leaders as civilians were killed and displaced as a result of ongoing fighting in conflict-torn Myanmar. Read JOHN ZAW’s article on UCAnews…
1st October, 2019
As Prince Harry visits the country to build on the anti-landmine work begun by his mother, Princess Diana, RACHEL COOKE of the UK’s Observer reports on work to clear villages of explosives. Read ‘Inch by inch: how Angola is clearing its killing fields’…
30th September, 2019
Writing in The Christian Post, Dr MICHAEL BROWN says there are “no superstars in God’s Kingdom”. Read ‘Beware the snare of superstar Christianity’…
27th September, 2019
There has been a surge in the number of Christian girls in Pakistan being kidnapped and forced to convert to Islam, says Pakistan’s Catholic Archbishop. Read FIONN SHINER’s report on the Catholic Herald…
26th September, 2019
Armed security at US churches is “becoming the new normal”, according to MARIA BAER in an article published on Christianity Today. Read the piece here…
25th September, 2019
How much is a prayer worth? ALICE MOLDOVAN, of Australia’s ABC, reports on the findings of new study out of the US…
24th September, 2019
Baptisms at football practice? GABRIEL BAUMGAERTNER, writing for The Guardian, looks at how US football coach Dabo Swinney’s faith has aided in the recruiting that’s made Clemson a college football powerhouse while also drawing the ire of groups that say he runs afoul of the First Amendment…
23rd September, 2019
Once describing a vital tradition within the Christian faith, the term evangelical now means “something else entirely”, says ALAN JACOBS, professor of humanities at Baylor University. Read his article in The Atlantic, ‘Evangelical Has Lost Its Meaning’…
20th September, 2019
Australian Baptist minister and advocate TIM COSTELLO says striking for the climate is the “Christian thing to do”. Read his article on 10 Daily…
19th September, 2019
“Many of our churches have gotten so far astray from God’s plan of making the church a fellowship of believers in a hostile world and have turned it into a self-righteous club for spiritual snobs,” writes author JOE MCKEEVER on Crosswalk.com. Read his article ‘What a good church does for a lonely Christian’…
18th September, 2019
What is the difference between Christianity and ‘churchianity’. BOBBY ROSS, Jr, reporting for The Christian Chronicle, reports on discussions at the recent New Day Conference held in Nashville last week…
17th September, 2019
Lebanon has declared a state of economic emergency thanks, at least in part due to the impact of the Syrian refugee crisis. BETHANN FLYNN, of Mission Network News, speaks with Heart for Lebanon’s Tom Atema about what’s happening…
16th September, 2019
Author and Christian apologist Lee Strobel is launching a new centre for evangelism and apologetics in collaboration with Colorado Christian University. Read LEAH MARIEANN KLETT’s report on The Christian Post…
13th September, 2019
What’s the background to the events taking place in Hong Kong during recent months? Read a special report from Australia’s ABC, ‘Inside the city caught between a British past and a Chinese future’…
12th September, 2019
Christians in Burkina Faso are being forced to “flee, convert or die”, according to Catholic aid workers. Read a report on Crux, ‘Christians in Burkina Faso face options: ‘Flee, convert or die’‘…
10th September, 2019
Evan Mawarire is a Zimbabwean activist, founder of the #ThisFlag Citizen’s Movement and a senior pastor at His Generation Church. In an article published on TIME, he writes about ‘Robert Mugabe’s Legacy of Broken Souls’…
9th September, 2019
Rev Kelli Jolly, an itinerant presbyter with the Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas, Bahamas/Turks and Caicos Islands District, Nassau Circuit of Churches, speaks to the World Council of Churches communications team about the question God’s presence amid times of disaster. Read ‘Is God present – even amid hurricane’s wrath?’…
6th September, 2019
Abolish all prisons? CATHARINE GRAINGE, a writing an op-ed piece in Relevant, puts forward the “Christian case” for it…
5th September, 2019
Bob Dylan’s Christianity was”markedly out of step with his peers” writes AARON E SANCHEZ in Sojourners but his “popular remaking of the old-time religion was “prescient and telling”. Read ‘Bob Dylan’s overlooked Christian music’…
4th September, 2019
Faith and politics can be uncomfortable bedfellows. In an op-ed piece published by the ABC, ANNABEL CRABB says that, in Australia, “nowhere is Biblical teaching more embarrassed than when it confronts – in this country – immigration policy”…
3rd September, 2019
Christian woman Asia Bibi, who had faced execution in Pakistan on false blasphemy charges, has appealed for justice for other victims of the country’s blasphemy laws. The Sunday Telegraph‘s BEN FARMER and WAQAR GILLANI speak to Bibi at her new home in Canada…
2nd September, 2019
Christians are among those calling for change in Hong Kong. Read MIKE O’SULLIVAN’s report for Voice of America, ‘Hong Kong Christians Call for Reform’…
30th August, 2019
MEGAN FOWLER, writing for Christianity Today, reports on how Big Daddy Weave’s song Redeemed brought spiritual freedom for a man now serving a life sentence. Read ‘Big Daddy Weave Frontman ‘Blown Away’ That His Song Led to Murder Confession’…
29th August, 2019
With the world’s population expected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050 and the impacts of climate change adversely impacting the world’s food supplies, food security has become a major issue for the world. Yet, as academic and author AMANDA LITTLE writes in this special report for TIME, there is still reason for hope…
28th August, 2019
US baseball great Darryl Strawberry told an audience at the 30th annual Southern California Harvest event that he was glad he was imprisoned during the early 2000s because he may not have found God otherwise. SAMUEL SMITH reports for the Christian Post…
27th August, 2019
On Sunday, Christians in India marked Kandhamal Day, commemorating the 11th anniversary of the country’s worst violence against Christians which took place in Odisha state, mostly in Kandhamal district, sparked by the murder of Hindu leader Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati. ROBIN GOMES reports for Vatican News…
26th August, 2019
In an interview marking the release of his latest book, The Logic of God, Christian scholar Ravi Zacharias reflects on more than 45 years travelling the world speaking about his Christian faith. Read CALEB PARKE’s interview on Fox News…
23rd August, 2019
See how slavery grew in the US in a multimedia presentation – ‘Slavery’s explosive growth, in charts: How ’20 and odd’ became millions’ – published on USA Today…
22nd August, 2019
While churches in the West are generally seeing declining congregations, those in places like Zambia in Africa are booming. TESSA WALTHER, attending the Religions for Peace World Assembly in Lindau this week, explores why in the Deutsche Welle article, ‘The Christian church: Dying out or thriving like never before?’…
21st August, 2019
Venezuela is increasingly relying on its gold as the bolivar drops to near worthlessness amid claims that the gold being extracted from the country, outside any protocols, is “bloody gold”. Read VASCO COTOVIO, ISA SOARES and WILLIAM BONNETT’S report – ‘A trail of ‘bloody gold’ leads to Venezuela’s government’ – on CNN…
20th August, 2019
Church planter, pastor, author and missiologist JEFF CHRISTOPHERSON looks at four characteristics that distinguish Biblical hospitality from merely entertaining guests. Read his article – ‘The Power of Biblical Hospitality’ – on Christianity Today…
19th August, 2019
The idea of godparents goes back to the early Christian period, reports ALICE MOLDOVAN of Australia’s ABC. Read ‘Godparents date back to ancient Christian times, but they’ve come a long way since then’…
16th August, 2019
Christian hip-hop making headlines, reports PATRICK RYAN on USA Today. Read ‘Christian hip hop is having a moment: 6 rappers you should know, including chart-topper NF’…
14th August, 2019
Archaeologists excavating Mount Zion in Jerusalem have uncovered evidence of the Babylonian conquest of the city. MATTHEW ROBINSON reports for CNN…
13th August, 2019
Sri Lanka’s Muslims say they are struggling in the wake of a series of bombings at Easter by members of an Islamic extremist group targeting churches and hotels. ANBARASAN ETHIRAJAN reports for the BBC in ‘Sri Lanka’s Muslims ‘demonised’ after Easter bombings’…
12th August, 2019
It’s estimated there are still some 40 million people trapped in modern slavery around the world today. In an article published by Australia’s ABC, Vannak Prum recounts his story to FARZ EDRAKI and ANNA WHITFELD…
9th August, 2019
The majority of children living in residential care worldwide are not orphans, says Dr Krish Kandiah, founding director of Home for Good, in an article published in Premier magazine. Read ‘Why time is running out for orphanages’…
8th August, 2019
In the US, Russell D Moore, pastor, author and president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission – the public policy arm of the more than 15 million-member Southern Baptist Convention, has been a vocal critic of US President Donald Trump. Read NINA BURLEIGH’s article in Newsweek – ‘The Rebel Evangelical: Dismantling the Loyalty of Christian Trump Supporters’…
7th August, 2019
Archbishop Bashar Warda, of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Erbil, northern Iraq, says Christianity in Iraq is “perilously close to extinction”. EDWARD CLANCY reports in his article ‘Facing Extinction in Iraq, Can Christians Hope for Aid from the West?’ – published on National Review…
6th August, 2019
Pastor and author Max Lucado is urging the US to “welcome Jesus into the midst of this turbulent time” instead of responding with fear and anger to the recent mass shootings. Read LEAH MARIEANN KLETT’s article ‘How should Christians respond to mass shootings? Max Lucado answers’ on The Christian Post…
5th August, 2019
A year on from devastating wildfires in Greece, churches are helping with cleaning and rebuilding. Evangelical Focus reports in its article ‘Greek Christians keep helping wildfires victims one year later’…
2nd August, 2019
Patience is an often under-rated virtue. In an article published in US Catholic publication America, Rev TERRANCE KLEIN looks at why ‘To be a Christian is to live in patient expectation’…
1st August, 2019
The faith of US rapper Kanye West has once again been under discussion in recent months. KATE SHELLNUTT, writing in Christianity Today, asks whether Kanye has “lost his Jesus complex and found Christ”?…
31st July, 2019
Josh Harris, a leader in the Christian ‘purity movement’ says he’s undergone a “massive shift in regard to my faith in Jesus” and that by all the measurements he has for defining a Christian, he no longer is one. Read DANIEL AVERY’s report on Newsweek…
30th July, 2019
A devastating fire at Paris Notre Dame Cathedral in April made headlines around the globe and attention is now turning to its rebuilding. Read TIME‘s indepth report, ‘Inside the Fight Over How Notre Dame Should Rise From the Ashes’…
29th July, 2019
The Economist’s Erasmus column looks at the new British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s religious leanings. Read ‘Boris Johnson’s confusing and contradictory religious history’…
26th July, 2019
US Christian missionary John Allen Chau was killed when he approached the Sentinelese people living on North Sentinel Island in the Bay of Bengal last year. In an indepth report published in Outside magazine which draws on Chau’s journal entries, ALEX PERRY looks at ‘The Last Days of John Allen Chau’…
25th July, 2019
Christians all over the world are grappling with the use of social media. Writing in the Baptist Standard in the US, JOSHUA SHARP gives his thoughts in his article ‘Voices: Restraint: Being a Christian presence on social media’…
24th July, 2019
Can a person have “always been a Christian”? SHANE PRUITT, author of 9 Common Lies Christians Believe looks at the question in an article on Relevant Magazine…
23rd July, 2019
Writing in Christianity Today, MARK GALLI warns of the dangers of creating a “cult of personaility” around preachers. Read, ‘And Now, the Star of the Show’….
22nd July, 2019
More than 1,600 Bibles are on show at an exhibition in the Spanish capital of Madrid. Read about the display on Evangelical Focus…
19th July, 2019
The US Government is honouring an 83-year-old Muslim cleric who hit more trhan 260 Christians in his home and mosque during an attack in central Nigeria. BUKOLA ADEBAYO reports for CNN…
18th July, 2019
An Australian family has been ordered to pay $A2 million to the Australian Tax Office after failing to pay income tax on the grounds it is “against God’s will”. Read PHOEBE HOSIER’s report on the ABC…
17th July, 2019
In a story being published in the August issue of Sojourners, Christians from around the world have written a series of letters to the US church. Read the letters here…
16th July, 2019
There were three men on board the Apollo 11 mission to land the first man on the Moon but only two walked on its surface. JEFFREY KLUGER reports for TIME magazine on what it was like for the man – Michael Collins – who didn’t get to put his foot on the lunar surface…
15th July, 2019
In the US city of Boston, a Christian bookseller has operated under the name CBD for decades. DUGAN ARNETT, of The Boston Globe, reports on why that had become a problem…
12th July, 2019
There is no real risk of religious persecution in Australia, Tim Costello – former World Vision chief advocate and now senior fellow at the Centre for Public Christianity, has told The Guardian. Read SARAH MARTIN’s report, ‘Tim Costello: ‘Christians need to calm down’ and ‘suck it up’ over alleged persecution’…
11th July, 2019
What not to say to a depressed Christian? MEGAN BAILEY, in this article published on beliefnet, looks at ‘6 Things Never to Say to a Depressed Christian’…
10th July, 2019
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison attended the Hillsong conference in Sydney this week, saying in reported comments that the country needed “more love”. Read KYLIE BEACH’s report on Eternity…
8th July, 2019
Australian doctor Catherine Hamlin has been working to help women by addressing the issue of obstetric fistula in Ethiopia for the past six decades. JANE HUTCHEON, of Australia’s ABC, reports in this article, ‘Catherine Hamlin has been changing women’s lives in Ethiopia for 60 years’…
5th July, 2019
What are the similarities between quantum physics and Biblical truth? UK Christian author Ann Shakespeare explains in this article by TIMOTHY ARDEN published on The London Economic…
4th July, 2019
In Vietnam, architects are campaigning to save the Bui Chu Cathedral in the northern province of Nam Dinh. Read about the campaign on BBC’s News From Elsewhere…
3rd July, 2019
Child sacrifice is continuing to take place in Uganda, says Pastor Peter Sewakiryanga. Read this report from ABC Radio National’s FIONA PEPPER and SUSAN CLARK, ‘Witchcraft has a dark side in Uganda, and children are falling victim’…
2nd July, 2019
The payment of reparations for slavery has been a divisive issue in the US. In an article published by Newsweek, Dr Heather Thompson Day, communication professor at Colorado Christian University and a contributor to the evangelical research insititution, Barna Group, asks whether America’s Christians are sacrificing themselves for others as Christ did…
1st July, 2019
In light of the recent (and ongoing) protests in Hong Kong, TIAN AN WONG, a visiting assistant professor at Smith College and a Malaysian, says it’s time to get “righteously angry”. Read his article ‘Why we need a theology of protest’ on Sojourners’ revamped website…
27th June, 2019
Is it time for churches to come out and say what they really think about sexuality? MEGAN CORNWELL, deputy editor of UK’s Premier Christianity magazine, says, in an article published in the magazine, that she uncovered a “conspiracy of silence” when researching Christian views on sexuality…
26th June, 2019
Should evangelism be the highest priority of Christians at work? In an article published by Christianity Today, JEREMY WEBER canvases different views at the Lausanne Movement’s Global Workplace Forum…
25th June, 2019
Afghanistan’s poor are facing starvation once again as ongoing conflict, drought and floods exact a harsh toll. JACOB SAULWICK and photographer KATE GERAGHTY, of Fairfax Media, report…
24th June, 2019
Arabs are increasingly saying they are not religious, according to the results of a new BBC survey. Read the report which also looks at how Arabs feel about a wide range of issues – from honour killings to emigration…
21st June, 2019
The latest Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has claimed more than 1,300 lives. SALLY HAYDEN, in an article published on TIME, reports from the frontlines in the fight against the disease…
20th June, 2019
Redding in northern California has become an “unlikely global epicenter of Christian culture” thanks to opening of the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry 20 years ago, according to VANESSA RANCANO writing in The Mercury News. Read her report here…
19th June, 2019
The Christian hymn, Sing Hallelujah to the Lord has become the unlikely anthem of Hong King’s protests against an extradition bill. JESSIE PANG and MARIUS ZAHARIA report for Reuters…
18th June, 2019
The Bible – or at least the Old Testament – is common to both Christianity and Judaism. Yet theologian JOHN BARTON, writing in TIME, says the interpretative keys that each community brings to the texts are so different that it is almost as though they recognised two different Bibles…
17th June, 2019
What do unbelievers believe? NICK SPENCER, senior fellow at UK thinktank Theos, argues in an article on the organisation’s website that “we get atheism wrong if we see it simply as a detached, philosophical (dis)belief in God”…
14th June, 2019
Hong Kong has been brought to a standstill this week with mass protests over a proposed law allowing extradition to China. In this article on CNBC, GRACE SHAO provides some background…
13th June, 2019
MARK GALLI, editor in chief of Christianity Today, says “thinking of the church primarily in missional terms is a mistake”, adding that he thinks it an unBiblical view of the church which has a “higher purpose”. Read his article ‘The Church Does Not Exist for the Sake of the World’…
12th June, 2019
Amid ongoing political uncertainty, Venezuelans are suffering. Read ZOE DANIEL and NIALL LENIHAN’s article – ‘Venezuelans are slowly starving to death as Maduro and Guaido battle for power’ – published by Australia’s ABC…
11th June, 2019
And the contenders are – read the BBC’s report on the final 10 contenders for the UK Conservative Party’s leadership race…
7th June, 2019
Everyday, 100 Americans are killed with guns and hundreds more are shot and injured, says Sojourners President JIM WALLIS. Read an article he wrote in the wake of the recent mass shooting in Virginia Beach in the US…
6th June, 2019
A Canadian psychology professor, Jordan Peterson, has been embraced by Christians around the world thanks to his views, including his attacks on political correctness, even prompting the headline in the UK’s Premier magazine, Is Jordan B Peterson the saviour of Christianity?. Read MICHAEL COLLETT’s article, published on Australia’s ABC, ‘Jordan Peterson: Why some (but not all) Christians are flocking to the culture warrior’…
5th June, 2019
In an article published on The Atlantic website this week, EMMA GREEN says the controversy over a presidential stop-off at a Virginian megachurch following the recent mass shooting at Virginia Beach – during which the President was prayed for by the pastor David Platt, shows “how thoroughly the Trump era has opened the way for cynicism and outrage over even mundane, predictable Christian behaviour”. Read her article ‘On Praying for the President’…
4th June, 2019
With its 30th anniversary being marked this week, the Tiananmen Square massacre – a bloody crackdown on Chinese pro-democracy students in 1989 – was symbolised in an iconic image showing a lone man blocking the path of tanks as they rolled through the square. BILL BIRTLES, Australia’s ABC China correspondent, looks at how China has “erased” the iconic ‘tank man’ image from the consciousness of young people in China today…
3rd June, 2019
Naomi Scott, star of the movie Aladdin, spoke to Compassion UK recently about her role in the film, her faith and her work with the organisation. Read ‘Naomi Scott: Meet the Woman Behind the Big Screen and Discover Why She’s Passionate About Empowering Girls Worldwide’…
31st May, 2019
“God uses kids who do not speak to speak His Good News”. So says Jelena Sivulka, founder of Hanina nada, a US-based Christian organisation that works with special needs and their families. Read DANIEL HOFKAMP’s article about her work on Evangelical Focus here…
30th May, 2019
Rockstar Alice Cooper is “proud to be a rebel like Jesus”, according to a story published this week on CBNNews. Read ANDREA MORRIS’ article ‘Famed Shock Rocker Alice Cooper Proud to Be a Rebel Like Jesus, the One Who Freed Him from a Life of Sin’…
