“It has been such a long ride for his family,” says Todd Nettleton with The Voice of the Martyrs, USA. “In those nine years, there was a Human Rights Commission report in Malaysia that blamed the Special Branch of the police. Then Susanna went to court, actually sued the government, and sued some of the police officers.”

Pastor Koh with his family
(Image courtesy of VOM on Facebook.)

There’s been a setback despite the court victory Susanna received last fall. In November, a judge ordered the investigation into Pastor Koh’s disappearance to be reopened and granted a financial settlement to his family. But the government appealed, and last month another judge issued a stay on the November ruling until the appeal is resolved. 

“The stay affects the financial award, but it also affects — and this is the part that Susanna is most disappointed about — that order to continue the investigation and to ‘report back to the judge your progress,’” says Nettleton. “For her, this entire lawsuit has not been about money. It’s been about answers: ‘I want to know what happened to my husband.’” 

Susanna is filing an appeal on the stay. She has told Nettleton that “even deciding the appeal, deciding the stay, could take three to five more years.” 

Pray for endurance for the Koh family. Ask God for the truth to be revealed through the Malaysian court system. 

“The fact that a judge ruled in Susanna’s favor and against the Malaysian government is very, very significant,” says Nettleton. “It will take more judges on the appeal court who have courage, who will stand up for the truth as well.”

Header photo is a stock image courtesy of Donald Tong/Pexels.

Andre Marotto is the national director at TeachBeyond Serbia. He says the subway tragedy ignited a backlog of frustration over increasing government control.

“Being a former socialist [country], the majority of telecommunication institutions, TV channels, have been still kind of controlled by the state,” he said. “The government has worked at length to secure their sphere of influence within major state-owned companies. The level of dissatisfaction, especially among business people, [with] the way the government has been working had been growing for many years.”

February 2025 protest walk in Čačak, Serbia (Photo courtesy of Dejan Krsmanovic via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0)

At first, demonstrations were politically neutral and peaceful. Marotto says that out of almost 200 cities in Serbia, 80 to 90% of the cities have joined those protests.

“We had probably the largest protest in Serbia in March, with about 350,000 people,” Marotto said. Now in August, the number of daily protesters has decreased, “but it’s still sizeable,” he said.

“So many of the kind of good tricks in the ‘school book’ of how governments should handle protests have been tried and used,” Marotto explained. “In the last couple of months, the government has been more active in terms of repressing with some level of brutality, trying to dissuade people from coming to the streets.”

Students continue to protest at a high personal cost. Marotto explained that universities and schools have been on strike since November last year, since most of the protests are led by students. “Thousands of students have missed a whole or at least half of an academic year,” he said.

Since Serbia’s constitution does not allow for religious schools, TeachBeyond Serbia can offer Christ-centered education only through informal projects. These projects might involve English camps or other activities connected to language learning, working alongside local partners.

“We’ve had a few partners that we have been working [with] faithfully. That’s just good to see that God is opening doors for us to serve the local Christian community,” said Marotto. 

In the protests, pray for peaceful political change, but most importantly pray for revival! 

“We are also within a particular context, which is southeastern Europe and eastern Europe. [In] the whole European context, Christianity has been largely on decline in this continent,” Marotto said. 

Learn more about TeachBeyond here. 

Header photo: Belgrade on the eve of the March 15, 2025 protest (Photo courtesy of Emilija Knezevic via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0)

What About Christians in Syria?

“ISIS was certainly no friend to Christians. Tens of thousands of Christians were displaced by ISIS as they moved forward. When they would take over a city or a village, they would typically announce, ‘Christians get out or risk your lives,’” Nettleton says.

Syria (Photo courtesy of Voice of the Martyrs, USA via Facebook)

“As long as ISIS controlled territory, they were a risk; they were a danger to Christians. The reality is that the ideology that drives ISIS is not dead, even though the leader of the group is dead. Christians in the Middle East are still going to face persecution.”

