If enacted, it could make life even harder for the state’s small Christian community.

The Gateway Of India in Mumbai, Maharashtra. (Photo courtesy of Sarang Pande/Unsplash)

Raina Miller with Mission India says, “What is interesting about Maharashtra specifically is that it’s less than 1% Christian in this state. So it’s really devastating to see that they would have anti-conversion laws in place that would make it even more difficult to spread the Gospel when we’re already starting with such a small population of believers.”

The Maharashtra Freedom of Religion Bill 2026 includes the requirement that anyone seeking to change their religion must give 60 days’ notice and obtain government approval.

For Christians, it’s another tool that could be used to silence believers and pressure those interested in learning about Jesus.

Miller says, “When there’s anti-conversion laws in place, it means that there’s that much more fear and intimidation being put towards our programs.

“So there’s a greater risk in that the people leading the programs have a greater chance of getting in trouble. There might be more of a legal risk of, ‘If I spread the Gospel in an anti-conversion state, I could be fined or imprisoned.’”

Amid the challenges, Mission India continues to see God at work.

“Every time that persecution increases, somehow we see the spread of the Gospel speeding up too. It says in Genesis, ‘What was intended for evil, God used for good.’ We refer back to that often in terms of persecution.”

(Photo courtesy of Mission India)

Miller shares, “Our partners in India have told us that their prayer is not for persecution to stop, but for God to give them the strength to keep spreading the Gospel.”

Pray that believers in Maharashtra would remain faithful and courageous as they share the hope of Jesus Christ. Ask God to strengthen His Church and open doors for the Gospel, even if the new law takes effect.

You can support Mission India’s critical Gospel work in Maharashtra and throughout India at missionindia.org.

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The opportunity began when Egby Medical Mission, a hospital in Nigeria, asked MAF to partner with their work in the country.

(Photo courtesy of MAF)

Andrew Sutton, MAF’s Nigeria Country Director, says, “There’s a lot in the news about Nigeria – the persecution that occurs there, some of the extreme terrorism that they’ve been dealing with for the last 20 years – and we’ve seen how MAF can come alongside groups that are working there in Nigeria to help overcome these obstacles, whether that’s challenges on the road or insecurity that they’re facing.

“The airplane is just a great tool to kind of help the ministry that’s already happening on the ground in Nigeria.”

The ministry plans to launch operations from Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city. Long-term, MAF hopes to connect remote communities through smaller airstrips closer to hospitals, schools, and ministry partners.

Andrew Sutton, left, MAF’s new Nigeria Country Director, and unidentified person from Egbe hospital, check out the airstrip being rebuilt for the hospital and MAF. (Photo courtesy of MAF)

Sutton explains those flights would meet a wide range of needs.

“Some of the requests that we’ve heard so far, it seems like the majority of those are transporting people around the country, and that could be people that need to just travel from one village to another. Sometimes those are medical flights…. also flying supplies, whether that’s for a school or a hospital.”

MAF has already cleared many administrative hurdles, but several key steps remain before flights can begin.

They hope to begin operating in Nigeria by early 2027, flying aid and ministry support in Jesus’ name. One major answer to prayer has already arrived: a donated 2025 Cessna Caravan valued at roughly $3.6 million.

“Even though some days it might feel like there’s a lot of steps left with all the regulatory process, seeing how the Lord has provided for the aircraft is a great encouragement.”

However, prayer is still needed as MAF works through the final approvals.

(Photo courtesy of MAF)

Sutton asks, “Pray through this process as we’re working through the civil aviation approval process to have visas for the country. The visas are probably the number one need at the moment, so that we can be there in the country and to help set up and to get ready for the aircraft coming over.

“Then ultimately [pray] for the airplane…. This is a big country, and it’s only one aircraft. But the Lord can work through this and to use this tool to reach inside the country.”

Find ways to support MAF’s critical Gospel aviation work here.

Header photo: Stock photo courtesy of MAF Guinea.

But across Eastern Europe and Central Asia, summer camps can also mean something much bigger – a first encounter with the Gospel.

As Slavic Gospel Association’s Summer Bible Camps launch across 13 countries, thousands of children will spend time with local churches in day-camp style programs designed to share the hope of Christ.

(Photo courtesy of Valentin Lupashko/Slavic Gospel Association)

Eric Mock with SGA explains, “These camps are singular opportunities. Kids that have either grown up in impoverished homes, embattled homes, [or] troubled homes – who really never get an opportunity to know a day of peace – have an opportunity to go to these camps.”

The camps may look different from country to country, but the mission remains the same.

