>> today on christian world news christianitunder the muslim presence. new report says muslim nations are the harshest persecutors of christians. we'll tell you who they are. >> why young adults in the country's biest cities are flocking to christianity. plus...[singing] our visit to church that has produced some of the inspiring worship music of this generation. what is the secrebehind hillsong? the most dangers countries

for christians are overwhelying islamic, hello everyonei am wendy griffith. george thomas is on aassignment. open door international, a ministry to the persecuted church released annual watch list to the world's worst defenders, while communist north korea is the worth. here is ephram graham. >> for the 9th consecutive year, north korea tops the list when it comes to persecutors of christians. carl moelle. overwhmlying are islamic ones. after north korea is iran, afghanistan, saudi arabia, and somalia. >> worldwide, worst place is primarily in the muslim world. >> christian persecution

increased significant in places like iraq jumping to no. 8 up from 17 last year. >> iraq has jumped specifically because of the inteional targeting of the christian community of extremist of the factionsof iraq. al-qaeda indicated on its websites, christians were quote, legitimate targets for their holy warriors. >> just before christmas, muslim waged attas including a massacre at a baghdad church. >> we are labelling it religiouside, they want to exterminate all christians from the country of iraq. >> the obama administration is condemning e attacks. state department is deeply concerned about what appears to be a rising number of attacks on christians in middle east and africa. ephram aham the cbn news.

christians in egypare cryinout. egyptian officials blame al-qaeda. egypt christians say the government does nothing to protect them. heather sells has more. >> reporter: they are trying to determine if home grown islamic radicals were responsible killing 21 worshippers and wounding nearly 100 and if al-qaeda outsiders sneaked into egypt to commit or coordinate the bombing. paul marshal for at the institute. >> this could well be an al-qaeda attack, better planne looks like a suicide attack. there could be an escalation. >> christian protesters took to the street in 3 egyptian cities. one cried out, all thesepeople

murdered, what have they done? they were just celebratin a new year praying in a house of god. much of the wrh was aimed at the police and government who don't do enough to protect egypts christian minority. >> a climate of impunity. if someone attacks cops, nothing is going to happen. attacks increasing and cops feel they are not being protected, just out there bein killed. >> egypt's president spoke of muslim christian unity. >> terrorists are not going to succeed of threatening muslims and christians living side by side. >> egypt's muslim community is becoming more radicalized. >> a lot of e egyptian workers

get radicalized, saudi's pump money into the institutions. increased intolerance and increased tensions. >> the spiritual leader of the nation to say all egyptians of all religions need to stay united. the pope weighed in as well saying the attack in egypti, just like those on iraqi christiansffends god and the whole of humanity. heatr sells cbn news. the pakiani governor kill by one of his own guards, a strong defeer of a christian woman condemned to death for blasphemy. the courtsentenced her to death under the harsh blasphemy

laws and bibi to be pardoned. on december 31st, he sent a twitter message saying i was under huge pressure, refused even i am the last man standig. zardari called him courageous voice in the rights of women and minorities pakistan. political tensions in ivory coast, calling for the sitting president to be removed from power by military special forces. u.n. and western natis claim alassane ouatarra is the rightfully elected president and incumbent laurent gbagbo refused to step down. he says acts of fraud were committed, gbagbo is a christian and alassane ouatarra, a muslim. gbagbo says he has peace because heknows god is in control. >> [ foreign speang ] i pray

god everyday andi tell him to give me the strength so that i can lead the people that he has entrusted into . the rest he decides. >> to find out more about the ivory coast political dispute, log on to cwnews.org coming up, how young professionals are the newest faces of china's church.

>> it has been nearl1 year since the earthquake that killed more than a quarter of a million people in haiti and left near 1 million homeless. now evangelist franklin grahm has been invited to remin people there is hope in god.

on sunday, grahamwill hold a hope. they are working together to bring e neighbors to the even cbn will broadcast the festival at 1:30 on sunday at cbnnews.com. decades ago most christian groups ved out in the untry. they are bringing faith to the big cities like beijing and shanghai. my colleague george thomas has that story from beiji. >> wednesday just at 7:00 in an apartment not too far from the city center, a group of men and women in late 20s discuss how to thrive in rapidly changing nation. new privilege class, highly educated, cosmopolitan and

urban professionals and all christians. >> we have never had it so good in china toy. more to life than money and materialism. >> john works for one of beijing's largest operators like young urban professionals, he and his peers live in high rise apartment buildings, they own a car, sometimes 2, tech savvy, travel and money to succeed. the competition to thrive is fierce. >> status is everything, how much you make, how big is your apartment, wht kind of car you drive, this is what people focus on. >> the government makes it possible for us to have money and have a good life. how do we handle the pressures? the government doesn't have answers. >> religion, especially christianity finds itself filling a spiritual void.

