Yet a critical question remains: will the US government take that report and turn it into effective policies to help the persecuted? 

Todd Nettleton with The Voice of the Martyrs USA explains that USCIRF’s annual report was meant to be “step one” in a process established by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998.

(Logo courtesy United States Commission on International Religious Freedom)

“That [report] goes to the State Department, and the State Department ultimately makes the determinations of Countries of Particular Concern, Special Watch List, [etc],” Nettleton says. 

However, the US State Department has not issued an International Religious Freedom Report (IRF) for two years.

“It’s like, okay, is this [USCIRF report] all we’re going to get? Is this the end of the process? Or is this as it was designed, ‘step one’ and now we’ll see what the State Department does with that?” Nettleton says. 

The IRF report from the State Department provides practical tools for the US to support religious freedom around the world. (More on that here.) Among other outcomes that respect human rights, this freedom can remove barriers to the gospel spreading. 

“I want to express appreciation for the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, the work that they do throughout the year, to identify, to document, to shine a light on violations of religious freedom around the world,” says Nettleton. 

“It helps us here at Voice of the Martyrs, when sort of the government is saying the same things that we’re saying about, in our case, only about Christians being persecuted.”

Nicaragua (Photo courtesy of Hermes Rivera via Unsplash)

For example, the Commission has recommended that the US redesignate Nicaragua as a Country of Particular Concern. Nicaragua is also a country that VOM USA has designated as “Restricted” this year for its intensifying persecution of Christians. 

“It is a country where pastors have been arrested. Pastors have been kicked out of the country. The government is using technology purchased from China to monitor people digitally — monitor where they are, monitor what they’re doing,” says Nettleton. “Most of us don’t know that that’s happening.”

If you’re a US citizen, consider contacting your government representatives and expressing your interest in seeing this State report issued. But no matter where home is for you, you can respond in prayer as you consider the Commission’s annual report findings. Access the report here.

“There are 29 countries, so you could literally pray through that list every month and use this as a sort of government-issued prayer guide on behalf of our persecuted brothers and sisters,” says Nettleton.

Learn more at VOM USA’s website, persecution.com. 

Header photo is a stock image courtesy of Kevin Lanceplaine via Unsplash.

A People with No Place

The Rohingya are the largest stateless people group worldwide. They primarily hail from the Rakhine state in Myanmar. However, their home country refuses them citizenship. The government persecutes the primarily Muslim group to the point of UN-recognized genocide.

There are more than 2.6 million internally displaced Rohingya in Myanmar and almost a million people have fled into neighboring Bangladesh, creating some of the largest refugee camps in the world.

These refugee camps mainly exist in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar region. Greg Kelley with Unknown Nations says, “You’ll drive for maybe 30 miles and see different camps. It’s not one big camp. It’s literally dozens of camps that might have 50,000 people, 70,000 people, 12,000 people, and they’re designated to a camp. They have a tent. It’s horrible conditions. And like I said, they’re living like animals. The sewage, the sanitation – you wouldn’t want an animal living in there.”

Needing Eternal Hope

In the past Myanmar has restricted access into the country as well as out, meaning most of these people have never heard about Christ. Almost all of these refugees are Muslim.

(Image courtesy of Aashaa, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons)

“When it’s all said and done, they remain largely without a Gospel witness,” Kelley explains. “So as they’re being persecuted from all fronts, they still don’t know Jesus.”

Unknown Nations follows Christ’s command to spread the Good News by heading into these refugee camps. They are sending in indigenous leaders to love people, share food and resources, as well as share the Gospel. However, the need among the Rohingya is great.

Not Just Countries, But People Groups

Kelley exhorts Christians to stretch their boundaries of what God has called them to. “I think that when the Lord called us to go make disciples of all nations, I think the body of Christ needs to get to get a hold of that word and understand we’re not called to countries. We’re not called to India. We’re not called to Myanmar. We’re not called to Bangladesh. We’re called to the nations or people groups inside of them, like the Rohingya.”

This means making changes.

