Testimony of a Greek woman.

A story about a day in a refugee center in Athens.

Believers from different nations and denominations gathered to worship God together in Athens, promoting unity amongst the city’s believers.

Beyond providing basic relief items, one OM worker spends time with refugees passing through Greece, listening to their stories and hopes.

A long-term worker overseeing refugee relief work on Lesbos describes the people he’s met on the island, the chances he’s had to share his faith and how God has shown up during the crisis.

OM worker witnesses a new openness towards God and the Gospel amongst the thousands of refugees on their way to Europe.

Relationships form and opportunities to share Christ follow as OM workers minister to those seeking refuge in Athens and beyond.

If God can speak to a national faith believer, and move him to cross continents to share his love for Jesus with other refugees, despite dangers and difficulties, what more might He achieve with more workers prepared to take the same risks for the gospel?

Lima, Peru, May 9, 2020 / 02:00 pm (CNA).- Peruvian congresswoman Luz Milagros Cayguaray Gambini has demanded the country’s health minister provide the legal and scientific basis for a directive that would allow abortion when a pregnant woman is infected with the novel coronavirus.

Abortion is illegal in Peru except when pregnancy would cause death or permanent harm to a pregnant woman.

On April 22, Peru’s Minister of Health Victor Zamora issued a directive calling for provision of emergency contraception in the country, and allowing abortion for pregnant women who test positive for the coronavirus.

In a May 5 letter, Cayguaray demanded Zamora to “Indicate what the legal basis” is for the directive that allows doctors to “end the pregnancy,” if the mother has contracted COVID-19.

The legislator also challenged Zamora to indicate “the scientific and medical basis the norm is based upon.”

At issue is whether a positive test for coronavirus is sufficient to establish that a pregnancy threatens the life of a woman. Gambini says that assertion is unproven and unfounded.

Cayguaray has also written to Dr. Enrique Guevara Ríos, director of the country’s Perinatal Maternal Institute, asking him to report how many pregnant women with COVID-19 have been treated to date, “how many have had their pregnancies terminated,” “on what grounds,” and “what current regulation has been applied to carry out the interruption of those pregnancies.”

The Arequipa Doctors for Life Association has criticized the health directive in a statement.

"At this time in which all our efforts as a nation should be aimed at improving our precarious health system to mitigate the serious impact of the pandemic, the circumstances are being used to dictate measures that threaten the lives of Peruvians in their most vulnerable stage, life in the womb,” the group said.

Regarding the “morning after pill,” the group expressed surprise and concern “that the Ministry of Health promotes the irresponsible and reckless use of this drug in the general population and particularly for minors, and even worse, dispenses with obtaining the person’s medical history, which is an essential tool for the responsible practice of medicine, thus seriously exposing the users to danger."

Aborting a child because the mother has COVID-19, the doctors said “is contrary to the principles that govern medical practice, which must always be based on the application of therapies that are based on rigorous scientific studies and with respect to elementary ethical principles” which guide medical science in providing the best strategies to protect patients.

When a woman is pregnant “we have two patients to take care of, the mother and the unborn child," the doctors association stressed.

Concerning the babies themselves, five newborns whose mothers have COVID-19 were recently discharged from a government hospital in Peru. A sixth, also born of a coronavirus patient who is in serious condition in the intensive care unit, was born prematurely and remains hospitalized. None of the babies have tested positive for COVID-19.

In a May 5 interview with the El Comercio daily, Dr. César García Aste, who heads the hospital’s neonatology department, explained that there are strict protocols as to how the baby is to be fed in order to avoid infecting it.

A doctor from the hospital is assigned to follow up daily by phone on the baby’s condition for an average of 14 days, and “so far we haven’t had a problem with any of the five babies,” Garcia said.

 

A version of this story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news agency. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

 

Christina reflects on lessons learned about valuing people the way Christ did, while cleaning trash and volunteering in a refugee camp in Šid, Serbia.

Jude, project coordinator of OM's Refugee Relief Serbia describes her busy role, and how OM’s service can be a powerful practical witness of the love of Jesus to hundreds of refugees.

OM Norway Field Leader Willy Andre Meberg expresses condolences and prayer for the people of Norway.

A Roma man’s cry to God for mercy to spare his son’s life transforms his future and the future of his small town.

Faith is strengthened when OMers learn how the Lord watches over them, not allowing harm to come to the people or the ministry.