The good news is that ISIS is not controlling as much territory as it did four years ago. The persecution Christians experience from the extremist group has eased. But Christians in Syria still need our prayers.

Neighboring countries continue to fight for control of the nation. Turkey recently rolled into the country and brought Russian forces along with it. The two nations sealed their power in northern Syria earlier this week. It is the same area where U.S. forces withdrew.

International Day of Prayer

This Sunday, the global Church community will unite in prayer for the Persecuted Church. The day, International Day of Prayer (IDOP), is an encouragement to both those who pray and those who are the focus of countless prayers. It is also a chance to use the news to pray specifically for brothers and sisters in Christ. Nettleton says VOM’s hope is for every church and every Christian to get involved this Sunday.

“There are churches who give the whole day to the International Day of Prayer. We’ve even heard from churches that do some kind of an underground church service, or they have a secret knock to get into their Sunday school class on that particular Sunday,” Nettleton says.

Still not sure how to observe the International Day of Prayer? Go out of your way to focus prayers on Christians suffering from persecution. VOM has resources that can help, including a video, bulletins, PowerPoint slides, and specific prayer requests from around the world.

To find more ideas and resources to mark the International Day of Prayer, CLICK HERE.

During the International Day of Prayer, VOM will post a new prayer request every hour on its social media platforms. These specific prayer requests come from Christians connected with VOM. But do not wait until Sunday to start praying; take time to pray today, too.

Next Steps

(Photo courtesy of Voice of the Martyrs, USA via Facebook)

Pray for persecuted Christians to not lose hope. Pray for their encouragement and joy despite their circumstances. Ask God to strengthen them through His Word. And pray for them to withstand persecution.

“Pray for protection and safety. Pray that they’ll have enough to eat today. Pray that their kids will be able to get an education. Those are very practical prayer requests. But those things aren’t necessarily a given right now in northern Syria, as well as in more than 70 other countries where Christians are persecuted for their faith,” Nettleton says.

Get involved with the International Day of Prayer here!

Header photo courtesy of Voice of the Martyrs, USA via Facebook.

Bibles For The World is teaming up with the Luis Palau Association and Africa Enterprise for the upcoming November festival. Each organization has a different part to play in the success of this festival.

This isn’t the first time Bibles For The World has worked with the Luis Palau Association. Their partnership kicked off in 2014 with a festival in Burkina Faso. Since then, they’ve provided Scripture for several of their “various outreaches and festivals that they’ve been having, not only for large public events but coming alongside them as they work in the communities where they’re doing these festivals,” Pudaite says. “[That] includes outreaches to businesses and governments, civic leaders, women’s leaders of the community, as well as prison outreaches, schools, orphanages, things like that, and medical camps and clinics.”

For this event, they’re also partnering with Africa Enterprise, who already has established outreach efforts in Cape Town, South Africa. The Luis Palau Association is sending Andrew Palau, Luis Palau’s son, to speak at the events. Bibles For The World, meanwhile, wants to provide copies of the Gospel of John for every event intender.

Photo courtesy of Unsplash

That’s a tall order given Pudaite’s estimate that 30-50,000 people will attend each of the three Cape Town Events. Bibles For The World is aiming to provide between 100-150,000 copies of the Gospel of John, not to mention “New Testaments for the new believers and decision-makers at all of these events.”

It’s not just about providing Scripture; Bibles For The World wants to make sure festival-goers can read the Gospel message in their own languages. “We’ll be providing scriptures in Xhosa, as well as Afrikaans and also in English,” Pudaite says.

The project is not going to be easy. “Especially due to the extent and scope of this event that we’re partnering with these two great organizations on, we really need prayer support, and we really could use some financial support for this,” Pudaite says.

“This is going to be pretty spread out with a lot of logistics involved, in addition to the Scriptures being provided in three different languages, and so this is one we really are asking for God’s people to come alongside and provide his word to the people of Cape Town, South Africa in this month of November.”

Get involved with Bibles For The World right here.

Header photo courtesy of Unsplash.

