Nehemiah with FMI says Pakistan’s disturbing terrorism trends are only getting worse.

(Photo courtesy of FMI)

“This is one terrorist activity recently, but we see in the last five months in 2026, Pakistan is highly impacted by terrorist activities – not only in the border areas in Afghanistan or with Iran, but in the capital of Pakistan as well, Islamabad.”

According to the 2026 Global Terrorism Index, Pakistan surpassed Burkina Faso to take first place for worst terrorism impact.

“For many ordinary Pakistanis, especially believers and minority communities, this growing instability creates fear, uncertainty, and isolation. Ministry work becomes increasingly difficult in these conditions. Local Christian workers often travel carefully, avoid public gatherings, and minister quietly through trusted relationships.”

Despite the dangers in Pakistan, the Lord is moving and FMI is seeing people come to Jesus.

“Much of the ministry now focuses on strengthening indigenous believers who already live within these communities,” says Nehemiah. “Instead of relying on large public events, ministry outreach often happens through personal discipleship, small house fellowship, audio Bibles, storytelling devices, and humanitarian care.”

Baptism in Pakistan. (Photo courtesy of FMI)

Nehemiah asks, “Please pray for protection over indigenous ministry leaders serving in dangerous areas. Pray for wisdom as they navigate increasing security and political instability. Pray that those trapped in fear and violence would encounter the peace of Christ.

“Finally, please pray for FMI partners, that Pakistani partners would remain steadfast, compassionate, and bold even during this rising wave of terrorism in Pakistan.”

Header photo of Pakistan flag. (Photo courtesy of Abuzar Xheikh/Unsplash)

Kabul, Afghanistan (Photo courtesy of Mohammad Husaini via Unsplash)

The roots of the conflict between the two nations stretch back decades. Pakistan accuses its neighbor of harboring the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a terrorist group that wreaks havoc in Pakistan. But Afghanistan’s Taliban government denies this. 

Yet Pakistan’s concern about terrorism is solidly grounded. In 2025, Pakistan had the highest number of deaths in the world due to terrorism (1,139). See the 2026 briefing from the Institute for Economics & Peace here.

“This is a very complex situation and conflict between Afghanistan and Pakistan, because both sides have very serious concerns,” says Nehemiah with FMI. “Both parties are blaming each other for certain terrorism activities and being more liberal towards the Quran and Islam.” 

Ordinary people have paid the price for the dispute, especially in Afghanistan. The United Nations reports that since February 26, 2026 when Pakistan led airstrikes on TTP camps, the conflict has killed at least 289 civilians in Afghanistan. Last week, a Pakistani strike on a drug rehabilitation center in Kabul, Afghanistan, likely killed and injured hundreds of people. Investigations into that attack are still underway as of this writing. 

“The facility served some of the most vulnerable individuals in society,” says Nehemiah. “Its destruction highlights the severe humanitarian cost of this conflict.” 

Ministry continues under pressure

For gospel workers in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, Nehemiah says security risks have increased, but so too has the spiritual openness of those they serve.

Pakistan (Photo courtesy of FMI)

“Many are more willing than ever to listen, ask questions, and seek truth beyond what they have known,” Nehemiah says. “This is such a defining moment for the ministry, especially in Afghanistan, because recently we have done a distribution of Pashto and Dari audio Bibles in Afghanistan.”

He says FMI hears incredible stories of people coming to faith. 

“These people [have been] in a war situation for over four decades,” he says. “They want to have a peace and hope in their life. This is the best time to tell them that Jesus is the Prince of Peace, and they can find hope only in one person, and His name is Isa al-Masih, Jesus Christ.”

Still, Nehemiah says FMI’s partners are “sitting on gunpowder.”

“I am grateful for our partners who work in such hostile conditions,” he says. “Their faithfulness, their willingness, their stewardship… It’s remarkable.”

