Wednesday, January 09, 2013

Persecuted Christians Have New Allies: World Watch Monitor and Morning Star News


Compass Direct News is no more, but two new groups hope to continue its impact.

The surge of African nations up the ranks of the world's worst persecutors isn't the only news today from Open Doors USA.

Along with the release of this year's World Watch List (WWL), an annual ranking of the 50 countries where Christians face the most persecution for their faith, Open Doors is also launching World Watch Monitor (WWM), a fresh news initiative that aims to raise awareness of the persecuted church.

"It's important for people to have knowledge of persecution," said WWM editor Jeff Thomas (previously editor and vice president of the Colorado Springs Gazette). "The association of our news with the credibility of Open Doors [will] enhance our news information."

Open Doors is not a new player in the persecution news arena. Long before it launched WWM, the ministry ran the well-regarded Compass Direct News service. But Open Doors began to rethink its strategy in 2011 and decided to close Compass Direct and associate its reporting more closely with the Open Doors brand, Thomas said.

The World Watch Monitor name now explicitly links the news service to the WWL in order to "help readers encounter the larger story of the persecuted church and be invited to more significant involvement with it," he said. Read more

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