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Evangelical leaders from 56 nations will gather for European Congress on Evangelism
More than 1,000 Evangelical pastors and ministry leaders from 56 countries are expected to gather in Berlin, Germany, for the European Congress on Evangelism later this month. Hosted by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA), the event will take place May 27–30 at the JW Marriott hotel.
Organized around the theme of Romans 1:16 — “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile” — the invitation-only congress is anticipated to be the most representative gathering of Evangelical leaders in Europe since the previous congress in Amsterdam in 2000.
Christian Daily International will provide frontline coverage from the congress, which will feature 20 speakers from 13 countries and offer simultaneous interpretation in 10 languages. Organizers say the event aims to “encourage and equip believers from dozens of denominations to reignite the church with a passion for bold and biblical proclamation evangelism.”
Franklin Graham, president and CEO of BGEA and convenor of the congress, emphasized the significance of holding the event in Berlin — where his father, the late evangelist Billy Graham, convened the first World Congress on Evangelism in 1966.
“The city of Berlin has influenced the world in every field. What a place from which to shout to the world — Christ is the Savior!” Billy Graham said in his opening address nearly six decades ago.
That historic gathering laid the foundation for future international congresses, including the 1974 Lausanne Congress in Switzerland and subsequent meetings in Amsterdam in 1983, 1986, and 2000.
“It was the Christians in Europe who crossed the ocean and brought the Gospel to the United States four centuries ago, and I am grateful for the believers in Europe who continue to be a bold and faithful witness for Jesus Christ,” said Franklin Graham, who has preached in 19 European countries since 1999.
“Proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ and the truth of God’s Word is the greatest need in the world today, and it’s an honor for BGEA to come alongside and encourage believers in Europe who are taking the gospel to their communities and to the ends of the earth,” he added.
The program will also include worship led by three-time Grammy Award winner Michael W. Smith, award-winning worship leader Charity Gayle and several European Christian artists.
“The church in Europe needs to rise up with fresh confidence,” said Dr. Hugh Osgood, president of the United Kingdom-based ministry Churches in Communities International. “The European Congress on Evangelism will provide the inspiration, strength, and confidence in the Gospel that will enable us to do this. Let’s prioritize this opportunity to be together to advance God’s kingdom.”
Speakers scheduled to take part include Will Graham, executive vice president of the BGEA, who will address the importance of extending an invitation when preaching the gospel. His sister, Cissie Graham Lynch, senior advisor and spokesperson for the BGEA and host of the Fearless podcast, will serve as an interview host during the event.
Other confirmed speakers include Greg Laurie, evangelist and founder of Harvest Crusades, who will speak on “The gift and calling of the evangelist.”
Päivi Räsänen, Finnish member of parliament and author, known for enduring legal prosecution over public expressions of biblical values, will address “Commitment to the gospel under persecution in Europe.”
Daniele Pasquale, principal of the Instituto Biblico Evangelico Italiano, will speak on the centrality of discipleship in gospel ministry.
Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kentucky, will present on “Jesus, the unique Son of God.”
Rev. Mariusz Muszczyński, pastor and Pentecostal leader in Poland, will discuss unity in Gospel proclamation.
Among those looking forward to the event is Marc Van de Wouwer, a 66-year-old evangelist and retired member of Belgium’s Federal Judicial Police. He recalled the impact of attending the Amsterdam congress in 2000.
“At the time, there were very few evangelists in Belgium,” Van de Wouwer said. “I also wanted to renew my vision for proclaiming the gospel and acquire new tools.”
The Amsterdam event of 25 years ago inspired Van de Wouwer to establish an evangelistic organization in Belgium, alongside organizing his own evangelism congress. He is keen to attend the congress in Berlin and invest in the next generation of evangelists.
“When I see the impact of congresses in my own life and ministry, as well as in the lives of many ministers I know, I believe they are essential to encourage and boost evangelists,” he said.
