Many Christian leaders had waited years for state approval. The decision comes under Egypt’s 2016 Law for Building and Restoring Churches. It marks the 30th group of churches approved by the legalization committee. To qualify, churches must meet structural and safety standards, prove land ownership, and pay required fees.

The Hanging Church, Cairo, Egypt (photo courtesy of Dilip Poddar via Unsplash)

Duane Friesen with Voice of the Martyrs Canada says, “There is dramatic difficulty for the Christian community within Egypt, but to see a step toward allowing facilities for their weekly worship is a good step, and I hope it grows.”

Still, the approvals meet only a small part of the need. Tens of thousands of churches are still seeking legal recognition.

Friesen notes that, “[Believers] still face the reality that they are a minority in a country that has long struggled to support the existence of other religious groups around them.”

“They’ve had, even recently, major challenges as families try to prevent their daughters from being forced into Muslim marriages.” Friesen also adds that if a man’s Christian beliefs become known, he may struggle to find work to provide for his family.

So, the approval of another batch of churches could be a positive sign for greater Christian recognition and freedom in the country.

At the same time, Friesen urges caution. As pressure for church registration grows, so can government oversight of Christian activity. Still, the process may also help strengthen Christianity’s legal standing in Egypt.

Please pray these developments would lead to greater acceptance and security for believers in Egypt and, as Friesen says, “that is equal citizenship within Egypt that they have the protections, the rights and the freedoms to be what God’s called them to be.”

Visit Voice of the Martyrs Canada to learn more about the challenges facing persecuted Christians around the world.

Header photo: Cairo, Egypt (Photo courtesy of PhotoByMau via Pexels).

Christians from Kasr El-Dobara Evangelical Church (KDEC) in Egypt say it looks like this: a journey from fear, to hope, to overcoming barriers, and then to living in strength. Sounds clear cut, but the process takes years of receiving Christ’s love and practical care. 

Marihan with KDEC says that on this journey with refugees, “One of the ways we find very helpful is not just to feed them, but to equip them.” 

The church equips women in particular through a vocational training center, in partnership with another congregation in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. They have started not only this vocational center but also a school for children. (More on the school here.)

“We are teaching them small skills — sewing skills, macrame skills, how to do like a fashion thing or any handmade work, so they can have income,” says Marihan. “After some time, we can teach them as well how to start their own business, their own shop, their own whatever, so they can have sustainable income.”

(Photo courtesy of KDEC)

Egypt hosts more than 1 million refugees, according to December 2025 data from the United Nations Refugee Agency. Many come from Sudan and Syria. Even before families and individuals realize they aren’t going home anytime soon, they face serious barriers “with the language, with culture, with the identity itself, with everything around them,” says Marihan, “even with the people who sometimes treat them as if [the refugees] are the enemy, [as if] they are taking their food.”

Marihan says it might take three to five years for refugees to begin to thrive. “It depends on the person himself — and the situation in their country, by the way. If the situation in their country is going bad every day, it affects them.”

But showing the love of Christ opens the way to share His message. Please pray for God’s blessing and strength for believers in Egypt engaged in loving and caring for displaced families. 

“Pray for the grace that God is giving us with the government to continue. We got permission from the government to establish the education center and to serve those people,” Marihan explains. 

Header photo courtesy of Wadi Lissa via Unsplash.

Reported abuses range from arrests over online posts and private messages to long delays in church registration, along with weak police and court responses to attacks on Christians.

David Bogosian with the Alliance for the Unreached says the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is calling for the U.S. to increase scrutiny. “The recommendation [by USCIRF] is that Egypt be made a country on our Watch List,” he says. A U.S. Special Watch List designation would heighten State Department attention and could increase diplomatic pressure on Egyptian authorities.

There is also growing influence from Islamic clergy. That influence is often associated with Al-Azhar, a major center of Sunni Islamic authority based in Cairo, and with how blasphemy laws are interpreted and enforced.

St Simon the Tanner Monastery (Coptic), Cairo (Photo courtesy of Kerollos Atef AL- Mansy via Pexels)

Authorities can move quickly when they believe Islam is being criticized. This has increasingly included online activity.

“Anything that is viewed as disruptive, anything that might be negative of Islam, or put it in a bad light, they’re going to be prosecuted,” Bogosian says.

According to rights monitors, in recent months security forces have arrested dozens of people over social media posts expressing religious views that do not align with state-sanctioned beliefs, or for participating in online groups discussing atheism, agnosticism, or criticizing Islam.

