Tag: Pentecostals

Government again pressures Sudanese Church of Christ leaders

October 23, 2017 Sudan Khartoum, Kuwa Shamal, NISS, Omdurman, Pentecostals, Sudan, Sudanese Church of Christ

Leaders of the Sudanese Church of Christ (SCOC) have been detained for some hours in the capital, Khartoum, during which they were ordered to hand over ownership of their church to government officials, by transferring authority from an elected committee to a state-sanctioned rival committee. The five men, who, according to . . . Read More

Indonesia: ‘Saudi influence behind rise in Islamic extremism’, as churches continue to be closed

September 19, 2017 Indonesia Banten, Bekasi, Bogor, Churches, Indonesia, Islamic extremism, Java, Nahdlatul Ulama, Pentecostals, Santa Clara, Saudi Arabia, Tangerang, Wahhabism

Thousands of Muslims from across Indonesia joined the Islamic-hardliners in Jakarta to protest against Jakarta’s (former) Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama ('Ahok') on 4 November 2016 for allegedly insulting Islam when citing a Quranic verse. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

“The election and trial of Jakarta’s former governor ‘Ahok’ have exposed increasing radicalization in Indonesia, especially among the young … and it has led to a more aggressive campaign to confront Islamist radicalism,” writes Paul Marshall. In his article for the Lausanne Movement, the Wilson Professor of Religious Freedom at . . . Read More

Call for Eritrea’s ‘black Tuesday’ to be day of prayer

September 18, 2017 Eritrea Abune Antonios, Eritrea, Eritrean Orthodox Church, Pentecostals

If they're not Lutheran, evangelical women in Eritrea have to pray together in secret. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Eritrean Christians are calling for 18 September to be a special day of prayer and fasting, marking the Tuesday in September 2001 when the government began a clampdown on rights campaigners and journalists. “That was the day rights and freedoms were curtailed and comprehensive repression began in earnest in Eritrea,” said . . . Read More

Eritrean Christian mother’s ‘isolation’ after church-leader husband imprisoned

September 15, 2017 Eritrea Children, East Africa, Eritrea, Pentecostals, Women

World Watch Monitor reported a month ago how a mother of three, Fikadu Debesay, died in a desert camp where she had been imprisoned together with her husband. Their crime? Belonging to a non-sanctioned church in Eritrea. Like Debesay, Ruth is in her late 30s, has three children, and although not . . . Read More

Ethiopia: church attacked, then told to close and member arrested for ‘inciting religious clashes’

August 11, 2017 Ethiopia Amhara, Ethiopia, Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Mahibere Kidusan, Pentecostals, Tigray

A Pentecostal church in Ethiopia has been ordered to stop meeting in a residential area, in the wake of a mob attack on the church, after which a church member was arrested for “illegal activities” that “incited religious clashes”. The Full Gospel Church in Tikil Dingaye, 20km from the historic . . . Read More

Archbishop of Canterbury speaks ‘strongly’ to Sudan President of religious freedom for Christians

July 31, 2017 Sudan Apostasy, Episcopal Church of Sudan, Islamic extremism, Justin Welby, Kadugli, Khartoum, Mariam Ibrahim, Omar al-Bashir, Pentecostals, Refugees, Sharia, South Sudan, Sudan, Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church, Uganda

Archbishop of Canterbury in Sudan, 29 July, 2017 (Credit: Archbishop of Canterbury)

The advent of the world’s newest country, South Sudan, in 2011 has not been without its impact. Not only has it spawned a civil war and one of the world’s biggest current humanitarian crises, but also the need for a new Province in the global Anglican Communion. This weekend, the . . . Read More

Crimea also affected in first year of Russia’s ‘anti-missionary law’

July 27, 2017 Russia Crimea, Don Ossewaarde, Jehovah's Witnesses, Pentecostals, Russia, Soviet Union, Ukraine, Vladimir Putin, Yarovaya Law

A cross seen over the construction site of a bridge across the Strait of Kerch linking Crimea to mainland Russia. (Photo by Vladimir Smirnov via Getty Images)

Since Russia’s President Vladimir Putin signed into law what some commentators referred to as an “anti-missionary bill” in July last year, individuals and groups have been targeted because of their religious affiliation in both Russia and the annexed Crimea. After the annexation in March 2014, religious organisations in Crimea had . . . Read More

India: Christians in shock after pastor shot dead in ‘safe’ Punjab

July 17, 2017 India India, Ludhiana, Pentecostals, Punjab

The Christian community in Ludhiana, the largest city in India’s north-western state of Punjab, is in shock after a pastor was shot dead outside his Pentecostal church on Saturday evening (15 July). Sultan Masih, 47, who also ran a school for the poor, was gunned down by two people on . . . Read More

Sudan churches risk letter to government on ‘systematic violations’, including church demolition

June 23, 2017 Sudan Algadisia, Bahri, Khartoum, NISS, Omar al-Bashir, Omdurman, Pentecostals, Sudanese Church of Christ

The Sudanese Church of Christ (SCOC) has written an open letter to the Khartoum government protesting “the systematic violation of Christian religious freedoms”, including the recent demolition of one of their churches in the Suba area of the capital, Khartoum. The SCOC represents about 220,000 of about two million Christians . . . Read More

Eritrea arrests another 22 Christians

June 16, 2017 Eritrea Abune Antonios, Adi Quala, Asmara, Pentecostals

The number of Eritrean Christians arrested since the beginning of May has risen to more than 120, according to charities Open Doors and Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW). World Watch Monitor first reported on the fresh wave of arrests on 26 May, at which stage over 90 people had been arrested. . . . Read More

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