“You can imagine a camp in Tajikistan on the border of Afghanistan is going to look very different than a camp in the war zone, very different than a camp in Poland, or very different from a camp in Russia, especially far east Russia,” says Mock.

“What SGA does is not really put shackles on any way that they conduct the camp other than the centrality of the Gospel. So each adapts to their cultural setting, their economic conditions, the relationships they’ve developed with the community, [and] the languages that are relevant.”

Mock says the ministry often reaches beyond the children who attend. “Suspicious parents – wondering what these churches are actually talking about – come along, and every year, parents are coming to faith as they hear the life-saving and life-changing message of the Gospel.”

Kids at SGA’s summer camp. (Photo courtesy of SGA)

That local church connection doesn’t end when camp is over.

“It is run by the local church, and this is vital as we continue to see these children and their families impacted by the Gospel [through] relationships built for discipleship and investment [by] these churches.”

You can support this outreach with eternal impact! Click here to give to SGA, and designate your gift to their Camp Ministry fund.

Also, Mock asks believers, “Pray that, first of all, SGA is able to help the churches reach more than 88,000 children this year. That’s a huge number across 13 countries!

“Secondly, pray that in these camps, children and the parents…come to faith. Pray that these camps continue to be powerful tools in God’s hands. And then of course pray for our continued ministry as we serve the churches in these countries.”

Header photo courtesy of SGA.

For many Lebanese families, the result is confusion, uncertainty, and more displacement.

Nuna with Triumphant Mercy Lebanon explains, “Hezbollah is just saying, ‘We’re not stopping, we’re not stopping,’ and Israel is saying, ‘Okay, you don’t want to stop? Then we’re going to bomb, and we’re going to even target places that have not been targeted before.’ So they’re adding troops into Lebanon, the invasion is going deeper into Lebanon, and more lands, and more people.”

(Photo courtesy of TM Lebanon)

Meanwhile, humanitarian needs continue to grow. “We had maybe 200,000-300,000 people who [were] newly displaced just yesterday,” Nuna says.

“More people are being displaced, more people are homeless, more people are on the streets, more people don’t know where to go, and it’s very difficult to even understand when will this end?”

TM Lebanon is assisting displaced families. However, “At the end of the day, we are very limited,” Nuna says.

“Somebody called me with 55 families arriving yesterday…. This [is] a Christian village that had to move. They stayed as much as they could in the south to protect their village, to protect their homes. But at the end of the day, they had to move out.”

Even so, she says one of the ministry’s greatest tools is spiritual encouragement.

“Our main help is encouragement [and] prayer. We pray a lot for those people and that God will find a solution, that God will hasten the time.”

(Photo courtesy of TM Lebanon)

As conflict drags on, Nuna asks believers around the world to pray for more than a political solution.

“Pray that the Lord quickens the time, and that things will calm down quickly, and that He will prevail over all rulers and authorities and powers and governments and everything else.”

Please pray for displaced families across Lebanon, for Christ’s peace in the region, and for opportunities for Christians to demonstrate the hope of Jesus amid uncertainty. You can also support ministries serving vulnerable communities through TM Lebanon at tm-lebanon.com.

Header photo courtesy of Triumphant Mercy Lebanon.

DeHart says many Haitians they serve are exhausted by the struggle for daily needs.

“Sometimes they don’t want to hear the gospel. So we show them love. We show them what the gospel is,” she says. “Then they will listen when we tell them about Jesus, when we tell them about the gospel.”

Food distributions
(Photo courtesy of For Haiti With Love)

The ministry provides food, clothing, shelter, medical care for burn victims, and more. That work can only be done with God’s help, given the chaos in Haiti today. The nation has lacked a stable central government since the assassination of its president nearly five years ago in July 2021.

“A lot of people are leaving the cities where the gangs are, for safety. Nothing they can do about it,” says DeHart. 

In the northern city of Cap-Haitien, the infrastructure can’t handle the influx of people fleeing gang violence. 

“Kids on the streets, families on the streets — and trash has doubled. There is so much trash in Cap-Haitien now,” DeHart says. 

Haiti’s reality continues to be sobering, but God’s promises remain.

“We need people to pray for Haiti,” says DeHart. “Without God’s help, Haiti cannot change at all.” 

In this hard season, For Haiti With Love continues to see glimpses of God’s work. DeHart says former patients from the burn clinic have returned to say they are now attending church. “All because of showing them God’s love,” she says. Another story that encouraged DeHart was when one of the ministry’s security guards shared that he had become a Christian.

Survivors from a boat explosion receive treatment at For Haiti’s burn clinic. (Photo courtesy of For Haiti With Love)

“It’s all because of contributors helping us to do what God is sending us to do in Haiti,” DeHart says.