“The world without Christ needs dedicated and sent evangelists who can spread the Good News of salvation and their passion for Jesus. Congresses for evangelists on a global scale play a vital role in this goal.”
More information on the European Congress on Evangelism is available at BerlinCongress.com.
Sources:Christianpost
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1,000 Christian Leaders Gather in Israel to Honor Oct 7 Victims, Stand With Survivors
More than 1,000 Christian leaders, community leaders and influencers from 117 countries are arriving in Israel to stand with Oct. 7 survivors, visit massacre sites and carry their testimonies home, Israel365 News reported. (Screengrab image: via Charisma News /Wikimedia Commons)
The Friends of Zion Ambassador Summit, organized in cooperation with Israel’s Foreign Ministry, includes approximately 200 young adults ages 18-29. Participants will meet released hostages, bereaved families, wounded soldiers and Holocaust survivors.
“We want these young leaders to see Israel for themselves, hear directly from those whose lives were changed forever on October 7, and return home with a deeper understanding of Israel and a commitment to standing with the Jewish people,” Friends of Zion founder Mike Evans said, according to Israel365 News.
On Oct. 7, following a visit to Yad Vashem, the delegation will join approximately 2,000 participants at the Southern Wall of the Temple Mount. Released hostages will appear onstage during the anniversary gathering, which organizers say will be broadcast live on dozens of television networks.
The commemoration marks three years since Hamas terrorists killed approximately 1,200 people and took 251 hostages into Gaza.
On Oct. 8, participants will visit the Nova music festival massacre site near Re’im. Released hostages Romi Gonen, Noa Argamani and Elkana Bohbot will meet the delegation and receive the Friends of Zion “Here Am I” Award for their international advocacy.
The delegation also plans to visit ancient Shiloh, where the Tabernacle stood and Samuel heard God’s call.
“The arrival of more than 1,000 Christian leaders from 117 countries carries a powerful message: Israel does not stand alone,” said George Deek, Israel’s special envoy to the Christian world.
“They are coming to bear witness, to meet the people whose lives were shattered on October 7, and to carry their stories back to communities across the world,” Deek said.
Sources: Breaking Christian News
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Christian Believers, Pastors, America Needs Your Biblical Voice
Father, we pray pastors would be bold this election season. Inspire these shepherds to engage politically, to encourage their congregations to do the same, and, most importantly, to refuse the temptation to stay silent.
There are moments when silence carries consequences. I believe the American Church is living in one of those moments right now.
For too many years, Christians were told that faithful citizenship and Biblical engagement with government were somehow outside the proper boundaries of the Church. Pastors were warned away from subjects that might be considered “political.” Congregations learned to separate what happened on Sunday morning from what happened at the ballot box.
And while much of the Church stepped away, our culture did not stand still. The government continued making decisions about human life, marriage, sexuality, children, parental authority, religious liberty, education, justice, and freedom. Policies were enacted. Institutions changed. Cultural assumptions shifted.
We should not be surprised that when Christians remove their voices from the public square, Biblical principles have less influence there. It is time to put our voices back in.
Pastor, Your Voice Matters
I am speaking especially to pastors of every-sized congregation. Whether you shepherd 75 people, 200 people, or 2,000, your voice matters. You do not need a national platform. God has already given you one: your pulpit.
Your congregation contains parents, grandparents, teachers, business owners, community leaders, young adults, and voters. They are making decisions that will help determine who writes our laws and what principles guide our communities. Equip them. Teach them what Scripture says about life, family, sexuality, justice, government, authority, freedom, and responsibility. Teach them to pray for those in authority, to understand the issues confronting our nation, and to evaluate public questions through Scripture rather than social media, political advertising, or cultural pressure.
And teach them that voting is not disconnected from their Christian lives. Our involvement in elections is important because we are citizens, but for Christians, there is something more. We carry Biblical convictions into every sphere God places us, including the public square.
