Skip to content

ICC Newsroom

Your leading source for persecution news

International Christian Concern staffers are experts on global persecution and pride themselves on knowing the trends and ins and outs of religious freedom. ICC’s global team, ICC Fellows, and guest scholars write breaking news stories and reports on persecution topics, countries, and regimes. ICC’s signature comprehensive report is the annual Global Persecution Index.

Filter News

Latest News

Hope That Endures 

August 7, 2026 Burkina Faso, Congo, DRC, Mozambique, Nigeria, Sudan — Part Four of the series, “When Creation Groans”    By ICC Fellow Lisa Navarrette  Throughout this series, we have explored how climate-related challenges can complicate the lives of Christians already suffering...

Russia Missile Kills Beloved Christian Family in Ukraine

August 7, 2026 Russia, Ukraine — In the early hours of the morning of July 30, Russia launched an attack on a village on the outskirts of Kryvyi Rih, a large industrial city in Ukraine. In...

One Pastor Dies, Another Abducted in Attack in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains

August 7, 2026 Sudan — In the hills of Sudan’s Nuba Mountains, grief continues to deepen as Christian communities face repeated attacks on their leaders. On July 24, fighters from a breakaway faction of the...

Tanzania’s Coastal Churches Worship Despite Fear 

August 6, 2026 Tanzania — The broken doors have been repaired, the benches were returned to their places, and the Bibles were gathered from the floor, but the fear remained. In several Muslim-majority communities along...

When Governments Weaken, Extremists Advance 

August 6, 2026 Burkina Faso, Congo, DRC, Mozambique — Part Three of the series, “When Creation Groans”   By ICC Fellow Lisa Navarrette Imagine you are at your Sunday morning church service. Hands raised in worship. The Spirit filling the...

Nigerian Army Arrests Suspect Tied to Deaths of 30 Christians  

August 5, 2026 Nigeria — The Nigerian Army arrested a 48-year-old Fulani Muslim suspected of participating in an attack that killed at least 30 Christian residents of Naridon village in Kaduna state.   Troops from Sector...

Walking Through the Fear with Jesus

August 5, 2026 Tanzania — In Zanzibar’s Magharibi region, 21-year-old “Faraja” is quietly holding on to a recent decision she made that has transformed her life.  Faraja comes from a deeply devoted Muslim family and...

Hope That Endures 

August 7, 2026 ICC News — Part Four of the series, “When Creation Groans”    By ICC Fellow Lisa Navarrette  Throughout this series, we have explored how climate-related challenges can complicate the lives of Christians already suffering...

One Pastor Dies, Another Abducted in Attack in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains

August 7, 2026 ICC News — In the hills of Sudan’s Nuba Mountains, grief continues to deepen as Christian communities face repeated attacks on their leaders. On July 24, fighters from a breakaway faction of the...

Tanzania’s Coastal Churches Worship Despite Fear 

August 6, 2026 ICC News — The broken doors have been repaired, the benches were returned to their places, and the Bibles were gathered from the floor, but the fear remained. In several Muslim-majority communities along...

When Governments Weaken, Extremists Advance 

August 6, 2026 ICC News — Part Three of the series, “When Creation Groans”   By ICC Fellow Lisa Navarrette Imagine you are at your Sunday morning church service. Hands raised in worship. The Spirit filling the...

Egypt’s High School Honors List Highlights Christian Marginalization 

July 31, 2026 ICC News — Egypt’s Ministry of Education recently announced the country’s top-performing students in the 2025–2026 General Secondary Certificate examinations, but the list has drawn attention from Christian advocates after no Coptic Christians...

TPS Protections End as Syrian Christians Face an Uncertain Future

July 29, 2026 ICC News — The expiration of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) protections for Syrians in the United States this week has renewed attention on the fragile security environment facing civilians in Syria, particularly religious...

Macron Visit Highlights Syria’s Uncertain Future for Religious Minorities  

July 9, 2026 ICC News — Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa had hoped to showcase his country’s transformation toward democracy during French President Emmanuel Macron’s historic visit to Damascus this week. Instead, the visit was overshadowed by...

Iran Moves to Seize Historic Tehran Church as Pressure on Christians Escalates 

July 8, 2026 ICC News — Iranian authorities are moving to confiscate the country’s oldest Protestant church and ordering Christians to leave their homes, signaling a new escalation in the Islamic Republic’s decades-long campaign against Christianity. ...

Christians Sentenced to Prison for ‘Forced Conversions’ at Birthday Party

August 3, 2026 ICC News — Seven Christians from India’s Madhya Pradesh state have been sentenced after a court found them guilty of forceful conversions during a birthday party. The convictions, which follow a legal battle...

India’s Proposed FCRA Amendment Raises New Threats for Christian Ministries 

July 30, 2026 ICC News — India’s Parliament is considering a sweeping amendment to the country’s foreign-funding law that critics warn could give the government unprecedented authority over the assets of NGOs, including Christian ministries, hospitals,...

