Mark Nonkes from World Vision attended the ceremony where the children were set free and said it’s the largest release of child soldiers ever in the country.

He told Premier: “That moment was just absolute jubilation. The children were excited, their families were excited, and the community was excited. Everyone was very happy that these children were released from their duties in the armed fighting.”

The charity said although the release is a major victory, many of the children have been active in fighting, and some have experienced sexual and gender-based violence.

“They’ve been through literal hell,” Nonkes said.

“We’ve talked to children who have been forced to shoot family members. We’ve talked to children who have been sexually assaulted. Almost all of them were abducted, some at school, some on their way to a garden. They’ve witnessed the worst humanity has.”

Fifteen-year-old Victor is among the children released. He was abducted and forced to be an informant for an armed group for more than a year.

“They told me to go near the road and if I heard the sound of a car coming, I went and reported it,” he explained. “Then they would come and take the car. They would shoot at it [and] they would burn it. The people inside the cars would sometimes escape and run. Other times they would be killed.”

Michelle Donelan, MP for Chippenham, asked the Prime Minister if part of the international aid budget should be earmarked for Christians suffering persecution.

Speaking during Premier Minister’s Questions about the ‘horrific persecution’ many Christians face, she said: “We need to take action and send a signal to other nations.”

The Prime Minister answered: “We are working with governments, the international community and the United Nations to support the rights of minorities and to ensure our aid does reach those in need. But we will of course further explore what more support we can give to ‘knock’ the persecution of religious minorities.”

Theresa May also spoke of a meeting she had recently had with an Iraqi Christian leader: “I was pleased, a matter of weeks ago, to meet Father Daniel from Nineveh who talked about the very real persecution that his congregation were suffering and had suffered in the past.

“He presented me with a Bible which was burnt, which had been rescued, when a church had been set on fire.”

The exchange in PMQs comes after the publication of the World Watch List – an in-depth report, which ranks the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.

The data from the report comes from information provided by Open Doors and independent experts.

Zoe Smith, a spokesperson for Open Doors UK…

Gloria Copeland runs a charismatic ministry with her husband Kenneth Copeland in America and released a video online where she told her viewers that Jesus bore all our sufferings on the cross.

In the video she said: “Listen partner, we don’t have a flu season… we’ve already had our shot, he bore our sicknesses and carried our diseases.

“By his stripes we were healed.”

She then went on to pray for people who already have symptoms of the flu: “Jesus himself gave us the flu shot – he redeemed us from the curse of flu,” she added.

Copeland also said that if her viewers tell themselves they won’t get the flu, they won’t get it.

“Just keep saying that ‘I’ll never have the flu’… inoculate yourself with the word of God.”

53 children in the US have died from the flu as of the end of January and 80 per cent of those children hadn’t had a flu jab according to the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

Gloria Copeland has been a religious advisor to president Donald Trump but Politico reported that Johnnie Moore, the unofficial spokesman for Trump’s evangelical advisory council, said the council did not support Copeland’s position.

“We don’t agree with that statement,” he said. “I don’t know a single person in the White House who would agree with that.”

Stay up to date with the latest news stories from a Christian perspective. Sign up to our daily…