Bogosian recalls a friend who was imprisoned and tortured for his faith in Egypt. After Christians around the world began writing letters to the prison, the man was released and later received asylum in the United States.

“So it does make a difference when we make our voices heard!” Bogosian says.

Even with pressure and persecution, Gospel work continues in Egypt — partly because the Coptic Church has endured hardship for centuries. “So Egypt is actually the epicenter for evangelism in the entire Middle East. This is very significant,” adds Bogosian.

Yet the need remains enormous: millions of Egyptians still haven’t heard about Jesus.

Pray Egyptian believers won’t give in to hate or fear. Pray the church will be strengthened and keep a powerful voice. Be part of Christ’s global rescue plan! Visit the Alliance for the Unreached to learn more.

Header photo: Five persons riding camels beside Pyramid of Egypt (Photo courtesy of Simon Berger via Unsplash).

Maurice says, “This generation, who are now in high school and uni, there is a spiritual awakening amongst them. They don’t want to change the country. They don’t want to change politics, but they want to take the Gospel. They want to go to Africa; they want to go to places in the Middle East that [haven’t] received the Good News yet.”

The Youth Before Them

The church in Egypt has seen this before. Maurice shares that similar awakenings happened in the 70s, 90s, and most recently in 2014. In those times, as the leadership leaned into the vision of their younger members and gave them control, church meetings looked a little bit different.

(Representative photo courtesy of StockSnap from Pixabay)

“They started inviting their friends to their own service, to their meeting, their ministry. The worship became different, the preaching became different, and God found a way to revive their hearts and their lives.”

Gospel Grace at KDEC

In this most recent movement Maurice says that the youth in KDEC have brought a variety of changes. If you look around the church, there are clear signs that God is at work.

“When the youth move, they bring their friends. People start hearing about what’s happening, and people start visiting. So, this is one sign: new believers and newcomers and seekers. Another sign is the quality of worship. It’s not about the sound. It’s not about the energy or the hand gestures or the physical aspect of it, but you feel that there’s a depth in the worship. They don’t want to sing three songs. They want to worship for an hour.”

Additionally, Maurice shares that the passion for the Gospel has been spilling beyond the church walls. He shares, “Last year, 500 young people from church signed up to be in our Missions Program, which is a nine-month school with two short-term trips and one abroad. It’s expensive. It takes their time, their effort, but they want to go out. They feel that they have something to give and that they’re sent to the lost.”

Making Space for God to Work

As in so many times and places before, youth coming in and making changes can make the older generations feel concern. They worry that the students are not mature enough; they haven’t been discipled long enough to take control of their ministry or lead well. However, Maurice points out that there is also danger in continually waiting for people to mature.

(Representative photo courtesy of Naassom Azevedo via Pixabay)

“We believe that Jesus uses simple vessels and that He does not require of us to be amazing, because, anyways, it’s all about Him. And I think when we wait for people to mature, sometimes we wait too long. They don’t mature. Because a lot of the training, a lot of the shaping, a lot of the discipleship happens really, on the go, on the job, as you are a disciple, as you go and share.”

Join the Movement

As KDEC and the larger church in Egypt seek to empower youth to share their faith, Maurice asks for prayer. He says their network of churches shares the vision of Habakkuk 2. They want to see the Earth filled “with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” They want to see every Arab have an opportunity to hear the Gospel and be discipled.

“We believe in prayer and unity, because what we’re dreaming of will only happen from above. As we unite, we give room for God. As we pray, He releases His power. So, we don’t want to be known of something. We want to see Him known. And we believe that when the youth are on fire, when the youth are released, when the youth are commissioned, this makes it happen faster and better and bigger.”

Please pray that God would bring many people to Himself through the youth in Egypt. Please also pray that the Church around the world would show and represent the true, loving Jesus and His saving grace.

Learn more about KDEC youth here.

Header photo courtesy of StartupStockPhotos via Pixabay.

But that data only counts those registered with the UN. The real number is undoubtedly much higher — and every one of these children, women, and men needs so much more than just food and shelter. 

“They are coming just to find hope in our country, and they fear the future. So we have to give them hope and comfort,” says Marihan with Kasr El-Dobara Evangelical Church (KDEC) in Egypt. “That’s why we are expanding our ministry to reach out to them and give them hope and a future.”

School in Cairo, Egypt (Stock photo courtesy of Primrose Murahwi via Unsplash)

After two years of hard work,  KDEC is ready to open a new education center for around 80 children in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt. 

“It was a long journey of success and failing and frustration,” Marihan says of the process. “It wasn’t easy at all. Sometimes we were learning new things, because it’s our first time to establish an education center for refugees.”