Recently in Virginia, pastors were invited to add their voice to a public letter going to the Virginia legislature speaking against the liberal majority’s desire to enshrine abortion in our state Constitution. Across the state do you know how many pastors were willing to sign this letter? About 20. Only 20 pastors were willing to publicly put a stake in the ground to stand for the Constitutional protection of life to the Virginia Legislature.
We Gave Up Ground
For generations, American Christians benefited from a culture deeply influenced by Biblical principles. But somewhere along the way, many Believers began assuming those principles would remain embedded in the nation whether Christians actively defended them or not.
They did not.
We withdrew, others stepped forward, and America changed. We cannot spend decades removing Biblical voices from government, education, culture, and civic life and then wonder why those institutions increasingly reflect values contrary to Scripture. This is not a moment for Christians to retreat further. It is a moment to reengage.
The Pulpit Once Helped Shape America
This would not have seemed unusual to many pastors in America’s founding era. Clergy preached about liberty, government, moral responsibility, and the great public questions confronting their generation. Ministers served as chaplains, wrote pamphlets, participated in legislatures and constitutional conventions, and helped form the moral understanding of the people who were building a nation.
The American pulpit helped form the American conscience. We need courageous pulpits again.
Southern Baptist Convention President Willy Rice recently issued a remarkably simple challenge:
“I think the pastors need to step up.”
He is right. Many of the questions confronting America are not merely political questions. They are questions about what it means to be human, what human life is worth, what marriage is, what responsibilities parents possess, what freedom means, what government may rightfully do, and where authority ultimately comes from.
Those are profoundly Biblical questions. Pastors should not surrender them because politicians are debating them.
Prayer Must Move Us to Action
At Intercessors for America, we believe deeply in prayer. But Biblical prayer does not train us to become passive spectators. Nehemiah prayed and then approached the king. Esther fasted and then walked into the king’s presence. Daniel prayed and faithfully represented God’s truth inside the government of Babylon. The apostles prayed and then went out and spoke boldly.
Prayer prepares God’s people for obedience and action. We cannot pray for righteous government and then ignore the opportunity we have to participate in choosing those who govern. We cannot pray for the protection of children and remain uninformed about policies affecting them. We cannot pray for religious liberty and then neglect elections in which those freedoms are affected. Prayer should sharpen our discernment and move us toward faithful action.
Pastors, Lead
This is my appeal to America’s pastors: preach Biblical truth boldly and teach your congregation how Scripture applies to the issues confronting our nation. Talk about the sanctity of human life, marriage and family, children and parental responsibility, religious liberty, justice, government, and the responsibilities of citizenship.
Help people register to vote. Make sure they know when elections are taking place. Encourage them to research candidates, their records, their stated positions, and the policies they support. Urge them to pray for discernment and to carry their Biblical convictions with them when they vote. Do not assume someone else will do it. You are the shepherd God has placed before your congregation. Lead.
Christians, Show Up
And to Christians sitting in America’s pews, I would say this: we need to show up. We need to pray and then take the time to learn what is happening in our communities, our states, and our nation. We need to understand the issues, examine the records and positions of those seeking office, seek God for discernment, and vote according to Biblical conviction.
But our responsibility does not end when we leave the voting booth. Christians should be willing to speak up, contact elected officials, serve in their communities, attend school board and local government meetings, and encourage Believers with wisdom and courage to consider public service. We should teach our children and grandchildren that citizenship is a stewardship, not a spectator sport. If Christians continually surrender their place in the public square, we should not be surprised when the vacuum is filled by values radically different from our own.
The Consequences Will Outlive Us
We are making decisions today whose consequences our children and grandchildren may live with for generations. Some political decisions can be reversed in the next election. Others become embedded in law, education, government bureaucracies, institutions, and eventually the thinking of an entire generation. Once that happens, recovering what has been lost can take decades.
That is why I believe this moment demands more from the Church than concern. It demands prayer that leads to discernment, courage, engagement, and action. Our very existence as the nation we have known is at stake, and I do not believe that is an overstatement. A nation can drift so far from its foundational principles that recovering them becomes the work of generations—if they can be recovered at all.