“We have to begin going into the deeper waters and the Rohingya are the deeper waters of missions, which are going to require a different strategy. So doing things the same way we’ve always done them will never reach the Rohingya. So that’s a big question, and there’s a lot of ways to address it, but it ultimately comes down to our drive and determination to take serious Jesus’s last words, to make disciples of all nations.”

If you’d like to join Unknown Nations to help bring the Gospel to the Rohingya and other unreached people groups, click here.

Image courtesy of English: Foreign and Commonwealth Office, OGL v1.0OGL v1.0, via Wikimedia Commons

But persecution doesn’t mean paralysis. Take the church in Iran, for example. 

“The church in Iran today is truly thriving, but also under a lot of strain,” says Lana Silk with Transform Iran. “It reminds me of the Scripture where Paul talks about us being persecuted and beaten down, but not crushed. 

“It’s a constant pressure on the church from the government. But that has not taken away the vibrancy of the church in Iran. It is a thriving, victorious church.”

You may have heard that Iran has one of the fastest-growing churches in the world, full of Christians young in their faith. But Silk wants us to know there’s maturity there, too.

“There is definitely a different balance in the church in Iran to what we would have in the West, where we have such a rich resource of seasoned leadership for a church that is perhaps less young,” she says.

Photo of Tehran, Iran courtesy of Hamid Mohammad Hossein Zadeh Hashemi via Unsplash.

“But I would also say there is a different dynamic in terms of growth. There is an accelerated growth rate in Iran, and that is a spiritual dynamic. The Lord has, through His grace, allowed Christians to grow up very quickly in Iran. Somebody who may not have even been a believer a year ago could be leading multiple churches today.” 

Transform Iran has a robust discipleship program that is one-on-one, personal, and strategic. Silk says they see new believers change quickly from receiving to giving. 

“Within months, people are witnessing to others, leading others to the Lord, inadvertently becoming pastors themselves, though not seasoned and experienced yet,” she says.

Find your place in the story

Wherever you call home, there’s something you can learn from fellow believers. If you live in a place where ministry and leadership are usually given to those with years of experience, Silk offers a challenge we can glean from Iran’s young but rising Church.

Tehran, Iran (Representative stock photo courtesy of Zahra Amiri via Unsplash)

“Shouldn’t we all be in ministry? Shouldn’t we all be fruitful and leading others to the Lord in every way in our lives? That’s where we can learn from Iranian Christians, who are immediately thrown into a life of ministry and of fruitfulness and growing, and then pastoring comes out of that,” Silk says. 

“By the grace of God, I would say that there are many hundreds, if not thousands of pastors in Iran today, serving in this way and showing through the fruit of their ministry that they are called and anointed by God.”

Praise God for the “impossible” things He is doing in Iran today!

“Today, He is accelerating a growth in the church. He is investing in the people. He’s growing leaders. He’s leading the lost to Himself, and He’s inviting us, for the thrill of the ride, to do it with Him,” Silk says.

“Let’s be praying that God would continue to strengthen them, encourage them, resource them, and surround them [with] other believers that will be community for them and strengthen them in their faith. Let’s also be advocating for them and investing in ministries that are supporting them.”

Visit Transform Iran’s website to learn more!

Header photo is a representative stock photo courtesy of Armin Moradi via Unsplash.

Voice of the Martyrs Canada supports persecuted Christians and helps them to remain firm in their faith. Stephen Wesley explains their needs today.

“What we’re seeing happening is that in the persecuted church, there is a need for understanding why persecution is happening, what they are going through, and how God has used persecution to bless and strengthen the church,” says Wesley.

“Where there’s persecution, it’s primarily for the reality of their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.”

Last month, Chinese authorities raided Beijing Zion Church and arrested a dozen people. Most were released the same day, but one church elder was charged with “organizing illegal gatherings” and kept in custody for a 14-day administrative detention. Similar stories regularly occur in countries with limited religious freedoms.

Persecution is more common and severe in some areas of the world, but it is a shared experience of all disciples of Jesus. On the last night with them before his death, Jesus told his disciples, “Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours” (John 15:20).

Wesley says, “We have to recognize that if I’m going to look like Jesus in the world, all those who live godly in Christ Jesus, will suffer persecution.”

