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28 August 2026
Philippines
A pastor was shot and killed, and his two travelling companions were injured after their vehicle was ambushed in Mindanao. Pastor Bhen Andaya (61), died on 31 July after two unidentified assailants on motorcycles opened fire on the vehicle in which they were travelling. While the motive remains unclear, police have identified three persons of interest. Pasor Bhen who led the Risen Christ Community Church in San Francisco, Agusan del Sur, is survived by his wife and four children.
Sri Lanka
A Christian worker in Kandy District has been told by a senior police-official that she faces arrest if she continues to visit a fellow congregant in a neighbouring village. The unnamed worker was reported to police by a local Buddhist monk after she, her husband and their young son visited the church-member to pray for her sick child. The mother of the sick child was also told not to visit the church-worker. Since the incident in last month, the Christian worker has also noticed a decrease in trade at her small shop.
Somalia
A Christian convert and mother of eight, Sophia Ibrahim, was beaten unconscious by fundamentalist Muslims after they discovered she had left Islam. She had been meeting with other Christian women in a home in Lower Juba Region when four Muslim men entered, rebuked the group, and began beating them with sticks. After Sophia fled home, the men followed and attacked her with blunt objects and a bladed weapon. She received hospital treatment and is now in hiding.
21 August 2026
Indonesia
A Christian convert from Islam, now a serving pastor inBanda Aceh province, has been given a two-year prison-sentence after being convicted of blasphemy and hate speech on 10 July. Dedi Saputra (31) who was serving a church in West Kalimantan Province has been detained since February following a complaint over a now deleted Tik- Tok video in which it is alleged he blasphemed the Prophet of Islam.
Vietnam
A Vietnamese court has sentenced Christian Pastor, Y Nuen Ayun (59), to a term of seven years and six months in prison, following a trial on 5 August where he was convicted of “undermining the policy of national unity.” Pastor Ayun, who belongs to a minority ethnic group in the country’s Central Highlands, was initially detained on 7 October 2025.
China
On 10 August a court in Fuyang, Anhui Province, sentenced three Christian leaders to prison terms ranging from one year and four months to one year and seven months for “organising illegal gatherings.” Sources familiar with the case say Zhang Sensen, Chang Sun and Ma Shutao were punished for conducting weddings, caring for believers and carrying out routine pastoral ministry.
14 August 2026
Algeria
With 46 of their 47 churches now forcibly closed by the authorities in a crackdown that started in 2017, Christians belonging to the Protestant Church of Algeria have been forced underground and now meet discreetly in small house groups and fellowships. According to source MSN, they are thankful to God and view this period of oppression as an opportunity for the church to be refined and strengthened. We give thanks to God for their faithful witness. Please pray they will flourish and be encouraged.
Sudan
Two Christian leaders have been released along with four others, following their abduction in South Kordofan by break-away members of the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army-North. The Rev. Yaqob Ibrahim Tia was taken along with his two sons and two other believers on 23 July, and Zakaria Suliman Jana, who is a leader in the Sudanese Church of Christ, was taken on 31 July. No reason was given for their abduction and details of the terms of release were not disclosed.
China
The founding pastor of Biaogan Church in Wenzhou, Zhejiang was detained along with six other Christian workers in a cross provincial raid by police from Shanghai on 5 August. Following its establishment by Pastor David Tang, the church was forced underground after refusing to register with the government or join the state sanctioned Three Self Patriotic Movement. Nothing has been heard from Pastor Tang or the other Christians since their detention.
Sri Lanka
Please pray for Christians in this Buddhist island nation. Followers of Jesus, meet both in the main cities and in many of the 38 000 or so villages scattered across the island. Particularly in more rural areas, they routinely face suspicion, opposition and false allegations from neighbours and villagers as they gather to worship in their homes.
7 August 2026
India
Seven Christians, six of whom are pastors, have started five-year prison sentences in Madhya Pradesh State after being convicted on 12 June under anti-conversion legislation. The men were arrested in April 2024 following a malicious complaint that they had offered inducements to convert to Christianity while attending a child’s birthday party.
Pakistan
Three men convicted in the 2014 murder of husband and wife Shahzad Masih (26) and Shama Bibi (24), were acquitted of their death sentences on 9 July after a three-judge panel of Pakistan’s Supreme Court ruled that the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. Shahzad Masih and Shama Bibi were killed by a mob after they had been accused of desecrating the pages of the Quran in November 2014.
Sudan
Iranian lawyer, Bahar Sahraian, who has defended political prisoners, including Christians, and who was detained on 16 May while following up on cases at Shiraz Revolutionary Court, was released on bail on 21 July having spent over two months in detention in Adel Abad prison, Shiraz. According to the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), Sahraian was held incommunicado and denied the opportunity to speak with her family.
Nigeria
The Christian community of Kauru County in Kaduna state was united in a demonstration of unity and solidarity on 1 August as they stood with Roman Catholic families who had gathered for the funeral service for 27 Christians massacred by suspected Fulani terrorists on 26 July. The community of Naridon village was targeted by the armed men shortly before mid-night on 26 July.
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