‘I am currently under threat of death for preaching’ – Colombian pastor

During the 50 years conflict between Colombia's government and main rebel group, FARC-EP, churches were threatened and hundreds of church leaders assassinated by armed groups. (Photo: World Watch Monitor, 2012)
Violence in Colombia has killed 200,000 people and caused around 7 million to flee their homes over the past 50 years, making them the world’s largest internally displaced group of people, World Magazine reported last week. Violence is especially severe in rural areas. At the border with Venezuela, the magazine . . . Read More

International Youth Day: Young Christians want to build peace

After years of war Colombia's young men and women want peace. (Photo: Open Doors International)
Ahead of the UN’s International Youth Day on 12 August, which this year has “Youth Building Peace” as its theme, World Watch Monitor takes a look at some of the challenges facing young Christians around the world and how they try to contribute to building peaceful societies. Many of the world’s . . . Read More

US missionary receives award for ‘changing hearts’ among Colombia’s FARC

Russell Stendal, right, meets with FARC negotiators Yuri Camargo, left; and Noel Pérez, center, in Cuba in Early 2015.
Russ Stendal.World Watch Monitor   An American missionary has received an award for his decades of work ministering to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or the FARC, whose 50-year fight against the government had been the world’s longest continuous war when it ended in a peace agreement last August. . . . Read More

Church split as Colombians reject FARC deal

The saga rolls on. After four years of peace talks and more than half a century of armed conflict, the Colombian people have rejected the government’s negotiated truce with the country’s largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Since its inception in 1964, the FARC has – . . . Read More