29th May, 2019
In a statement released by the Vatican this week, Pope Francis made it “crystal clear” that the logic of “me first and then the others” is not the logic of Christ. GERARD O’CONNELL reports for America Magazine in ‘Pope Francis: “Me first” logic is not Christian in response to migrants and refugees’…
28th May, 2019
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was re-elected in a huge election win last week. JOHN L ALLEN, Jr, editor of Catholic publication Crux, reflects on what it could mean for Christians in his piece, ‘India’s political earthquake could jeopardise Christian minority’…
27th May, 2019
Iraq’s Christians are close to extinction, the Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Irbil Bashar Warda told a gathering in London recently. FRANK GARDNER reports for the BBC…
24th May, 2019
Some 15 years ago, all of the waste from the Slovenian capital Ljubljana went to landfill, but by 2025, at least 75 per cent of its rubbish will be recycled. LUKA DAKSKOBLER looks at how the city brought about the change in the Guardian article, ‘From no recycling to zero waste: how Ljubljana rethought its rubbish’…
23rd May, 2019
‘What happens when Christian movies go mainstream?’ That’s the question asked by BuzzFeed News reporter ALISON WILLMORE in a recent article…
22nd May, 2019
Rev Jebasingh Samuvel, a priest at the Jaffna Diocese Church of South India in Delft Island, Sri Lanka, advocates against caste violence – particularly through his paintings. Read DANIEL SUNKARI’s interview with Rev Samuvel on Sojourners…
21st May, 2019
Telling the story of the murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons in India in January, 1999, the movie, The Least of These: The Graham Staines Story, opened in Australia last week. Here, in an interview carried out for the Australian Christian Channel, ROD HOPPING speaks to Graham’s widow Gladys Staines about the movie…
20th May, 2019
Architects from around the world have been invited to submit designs for the rebuilding of Notre Dame in Paris following April’s destructive fire. ALAN WEEDON, of Australia’s ABC, reports on the possibilities…
17th May, 2019
Religious freedom around the world is under attack, writes STEVEN WALDMAN in an excerpt from his book, Sacred Liberty, published on Newsweek. Read the article ‘Religious Freedom Is America’s Greatest Export – and It’s Under Attack’ here…
15th May, 2019
The controversy over Australian rubgy player Israel Folau’s Instagram post and his views on homosexuality continue to make headlines in Australia. SIMON SMART, executive director of the Centre for Public Christianity, addresses the issue in The Sydney Morning Herald with his article, ‘What I wish I could have said as a Christian to Folau before he took to Instagram’…
14th May, 2019
Australia heads to the polls on Saturday, 18th May, in a hotly contested general election. KAREN TONG, writing for Australia’s ABC, looks at ‘Why Christians on the left are a growing voting bloc’…
13th May, 2019
There’s trend in the US for multi-site churches to move back to autonomous congregations. LEONARDO BLAIR reports for The Christian Post…
10th May, 2019
Filipinos go to the polls in mid-term elections on 13th May with polls showing controversial President Rodrigo Duterte is as popular as ever. ALAN WEEDON, in a story published by the ABC in Australia, looks at why in his article ‘Why Rodrigo Duterte remains as popular as ever ahead of the Philippines’ key mid-term elections’…
9th May, 2019
Youth ministries are reaching out to teenagers “torn between Mexico and the US”, reports Bekah McNeel on Christianity Today. Read ‘Young Life at the Border’…
8th May, 2019
What does success look like to God? In an article on Relevant Magazine, HEATHER CALIRI looks at why God’s idea of success is so different from ours…
7th May, 2019
DANIEL NOUR was among participants in the recent SBS show, Christians Like Us. Here, he writes about what it’s like to be a young Arab Christian in Australia today…
6th May, 2019
It’s 49 years since four student protestors were killed and nine others injured when National Guard members opened fire at Kent State University in the US. Getty Images has released previously unpublished pictures of events surrounding the shootings. You can see them at TIME…
3rd May, 2019
The final Avengers film has broken box office records around the world. In an article – ‘Avengers: Endgame Is a Love Letter to Human Imperfection’ – published by Sojourners, BETH COOPER-CHRISMON and JK GRANBERG-MICHAELSON have a look what what the film says about humanity…
1st May, 2019
Artists have just completed what is being described as the Philippines’ own “Sistine Chapel” at a church on the island of Bantayan. CHARLES SACEDA reports for UCAnews…
30th April, 2019
Chinese migrants are openly embracing Christianity in Kenya. But JENNI MARSH, of CNN, reports in her story – ‘As churches are demolished at home, Chinese Christians find religious freedom in Kenya’ – they are often unaware of the Communist Party’s “war on religion” in China…
29th April, 2019
Sri Lankan priest JURINESZ R SHADRACH, in an article published by Christianity Today, reflects on the how Christians can reconcile what happened in his country on Easter Sunday with the message of Easter. Read ‘How Do We Reconcile Easter Beliefs with the Easter Bombings?’…
26th April, 2019
Among the stories to have emerged from the terror attacks in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday is that church-goer Ramesh who was killed the Zion Church in the east-coast city of Batticaloa after he first removed a man with a backpack which subsequently exploded killing at least 25 including 13 children. Watch RAJINI VAIDYANATHAN’s video report for the BBC…
24th April, 2019
Almost a year on from suicide attacks on three churches in Surabaya in which 13 people died, forgiveness is a “consistent response” of those attending the targeted churches. BENEDICT ROGERS, East Asia team leader for UK-based religious freedom advocacy CSW, writes about what he encountered when visiting in this piece first published on UCAnews…
18th April, 2019
More than 40 million people have watched the musical His Life, described by director Harold Lee as “the best way to communicate what Jesus did for us”. Read DANIEL HOFKAMP’s piece about the play, ‘”His Life”: Bringing Jesus to stages all around the world’, on Evangelical Focus…
17th April, 2019
Notre Dame’s medieval design was critical to how well it was able to weather this week’s fire. Read YASMIN JEFFERY, of Australia’s ABC, reports on ‘The medieval design innovation that helped save Notre Dame from perishing completely’…
16th April, 2019
Denominations that support and enhance the Biblical mission of the local church will thrive while those that don’t will continue to decline, according to KARL VATERS writing in Christianity Today. Read ’14 Observations About The State of Christian Denominations Today’…
15th April, 2019
More than a year after Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria were seized back from the so-called Islamic State, both cities remain in ruins. VICTOR J BLUE reports for TIME in a photo essay, After the ‘War of Annihilation’ Against ISIS…
12th April, 2019
A new documentary, Santuario, follows the life of Juana Luz Tobar Ortega after she took sanctuary in a North Carolina church in May, 2017. DANIEL JOSÉ CAMACHO, writing for Sojourners, had a Q&A with those behind the film…
11th April, 2019
Syria’s ancient Assyrian Christian community has been ravaged and displaced by war but its mostly elderly members are clinging to their ancestral home, reports DOMINIQUE SOGUEL. Read ‘In northeast Syria, a Christian community fights for survival’, published in The Christian Science Monitor…
10th April, 2019
Hundreds of the world’s languages are at risk of extinction. Read CNN’s JAMES GRIFFITHS ‘ report – ‘Welsh and Hawaiian were saved from extinction. Other languages might not be so lucky’…
8th April, 2019
India’s caste system could play a pivotal role in the country’s upcoming upcoming elections. ABC reporter TASHA WIBAWA looks at how…
5th April, 2019
The global community must act to end the forcible extraction of organs from prisoners of conscience, says Benedict Rogers, East Asia team leader at religious freedom advocacy CSW. Read his article ‘China’s ‘genocide’ unlike any other’ on UCAnews…
4th April, 2019
Dwight Martin has created what has been described as the “most comprehensive national church database in the world” charting how many churches there are in Thailand. KATE SHELLNUT reports in this article – ‘Making Missions Count: How a Major Database Tracked Thailand’s Church-Planting Revival’ – for Christianity Today…
3rd April, 2019
The label “Christian” can be problematic for business owners, non-profits or musicians, says US author and speaker Craig Gross. In an article published on Fox News, he looks at “Why nobody wants a ‘Christian’ label”…
