EDITOR'S NOTE: This article is an excerpt from “The Church and the Missionary,” The Great Commission Baptist Journal of Missions, published by the International Mission Board. Read the journal by clicking here. By Karen Pearce The IMB has always required church endorsement for service overseas. Most missionaries were part of a healthy church where discipleship and accountability shaped their call. Churches committed to pray for their missionaries. In the last few years, the … [Read more...]
First Person: God is faithful and just to forgive
By Ruth Bowles, IMB missionary kid EDITOR'S NOTE: Download the February PrayerPoints featuring daily prayer requests for missionary kids around the world. Each month will focus on a different theme or one of IMB’s eight affinity groups. Alcoholism has its claws wrapped tightly around the souls of the small town I grew up in, here in the Amazon region of South America. There are very few people whose lives go untouched by the darkness and destruction it brings. Mario, too, was … [Read more...]
New training center prepares African missionaries to reach nations
by Lauren Milewski/IMB NAIROBI, Kenya (IMB) – International Mission Board missionaries commissioned a new facility, Lead Global Training Center, in Nairobi, Kenya, on Jan. 26 to prepare Africans to reach the nations. IMB missionaries, along with senior leaders from Richmond, gathered to pray for healthy African churches to send African missionaries and to praise God for the work He is already doing across the continent. Chad Pumpelly, who serves with the IMB and directs the Lead … [Read more...]
Iran’s Christians suffer sixfold increase in prison time, report says
LONDON (BP) – Christians in Iran suffered combined prison sentences amounting to a sixfold increase over time levied in 2023, all as punishment for their faith, London-based religious advocacy group Article 18 said in its latest annual report. The courts sentenced 96 Christians to a combined 263 years in prison in 2024 on faith-related charges, compared to 22 Christians sentenced in 2023 to a combined 43.5 years, Article 18 said in the report released Jan. 20 in collaboration with Open … [Read more...]
Project 3000 explorer locates remote people group, discovers the Lord already at work
Sometimes, finding unreached people groups means getting your truck stuck in a riverbed, driving 12 hours and traveling to village after village after village, asking if anyone knows anything about an unengaged and unreached people group. More than 3,000 people groups around the world have no strategy for reaching them with the gospel. Project 3000 is a concerted effort to ensure that every people group has access to the gospel. The International Mission Board is sending 300 … [Read more...]
Cuba frees pastor after U.S. drops island from state sponsors of terrorism list
SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba (BP) – Evangelical Protestant pastor Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo is among hundreds of prisoners, including several religious leaders, Cuba released last week after the U.S. removed the island nation from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. Cuba released Fajardo Jan. 17 from Mar Verde Prison in Santiago de Cuba, international religious freedom advocate CSW said upon his release, after President Biden’s 11th hour announcement that he would remove Cuba from the … [Read more...]
George Liele church planting, evangelism, missions Sunday materials available
RICHMOND, Va. (IMB) – Southern Baptists have been encouraged to celebrate African American and Black pioneers whose lives inspire the next generation to continue the work of solving the world’s greatest problem – lostness. The International Mission Board invites all Southern Baptists to recognize Feb. 2 as George Liele Church Planting, Evangelism and Missions Sunday. This special Sunday recognizes the life and work of these pioneers, and so many more: George Liele, who many … [Read more...]
Open Doors: Violence, civil wars drive global Christian persecution up 4.1 percent
BRIDGEVILLE, Pa. (BP) – Africa, with more Christians than any other continent, has in Nigeria the deadliest nation for believers at the hands of Islamic terrorists and suffers persistently high violence in a dozen countries in its sub-Saharan region. Add to that the civil war in Sudan that has created the largest displacement crisis in the world, as well as lingering civil wars elsewhere, and it’s no wonder that an additional 15 million Christians are suffering high levels of persecution … [Read more...]
Survivors ‘desperate’ as tenuous ceasefire dangles, Palestinian pastor says
JERUSALEM (BP) – Crucial humanitarian aid, the phased release of hostages in exchange for prisoners, and an end to Israel’s bombing of Gaza were among the initial terms of a ceasefire agreement announced Jan. 14 between Israel and Hamas. But the agreement is already in limbo a day later, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announcing his cabinet will not meet to certify the agreement as stipulated for its passage. Survivors in Gaza, including perhaps 620 Christians, are … [Read more...]
Like father, like son: IMB missionary takes over parents’ rural ministry
by Chris Doyle/IMB NORTH AFRICA/MIDDLE EAST (IMB) – Children often take over a family business their parents started. This isn’t uncommon. For a son or daughter to relieve their parents in international ministry, though, can be a rare occurrence. International Mission Board missionaries Bill and Phyllis were involved in rural ministry for 16 years but are now retiring. God made it possible for their son, Daniel, to take over the work, in 2023. Bill and Phyllis served Northern … [Read more...]
Global Christian persecution up; religious restrictions at peak levels, studies show
WASHINGTON (BP) – Religious nationalism, mass displacement, authoritarianism, surveillance technology and other trends combine to persecute 300 million Christians globally, International Christian Concern (ICC) said in its 2025 Global Persecution Index released Jan. 2. Targeting 20 countries, the latest annual report identifies 20 persecution zones, spotlights underlying factors that make each region increasingly unstable, and details the growing persecution Christians are suffering at … [Read more...]
First Person: My deaf friend now knows that Jesus can calm her fear
by Penelope Sonnen, IMB missionary in Southeast Asia EDITOR'S NOTE: Download the January PrayerPoints featuring daily prayer requests for Deaf peoples around the world. Each month will focus on a different theme or one of IMB’s eight affinity groups. When I first got here as a missionary, I learned that people wouldn’t whistle because they fear that might summon a demon. They wouldn’t clean their homes at night because they believe that might upset demons. They live terrified of evil … [Read more...]
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