Prayer changes the story

Pray for de-escalation and peace between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

“Pray for wisdom and courage for ministry workers as they navigate complex situations,” says Nehemiah. “Pray for healing and comfort for families affected by violence on both sides. Pray that many would encounter the hope, love, and peace of Christ in the midst of this suffering.”

He adds that there has been a recent encouraging answer to prayer. 

“We were praying to have something ongoing, or a very serious effort to have a church planting training or sessions in Afghanistan.”

Nehemiah explains that many believers there have never been to a Bible college (or other highly organized group) where they can learn about God’s Word and strategies for spreading the gospel.

“By the grace of God, we are able to start church-planting training and a group of people in Afghanistan. We have been praying for the situation for many, many years, especially in this war-torn society, especially [during the] last three weeks or month [of war],” he says. 

Header photo is a stock image from Afghanistan, courtesy of Rahmat Alizada via Unsplash.

For Ilya Butolin with Beit Hallel Congregation, his first response when he hears of attacks like this against Jewish communities is something like panic. “What’s going on? Why? Why do they hate the Jews that much, and why in the holidays?” runs through his mind.

Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia (Photo courtesy Larry Snickers/Pexels)

Yet Butolin reminds us that Scripture teaches there is a spiritual battle playing out in the physical world.

“We can see that it’s two Muslims who did this terror attack,” he says. “But on the other hand, another Muslim stopped the attack. That’s how you can see that it’s really a spiritual thing. It’s not that all the Muslims are bad. But it’s really [in the] spiritual realm. It’s really demons that [are] leading these people to this thing.” 

Australia has seen more than 3,700 antisemitic attacks since the Israel-Hamas war started two years ago. The timing of the Bondi Beach shooting — right before the first night of Hanukkah — sent a message of fear in direct opposition to what the festival means.

“First and foremost, it’s the holiday of light. Funny enough, it’s the only feast that is not mentioned in the Old Testament, but Jesus mentioned that. Jesus celebrates Hanukkah,” says Butolin, referring to John 10:22. “So it’s really a powerful feast for us, for Messianic Jews, for Jews in Israel. It’s a feast of light, of happiness, of victory over the darkness.”

As the Body of Christ, please engage in this spiritual battle by praying. Pray for the families of the 15 victims, that God will reveal the comfort of Christ to them. 

“Nothing can fill up this hole — nothing except Christ, nothing except God, and that’s a time for us to pray for these families, that God will comfort them,” says Butolin. 

“It’s important for us to stand in love and in prayer also for the Muslim people, that they will see the truth as well — not only the Jews — but [that] they will see Jesus as well.”

Header photo of a menorah courtesy of Cottonbro Studio via Pexels.

On Friday, new clashes broke out in a district in southern Afghanistan. Afghan authorities say Pakistan’s shelling killed five people. 

Yet Greg Kelley from Unknown Nations says the gospel is crossing borders, too. One way is through outreach to the Afghan diaspora.

“There are more than a million Afghans who are in neighboring countries that include Pakistan, Iran, and Turkey,” says Kelley. Unknown Nations’ indigenous partners work to disciple believers in these countries. 

“We heard a story recently of three Afghan families who are refugees in Nairobi, Kenya, receiving Christ, being water baptized, and now being equipped and trained up,” says Kelley. “They will become incredible ambassadors and advocates for the gospel and will ultimately have an impact inside the country of Afghanistan.”

Afghanistan flag (Photo courtesy of Farid Ershad via Unsplash)

Persecution is not a maybe but a guarantee for believers in the Muslim-majority culture, Kelley says.

“They have a devout faith that is focused on Islamic tradition,” he says. “They highly value community. And when I say that, I mean family. The family structure is critically important. They fellowship. They eat meals together regularly. They don’t live in isolation.”

Yet despite persecution from non-Christian family members, these close bonds can prove to have an advantage, “because usually when [the gospel] hits one person, they’re in close proximity to a lot of other people,” Kelley explains.

