Violence at a funeral in Jordan and two global assemblies frame Week 44 of 2026: the World Evangelical Alliance condemned a shooting that killed seven mourners, while reports from 24 federations delivered to the Nairobi assembly and from more than a hundred alliance leaders in Costa Rica took stock of the worldwide free church family. Europe supplies most of the week's other stories — German restructuring, Nordic ministry, Czech public witness — with a Congolese training programme tying the two continents together.
Jordan — mourners shot at a village funeral
Masked gunmen fired on a church funeral in Hmoud, a village in Karak Governorate south of Amman, killing seven people and wounding 28. In a statement issued on 23 October, the World Evangelical Alliance condemned the killings, rejecting violence “without qualification” whatever justification is offered, and appealing for restraint. Secretary general Botrus Mansour extended solidarity to the victims and their families and asked Christians worldwide to pray for Jordan, its leaders and its security services. The alliance also warned against letting the killings inflame sectarian division, calling national unity and social cohesion foundations of the country's stability, and closed with Paul's counsel in Romans 12:18 to live at peace with everyone. World Evangelical Alliance
World — what 24 federations reported to IFFEC
Written reports from 24 member federations, submitted to the International Federation of Free Evangelical Churches at its Nairobi assembly from 28 September to 3 October, sketch a network of at least 549,000 members in over 4,340 congregations. Europe, Asia, Latin America, North America and the Middle East all appear among the settings. The figures are self-reported, not audited. Read together, the answers to five common questions — joys, challenges, vision, prayer requests and a word in their own voice — show churches of very different size facing a shared agenda. Leadership is the loudest concern: at least ten federations describe vacant pulpits, ageing pastors or too few recruits, and several are rebuilding training through online, part-time and dual-track programmes, with a regional theological faculty planned for Latin America. Church planting appears in almost every vision statement, though some admit it has proved harder than expected, and two European federations report awakening among young people.
Latin America — alliances set a three-year course in San José
More than 100 leaders from national evangelical alliances in over 20 countries met in San José, Costa Rica, from 12 to 16 October for the 13th General Assembly of the Alianza Evangélica Latina under the theme “Alignment, Advancement, and Mission”. Twelve coordinators represented the body's 14 technical commissions, and five organisations applied for associate membership, raising that category to 37. The alliance's advisory team said its five-year strategic plan stands at 80 per cent implementation. President Juan Cruz Cellammare said delegates weighed the church's mission, the alignment the alliances need and the advance of the Kingdom, including religious freedom and relations with government. World Evangelical Alliance secretary general Botrus Mansour gave five presentations, arguing from the Samaritan woman and David Bebbington's four hallmarks that core convictions unite evangelicals while secondary differences can be celebrated. World Evangelical Alliance
Germany — FeG appoints its first General Secretary
At a special federal assembly in Coburg on 17 October, the Bund Freier evangelischer Gemeinden elected Sascha Rützenhoff as its first General Secretary, continuing a restructuring begun at September's Bundestag in Solingen. Rützenhoff, fourteen years on the federation's leadership body and head of domestic mission since 2013, takes a six-year term; from 1 January 2027 he will lead day-to-day work alongside Präses Henrik Otto and managing director Guido Sadler, describing himself as a facilitator who prefers accompaniment to control. The assembly also named leaders for four of five new focus fields, leaving “winning the younger generation” to an interim arrangement. Delegates asked why no woman was nominated for the top post, and Otto conceded the process had not been well communicated. A 2027 budget passed unanimously. FeG Deutschland
DR Congo — family-planning training reaches 32 health workers
Equmeniakyrkan, the Swedish free church federation, funded a week-long family-planning course in Semendua, in Mai-Ndombe province, for 32 health workers drawn from 18 facilities. Dr Adolphe Biakabuswa, director of Luyindo Hospital in Kinshasa, taught skills aimed at lowering maternal and infant mortality; some participants travelled for hours by motorcycle, and a group from Oshwe spent two days on the Lukenie River before continuing overland. Biakabuswa said a week is “not really enough” but provides a foundation, and the group will keep in touch by WhatsApp. The same newsletter announced a three-year HIV and AIDS programme at the IME hospital in Kimpese, run with the Disciples of Christ and the World Council of Churches. Equmeniakyrkan
Finland — youth festival turns on holiness and repentance
Valtakunta, Finnish for “Kingdom”, drew young people aged 15 and over to Seinäjoki for three days, with main sessions in the Syke sports hall and organisation shared by the Seinäjoki Free Church and Suomen Vapaakirkon Nuoret. Teaching under the headings “Before Holiness” and “Change of Direction” came from several speakers, among them Henna Puolakanaho and Markus Nikkanen, who is acting rector of the Finnish Theological Institute. A volunteer writing for Suomen Viikkolehti described teenagers queueing for prayer ministry from the first session and speaking of release from sin and shame. Oiva Lappalainen gave the opening address. Floorball, an escape room and workshops filled the rest of the weekend; youth workers said the response suggested many were taking faith seriously amid pressure in daily life. Suomen Vapaakirkko