The observance started in 1984 as National Adoption Awareness Week, announced by President Ronald Reagan. It was expanded by President Bill Clinton in 1995 to National Adoption Awareness Month for the entirety of November.

(Photo courtesy of Life Matters Worldwide via Facebook)

The concept of adoption seems like something everybody would naturally be on-board with and support as a positive thing, right? If so, why do we need to raise awareness?

To get some insight, we spoke with Life Matters Worldwide’s Tom Lothamer.

“There’s a lot of wrong thinking out there about adoption, the fears of it, and even the cost of it is amazing,” says Lothamer. “So there are a lot of things out there that inhibit people or keep them from even considering it.”

For those who could enter the adoptive process, a lot of fears and struggles come into play. The birth mother or father who would rather abort than go through the emotional strain of carrying a baby to full-term and giving the child to another family. The couple who are unable to get pregnant and worry about the financial burden of the adoption process. The teen who is terrified of what her peers, her family, and her church will think if her young pregnancy is discovered.

Lothamer says the words and terms we use when we talk about adoption are very important. Even using phrases with positive or negative connotations impacts how adoption is viewed by others.

“Many times, we hear that so-and-so, let’s call her Mary, ‘gave up’ her child for adoption. We would rather say that Mary ‘released’ her child for adoption, because it connotes the idea of love and sacrifice and selflessness, thinking of the well-being of the child.”

As Christians, we need to actively champion the love found in adoption, especially since God calls us His adopted sons and daughters too.

“That’s what happens in the Gospel. I was not of the tribe of Israel, but God chose me by His divine purpose. I didn’t necessarily go out and look for God, but He chose me. He made me aware of my needs, so I became adopted. I remember what it says in the book of Ephesians, the first chapter it says, ‘He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace….’” (Ephesians 1:5-6a, ESV)

Lothamer says, “That’s what it’s all about. The Gospel is about Him choosing us and adopting us into His family. And adoption in the sense with us is about a couple choosing that child and saying, ‘I want you to come into our home. We want to take care of you.’ So really, it connotes the idea of sacrifice, it’s a gift, it’s love.”

For National Adoption Awareness Month, your church can have a major role to play in championing adoption and encouraging those engaged in adoption.

“From the pulpits and in our churches, we can help people understand this is a very positive decision…. We’ve got to create an atmosphere where we raise the level of positiveness of adoption, and then, when a couple is considering it, be supportive of them.”

Lothamer gives a few practical examples: “As we think of this special month where we’re recognizing adoption, for people who have adopted children, try to be positive with them. Try to reach out and say, ‘How can we help you?’ Make their life a little bit easier, because sometimes if they have an adopted child or two or three, it’s nice to have people come alongside them.

“I have seen where people have helped them out financially, because it is a very expensive proposition to adopt a child. They can also provide resources for them if they’re thinking about adoption: clothing, encouragement, those kinds of things.”

Want to learn more about adoption and how you can get involved? Life Matters Worldwide has resources and ways to get you connected!

“We work very closely with adoption agencies such as Bethany Christian Services which is right here in Grand Rapids, Michigan and they have tremendous resources. We can guide you to that, we can guide you to other resources…. We can even get [you] in contact with people, not just through email, but actually talking to people about this and what’s involved, [both] on the mother’s side of considering releasing for adoption, and the other side for parents who are going to adopt. Many of our pregnancy care centers really are adept at this too. They know how to guide women coming in for their services in really dealing with this issue of adoption, as opposed to just getting an abortion. It’s a real positive choice for a young lady to consider.”

And, most importantly, pray fervently for those considering adoption this season or already in the process.

Pray for birth parents to feel Christ drawing close to them in this journey, and that others would come around them in support for their loving choice of life and adoption.

Pray for adoptive parents to be given financial, spiritual, and emotional encouragement as they go through the often arduous process of bringing their child home.

Pray for children and youth still in foster care, that they would know God adores them and already calls them “son” and “daughter”, and that they would find forever families here on earth as well.

