Articles for tag: Religious Persecution

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

June 29, 2011

Christian Standard

Mission & Evangelism

Behind Closed Doors

By Mark A. Taylor He is an Arab Christian with a ministry in the Middle East. And to start he says he could not speak freely with me in his home country. There our conversation would not continue, he said, until he had removed the battery from his cell phone. “Why?” I ask. “Surveillance.” “They would bug your cell phone to listen to your conversations?” I said to him in disbelief. “It happens,” he said calmly. “If I were to openly speak with a Muslim about becoming a Christian, life would become very difficult for me and for him,”

June 28, 2011

Christian Standard

Mission & Evangelism

The Church Is Alive in China

By Name Withheld When we arrived in China, we had no idea what to expect. Was it OK to bring a Bible into the country? Were there any churches? What if authorities found out we were Christians? My husband and I moved to China a few years ago so he could take a new job in his company. Since that time we have been blessed to meet many people and have some amazing opportunities. Although we are not part of any missionary organization, we have been privileged to work alongside some people who are. Let me tell you what we

February 28, 2010

Christian Standard

Mission & Evangelism

Egyptians Churches Move Toward New Testament Principles

By Karen Wingate Dozens of churches now celebrate a weekly observance of the Lord”s Supper. Many churches are adding baptisteries to their buildings, and ministers are baptizing church members. Congregations with a denominational background are selecting elders to provide local leadership. It sounds like a page from the early history of the American Restoration Movement when Alexander Campbell, Barton Stone, and Walter Scott became convicted of the need to restore the church to the New Testament pattern. In reality, these events describe dozens of churches in Egypt moving closer to the New Testament model of church life. Much of this

November 29, 2009

Christian Standard

Mission & Evangelism

INTO AFRICA: Ray and Effie Giles

Â by Kathy Harless “We left a church in Ethiopia.” Ray Giles wrote in tears in late 1977, yet a quiet victory filled his heart. His family and other Christian Missionary Fellowship missionaries had been hastily evacuated in the spring with the advent of a strong Marxist government.Â For nine years before that, Ray and Effie Giles worked alongside teammates in evangelizing, educating, and planting churches among the unreached Oromo and Gumuz peoples. Ray”s greatest concern was whether they had prepared the new and maturing Christians for the persecution that lay ahead. Yet, a church was being forged in Ethiopia