2nd April, 2019
It’s six months since an earthquake and tsunami devastated the city of Palu on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. ERIN HANDLEY and FARID M IBRAHIM speak to survivors in this story published by Australia’s ABC…
1st April, 2019
Climate change could have a dramatic effect on the lives of the world’s poorest. TARA JOHN, of CNN, explains how…
29th March, 2019
Vietnam’s Hmong Christians are persecuted for their beliefs. JOSEP PRAT, in this article published by the South China Morning Post, looks at why their faith makes the Vietnamese Government so uneasy…
27th March, 2019
A video which shows Pope Francis pulling his hand away from people who attempted to kiss his unique papal ring has gone viral on social media. JAMES REYNOLDS explains in this report for the BBC…
26th March, 2019
The Syrian village of Baghouz – the last stronghold of the so-called Islamic State in the country – is a “horrific wasteland” after 10 weeks of gunfire and airstrikes. DAVID SIM, of Newsweek, reports…
25th March, 2019
The ‘Vatican’ and ‘robots’ don’t usually fall in the same sentence. But in this article published by the BBC, JEN COPESTAKE reports on a recent workshop at the Vatican where scientists, ethicists and theologians gathered to discuss the future of robotics…
21st March, 2019
The full extent of the death and destruction which occurred when Cyclone Idai slammed into south-eastern Africa late last week remains to be seen. But in this article published on National Geographic, STEPHEN LEAHY looks at why the cyclone was so destructive…
20th March, 2019
There’s almost no research on how Christian women’s rights to religious freedom are marginalised around the world, according to a report on World Watch Monitor. Read ‘In context of gender justice, women’s right to freedom of religion pretty much ignored’…
19th March, 2019
How should Christians respond to the Christchurch mosque attacks? Christianity Today‘s JAYSON CASPER asked “11 evangelical experts”…
18th March, 2019
Australian public broadcaster SBS is running a new show in which “10 Australian Christians with vastly different beliefs live under one roof for a week to confront the controversial topics of their faith”. Read more about Christians Like Us here…
15th March, 2019
Christian refugees who were formerly Muslims and now live in The Netherlands are being “threatened or bullied on a regular basis” according to Christian relief organisations. Read SJOUKJE DIJKSTRA’s report on Crux…
14th March, 2019
The church in Venezuela is suffering as the country experiences “increasing political tumult, blackouts, water shortages, and out of control inflation”. In a podcast episode published by Christianity Today titled ‘Our Venezuelan Brothers and Sisters in Christ Are Suffering’, MORGAN LEE and MARK GALLI talk to Germán Novelli-Oliveros, a Venezuelan-born pastor now in the US about how oil brought Protestantism to Venezuela, why pastors won’t speak out politically, and his advice for people who want to help…
12th March, 2019
Christian converts in Tajikstan in Central Asia try to keep a low profile amid growing uncertainty about their religion’s status, according to a report from the Institute for War & Peace Reporting. You can read the story here…
7th March, 2019
The US-based Lott Carey Global Christian Missional Community has released a 31 day prayer guide for March, 31 Days of Prayer for Women’s Empowerment. To download a free copy, head here.
6th March, 2019
More than a decade on from anti-Christian riots in the Indian state of Odisha in which almost 100 died and thousands of buildings were destroyed, victims and their families are turning out to be biggest inspiration of the Christian faith in the country say church leaders. Read CYNTHIA STEPHEN’s report on UCAnews…
5th March, 2019
An analysis from Bible Gateway shows Jeremiah 29:11 has replaced John 3:16 as the most read verse on its website. In an article published on Christian Today, Jewish academic, author and translator Dr Irene Lancaster takes a deeper look at the verse…
4th March, 2019
Wife. Mother. Teacher. Artist. Warrior. Medina is all these things and more. She’s also one of the “unknowns” in a terrible conflict most of the world has ignored. Medina lives in the war-torn Nuba mountains of Sudan. Her story, though tragic, is full of hope and beauty. Medina’s Song is the first in a series of films released by Persecution Project to highlight unknown heroes, like Medina, who struggle to live lives amidst war and persecution. See Medina’s Song here…
28th February, 2019
Dutch-born Franciscan Father Martin Harun is credited with rekindling interest in the Scriptures in Indonesia over the past 50 years. Read RYAN DAGUR’s report telling his story for UCAnews…
27th February, 2019
What’s life like for people after they are saved from slavery? In this multimedia presentation from the Thomson Reuters Foundation, KIERAN GUILBERT speaks to survivors in Mauretania, India and the US…
26th February, 2019
As churches grapple with ministering to people struggling with mental illness, some are now speaking about how their experiences in the church led them to leave. Read this report from LEONARDO BLAIR on the Christian Post…
25th February, 2019
Father Roy Snipes, known as the “cowboy priest” is the parish priest at a adobe chapel built beside the Rio Grande on the US-Mexican border. JEREMY RAFF reports for The Atlantic on how the priest is responding to US President Donald Trump’s “border wall” and the military presence now on the border…
22nd February, 2019
ADAM TAYLOR, executive director of US movement Sojourners, writes about a recent visit to Alabama where he visited the new Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice. Read his reflection on his visits here…
20th February, 2019
US pastor Francis Chan left his megachurch and took his family to a developing country. Read about why in this interview published on the UK’s Premier Christianity…
19th February, 2019
Catholics in Bangladesh recently celebrated 500 years of the Christian faith in their nation. See this video report from UCANews…
18th February, 2019
The ancient city of Ephesus, now in modern Turkey, featured heavily in the New Testament. STEPHEN BEALE, writing for Aleteia, looks at five key sites…
14th February, 2019
NASA’s Mars rover Opportunity has been confirmed dead, 15 years after it landed on the red planet in 2004. JEFFREY KLUGER, in an article published on TIME, charts some of the key moments in its sojourn there…
13th February, 2019
Two years after the Iraqi town of Bartella was liberated from the so-called Islamic State, fewer than a third of its 3,800 Christian families have returned. FAY ABUELGASIM reports for Associated Press on why…
11th February, 2019
Scientists looking for Sir Ernest Shackleton’s lost ship, the Endurance, have arrived at the search site in the Weddell Sea. Read this report on the hunt by JONATHAN AMOS of the BBC…
8th February, 2019
Pope Francis became the first pontiff to visit the Arabian Peninula earlier this week and saw the largest ever gathering of Christians there. But what impact will that have on local Christians? Read JAYSON CASPER’s article, ‘Francis of Arabia: Will UAE’s Warm Welcome Help Christians Feel More at Home?’, published on Christianity Today…
6th February, 2019
JONATÁN SORIANO and JOEL FOSTER, of Europe’s EvangelicalFocus recently interviewed Efraim Tendero, secretary general of the World Evangelical Alliance and former leader of the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches, about President Rodrigo Duterte, the Catholic Church and the role of Filipino evangelicals. You can read the interview in full here…
5th February, 2019
A new church in Kobani, on the Syrian-Turkish border, is attracting Muslim converts. YULIYA TALMAZAN reports for NBC News on how life under the regime of the so-called Islamic State had led Muslims to Christianity…
4th February, 2019
A North Korean defector has provided a window into life for Christians in the so-called “hermit kingdom”. See AP reporter HYUNG-JIN KIM’s story in Crux…
1st February, 2019
The Guardian has run a gallery of images depicting America’s big freeze caused by a polar vortex in the midwest and east of the US. See the gallery here…
30th January, 2019
The burial of a woman in an early Christian cemetery in a Roman settlement in what is now Slovenia has puzzled archaeologists. Read MARJAN ZIBERNA’s article on National Geographic…
29th January, 2019
Pope Francis has just spent five days in Panama where young Catholics from all across the world converged to celebrate World Youth Day. See a Vatican News wrap-up of his time in Panama here…
25th January, 2019
British pastor Andrew Wilson says charismatic and liturgical Christians need each other. The Christian Post‘s BRANDON SHOWALTER speaks to him about why…
22nd January, 2019
