(RNS) — Before the coronavirus pandemic reached South Africa in early spring, 15-year-old Sandile Manyike and his family faithfully attended Mass at St. Martin de Porres, a vibrant 800-member Roman Catholic church in Orlando West, the township where Nelson Mandela lived before he was imprisoned.

But when his school and the church were closed to avoid the spread of COVID-19 three weeks before Easter, Manyike came up with an unusual solution: He decided to play the part of the priest himself.

Having rehearsed his parts in the Holy Week liturgies and in the choir, Manyike was disappointed to be deprived of the vibrant worship typical of South Africa’s township, with their joyful ululations, vigorous clapping, energetic beating of drums, melodic tapping of marimbas. With internet data prohibitively expensive for most of its parishioners, St. Martin’s is not able to livestream any of its services.

Manyike was determined, however, that he and his family wouldn’t be starved of the celebration of Mass.

“I want you to feel like you’re at church,” he told his skeptical grandmother to convince her to celebrate Easter under his direction.

Finally, he prayed to God. “I found myself asking God for forgiveness and asking God to let me do this sacrifice,” he said. “I know that I am not anointed in my hands yet, but please let me do it,” he begged God. “Something in my heart…

NEW DELHI, July 13, 2020 (Morning Star News) – Maoists in Maharashtra state killed a church pastor on Friday (July 10), the fourth death of a Christian for their faith in India since late May, sources said.

In Bhatpar village, Gadchiroli District in the western peninsular state, pastor Munshi Devu Tado was leading a worship service on his property for about 15 village families from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. when three armed men and three women escorted him away, said his wife, Jaini Munshi Tado.

“They shook hands with him at first, then took him by his hand and, after few steps, they tied his hands at his back with a rope,” she told Morning Star News. “I, my father-in-law and brother-in-law followed after them, pleading and enquiring as to why they are taking him. They said they just want to talk to him and that we need not worry, they will send him back in a little while.”

Family members continued to follow until the Maoists forcibly stopped them and pushed them away, throwing them to the ground, Jaini Munshi Tado said.

“Hardly five to seven minutes later, we heard a gunshot,” she said, weeping. “We immediately ran in the direction only to find the body of my husband in the pool of his blood, and the Maoists had gone. I wept bitterly, my husband was gone.”

Pastor Tado was estimated to be in his mid-thirties. He leaves behind four children, ages 6, 5, 4 and 1.

Villagers upset with the growth…

On July 10, Dr. Morris Cerullo, a well-known evangelist and Christian author, died from pneumonia complications at the age of 88.

Just one day before his passing, a prayer request for the international evangelist was posted to Cerrullo’s official Facebook page, CBN News reports.

The post noted that the evangelist was undergoing treatment for pneumonia at a hospital in San Diego, California. He would later pass away on Friday evening.

 A tribute to the evangelist was posted on his ministry’s website page, Morris Cerullo World Evangelism.

“Dr. Cerullo, affectionately known as “Papa” to millions across the globe who were touched by his decades of personal ministry, is known for his outreaches to people in more than 400 cities, 150 nations, and on 6 continents, in over 72 years of ministry.”

Cerullo was born on October 2, 1931 in Passaic New Jersey. Orphaned at 2 years old, the late evangelist was raised alongside his four siblings at a Jewish orphanage in Clifton, New Jersey.

Cerrullo lived at the orphanage until he was kicked out at 15 because of his conversion to Christianity.

Upon his newfound faith, Cerullo began preaching throughout local churches. Inspiration TV noted that Cerrullo pastored a 15-member congregation at age 21 while also serving as its janitor, maintenance man and landscaper.

God would later call Cerullo into international ministry leading him to found the Morris Cerullo…

Football commentator and well-known Christian Tony Dungy defended the sinlessness of Christ in a series of tweets last week after CNN’s Don Lemon said Jesus was not perfect. 

Lemon made the comment while discussing statues and monuments of the Founding Fathers.

“Jesus Christ, admittedly, was not perfect when He was here on this earth, so why are we deifying the Founders of this country?” Lemon said in a comment that sparked both debate and confusion.

