College students across the United States were joined by believers of all ages as they participated in Engage24, a one-on-one evangelism initiative that challenged Christians to share the Gospel with at least one person in a 24-hour time period. October 14 marked this observance on several college campuses this year and saw participation expand to churches. When the development of Engage24 began they encouraged college students to share their faith with a creative approach. ‘Instead of concentrating on how many people came to Christ on one particular day, we wanted to see how many college students would share their faith on that particular day. And if we did that first, then we could ultimately accomplish the goal of seeing people come to Christ.’ They rely heavily on Twitter to track results and read reports from students who had the opportunity to share the Gospel during the day. See also

In September you were asked to pray for Jeffrey Fowle, the American who was detained by the North Korean authorities after leaving a Bible in his hotel room. CNN has reported his release this week. He was picked up by an American government plane on Tuesday and is now back in the US. It was not clear from the report how the release came about, but a senior State Department official confirmed to CNN that the North Korean authorities had indeed let him go. Last month Fowle told the network that he was due to go on trial soon and had pleaded with the US for help to secure his release along with two other Christians in prison with him

Pakistani child education activist Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi, an Indian child rights campaigner, have jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize. At the age of just 17, Malala is the youngest-ever recipient of the prize. The teenager was shot in the head by Taliban gunmen in October 2012 for campaigning for girls' education. She now lives in Birmingham in the UK. Mr Satyarthi has maintained the tradition of Mahatma Gandhi and headed various forms of peaceful protests, ‘focusing on the grave exploitation of children for financial gain,’ the committee said at the Nobel Institute in Oslo. The 60-year-old founded Bachpan Bachao Andolan, or the Save the Childhood Movement, which campaigns for child rights and an end to human trafficking. Reacting to the news, Mr Satyarthi told the BBC: ‘It's a great honour for all those children who have been still living in slavery despite of all the advancement in technology, market and economy.

Supermarket chains Tesco and Asda have withdrawn two Halloween outfits after they were criticised for stigmatising people with mental health issues. Both stores apologised for any offence caused and agreed to make donations to the mental health charity, Mind. The charity which complained that such costumes 'fuel' stigma, will receive £25,000 from Asda. Tesco has not said how much it will donate. The £20 Asda outfit included ragged clothing, fake blood, a mask and a fake meat cleaver while Tesco's orange boiler suit came with a plastic jaw restraint and offered to ‘complete the look’ with a machete. Online retailer Amazon had also advertised the ‘psycho ward’ outfit, but later said the costume was ‘not available’. A Tesco spokesperson said: ‘We're really sorry for any offence this has caused and we are removing this product from sale.’

Payday lender Wonga says it is writing off £220m of debts for 330,000 customers after putting in place new affordability checks. The company, which has faced criticism for its high interest rates and debt collection tactics, made the changes after discussions with regulators. Customers in arrears whose loans would not have been made under the new checks will have their debts written off. A further 45,000 customers in arrears will not have to pay interest on loans. Affected Wonga customers will be notified by 10 October. Wonga's chairman Andy Haste, who joined the company in July, said a review of lending practices had shown that the need for change at Wonga was ‘real and urgent’, and new stricter lending criteria would mean ‘accepting far fewer applications from new and existing customers’. (See also Prayer Alert 31-2013)

British teacher David Bolam has been released after being held hostage by militants in Libya since May. The Foreign Office said Mr Bolam, who taught at the now-closed International School in Benghazi, was ‘safe and well’ and had been reunited with his family. Mr Bolam's MP in Craven Arms in Shropshire said he was ‘delighted’ that the 63-year-old was back home safely. It is thought the teacher's release was secured by local political factions and that money changed hands. Mr Bolam's kidnapping had not been reported at the request of the Foreign Office and his family. BBC world affairs correspondent Caroline Hawley said she understood demands for a ransom had been made to the school and that money was handed over to secure his release. She said it was ‘unclear’ how much money was paid and who paid it, but the Foreign Office was not involved in the negotiations. (Ps.105:1)

Prayer vigils in churches throughout the city are being held for those involved in the pro-democracy demonstrations gripping Hong Kong. Congregations are upholding Hong Kong in prayer as the protests are into their third day. (see world article 3). Among the leaders of the movement, under the banner 'Occupy Central with Love and Peace', are former Catholic Bishop of Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun and Baptist minister Rev Chu Yiu-ming. The Vine, an international church located a few blocks from the protests is open for 48 hours as a place of prayer, intercession, rest and refuge for those involved. Pastor Andrew Gardener said, ‘We're digging into prayer and worship over the next 24 hours which will be crucial, and on the practical side we're saying if you need rest, refuge, first aid, if you're hungry or thirsty come to us.’

‘It is impossible to comprehend what is happening in Algeria apart from a mighty move of the Holy Spirit and years of patient intercession and sowing of the Word,’ reports Greg Kernaghan of OM International who visited the country to report how Christians in this nation are faring. ‘People from all walks of life are coming to Christ in numbers that church leaders cannot keep pace with. Conversions and miracles are testified and there is an enormous hunger to be trained and discipled. Believers have been set free from fear and their zeal and compassion is felt across the land. The growth of the Algerian church in the past decade - encircled by Muslim unrest and antagonism toward Christians in North Africa - is truly miraculous. There are at least 75,000 believers in Algeria today and their number is growing.’ Kernaghan reports.

We truly experienced a move of the Holy Spirit at the Reinhard Bonnke Gospel Crusade in Greensboro, North Carolina.Once again we saw hundreds of churches join together across denominational lines to rally around the foot of the cross. Over the two nights, nearly 15,000 people joined together in prayer and worship and were touched by the Word of the Lord. Each night, hundreds of people streamed to the altars to make a decision to follow Jesus as Saviour after hearing the red-hot gospel message preached by evangelist Reinhard Bonnke. What a joy to see so many people move from darkness into light! Our team is busy even now working to connect these precious people into the participating local churches for follow-up and discipleship. On Saturday night, power from on high was on full display as evangelist Daniel Kolenda prayed for every person in attendance to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Many testified to being healed instantly during times of healing prayer.'

A major new translation of the Bible into modern Persian, launched in London Monday, marks a remarkable transformation for the Church in Iran. According to a news release from Elam Ministries, the organisation behind the translation, at the time of the Islamic revolution in 1979 there were no more than 500 Christians from a Muslim background in the country. Now Iran is thought to have the fastest-growing church in the world. ‘A very conservative estimate puts the number of Christians in Iran at 100,000,’ said David Yeghnazar of Elam Ministries, speaking in the news release. He continued, ‘The generally-accepted estimate is 370,000. Some believe there are 700,000, some over a million. Operation World puts the annual growth rate at 19.7 per cent. If that is the case, Iran will very soon have one million Christian believers.’ Yeghnazar believes there are a number of reasons why the church has grown so rapidly.