Lothamer reflects, “There’s much we can do within the Church to say, ‘We’re with you. We want to support you, and we’re going to do that in various ways from prayer to actually providing resources, sometimes money and just helping out. We think this is a very noble, good thing you’re doing.’ And again, it is like mirroring what the Gospel is all about.”

Click here to connect with Life Matters Worldwide on Facebook!

(Bethany Christian Services photo via Facebook)

USA (MNN) — November is National Adoption Month, and Bethany Christian Services is taking time to celebrate families who’ve chosen to grow bigger. One such family is Paul and his wife, Judi, who through prayer were eventually led to adopt two of their sons, both with special needs.

Long before the adoptions occurred, the couple had always been drawn to the possibility.

“We began considering adoption even before our biological children were born,” said the couple.

After seeing close friends adopt and asking tons of questions, they found themselves in the application process. After that, the waiting game began.

(Bethany Christian Services photo via Facebook.

Then one day they received a call from their Bethany caseworker about a possible good match. Once the couple saw his picture and file, they had no doubt this boy was to be their son. In August of 2012, they were able to officially bring him home.

Just a month later, they were back at it, working on a second adoption. Now, as their family of 8 matures, their children are asking when they can adopt again.

“We have been blessed to see the way all our children have embraced adoption,” said the couple.

But adoption hasn’t just been about the children: it’s also been centered on God.

For the family, adoption has shown them so much about God’s grace and love. More so, it’s shown them how all of us are the adoptive children of God.

To learn more about adoption, click here.

To fill out a contact form for Bethany Christian, click here.

(Photo by Bibles for China)

China (MNN) – Bibles seem to be extremely abundant, yet receiving one could mean the world to someone in a distant village in China.

Bibles for China is preparing for their next Bible distribution this November. A group of seven will be split into two teams and will verify the delivery of 16,000 Bibles to believers in rural China.

There are over 1.5 billion people in China and 100 million believers. The only access the people have to the Bible is a few pages that they have copied down by hand, verses committed to memory, or worn-down Bibles that are shared throughout the village.

BFC reports that people living in rural China have very limited income that hardly covers their basic needs. Most people live on as little as $500 a year. Villages are so remote that traveling outside of their community is difficult and rare; receiving a Bible of their own would be like receiving an exotic and precious gift.

A former Bible distribution member wrote, “Even if the means of transportation were available, it would not be affordable. What Satan had intended to use as shackles, however, God used for inspiration. He used for hope. I witnessed a faith so strong, a hope so deep, so inspiring, that it sent shock waves through me, changing my expectations, realigning my priorities. and redefining my relationships.”

The group of seven will be leaving for China in less than a month, and they ask for prayer that all the Bibles will be distributed without interference.

Another group will be journeying to China the spring of 2015. Over the next two months, Bibles for China will be collecting donations for Bibles. One Bible costs just $5. Click here to help.

(Photo courtesy Bibles For China)

China (MNN) — There’s horrible persecution of Christians in China. There’s no persecution of Christians in China. There are lots of Bibles available. Christians in China don’t have their own Bibles because they’re hard to get.

These statement are both true and not true. China is a massive country, and what might be true in one part of the country may not be true in another part. There’s also the question of access versus availability.

Because of the work of Amity Printing Press in Nanjing, Bibles are available in China…but not everyone knows where to get one. That’s especially true in the rural, less-developed parts of the country.

Many people living in rural China already know the love of God, but for most families, their hard-earned income barely covers basic needs. Their Bible reading is restricted to pages they have copied, passages they have memorized, or tattered Bibles shared among the village.

Enter: Bibles for China. Their mission is to provide God’s Word, free of charge, to Christians living in remote, economically-depressed areas of rural mainland China. The ministry works with the above-ground established Church in order to get the job done. Bob Drew, Chief Advancement Officer for Bibles For China, explains, “The purpose for sending teams over to China is to validate and distribute the Bibles that are purchased” and to make sure “that they’re the actual Word of God and that they actually make it into the hands of the poor Chinese rural Christians in the countryside of China.”

