Compiled & Edited by Crosswalk Editorial Staff

The year 2009 brought hundreds of stories and movements to bear on global Christianity. Here are the faces, places, and movements the Crosswalk.com editors believe most impacted Christians around the world:

1. Iran election protests catch fire
2. Rifqa Bary’s fear forces a second look at honor killings
3. The Manhattan Declaration controversy stretches the limits of ecumenical cooperation

1. Iran election protests catch fire
Thousands of Iranian youth marched Tehran’s streets to protest an allegedly fraudulent election in June. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government took extreme measures to silence protesters, but only brought international attention to political and religious suppression. The state’s ongoing crackdown on Christians and political dissidents leaked out via Twitter and social networks, despite government censorship.

2. Rifqa Bary’s fear forces a second look at honor killings
A teen convert from Islam to Christianity forces Americans to acknowledge the reality of Muslim honor killings. Sixteen-year-old Rifqa Bary ran away from her Muslim parents in Ohio after her father found out about her conversion and allegedly threatened to kill her. Whether motivated by teen angst, naïveté or legitimate concerns, Rifqa’s frightened face brought honor killings out of the Middle East.

3. The Manhattan Declaration controversy stretches the limits of ecumenical cooperation
The Manhattan Declaration reignited questions of theological versus moral cooperation between Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox Christians. The 4,000-word document vowed civil disobedience, if necessary, to protect life, traditional marriage, and religious freedom. Signers included BreakPoint’s Chuck Colson and the Southern Baptist Convention’s Albert Mohler, but the document was rebuffed for its “common faith” language by evangelicals such as R.C. Sproul and John MacArthur.

For more, read here.