{"id":374,"date":"2019-11-04T17:56:56","date_gmt":"2019-11-04T16:56:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/?p=374"},"modified":"2019-11-04T17:57:43","modified_gmt":"2019-11-04T16:57:43","slug":"11-places-where-persecuted-christians-need-our-prayers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/?p=374","title":{"rendered":"11 Places Where Persecuted Christians Need Our Prayers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
As Christians prepare for the International Days of Prayer for the Persecuted Church on November 3 and 10, advocates have increasingly turned their attention to China.<\/p>\n

Christian persecution is not new in China, but it is growing. According to Open Doors\u2014which ranked the country 27th on its 2019\u00a0World Watch List<\/a>, a 16-spot jump from 2018\u2014Chinese authorities are removing young people from church, monitoring worship via CCTV, and prohibiting teachers and medical workers from maintaining any religious affiliation.<\/p>\n

David Curry, CEO of Open Doors, told CT that many Americans see China as a global superpower, but don\u2019t recognize the extent of the restrictions by the Communist government.\u00a0<\/em>\u201cRight now, in 2019, Christians are walking into churches where there are signs posted at the door that say \u2018No Children Allowed,\u2019 and where they are being videotaped as they worship,\u201d he said.\u201d<\/p>\n

Church<\/a>\u00a0closings<\/a>, arrests, surveillance,\u00a0a crippling rating system<\/a>, and\u00a0church demolitions\u00a0<\/a>are part of life for China\u2019s 97 million Christians. In October video emerged showing a\u00a0wrecking ball demolishing<\/a>\u00a0a church during a worship service. ChinaAid reports that authorities later detained the pastors.<\/p>\n

Todd Nettleton, host of Voice of the Martyrs\u2019 VOM Radio, says that while unregistered house churches have endured persecution for years, the church in the October video was a registered church, marking a new wave of religious oppression.<\/p>\n

Over\u00a0245 million Christians<\/a>\u00a0live in the 50 countries ranked on the World Watch List as worst for Christians. Between November 2017 and October 2018, 4,136 Christians were killed for their faith in these countries, over 1,266 churches or Christian buildings were attacked, and 2,625 believers were detained, arrested, sentenced, or imprisoned \u2014 many of them without a trial.<\/p>\n

Voice of the Martyrs<\/a>,\u00a0Open Doors<\/a>,\u00a0International Christian Concern<\/a>, and other\u00a0organizations<\/a>\u00a0have provided information, prayers, and\u00a0an app<\/a>\u00a0to help believers pray for and connect with the persecuted church for the days of prayer held each year in November. New in 2019, Open Doors has recorded videos of 20 evangelical leaders praying for Christians around the world (a couple appear in the list below).<\/p>\n

Nettleton said Christians can head the exhortation of Hebrews 13:3 and \u201cremember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison.\u201d For those suffering due to their faith, \u201cthis is a significant encouragement to the persecuted parts of our family because they know they are being prayed for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besides China, here are 10 more places where religious persecution made headlines in 2019:<\/p>\n

1. Algeria<\/h4>\n

Over the past two years, the Algerian government has closed 14 of the country\u2019s 50 churches,\u00a0including<\/a>\u00a0the 700-member Church of the Full Gospel in Tizi-Ouzou, the largest Protestant church in the North African country. Algeria ranks 22nd on the World Watch List. Though Algeria\u2019s blasphemy laws make it difficult for Christians to share their faith, most of the\u00a0new believers<\/a>\u00a0in the country come from a Muslim background, according to Open Doors.<\/p>\n

<\/h4>\n

2. Egypt<\/h4>\n

While Christians in Egypt have had more security under Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, including the approval of\u00a0168 new churches at the end of 2018<\/a>, they still experience persecution in the majority Muslim country. Islam is the religion of the state\u2014Christians make up 8%\u201310% percent of Egypt\u2019s nearly 100 million people\u2014and its Shari’ah law is the main source of legislation. According to the State Department\u2019s 2018\u00a0Report on International Religious Freedom<\/a>, persecution has increased in Egypt. This year,\u00a0Morning Star News chronicled<\/a>\u00a0several troubling events so far this year, including mobs converging on churches to harass Christians, threats, and arrests.<\/p>\n

<\/h4>\n

3. Eritrea<\/h4>\n

In Eritrea, the small East African nation that borders the Red Sea, more than 150 Christians were\u00a0arrested this year<\/a>. Christian detainees often are held in harsh conditions, without ever being formally charged with crimes. \u201cPeople just get arrested, disappear into the prison system, and sometimes released, sometimes stay in for years,\u201d Nettleton said. In August pro-government bishops\u00a0expelled<\/a>\u00a0Abune Antonios, patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Church. Eritrean gospel singer and torture survivor Helen Berhane\u00a0met with President Trump<\/a>\u00a0in July to highlight the plight of Christians in the country.<\/p>\n

