In the midst of persecution God is providing spiritual and financial support to Christians: spiritual investment is eternal, while the financial support is temporal. Help the Persecuted (HTP) addresses real needs with Gospel-centred, sustainable methods like an agricultural project in Lebanon that goes beyond providing physical needs. The community created around this farm is hearing the Gospel being shared along with food distribution. One member tells of being strangled by her radical Al-Qaeda husband and in that moment she saw Jesus. He reached out his hand and said, ‘I love you.’ She didn’t know who he was, but shortly afterwards learned about the person she saw in her vision. She gave her life to Jesus and fled alone to Lebanon. She knows he will never leave or forsake her. We can praise God for the work of HTP and need to continue praying for their protection and finances.

Four Christians in Darfur accused of apostasy will have their first court hearing on 30 August. The prosecutor and investigator will present evidence, after which the judge will decide whether to continue the case or acquit the defendants. The four were arrested on 22 June following a raid on a Baptist church, accused of apostasy and subsequently released on bail. They were physically mistreated during their detention. They are charged under Penal Code Article 126, which criminalises apostasy, even though that article was abolished in 2019. Due to fears of community and police harassment, the four believers remain in hiding. There continue to be other reports of harassment of Christians in Darfur. Please pray for the judge to dismiss the case against them, and for physical and emotional healing.

On 30 July Islamist militants beheaded two Christian men during an attack on a minibus in northern Mozambique in Cabo Delgado. IS of Mozambique, known locally as al-Shabaab, claimed responsibility for the killings: its statement declared, ‘By the grace of God Almighty, the soldiers of the Caliphate killed two Christians, beheading them, and shooting them with weapons.’ In June IS beheaded several Christians in Cabo Delgado, and another during a raid on a Christian village in Nampula. Cabo Delgado is called ‘the Land of Fear’ owing to persistent brutal violence meted out against both Christians and moderate Muslims over several years. Pray that the Lord will comfort the family and friends of the Christians so brutally murdered. Ask that the violence perpetrated against Christians and moderate Muslims by IS militants will come to an end, that the LORD will rescue His people from their powerful enemy, from their foes who confront them.