Czech Republic — Brethren council defends public broadcasters
The Council of the Church of the Brethren has urged Czech legislators not to compromise the independence of the country's public service media, publishing its statement on 25 October as Parliament moved quickly on changes to how Czech Television and Czech Radio are financed. Chairman David Novák, with vice-chairmen Bronislav Matulík and Tadeáš Filipek, placed the broadcasters alongside civil society and independent courts as safeguards of democracy, expressed support for both institutions and backed retaining the present licence-fee model rather than the proposed alternative. The council asked deputies to act wisely and closed by hoping they would decide for the country's citizens, assuring them of the church's prayers. The Church of the Brethren is one of the Czech Republic's free evangelical denominations. Církev bratrská
Czech Republic — Baptist-led teams plan Turkey trips for 2027–28
The mission department of the Czech Baptist Union, working with Turkish congregations, is recruiting volunteers for week-long interdenominational trips to Turkey in autumn 2027 and spring 2028. The visits will concentrate on university students and on support for emerging mission stations around İzmir and Gaziantep. The invitation appears on the portal of the Church of the Brethren and is explicitly open to Christians from other churches. With roughly 85 million inhabitants and a small Protestant community, Turkey is approached through friendship and practical service rather than public campaigns; earlier teams lectured at universities including Bergama, joined in sport and Bible discussion, and repaired and painted local schools. Organisers list encouragement for local believers, relationship-building in parks and cafés, and growth in teamwork and cultural understanding as their aims. Církev bratrská / Brána
Estonia — seminary moves its courses into congregations
Through October the seminary of the Estonian Evangelical Christian-Baptist Union has taught in local churches rather than on campus. Two continuing-education courses ran on site this month, both backed by Estonia's Ministry of the Interior and drawing visitors from beyond the host congregation. At Kärdla Baptist Church on the island of Hiiumaa, Monika Lige and Einike Pilli taught on loss, grief and healing relationships; at Tartu Salem Baptist Church, Aleksander Pulver and Ruth Shimmo led a course on thankfulness in relationships. The seminary presents this as part of a wider commitment to adult learning, not a sideline to its degree work. The month also brought training for its own mentors on mentoring in a neurobiological setting, and a change-management course that rector Einike Pilli led for managers of the Sõbralt Sõbrale charity shops. EKB
Sweden — denomination reaches ordained ministers in other work
Equmeniakyrkan believes hundreds of its ordained ministers now earn a living outside paid congregational service, at a moment when parishes lack pastors and deacons. Region Mitt will gather that group for an online meeting on 18 November — one part of a wider attempt to keep them tied to the church and, where possible, draw some back into parish ministry. Regional leader P-O Byrskog knows the pattern personally: through years in technical sales he kept serving part-time as a pastor, sometimes unpaid. “I was a pastor the whole time,” he told Sändaren, saying the commercial role gave him contacts far beyond the congregation. He conceded that the meetings are also recruitment, that some carry wounds from earlier posts, and that not everyone is called to parish service. Sändaren
Sweden — new pastors ask for the countryside, not the cities
Of the 19 candidates entering Equmeniakyrkan's supervised guidance year — eleven pastors and eight deacons — most have asked for rural districts, small towns and local communities. None of the pastors requested Stockholm or Malmö, and the few open to Gothenburg preferred to avoid the centre. Sändaren reported the figures on 20 October. The preferences answer a worry raised earlier in the autumn, when small congregations in Dalsland began exploring a shared appointment because none could attract a minister alone. Linnéa Lidskog, who coordinates ordained staff, told the paper she believes God does call people to the countryside, and noted that city parishes also struggle to recruit, since few are willing to move to the capital to begin ministry. The guidance year shapes where the next generation will serve. Sändaren
Finland — how a free church settled its teaching on baptism
Suomen Viikkolehti has traced how the Finnish Free Church arrived at its understanding of baptism, after a seminar raised questions both practical and doctrinal: who may be baptised, whether membership depends on it, and what it has to do with forgiveness. The church has no confessional documents defining the sacrament, the article notes; answers grew out of the nineteenth-century awakening, where personal faith mattered most and doctrine was addressed when congregational life demanded it. A principle of freedom shaped the outcome. Hjalmar Braxén, baptised as a believer in 1886, held that each Christian should form a view and that baptism neither divides nor unites. The 1923 founding assembly recommended believer's baptism without compulsion; a 1951 church order affirmed the individual's right to follow the practice received from Scripture; and by the early 1970s immersion of believers was the rule, freedom intact. Suomen Vapaakirkko
Faroe Islands — a small archipelago and a large question for secularisation theory
