Today marks the first anniversary since the launch of Christian Daily International (CDI) on December 12, 2023. The past year saw CDI covering a wide range of events, issues and voices from every region of the world, receiving endorsements from Christian leaders and even winning its first award.
“We’re excited about CDI’s contribution to Christian journalism over the last 12 months,” said Gordon Showell-Rogers, CDI’s International Director. “Although we are very aware of gaps in our coverage and although we still have a lot of room for growth and improvement, we’re deeply grateful for an extraordinary team of journalists and editors who have worked tirelessly to report Christian stories from around the world – often stories not covered anywhere else – and have also covered breaking world news from a Christian perspective.”
As a global Christian news publication, CDI’s vision is to provide biblical, factual and personal news, stories and perspectives from every region, focusing on religious freedom, integrated gospel and other issues that are relevant to the global Church today. CDI not only covers news, but also features a variety of voices in its opinion section to facilitate conversations between Christian leaders from different parts of the world.
“I have also personally found our Opinion pieces deeply inspiring - again, often from voices that would not normally be heard in an international publication,” Showell-Rogers commented.
A number of global Christian leaders have sent expressions of appreciation to CDI in recent months.
“I would like to warmly thank you and your team for the excellent work you are doing at Christian Daily. I have shared and encouraged our global partnership and many others to read and disseminate your news. Much appreciated!” said the head of a global network of scholars and publishers.
“Thank you for turning Christian Daily International into a serious news source. I read you daily and recommend your materials,” the former head of a global mission association said.
And another leader remarked: “Your reporting really opened my eyes to what journalism can do.”
The following are some of the highlights from the first year of CDI:
Early in 2024, CDI participated in the International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington, D.C. as one of its first public engagements on the issue of religious persecution, which is a key focus of CDI.
The following month marked the first media partnership with a global event where CDI covered the World Without Orphans Forum in Chiang Mai, Thailand, reporting on the need for a paradigm shift from institutionalized care to family-based care. It highlighted families and children as a second key issue that CDI’s reporting has focused on from the beginning.
On March 12, only three months after the launch of the English edition, CDI launched its Spanish edition ‘Diario Cristiano’ with a focus on serving audiences in Latin America and beyond. Led by CDI’s Costa Rica-based editor and Argentina-based regional correspondent, Diario Cristiano features original articles in Spanish that are translated for CDI into English, while a selection of the international coverage from CDI is translated into Spanish.
In April, CDI became a member of the Religious Liberty Partnership as part of its efforts to raise awareness on the plight of persecuted believers and its desire to work in partnership with other like-minded ministries. CDI also participated in the partnership’s annual consultation in Toronto, Canada.
In May, CDI reported from the European Leadership Forum in Poland, which marked the beginning of its coverage on global mission trends, including an emerging mission movement seeking to bring together mission leaders from the Global South. It became a recurring theme as CDI participated in COALA2.5 in Busan, Korea later in the year and continues to feature interviews with Global South mission leaders.
In August, CDI welcomed Dr Jay Mātenga as its Opinion Editor, which allowed CDI to “strengthen its ability to elevate challenging voices from the Global South and from the margins.” Since then, CDI has featured voices from every region of the world on a wide range of topics, stirring up conversations and reflections that would help the global Church engage relevantly with the difficult issues of today.
In September, a team of CDI editors participated in the Fourth Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization in Incheon, Korea. Joined by CDI's correspondents in Africa, Europe and Latin America who reported remotely and featuring interviews and op-eds before, during and after the event, CDI published more than 50 news and opinion articles on Lausanne 4, providing an in-depth perspective on what took place and how leaders from different regions responded to the Congress.
In October, CDI was honored to win the 2nd place in the Evangelical Press Association’s “Best in Class” awards. In their evaluation, the judges highlighted the “very good design” of the site describing it as “clean, simple, clear, and professional.” They also praised the quality of the news writing, with one judge saying, “I found the articles to be balanced, thoughtful, and well-written.”
As an initiative that seeks to work in partnership with other Christian media, CDI also became a source of news for other publications. Articles and references to CDI appeared in more than 40 Christian media in 14 languages across several continents.
Looking at the coming year, CDI aims to expand its team of reporters and cover a wider range of topics that are relevant to the global Church. And there are also plans to launch additional language editions as CDI seeks to equip more Christian leaders with professional journalism.
“Thank you for reading CDI. Thank you for praying for the CDI team. And thank you for considering supporting CDI financially,” Showell-Rogers said.
