On Sunday, 28 January, two masked gunmen entered a Catholic church in Istanbul during a service and shot and killed a 52-year-old man. The self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIS) claimed responsibility. Turkish police quickly arrested two suspects with ties to ISIS and later arrested 25 more after raiding numerous locations. Afterwards, police contacted a pastor of a rapidly growing church in another part of Turkiye and told him that his name was on an ISIS hit list. “This pastor has been threatened by ultra-nationalist Turks many times, but this was the first time that he sounded worried,” said a Front-Line Worker. Turkish police offered to protect the pastor and encouraged him to set up security cameras. “We can’t pray for the elimination of persecution,” said the Front-Line Worker, “but we can pray that Believers will be strengthened and recognize these things are happening because of the growth of the church.”
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