World

CHICAGO (RNS) — A woman dressed in beautifully designed fabrics had invited guests into her home and taken great care to show them hospitality. But the refugee's home was a tent made from tarps, insulated against the crisp air as best as possible.

KHARKOV, Ukraine (BP) -- What compels Ukrainian believers to get up daily and kneel in the snow? Why is it so important to meet together when they could whisper a prayer from the warmth of their beds?

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (BP) -- Two years in filthy Turkish prisons reaped for pastor Andrew Brunson a spiritual "hunger, desperation and running after God" that he hasn't felt since his release.

FREEPORT, Bahamas (BP) -- After three days surveying the damage from Hurricane Dorian, an eight-member team of Southern Baptists returned to the United States with a keen appreciation of the Bahamian people and a commitment to partner with Baptist churches there.

PARIS (RNS) — The network of émigré Russian Orthodox parishes in Western Europe appears to be headed for years of complex canonical and legal disputes after their archbishop announced that he would rejoin the Moscow Patriarchate and urged his followers to accompany him.

JERUSALEM (RNS) — A fire that destroyed an ancient Holy Land church near the Sea of Galilee around 700 CE appears to have preserved the church’s beautiful mosaic floor, which includes depictions of baskets, loaves and fish as well as inscriptions.

(RNS) — The president of the historically black Progressive National Baptist Convention traveled to the Bahamas island of Grand Bahama this week to assess the damage from Hurricane Dorian and came away with stories of damage and determination.

Hkalam Samson, president of the Kachin Baptist Convention of Myanmar, has been accused of “knowingly giving false information” during his trip to the United States for the 2019 Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom in mid-July.

HONG KONG (BP) -- The withdrawal of an extradition bill that threatened religious freedom in Hong Kong is not enough to satisfy Christians and others amid protests there, a Christian advocate told Baptist Press Wednesday (Sept. 4).

SAO PAULO (RNS) — The apparently intentional escalation of fires in the Amazon rainforest has contributed to a growing political split among religious groups in Brazil.