In the UK, Premier’s JUSTIN BRIERLEY spoke with the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby about evangelism initiative Thy Kingdom Come, prayer, evangelism, speaking in tongues, politics, Brexit, LGBT issues and church unity. Watch the full video here…
21st January, 2019
The US is today commemorating Rev Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, with the annual Martin Luther King Day holiday. See a slideshow of images from his life on Reuters…
18th January, 2019
DAVID NASSER was a child of the Iranian Revolution and “wanted nothing to do with religion” after his experiences there. But after his family fled to the US, God turned his family’s “tragedy into testimony”. Read his story on Christianity Today…
16th January, 2019
In Brazil, a wave of attacks in Ceará state has revealed the growing power of gangs. Read JO GRIFFIN’s story in The Guardian…
15th January, 2019
In China, the Communist Party is intensifying religious persecution as Christianity’s popularity grows while a new state translation of the Bible is planned. The Observer‘s LILY KUO reports in this article ‘In China, they’re closing churches, jailing pastors – and even rewriting scripture’…
14th January, 2019
China’s National Space Administration (CNSA) has released footage captured by the Chang’e-4 spacecraft as it made an historic landing on the far side of the moon, on 3rd January. See the footage in this video published by Newsweek…
11th January, 2019
US singer Lauren Daigle has been embroiled in controversy in recent weeks over her stance on homosexuality and her recent appearance on US show Ellen. In this report from LINDSAY ELIZABETH published on CBN News, she says she also doesn’t consider herself a ‘Christian artist’, just an ‘artist’…
10th January, 2019
A group of deaf and hearing impaired Syrian refugee children have joined with local Lebanese children in a choir performance held in Beirut in the lead-up to Christmas which has described as “nothing short of miraculous”. Read this report on the UNCHR website…
8th January, 2019
Growing numbers of Ethiopian children are living on the streets of the nation’s capital Addis Ababa. Read TOM GARDNER’s article, ‘Homeless children struggle to survive on the streets of Ethiopia’s capital’, published in The Guardian…
7th January, 2019
It’s 40 years since the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime – which caused the deaths of an estimated two million people – in Cambodia. HOLLY ROBERTSON reports for Australia’s ABC…
4th January, 2019
Over the past four months, Roman Catholic dioceses in the US have released the names of more than 1,000 priests and others accused of sexually abusing children. Read this in-depth report from Australia’s ABC…
3rd January, 2019
It’s a special moment when a new Bible translation is released into a community. In a story published on Christianity Today, ANN VOSKAMP and photographer ESTHER HAVENS document the moment a new Bible translation arrives in a rural Kenyan community…
2nd January, 2019
In the US, the Gospel Coalition has published a list of ’10 Critical Religious Liberty Cases Coming in 2019′. You can read the list here…
31st December, 2018
The Jordan River has been reduced to just five per cent of its historic flows. In a story published by Australia’s ABC, ERIC TLOZEK reports on efforts to save it…
24th December, 2018
The National Council of Churches in Australia has published a series of Christmas messages from Australian Christian denominational leaders. Read the messages here…
21st December, 2018
Psalm 142 is a cry from someone in desperate need and has become the daily prayer of a prisoner on death row in the US. In a piece published on Sojourners’ website, Rev CARI WILLIS, a volunteer chaplain for men on death row in Virginia and North Carolina, explains how the psalm has impacted her as a result…
20th December, 2018
Former US President George HW Bush, who died earlier this month, secretly sponsored a child through Compassion International for the past 10 years. CNN has published the contents of some of the letters he exchanged with the child…
19th December, 2018
Christmas can be a wonderful time of the year – but for the lonely, isolated or bereaved, it can be a reminder of what they’re missing. Read GRACE JENNINGS-EDQUIST report on Australia’s ABC on some simple ways we can all help people feel connected…
18th December, 2018
Thousands of Iranian refugees are converting to Christianity in Turkey. But as NPR reports, there are some concerns that not all of the conversions are genuine and some being using “religious persecution as a way to get to the West”…
17th December, 2018
Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced retired General David Hurley will be the country’s next Governor-General. The ABC’s ANDREW PROBYN and MATTHEW DORAN report…
14th December, 2018
Major reports to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem – which some believe was built on the site where Jesus was born – are reportedly lifting spirits in the town. Read MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH’s story published by Associated Press…
13th December, 2018
Prior to his execution at the hands of the Nazis during World War II, German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote a letter while he was imprisoned in Germany in which he compared Advent to being in a prison cell. In an article on Christianity Today, Elisabeth Rain Kincaid, assistant professor of moral theology at the Aquinas Institute of Theology, takes a closer look…
12th December, 2018
Famous for his investigation that lead to the impeachment of former US President Bill Clinton, Ken Starr – in this interview with Religion News Service’s MAINA MWAURA – talks about his faith, his new book on the Clinton investigation, his advice for his independent counsel Robert Mueller, his departure from Baylor and his views on US immigration policy…
11th December, 2018
Congolese surgeon Dr Denis Mukwege was awarded the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize on Monday with Yazidi activist Nadia Murad. Sky News’ correspondent JOHN SPARKS met the doctor at his hospital in the DRC…
10th December, 2018
Today marks the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Yet, as SAMUEL MOYN explains in this piece published on the ABC’s Religion & Ethics website, while it is celebrated today, it was largely ignored when first passed by the UN General Assembly…
3rd December, 2018
Hayarpi Tamrazyan, her mother, father and younger sisters have been in hiding since their asylum application – which was initially granted – was overturned by the Dutch government. Watch this BBC report on their story…
30th November, 2018
Syrian refugee Hassan-al Kontar spent seven months stranded in Kuala Lumpur’s International Airport in Malaysia. Watch this BBC report on how his life has changed after Canada opened its doors to him…
29th November, 2018
Feeling guilty when you rest? In this interview published on the Lausanne Movement website, Pablo Martinez talks about his new book – Take Care of Yourself: Survive and Thrive in Christian Ministry…
28th November, 2018
Authors ROBERT and LINDA BANKS speak to the Centre for Public Christianity about Amy Oxley Wilkinson, a young Australian who went as a missionary to China in 1895. Listen to ‘An Australian in China’ here…
27th November, 2018
Who exactly is in the “human caravan” of Central American migrants that’s been walking across Mexico toward the US border? BRYAN MEALER, in this article on The Guardian – This is what Trump’s caravan ‘invasion’ really looks like – reports on who he found…
26th November, 2018
Two decades after the Good Friday Agreement formally ended the sectarian conflict between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland, violence persists. Read KATHY GILSINAN’s article ‘In Northern Ireland, Vigilante Violence Keeps Terrorizing Communities’ published in The Atlantic…
23rd November, 2018
27-year-old American John Allen Chau reportedly died when he was shot with arrows by Indigenous residents of the remote Indian North Sentinel island. Listen to this BBC report featuring Jeff King, president of International Christian Concern, the organisation with which Mr Chau was aligned, talk about why he was there…
22nd November, 2018
It’s three years since a million people landed on the Greek island of Lesbos in the largest movement of people since World War II. The Guardian‘s HELENA SMITH’s writes about how Movement on the Ground is aiming to help both the refugees still there and locals in her article ‘Lesbos deserves better’: pioneering aid project unites locals and migrants’…
21st November, 2018
This month marks 80 years since Kristallnacht in Germany – the night the Nazi’s persecution of the Jews suddenly turned violent. Ruth Winkelmann was there. Read BBC reporter CAROLINE WYATT’s indepth interview about the events of that night…
19th November, 2018