So how do we respond and support fellow Christians enduring persecution? Wesley says we can start with prayer. Jesus set the example when he prayed for his followers and for all those to come:

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me” (John 17:20-23).

“We need to pray for unity,” says Wesley. “We need to love one another as Christ has loved us.”

Jesus gave this same command to His disciples the night before He was crucified (John 15:12).

Wesley says, “The world is looking at us. They are hearing our message. But then they’re saying, ‘Am I seeing in your activity the reality of what you’re teaching?’”

To pray further for the persecuted, use this resource from VOM Canada. Want to learn more about what the Bible teaches about persecution? Read this book.

Header photo courtesy of VOM International.

The Islamic State in Nigeria previously executed 11 believers on Christmas Day and released the footage worldwide. The gruesome act was to avenge the killing of their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi by a US raid in Syria.

The crisis of Christian persecution in Nigeria has crippled the northern part of the country. Boko Haram and Fulani militants ravage the countryside, striking villages and targeting Christians where possible.

A VOM worker recently met with Philip. (Photo, caption courtesy of Voice of the Martyrs)

Last year, Muslim extremists killed more than 1,000 Nigerian believers. A worker with Voice of the Martyrs recently met an 8-year-old Christian boy named Philip who lost an eye in a violent Fulani attack on his family. Only Philip and his older sister Grace survived.

These are the stories of our persecuted Nigerian brothers and sisters in Christ.

Helen Williams with World Missionary Press says, “It’s a story that must be told and we must keep in our minds because it’s easy for us to read it, feel badly, and go on to the next thing. I think we need to make sure our hearts are touched and are sensitive to this continuing need. It’s not just in Nigeria; but particularly right now in Nigeria, the Church is paying the price there.”

Craving God’s Word

Williams says one of their ministry contacts in Nigeria recently sent an email about the status of displaced believers.

“He said the Church in northern Nigeria is wounded. It’s just been so devastated by the attacks of the militants killing two million homeless, burning churches. They’ve had to escape to refugee camps or IDP camps within their own country.

“He went to one unofficial camp where 40 unassisted families were living in an abandoned market. Thirty-five of the families were headed by widows whose husbands had been killed.”

(Photo courtesy of Pixabay)

These displaced families have many needs like food, shelter, and clothing. But one thing persecuted Nigerian believers can’t get enough of is God’s Word.

WMP’s Nigerian contact says thousands of former Muslims are coming to Christ. Between the flood of new believers and the loss of many Christian leaders at the hands of extremists, there is a great need for biblical discipleship.

That is why WMP recently sent a container to Nigeria with nearly two million Scripture booklets and materials. The shipment will arrive in February, and with such high demand, Williams predicts the literature will be distributed quickly.

“What they want to do is get into there, take our material, and disciple these people. We have not just the Scripture booklets which are…good teaching material, but we also have some Bible studies in some of these languages,” Williams says.

“Getting material into the hands of the believers in southern as well as northern Nigeria is another sign that the Body of Christ worldwide is behind them. In other words, they’ve not been abandoned because it’s difficult.”

Stand With Them

All the biblical literature WMP ships is free to the recipients, but it does carry a price tag for the ministry. That’s where you come in.

“People can contribute!” Williams says. “We’re a ministry. We don’t charge anything…. We rely on the Lord to supply through His people whose hearts are touched to share in the burden that we have to give out the Word.”

Click here to donate to WMP. You can even designate your gift to Nigeria.

(Photo courtesy of World Missionary Press)

Finally, Williams asks believers around the world to stand with them in prayer.

“We pray over our container as it is loaded here…that God will prepare hearts, that there will be a harvest of souls, that the Word will be effective, [and] the Spirit will have the liberty to use the Word.”

Also, she says, “We must support [Nigerian Christians] particularly in prayer — that God would give them strength, give them boldness, but give them peace.”

Header image courtesy of Pixabay.

Christianity: from the West or East?

However, Denise Godwin, president of International Media Ministries (IMM), says the idea of Christianity as a Western religion is a 21st-century concept. Historically, Christianity was exported to the West from the Middle East.