Christians cannot control every outcome, but we are responsible for what God has placed in our hands. We have a voice and the freedom to use it. We have influence in our families, churches, communities, and government. We have the privilege of bringing our petitions before God in prayer. And in America, we have been entrusted with a vote.
It is time to use all of them.
We Have Been at a Crossroads Before
The film “A Great Awakening” offers a powerful reminder that America has faced moments before when our future seemed uncertain and human wisdom appeared insufficient. The film depicts the remarkable relationship between evangelist George Whitefield and Benjamin Franklin and ultimately brings us to an extraordinary moment in 1787, when delegates to the Constitutional Convention were struggling to agree upon the framework of our new government.
The delegates had been meeting for weeks. They were deeply divided over representation and the structure of the government they were attempting to create. Progress had slowed, frustrations were mounting, and the future of the Convention was uncertain.
It was into that atmosphere that the 81-year-old Benjamin Franklin rose to speak.
The scene portrayed in “A Great Awakening” is not simply a filmmaker’s invention. Franklin’s address was recorded in James Madison’s notes of the Constitutional Convention. Franklin reminded the delegates that during the struggle for independence, when the young nation faced seemingly impossible circumstances, they had repeatedly sought God together in prayer.
Then he asked a question that should speak to America today:
“And have we now forgotten that powerful Friend? Or do we imagine that we no longer need His assistance?”
Franklin continued:
“The longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth—that God governs in the affairs of men.”
Franklin then invoked the truth expressed in Psalm 127—that unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. His message to those delegates was unmistakable. They possessed extraordinary intelligence, education, political experience, and some of the greatest minds of their generation, but human wisdom alone would not be enough to secure the future of the nation they were attempting to build.
Think about that moment.
These men were wrestling with whether this unprecedented experiment in self-government could survive. Yet in the midst of their deliberations, Franklin stood before them and acknowledged their dependence upon God.
I believe America has arrived at another such crossroads.
We cannot simply look to Washington, political parties, candidates, elections, courts, or human strategies to rescue our nation. We desperately need God. But seeking God has never meant withdrawing from the responsibilities He has placed before us. Franklin called those delegates to prayer in the very room where they were actively wrestling with the practical work of building a government.
That is the combination the Church needs to recover: dependence upon God coupled with faithful action.
Pastors, this is your moment to help awaken the Church. Teach your people to pray, but also teach them to stand. Help them understand what is happening in our nation and what Scripture says about it. Equip them to examine candidates and policies through the lens of Biblical truth, to participate in government, to speak when Biblical values are threatened, and to faithfully exercise the vote entrusted to them.
And Christians, do not leave the future of this nation entirely in someone else’s hands. Seek God. Know His Word. Understand the issues. Examine those who seek authority over you. Carry your Biblical convictions into the voting booth and into every other place where God has given you influence.
Nearly 240 years ago, when America’s founders found themselves struggling to determine the future of a young nation, Franklin asked them a question that reaches across the centuries:
“And have we now forgotten that powerful Friend?”
May our answer be no.
May the Church remember its responsibility. May pastors recover their voices. May Christians recover the understanding that our citizenship is a stewardship. May we seek God fervently for our nation and then have the courage to act upon the responsibilities He has placed before us.
We have prayed. We must continue to pray. But this is also a time to stand, speak, engage, and vote.
Perhaps what America needs at this critical crossroads is exactly what the title of the film suggests: A great awakening.