Collin Hansen, writing for The Gospel Coalition after visiting the Faroes, asks why the gospel fares better there than almost anywhere else in the Nordic region, and finds an answer that unsettles the standard account. The familiar story says prosperity produces secularity; the islands' income per head now tops Denmark's, thanks largely to salmon farming, yet their churches have not emptied. Hansen suggests secularism may be a philosophical fashion that took hold in the West between the 1860s and 1960s, and that cultures developing later escaped its full force. He also points to the Brethren missionary and Bible translator Victor Danielsen, whose Faroese New Testament appeared in 1937, a year before the language won a place in churches and schools. The movement, he argues, grew by championing ordinary islanders, not merely by opposing the state church. The Gospel Coalition
Preaching — why a sermon assistant worries a pastor
Mike Bullmore, writing for The Gospel Coalition, recalls answering an email from a company selling an AI sermon assistant and asking them to shut it down — he had assumed a person was writing. His case rests on Paul's charge to Timothy to be an approved worker who rightly handles the word of truth, where the emphasis falls on work, and on Ezra, who studied the Law before practising and teaching it. The question for preachers is not whether a tool can produce a usable sermon but what they forfeit by handing the task over: often exactly the prolonged thought and prayer that form both the sermon and the preacher. Bullmore allows that AI may have some small use, but urges preachers to employ it “ever so sparingly and briefly”. The Gospel Coalition
Sweden — free churches seek workable anti-money-laundering rules
Equmeniakyrkan has answered the Swedish government's consultation on the European Union's latest anti-money-laundering package, welcoming the effort against laundering and terrorist finance while asking that the rules fit how local congregations actually work. In many of its churches, administration and finances rest on volunteers rather than paid staff, so registration and record-keeping duties must stay simple and must not become an unreasonable burden, the denomination argues. It wants clear guidance, sensible deadlines and a chance to correct honest mistakes before penalties apply. The response adds a broader point: a sound framework should also protect the people whose voluntary service sustains congregational life. Formed in 2011 by the merger of three Swedish free church bodies, Equmeniakyrkan is among the country's largest free church communities. Equmeniakyrkan
Finland — a free church family teaches four children at home
For Mats and Jenny Gädda, school begins at the kitchen table. The couple educate their four children — Ester, Emanuel, Samuel and David, aged twelve, nine, seven and four — opening each day with exercise, a short devotion and breakfast before mathematics or mother tongue. Two convictions underlie the choice, they tell Missionskyrkan Finland: parents answer to God for their children's upbringing, and the family wanted more freedom in daily life. Mats raised the idea after meeting adults who had been taught at home; Jenny was unsure she could manage and worried about social needs. Finnish law requires education but not schooling, and a municipal teacher reviews progress about once a year — oversight the parents would gladly see more often. Textbooks, low screen time, courses at the Närpes adult institute and weekly meetings with other home-schooling families fill out the week. Missionskyrkan Finland
Sweden — youth movement weighs a clarifying new name
Equmenia, the Swedish free-church children's and youth organisation, has reduced a possible renaming to one candidate: “Equmenia ung”, or Equmenia Young. Arguments for and against will be aired at the Boost festival conference in Tierp on 20–22 November, and only after those conversations will the board decide whether to bring a proposal to the 2027 national assembly; nothing will be settled at Boost itself. Confusion with the larger Equmeniakyrkan prompted the discussion, which began in February when Sändaren reported the overlap. A 2025 survey of 440 people found 62 per cent saying the names are always or often mixed up, and 72 per cent expecting clarity to help their local group. General secretary Marcus Lind has argued that because his organisation is smaller, it is the one that disappears from view. Sändaren
Switzerland — a unity gathering marks ten years
One', the inter-church event that took the place of the French-speaking Free Evangelical Churches' annual assembly, is ten years old, and its organisers say the founding bet — that unity deserves a shared gathering — has held. About ten FREE pastors conceived it in 2016 as a meeting crossing both congregational and organisational lines. The next edition keeps the first Saturday of November, now at Espace Gruyère in Bulle, with partners including the Salvation Army, Operation Mobilisation, Compassion, the Bible Reading League and Medair. Organisers aimed at adults aged 20 to 35 without excluding other generations. This year adds a renewed Bible study, testimony slots called “One' Story” and guided prayer. Committee chair Sébastien Demierre says themes are prayed over and tested against the Nicene-Constantinople creed, with contested subjects handled by specialists — though Israel was judged too polarising to include. La FREE
For WWES, this week's reports amount to a single argument about formation. The IFFEC federation reports name too few pastors as their commonest anxiety; Estonia's seminary is answering that by teaching inside congregations; Finland's account of baptism shows doctrine being worked out patiently across decades; and the Congo training pairs Swedish support with Congolese expertise. Worldwide Evangelical Seminary exists for the same work — equipping free church leaders where they already serve, through theological education that is faithful, practical and accessible.
The Connexion is provided by Worldwide Evangelical Seminary — forming free church leaders for faithful ministry worldwide.
