Police are investigating an attack on a bus carrying seventy Christians home from the national congress of the Synod of Pentecostal Churches in Tamil Nadu. Three men on motorcycles threatened passengers, smashed the bus windscreen, and injured the driver and passengers, including children and the elderly. Religious intolerance and violence is festering and taking root in the world’s largest democracy. Religious minorities in India should feel safe and free to practise and profess their religion or belief without any fear of reproach, and Christian Solidarity Worldwide called on authorities to put an end to institutional propaganda that incites hatred towards religious minorities. ‘The police must follow up with a thorough investigation of this incident and not allow themselves to be influenced by hard-line religious nationalists as they seek to hold those responsible to account.’ The congress saw Christian leaders call for prayers for peace at a time when churches are being closed, prayer meetings disrupted, and individuals targeted.

Imagine being on a ship and discovering you had been sold as a slave, not sure if you will ever see your family again. There is a form of human trafficking taking place in the middle of the ocean. Thousands are forced to work in Thailand’s seven-billion-dollar fishing industry, many against their will. They are lured by the promise of a good job, then sold to boat captains who force them to do dangerous work while their families are left to wonder whether they will ever return. Ron was a Cambodian father, husband and family man in dire poverty, barely making $2 a day on his farmland. He was running out of options to feed his family. When someone came to his village, offering better options. Ron took the bait. Too late, he realised he had been sold to a ruthless boat captain in the Thai fishing industry. It is time to bring the fishermen home.

Christian Aid Mission has many Bible schools in China offering one- and two-year programmes, with training primarily focused on evangelism and the cost of discipleship. Seven days a week, faculty led morning prayers at 5 a.m. and evening prayers at 9p.m. Every Saturday, students divide into groups to evangelise their community. Due to the school’s excellent standing, home churches often invite students and faculty to preach and lead worship. They travel in pairs on bicycles to over forty house churches in the school’s vicinity. Over 120 students graduate from this Bible school each year. Students become teachers at the school, return to serve in their home churches, or plant new churches in various regions throughout China.

Zabbai, son of a Jamaican pastor, used the name of God for his personal benefit. ‘I was a phony Christian, living in sin, knowing I could ask forgiveness.’ At seventeen he came to terms with the Jesus he avoided while he was smoking marijuana and chasing girls. ‘I realised that truth is not a thing but a person.’ He struggled with fitting in with his peers instead of standing out as a church goody-goody. ‘I found my identity within a love for playing the saxophone.’ One day while alone he closed his eyes for a second. When he opened them, everyone was frozen. He felt a warmth from God, who said, ‘This is what my love feels like.’ ‘And with the snap of a finger, time began again. I had just encountered the Lord, and it scared me. With reckless abandon, I began pursuing the Lord.’