November 5, 2025
Persecution is not the enemy of the gospel. Apathy is. When faith costs us nothing, we risk believing it is worth nothing. But when we see our brothers and sisters worshiping behind locked doors, risking their jobs and freedom, it calls us to something deeper.
November 1, 2021
A Top 10 Prayer List for Countries Most Closed to the Gospel
November 19, 2019
By Jon Wren French journalist and author Alphonse Karr was widely known throughout Europe in the 19th century as chief editor of Paris’ famous Le Figaro. Yet despite his fame in journalism, Karr’s passion in life was gardening. Karr described his life’s philosophy this way: “Some people grumble that roses have thorns; I am grateful that thorns have roses.” Karr’s words are a perfect illustration of the thanksgiving and gratitude Christ followers should have. The apostle Paul encouraged the church in Colossae to see their lives and circumstances through the perspective of gratitude for Christ and his work in their
November 1, 2019
By Michael C. Mack We planned this issue to tell the stories of mission works located on six of the seven continents around the world. (We know of no mission to the 4,000 people who live in Antarctica during the summer months!) The idea is to demonstrate the ongoing fulfilling of Jesus’ mission to “go and make disciples of all nations” and to be Christ’s “witnesses . . . to the ends of the earth.” We hope these stories help kindle a passion for preaching the gospel message to the whole world . . . but let’s not get ahead
February 26, 2019
By Stuart Powell When Christians gather to partake of the bread and the cup, we have one key focus: remembering Jesus. Our Lord instructed his followers to do this. “Then he took bread, and after giving thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me’” (Luke 22:19, New English Translation). Most of us celebrate Communion in a comfortable, modern building, but have you considered how our setting compares to those of earlier generations? Paul offers a clue to this in his second letter to
February 27, 2018
By Dick Wamsley “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26). TCM (Taking Christ to Millions) is an international training institute in Austria, where theological graduate students from countries in eastern Europe, Russia, the Middle East, and central Asia converge for concentrated study to help them reach their people for Christ. One student at the institute describes how the church he serves in one of those closed countries observes the Lord’s Supper each week. The adults meet at an appointed time each week at a restaurant for
April 9, 2017
By Anna Batyuto In a police station, in front of a police officer, is a tiny young woman who looks almost like a child. “Your mother wants to make the trip to Mecca but can”t do it because you are a Christian. Deny Christ!” The officer says these words again and again. This is not the first time Zulfiya has been in this place. “You”ve told me that before,” she says, “and what was my answer then? It hasn”t changed.” This woman”s incredible peace and the awareness of God being near her give her words and inner core a strength
March 16, 2017
By Kevin Dooley So what does the kingdom of Heaven look like when it shows up among refugees and immigrants in your town and mine? As followers of Jesus Christ, we are living in a unique time in the history of Christianity””a time when obeying the last commandment of Jesus to “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19) may not include air travel, but rather taking a taxi home from the airport. For more than two decades my wife, Kim, and I have lived and worked cross-culturally seeking to honor God among the poorest of the poor in
March 21, 2016
By Gary Holloway “The experience changed my life.” “I saw more of what God is doing in the world.” “Our churches will never be the same.” These are statements from people who have attended a Global Gathering of the World Convention. The World Convention of Churches of Christ serves the Stone-Campbell churches (Christian, Churches of Christ, and Disciples of Christ) found in 199 countries and territories, with about 10 million total adherents worldwide. World Convention seeks to connect those churches everywhere, every day. One way it connects is through a Global Gathering every few years, with the next one scheduled
January 2, 2015
By Kim Butts With ICOM”s “Vertical” theme this year, hundreds of people, young and old, had the opportunity to be a part of something that had never been done at the conference. Two interactive, station-based prayer rooms were set up as sacred spaces for people to engage with God in compellingly creative ways, day and night, from the first hour of ICOM to the last. The largest prayer space was located in the middle of the exhibit hall. The area, graciously designed and set up by the prayer and missions teams of Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky, was open
February 19, 2013
By Matt Proctor Someone wrote that 10 years ago our world had Bob Hope, Johnny Cash, and Steve Jobs. Now we have no Jobs, no Cash, and no Hope! Maybe you”ve experienced those moments of “no hope.” The normal challenges of life””financial shortfall, physical illness, family conflict””are tough enough. But for believers, life can be even harder. In John 16:33, Jesus promised, “In this world you will have trouble.” In Acts 14:22, Paul said, “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.” You may know those hardships very well: You”ve struggled to get free of a
July 17, 2011
By Jennifer Taylor Last-minute trips, amazing “coincidences,” and the consistent witness of faithful believers around the world helped Christ In Youth (Joplin, MO) partner with Voice of the Martyrs to create a new feature-length film, Love Costs Every Thing, about the persecuted church. The CIY team started by recording the testimonies of Christians in India. “Then we waited on God,” says Chris Jefferson, director of organizational advancement. “And through my mom I met a Marine, who had married an Iraqi Christian girl, whose brother fled to France after bombs destroyed his church in Iraq. Bill Carroll, a church planter and
June 15, 2011
By Frederick W. Norris Earthquakes, a Pacific tsunami that reached California, shifting yet continuous wars, shaky economies. These events grab our attention with ghastly pictures of eroding life. There are, however, flashes of light that remind us of our abiding hope in Christ. God is not dead; neither does God sleep. The loss of schools for educating church leaders in the 1930s during the Depression, cultural secularism, and movement toward world war provided the conditions for the birth of our colleges. We made it then, and we can make it now, because God still rules. The courageous people who backed
August 12, 2007
By Joyce Long This story began in San Diego, November 2006, when Mount Pleasant Christian Church”s (Greenwood, Indiana) staff leaders attended a national outreach conference. There they realized our congregation needed to begin reaching out to AIDS patients. The idea incubated until February when planning began for a post-Easter sermon series. Then the pastors and directors borrowed the interactive Imagine concept from Eastview Christian Church, Normal, Illinois, which had used this same theme during Christmas. Mount Pleasant adapted it to Matthew 25:34-45, focusing each week”s message on six parts: Imagine a world where no one is . . . hungry,
May 28, 2006
A student reflects on why believers pray so little for the nations. Using Scripture, a survey, and personal stories from Sudan and North Africa, he points to lack of knowledge, faith, and love as common barriers.
February 19, 2006
A firsthand report from the 2005 National Missionary Convention in Atlanta, where testimonies, preaching, workshops, and service projects encouraged thousands to live “set apart to shine” and consider cross-cultural mission service.
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