But God opened the way, bringing both government permission as well as a local partnering church that can legally staff the center.

The center will meet a critical need. For Palestinian refugees in Sinai, for example, Marihan says, “they cannot go anywhere else in the country, and they cannot use the local school.”

Showing the love of Christ to families opens the way to share His message. Please join in praying for the ministry of this new center to dozens of refugee families. Ask God to keep the door open for this way to serve. 

“Pray for protection — protection for the people who serve with us. And even pray for the local church there who will be responsible for the education center,” says Marihan. “Pray for the teachers. Pray for the people who will receive the message.”

Header photo courtesy of KDEC.

The U.S. decision follows similar designations by Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain. The Kingdom of Jordan banned the Muslim Brotherhood in mid-2025.

The Trump administration says the Muslim Brotherhood’s support for Hamas played a leading role in the designation.

“Their (Muslim Brotherhood’s) push has historically been, ‘If we were just good Muslims and follow the way correctly, then God would bless us by giving back the land of Palestine,’” Samuel with Redemptive Stories says, explaining the connection.

“As long as there continues to be fighting and frustration between Israeli settlers and Palestinians, then there will continue to be a push for the [Muslim] Brotherhood or people like them.”

Ministry impact

While the Muslim Brotherhood’s new label won’t significantly affect everyday life in the Middle East, Samuel says, “The importance is to remember that political decisions in every part of the world have consequences on ministry.”

He adds, “The ongoing conflict in Israel and Palestine has ripple effects that hit every part of the lives of Arabs and Muslims across the region” – meaning that the people believers minister to are greatly affected by events in Gaza and the West Bank.

Representative AI photo of Palestinian Christian created by ChatGPT.

Samuel urges Christians in the West to follow the news through a Kingdom lens, focusing on more than just political outcomes.

“Unblinding support for Israel has implications on the Gospel in our part of the world,” he says.

“Every story has two sides. We need to consider how decisions made on one side can affect believers in Palestine and around our region.”

How to help

As you learn about current events and how they affect both Israeli and Palestinian Christians, let that knowledge inform your intercession.

“Pray for our brothers and sisters who are there, standing strong in the midst of ongoing strife, to communicate hope with their neighbors,” Samuel says.

Pray for peace in the Middle East, so that political decisions won’t distract people from the Gospel.

“We should long for peace that would create space for people to begin to dream about a future with the Lord, and create opportunities for the Gospel to go forth,” Samuel says.

“People are often continuously distracted by the political affairs, which don’t give them space to imagine a relationship with God and what that might be for them.”

Header image depicts the Muslim Brotherhood flag. (Wikimedia Commons/public domain)

New Fast-Tracked Bible Degrees

Abanoub Isaac with NBIC says the school, which follows the Anglican Diocese of Egypt, is growing. They are offering more classes and programs for Sudanese people in Egypt. One program with tremendous growth is a one-year Bible degree that offers coursework on church planting, missions, and understanding people from different backgrounds.

This streamlined Bible training is crucial for Sudanese churches which are exploding with new Christians but lack trained pastors.

(Image courtesy of Tima Miroshnichenko via Pexels)

Isaac says, “They have new believers every day. But they don’t have equipped ministries or pastors. They have to make [people] pastors in church without even reading the Bible one time. So, they don’t have any leadership skills, any biblical knowledge. So just he is good with people, knows the big message of Christ, but he can’t discipleship or make a Bible study, or anything else in the church – just worship.”

The one-year course begins with five months of studying in Egypt. This is followed by two months of practical ministry in Sudan and then a final five months back in Cairo. At the end of this intensive year, students are ready to go back to Sudan for good to lead their churches.

The program has been very successful. The first year they received 50-55 applications and the next year 90 people applied. During the first two-month practical training in Sudan, pastors were leaving their congregations in the hands of the students because they were so prepared.

However, even with the successes and growth of NBIC, they have had significant barriers to overcome.

Meeting Challenges Head-On

Isaac says one issue is that education has been poor in Sudan because of the war. Even identifying good candidates for leadership can be difficult. Many people just don’t have significant prior schooling.

Additionally, the war has continued to foster deep feelings of tribalism. The years of struggle make it difficult to get the church to come together over tribal lines.

“Actually, we faced a lot [the accusation] that we are racist against some tribes,” Isaac states. “Even we don’t know the tribes! We are not putting anything in our applications [about] which tribe you are from. But when we choose people to do something because we see that they have potential, they relate this to the tribe, not the potential of the people. So we faced a lot this accusation that we are racist [against some] tribes.”