Please watch and pray with Afghan believers during these uncertain times with Pakistan. Pray in line with the Great Commission for more gospel workers to rise in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and beyond. 

Header photo: Street scene in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Stock photo courtesy of Farid Ershad/Unsplash)

Mali’s capital, Bamako, has been without fuel imports since September. Surrounding cities and communities are suffering too, as insurgents use a favorite strategy. 

“They are avoiding direct confrontation by attacking many cities. By imposing a blockade, it is another way to put high pressure on the government or security forces,” says Illia Djadi with Open Doors International. He serves as the senior analyst for freedom of religion and belief in sub-Saharan Africa.

The central Sahel countries of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger are some of the poorest in the world, Djadi explains. Though their governments are willing to fight, they have little capacity to oppose well-equipped insurgents. They are also the only countries where both an al-Qaeda-linked group and an Islamic State-affiliated group are active.

“That’s why this region —central Sahel — has become now the new epicenter of international jihad, or international terrorism,” Djadi says. “The Islamists are putting a lot of pressure on the countries and the population living there. It is a very fragile context. That’s why the pressure on the Christian minority is also high.”

Whether tied to al-Qaeda or the Islamic State, these insurgents share the same ideology and goal: to establish a caliphate and impose Sharia law. As they gain control, they are scattering the local church. 

“Their primary target is Christians. When they first attacked Mali in 2012, they attacked and destroyed churches. They killed Christians, and many of them fled northern Mali to elsewhere, to become internally displaced, or refugees in neighboring countries,” says Djadi.

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

They will tell Christians, “This is the deal: convert to Islam, or be killed.” Many believers who have the choice will escape to another region, often arriving empty-handed and having witnessed terrible violence. Christians who can’t escape either lose their lives or live under heavy restrictions and taxation.

Ask God to strengthen believers in Mali with resilience and faithfulness to the end. Pray for global support for Mali’s leaders, that they may be able to fulfill their responsibility to protect their citizens.

“This is a forgotten crisis, but it’s a major crisis which has displaced millions in the Sahel and elsewhere,” says Djadi.

“Let’s continue to pray, but let’s continue also to provide support, because they are in need of support. At Open Doors, we are working closely with partner churches locally: how to provide the basics for the Christians living there, how to provide trauma care, and how to provide food for them to feel like they are not alone in these difficult circumstances.”

Header image is a stock photo courtesy of Alfred Dena via Pexels.

Deadly clashes at the border surged in the past week after explosions in Kabul and another Afghan province on October 10. Pakistan didn’t officially claim responsibility for those attacks. But it continues to allege that Afghanistan’s government is allowing the nation to be a base for terrorism in Pakistan.

Street scene in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Stock photo courtesy of Farid Ershad/Unsplash)

The situation is complicated. Mike Grandy with Unknown Nations explains that Afghanistan’s Taliban-run government is conservative. “But then there’s also very far right conservative movements in Afghanistan, and they cross the border into Pakistan, and they do terrorist activities.” 

Both countries are majority Muslim, but for groups like the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (the Pakistani Taliban), there’s a problem that may spur their attacks.

“Some of it has to do with [terrorists seeing] Pakistan as ‘they don’t have Sharia law.’ There’s maybe some revenge for previous things, retaliation. There’s maybe these thoughts that their culture is lost, that they’re not sticking to the strict Islamic fundamentalism that they should,” says Grandy.

Sadly, the border fight between the two nations has been going on for decades. But Grandy says that this week, “It’s a much more confrontational situation as far as bringing in the military and bombing. In the past, it was more border skirmishes or targeting certain areas. But now it’s been much more widespread.” 

Third-party mediators like Qatar may be able to help cool the latest escalations, which have affected gospel workers. 

“There’s a self-preservation mode that happens. You have to take care of your family, you have to survive,” says Grandy. “So those things [attacks] have an impact on ministry, but they [local Christians] are used to navigating this complicated situation.”