“The seven churches of Revelation were in Turkey. And of course, the church began in Antioch and in Israel. You just see all kinds of things in the Middle East, if you look at history, but it’s not currently able to operate as openly there,” Godwin says.

(Image courtesy of International Media Ministries)

In more recent history, Europe was the major missions-sending continent. Today, Godwin says that the African continent is one of the big contenders in sending missionaries abroad. The Christian Post backs up this claim and even includes Asia in the running. Read more on the topic here.

“Often these people can get into the Middle East or North Africa more easily than a Western person,” Godwin says.

“Christ really is for everyone. It’s coming from different directions, but the media has given us the impression that it’s just a Western religion.”

This impression has Christians across the globe caught in political crosshairs and facing persecution from their governments. But this persecution is not new; history is actually repeating itself. An advantage of this repetition—a plethora of early church leaders who faced similar circumstances and left examples of how to manage.

Persecuted Church Encouraged

IMM creates videos to share in hard-to-reach regions. One of the stories the organization has in progress portrays persecution and Christian martyrdom in the third century. Godwin explains how, during this time, leaders had laws that argued Christianity was bad for the culture. But Christians in these regions paid their taxes and prayed for their leaders. These Christians were not causing problems, yet these laws were enforced.

(Photo courtesy of International Media Ministries)

“I see history repeating itself, again, in the pattern of persecution,” Godwin says. “But, when individuals boil it down, they think, ‘Well, my neighbors not that bad. They’re not harming me’. The persecution doesn’t always resonate with even the people who have joined forces. But, the government, the powers and principalities of the era feel threatened by Christianity when it begins to get momentum in different places, whether it’s legal or illegal.”

IMM is bringing to life a narrative illustrating her point through the story of Cyprian. Cyprian was a persecuted Christian in the third century who experience two exiles. Still, he refused to deny Christ. His faith grew influential as he wrote letters to the Church. His letters combated persecution and the notion Christians were poor citizens. Today, Christians have this similar opportunity to speak truth.

Walking With the Persecuted

Will you help IMM speak truth in today’s world?

Help first and foremost by praying. Godwin asks for prayers while they create and finish videos. Pray against the things which would hinder IMM’s work and for IMM’s protection. Pray for IMM’s strength in times of hardship and for the strength and resources to continue telling God’s stories. Ask God to use these stories to bring hope, strength, and excitement for Christ to Christians and non-Christians.

Another way to support IMM’s work is through a financial gift. To learn more about giving, click here.

Header photo courtesy of International Media Ministries.

In countries where open evangelism of the Gospel is illegal or dangerous, anti-Christian sentiments make scripture inaccessible for most believers. That’s why these countries are known as “creative-access nations”; the Body of Christ has to be creative in the way they reach local believers.

Bruce Smith of Wycliffe Associates is familiar with the kind of creative solutions these locations require.

In countries like these, “Proselytism would certainly be opposed and regulated, so the local people have their own ways of living out their faith, being a testimony, and sharing their faith in ways that are acceptable within their circles, even though they might be frowned upon or opposed by the government structures.”

Collaboration Project in Asia

But Smith is also familiar with how much easier it is to find creative solutions when local believers collaborate with outside groups. Such is the case in one Asian country* where Christians are a minority religious group who face government-structured persecution.

“10 groups basically are in the neighborhood and they’ve heard and seen the advancement of Bible translation in their surrounding neighboring language group, and so they’ve approached us out of this arena,” Smith says.

“This is not a place where we sort of stuck a pin in a map and said, ‘We’re going to go in there no matter what the issues are,’ this is the place where they’re coming out to us and saying, ‘If it’s able to go forward with our neighbors that can certainly go forward with us.’”

Wycliffe Associates’ MAST program allows faster translation through accelerated and effective training (Photo courtesy of Wycliffe Associates)

Their current partners in this country are members of a house church network complete with church leadership and structure. There are even elders in the network.

“They’re not only connected locally and regionally but internationally as well,” Smith says. “They didn’t become Christians in a vacuum, so they have a history of connection to evangelical Christians and mission work from other parts of the world.”

How to Creatively Access Creative-Access Countries

So what does it look like to find solutions to intense persecution and regulation? One of the biggest obstacles believers have to overcome is the intense scrutiny placed on them.

