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MOTHER IN SOMALIA LOSES HUSBAND & HOME FOR ACCEPTING CHRIST

Morning Star News – A mother of three children aged 5, 7 and 9 in Somalia, is struggling to survive after her husband divorced her, and her Muslim relatives drove her from their home, threatening to kill her for accepting Christ. “I do not regret embracing Christianity”, the mother, unidentified for security reasons, told Morning Star News. She said that a Christian worker had shown her and her children the Jesus Film on Christmas Eve. “I then decided to surrender my life to the Lordship of Issa (Jesus), and since that time I experienced amazing peace in my heart and life. Issa has been providing for me and the children for the last three months, and I know He will continue providing.”

During Ramadan, she felt the need to show the film to her mother. Her mother asked questions that she was unable to answer, so she invited her father to watch the film also. “While watching the film on the suffering of Jesus on the cross, I found myself shedding tears and uttering the words, ‘Oh, an innocent Son of God suffering for the sins of humanity,’” she said. “My father was shocked to see me crying and asked why I was crying. He felt troubled with the uttering of Jesus as the Son of God.” Her father told her that Christ was not the Son of God but only one of the prophets sent by Allah, adding, “The film is misleading and not from God – it is led by the Devil.”
When she protested and replied that he was incorrect, he replied, “I have no room for you in my house any more. Just go away with your children,” she said. Her father immediately phoned her husband. “My husband sided with my father that I should go away, and that I should not return to him,” she said. Her father gave her three months to decide whether to return to Islam and her husband. Relatives and other members of the Muslim community have threatened to kill her. So she had to flee with her children to an area closer to the border with Kenya.

Since then, they have been moving from village to village searching for manual work for their daily needs. She said she is in desperate need of financial support to rent a house, provide school fees for her children and start a small business for their upkeep. “My prayer is that Issa who changed my life may touch my family too,” she said. “Please I need the prayers from Christians at this difficult time. If God guides me to reach Kenya, then I am sure my needs and that of the children will be met by Christians living in different parts of the world.” Somalia is ranked 2nd on Christian support group Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List of the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.

‘SUMMER OF HOPE’ BRINGING HOPE TO CHILDREN IN LEBANON

A mission plans to reach 1600 vulnerable children through a Summer of Hope program in Lebanon. Heart for Lebanon’s Vacation Bible School lasts all summer, unlike similar week-long vacation programs in Western countries. Heart for Lebanon’s Camille Melki says their program is designed to bring joy and peace to local and refugee children. She told Mission Network News that a lot of children in the Beqaa Valley and southern Lebanon have been through very traumatic experiences, seeing loved ones killed, and villages destroyed. Poverty is rampant, and daily essentials hard to come by. Heart for Lebanon teachers and volunteers bring smiles and a place where children can be safe and feel welcome. Children can spend their summer not worrying where the next bomb is going to land or where their next meal will come from. Biblical stories and Gospel presentations bring the hope of Christ to every child. [Source: Mission Network News]


CHRISTIANS ‘GRIEVE’ AS ASSISTED DYING BILL PASSES IN COMMONS
ENGLAND – Christian campaigners and MPs have responded to the passing of the Assisted Dying Bill in Parliament, with many insisting they “must not give up”. The bill, which would allow terminally ill adults with six months or less to live to end their lives legally, passed its third reading in the House of Commons by a narrow margin of 23 votes. It now proceeds to the House of Lords, where peers will examine the legislation in greater detail. Labour MP for York Central, Rachael Maskell, voted against the bill, criticizing the lack of thorough scrutiny as the legislation progressed through the Commons. Tim Farron MP, a long-standing opponent of the bill, said that the outcome was “crushing for somebody who thinks assisted dying is a massive threat to the most vulnerable and marginalised people in our society”.