Sources: Breaking Christian News
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ഹൂസ്റ്റണിൽ എക്യുമെനിക്കൽ ബൈബിൾ കൺവെൻഷൻ ഒക്ടോബർ 16, 17 തീയതികളിൽ
ഹൂസ്റ്റൺ: ഇന്ത്യൻ ക്രിസ്ത്യൻ എക്യുമെനിക്കൽ കമ്മ്യൂണിറ്റി ഓഫ് ഹൂസ്റ്റണിന്റെ (ICECH) ആഭിമുഖ്യത്തിൽ 2026 ബൈബിൾ കൺവെൻഷൻ ഒക്ടോബർ 16, 17 തീയതികളിൽ (വെള്ളി, ശനി) വൈകുന്നേരം 6.30ന് ഗാനശുശ്രൂഷയോടു കൂടി ആരംഭിക്കും.
കൺവെൻഷൻ ഗായകസംഘം ഗാനശുശ്രൂഷയ്ക്കു നേതൃത്വം നൽകും.
ഹൂസ്റ്റണിലെ സെന്റ് തോമസ് ഇന്ത്യൻ ഓർത്തഡോക്സ് കത്തീഡ്രലിൽ (2411 5th St., Stafford, TX 77477) നടക്കുന്ന കൺവെൻഷനിൽ പ്രസിദ്ധ കൺവെൻഷൻ പ്രസംഗകൻ റവ. ഫാ. ഡേവിസ് ചിറമേൽ മുഖ്യ പ്രഭാഷകനായിരിക്കും.
സാമൂഹിക സേവന രംഗത്തെ ശ്രദ്ധേയമായ പ്രവർത്തനങ്ങളിലൂടെ അന്തർദേശീയ തലത്തിൽ ശ്രദ്ധ നേടിയിട്ടുള്ള ഫാ. ഡേവിസ് ചിറമേൽ കിഡ്നി ഫെഡറേഷൻ ഓഫ് ഇന്ത്യയുടെയും Accident Care and Transport Service (ACTS)-ന്റെയും സ്ഥാപകനാണ്. വൃക്കരോഗികൾക്ക് ചികിത്സാ സഹായം, ഡയാലിസിസ്, വൃക്കദാന ബോധവൽക്കരണം തുടങ്ങിയ പ്രവർത്തനങ്ങൾക്കായി കിഡ്നി ഫെഡറേഷൻ ഓഫ് ഇന്ത്യ പ്രവർത്തിച്ചുവരുന്നു.
2009-ൽ അപരിചിതനായ ഒരാൾക്ക് തന്റെ ഒരു വൃക്ക ദാനം ചെയ്തതിലൂടെയാണ് ഫാ. ഡേവിസ് ചിറമേൽ വൃക്കദാന ബോധവൽക്കരണ രംഗത്ത് ശ്രദ്ധേയനായത്. തുടർന്ന് നിരവധി സാമൂഹിക ക്ഷേമ, ജീവകാരുണ്യ പദ്ധതികൾക്കും അദ്ദേഹം നേതൃത്വം നൽകി.
ICECH പ്രസിഡന്റ് റവ. ഫാ. ഡോ. ഐസക് ബി. പ്രകാശ്, വൈസ് പ്രസിഡന്റ് റവ. ഫാ. ഡോ. ബിന്നി ഫിലിപ്പ്, സെക്രട്ടറി ഷാജൻ ജോർജ്, ട്രഷറർ രാജൻ അങ്ങാടിയിൽ, പ്രോഗ്രാം കോർഡിനേറ്റർ മിൽറ്റാ മാത്യു, ഗായകസംഘം കൺവീനർ ഡോ. അന്ന. കെ ഫിലിപ്പ് തുടങ്ങിയവരുടെ നേതൃത്തിൽ വിവിധ കമ്മിറ്റികൾ കൺവെൻഷന്റെ വിജയത്തിനായി പ്രവർത്തിച്ചു വരുന്നു.
ജാതിമത ഭേദമെന്യേ കൺവെൻഷനിൽ പങ്കെടുത്ത് അനുഗ്രഹം പ്രാപിക്കുന്നതിന് ഏവരെയും സ്വാഗതം ചെയ്യുന്നുവെന്ന് സംഘാടകർ അറിയിച്ചു.
Sources:globalindiannews
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