NBIC is working to equip leaders from every tribe to combat these accusations in addition to their stated goal of training qualified leaders.

Join in Prayer

Training refugees to minister in war-torn areas is challenging work and Isaac asks for prayer. Unity among the tribes and Church at large is a major prayer request from NBIC.

“We [are] trying to give them lot of perspective. We have teachers from all over the places: Sudanese, Egyptians, some foreigners come. We give them retreats in Coptic places when they have worship nights and the Bible was read with like, six or seven different languages to make them know how important unity is.”

Please also pray for Sudanese Christians who are facing practical problems including racism, the cost of living in Egypt, and families who have been separated.

Header photo courtesy of Tima Miroshnichenko on Pexels.

Three-quarters of all refugees in Egypt come from Sudan, which has tripled the total refugee population in just two years. Bonita, with the Nuba Mountains Bible Institute in Cairo (NBIC), says that most of the refugees they encounter are single mothers with children.

“The husbands didn’t come with them, either to protect our land back in Sudan, or maybe they were killed in the war,” she explains.

Learn more about NBIC here.

Single moms struggle to survive

(Photo courtesy Speak Media Uganda/Pexels)

Legal barriers make it hard for refugee moms to secure gainful employment in Egypt. “[Companies] have to have 10 Egyptian employees for every foreigner that they want to hire, so it’s hard to keep that ratio,” Bonita says.

With hungry mouths to feed, many refugee moms find work wherever they can. “Most of them work under the table and just get cash in hand,” Bonita says.

“They’ll work cleaning somebody’s house or they’ll work cleaning somebody’s business, or making tea for them, or running errands.”

This kind of work often reinforces harmful stereotypes. “There’s a lot of racism in Egypt,” Bonita says.

“In all the old movies, all of the servants in the homes were dark skinned, so anybody dark skinned is looked at as ‘less than’ and lower. Every day, they’re traumatized by racism in the streets.”

To meet these needs, NBIC and its partners offer purpose and the hope of Christ through an intensive, year-long women’s program that meets weekly.

“It focuses on psychological awareness, spiritual and theological training, and leadership training, so it’s quite a broad program and covers different aspects of their lives,” Bonita says.

The women’s program also “equips them to train others and to serve their community,” she adds.

In addition to the women’s program, NBIC offers a three-year refugee assistance program that meets twice a week, as well as an intensive annual program that meets four days a week.

Restoring dignity

NBIC also meets the unique needs of Sudanese women. In 2024, “a lady came from the [U.S.] and did a series of workshops on women’s health [and] that really empowered women to have a little bit more control over their bodies and their health,” Bonita says.

(Photo courtesy nomso obiano/Pexels)

Rape and sexual assault are frequently used weapons of war in Sudan. Last year’s workshops “encouraged the community to support and embrace women, even if they’ve conceived because of rape… instead of the community rejecting them,” Bonita says.

“Women are coming that are pregnant, but not because they want to get pregnant at all.”

The workshops helped Sudanese women realize their unique value in God’s eyes.

“She (the presenter) really integrated the Gospel into that, and how Jesus gave us life through His water and His blood, and women have an opportunity to be like God in also giving life through water and blood,” Bonita says.

“That really gave dignity to the women and helped them to see that, ‘I am made in the image of God, and I get to be like God in a way that men don’t.’”

How to help

Ask the Lord to surround refugee moms with His comfort and peace. “A lot of them have families still in Sudan that are suffering, and they get news of relatives that have been killed and things, so it’s really challenging,” Bonita says.

“Pray for all the (refugee) women who are single moms in Cairo. They have three, four, or five kids, and they’re trying to make a go of it on their own.”

Pray that Sudanese refugee moms can find strength in the Lord. Bonita says, “All of our students have a real heart to serve their community, and yet they have to work really hard just to provide for their family and for their kids.”

Header image is a representative photo depicting Sudanese refugee women and children. (Wikimedia Commons)

Benita with the Nuba Mountains Bible Institute in Cairo (NBIC) says, “Now with the war, there’s huge increase in refugees, 900% in Cairo, and a lot of them are single moms with kids.”

Many husbands stayed behind to defend their land, were killed, or couldn’t escape. These women now face overwhelming needs — especially in education.

Cairo, Egypt (Photo courtesy of Ahmed Ezzat via Unsplash)

“They haven’t had almost any opportunities for education in Sudan beyond maybe basic elementary,” Benita explains.

