Nazarenes in Hungary ask the Church worldwide to pray with them as legislation passed by the country's parliament Monday "de-registered" the denomination as a church.

Along with the Church of the Nazarene, the new law - Law on the Right to Freedom of Conscience and Religion, and on Churches, Religions and Religious Communities - retroactively stripped the religious communities status from more than 100 registered religious organizations in Hungary.

According to politics.hu, a website devoted to political issues in Hungary, the law requires an organization to meet seven criteria for legal recognition, including that it must have existed in Hungary for at least 20 years and can show it has at least 1,000 members.

The Church of the Nazarene, which was registered in 1999, has 87 full members and 60 additional regular attenders.

The new law not only "de-registered" groups new to the country since 1990, but makes it much more difficult to register than in the past, according to the International Religious Liberty Association.

The Act on Churches, passed in 1990, made it possible for non-religious groups to be registered as churches, according to Balázs Schanda in a paper published in the Emory International Law Review.

The law has drawn criticism for this reason, and perhaps this is why the new law outlines numerous specific activities that would and would not be considered religious in nature.

Imre Gusztin, Nazarene district superintendent of Hungary, had prayed that the bill would not pass because "churches without this registration cannot use the term 'church' in their names any longer."

"We praise God that has brought freedom for our country, but also for carrying us through the times of political and economical persecution," Gusztin said. "May He be glorified in all circumstances, and may His church continue the work and grow in good and difficult times, as well."

Amendments added to the legislation further restrict the rights of religious communities in Hungary by imposing illegal national security restrictions on certain activities. The Institute on Religion and Public Policy said the Hungarian Parliament set the country back more than 20 years to when communism was abolished.

Legislation and laws, such as the one passed in Hungary, often make it challenging to operate as a church in the wide variety of cultural and political contexts across Eurasia.

Consider Nepal. Nepal's government is reviewing a proposed law that would ban Christians from sharing their faith. The legislation, if passed, would penalize a believer with up to five years of prison and an $800 fine for preaching or trying to persuade someone to change religion, according to Herald Malaysia Online, a Catholic news agency.

Nepal became a secular state in 2007, after abolishing its Hindu monarchy. The transitional constitution already bans "proselytizing," but is supposed to leave all citizens "free to express their faith."

According to the Christian Messenger, an evangelical news website based in India, Article 160 of the legislation would criminalize anyone who leads a person from a "caste, community, or creed to lose faith in his/her traditional religion or convert to a different religion."

The Christian community in Nepal, which is less than 1 percent of the majority-Hindu population, have no representation in the parliament, the Christian Messenger said.

The Church of the Nazarene officially entered Nepal in 1999. As of April, the Nepal District has reported 50 organized churches and nearly 3,000 members. 

Persecution.org reports a comment by Justice Minister Prabhu Sah denying that the law targets Christians: "The law is not against Christians who do great work in the service of the country, but is against the imposition of Christianity."

Isu Jang Karki, head of Nepal Christian Society, has condemned the proposal, the website says.

Prayer is requested for members of Nepal's government to have wisdom and compassion as they consider this bill. Pray also for members of governments throughout Eurasia, that the Holy Spirit would inspire them to work for religious freedom for all people.