Alicia Edmund, Head of Public Policy at the Evangelical Alliance, was outside Parliament as the result was announced. “There was a real sense of lament,” she told Premier Christian News, “but one of real fervour – in the sense that there’s more to fight on in the House of Lords.” She noted that many Christian campaigners had taken action, driven by their faith convictions. They had written to and met their local Mps using their voices to urge them to reject the Bill, and to speak up for the vulnerable,” Edmund said. Ciaràn Kelly, Director of the Christian Institute, said: “Christians will feel grieved that MPs have shown so little regard for the dignity of human life, so little compassion for the concerns of vulnerable groups, and so little respect for the testimony of medical experts.”

For the Bill to become law, both the Commons and the Lords need to agree on its final wording. Even then, because of a planned four-year implementation period, assisted dying wouldn’t be available until 2029 at the earliest – around the time this Government’s current term is expected to end. [Source: Premier Christian News]

COPENHAGEN OPENS ITS FIRST ‘TINY CHURCH’

Denmark’s capital has unveiled its first ‘tiny church’. The 76-square-metre construction officially opened on Sunday in Nordhavn (North Harbor), which is a district on the outskirts of Copenhagen. The concept of a very small, mobile church originated in the Netherlands and emphasizes both portability and compact size. Cost-effective construction is also a key factor. The Danish church is built of wood with skylights in the church room, a veranda with benches, as well as having twelve walls in reference to the twelve Apostles.

The project grew out of the need for more infrastructure in the district, where the local population had been expanding very fast. The original plans were to build a permanent church, but that was put on hold by the city planning department. Speaking to Premier News, Tiny Church Nordhavn’s Project manager, said: “Instead of seeing this as a setback, we decided to rethink this concept. And then we had an idea of this tiny church, and then we started doing some research.” The church can be moved quite easily – as it is not a permanent structure  – when the congregation grows and is able to move into a permanent building. This approach could potentially change how churches are planted.

Christianity is the largest religion in Denmark.  Seventy-one per cent of the population are registered members of the Lutheran Church of Denmark, though only 2.4 per cent of church members attending services weekly. [Source: Premier Christian News]

CHRISTIAN MUSIC INDUSTRY ROCKED BY CLAIMS OF SEX AND DRUG ABUSE
The Christian music legend Michael Tait, a founding member of DC Talk and then  a frontman for Newsboys and whose hit song God’s Not Dead became an anthem for Donald Trump’s Maga movement, has been accused of sex and drug abuse. In early June, a report was published by the Christian media outlet the Roys Report, which had investigated Tait and revealed allegations of drug use and sexual assault against young, male musicians  in the early 2000s. Following this Report, Tait, posted an extraordinary confession on his Instagram account, admitting that for 20 years he had been “leading a double life”, abusing alcohol and cocaine, “and, at times, touching men in an unwanted sensual way”.  Tait wrote: “I am ashamed of my life choices and actions and make no excuses for them. I will simply call it what God calls it – sin.” He added: “While I might dispute certain details in the accusations against me, I do not dispute the substance of them. Even before this recent news became public, I had started on a path to health, healing, and wholeness … I accept the consequences of my sin and am committed to continuing the hard work of repentance and healing – work [which] I will do quietly and privately, away from the stage and the spotlight.”

[Sources: The Guardian and Premier Christian News]

WHAT DOES GOD USE TO BRING HIS PEOPLE TO A SAVING FAITH IN JESUS?

Reading the Bible and experiencing a welcoming church are two of the most common reasons why people become Christians. That’s according to a new survey by the Evangelical Alliance (EA). The report, Finding Jesus: Identifying Pathways to Faith in Adulthood, draws on the experiences of 280 adults who came to faith in the last five years. For more than a third of respondents, a deep dissatisfaction with life was the trigger for their faith journey, while a similar proportion (34%) were looking for meaning. 29% said they were drawn to Christianity by the impact of the faith on someone they knew.

Rachael Heffer, co-lead researcher, told Christian Today, that the challenge for the church is how to welcome and nurture the many people coming through the doors. Both the Bible (47%) and a welcoming church (59%) were important factors in helping them to explore and grow their new-found faith. [Source: Source: Christian Today]

– compiled by Guido Kettniss