>> i am after different person today. >> 23-year-old jera cud joins the rank of people embracing christianity in record numbers. >> last couple of years have been difficult. i have struggled professionally and personally and then somebody introduced me to jesus christ. >> this is music to the ears of her pastor. >> god called me to start a church >> one of the largest unregistered, sometimecalled underound churches in beijing. a graduate of china's most prestigiouuniversity, the church started 18 years ago and now close to 1,000 attend. >> we have lawyers, professors, doctors, business people. >> similar gatherings springing up in other big cities,

attracting the white collar world. >> theyare finding answers in christianity. >> back at the apartment, a bible study for new converts in the city. this is the new face of christianity in china. are such believers are part of what some are calling, chins 3rd church. >> peter, not his real name has worked with china's underground churches for decades. cbn news agreedto conceal his identity to prott him. >> they are called the 3rd church becae they are different than the only 2 real churches inchina, registered church, gistered with the government and unregistered, house chches thriving in country side in '70s and '80s. after the 1989, christians

started forming urban churches. >> while christianity contins to grow in china's country side, it is here in the big cities like beijing that expertsay the church is growg the fastest. >> whereas the rural chuh was not able to have an impact on society as a whole. third church in the cities is able to do that. they are comprised of leader who can have an impact. businessman, government officials, professors, leaders and engineeringevery aspect of life. >> tick technically an illegal gathering. he hasn't registered his church with the government. but rather than hide from authorities, jen and others who lead congregations in the cities want to work with the government offials. but let's be clear, the chinese governnt maintain as tight

grip on religion, torture, arrests, imisonment and beatingsof christians are still practices, yet the authorities in recent years have made positive overtures toward leaders in the church. >> christianity is becoming more and more a part of main stream socty. the authorities know this and showina willingness to work with . >> a gesture welcomed by these young believers as they use faith to navigate the opportunities and challenges of china today. georgethomas cbn news, being. up next, the church that has produced some of the most powerful worship music. we'llgo down under to show you the success behind hillsong

>> many christns are familiar with hillsong, australian mega

chur known for contemporar praise anworship music. recently our own gary lane went to sidney to look at the world's most successful churches. [singing]. >> contempory christian praise songs, mighty to save. it is so popular the songs are sung in small churches in remote parts of the world. hillsonghas released a total of 40 albums, praise music that influences all ages over the world. >> we were intentional about writing the kind of songs that affected our church and glorified god. honestly, it is a miracle. you couldt market the kind o opportunity we have had. the praise and worship and mix of song writers and gifted people that are gathered here. it is just a local church

having church. >> god has given senior pastor, brian houston to help propel it into an international phenomenon. houston and his wife bobby started hills christian life center in 1983 with only 45 minutes and grew to 900 people. services held in a warehouse moving to the current location in 1997. god has blessed hillsong church expanding the ministries and transforming lis. >> 23,000 people attend services on any given weekend, 3 campuses in sidney and around the world, kiev, londonand around the world. >> it is the grace of god. i think we have a churchreally intend on being relevant and

reaching people and preach not just to people sunday but to their monday. it really relates to people's everyday live >> hillsong is more than just music. church has many oth ministries in ausalia and around the world. among the hillsong outreach, hillsong kids, youth and women's ministries and city car hillsong church will celebrate 25 conference year in 2011. 100 people attended first one in 1986. more than 30,000 attended ed since the inception. many people are trained each year at the hillsong college. >> comes down to being a church that reaches beyond itself and i read today that vison. you can almost see the working

of those things, then was a dream. our vision has never gone on great tothe left or right, just been consistent abt doing what the lord put into our hearts. >> hillsong has faced a number of controversies including media criticm for relationships with christian organizations and politician. he is not discourag. he is optimistic about the future and sees the recent atheist prime minister. >> australia is an intereing place, a secular country. i find there is really a paradox, because there is a very strong antichrist spirit in australia, aggressive atheism is on the rise.

an emptgod spirit. at the same time, my personal experience with people, everydayi meet people spiritually hungry and so, so wanting to know more about god. there is a spiritual hunger. if we can tap into that, i believe there is a great future for the church. to me it is about consistency and out of seasonand amazing what god can do. [singing]. >> gary lane cbn news, sidney, australia.

>> welco back. fishing has been part of the sea of galilee for thousands of years, as julie stall reports, all that may soon come to an end. >> reporter: one of the bible's best known bodies of water is thesea of galilee. in israel, called lake kanerat.

it is the source of much of the country's drinking waer. >> this is the lake where peter, james, and john cast their nets and jesus walked on the water. israel's largest body of fresh water. >> now several years of draught have brought the water dangerously low and israel's agricultural ministry wants to ban all fishing of boats on the sea for 2 years, because the number of fish caught dropped to less than 10 percent 10 years ago. >> turning the lake into a lake without fish. long time fishermalike these men say the authorities are not in touch with the realities of the lake. >> there is still water and fish in the lake. people that sit in the houses

of the government don't know what is going on with the lake. >> however water authorities spokesman say the kinds of fish are important to maintain water quality. >> in the lake what is important is the variety of the kinds of fish. we are looking at the variety and important for the quality of water and fish as well. >> modern fisherman use sonar. st. peter's fish that have been in this water since the time of jesus. huge nets cast and pulled up on wenches d catch thrown into the boat by hand. >> we make money where everybody can come and see how much fish are displad. >> water expert professor says the number has dropped low and

st. petter's fish is 50 percent less. >> much is because of illegal fishing. >> government plans to kofrm sate the legal fisherman for the upcoming 2 yearof losses. but still the fisherman say it is a mistake to stopfishing because the lake is full of surprises. >> one year no, going to fish next year. you come, the lake is full of fish. >> julie stall, cbn news, the sea of galilee. lake is full of surprises, world's orthodox christians celebrate the birth of christ on januar7th and handinout 50,000 presidents to street kids and orphans, toys, school sup plie and part of an out

reach called oject hope. >> needy ildren, it is our call from god to help them. how we share the love of christ to an entire world as a church. that we take care of the kids, needy kids, they are the future, they need to know the christ. >> russian ministris partnered with more than 200 churchs to deliver those fts. that is all for this editioof christian world news. until next weekfrom all of us here good-bye and god bless you.