
Seven arrested in Indonesia for terrorist threats against pope
Counter-terrorism forces in Indonesia arrested seven suspects on terrorism charges before and during Pope Francis’ visit to the country Sept. 3-6, local media outlets reported.

Counter-terrorism forces in Indonesia arrested seven suspects on terrorism charges before and during Pope Francis’ visit to the country Sept. 3-6, local media outlets reported.
When God calls us out from our homes, we go as strangers to lands that are strange to us. Yet, God goes ahead of us and stays with us, challenging us to always trust in him. Here is the experience of one young woman who has been challenged to use her gifts for the sake of the gospel and a better world.
After a miraculous healing and turning to Jesus, an Indian family has faced persistent persecution. Recently it became so fierce they were forced to flee. Nevertheless, a powerful witness to faith in Christ remains in their village that we pray will one day bear much fruit. Here is their first-hand story.
As new Christians (especially if you're non-Western) we are too often taught that our ethnic identity should be ignored or even suppressed in favor of a spiritual identity. Our teachers ignore the fact that Evangelical Christianity is heavily interpreted through a Western lens. Non-Westerners will flourish in Christ if they are encouraged to embrace the redeemed benefits of their unique ethnicity, because that is part of them being a gift from God as a blessing to the Church and the world.
As the younger generation challenges the status quo in Nepal, local churches find their voice, offering hope, and stability in uncertain times. A young Nepali believer, Surendra Bajracharya, writes that this is an opportunity for the church, especially its younger members, to respond to God’s calling and reach out to their peers beyond the church walls—young people burdened with broken dreams in a trembling nation.

About 50 officials from Jombang Regency, Indonesia on Aug. 18 dragged a pastor from his worship site and sealed the shop where his church met, sources said.

Leaked cases of more than 300 Christians in Iran charged with crimes related to their faith show how the vast majority, converts from Islam, are targeted, a rights watchdog reports.

A recent mission conference in South Korea highlighted the issue of suicide prevention as a missiological concern amid a suicide rate more than twice the average among OECD countries. A missiologist professor argued that suicide should no longer be regarded solely as an individualized issue but something that affects society as a whole. And he believes that the Christian perspective of building God’s kingdom could help overcome the prevalent "culture of death".

Shumayle Falak makes a living for his family by freelancing on online marketplaces but a nationwide internet slowdown due to the installation of a firewall by the government has rendered him and hundreds of thousands of other Pakistani youths jobless, exacerbating their financial woes in the inflation-hit economy.

Sindh Province officials are trying to impose a ban on organizers of a minority rights march under pressure from an extremist Islamist party opposed to any changes in Pakistan’s harsh blasphemy laws, sources said.

A Muslim in Pakistan has abducted and forcibly converted and married a 12-year-old Christian girl after police delayed efforts to recover her, family members said.