Dungy, though gracious, pushed back on Lemon’s remark in a tweet. 

“I’m sorry Mr. Lemon but just who ‘admitted’ that Jesus Christ was not perfect here on earth? Not anyone who believes the Bible,” Dungy wrote. “Not anyone who trusts in Jesus as their savior. I’m not sure the point you’re making but your premise is dead wrong. That was the point in Jesus coming!”

I’m sorry Mr Lemon but just who “admitted” that Jesus Christ was not perfect here on earth? Not anyone who believes the Bible. Not anyone who trusts in Jesus as their savior. I’m not sure the point you’re making but your premise is dead wrong. That was the point in Jesus coming! https://t.co/KXUS9Z0GLA

— Tony Dungy (@TonyDungy) July 9, 2020

Dungy then defended the doctrine of Christ’s sinlessness in follow-up tweets with those on Twitter.  

When one person alleged that “a lot of stuff didn’t make it into the Bible due to…

A survey from Barna shows that one-third of practicing Christians have not been tuning into their church’s online worship service or another church’s streaming service during the coronavirus pandemic.

According to The Christian Post, the survey identified churchgoers as Christians who streamed their home church online, Christians who streamed another church’s service and Christians who have stopped “attending” church.

Half of practicing Christians millennials said they had not “attended” church in the past four weeks. In comparison, 35 percent of Gen X Christians and 26 percent of Baby Boomer Christians also said they were not streaming online worship services.

“Though younger generations might be more accustomed to digital routines and innovations, their tenuous relationship with institutions seems to persist during this era of digital church,” the Barna report said.

“These trends highlight the importance of churches continuing to reach out to and disciple the next generation, especially those who are seemingly falling away during the pandemic.”

The survey also looked at the impact the worship services seem to be making on Christians during the uncertainty of the pandemic.

“Respondents who have stopped attending church during COVID-19 are less likely than their peers who are still attending the same church during the pandemic to agree with the…

The American Civil Liberties Union is pressuring presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden to stick with his pledge to require taxpayer funding of abortion – and to act in the first 100 days if elected president.

The ACLU ran newspaper ads in the Washington Post and the Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday urging Biden to follow through with his promise to end the Hyde Amendment, according to the Huffington Post. The ads ask, “Vice President Biden, will you lead on reproductive rights?”

Biden formerly opposed the Hyde Amendment but changed his position last year under intense pressure from other Democrats during the campaign. The amendment is a congressional provision dating back to 1977 that prevents federal funds from being used to fund most abortions. The 2016 Democratic Platform opposed the amendment, but Biden voted for it during his time in the Senate.

“I can’t justify leaving millions of women without access to the care they need and the ability to … exercise their constitutionally protected right,” Biden said in 2019 in changing positions.

The ACLU also wrote the Biden campaign a letter this month, according to the Huffington Post. It called on him to end the Hyde Amendment and also the Weldon Amendment, which protects the conscience rights of hospitals and health care workers from forced involvement in abortion. It was first passed in 2004.

“After decades of…

(RNS) — For years, Donald Trump and administration officials have championed protecting religious freedom abroad — including for Christians persecuted for their faith — as a key foreign policy goal.

But according to a new report released Friday (July 10) from two Christian groups, the president is falling short of that goal when it comes to Christian refugees.

“The number of persecuted Christians to whom protection is available through the U.S. refugee resettlement program and the application of asylum laws has still been dramatically curtailed,” the report reads.

Entitled “Closed Doors: Persecuted Christians and the U.S. Refugee Resettlement and Asylum Processes,” the report was prepared by World Relief and Open Doors USA — both organizations that work on issues of immigration and religious persecution.

Their findings focus on the Trump administration’s drastic cuts to the refugee resettlement program, which has long been run in partnership with several religious organizations — including World Relief, an evangelical Christian group. According to the report, there has been a 90% reduction since 2015 in the number of persecuted Christians resettled in the United States.

During former President Barack Obama’s last year in office, the annual limit on refugee resettlement was set at 110,000 people. That number was slashed to 45,000 shortly after Trump took up…