Breaking Christian News on The Gospel Herald

On September 5, 2024, China officially announced adjustments to its international adoption policy. Moving forward, except for foreign nationals adopting children who are direct relatives within three generations or stepchildren, the country will no longer send children abroad for adoption. According to statistics, since the Adoption Law legalized international adoptions in 1992, over 160,000 Chinese children have been adopted by foreign families.

In the afternoon of Reformation Sunday, Oct. 27, some 2.1 million Christians gathered for a joint worship service from 2pm to 5pm in Seoul, Korea to “unite for repentance, revival, and restoration of holiness in our society.” According to organizers, an estimated 1.1 million joined onsite despite the bad weather with another 1 million joining online. The unprecedented joint worship service brought together Korean churches across denominations as they affirmed traditional marriage and family and prayed for their nation.

China's President Xi Jinping has signed into law a controversial national security legislation for Hong Kong on Monday, according to Xinhua News Agency. The law was passed without consultation and oversight by Hong Kong's Legislative Council, overriding the principle of 'one country, two systems' in the Basic Law.

Tens of thousands of Christians in Hong Kong gathered online and offline at various locations to commemorate the 31st anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre with prayer and worship.

The U.S. Senate unanimously passed a bill that aims at protecting the human rights and autonomy and freedoms of Hong Kong, which sends a message of hope to many pro-democracy protestors in the former British colony handed back to China in 1997, while drawing condemnation from Beijing.

A local government communications agency in China recently held a seminar to discuss with Communist Party members the "enormous harm" Christianity is to the atheist nation and identify ways to stunt its growth.

"Pastors" in Pakistan are being paid by sex traffickers to find brides for Chinese men among their church congregations, a disturbing new report has revealed.

A longstanding Hindu extremist practice of turning animistic villagers against Christians has intensified as elections get underway in India today, with tribal villagers taught that Christianity is anti-Indian.

Days after Hindu extremists in northern India marched in protest to file a false claim against a Christian mother, her government employer transferred her to a district more than 100 miles away, sources said.

The grieving family of a Chinese Christian woman is demanding answers after she suddenly died while in detention for her faith.

Asia is "the new hotbed of persecution for Christians," with an estimated 139 million people - or one in three - found to live under "high persecution," a persecution watchdog has revealed.

In China, there is now reportedly a bounty for the arrest of Christians - and police officers risk losing their job if quotas are not met, a persecution watchdog has claimed.

Unidentified men last week stoned a house full of worshippers for an hour in a predominantly Buddhist village in Burma (Myanmar), injuring six people, sources said.

The head of a persecution watchdog has warned that Chinese authorities are seeking to "cut off the oxygen" of Christian churches amid reports non-Chinese Christian leaders are being deported for proselytizing.

A pastor in India who was brutally beaten by a group of Hindu extremists because he was leading many Hindu people to Christianity has shared how one powerful prayer subdued his persecutors.

The American Center for Law and Justice is calling on the Chinese government to free Pastor John Cao - a lawful U.S. permanent resident - after he was imprisoned on false charges of organizing illegal border crossings.

A pastor has revealed that 17 Bible students who escaped an ethnic minority army in Myanmar have not been fed for days and are suffering from severe health problems.

A Vietnamese pastor imprisoned for his advocacy work has been refused medical treatment for serious illnesses, causing his health to "rapidly deteriorate" a persecution watchdog has revealed.

A church in China's southern Hunan province is experiencing unrelenting harassment from Chinese authorities, as police continue to interrupt services, forcibly interrogate congregants, and vandalize church property.

Attacks on Christians that began in one area of Uttar Pradesh in July have spiked and spread, instilling fear in congregations throughout the state, sources said.

A shocking new report by a human rights agency has identified the horrific levels of sexual abuse committed against women in North Korea and urged the international community to pressure the government to prosecute the perpetrators of sexual violence.

At least 20 Christians arrested for holding a public worship service continued to share their faith — even while in prison, a persecution watchdog has revealed.

Chinese Christians must stand up for their faith as the communist government furthers efforts to rewrite the Bible, a persecution watchdog group has warned.

A church rooftop cross was severed by Chinese Communist workers in Wenzhou amid an ongoing campaign to control Christianity in the region.

Indonesian police forced members of a Methodist church congregation out of their building and sealed the door shut to "appease Muslim hard-liners," a persecution watchdog has revealed.