New Martyrs Pastor, Church Official Shot Dead in Nigeria: Rev David Usman (45), secretary Hamman Andrew. North Africa 1. Violence against Christians in Egypt. Egypt’s Christians are Wary of Post-Mubarak Future (Atlantic, 5/31; see also Christian Science Monitor). Usually relations between Christians and Muslims in Egypt are fairly calm, although there are incidents (perhaps as [...]

MODERATOR’S NOTE: Martyrdom of Christians is as old as the Church itself. You may be surprised to realize that approximately 165,000 believers annually are martyred for their faith. This most frequently cited figure come from the World Christian Encyclopedia, a massive reference volume edited by David Barrett and Todd Johnson of the World Evangelization Research [...]

CIRCULATION CODE 3. OPEN. May be circulated to general mailing lists, outside organizations, and quoted from freely in reports citing “Middle East Concern” as the source of the information. Greetings in the name of Jesus, the Prince of Peace We requested prayer on several occasions last year for Maryam and Marzieh, Iranian believers from a [...]

Greetings in the name of Jesus, head of the Church On Sunday 23rd November an extension to the Church of the Virgin Mary in the Ein A-Shams suburb of Cairo was officially opened. A large hall has been added by buying land adjacent to the existing church building. It took five years to obtain all [...]

NEW DELHI, October 17 (AFP): At least 60 Christians have been killed over the past two months in eastern India in a brutal backlash to the murder of a revered Hindu holy man, a national bishops’ body said Friday. The figure is nearly double the official toll of 35 given by government authorities in the eastern state of Orissa. [...]

Scores of Christians have converted to Hinduism in Orissa’s Kandhamal district in the past few weeks to save their lives and properties, a government official admitted Friday. “We have received over 50 complaints where people alleged that Hindu villagers are forcing them to convert to Hinduism if want to save their lives and properties,” a senior district administration official [...]

Remember to pray for the least-reached peoples of Central Asia this month as well as for the persecuted church, which includes many in this region including the Church in Iran. Today pray along with this Global Prayer Digest item for today on Praying for the Persian Church. You can subscribe to this daily email version of Global Prayer Digest, [...]

“The church in Iran is like a rose petal; the more you press it, the sweeter the perfume.” This quote, stated by Persian martyr Pastor Mehdi Dibaj, sums up what has been taking place in the Persian Iranian church since the 1979 Revolution. As the government continues its push to destroy anything Western, the Persian people are meeting in secret [...]

In September, the chief of B village in a southern province called a special community meeting to resolve the “problem” of eight resident Christian families who have refused to give up their faith. The meeting concluded with plans to expel all 55 Christians from the village. Although all adult members of a village are usually [...]

The growing church in Iran is under attack. Since April there have been at least fifty three arrests of people whose only crime is their faith in Jesus Christ. The arrests are not localised, but have happened in all of Iran’s major cities…Tehran, Mashhad, Isfahan, Shiraz, Kerman, and elsewhere. Sometimes people have been released the [...]