A recap of Bus4Life's ministry in Romania during the summer of 2018.

Participants witnessed God at work through the Transform conference in Spain followed by outreach teams to the Mediterranean region and beyond.

After struggling to connect with an immigrant woman in Zurich, one worker listens to the woman’s story and thus learns the language of her heart.

God uses bracelets to weave together a group of children from different cultures and backgrounds so they can experience His love.

Time spent giving and receiving blessings is a special highlight for the participants of a weekly children's meeting.

Currently 100 people from 15 nations are expected at OM Malaysia’s annual missions conference at Golden Sands in Port Dickson, Malaysia, from 14-18 July 2012.

The second batch of Timothy Trekkers met for the first time in Seremban, Malaysia, on 1 July to begin the 12-month leadership development course.

Young believers among the indigenous people in the rural areas of Sabah, Malaysia are impacted through discipleship.

Two lifelong friends from the US bring a message of hope, friendship and a future to marginalised locals during OM Zambia’s first-ever wheelchair camp.

In Tongwa village husbands and wives don't know how to love each other. A young couple is working to change that.

One young Zambian man’s life is transformed when he encounters Christ through an OM football team and a coach’s patient effort.

Five years ago, seven boys were chosen to be discipled as Honest Boys in Mpulungu, Zambia. They carry the values proudly in their adult lives.

The Good News II School in Mpulungu, Zambia, has grown from 20 students to over 180. Students have grown from the values they learnt.

From trying to survive each day to leading their community in bringing development, the members of a Self Help Group are being transformed drastically.

OM parters with local church volunteers in Kasama to reach out to hundreds of vulnerable children.

“…to many host ministries, short-term outreaches can be a blessing or a curse,” shares OMer Ivy. “Here I would like to share some tips that help me feel less like a tour guide and more like I’m helping facilitate an exposure trip for the Kingdom.”

OM Lifehope coordinates the Transit Challenge, sending out teams all over Europe to love, serve and proclaim Christ.

Venturing out for a week of teambuilding and spiritual growth, OM Lifehope training participants leave the base by faith, not knowing what’s in store.

Editor Kris speaks to Andrew Berry about the opportunities that exist among least-reached communities across the British Isles.

Thousands of people have sought refuge in Europe in the past decades; in 2015, the number exploded. OM teams welcome the foreigners to their new home countries.

OM workers Ed and Kim are learning Kurdish in order to reach out to refugees in their heart language.

Transform team provides children’s programme, conducts English classes and learns how to love Bedouin people in the desert village.

OM worker in the Near East Field has a passion for Muslim women to understand the Word of God.

Ten years ago, Lydia* arrived on the field as a single woman. Now married and with two kids, her method of ministry has changed entirely.

Five years of displacement has taken its toll on Syrian refugees living in Lebanon, but many have met Jesus and discovered eternal hope.

Since the Syrian war began, OM workers have served alongside locals, including Muslim background believers, to spread hope amongst desperate people.

Syrian Kurdish refugee families profess faith in Jesus Christ.

Travel and tourism have become casualties of coronavirus lockdown, but one travel writer has found a new way to highlight Scotland's beauty, writes Deborah Anderson

The Chaotic Scots Traveller Kay Gillespie delivers her Top 10 places She's dreaming about in Scotland

REACTION poured in following the death of rock 'n' roll pioneer Little Richard, who died yesterday at age 87.

War is the great distraction. Right or wrong, foolish or wise, it suspends all the usual political and economic rules. Suddenly a chancellor who has spent five and a half years telling us “there is no money” can find ready billions for warfare.

If modern lives were measured in unprecedented weather events, we would all be 200 years old. Defences against floods that were supposed to happen every other century are being overtopped in the space of a few winters. The victims surveying ruined homes and businesses are ageing fast.

If modern lives were measured in unprecedented weather events, we would all be 200 years old. Defences against floods that were supposed to happen every other century are being overtopped in the space of a few winters. The victims surveying ruined homes and businesses are ageing fast.

THE warning is becoming louder. It was raised by the Leave team during Thursday's TV debate and, on the same day, by the Chancellor, George Osborne, and two former prime minsters, Sir John Major and Tony Blair. Brexit, they said, posed a serious threat to the Union.

"Everyone hates politicians," the MSP observed. We were chatting about the EU referendum and she was explaining why the polls were showing a rise in support for a Leave vote.

It didn't take long for the list of warnings about Brexit to start coming true.