Pakistan’s Federal Constitutional Court Reviews Decision Validating 13-Year-Old’s Marriage

July 27, 2026 ICC News — The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) of Pakistan has ordered a review of its controversial ruling that previously upheld the marriage of 13-year-old Maria Shahbaz to her abductor, Shehryar Ahmad. During...

Indian Christians Support Student Protest

July 27, 2026 ICC News — For the first time, the Christian community in India expressed its solidarity with a non-political students’ agitation movement against alleged irregularities in the country’s top educational competitive testing system. The...

Pastor Describes Experience in Chinese Prison 

July 23, 2026 ICC News — Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri, 56, reunited with his family on July 3 after spending 266 days in a Chinese prison.  In an op-ed published by the Wall Street Journal on...

Muslim Mob Shuts Down Worship Service in Indonesia

July 21, 2026 ICC News — During a worship service on Sunday, July 19, at Christ the Answer Tabernacle Pentecostal Church (GPT) in Medan City in Indonesia’s North Sumatra Province, an angry mob of Muslims forced...

An Indonesian Church’s 8-Year-Struggle to Build a Building

July 20, 2026 ICC News — Members of the Beth-El Tabernacle Church of Christ Alpha Omega Congregation (GBT KAO) in Semarang Regency, Central Java, Indonesia, have claimed that various parties obstructed their efforts to build a...

Chinese Pastor Arrives in U.S. After 8 Months in Prison

July 5, 2026 ICC News — Chinese authorities recently released Zion Church Pastor ‌Ezra Jin, who had been detained in southern China for the past eight months. Jin arrived in Los Angeles, California, on Saturday and...

Russia Missile Kills Beloved Christian Family in Ukraine

August 7, 2026 ICC News — In the early hours of the morning of July 30, Russia launched an attack on a village on the outskirts of Kryvyi Rih, a large industrial city in Ukraine. In...

Jim Elliot: A Life Shaped by Surrender 

July 11, 2026 ICC News — By Pieter Vermeulen, ICC Board Member, as part of a series, “Persecuted but not Forsaken.” By the time we encounter the story of Jim Elliot, we are no longer in...

Authorities Detain Elderly Bishop in Nicaragua 

July 10, 2026 ICC News — An elderly bishop, who has a pacemaker and is a cancer survivor, was subjected to short-term arbitrary detention on June 29 and 30 in Estelí, Nicaragua. Bishop Juan Abelardo Mata...

Macron Visit Highlights Syria’s Uncertain Future for Religious Minorities  

July 9, 2026 ICC News — Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa had hoped to showcase his country’s transformation toward democracy during French President Emmanuel Macron’s historic visit to Damascus this week. Instead, the visit was overshadowed by...

Perspective on Middle East Policy, Politics, and Persecution  

April 1, 2026 ICC Fellows, ICC News — By ICC Fellow Dr. Greg Cochran  What makes a home? Beyond the quality of neighborhoods and locations near good schools, houses currently for sale must compete for the attention of skilled buyers who are well-suited to scrutinize — buyers making...

Economic Persecution (Part 1 of 5) 

March 9, 2026 ICC Fellows, ICC News — By Lisa Navarrette, ICC Fellow When persecution is discussed, it is usually framed in images of violence: burned churches, imprisoned pastors, mobs chanting in the streets. These images are real, and...

Update on Syria: A New Era or More of the Same for Syrian Christians?

September 19, 2025 ICC Fellows — By Linda Burkle, Ph.D., ICC Fellow  Several years ago, while in Jordan, I had the privilege of participating in a feeding and grocery distribution program for Syrian refugees. We served...

Word Wrangling in the Sahel Region 

May 8, 2025 ICC Fellows — By Dr. Greg Cochran, ICC Fellow One of the greatest half-truths ever unleashed on humanity was the pithy encouragement parents commonly passed down to their children: “Sticks and stones may...

Why we Include news

A holistic approach to
persecution ministry

Our mission is to uplift and support those who face oppression for their faith in Christ, ensuring that they are not alone in their struggles. For three decades, we’ve work tirelessly to provide practical help, raise awareness, and advocate for religious freedom. Providing short-term and holistic aid helps believers in the wake of devastation while also setting up them and their children to break the cycle of generational persecution.

Assistance

We help ease the suffering of persecuted believers, churches, and communities by coming alongside with assistance in their time of greatest need. We care for survivors and equip the Church in the most hostile areas to Christianity in the world.

awareness

We awaken the global Church to the suffering of persecuted Christians through first-person investigative reporting, daily news updates, story-driven content, and ICC’s monthly magazine.

Advocacy

We create tangible change and push back on persecution by seeking to influence policies and legislation, working with leaders and calling out countries that persecute Christians and violate religious freedom for all.

“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”

Proverbs 31:8-9 (NIV)

Make a difference today

Here’s how you can help

From advocacy letter writing to donating money and volunteering, there are many ways you can help.

Become a
Monthly Donor

Share the Stories of the Persecuted

partnerships &
church outreach

Back To Top
Search