More than half of the churches in the Californian town of Paradise have been destroyed in the fire which swept through the town recently. But pastors have continued working from the nearby town of Chico to minister to those affected. Read KATE SHELLNUTT’s article – ‘Paradise Fire Burned Most Church Buildings, But “the Church Is Still Alive”‘ – on the Christianity Today website…
16th November, 2018
Maha Mamo is one of the world’s millions of stateless people. In a video published by the World Council of Churches, Maha shares the story of her struggle for citizenship and her work as an advocate for the rights of stateless people worldwide…
14th November, 2018
China has funded thousands of projects in the developing world in recent years. JOANNE LU of NPR in the US looks at whether such projects really help the local economy…
13th November, 2018
Efforts to colorise images from World War II are bringing the soldiers and their stories to life in a new way. Watch a report from CNN’s NICK GLASS…
12th November, 2018
With the world marking 100 years since the end of World War I on Sunday, Bishop Paul Mason, Catholic Bishop of the Forces in Great Britain, talks about what his work involves. Read Sr BERNADETTE MARY REIS’ interview on Vatican News…
9th November, 2018
US evangelist GREG LAURIE talks about an encounter he had with Billy Graham in an article marking 100 years since his birth. Read ‘Happy 100th birthday, Billy Graham’ on The Christian Post…
7th November, 2018
Evangelical megachurches are offering gang members in El Salvador a way out of their lives of violence. MOLLY O’TOOLE reports for The New Republic in this article ‘Can Megachurches Save El Salvador?’…
5th November, 2018
More than three-quarters of abortions in the US are obtained by women who identify as Christians, according to data quoted in an an article on The Christian Post. MARVIN G THOMPSON, in ‘Why Do Christian Women Continue to Have Abortions?’, explores why that’s the case…
2nd November, 2018
US Vice-President Mike Pence this week caused an international controversy when he invited “Christian rabbi” Loren Jacobs on stage to pray at a rally in Michigan. NBC’s CORKY SIEMASZKO reports…
31st October, 2018
John Dickson, founding director of Australia’s Centre for Public Christianity and author of more than a dozen books, looks at whether Christians should oppose the idea of Halloween. Read ‘Halloween vs Christmas’ on the CPX website…
30th October, 2018
A 3,000-year-old Assyrian sculpture is expected to sell for at least $10 million at an auction in New York this week. SARAH LAZARUS, of CNN, explores the history of the artwork and how some believed it “proved the Bible was real”…
29th October, 2018
What’s happened to the vanished Uighurs of Xinjiang? JOHN SUDWORTH investigates in this special report for the BBC, ‘China’s hidden camps’…
26th October, 2018
This week we ran a story on how climate-related displacement affects women and girls in Bangladesh, pushing some into prostitution. The article’s author, doctoral student OTTO SIMONSSON, has also produced a documentary on the issue. You can see One Every Second here…
25th October, 2018
UN emergency relief coordinator Mark Lowcock told the Security Council this week that up to half the population of Yemen are facing pre-famine conditions. For an in-depth look at the situation, head to Famine in Yemen: A primer, put together by ANNIE SLEMROD and BEN PARKER, of IRIN news…
24th October, 2018
“Moderate religious voices” are not being heard, according to Michael Curry, the US Episcopalian bishop who presided over the wedding of Prince Harry and the Duchess of Sussex. He spoke with The Guardian‘s HARRIET SHERWOOD ahead of his upcoming visit to the UK…
23rd October, 2018
Andrew Brunson, the US pastor releases from Turkey recently after two years in confinement there, has spoken of the breakdown he experienced while in prison. Read this Associated Press article on Voice of America…
22nd October, 2018
Last week Australia’s Sydney Anglican Synod voted unanimously in favour of a new policy – possibly a world first – under which women who have been abused by the priest husbands would be able to apply for financial assistance. In this article published on the ABC, an anonymous woman who was abused by her husband, a clergyman, talks about what the new policy means for women like her…
19th October, 2018
Rihan Hanna Ayoub is one of five Christian members in the Iraqi Parliament (out of 329). She spoke with AsiaNews about the role Christians can play in the country today…
18th October, 2018
How should Christians respond to outrage online? CNN’s DANIEL BURKE talks to Ed Stetzer – dean of the School of Mission, Ministry, and Leadership at Wheaton College and executive director of the Billy Graham Cente – about his latest book, Christians in the Age of Outrage…
17th October, 2018
Can yoga be Christian? REBECCA ABBOTT investigates in this story published on Eternity News…
16th October, 2018
Slain Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero was among seven new saints canonised by Pope Francis on the weekend. AARIK DANIELSEN, in the Sojourners’ article ‘The Scandal of Oscar Romero’s God’ takes a look at the controversial figure…
15th October, 2018
Social media should carry mental health warnings? That’s the question asked by social futurist (and Sight contributor) MAL FLETCHER in the latest video from 2030Plus TV…
12th October, 2018
What does our fascination with Mars tell us about human curiosity? DOUGLAS ESTES explores the subject in his article ‘Why does the Red Planet call to us?’ on Christianity Today…
11th October, 2018
Research shows that religion is beneficial for people and their communities, says Denis Dragovic, honorary senior fellow at the University of Melbourne and a specialist on the role of religion in society. Read his article, published in Fairfax Media, ‘Religion is good for you and for your community’…
10th October, 2018
The #MeToo movement has arrived in Asia but as SUYIN HAYNES and ARIA HANGYU CHEN report, speaking out comes with great risks. Read their report, ‘How #MeToo Is Taking on a Life of Its Own in Asia’, in TIME…
9th October, 2018
US theologian Timothy Keller, speaking about his latest book – The Prodigal Prophet: Jonah and the Mystery of God’s Mercy, said too many preachers and Christians “enjoy” condemning people in a recent interview. You can watch the interview with TBN’s Mike Huckabee here…
8th October, 2018
Christians in disaster-affected Sulawesi gathered in ruined churches on Sunday to give thanks and mourn, reports Reuters. Read this report by KANUPRIYA KAPOOR…
5th October, 2018
Using a “verse of the day” Bible app? In this article on Premier Christianity, Dr Pete Phillips, director of the CODEC Research Centre at Durham University, looks at what his research shows about how it could be skewing your view of God…
4th October, 2018
Among the stories to emerge in the aftermath of the Sulawesi earthquake and tsunami disaster late last week is that of 21-year-old Indonesian air traffic controller Anthonius Gunawan Agung who guided a plane to safety even as the earthquake began and later died of injuries received when the control tower collapsed. Read this report on Channel News Asia…
3rd October, 2018
Justin Bieber’s transformation from “bad boy” to Christian family man – and the role Hillsong Church played in it – is explored in an article in Vox this week. Read this article by Tara Isabella Burton…
2nd October, 2018
The death toll from the devastating earthquake and tsunami in central Sulawesi continues to climb. See this gallery of images published in The Atlantic which show the vast scale of the devastation…
28th September, 2018
Childhood trauma can sabotage the ministry of pastors later in life. JOSHUA PEASE tells his personal story as well as that of others in this article in Christianity Today, ‘When Pastors are Sexual Abuse Survivors’…
27th September, 2018
A stained glass window in a church Birmingham, Alabama – one of the first depicting a black Christ in the US south – is under threat. Watch this BBC report produced by SOPHIA SMITH GALER…
26th September, 2018
In an article first published in The New York Times and republished in The Sydney Morning Herald, IAN JOHNSON reflects on the breakthrough deal between the Vatican and China…
25th September, 2018
A new study from Harvard University investigated the health and mental health of children and teenagers who were raised with religious or spiritual practices. JIM DENISON, in a piece on The Christian Post, looks at what it found…
24th September, 2018
Christians must not be silent on issues like racism, xenophobia, exclusion and discrimination, says Rev Traci Blackmon, pastor of a parish in St Louis, Missouri, and head of the Justice and Witness Ministries of the United Church of Christ. Read this interview with her recorded by the World Council of Churches at a conference held in Rome last week jointly organised by the WCC and the Vatican’s Office for Integral Human Development.
