Winter Olympics, Summit 20, & Encouraging Trends

Transcript

The United States and NBC must counter the falsehoods of the Chinese Communist Party during the 2022 Winter Olympics that opened last week in Beijing, according to participants in an Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission webinar on February 1.

Asian expert Michael Sobolik told the online audience China used ethnic minorities performing in the opening ceremonies “to push a lie – that China is unified, that everyone loves political life under the Chinese Communist Party, and there’s nothing to see here.”

Rushan Abbas, executive director of the Campaign for Uyghurs, told webinar Olympics’ viewers to think about the Uyghurs “being held in dark dungeons and concentration camps and also how the government is using this Olympic games to legitimize the genocide and modern day slavery.”

The Summit Church in Raleigh, North Carolina is celebrating 20 years of ministry. While there may be many churches that are older than Summit, not many have made the kingdom impact they’ve made.

Summit started with 300 members in December 2001. Today, they have 12 campuses with more than 12,000 members.

They’ve also sent more than 300 people to the mission field. That means they’ve sent more people to the mission field than they started with in 2001.

The church has also planted hundreds of churches. It’s estimated that more than 26,000 people worship in a church connected to Summit every Sunday.

May God continue to raise up many more churches making solid kingdom impact.

Good News for Today is made possible through our friends at The Voice of the Martyrs, a nonprofit organization that serves persecuted Christians around the world. Founded in 1967 by Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand, VOM is dedicated to inspiring believers to deepen their commitment to Christ and to fulfill His Great Commission — no matter the cost. Find out more and sign up for their free monthly magazine at vom.org/goodnews.

The Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary is out with seven encouraging trends they see in the world. You can read the full piece with lots of commentary at Baptist Press.

Here are the trends…

1. The number of people with religious faith is growing faster those claiming no faith.
2. Christianity is on the rise across the globe.
3. Growth is the fastest in the global south.
4. Christianity continues to spread out from urban areas.
5. The percentage of non-Christians who know a Christian is climbing.
6. More than 90 million Bibles will be printed this year.
7. Fewer Christians are dying for their faith.

   The study says regardless of declines noticed in the United States, Christianity is growing across the world.

   Get more news at BaptistPress.com.