Weekly briefing · Oct 7 – Oct 13, 2026
This Week in Kingdom News
9 stories from Oct 7 – Oct 13, 2026: what God is doing around the world, who needs prayer, and what it means — every story sourced. Leading this week: A Mufti's Son, a Dream of Light, and 13 Lost Teeth: Ahmed Joktan's Call to Share the Gospel.
The story of the week
A Mufti's Son, a Dream of Light, and 13 Lost Teeth: Ahmed Joktan's Call to Share the Gospel
Ahmed Joktan grew up in Saudi Arabia, the son of a mufti. A dream while studying in New Zealand led him to Jesus — and when his family found his Bible, he was beaten and lost 13 teeth. Now he urges Christians: share the gospel with Muslims, without fear.
Good news
1 storyRevival, baptisms and lives changed.
Pray
4 storiesThe persecuted church and the people who need prayer now.
Cuban Pastor Jailed After Calling Christians to Pray — While His Daughter Is in Hospital
Pastor Maikel Pupo Velázquez of an unregistered church in Camagüey, Cuba, was arrested on 26 September while notifying people that a public prayer event had been cancelled. He is now held at La Cerámica Roja prison; his 16-year-old daughter is in hospital receiving cardiac treatment.
Pakistan's Supreme Court Upholds Christian's Death Sentence — and Frees His Brother
On 7 October Pakistan's Supreme Court upheld the death sentence of Qaiser Ayub, a 49-year-old Christian from Lahore accused in 2010 of posting blasphemous material, while his brother Amoon was acquitted and released. Their lawyers plan a revision petition.
Prayer Alert: Health Fears for Pastor Wang Yi as China Renews Pressure on Early Rain Church
Advocacy groups say Pastor Wang Yi of Chengdu's Early Rain Covenant Church — jailed since December 2018 on a nine-year sentence — may have late-stage liver cancer. Meanwhile police detained 11 church members, mostly over 60, at a teahouse reading group in September.
Shot Walking to Church: Pastor Among Those Killed as Plateau State Imposes Curfew
Over the weekend of 19–20 September, attacks in Plateau State's Barkin Ladi and Riyom areas killed at least nine people, among them a pastor shot while walking to a church service at Dorowa Babuje. The state imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on three local government areas.
Mission and outreach
2 storiesThe gospel going out — and the church showing up.
Burma's Christians Bought the House Where Adoniram Judson Was Born
Adoniram Judson sailed for Asia in 1812 and spent decades translating the Bible into Burmese. Today, Burmese diaspora Christians own his birthplace at 145 Main Street, Malden — bought for $875,000 — and use it to tell his story and house students.
'If It Were Not for My Church, I Would Have Died': Kenyan Churches Care for Abandoned Older Men
Friends Church and The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ Ministry are visiting, feeding and caring for older men left alone in western Kenya — where research shows a steep rise in suicide risk among men over 50.
Culture, data and perspective
1 storyWhat the numbers say and how to think about them.
Looking for earlier weeks? Every story is in the October 2026 archive.