Weekly Bulletin on the Persecution
of Christians Worldwide
25 August 2026
The Universal Christian Church of New Jerusalem publishes a weekly digest highlighting key developments relating to the persecution of Christianity worldwide.
Cameroon
On 10 August, Boko Haram militants abducted two Christians from two different communities in the village of Mahoula, which is located in the Mayo-Sava department of the Far North region.
China
On 10 August, a preliminary hearing was held in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, in the ‘fraud’ proceedings against three leaders of the Light of Zion Church, an unregistered Protestant house church that has been active for almost forty years. Prosecutors have classified voluntary offerings, tithes and the purchase of religious literature by congregants as the proceeds of fraud. The community’s leader, Pastor Gao Quanfu, faces 12 to 13 years in prison.
India
On Sunday 16 August, a group of men disrupted a Catholic funeral at St Claret’s Catholic Church cemetery in Sahanagar, near Memari in the Purba Bardhaman district of West Bengal. They vandalised the graveyard, assaulted mourners, and exhumed a body that had already been buried. The local police refused to register the formal complaint filed by the parish priest, Fr Samuel Hembrom.
On the same day, in Dharma Rohilla (Medinipur district, West Bengal), a mob of Hindu extremists stormed a house where a prayer meeting was taking place, accusing the participants of unlawful conversions. The attackers beat the Protestant worshippers — mostly women — for nearly three hours. The assailants then contacted the police themselves, who detained sixteen women and four men. Six Protestant Christians remain in custody.
On 18 August, in Satgachia (in the Purba Bardhaman district), a mob of Hindu extremists broke into the home of Pastor Joy Sutradhar, who had served the village for over twenty years. Accusing him of forced conversions, the mob assaulted him and demanded that he leave the area immediately.
On 22 August, India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED), the federal financial crimes agency, raided two properties in Rajasthan linked to Pastor Ravi Mohan Pahadiya, head of Hope Ministries India, seizing documents and electronic devices. The pastor is accused of receiving 28.8 million rupees in foreign donations without mandatory registration under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), allegedly using the funds to convert members of the Bhil tribal and Valmiki Dalit communities.
On Sunday 23 August, militants claiming affiliation with Hindu nationalist organisations, including the Vishva Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal and Durga Vahini, disrupted a Sunday prayer service in Kathauli, Prayagraj district, Uttar Pradesh. They harassed and manhandled worshippers before calling the police on the grounds of alleged forced conversions. Officers subsequently detained five Christians.
Myanmar
On 17 August, the United Wa State Army (UWSA) ordered the closure of dozens of Christian churches across the Wa Self-Administered Division in Shan State, including around twenty in Panghsang alone. In Mong Pauk, authorities arrested a local pastor and a resident. While an armed group spokesperson cited the infiltration of a religious movement from China as the reason for the closures, a Catholic priest from northern Shan State denounced them as a blatant violation of religious freedom.
Nigeria
On 9 August, Fulani militants abducted seven Christians, including a couple and their four-month-old baby, while they were valuating a plot of land in Ndegwu (Owerri West Local Government Area, Imo State). The captives were held in the forest for three days without food or water, and were beaten with machetes and sticks.
Then, on Sunday 16 August, around one hundred Fulani militants raided the village of Jwak Maitumbi in Mangu County, Plateau State, while residents were preparing for Sunday services. More than thirty Christians were killed and over fifty structures, including homes, shops, medical clinics and churches, were set alight.
The following day, Boko Haram militants attacked the Christian community of Dhang in the Gaya district (Hong County, Adamawa State), killing between five and eight people and setting fire to two homes with occupants inside. Hours later, a secondary attack along the Gaya–Dhang corridor resulted in the abduction of four Christian girls.
Late that night, Fulani militants launched near-simultaneous raids on three Christian villages south of Jos: Rim (Riyom County), as well as Chakfem and Bin Mper (Mangu County). Twenty-seven Christians were killed, mostly in Bin Mper.
The following day, gunmen abducted the Catholic catechist of St John’s Ungwar Mulki, a satellite parish of St Peter’s Catholic Church in Rumi (Diocese of Zaira) and murdered his eldest son. A third Christian was injured and later died in hospital.
On Sunday 23 August, Fulani militants carried out a daylight raid on the Christian villages of Tanjol and Tarai in the Jol district (Riyom County, Plateau State), killing a security officer. One civilian remains missing. Tanjol had previously been targeted on 5 August, as reported in the 11 August bulletin.
Somalia
On Saturday 15 August, four Muslim men stormed a women’s Bible study session in Afmadow (Lower Juba region) and beat the Christian attendees with sticks. They then pursued Sophia Ibrahim, a convert to Christianity since 2022, to her home, where they struck her on the head with a machete. She was left unconscious for four hours and was discharged from hospital on 19 August.
In fervent prayer, the Holy Mother Church conveys her solidarity to these persecuted Christian who persevere in the one saving faith.
“Rejoice in hope,
be patient in tribulation,
be constant in prayer”
(Rm 12:12)