When the Burkinabe people gained independence in 1960, the motto ‘Unity, progress, justice’ embodied hope for them. Currently almost eighty ethnic groups embrace religious practices: earth priests, fortune tellers, healers, witchcraft, and animal sacrifice. Recently the president of the Episcopal Conference said that over 200 churches have closed in the north of the country to avoid attacks. If the world continues to do nothing, the result will be the elimination of a Christian presence. Muslims and Christians had enjoyed a peaceful coexistence. But this once-peaceful country has turned into a hotbed for extremism, and a long-held peace is under threat. Christians were specifically targeted in recent attacks. The violence has taken hundreds of lives (Muslim and Christian) and displaced tens of thousands more, as Islam rapidly spreads into nearly every ethnic group. Unreached peoples are steadily turning to Islamic teachings.

On 19 September 30+ civilians were killed and 40+ injured in an air attack that accidentally targeted farmers, and 20+ people were killed in a suicide car bomb that hit a hospital. 74 Afghans were killed every day during August. Unrelenting violence affects almost the entire country. The US/Taliban peace talks have failed, attacks are killing dozens in Kabul, militant sieges trap residents in Kunduz and Pul-e-Khumri, airstrikes by security forces kill innocent civilians, and the Taliban have executed a rights commission’s provincial director. Conflict has displaced 237,000+ people this year, and recent floods following extreme drought have uprooted comparable numbers. Hundreds of thousands of refugees are being forced home, increasing the burden on a fragile state with lowering income, high unemployment, and rising debt. Three million people are experiencing food insecurity; one in six need humanitarian assistance. But in the midst of crises, many displaced Afghans are becoming Christians. See the following article, on suffering but growing church.

We praise God that hundreds of new Iranian and Afghan believers have been baptised in recent months in cities across the region. In Iran, these include teenagers who were deeply impacted recently by an Elam youth discipleship conference. The baptisms have been occasions of great joy and celebration, often lasting from morning to evening. Over 100 more new believers will be baptised soon at a service in Afghanistan. Please pray that all these new believers will grow in love and knowledge of Christ, and that God will protect them and give them wisdom as they witness to family and friends.

This month a US court sentenced Anthony Schultz to 84 years in prison for filming rape and sharing the abuse online. The case dated back to 2016, when he was arrested for multiple counts of child pornography he created in the Philippines. US-based FBI investigators discovered Schultz would film himself abusing children and then sell the materials online. He also convinced a Filipino mother to sexually abuse her own daughter and sell the videos to him. Throughout 2017 the International Justice Mission (IJM) supported Philippine authorities as they used this intelligence to rescue three girls aged 10, 15 and 17 from Schultz’s videos. While we can praise and thank God for the success of this investigation, please pray for the release of thousands of other children in similar circumstances across the nations. Pray for the work of IJM as they work to end slavery in our lifetime.

A believer says the Chinese government doesn’t want Christians to know the Ten Commandments, which have been removed from nearly every state church and meeting venue and replaced with quotations from a 2015 speech by Xi Jinping. The government said that the core socialist values and Chinese culture will swallow religions of China and support religious communities to re-interpret religious thought, doctrines, and teachings in a way that conforms to the progress of the times. This means resolutely guarding against the infiltration of Western ideology, and consciously resisting the influence of extremist thought. Some churches have been closed for not replacing the Ten Commandments with the President’s quotes. Others have been threatened with blacklisting, which means that travel, schooling, and their children’s future employment will be impeded if they refuse to overhaul their church's teaching. A pastor said, ‘The Communist Party’s ultimate goal is to become God’.

Religious Jewish parties won nearly 20% of the vote in the national election on 17 September. Previously, those parties have united with the conservative Likud party to form a governing coalition. But now the religious-nationalist bloc fell short of a majority in the Knesset, winning only 56 of the 120 seats. Seven decades after Israel’s founding, the debate over Judaism’s place in public life rages on. Israeli political battle lines often fracture along balancing Jewish religion and liberal democracy. These tensions were a central issue in the election, and will influence the composition of Israel’s next government.

Fourteen members of a British jet ski club drove through driving wind and rain to save the minister of agriculture, Michael Pintard. He had been making calls for help, knowing his family was in grave danger when flood waters from Hurricane Dorian shattered windows and blew through the door of their home in Freeport. ‘They did a phenomenal job, not just with us. They continued to go back in, over and over again’, said Mr Pintard. In total they saved about 100 people, including a pregnant woman and a baby, while the storm caused havoc around them.

A New York state trooper, Chris Mahoney, at a petrol station, noticed a man carrying several heavy bags. Striking up a conversation, the trooper learned the man was homeless and carried all his belongings on his back. When Mahoney asked him when he’d last eaten, he learned the man had only had a doughnut. When he offered to buy the man a meal, another customer took a photo of his kindness, which went viral. Now, Mahoney encourages more people to do kind things for others. Jesus said we are to ‘love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind and to love your neighbour as yourself.’

A New York state trooper, Chris Mahoney, at a petrol station, noticed a man carrying several heavy bags. Striking up a conversation, the trooper learned the man was homeless and carried all his belongings on his back. When Mahoney asked him when he’d last eaten, he learned the man had only had a doughnut. When he offered to buy the man a meal, another customer took a photo of his kindness, which went viral. Now, Mahoney encourages more people to do kind things for others. Jesus said we are to ‘love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind and to love your neighbour as yourself.’

On 30 August at Wembley, we prayed that in these days of national uncertainty, hostility and division, the church would stand in the opposite spirit of unity and humility, demonstrating the fruits of the Spirit in word and action, and in answer to our humility and obedience God’s fire would fall on the church and nation. God is calling us to persevere in prayer, standing on His Word and believing that despite what we see and hear, His purposes are being worked out. Whatever happens politically, it is time for the Good News to be preached, the broken-hearted healed, freedom for the captives, and release for those who are bound. A 61-day prayer call went out, focused on Isaiah 61; it is not too late for you to join in. To download its text, click here: