In the front section of the New York Times on Sunday was a story on the ongoing destruction of churches and removal of crosses from church buildings. The article says as many as 1700 crosses have been taken down in the past two years in Zhejiang Province; Bob Fu, president of China Aid Association, told VOM Radio the number may be even higher.

In VOM's free monthly newsletter last February, we wrote about a church in India that was facing persecution.

The focus for VOM's free monthly newsletter in June is Christians facing persecution in Africa, with stories from Niger, Uganda and Kenya.

We have been following the case of two pastors in Sudan who are currently on trial and could, if convicted, face the death penalty. Earlier this week VOM's Todd Nettleton did an interview with Mission Network News about the case.

The son of a Cuban pastor was detained recently, while he was completing his mandatory military service. Gabriel Leyva was accused of anti-government activities. VOM spoke with his father.

The New Testament speaks about being persecuted for the name of Christ as a blessing, something that's hard to understand for many American Christians. But after they had been imprisoned and harassed by the religious leaders, the Apostles departed, "rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name" (Acts 5:41).

The world is watching as ISIS (which now simply calls itself IS, for "Islamic State") takes control of more and more territory in Iraq and Syria. But what does the growth of this radical Islamic group mean for Christians in that region?

VOM’s Todd Nettleton was interviewed by a reporter from Mission Network News earlier this week for a story about persecution in Nigeria. Here is the resulting story: