Christians are humiliated at airports, body-searched as if they were criminals or traffickers, compared to terrorists.

In recent months, authorities in Algeria have stepped up restrictions against Christian churches in the country, orchestrating what appears to be a “coordinated campaign of intensified action against churches”.

Twenty-six church leaders have appeared in court since last week for defending a Muslim business interest’s attempt to illegally seize the Evangelical School of Omdurman

Prime Minister could soon sign a law that bans evangelism and religious materials of unregistered groups. Protestants in several European countries send letters to embassies demanding religious freedom.

Eighty-seven new places of worship have been opened in the last six months of 2017. There are now 4,045 evangelical premises throughout the country.

Intolerance against Christians is highest in Central and Southeast Asia, after North Korea. The situation worsens dramatically in Africa. In Europe, two people were murdered bacause of their faith last year.

In their own quiet way, Russia’s Protestant denominations are continuing to evangelise.

Most will not celebrate Christmas publicly this year to avoid “schisms in society” as they wait for the government to answer to  their requests of freedom and equality.

Let’s take a look at a few of the many positive changes which sprang from the Reformation.

The local government poverty-relief programme aims to “transform believers in religion into believers in the party”.

Sundays 5th and 12th of November have been set apart to advocate and pray for the Persecuted Church. This year’s motto is “From ashes to glory”.

“It is a well-planned conspiracy against the Christian community”, pastor Johnson Sathyanathan, president of the Synod of Pentecostal Churches of Coimbator, says.

Since 2012, Sudan has expelled foreign Christians and bulldozed dozens of church buildings on the pretext that they belonged to South Sudanese.

"Panai el-Adonai" (“My face towards the Lord” from Daniel 9:3) brought together the Messianic community to worship and intercede with songs from all over Israel. A video by Kehila News. 

What we can learn from “American Gods”, the TV adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s best-selling novel.

God had always sought for fellowship with man and intimacy even when Adam and Eve sinned.

Besides raiding Christian bookstores and arresting Christians, authorities threatened to kill South Sudanese Christians who do not leave or cooperate with them.

Hard-line Muslims have been fighting construction of the Pentecostal Assemblies of God building since 2009, having demolished the partially built structure twice before then.

The 8th Evangelical Congress was held, a Festival of Hope celebrated Jesus in the centre of Madrid. A commemorative service gathered 8,000. “Spanish society benefits from the action of evangelical churches”, says Justice Minister.

There are almost 4,000 evangelical worship places in the country, according to new figures. Muslims rank second, with more than 1,500.

A letter distributed on social media asks for the “attacks against the church” to stop. Twenty-five buildings are set to be demolished, but Christians in the country are “very resilient”, a source says.

A young Spanish film director documents the work of six Gospel choirs. The genre has grown far beyond evangelical churches.

“Belief-based intolerance and discrimination of refugees is a pan-European problem”, Christian organisations said during a hearing at the European Parliament. 

Evangelical pastor Hector Peñafiel, a welding master, uses his skills to teach his profession and share the gospel with asylum seekers. “They can plan their future now”, he says.

“Religious expression must not be repressed in the private sphere”, the new President of France said. Édouard Philippe is named Prime Minister.