21st September, 2018
Love is the “key ingredient” when it comes to evangelism, writes CARTER HEMINGER in Relevant magazine. But, as is explained in this article “‘Love God, Love People’ is More Than Your Instagram Bio'”, it’s important to understand what this means…
20th September, 2018
“Disdained by the church and mocked by secular culture”, Christian rock has long caused divisions within and without the Christian community. In this New Yorker story, ‘The Unlikely endurance of Christian rock’, KELEFA SANNEH takes a look at its tumultous past…
19th September, 2018
Google is this year marking its 20th anniversary. In an article on Premier Christianity CHRIS GOSWAMI looks at some of the questions that are being raised about the organisation’s growing influence. Read ‘The Gospel According To Google’…
17th September, 2018
CNN has published a photo essay on the effect of Hurricane Florence in the eastern US. To see the special report, In pictures: Florence drenches the Carolinas, head here…
14th September, 2018
A new book by the late British author JRR Tolkien, The Fall of Gondolin, is packed with Christian meaning, says Tolkien expert Colin Duriez. Read an article by him published on Premier Christianity…
13th September, 2018
The Russian military are collecting funds to build a new cathedral in Moscow dedicated to the nation’s armed forces. You can read about the project in this BBC report…
12th September, 2018
Wonder why Costa Rica is one of the happiest countries in the world? LINDSAY FENDT investigates in this article published on The Huffington Post…
6th September, 2018
What can nuns and ‘nones’ learn from one another? KAYA OAKES address this question in a story published in America magazine…
5th September, 2018
The Cross aside, Christians use all kinds of symbols to express their faith. In this story, published on BeliefNet, STEPHANIE HERTZENBERG looks at ‘Six Common Christian Symbols With No Biblical Basis’…
3rd September, 2018
MARSHALL ALLEN spent five years in Christian ministry before becoming a journalist and says his faith has made him better at his job. Read his story, ‘The Biblical Guide to Reporting’, in The New York Times…
31st August, 2018
Jackie Hill Perry, who recently featured in the film, The Heart of Man, talks about how “an epiphany about the wages of my sin” opened the door for God’s “cleansing light”. Read her testimony – ‘Jackie Hill Perry: I Loved My Girlfriend – but God Loved Me More’ – in this article on Christianity Today…
30th August, 2018
Gestures like ‘bunny ears’ and ‘thumbs up’ have fascinating histories. You can read all about their origins on the BBC IDEAS website…
29th August, 2018
It’s time for action on the Rohingya massacres which have taken place in Myanmar, say Jan Figel, the European Union’s special envoy for freedom of religion or belief outside the EU, and Benedict Rogers, East Asia team leader at the human rights organisation Christian Solidarity Worldwide. Read their call for action in The Guardian…
28th August, 2018
When US Vice President Mike Pence talks about space, it sometimes sounds like he’s giving a sermon, writes MARINA KOREN in The Atlantic, explaining that the VPs words draw on a long tradition of evangelical thinking about the cosmos. Read ‘Mike Pence’s Outer-Space Gospel’ here…
27th August, 2018
With Pope Francis’ visit to Ireland putting the spotlight on the Catholic Church there, the ABC spoke with David Vard, the country’s youngest priest. Read NICK DOLE’s story…
25th August, 2018
The Pentecostal faith of new Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has already been the subject of some discussion in the media following his move to the top job on 24th August. ANTHONY COLANGELO, in an article in The Sydney Morning Herald, talks to the pastor of the Horizon Church in south Sydney’s Sutherland Shire where Morrison and his family attend…
24th August, 2018
William F Liebenow, credited with saving former US President John F Kennedy’s life after he was handed a coconut during World War II, was recently laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery, having died last year at age 97. Read this amazing story by JESSICA CONTRERA in The Washington Post…
23rd August, 2018
Almost 40 years since Pope John Paul II visited Ireland, the country is about to welcome Pope Francis. In this report from the BBC, EIMEAR FLANAGAN and NUALA MCCANN look at how the country has changed between the two visits…
22nd August, 2018
Two branches of Ethiopian Orthodox Christians recently reunited after 27 years of separation. JAYSON CASPER reports in Christianity Today that, ironically, the push for an end to the schism came from the nation’s new evangelical Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed…
21st August, 2018
With both the Protestant and Catholic worlds “rocked in the past couple of weeks by news involving abuse and sexual misconduct”, DANIEL JOSE CAMACHO, of Sojourners, says it’s safe to say that “Christianity is experiencing a patriarchal crisis”. Read his article here…
20th August, 2018
There’s been change afoot at Sydney’s Wayside Chapel as Jon Owen takes over as pastor and CEO from Graham Long. Read about how the change has come about in this story from the ABC’s VANESSA GRAHAM…
17th August, 2018
While the conflict in Myanmar’s Rakhine state and the subsequent mass migration of Rohingya Muslims into neighbouring Bangladesh have made headlines around the world and prompted claims of genocide, the persecution of Christians Kachin state has recently attracted scant attention. Writing in The Kingston Whig Standard in Canada, GEOFFREY P JOHNSTON takes a deeper look at their plight…
15th August, 2018
The single biggest source of refugees in Africa between 2014 and 2016, Eritrea has been likened to countries like Cuba and the former East Germany. This report from The Economist looks at ‘Why Eritrea is called Africa’s North Korea’…
14th August, 2018
At least 250 people were killed, hundreds injured and tens of thousands left homeless after a magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck the Indonesian island of Lombok on 5th August. See a gallery of images depicting the aftermath of the quake in The Atlantic…
13th August, 2018
A year on from the deadly white supremacist gathering in Charlottesville, Virginia, comes a special BBC report on what took place. See JOEL GUNTER and ROLAND HUGHES’ report, ‘Charlottesville remembered: A battle for the soul of America’…
10th August, 2018
For two years the death toll from the conflict in Yemen has been frequently cited as 10,000. But as this report from KAREEM FAHIM published in The Washington Post shows, it is certainly conservative and possibly a gross underestimate…
9th August, 2018
Undocumented migrant Rosa Sabido has spent the past 14 months living in a church in Colorado in the US to avoid deportation. In a report for the BBC, TAYLOR KATE BROWN speaks with her about the toll it’s taken on her…
8th August, 2018
Having trouble reading the Bible? In this article published by RELEVANT Magazine, Savannah Sturgeon grapples with ‘What to do when you don’t like reading the Bible’…
7th August, 2018
The Trump administration’s policy on refugees is adverselt affecting Iranian Chrisians, according to a report in The Atlantic. As KRISHNADEV CALAMUR finds, the “legal limbo in which the Iranian Christians find themselves comes despite the Trump administration’s emphasis on religious freedom in Iran and around the world”…
2nd August, 2018
Large parts of eastern Australia are suffering through drought, described by one cattle farmer as a “cancer” that “eats away at you”. See Newsweek’s gallery of images…
1st August, 2018
Peter Comensoli has been appointed the new Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne amid hopes he might bring a “fresh start after one of the toughest periods in the church’s history”. In this article, ‘Melbourne’s new Catholic archbishop hopes to help heal city’s wounds’, published in The Age, he speaks with TOM COWIE about how he is approaching the role...
31st July, 2018
What’s the connection between Christians who don’t believe in gun control and Christian nationalism in the US? In an article published in The Washington Post, researchers Andrew Whitehead, Landon Schnabel and Samuel Perry look at the links…
30th July, 2018
A sequel to the 2014 film Unbroken has been made focusing on Louis Zamperini’s life after the events depicted in the Angelina Jolie-directed film which had shown how the one-time Olympic athlete had survived at sea for 47 days after his plane was shot down in World War II and subsequently endured two harrowing years in a Japanese POW camp. As BRYAN ALEXANDER reports in USA Today, the new film – Unbroken: Path to Redemption – tells the story of how the “spiritual chapter” in Zamperini’s life began after he attended a Billy Graham crusade in 1949…
27th July, 2018
Imran Khan has claimed victory in Pakistan’s election. JEFFREY GETTLEMAN, in an article published in The New York Times, looks at ‘The Rise, Fall and Rise Again of Imran Khan, Pakistan’s Next Leader’…
26th July, 2018
Bishop Joseph D’Souza, president of the All India Christian Council, believes that India needs its own #ChurchToo movement. Read this report from SAMUEL SMITH of The Christian Post…
25th July, 2018
A group of 100 Iranian refugees, including Christians and members of other religious minorities, who are stranded in Austria after they were rejected by the US may have new reason to hope. GRIFFIN PAUL JACKSON reports for Christianity Today…
24th July, 2018
Police said on Monday that a woman was lynched in central India after rumours she was part of a gang kidnapping children. Read this report in TIME about the recent spate of lynchings that have taken place in the country in recent months…
23rd July, 2018
‘Biker nun’ Kate Costigan is at the forefront of a campaign to tackle the problem of HIV in Tanzania through the use of mass checks in what it is hoped could be a template for other low-income countries to adopt. Read this report in The Observer about the Irish nun’s work…
20th July, 2018
Branded as witches, children in Nigeria endure horrific abuse as a result. MARC ELLISON presents this special report for the BBC…
19th July, 2018
New technologies have made finding time to spend in contemplation of God, away from the business of life, increasingly difficult. US academic and author ALAN NOBLE, in this article published on Christianity Today, looks at ‘How to Witness to a Distracted World’…
18th July, 2018
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s recent comments about God – including calling Him “stupid” – have sparked an angry response from Catholic Church leaders in the country. EMILY SCHULTHEIS reports in this Foreign Policy article, Duterte vs God…
17th July, 2018
Two students were killed and at least 10 more injured during a 15 hour siege at a university campus in Nicaragua involving pro-government militias and students opposed to the regime of President Daniel Ortega which eventually ended with Catholic clergy could negotiate their release. Read this report in The Washington Post...
11th July, 2018
It’s NAIDOC week in Australia and to mark the event, Common Grace is celebrating “Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Christian women who have gone before us, and continue to lead ministries that seek justice, healing and Reconciliation in this land”. You can read their stories here…
9th July, 2018
The Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, told a conference in Vatican City last week that humanity was facing a “possible collapse” in the Earth’s ability to sustain life. You can read a report in the US National Catholic Reporter here…
6th July, 2018
Gang members in El Salvador seeking to leave behind their life of crime are increasingly finding a new home in evangelical churches, EMILY GREEN, of US media organisation NPR, reports. You can read Green’s report here…
15th May, 2018
A former pastor from Melbourne, Morris Stuart moved with his wife Barbara to Alice Springs in 2006 and, while his wife painted, he decided to create a choir. It was the start of a remarkable musical journey which is now the subject of a documentary, The Song Keepers, and a recent episode of the ABC show, Australian Story. You can read Morris’ story here…
10th April, 2018
Mosul-based journalist and translator Ali Y Al-Baroodi has documented some of the story of what has befallen the Iraqi city in recent years in a photo essay – ‘An Armenian church in Mosul after liberation from ISIS’ – published on the Middle East Center for Reporting and Analysis’ website. You can see the photo essay here.
9th March, 2018
The kidnapping of scores of schoolgirls from a town in northern Nigeria – this time Dapchi – has once again made headlines around the world. The Guardian’s Ruth Maclean and Isaac Abraak here report on how terror group Boko Haram tricked girls in the town of Dapchi into thinking they were soldiers…
19th February, 2018
A rule which means only practicing Christians can own property in the Michigan town of Bay View is set to be tested. ROSE HACKMAN reports in The Guardian…
1st February, 2018
Rwanda has become the first poor country in the world to provide eyecare for all. Read VERITY BOWMAN’s piece in The Guardian on how they did it…
13th December, 2017
US evangelist Franklin Graham recently made an historic visit to Vietnam to join in a Christian celebration known as the Love Hanoi Festival. To read about the historic moment, see the story by TIFFANY JOTHEN on the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association website...