(Photo courtesy Bibles For China)

Further, Bibles for China raises money in developed countries to buy complete Bibles written in Mandarin Chinese. At a cost of $5.00 each, Bibles for China purchases and distributes these Bibles to rural Chinese Christians at no cost to them. However, the drawback, Drew says, is “we are just one organization; it’s difficult for us to provide for the 1.25 billion people that are in China. But what we try to do when we distribute Bibles is to share that information with our in-country partners that Bibles will be distributed to them through other organizations, and just hopefully provide that opportunity and share their stories.”

Drew says it’s the heart stories that build global bridges. On his last trip, the team was in a mountainside village and were all set to help a smallish local church provide 200 Bibles to the community. At the last second, the translator told them that word had gotten out, and 500 people showed up for a Bible.

Drew explains that as the pastor announced that more people had shown up than planned, and that not everyone would receive a Bible, the room became silent. Faces went from elated to burdened. Then the crippling silence was broken by one older woman. “The senior Christians–the older Christians, some of them have been waiting 40+ years for a Bible–chose to give their Bibles to the new believers so that every new believer in that room got a Bible. The senior Christians chose to just wait for an opportunity that may or may not come. But it really was a beautiful vision of their faith and their trust in God for His provision, and the love they had for their fellow Christians.”

Remember the part about how vast China is? That’s why Bibles For China never goes to the same place twice. “Because the church is growing so fast in China, we would be stretched to even try to get back to the same place twice because there are so many other people that don’t even have the Word of God in their area.”

The door is open to give rural Chinese Christians the spiritual resources they need and pray for–the resources they need to deepen their relationship with Jesus Christ and bring new people into the family of God. Drew says that’s why they work with the local established church. “We try to also make connections while we’re over there to encourage the leaders, to track the need, and even work with some of our in-country partners to share that with them.”

(Photo courtesy Bibles For China)

How effective is this approach? One of their partners conducted an informal survey one year after a Bible distribution. The initial findings showed that many of the Bibles had been read cover to cover in six weeks, most Bibles were shared with five others (both friends and family), and three of those five committed their life to Christ after reading the Bible. That’s why Bibles For China encourages the prayer partners, the support partners, and the partners who will tell the stories. “We have 2-3 teams a year that go out and distribute these Bibles throughout the entire season. Folks can come with us, they can apply right on our Web page. They can learn more about the mission itself, learn about how we do it, how we go about do it and then they can partner with us in the ministry field to distribute these Bibles to China.” (Teams are forming now for the November trip. Click here for links.)

Pastor Bakhytzhan Kashkumbayev is one of the persecuted believers in Central Asia who needs your prayers. (Image courtesy Russian Ministries.)

“There’s a date on November third, and then there’s an optional alternate date of November tenth,” he states.

According to IDOP.org, All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day (November 1 and 2, respectively) were set apart in the traditional Church calendar to remember the saints of the Church and souls of those who went before us.

The modern-day global Church sets two dates aside during the month of November to remember and pray for the Persecuted Church. This year, those dates fall on Nov. 3 and Nov. 10.

However, “we would urge ongoing prayer, 365 days a [year] for our persecuted brothers and sisters,” Griffith notes.

SGA serves Bible-preaching churches in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States by helping national pastors and churches reach their own people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

“There definitely has been an uptick in the level and intensity of persecution in these countries,” says Griffith.

“The worst persecution believers get would be in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, but it certainly has been stepping up in Kazakhstan.”

Persecution Personified

Earlier this year, Pastor Bakhytzhan Kashkumbayev was imprisoned as part of a nationwide crack-down. He’s been arrested on trumped-up charges, denied medical attention, and imprisoned in a psychiatric asylum.

Now, according to International Christian Concern (ICC), Kazakh officials are harassing members of Kashkumbaev’s Grace Protestant Church.

“You are worse than spies. You bring Kazakhs to Christ,” an officer reportedly told one of ICC’s sources.