Remember the people of Haiti in prayer. Ask God how He may want you to take part in His work there. 

“Haiti is a beautiful place, and its people are even more beautiful,” says DeHart. “They’re being forgotten. But they’re God’s children too, and they need help.”

Header photo courtesy For Haiti With Love.

Pastor Kostia Tsivin with Beit Hallel Congregation says several new arrivals today are immigrating to escape rising antisemitism in the West. When they get to Israel, many come with very little.

(Photo courtesy of Beit Hallel Congregation)

“Of course, it’s a very difficult period of time because a lot of people left everything – houses, businesses, families,” says Tsivin.

“They need to begin from the very beginning, from zero…. It’s a different culture, it’s a different country, everything is different.”

Messianic believers at Beit Hallel Congregation are serving immigrants with food, clothing, and even bomb shelter supplies like mattresses and pillows.

Tsivin says, “We help to organize and manage bomb shelters so that they will be more ‘cozy’ – if we can use such a word for a bomb shelter – because sometimes we have three or four sirens during the night. Of course, you just sleep in the bomb shelter because you can’t go back and forth from your apartment to the bomb shelter. You just sleep there. So you need a lot of stuff there.”

Relief supplies distributed by Beit Hallel Congregation. (Photo courtesy of Beit Hallel Congregation)

Although immigrants in Israel face many new challenges, Tsivin says they’re also hearing Gospel hope.

“We have a lot of people, mothers with kids, and it’s difficult for them to go to a shop because you never know when the siren will be and where you will hide…. So we try to help and provide them with food and help with this,” he says.

“We just do whatever we can do right now…and of course, we encourage people. We pray for them. We encourage them with the Word of God.”

You can support Gospel ministry with Beit Hallel Congregation at beithallel-israel.org.

Header photo courtesy of Beit Hallel Congregation.

Mali Prime Minister Abdoulaye Maiga is encouraging citizens “not to give in to panic.”

The attackers were al-Qaeda-linked Islamists and Tuareg separatists – two distinct groups united in their goal to destabilize the government.

Flag of Mali (Stock photo courtesy of Aboodi Vesakaran via Pexels)

Todd Nettleton with The Voice of the Martyrs USA (VOM) says, “That’s what we saw over the weekend was coordinated attacks between these two groups in four different parts of Mali all at the same time, including an assassination of the defense minister. So a very significant, very coordinated effort that really shows the level of cooperation between these two groups has grown significantly.”

Mali is roughly 95% Muslim, and extremist factions there want to set up an Islamic caliphate.

Meanwhile, Tuareg separatists have a different objective.

“The Tuareg is a nomadic tribal group, [and] there are many Tuareg in the country of Mali,” Nettleton explains. “They want a separate area. They want a…Tuareg nation, so they are fighting to carve out part of Mali to be independent.”

Though their end goals differ, the two groups have joined forces – proof that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Together, they are driving a wave of chaos and fear across Mali.

Although Mali’s national military is responding, civilians and minorities will likely be caught in the crosshairs.

Pray for Mali. (Photo courtesy of VOM USA)

According to the 2026 World Watch List, Mali ranks 15th among the worst countries for Christian persecution. Primary persecution threats come from Islamic oppression, organized corruption, and crime.

“Christians are only 3% of the population in Mali, so they are a small minority. They face pressure. Often, the first line of persecution is your own family members if you are a follower of Christ, if you leave Islam to follow Jesus,” says Nettleton.

“So [be] praying for them to stand strong in faith, praying for God’s protection over them. I think we also want to pray for some stability in Mali not only because it’s affecting Christians in Mali. It’s affecting Christians in Burkina Faso and Niger as well. [Pray] for some pathway to a stable government and a stable nation that would certainly be a blessing to Christians there, as well as to Muslims who would like to live in safety as well.”

Find more ways to support Christians in Mali at persecution.com.

Header image by Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay.

Roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz, making it one of the most critical chokepoints for global energy. Even the threat of disruption can send ripple effects worldwide — including ministry operations.

Strait of Hormuz (By MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC – Image by Goddard Space Flight Center of the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under Photo ID: 2018-12-10., Public Domain)

Stan Unruh, Vice President of Aviation for Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF), says, “MAF’s vision is to reach isolated people. So it makes sense, of course, that our aircraft and crews are positioned in remote regions…to reach isolated people. That means that, by default, we’re exposed to fragile supply lines for our fuel products.”

Those vulnerabilities are now being tested. For example, Unruh explains, “Africa gets 80% of their crude and refined products through the Strait of Hormuz, so we’re quite concerned about the potential supply disruptions because of the conflict there.”

