(Morning Star News) – The threat of investigating a church for possible criminal activity in the spread of COVID-19 in Vietnam was confirmed in a letter on Friday (June 18) from officials to a recently formed house-church alliance, sources said. In the letter of reply to the Vietnam Evangelical Alliance, made up of 40 house-church […]
Criminal Investigation of Church in Vietnam over COVID-19 Confirmed
Official urges media to make corrections of misleading statements.
June 23, 2021 By -
Evangelicals Take Brunt of COVID-19 Collateral Damage in Vietnam
Christians fear lasting effects of vilification of REM church.
June 15, 2021 By -
(Morning Star News) – The vilification of the Revival Ekklesia Mission church in Vietnam has somewhat quieted, but its linking of evangelicals with COVID-19 is feared to have done long-lasting damage. State media, government agencies and the public in social media all reviled the church following the positive COVID-19 tests of two members of the […]
COVID-19 Leads to Prosecution of House-Church Group in Vietnam
Organization’s registration suspended.
June 2, 2021 By -
(Morning Star News) – A house-church organization in Vietnam is facing government prosecution and community hate due to COVID-19, sources said. A couple who attended the meeting place of the Revival Ekklesia Mission (REM), an independent, charismatic house-church organization headquartered in Ho Chi Minh City, went to the Gia Dinh General Hospital on May 26 […]
Vietnam Denies Permission for ECVN(S) to Hold Clergy Assembly
Country’s largest evangelical body forced to ‘postpone’ conference.
December 2, 2020 By -
(Morning Star News) – The government of Vietnam has denied the Evangelical Church of Vietnam (South) permission to hold its scheduled bi-annual Clergy Assembly, according to the Bureau of Religious Affairs. After the ECVN(S) announced on Nov. 25 that it was “postponing” the assembly scheduled for Feb. 1-3, 2021 because the government had denied permission, […]
Christians in China Forced to Replace Christian Items with Portraits of President
84-year-old man is told to pray to Communist Party leader.
August 12, 2020 By -
(Morning Star News) – An 84-year-old Christian in Shanxi Province, China was among people in at least five provinces ordered to remove Christian imagery from their homes and replace them with pictures of President Xi Jinping, religious rights magazine Bitter Winter reported. “The township [Chinese Communist] Party [CCP] secretary asked me to take down and […]
Civilian Christians Killed amid Military Fighting in Western Burma
Unknown whether caught in crossfire or deliberately targeted.
March 25, 2020 By -
NAYPYIDAW, Burma (Morning Star News) – Burmese army jet fighters killed 21 civilians from the predominantly Christian, ethnic Chin group in airstrikes this month in western Burma (Myanmar), sources said. In Paletwa Township, Chin state, the army on March 14 struck Meiksa Wa villages 2 and 3, killing 12 civilians, area residents reportedly said. Eight […]
Christian Rohingya Refugees Attacked, Kidnapped in Bangladesh
Pastor and daughter abducted, makeshift church building destroyed.
March 11, 2020 By -
YANGON, Burma (Morning Star News) – A rights group has confirmed reports that suspected Muslim, ethnic Rohingya beat and kidnapped Rohingya Christians on Jan. 26-27 in a refugee camp in Bangladesh. At least 12 Rohingya Christians were hospitalized with injuries from an attack in Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar District on the evening of […]
Harsh Sentence for Pastor Wang Signals Severe Crackdown in China, Sources Say
Early Rain Covenant Church leader given nine years in prison.
January 3, 2020 By -
(Morning Star News) – The sentencing of pastor Wang Yi to nine years in prison this week for “subversion” and “illegal business activities” shows how authorities in China are increasingly intolerant of unregistered churches, sources said. Pastor Wang of Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, capital of southwestern China’s Sichuan Province, was sentenced in closed-door […]
Grenade Attack Near Cathedral Leaves Several Wounded in the Philippines
Assailants, motives remain uncertain.
December 26, 2019 By -
MINDANAO, Philippines (Morning Star News) – A grenade attack near a Catholic cathedral and radio station in the southern Philippines on Sunday (Dec. 22) could have been aimed at a military advance team for a presidential visit as much as the Christian sites, according to local reports. The grenade explosion injured at least eight soldiers […]
Rebels in Burma Who Closed More than 100 Churches Allow 51 to Reopen
Congregations investigated as ‘extremists.’
December 20, 2019 By -
YANGON, Burma (Morning Star News) – Ethnic rebels who closed more than 100 churches in eastern Burma (Myanmar) in 2018 have allowed 51 Baptist churches to reopen, sources said. Ethnic Wa rebels of the United Wa State Army (UWSA) this week announced they had permitted 51 Baptist churches to reopen in northern Shan state after […]