In Eastern Kazakhstan, Baptist Pastor Pavel Leonov is facing up to a year’s imprisonment for refusing to pay a fine equal to two months’ income, according to Forum 18 News. Leonov is a Council of Churches Baptist; a group which refuses to register their fellowships with the government.

SGA works with churches of the Union of Evangelical Christians Baptist (UECB), a group registered with Kazakhstan’s government. But, that doesn’t mean they don’t run into problems, Griffith notes.

“They try to comply with registration laws,” he says. “They try to follow the law as closely as they can, and they still end up getting persecuted anyway.”

The Silver Lining

Though persecution is on the rise, it isn’t stopping believers in Central Asia from sharing their faith.

“The churches remember what life was like under Communism,” Griffith states.

“They know what it is to live and serve under persecution, and they’re certainly not going to stop proclaiming the Gospel because this seems to be stepping up again.”

Keep praying for persecuted Christians around the world. Pray specifically for believers in Central Asia.

“Pray for these pastors who are encountering difficulty right now,” adds Griffith.

You could also ‘Share’ this story on Facebook to get more people praying for the Persecuted Church. Just look for the Share bar at the top of this article.

“For some reason, it just doesn’t seem to grab the attention of the news media, and it needs to,” says Griffith. “I mean, these are people that are actually being killed for their faith.”

63 out of every 1000 children will die by age 5. One way to lower this number is through village health clinics. (Image courtesy Gospel for Asia)

“If…God’s called you to these unreached people groups, this is a very rare opportunity to go and use your skills and expertise,” states Fiedler.

In November, India Partners is taking a group of medical and health professionals to help remote tribes in an area known for persecuting believers.

Foreigners traveling in and around the region will be safe, but revealing details ahead of the trip could put their indigenous ministry partners in danger. To protect them, India Partners isn’t disclosing names or a specific location.

“This trip is really special because it’s not often that we get permission to go in this remote area of India,” Fiedler explains.

The communities they’ll be serving have very little contact with modern society or the outside world. As a result, there’s no modern medicine and health needs are tremendous.

“This is truly the unreached,” she says. “We’re going to go in and help share the Gospel is by meeting specific medical and health needs.

India Partners’ health programs provide services that remote villagers would have if they had access to a hospital.

“Those programs take very basic medical concepts and train people on how to take care of themselves physically, and it also interweaves the Bible,” explains Fiedler.

“When you’re imparting information about healthy bodies, you’re also teaching them about how to have a healthy spirit through the Word of God.”

For November’s trip, doctors, nurses and dentists are needed to provide professional care. But, Fiedler says people who can teach health are needed too.

They’re looking for “somebody that has the experience to go and teach and train people about taking care of themselves, and introducing the concepts of health, sanitation [and] hygiene into their communities.”

Interested? Sign up here.

“If you can come with a heart of Jesus, and serve people with your medical training, that is going to reach and touch people’s lives in ways that others can’t do,” says Fiedler.

“The way that God’s gifted you, with your hands and with your mind to bring physical healing to people, is going to bring a touch of God. Your time will not be wasted.”

In fact, you may get more than you bargained for. Fiedler says many volunteers return from India ‘abundantly filled.’

“That person that went and volunteered, they’re the ones who get radically transformed,” she explains.

“They get to see God move in a new way in their lives, and they’re seeing the work of God in these remote places.”

Some volunteers have been told they’re an answer to prayer — literally. Fiedler says in the past, remote villagers have recognized the faces of team members, people they’ve never met before. How? They appeared in a dream of vision the villager had prior to the team’s arrival.

“You just never know when you may be the fulfillment of somebody’s dream,” Fiedler shares. “Or, the fulfillment of a vision…that will bring peace, that will bring Jesus, and may bring salvation to that person.”

Pray God would bring the right people together for this trip.

“God does command us to ‘go’, whether it’s here in our own backyards or whether it’s abroad,” says Fiedler. “But if you feel God calling you…respond! Don’t be afraid.

“Step out, get out on that ledge, and you’ll find that He’s right there, ready to carry you through.”