To help, the ministry offers a one-year program for women, meeting one night a week. It focuses on psychological awareness, spiritual growth, theological training, and leadership development.

The goal, says Benita, is simple: “It equips Sudanese women to train others and to serve their community.”

However, many challenges stem from family struggles. “In Sudan,” explains Benita, “maybe only the man worked and the woman was able to stay home and focus on kids and household responsibilities.”

In Egypt, the situation is reversed. Refugees cannot legally work, so many take informal jobs. Women often find cleaning work more easily — and sometimes earn more than men. This shift disrupts traditional family roles. “That creates tension oftentimes in the marriage,” says Benita.

When husbands eventually reunite with their families after months or years apart, new strains appear. “Then if the husband can come to Egypt eventually, then he’s been estranged for a long time, and that takes a while to sort that out, and he hasn’t been involved really in raising the children.”

Moreover, amid war trauma, family conflict, and uncertainty, children often drift toward gangs or other dangerous lifestyles.

South Sudanese woman (Photo courtesy of Speak Media Uganda via Pexels)

That’s where the ministry steps in again, offering teaching and guidance to families and community leaders.

“We also have one of our staff teach about what’s the difference between what is our tribal practices around marriage and what’s actually the Bible, and help them to pick those apart,” Benita shares.

The ministry also educates women about their health and supports survivors of wartime rape — restoring dignity through God’s truth.

Pray for Sudanese people displaced from their homeland — that they find healing and hope in Christ’s love. Pray for the women to experience dignity, peace, and wisdom in the embrace of their Creator.

Header representative photo of two women (courtesy of Ab Pixels via Pexels).

“Many generations of his family have cast spells and done black magic. He was living in a way in which his entire life was consumed with the pursuit of magic, satanic spells,” says Erik Ouimette with Uncharted Ministries.

An Uncharted team member met Ramon one day and asked him to share a meal. The Christian man could sense “a real darkness, a real hardness” about Ramon, says Ouimette. Their conversation proved it.

(Photo courtesy of Amir Arabshahi/Unsplash)

“Ramon talked voluminously about his spells and his books of dark magic and how that gave him power, how that gave him a sense of meaning and of not being useless in this world — despite the fact he had no relationships with anybody, no job, nothing in his life was going well,” says Ouimette.

“Ramon, it sounds like you’re someone who wants significance and meaning in your life,” the Christian finally replied. “It sounds like you want great purpose, and you know that with great purpose comes power to do things.” 

“Yes, yes I do,” Ramon said. 

The Christian asked if he could tell Ramon about a real person who had been in Egypt before, who had an entire book filled with stories about the miracles He did — stories not of black magic but of light, truth, and beauty.

Ramon listened quietly to the Christian retell the gospel, going all the way through Jesus’s birth — including His time in Egypt as a child — His life, His miracles, and then about His death. He could see that Ramon had not heard about the cross before.

At the end, the Christian asked Ramon if he was drawn to what he had just heard about Jesus. 

“Oh yes, I’m very attracted. This sounds very great,” Ramon said. “This man sounds powerful, but he also sounds kind. This man sounds like he has great purpose for those who follow him, but it seems different than [what] I’m aware of.”

They talked further about what it means to follow Jesus. And just like that, over one simple meal and conversation, Ramon turned from chasing satanic power to accepting the all-powerful God.

“After he accepted Christ, he returned to his home,” says Ouimette. “He brought his big, generations-old books of spells and magic. He brought them out, and he burned them. It was a literal understanding that the figurative past needs to be put to death.”

Living in the light

Ramon is now connected with a small group of believers that Uncharted is working with in his city. There, he will be discipled in his new faith. Praise God, and pray for others in Egypt like Ramon to find Jesus. Pray that Ramon would not be tempted by any renewed desires for personal power.

(Photo by Jonas Ferlin from Pexels)

“The reality of evil means that we need a Savior who is more powerful than the evil one. We find that in Jesus Christ,” says Ouimette. “That will be Ramon’s story, and the story of what we pray will be a generational turn for people in his family.”

In light of this story, Ouimette encourages all Christians to take spiritual realities seriously. However hidden or obvious the evil around us is, don’t excuse it (Ephesians 5:7-16).

“I think we don’t do ourselves any favors when we sanitize the true power of evil. We have to truly call it out for what it is. It is the opposite of the holiness and brightness of light, which means that it’s evil. It’s dark. It’s really bad for us,” says Ouimette. “When we pass it over, we tend to not realize that the power is very real over people who are worshiping the realm of darkness.”

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Ahmed Badawy via Unsplash.