While fuel supply isn’t suffering yet, the price tag for jet fuel is already up and MAF is feeling it.

In East Congo, MAF has a team based in Bunia where they use aircraft to support humanitarian and missionary efforts.

(Photo courtesy of MAF Guinea)

Unruh says, “At the end of the day, supply disruptions and cost increases have an impact on Gospel ministries that we’re supporting. So it’ll have a direct impact on [Bible] translation work, on famine relief work, some conflict mitigation that our teams are involved with there in East Africa, and medical work.”

Despite the uncertainty, Unruh encourages believers to remain prayerful.

“My prayer would be that the effects of this crisis in the Middle East…is mitigated, and that we come to a peaceful conclusion soon,” Unruh asks. “But also, [pray] that the long-term effects of that are mitigated for the people that we serve.”

Pray for MAF’s Gospel work to continue without interruption, and for stability in a region whose impact reaches far beyond its borders.

Learn more about MAF’s ministry work and ways to come alongside at maf.org.

Header photo courtesy of MAF.

Todd Nettleton with The Voice of the Martyrs USA (VOM) says, “People came in on bikes and motorcycles, opened fire. The initial reports were at least 30 people killed. I think that number is going to rise as some were badly injured.”

This coordinated attack targeted believers, as the affected community in northern Jos is almost entirely Christian.

“The gunmen were yelling, ‘Allahu akbar,’ or ‘Allah is great,’ as they were conducting this attack,” Nettleton says. “So there clearly was an Islamist ideology that was driving this – and the fact that it was on Palm Sunday, I don’t think that is insignificant in this story as well.”

(Photo courtesy Voice of the Martyrs USA)

Northern Nigeria remains a hotspot for Christian persecution. That reality makes it difficult for believers to discern between empty threats and imminent danger.

Nettleton says, “Our Nigerian contact said there had been threats in Jos. Even in the last two or three weeks, there had been threats made against Christians, against churches…. The threat level is always elevated. So [it means] differentiating between, ‘Is this sort of a regular threat? Or is this really serious? Do we need to pay extra attention to this?'”

Boko Haram and Fulani militants frequently carry out attacks on Christians in Nigeria’s Muslim-majority north. While neither group has officially claimed the attack in Jos, Christian holidays often become opportunities for Islamist violence.

“One of the things that we…at The Voice of the Martyrs try to do is bang the drum for us to remember Christians are at extra risk on these holy days – on Christmas, on Easter. During times when there are a lot of Christians gathering, the gatherings are obviously known. They’re very public, and so the risk is greater in these holidays.”

(Photo courtesy of VOM USA)

With Easter quickly approaching, the Church in Nigeria needs your prayers.

Nettleton urges, “Think about brothers and sisters who are worshiping and celebrating the same resurrection we are, but they’re doing it in a place where they are in danger, where the threat is very real to them – to pray for them, to remember them as Hebrews 13:3 tells us to do. I think, honestly, that adds a depth to our celebration of the resurrection.”

Header photo courtesy of VOM USA.

Lana Silk of Transform Iran describes the reality facing children in the country, including those caught up in the protests.

“The children are caught up in it. Children as young as 10, 11, and 12 have been part of the protests [and] have been arrested and killed. I’ve heard reports of girls as young as 12 being raped in custody. The government is indiscriminate.”

(Photo courtesy of Transform Iran)

Silk says children in Iran are dealing with multi-layered trauma, and need Jesus more than ever.

“Children are…very aware that they have no future in this country and have grown up sooner than you would normally want your 10-, 11-, 12-year-old to grow up and are aware that this is a necessary fight to secure their own future.”

Transform Iran is discipling believers in the Iranian underground Church. Christian children in Iran have been forced to live double lives under the oppressive Islamist regime.

“They have to profess Islam at school, recite the Quran, hide their faith, and then come home and have a Christian life,” Silk explains. “So that is very, very taxing for children when they’ve got to constantly remember who they can say what to, and try to muddle through and remember what’s true and what’s right.”

As you continue to pray for Iran, Silk asks believers to remember the youngest generation.

“I want us to remember the children and to be praying specifically for them…. This is the future of Iran. [Pray] that there will be stability in the future of Iran.

“Jesus does appear to people in dreams and visions in Iran! Let that be the children – that these children have encounters that they can talk about when they’re older and say, ‘Oh my goodness. While it was all happening, I remember that man in white that came to me in my dreams,’ and for that generation to be redeemed.”

Learn more about Transform Iran’s ministry at transformiran.com.

Header photo courtesy of Transform Iran.