World

KAMPALA, Uganda (RNS) – Thousands of faithful in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are staying home from church services to avoid contracting or spreading Ebola.

KIGALI, Rwanda (RNS) – Grace Umutesi has secretly been conducting services in her house in the Bannyahe slum on the outskirts of the capital since officials shut down her church in July for failing to comply with building safety standards and other regulations.

“I’m very disappointed by the decision of the government to close our church,” said Umutesi, 35, a mother of four. “But we cannot stop to pray and praise God because our church has been closed. God is everywhere and he listens to our prayers.”

KAMPALA, Uganda (RNS) – On a recent Sunday morning, hundreds of worshippers gathered at Jehovah Pentecostal Church in Kisenyi, a slum on the outskirts of Kampala, to pray against their government’s intensifying crackdown against opposition politicians, journalists and supporters.

(RNS) — For millions of Americans, summer is the season for short-term mission trips. Church groups take off for faraway places where sharing God’s love involves construction projects, teaching Bible lessons at camps and bringing medical care to people who seldom if ever see a doctor or a dentist.

LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — The Ukrainian city of Lviv, once a major center of Jewish life in Eastern Europe, is commemorating the 75th anniversary of the annihilation of the city's Jewish population by Nazi Germany and honoring those working today to preserve what they can of that vanished world.

NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) — Africa is a deeply religious continent, with both Christianity and Islam are on the rise. But small groups of determined atheists are challenging Africa's grip on faith while seeking recognition and more followers.

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Earthquakes that shook the Indonesian island of Lombok over the past week have resulted in at least 430 deaths, and the government is estimating economic losses in excess of several hundred million dollars.

IZMIR, Turkey (RNS) — As Turkish prosecutors prepare for the high-profile trial of American pastor Andrew Brunson on terrorism-related charges, their case points directly to his small evangelical church and the internal strife stemming from his outreach to Syrian refugees.

Authorities of the self-declared Luhansk People's Republic, an unrecognized entity in eastern Ukraine, have regularly halted worship meetings by a range of religious communities, seized religious literature and fined religious leaders.

ISTANBUL, Turkey (RNS) — A Turkish judge ruled on Wednesday (July 25) that Andrew Brunson, an American Presbyterian pastor and missionary facing terrorism charges, be moved from prison to house arrest.

For many in Turkey, it has little to do with his faith or his work as a missionary, and everything to do with how Washington addresses the concerns of Ankara.