On 14 October Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’s advisor on religious and Islamic affairs, Mahmoud Al-Habash, declared on TV that ‘Islam’s religious war to destroy Israel’s “culture of Satan” has begun’; and ‘Jerusalem is the arena of conflict between us and the colonialist project (Israel)’. He described the fight as ‘a war between Islamic culture in all its splendour and the culture of Satan, oppression and aggression’. See On 17 October a predawn rocket attack from Gaza struck an Israeli home, and another rocket landed off the coast near Tel Aviv. ‘There are only two organisations in Gaza with this calibre of rocket - Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad’, said the IDF. Later the Israeli military bombed twenty Gaza Strip areas including weapons factories, military bases and Hamas’s tunnel-building efforts.

Faithful missionaries brought the Gospel to Tonga in the 19th century. The bold red cross displayed on the country's flag represents its Christian heritage. Today nearly everyone in Tonga has access to the Gospel. But the islands are experiencing a slow and steady spiritual decline. The church is plagued with bitter schisms, selfishness, politics, false teachings, and nominalism. Many are being drawn away to ‘new’ teachings. Tonga has the world's highest percentage of Mormons, and 4% follow Baha'i teachings. Some say that faith across the Pacific has become so shallow that the region must be re-evangelised. A move of God is desperately needed. Pray for freedom from the love of money among young adults tempted to seek riches abroad. Pray for emigrant believers to keep their Christian identity in their host nations. Pray for hope and eternal purpose for youth turning to crime and drugs as solutions to boredom.

The Angolan government has put 1,106 churches on notice for operating illegally. The director for religious matters said they had been given a 30-day ultimatum from 4 October to regularise their operations or be shut. The number of illegal churches in the country has reached 4,000, and they need to change their status. According to the culture ministry, there are only 84 legal churches, and apart from the 1,106 churches on notice another 2,006 have already been shut. Pray for freedom of religion, and for legislation only to be applied where necessary. Meanwhile in Rwanda, where 81% of the population are believers, the government has closed 8,000 churches, believed to have ‘untrained leaders and poor accountability’, with pastors being accused of enriching themselves financially. Pray for the government to eradicate mental, spiritual and financial abuse by leaders and promote safe building standards for church structures. See

The UN has warned of a historic famine that could put as many as 13 million people in Yemen at risk of death by starvation. The fierce fighting between Saudi-backed government forces and Houthi rebels, and the ongoing blockade of aid shipments, have created the conditions for humanitarian disaster on a scale not seen since Ethiopia in the 1980s or the Soviet Union in the 1930s. 75% of the population need food assistance; 8 to 10 million go hungry daily. Prices have doubled in the past month. The war has killed 10,000 to 50,000 civilians and displaced over two million. Civilian deaths are up 164% since the beginning of the siege of the port city of Hodeidah in June. When 17 were killed on 14 October by Saudi planes bombing buses waiting at a Houthi checkpoint, it was just another daily occurrence. People say, ‘Why is Saudi Arabia under attack over Jamal Khashoggi (a missing, presumed murdered reporter), but not over Yemen?’ See

It is illegal to be anything other than a Muslim in Afghanistan, a tribal society where leaving Islam is seen as a betrayal of the tribe. Christians who are discovered may be sent to a psychiatric hospital, on the grounds that no sane person would leave Islam. Baptism is punishable by death. Radical Islamic militants rule in over 40% of the country. If the Swiss government succeeds in deporting an Afghan Christian convert (known as AA), he faces persecution, imprisonment, or death. A religious liberty advocacy group appealed to the European Court of Human Rights on his behalf on 18 October, after the Swiss authorities refused his application for asylum. The Swiss were accused of ‘turning a blind eye to the situation of religious minorities in Afghanistan’.

Hauwa Liman, a midwife with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), was killed days after her kidnappers set a deadline. Ms Liman was taken with two others in the northern town of Rann last March. Fellow-midwife Saifura Ahmed Khorsa was killed last month. Ms Loksha remains a hostage. A 15-year-old schoolgirl is also still being held by the same group, which is affiliated to a faction of Boko Haram. Most of the other 110 students who were kidnapped have now been freed but the girl, who reportedly refused to convert to Islam, remains in captivity. The ICRC's regional director said there was no justification for the execution of innocent young healthcare workers, and feared for its implication on their work in the region. The information and culture minister said that the government would ‘keep the negotiations open’ and continue to work to free Ms Loksha and the schoolgirl. Pray for this work.

Amid rampant political corruption and a crime epidemic in Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro is on the verge of becoming Brazil’s next president on 28 October. He has expressed enthusiasm for former military rulers (particularly Carlos Brilhante Ustra, a colonel who ran a military torture squad in the 1970s). His chosen deputy president, a former general, said that the military may be needed to clean up corruption. For many years former army captain Mr Bolsonaro was a marginal Congress figure, known for defending the military dictatorship and making offensive comments about women, blacks, gay men and lesbians. Earlier this year he was investigated for inciting hatred and discrimination. His critics accuse him of racism and misogyny, and tens of thousands of women organised protest marches with the slogan #EleNão - or #NotHim. But he came out of the first round of voting with a strong lead, thanks to last-minute backing from the evangelical lobby and powerful business and commerce groups.

The thousandth New Testament translation, completed with involvement from SIL and Wycliffe Bible Translators, was launched on 11 August in a celebration in northwest Uganda. The translation is for the Keliko people and represents the first time they can hear and read the New Testament in their own language. The Keliko, whose homeland is in South Sudan, travelled from all around to be present. Many came from local refugee camps in Uganda; others hitched rides from South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The event was attended by church leaders and local government dignitaries, as well as by international visitors from across Africa, Europe and North America. The translation represents a triumph over adversity. Twice translation efforts were interrupted by civil war. The translators are Episcopalian pastors, very godly men, and they pressed on. Although SIL provided technical and advisory support throughout, this project belongs to the Keliko church.

Daniel and Amy McArthur from Ashers Baking Company told activist Gareth Lee they would not make a cake supporting gay marriage, and they were prosecuted for their decision. After a long-running legal battle over whether they had broken discrimination laws,  on 10 October the five Supreme Court justices unanimously found them not guilty. The court’s president, Lady Hale, said that the McArthurs did not discriminate against the customer by refusing to make the cake. They refused because the message was offensive to them, not the person requesting the message. She said, ‘It is an affront to human dignity, to deny someone a service because of that person's race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief. But that is not what happened in this case.’

Tens of thousands of young people are caught up in criminal activity and violence every year. The recent upsurge in knife crime is both terrifying and heart-breaking. It is time now for Christians to fight this battle with prayer. Following a popular prayer campaign held just before the summer holidays (a time traditionally when violence increases), Christians from across the country and across denominations are being called to harness the power of prayer to reduce knife violence. A recent survey revealed that although few youths admitted to owning a knife 15% said that they have friends who carry knives. The Peace on our Streets campaign encourages people to sign up to receive a daily prayer by text and then pray every day at noon using either the text or the downloadable prayer information sheet as a prompt to their prayers. To watch a video by a youth and children’s worker explaining the issues, click the ‘More’ button.