“These are people who are not necessarily prominent in the business community or things like that, they’re pretty humble people, but because they are Christians they are being monitored, Smith says. “The way that we’re able to work with these people is they’re able to travel legally, so they’re able to travel to surrounding countries.”

Translators leave their country, receive training from Wycliffe Associates groups, and return home without stirring up any fuss.

“They go back without being exposed by contact with foreigners without us creating a lot of visibility in their arena, or in fact, no visibility, because we don’t go into their arena,” Smith says. “They’re able to go back to their communities and, through their family networks and through their church networks, build the team that’s necessary to move the Bible translation forward.”

For these Christians, Wycliffe Associates represents an opportunity for access to the Gospel. For many, it will be the first time they can read scripture in their own languages.

Representative photo of underground believers (Photo courtesy of Wycliffe Associates)

“They’ve just come to the conclusion that this is the time in history and this… is the most positive opportunity for them to have scripture in their language,” Smith says. “They haven’t haven’t had that opportunity in the past, so they’re anxious to move forward regardless of the risks.”

Playing Our Part

Many Christians in the United States and other parts of the world haven’t experienced the kind of thirst for the Gospel that these believers have, but we can still help them achieve their goal. Right now, requests for translation assistance are flooding Wycliffe Associates, and they need all the help and resources they can get if they want to make an impact.

“The immediate need that we’ve had is financial support, so that enables us to fund the training workshops and the technology that is needed in order to get them off and running,” Smith says.

You can also be praying for Wycliffe Associates projects, including their ongoing training in Asia.

“We’ve actually got the training workshop on the calendar, we have a location, and we’re going to be converging here in the next — we’ll say in the next couple of months,” Smith says.

“The more people they bring, the more progress they’re going to make in translation during the workshop as well as bringing that expertise back to their communities so that they can train others and add to the translation team.”

Their current mission? Finish translations of the New Testament within the next 12 years.

“There is a level of urgency and level of commitment and sacrifice that local Christians are willing to make in order to get scripture because they see that that’s their only hope for eternity going forward and they see the impact that it can have for their communities,” Smith says.

“These are things that they can pray about, that they can be aware of, even in the face of opposition and persecution that we hear about within Christian media. The reality is that the local people understand that to be normal and and they’re not fearful because of it. They’re moving forward by faith despite those oppositions, and that’s something that we can have a part in helping them to make that progress and having God’s Word in their own language.”

Connect with Wycliffe Associates to find out how you can become a part of the team.

*Country’s name hidden for security

Header photo courtesy of Wycliffe Associates

According to International Christian Concern, Saheb Fadaie and Fatemeh Bakhteri were sentenced to 18 months and 12 months in prison respectively for these propaganda charges.

It is difficult to know how any case prosecuting an offense against Islam will be handled in Iran.

A mural in the holy city of Qom depicts Ayatollah Khomeini, leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, on the left and Ali Khamenei, the current Supreme Leader of Iran, on the right. (Photo/Caption courtesy of David Stanley via Flicker https://flic.kr/p/ez3Q3N)

Dr. Mike Ansari with Heart4Iran explains, “Iranian penal code has been very vague when dealing with apostasy. In fact, apostasy is not codified under Iran’s penal code at all. As such, judgment is delivered based on the authority of Islamic sources. The judgment, therefore, may range anywhere from detention to execution.”

Social and political factors can also influence what kind of legal treatment Christians face. Lately, icy relations with the West are causing Iranian Muslims in power to crack down harder on Christians.

“Definitely in Iran, US sanctions are being felt and the Iranian authorities are blaming the West. The recent increase of Iranian conversions from Islam to Christianity is also being treated as a Western plot to weaken the revolutionary ideologies of an Islamic Iran. This has led to more arrest of new converts to Christianity all across Iran.”

According to The World Watch List with Open Doors USA, Iran is the 10th most dangerous country for Jesus followers. Much of the persecution Christians face stem from a need for the Iranian status quo to maintain power.

“Iran is an Islamic government so if you take Islam out of it, it would collapse. Therefore, the government cannot afford to see its citizens gravitate towards other faiths or beliefs that challenge their authoritative grip over Iran.”

(Image capture courtesy of Heart4Iran)

Despite increasing pressures, the Church in Iran is growing at an encouraging rate. According to Operation World, Iran has seen the largest recent growth rate among Evangelical Christians.

Ansari says the young people of Iran are even venturing to question the Islamic faith. As they seek answers, some are meeting Jesus.

“The Iranian youth are influencing political, social, and religious developments in Iran. They are no longer satisfied with empty promises and the rule of zealous, religious leaders. They love Iran and they want a new season of change ushered into Iran which will bring prosperity, freedom, and tolerance.”

IDOP: An opportunity to pray for Iran

The International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (IDOP) is this Sunday, November 4. It is a time when Christians around the world can take time to pray for and with our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ.

“Although advocacy and human rights efforts play a vital role in decreasing pressure on the persecuted, we have seen prayer open doors that have been closed for many years, which is nothing short of a miracle.”

Some churches and organizations have two Sundays set aside for IDOP, including November 11 as well. Ansari explains, “The idea is to have everyone around the globe start and finish their week remembering and praying for the persecuted.”

Ansari encourages believers to take some time during IDOP to focus prayers specifically for believers in Iran.

“We seek to bring global awareness to the plight of Iranian Christians who are persecuted systematically under Iranian Islamic government…. Please pray for the existing minorities and the new converts to find peace, legitimization, and legal rights.”

Please ask God to give Muslims in Iran dreams and visions that would reveal the truth of His Word. Pray for persecuted Christians in Iran to sense God’s peace and to be courageous in their stand for the Gospel.

Resources on the Iranian Church

Starting on November 4, you are invited to join Iranians in praying for their nation on a new website, www.roozedoa.com. “A coalition of Iranian Christians have produced a short documentary which will be aired on Mohabat TV, SAT7 PARS, and [other] satellite channels all across the globe,” says Ansari.

Heart4Iran exists to advocate for Iranian Christians, share their stories, and encourage the persecuted Church in Iran. A large part of their ministry is satellite television broadcasting on Mohabat TV to encourage the Iranian underground Church.

If you would like to learn more about Heart4Iran, visit their website here! You can also check out Heart4Iran programs at Mohabat.tv.

Earlier this week, the US State Department hosted the first-ever Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom. Approximately 350 political, civil, and religious leaders from 80 countries gathered in Washington, D.C., and over three days they listened to personal stories from Christians, Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, and others targeted for their religious beliefs.

Sam Brownback, Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Sam Brownback, Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, helped sponsor the ministerial. In his opening statement, Brownback shared, “The right to live according to the dictates of your own soul is under attack in the world…. The lack of religious freedom anywhere is a threat to peace, prosperity, and stability everywhere.”

We spoke with David* from Heart4Iran who also attended the ministerial. He says, “The meeting seems to have twofold implications. On one side, they are talking about the vision for international religious freedom. They’re saying, ‘We want to help promote religious freedom all around the world.’ On the other side, they’re letting everyone hear from victims of persecution.

“Yesterday, we heard an amazing story of a woman who escaped from North Korea four times and was actually kicked back into North Korea, tortured, [and] persecuted for becoming a Christian. That…was highlighted right there from the stage among all these guests from the US State Department.”

The persecution stories shared were not just for curiosity’s’ sake. In giving persecuted Christians and other religious minorities a platform, hopefully, this event will serve as a catalyst for real change and encourage global leaders to prioritize religious freedom in conversations and policies.

David explains, “We’re being asked to participate [and] we’re given opportunities to hear about…grants that are available from the US State Department to help improve international religious freedom issues around the world.”

This year is also the 20th anniversary for the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998. The act promoted religious freedom as a key factor in US foreign policy.

According to David, the International Religious Freedom Act “had bipartisan support whenever it was passed originally. But we’ve seen, depending on the president, certain presidents have taken a greater interest in it and have [had] an Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom that really cares about the issues and stands for it. It makes the difference.

“Since it’s been formed, we’ve seen that when there is a strong international freedom presence in the State Department, people feel like they have a place to go, that they have a place to share.”

