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PHILADELPHIA – In efforts to help the global poor, Christians need to listen, build friendships, and break down the power gap with those they serve, explained Stephen Bauman, president and CEO of World Relief, in a Saturday interview with The Christian Post at The Justice Conference.

The image of the white savior is a powerful one in relief efforts, many have observed. While well-intentioned, Westerners can perpetuate the power differential between themselves and those they serve. Bauman told a story of how he experienced this problem himself after he went to Africa in 1994. more >>

Peter Deyneka Russian Ministries, which works to evangelize and mobilize Christian leadership throughout Eurasia, has recently brought to light the plight of Thomas Kang, a pastor from San Diego, Calif., who has been imprisoned in Russia on a bribery charge for the past five months.

The so called "bribe," as referred to by Russian authorities, was actually a $30 donation he provided along with a fully-paid fine, according to Peter Deyneka Russian Ministries.

Kang, a Korean-born, naturalized U.S. citizen, has reportedly been living in Russia for the past nine years, building the "House of Joy," a large home meant to serve as a retreat destination for low-income families of soldiers, as well as a place for Christian worship. more >>

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Pastor Abdi Ali Hamzah might be released from Iraqi prison after Dr. Terry Law of World Compassion Ministries met with high-ranking government officials and petitioned for his freedom.

"We need a continued focus of prayer over the next week or so as we continue to go through the appeal process," Jason Law, vice president of Operations and the son of Dr. Terry Law, shared in an email with The Christian Post on Friday. "We have high expectations for his release soon." more >>

Pastor Saeed Abedini, the American pastor serving an 8-year sentence in Tehran, Iran, is being pressured into converting back to Islam, but he has said that that will never happen.

"After all of these pressures, after all of the nails they have pressed against my hands and feet, they are only waiting for one thing…for me to deny Christ," Abedini wrote in a letter obtained by the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), who is representing his wife and two children back in America.

The pastor, however, has said that "they will never get this from me," and expressed his gratitude to the over 260,000 people who have signed a petition calling for his release. more >>

The head of Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church, Coptic Patriarch Tawadros II, has insisted that statements attributed to him in Middle Eastern newspapers, saying the country's rulers should be obeyed, are entirely false.

"I did not say these words," Coptic Patriarch Tawadros II said Wednesday to demonstrators protesting against recent statements attributed to him. "What you read in the websites and newspapers is incorrect."

A group of Copts organized a demonstration Wednesday at Cairo's St. Mark Cathedral to protest the statements published in Middle Eastern newspapers. more >>

Brother Andrew has a natural kindness to him that makes those around him – even people meeting him for the first time – feel at ease and as if they've known him for years. Perhaps this gift is part of the reason why the Open Doors founder has been so successful in befriending Hamas, Taliban, and other Muslim extremist leaders, while openly sharing his Christian faith with them. Open Doors is an international ministry that assists persecuted Christians around the world.

The Christian Post recently sat down with Brother Andrew to look back at the beginning of his ministry as a Bible smuggler behind the Iron Curtain, to get his take on how American megachurch pastors are doing on advocating for persecuted Christians, to hear about what's it like to evangelize people and lose them to war, and to see if this 84-year-old man has plans to slow down.

Below is an edited transcript of the interview. more >>