Charisma News

One London church leader is trying to persuade fellow clergy that today’s worship services are excessively long.

How long would you estimate your attention span to be? Ten minutes? A half hour? Ninety minutes? It is safe to say that the length of one’s attention span would ultimately depend on the topic or issue at hand. What if the topic was your Creator—the Lover of your soul?

The Bishop of Lichfield, Rev. Jonathan Gledhill submitted in his London diocese recently that “clergy should aim to keep the time of worship to no more than 50 minutes.” He believes worship has become too complicated, leading to confused and excluded churchgoers.

Whether they’re in church or standing on a street corner, the members of Grace Tokyo Church loudly sing their songs … Read More

Senegal is somewhere between 4 and 6  percent Christian, and reports show that most in that percentage are Roman Catholic. The Joshua Project has found that only 0.2 percent of the nation are evangelical Christian.

Missions work is vital in the mostly-Muslim country, and a missionary family with The Mission Society felt the burden of the work immediately.

Adam Dalenburg says, “We spent our first couple of years trying to do everything for everyone.”

The family preached, taught English as a second language, and tried to provide for the felt needs of as many as possible to live out Christ’s love. But Adam soon had a revelation.

In about a month and a half, Nepal is supposed to have a new constitution ready to go.

Faced with an Aug. 31 deadline, there’s a high risk of a collapsed peace process should the draft not be completed by that time. 

The new deadline is the extension of another deadline at the end of May which was missed. The May target came about as the result of a 2008 election that eventually brought about an accord between the Maoist rebels and the government. However, the peace was hinged on meeting a two-year mandate for a new constitution.

The political chaos that could result from another miss could permanently derail what’s been accomplished since the civil war ended in 2006. 

Gospel for Asia-supported missionary Murli Ghulam was released from prison, but he is restricted from traveling outside his own village. Additional details about Murli’s ministry and the events leading to his release are also being reported.

Murli was arrested on July 2 as he was leading a prayer meeting in a believer’s home and charged with bribing and forcing people to convert to Christianity. The charge was brought by anti-Christian extremists in his village.

Murli lives in an area with strict laws that make it difficult to share the love of Jesus with people from the area’s traditional religions. These statutes, which are often used as a basis of arresting Christian pastors, are known as “freedom of religion laws” and outline what steps must be taken to change one’s faith. In some places where there are “freedom of religion laws,” individuals are legally obligated to submit paperwork to the government before they are allowed to publicly follow Christ.

Venezuela has formed a major alliance and a significant trade relationship with Cuba since the election of President Hugo Chavez … Read More

Christians in northern Nigeria’s Borno state, already forced to abandon worship services due to attacks by Islamic sect Boko Haram, … Read More

Thousands around the world lifted prayers of thanksgiving on Saturday as South Sudan celebrated its first day as an independent nation. And some of the people praying thanked God specifically for the role that Franklin Graham, president and CEO of BGEA and Samaritan’s Purse, played in helping South Sudan achieve independence.

USA Today acknowledged that role in a Tuesday article. DeWayne Wickham wrote that along with the efforts of Presidents Bush and Obama, “South Sudan also has Franklin Graham to thank,” saying that Graham “played an important role in supporting the secession of South Sudan—whose 8 million people are mostly Christians—from Muslim-dominated Sudan.”

Fifteen people came forward to the foot of the cross at the Baptist Church of Queluz, Portugal.

Tears of joy and brokenness flowed as they asked Jesus to come into their lives or to restore them.

People gathered in the library for prayer with those that committed their lives and there was sweet harmony as people began to sing “Amazing Grace.”

And nobody wanted to leave.

“We felt that the Spirit of the Lord was present and active,” José Pego Guedes said. “We have great joy for the results expressed in the many decisions for Christ Jesus.”

God has shown His power to numerous people in South Asia who are still refusing to follow Him, despite His miraculous power at work in their lives. Even after seeing God bring healing and deliverance to their family members, many have hardened hearts and continue to reject Jesus.

Blessed, but Not Yet Believing
Gajendra Verma, touched by the love of God, has still not chosen to give his life to the One who healed him.

This man’s life was going well, until one day he began having severe pain in his eyes. Within a few days, he was totally blind. After visiting many hospitals and trying various treatments, he was still in the dark. Gajendra worships traditional gods and goddesses of his area and is strong in his religious practices. So he turned to these idols, offering many sacrifices in hopes of being healed, but nothing helped his condition.

One of Gajendra’s friends led him to the home of a man known as “one who heals.” This man is really a Gospel for Asia-supported missionary who is well known in his area for praying for the sick. After listening to Gajendra’s situation, the missionary felt compassion and prayed for his healing. By the grace of God, Gajendra’s eyes were healed and his pain left. He could finally see again! Gajendra was overjoyed and seemed interested in choosing to follow Christ.