This was further illustrated at the first Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom this week. “I was sitting with so many victims of persecution right there with me in the audience and I could just tell right on their faces they were so happy that the State Department had invited them to tell their story. They felt like the US cared about their issues,” David says.

Heart4Iran works with Christians in the West to fuel ministry among Muslims in Iran and serve the Church there. A big part of their ministry is Iranian Christian satellite television broadcasting through Mohabat TV.

Through their ministry, Heart4Iran has witnessed firsthand the religious persecution believers suffer in Iran. According to Open Doors’ World Watch List, Iran is the 10th harshest country in the world for Christian persecution.

(Image capture courtesy of Heart4Iran)

“Religious freedom is very important because it basically means you have the freedom to practice whatever religion you want. In a country like Iran, that is not the case. If you are born as a Muslim, you are not allowed to change your religion. You’re not allowed to have a conscience of your own that leans towards Christianity or any other religion for that matter. That ends up in people being put in prison, people being tortured, all kind of terrible things happen — not just in Iran but all over the world — when there is not religious freedom.”

You can be an encouragement to the persecuted Church today by partnering with Heart4Iran’s ministry in Iran. Click here to learn more!

Finally, please commit to praying for our brothers and sisters in Christ who are suffering today for their faith. Ask God to strengthen their witness so that through their testimony, others may know Jesus Christ as their Savior too.

David adds, “There [are] a lot of things happening between the US government and the Iranian government and we just pray that as these things are playing out with sanctions and different things like that, that the Ambassador would be there to stand up for religious freedom issues and that Christians would have freedom at some point…in Iran.”

*Name changed for security purposes

Today, however, we rejoice to hear that Pastor Oqbamichel has been finally freed from prison, according to The Voice of the Martyrs Australia. He is currently in need of medical care.

Todd Nettleton with The Voice of the Martyrs USA says, “Many pastors [in Eritrea] have been arrested. Many Christians have been arrested. Typically, however, they’re not held as long as Pastor Oqbamichel was… We don’t know exactly why he was released at this time. Why not a year ago? Why not a year from now? We don’t know what the logic behind that is — or if there is any logic behind it.”

Pastor Oqbamichel Haiminot (Photo courtesy of The Voice of the Martyrs Australia)

Pastor Oqbamichel was the senior pastor of the Kale Hiwot (Word of Life) Church. His case garnered international attention in 2003 when he became the first senior church leader to be arrested in Eritrea for religious activities. Since then, Pastor Oqbamichel has been in and out of prison until he was jailed long-term in 2007.

“Eritrea is a country that has gone through a real crackdown against the Church since 2002. The government actually closed all of the Evangelical churches in Eritrea. [They] basically called in the church leaders and said, ‘Your churches can’t meet anymore.’ Every Christian activity after that became illegal.”

Open Doors ranks Eritrea on their World Watch List as the sixth worst country for Christian persecution.

Over the past several years, thousands of other Christians like Pastor Oqbamichel have been jailed in Eritrea for their faith. While we praise God for Pastor Oqbamichel’s release, your prayers are still needed.

“One of the things that’s amazing is the courage that it takes to continue to serve Christ when you know you could go to prison…. None of these Christians has ever actually even been charged with a crime. None of them has had a trial. None of them has gotten a lawyer or been allowed to present their case. They just get arrested and they kind of disappear.”

Nettleton offers this prayer: “Lord, give the Christians in Eritrea that kind of courage. Help them to be bold in spite of the risk, in spite of what they know could happen.”

(Screen capture courtesy of Prayercast)

Please pray also for the families of those who have been arrested for their faith. Ask God to draw near to the families missing their loved ones in prison. And pray for others in Eritrea who are not Christians to come to know Jesus as their Savior.

“I just hope that people will pray for the country of Eritrea. This is a country that a lot of Americans couldn’t find on a map…. So it’s a country we don’t think about a lot. It’s a country we don’t hear about a lot. But it is a country where it is very, very hard to be a Christian.”

The Voice of the Martyrs exists to encourage and equip the persecuted Church around the world. Click here to learn more about VOM’s ministry and how you can support them!