4. India<\/h4>\n

Open Doors has a special\u00a0prayer focus<\/a>\u00a0on India for the 2019 International Day of Prayer. International Christian Concern\u00a0reports<\/a>\u00a0that on October 5 three American pastors were detained by Indian customs agents after they told officials that they were Christians. The government continues to\u00a0restrict<\/a>\u00a0the involvement of Christian NGOs and charities,\u00a0strengthening<\/a>\u00a0anti-conversion laws, and local believers have continued to endure\u00a0attacks<\/a>\u00a0from Hindu extremists. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom reports that mobs go after non-Hindus based on false accusations of conversion or cow slaughtering, and local governments often fail to prosecute the attackers.<\/p>\n

<\/h4>\n

5. Iran<\/h4>\n

The 800,000 Iranian Christians face intense persecution in a country where converting from Islam is illegal. Last month, Open Doors reported that nine Iranian Christians were sentenced to five years in prison each for \u201cacting against national security\u201d\u2014a charge the state often uses to prosecute Christians for their house church activities. According to a\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0by Middle East Concern, Open Doors, Article18, and Christian Solidarity Worldwide, 29 Christians were detained in 2018, but many more detentions remain undocumented. The country has also reportedly\u00a0shut down houses of worship<\/a>\u00a0and targeted churches that worship in Persian and could attract Muslim-born Iranians.<\/p>\n

<\/h4>\n

6. Iraq<\/h4>\n

Despite the political defeat of ISIS in Iraq, Christians still suffer persecution and the lingering effects of their culture and population being systematically destroyed by the Islamic extremists. According to Open Doors, the Assyrian Church of the East, the Syrian Orthodox Church, the Syrian Catholic Church, the Chaldean Catholic Church, and the Armenian Orthodox Church remain seriously affected by persecution in Iraq, especially from Islamic extremist and government authorities. In central and southern Iraq, Christians often do not publicly display Christian symbols, such as a cross, as this can lead to harassment or discrimination.<\/p>\n

7. North Korea<\/h4>\n

For more than a decade North Korea has topped the World Watch List of most dangerous countries for Christians. In a country where citizens are taught to worship the ruling family, Christian teaching feels particularly threatening. \u201c[North Koreans] are taught that the Kims are divine beings, so they cannot let Christianity come and spread freely in their country because it undermines the Kim family and the government,\u201d Nettleton said. Experts estimate that 300,000 Christians live in the country with\u00a0\u201cthe most ruthless human rights record of the 21st century.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/h4>\n

8. Saudi Arabia<\/h4>\n

Despite its claims of religious liberty reform, and\u00a0recent meetings<\/a>\u00a0between U.S. evangelical leaders and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia remains one of the most difficult countries in the world for Christians, ranking 15th on Open Doors\u2019 World Watch List. The country bans the public practice of non-Muslim religions, and there are\u00a0no churches<\/a>\u00a0for the country\u2019s 1.4 million Christians. Charges of apostasy are still punishable by death, and Christian symbols or meetings of any kind are illegal. In November 2018, the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo re-designated Saudi Arabia as a Country of Particular Concern for its violations of religious freedom.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

9. Sri Lanka<\/h4>\n

Coordinated attacks<\/a>\u00a0by Muslim extremists on three churches and three hotels on Easter Sunday this year killed 253 people and\u00a0left 176 childre<\/a>n without one or both parents. It is believed to be the deadliest church attack in Asia in modern history. Religious freedom advocates see the Sri Lankan attacks as a chilling example of the dangers of\u00a0religious nationalism.\u00a0<\/a>Nearly 11 percent of Sri Lanka\u2019s population is Christian in the majority Buddhist country, and believers on the South Asian island experience serious persecution that continues to escalate.<\/p>\n

<\/h4>\n

10. Turkey<\/h4>\n

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sends mixed messages on religious liberty. According to World Watch Monitor, \u201cIn Turkey, Christianity is seen as a Western religion and evangelicals in particular are considered by many to have links with the USA.\u201d The president\u00a0attended the groundbreaking ceremony<\/a>\u00a0of a new Syriac church in Istanbul, the first new church in Turkey since 1923. At the same time, the government has systematically\u00a0revoked visas<\/a>\u00a0for Christians. The two-year imprisonment of American pastor Andrew Brunson has triggered\u00a0increased incidents<\/a>\u00a0of hate speech against Turkish Protestant communities. And Syrian Christians on the Turkey-Syria border\u00a0claim<\/a>\u00a0the Turkish government aims for their extermination.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

PUBLISHED BY CHRISTIAN TODAY<\/strong><\/p>\n

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As Christians prepare for the International Days of Prayer for the Persecuted Church on November 3 and 10, advocates have increasingly turned their attention to China. Christian persecution is not new in China, but it is growing. According to Open Doors\u2014which ranked the country 27th on its 2019\u00a0World Watch List, a 16-spot jump from 2018\u2014Chinese […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"1","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"0","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"0","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":""},"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=374"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":377,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374\/revisions\/377"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}