SANTA ANA, Calif. (BP) – Nigeria, Rwanda, China, Mozambique and Mexico were the most dangerous countries for Christians from 2023-2025 in five distinct categories of persecution, Global Christian Relief (GCR) said in its second annual Red List.

Nigeria leads in the category of killings, with 590 documented and verified killings from the study period of November 2023 – October 2025, GCR said, based on a total number of 1,972 killing in the top five countries in the category. Following are the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with 447 killings, Ethiopia with 177 killings, Russia with 167 killings, and Mozambique with 94.

U.S. President Donald Trump added Nigeria to the U.S. State Department’s list of Countries of Particular Concern in 2025, guilty of egregious and unchecked religious persecution, based on the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act. In December, the U.S. launched at least 16 Tomahawk missiles on targets in northwest Nigeria, but the impact has not been disclosed. [Read more…]

Preston and Kellie Garner leave the Tennessee Supreme Court, which met in Knoxville, following a hearing on Jan. 8. – Photo by Brandon Porter

KNOXVILLE (BP) – Tennessee Supreme Court justices sought clarity regarding the church autonomy doctrine Jan. 8 in a case focused on the Southern Baptist Convention’s protocols to address claims of sexual abuse.

Attorneys for Preston Garner, who has brought a defamation lawsuit against the SBC and others, asserted that a letter sent in the early days of 2023 stemming from a report to the SBC abuse hotline led to Garner’s dismissal at a Christian school and the simultaneous withdrawal of a job offer at a church.

Representation for the defendants said the matter was an example of “internal governance.” [Read more…]

Venezuelan protestors gathered outside of the New York Federal Courthouse in Brooklyn, New York. – Katie Godowski/MediaPunch /IPX

NASHVILLE (BP) – As the U.S extraction of now-former President Nicólas Maduro brought widespread celebration among Venezuelans amid pockets of protest inside and outside the country, Baptist leaders are calling on others to keep the country in consistent prayer for peace now and in times ahead.

The Venezuelan National Baptist Convention released a statement Jan. 3, the same day as the pre-dawn American military operation, calling for others to “remain in prayer before the throne of grace” and that God would bring “a climate of peace and calm that will allow Venezuelan society to overcome the current national situation.”

Bruno Molina, executive director of the National Hispanic Baptist Network, joined those thankful for the development. [Read more…]

As part of celebrations marking centennial anniversaries during the 2025 TBC Summit, messengers heard from a three-person panel on the continued importance of the Cooperative Program. The panel included Nick Glenn, pastor of Brown Baptist Church in Brownsville; Bruce Chesser, pastor of First Baptist Church Hendersonville; and James Griffith, pastor of South Harriman Baptist Church. – B&R file photo

NASHVILLE (BP) – The Cooperative Program (CP) landscape continues to change, but the rate of change may be slowing.

This fall, just five of the 42 state and regional Baptist conventions in the Southern Baptist family adjusted the percentage of CP receipts they forward to SBC causes. In comparison, 11 states made changes last year. Twenty-three made changes a decade ago.

Thirty-five state conventions kept their 2026 SBC percentages of CP the same as last year’s. Two state conventions (the Baptist General Convention of Texas and the Baptist General Association of Virginia) offer churches various giving plans for supporting out-of-state ministries, with CP being among the options.

“States seem to be stabilizing or moving to slightly larger distributions to the SBC,” SBC Executive Committee President Jeff Iorg said. [Read more…]