More than 1,100 Christian teachers who have fled since al-Shabab began coming across the border into northern Kenya from Somalia in 2017, mostly targeting non-Muslim teachers.

In a small single-room house in the Banaadir district of Somalia, dozens of Christians worship in secret out of fear of persecution in a country where no official churches exist.

Baptists and other adherents of minority religions in Bulgaria received a Christmas blessing a few days early when the nation’s Parliament removed the most prohibitive provisions of its Religious Denominations Act before a final vote Dec. 21.

Members of Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, China, tried to meet together for Sunday worship on Dec. 16, only to have police reportedly detain about 60 people and shut down outdoor services. Several small groups found spaces to meet and worship without incident.

U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo added Pakistan to a list of the world’s worst violators of religious freedom, while removing Uzbekistan from the list and singling out nine Islamist groups as Entities of Particular Concern.

As China continues to hunt down and arrest members of a house church in Sichuan Province, many of the 100 or more Christians arrested reportedly pledged in advance to persevere even until death.

Larry Pepper was employed at his dream job as a NASA flight surgeon, but it soon became evident God was drawing him to move his family to serve with the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board in Africa.

For the third consecutive Sunday, Bulgarian Christians gathered in their nation’s capital to pray and protest proposed restrictions on religious freedom.

The last reported sighting of American missionary John Allen Chau was Nov. 17. Although he knew the danger, Chou went as a missionary to the Sentinelese because they reportedly are among the world’s 400 to 600 unengaged unreached people groups.

The U. S. ambassador for international religious freedom called for renewed activism on protecting faiths around the globe as advocates gathered to mark the 20th anniversary of the International Religious Freedom Act.

Christian mother Asia Bibi was released from Pakistan’s death row Oct. 31 after the nation’s Supreme Court reversed her 2010 conviction of blasphemy.

A veteran missionary, a Venezuelan-born pastor and other individuals and organizations have joined forces to make a way station on a mountain pass for the Venezuelan “walkers” who are fleeing their country into Colombia.