CENSORSHIP IN CHINA
The Christian Post reports that internet censorship targeting Christians in China has become so severe that even official government-sanctioned Christian groups are now using the Chinese pinyin initials “JD” to replace Chinese characters for “Christ,” according to U.S.-based China Aid. In one official WeChat store, not only ‘Christ’ becomes ‘JD,’ ‘Jesus’ also becomes ‘YS,’ and ‘Bible’ becomes SJ’.

TITHE-THE-TITHE
Alfred Street Baptist Church, a predominantly Black church in Alexandria, Virginia, has donated more than $1,000,000 to various organizations to help those affected by the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic. According to Christian Headlines, the money came from excess tithes that the church didn’t need to run. It was part of an initiative called “Tithe-The-Tithe.”

FESTIVAL HALL SOLD
Melbourne’s iconic Festival Hall has been purchased by Hillsong Church. Reports in various media suggest that the property was sold for more than $23 million.

TIKTOK AND THE GOSPEL
Eternity News reports that TikTok, the short video app that boasts about 800 million active users worldwide, has something even more powerful than humorous dance videos on it: the gospel. Operation 513, a collection of young street evangelists, have produced material on the TikTok platform and their gospel videos have racked up hundreds of thousands of views. One of the videos has over 700 thousand views. Their channel may be seen at needgod.net

AUDIO BIBLE IN ‘3D SOUND’
According to Christian Headlines, a Polish filmmaker is working on an Audio Bible to provide listeners with a cinematic audio experience of the Scriptures. Casting for the project will feature hundreds of voice actors, ranging from A-list Hollywood actors to everyday people. The production is through a binaural recording, an audio technique that is meant to provide a ‘3D sound’, especially when using headphones.

PRAYERS FOR THE MEDIA
Christians and churches of all denominations are being urged to pray for the media on Sunday 1st November. The appeal comes from Christians in Media, a network working across all forms of global media.

THE BIBLE IN SIGN LANGUAGE
Christianity Today reports that after 39 years’ work, a sign language (American) translation of The Bible Is Now Complete. Work on translating the Bible into American Sign Language started in 1981 with Duane King, a minister in the Independent Christian Church. Pastor King had learned to sign after meeting a deaf Christian couple who told him they avoided going to church because they did not understand what was going on. Pastor King and his wife, Peggy, then started a church for the deaf and started work on the sign language Bible.

CHRISTIANS IN EGYPT
According to The Christian Post, the situation for Christians in Egypt is ‘better now than it has been for a long time.’ Darrell Bock, a Christian professor recently visited the nation where he met with a group of 70 Protestant Egyptian leaders who told him that improvement in conditions for the Christian minority was ‘huge’. However, he says there are still areas in the country, where there is violence against the Christian Church About 10% of Egypt is Christian. Barely 1% are evangelical Protestant. Since 2017 more than 1,600 churches have been given legal recognition.

A HILLSONG BOOK
Grammy Award-winning group Hillsong Worship has released a children’s book named after their popular song What A Beautiful Name. The book, written by Hillsong’s Brooke Ligertwood and Ben Fielding and their spouses, presents the themes mentioned in the worship song to young readers in a fun enjoyable way.