Historically, the Orthodox Church has had a strong influence in Macedonia. A harsh policy aimed at restricting religious groups (apart from Orthodox, Catholics and Muslims) was overturned in court in 1999, but some restrictions remain. There is a need for an unprecedented movement of the Holy Spirit in the Macedonian Orthodox church as well as among all churches in this country. There is a great spiritual battle going on for believers working to reach ethnic Albanians in the country. The opposition for the gospel is enormous and the soil of hearts is hard - yet God is doing amazing things in the universities. Pray that the ministry would see the first Albanian students come to Christ in the universities. Pray also that the believing students would not only be doing evangelism but making disciples and maturing spiritually.

Among the expatriate community, followers of Christ tend to be very busy with demanding and time-consuming jobs and want to enjoy time with their families on weekends. Hence, readiness to invest themselves into Christian ministry is limited. Pray for a hunger to grow and a passion to serve. Many people live in a wealth bubble within Luxembourg with a focus on material possessions, and the country has an exceptionally liberal government. Important decisions for the future economic well-being of the nation have to be taken in this legislative period, and their leaders need wisdom. Pray for God-fearing men and woman to be placed in decision-making positions. There are three English-speaking churches, each with 150-250 members, and many small Portuguese, Brazilian, Luxembourgish and Scandinavian immigrant churches, but they do not have much in common.

Due to a strong Polish influence, Catholicism was politically dominant until the Soviet occupation when all faiths were repressed. Low-level discrimination against evangelical groups exists and religious freedom has facilitated the entry of cults and theological error. Relationships between denominations are better than in most former Soviet states. Agape Lithuania has a vision of seeing a ministry presence on every university campus in the country. Praise God for good relationships on the Agape team and the encouragement of healthy ministry funding. There is a Lithuanian internet evangelism ministry, ieskauDievo.lt (searching God). Their prayer is that their work would reach Lithuanians in the country and beyond. Also praise God for 24 e-coaches who are connected with seekers. Pray for wisdom and sensitivity as they interact with these seekers. There is a need for more student leaders to be raised up who would have a heart to see their fellow-classmates know Jesus. Pray for spiritually open students to get connected with the Vilnius campus ministry.

In Liechtenstein freedom of religion is guaranteed and the Catholic Church is effectively the State Church. The religious diversity breakdown is 69% Catholic, 7% Muslim, 14% Non-Religious, 0.7% Orthodox and 9% Protestant. Let us claim the  scriptural promise in Philippians 2:10-11 for Liechtenstein! There does not appear to be much outreach by believers to members of the Muslim community, so let us seek the Lord for more labourers and an outpouring of His Spirit on this part of His vineyard. May they expand the work started thirty years ago.

Detectives in Dungiven discovered a cannabis factory worth £250,000 and arrested a 38-year-old woman. Some of the plants were four feet high. The owner of the property - who discovered the cannabis factory - said, ‘I’m shocked, I can’t believe it.’ Detective Chief Inspector, Colin Gillis, from Crime Operations Dept. said, ‘I would like the people involved in the use and supply of illegal drugs to know that Northern Ireland is not a safe environment for them to spread their misery and destroy people’s lives. When members of the public work along with police we see time and again that successes can be made against the drugs gangs and I would actively encourage anyone with any information about the use or supply of illegal drugs to contact police on 101 to enable us to continue taking these substances off our streets.’

An elderly evangelical Christian preacher suffering from cancer and diabetes would rather go to prison than withdraw a statement he made last year during a sermon in his north Belfast church where he called Islam ‘satanic.’ In an interview, an obdurate Pastor James McConnell, 78, who is facing a potential hate crime conviction, told the Belfast Telegraph that he is ready to serve his time in jail, unafraid to be locked up with sex offenders, hoodlums, and paramilitaries. ‘I have no regrets about what I said. I do not hate Muslims but I denounce Islam as a doctrine and I make no apologies for that. I will be pleading 'not guilty' when I stand in the dock in August.’

A British charity that provides assistance to Christians in predominantly Muslim countries hosted a training session in London on Tuesday to advise UK churches on protecting their premises and congregations against an attack by Islamic State militants. The Barnabas Fund, which says it offers ‘practical aid for the persecuted church’, invited fifty church leaders to participate in the half-day session at Westminster’s Central Hall. The charity’s international director, Patrick Sookhdeo, and police representatives were present to give advice. An email with the subject line ‘Protecting British churches from terrorist attack’ warns, ‘Given the dramatic growth of IS in the Middle East and the increased anti-Christian rhetoric and attacks from that group, plus the recently thwarted attempts to attack churches in Paris, the possibility of an IS attack on British churches cannot be discounted.’

15-year-old Lewis Brimble was recently told by the NHS that they had declined his application for Eculizumab, the only drug that could save his life. He said ‘I have had a rare kidney disease since I was nine years old which progressed into end stage renal failure. I spent two years on dialysis. When I was 11 Mum donated her kidney to me, and I slowly got back to being normal. Then after 15 months my disease came back, with damage to my transplanted kidney. Since then I have been deteriorating. Doctors said there is only one drug, Eculizumab, that can stop my disease from getting worse and forcing me to go back to a nightmare half-life on dialysis. But now, NHS England have rejected my application for the drug simply because it is ‘too expensive’.’