Both Afghanistan and Pakistan have growing Christian movements. Join them in praying simple, Great Commission prayers for more believers to reach others and more people to hear the gospel of Jesus.

“We know the harvest is plentiful and the laborers are few. So what we want to pray is that there’s more laborers, more multiplication,” Grandy says.

Header photo: man in Lahore, Pakistan courtesy of Lumensoft Technologies via Unsplash.

That’s good news, but for Christians in places like Syria and West Africa, ISIS still presents a daily threat. 

Samuel* with Redemptive Stories explained, “An interpretation of Islam creates the scenario for ISIS to exist. It is one strict interpretation that is not held by many. Maybe 10 percent of all Muslims would think that this is a legitimate interpretation.” 

But those who do hold this interpretation often embrace it violently. Because it’s an ideology, Samuel believes ISIS will keep resurfacing worldwide even when networks are dismantled. 

“Anytime those power vacuums exist and chaos reigns, it gives a license and opportunity for organizations like [ISIS] to, again, grow,” he said. 

There’s a misconception that military action will stem terrorism. But military action won’t change a person’s beliefs.

“There are other forms of transformation that are required for someone to be willing to step out of that understanding of Islam into something else,” Samuel said.

Transformation comes through the gospel! That’s why it’s so important to pray for believers in West Africa and Syria. They are the witnesses for Christ in the midst of chaos today. 

“For the gospel to go forth in our part of the world and across Africa, I think we are going to be walking a path of suffering,” Samuel said. “I think Jesus told us that as much in His farewell discourse to us, and was very clear that ‘what they did to me, they will also do to you.'”

Suffering is a hard road to choose. Syrian believers desire stability just like most people in the world. 

“I was talking to a Syrian brother who said, ‘If they opened up the pathway for Christians in Syria to go to Canada, 70 percent of them would go, and I would be one of them that would be on the plane, ready to go right away,’” Samuel said. 

“May we just be in prayer for them and stand with them by being generous, by being encouraging, by sharing their story with others.”

*Pseudonym

Header photo: A minaret and a church steeple side-by-side in Syria. (Stock photo courtesy of Ali Wassouf/Unsplash)

“It’s all political. They claim not to be terrorists, and yet they’re terrorists,” Keys for Kids’ Greg Yoder says.

“When you come down heavy on villages because they don’t agree with you religiously, that’s terrorism, and that’s happening throughout Afghanistan.”

The Taliban government continues to suppress anything that doesn’t align with its ideology. Recently, officials raided a production facility run by Keys for Kids partners.

Gospel worker reviews material before recording in the studio.
(Photo courtesy of Keys for Kids)

“The good news was everybody who was supposed to be recording was out for dinner, and everything they were working on had been backed up,” Yoder says.

“The people there, security, etc., warned the Christians not to return. But the issue is now, where do we go to resume the production?”

Around 43 percent of Afghanistan’s 41.5 million people are children under the age of 14. Keys for Kids and FMI are introducing them to the hope only Christ can offer.

Believers are about 25 percent done translating Keys for Kids resources into Dari, one of Afghanistan’s two primary dialects. They’re also working on a Pashto translation, and these materials are being loaded onto Keys for Kids Storytellers.

“Through these solar-powered MP3 players, we have a Bible in audio, but then also these Keys for Kids stories that introduce biblical truth and how to apply that biblical truth to everyday life,” Yoder says.

“It brings in Bible verses to help them understand who Jesus is. In the Islamic faith, Jesus is known as the only perfect Prophet, even though we know he was the Son of God. Teaching that concept is very, very critical,” he continues.

“There’s no hope in Islam. They believe they have to do certain things to earn their salvation, and there are no guarantees. But we talk about the free gift of salvation to all who believe.”

Despite growing pressure, hope remains strong. Kids — and adults — are finding comfort in the Gospel.

“Even the simplistic form of our theology of who Jesus is resonates with adults,” Yoder says. “We just got word that 12 churches have been planted in Afghanistan since the Keys for Kids Storytellers have been distributed by our partners, FMI.”

