The commission’s 2025 report, released on Tuesday (March 25), included a list of countries nearly identical to its 2024 list — a reflection, according to the report, that in most of those countries, things have not improved.
BWA has heard from Baptists in refugee camps along the Myanmar/Thailand border, in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in other places where political unrest and violence are creating a humanitarian crisis, he said.
Human rights and religious freedom in Afghanistan have deteriorated since the Taliban regained control in 2021, and expert panelists testified during a March 19 hearing that the situation could get worse.
The Christian nonprofit Open Doors recently reported about 3,100 Christians in 2024 were killed and more than 2,000 kidnapped in Nigeria.
“In this time of chaos and uncertainty, we pray that the Lord will strengthen you and work through you on behalf of peace and care for those who are suffering.”
Conditions continue to worsen dramatically in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where 25.5 million people face the danger of hunger, a Baptist leader there said.
Authorities in Angola have formally charged the wife of 44-year-old missionary Beau Shroyer, who was fatally stabbed Oct. 25, 2024, in Lubango.
Ukrainian Christians’ prayers for “a just and lasting peace” seem a distant hope, but God remains in control, said pastor Igor Bandura, vice president of the All-Ukrainian Union of Evangelical Christian-Baptists.
According to Christian Solidarity Worldwide, an evangelical Cuban pastor who has been imprisoned since 2021 for participating in peaceful protests was released.
Glued to the news, Israelis breathed a collective sigh of relief Sunday (Jan. 19), when Romi Golan, Emily Damari and Doron Steinbrecher set foot in Israel, the first of the remaining hostages released by Hamas as part of a ceasefire…