23rd November, 2017
The Guardian’s PETER BEAUMONT and OLIVIER LAUGHLAND report on the trade in the Dead Sea Scrolls and fears of a “significant number” of suspected forgeries in this story published on 21st November…
19th October, 2017
In an article published in online publication, The Quartz, LILY KUO reports on how Africans are being called to the UK as missionaries to reach out to white populations. Read ‘Africa’s “reverse missionaries” are bringing Christianity back to the United Kingdom’…
14th September, 2017
Lyle Shelton, managing director of the Australian Christian Lobby, and Karina Okotel, lawyer and Liberal Party Senate candidate, presented the ‘no’ case for same-sex marriage at the National Press Club this week (Tiernan Brady, executive director of Australians for Equality, and Janine Middleton, co-chair of Australian Marriage Equality, had earlier presented the ‘yes’ case). To see both presentations, head to the ABC’s National Press Club page…
5th September, 2017
Chinese missionaries Meng Lisi and Li Xinhen were abducted in Pakistan earlier this year and then killed by followers of the so-called Islamic State. Read the BBC report on what happened to them and why their case raised problems from the Chinese Government…
22nd May, 2017
In an article written for the Lausanne Movement’s Lausanne Global Analysis, SAM GEORGE looks at whether God is turning the refugee crisis in Europe into one of the “greatest mission opportunities”. Read Is God Reviving Europe Through Refugees?…
18th April, 2017
Jerusalem-based Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou is a 93-year-old Ethiopian composer-pianist – and a nun. Documentary-maker KATE MOLLESON, in a story in The Guardian, talks about Emahoy’s extraordinary life…
21st March, 2017
Newly released footage of America’s nuclear tests have been published on YouTube after the US Government declassified 750 films of the tests which took place between 1945 and 1962. You can see some of them here.
21st February, 2017
In an article published on the UK-based Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Ethics, James W Skillen, founder and former president of the Center for Public Justice in Washington, DC, and James R Skillen, assistant professor of environmental studies at Calvin College in Michigan in the US, give their take on the presidency of Donald Trump. Read The Trump Presidency: Everything Up For Grabs…
3rd February, 2017
In an article on the Nurturing Justice blog, BRUCE C WEARNE looks at the ongoing debate over the refugee “deal” brokered between Canberra and Washington in the dying days of the Obama administration. Read The Unsettlement of Asylum Seekers: Trump, Turnbull and the Deal: A brief comment on an international disgrace.
21st January, 2017
The World Economic Forum met in Davos, Switzerland, for their annual gathering this week and among those who attended was the Rev Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches. In a speech given as world leaders were arriving at the summit, Rev Dr Tveit urged them to remember those who are “left behind”, calling for “accountable leadership” and noting that the solution to the divisions we see in the world today cannot be based on “appeasing the fear of one group by increasing the fear of another”. You can read the full speech on the World Council of Churches’ website.
24th December, 2016
Christian mother-of-five ASIA BIBI will spend her seventh consecutive Christmas in solitary confinement in Pakistan this year as she awaits the outcome of an appeal after she was sentenced to death for blasphemy over an incident involving drinking water. BBC correspondent MARTIN BASHIR revisits her case…
14th December, 2016
LORI HINNANT, in a story – Ransomed: The freeing of 226 Christians from Islamic State – published by Associated Press, looks at how a Syrian bishop raised ransoms from among the Assyrian Christian diaspora to free hundreds of Assyrian Christians kidnapped by followers of the so-called Islamic State in Syria…
30th November, 2016
Longriders Christian Motorcycle Club recently opened a new chapter in Mount Gambier in South Australia. The ABC’s KATE HILL talks to the bikers about their faith – and their passion for motorcycles – in this article, Biker Church: An unconventional house of God…
23rd November, 2016
What are the connections between child marriage and climate change in Bangladesh? The Thomas Reuters Foundation, together with TakePart, explored the issue in a 20 minute documentary, Hidden Connections…
25th October, 2016
Following their release earlier this month by terror group Boko Haram, 21 schoolgirls who had been kidnapped from their school in Chibok, Nigeria, in 2014, met with their nation’s President Muhammadu Buhari to express their thanks for his role in their release. You can read and watch CNN’s report of the meeting here…
16th September, 2016
Colombian Catholic priest Rito Julio Alvarez’s mission spans the world, helping former child soldiers and explioted children in his homeland, and asylum seekers from north Africa in his adopted home of Italy. Read about his work in this story by the ABC’s Europe correspondant STEVE CANNANE here…
30th August, 2016
It may have fallen off front pages around the world but the two-year-old conflict in eastern Ukraine continues to result in almost daily casualties even after the signing of a peace deal. Writing in The Guardian, SHAUN WALKER reports from the frontlines…
16th August, 2016
The Christian Post has looked at the stories of five Christian athletes at the Rio Olympics who have had to overcome obstacles on their journey to win gold. You can read CHRISTINE THOMASOS’ story here…
26th July, 2016
Writing in The Guardian, NAZIA PARVEEN reports on how one church in the UK is welcoming refugees and see many Muslims converting to Christianity – you can read the article here and read an earlier article on how the phenomena is occurring across Europe here.
12th July, 2016
Wondering how your church can capitalise on the Pokemon Go trend? Look no further. The Wardrobe Door blog (love the name!) has a list of eight ways for your church to make the most of the “cultural phenomenon”. See the list here…
7th July, 2016
The NASA spacecraft Juno this week entered into orbit around the gas giant Jupiter after almost a five year journey. You can watch a time-lapse movie here showing a view of the planet as Juno approaches.
31st May, 2016
The Australian Prayer Network has launched a weekly prayer guide with reference to Australia’s upcoming federal election. The five week guide is based around a series of weekly themes with a different prayer and Scriptures for each day. To access the prayer guide, head here.
20th May, 2016
It was 22 years ago this year that Captain Mbaye Diagne, a military observer at the United Nations Assistance Mission in Rwanda, was killed when a mortar fell near his vehicle. Though unarmed, Captain Diagne had risked his life repeatedly to save hundreds of people during the genocide, hiding them in the Hotel des Mille Collines (the story of the hotel’s role has been immortalised in the film Hotel Rwanda). This month, the UN have honoured Captain Diagne with the inaugural ‘Captain Mbaye Diagne Medal for Exceptional Courage’ which was awarded to his family. To read more of his story and hear some family reflections, follow this link…
15th April, 2016
Open Doors Australia are offering a rare chance to peek behind the walls of the ‘Hermit Kingdom’ of North Korea. The organisation, which says the country is the hardest place in the world to be a Christian, has published 21 images depicting daily life there. To see the images, head here…
11th March, 2016
Looking for a reason to be optimistic about the future of Africa? Here’s five. Earlier this month, TIME‘s Ian Bremmer outlived “five facts which explain the good news about Africa”. You can read the article here…
4th March, 2016
Almost two weeks have passed since Cyclone Winston tore through Fiji, leaving 43 dead and thousands homeless. The ABC has published a photo essay showing the devastation and how people are coping in the aftermath. You can see it here…
19th February, 2016
The images of three-year-old Syrian refugee Alan lying lifeless on a Turkish beach was image that made frontpages – and touched hearts – around the world. Australian musician Missy Higgins this week released a song Oh Canada which highlights his story – and the plight of the Syrian people. The video that goes with it features images which were drawn by Syrian children taking part in a program being run for children by Catholic charity Caritas in Damascus, Syria. The organisation is asking people to share the video to help raise awareness of the ongoing crisis. You hear the song and see the images here.
12th February, 2016
Lent kicked off around the world this week and to mark the occasion, TIME has published a graphic showing what people in the US have given up for the season. To see the graphic, follow this link…
1st February, 2016
Published online in the lead-up to Australia Day last week, a speech by Indigenous Australian journalist STAN GRANT in which he confronts the issue of racism has gone viral. To see the full speech, which Grant originally gave at an event in Sydney last year, follow this link…
24th January, 2016
To mark Australia Day, the Christian History Institute has released a new short documentary on the life of Captain William Bligh. Dr Graham McLennan says that while Captain Bligh is often simply remembered as a “bad-tempered disciplinarian” known for the ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’, his story is actually that of an “accomplished man” who played a part in the European settlement of Australia and who was “guided by faith in Jesus Christ”. To see the full video, head here…
12th January, 2016
This month marks 60 years since American missionary Nate Saint and four friends were martyred in Ecuador. In this YouTube video, STEVE SAINT, son of Nate, talks about what happened that fateful day on 8th January, 1956, and the amazing story that has unfolded in the years since. You can see the video, 60 Years Later with Steve Saint, here…
11th August, 2023
CRISTIAN MARTINI GRIMALDI recently made a rare visit to an underground church in China. Read his report on UCANews…