There’s still much work to do. Consider partnering with Keys for Kids to help bring God’s Word to Afghanistan. “There are 15,000 Keys for Kids Storytellers in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and it’s just a drop in the bucket of what’s needed,” Yoder says.

Header and story images courtesy of Keys for Kids. 

According to Darrel Templeton of MegaVoice, the unrest has disrupted every facet of daily life.

“It affects everything from commerce to distribution of food to stores that do have food not opening for fear of problems, banks not working, postal and deliveries not working, and so everything is in in upheaval and chaos because of the shutdowns,” he says.

Photo of an audio Bible, courtesy of MegaVoice.

Misinformation and propaganda played a role too, adding to the pressure Christians face from Islamic extremists. It points to the deeper agenda beneath the chaos.

“Almost all of the missionaries in that region (northern Mozambique) have had to flee to neighboring countries, or at least to the south,” Templeton says. “Many of the believers are hiding their Bibles or destroying [them], because if the Bibles are found in the homes, when they (terrorists) come through, they could be killed just because of having the Bible,” Templeton says.

“It’s definitely more of the same, and people trying to set up an Islamic State in Mozambique.”

Still, it’s an incredibly complicated situation. Riots can be sparked by one thing, but people join them for various underlying reasons — perhaps economic or political reasons. But in Mozambique, spiritual/religious propaganda is fueling another dimension.

“[They are] telling the people that they are Muslims at heart, and they need to return to their Muslim faith. It’s very complicated,” Templeton says.

MegaVoice is working with a partner to supply hundreds of solar-powered audio Bibles in northern Mozambique. The units are smaller than paper Bibles and more easily hidden.

“We have another order for another 800 units that are to go from the south. We were just talking with our partner there,” says Templeton. “They said, ‘Pray for us. Pray for the teams.’”

Pray for these believers putting their lives on the line to bring others God’s Word.

Header photo courtesy of Voice of the Martyrs USA.

That incident was only part of a bigger trend.

“Fifty thousand or more people have been killed between 2009 and 2023 — [by] groups like Boko Haram, Fulani herdsman,” says Greg Musselman with Voice of the Martyrs Canada. Read about attacks against Nigerian Christians that happened just a few weeks ago here.

Sound overwhelming to pray or even think about? Try focusing instead on the ordinary families like yours and mine behind the numbers.

“They’re trying to worship Jesus, [share] the gospel message with those around them. But this ongoing persecution and the killing, it’s devastating,” Musselman says.

He had the honor of meeting a pastor named Gideon Dawel whose story began last year at Black Christmas.

“Pastor Gideon — who was the overseer for the Christ Apostolic Church and also a local pastor — lost his pregnant wife and five daughters who were burned to death when Fulani Muslims came into the community,” Musselman says.

Other believers have helped Gideon walk through his grief. He is pressing forward with God’s grace.

(Listen to Pastor Gideon share his story in this VOM video.)

You may be asking the same question as Musselman. Why is more not being done to protect Christians in Nigeria? Why are government soldiers not helping guard these Christian villages in the north? They’re “sitting ducks” according to Musselman.

“We don’t know why,” he says. “It’s either there’s apathy — they don’t care — [or] in some cases, those that are supposed to be protecting these communities are actually complicit [with] those that are attacking these vulnerable Christians in northern Nigeria.”

The stories of tragedy after tragedy coming from Nigeria these days may be hard to process, but don’t accept them as just the way things are there. Please listen, learn and pray for their protection. If you know Christ, these are your brother and sisters.

Musselman says to catch the “positive message” underlying the stories VOM shares: “Our ‘positive message’ is that Jesus died for our sins. He came to earth. That’s what Christmas is all about — and as a result of being in the family of God, we need to be praying for each other.”

Header photo is a video screenshot of Pastor Gideon Dawel, courtesy of Voice of the Martyrs Canada.