Tom Doyle with Uncharted Ministries recently met with their Syria field leader. Militants are targeting Alawites, a divergent religion related to Islam that was upheld by the previous regime. 

“Of course, this is payback, because Bashar Assad was an Alawite, and now the ruling leaders are going after the Alawites,” Doyle explains. “Some of them (the Alawites) were terrorists, for sure, but then there’s just good Alawite people that are living in fear — [there is a] lot of death, lot of kidnappings, bodies along the road in Alawite areas that are just being left there.”

Doyle shares there have also been clear threats to Christians that “you are next.”

“There is a Christian group that was was doing something in Damascus, and they’re already being threatened that ‘This is a Muslim city, and there will be no more Christian activities here,’” Doyle says.

A minaret and a church steeple side-by-side in Syria. (Photo courtesy of Ali Wassouf/Unsplash)

“This is what’s happening just out in the open, but somehow it’s not being covered much. So we need to pray for the church in Syria.”

Despite the extreme daily pressures, a local believer sent Doyle’s team this message. 

“This friend of ours signs the letter, ‘Rest assured, my dear brother, we are all well through the Lord,’ even though there’s clamp downs on when they can go outside of their homes, they’re not getting paid, their government is not functioning well, and there’s open threats. Many of them know people that have been killed. But in the midst of it, the Body of Christ is shining.” 

As HTS consolidates power, remember and pray for the Church with your eyes open. 

“Pray for our Christian family in Syria, who’ve been through so much with the Assad leadership for over 50 years, and now we have this new leadership that is starting to show its true colors, [which is] going to be open hostility to Christians,” says Doyle. 

Learn more about Uncharted Ministries here.

Header image is a representative stock photo by Alexas_Fotos via Pixabay. 

Fouad is a pastor in the North African nation of Morocco, where being a Christian is both unlikely and difficult. 

It’s unlikely per se for several reasons. Morocco is more than 99% Muslim today; there is strong cultural and governmental pressure on people to keep it that way. It’s difficult because although Christians are allowed to practice their faith, they are carefully watched. If someone is accused of “shaking the faith” of a Muslim or of criticizing Islam, they can be punished by a prison sentence and/or fines.

Berber Market in Morocco. (Photo courtesy of Annie Spratt via Unsplash)

To describe the persecution Moroccan Christians go through, Fouad recounts part his family’s story. “The pressures comes from the family first, because they reject us in the beginning. They were all really very tough on our children also, when they said they are Christian,” he says.

“It was very difficult time for the whole family, but we understand in the Word of God that because of our faith, [because] of the Savior, many will reject us, even though some [are] family members.”

More on persecution in Morocco here.

After he began to follow Christ, Fouad became part of a small local congregation. Eventually he served as an elder and then was asked to lead the church. Despite Christians being few in number (less than 0.2% of the population), they see God making His Word known to more and more of their fellow countrymen, just like He did in Fouad’s life. 

One significant way this spread is happening, Fouad says, is through media. 

“Now people can compare and listen. They can research by themselves about the truth and look, you know, for ‘who is the true God?’” he says. “That’s God Himself who let His Word be known. We have seen that, and we praise Him for that. He’s [a] faithful God.” 

Join in prayer for Moroccan believers like Fouad and his church. 

“For protection for the church and also for the church be unified, for the new believers to grow in Christ, and to share the message of the gospel with their families and with the whole people of Morocco,” he says. 

“We pray also for the internship that we hold in this church and also for discipleship in other churches, that the Lord [will] prepare workers and prepare servants for His Word in the whole country.”

Header photo of Morocco courtesy of Fouad. 

Christians wonder how the new administration will respond to their presence in the Muslim majority nation of more than 280 million. They hope for greater favor than in the past.

Juserdi Purba with A3 explains that there are different levels of persecution Indonesian believers go through.

(Representative stock photo courtesy of John Ragai on Flickr: https://goo.gl/HVMTRr.)

“Commonly, we face opposition from non-believers because they believe that we are in the wrong way. So they try to convince us (to convert),” Purba says.

Another level he identifies is physical persecution. However, it’s important to note that Indonesia is composed of more than 17,500 islands. The degree of social, legal and physical persecution a Christian might endure varies from one family, community or region to another.

No matter the circumstance, Purba says the church’s first move needs to be Christ-like love, godly living and a relationship-building approach to Muslim neighbors. He says in many cases, people have actually asked why Christians aren’t responding with hate to the pressure or mistreatment they suffer.

“That is the door open for us to say what we do, because we have love in Jesus, and we want to show to them that Jesus also love them,” Purba says.

Join Indonesian believers in praying for deeper godliness and a winsome witness to God’s love.

“We have prayer meeting[s], and we hope that one day the door is open for us to to preach the good news,” Purba says.

“[But] I think this is the first [step]: we display Christ, [a] good example, good life. We show love to them.”

Header photo of an Indonesian Bible is a representative stock photo courtesy of Yosi Prihantoro via Unsplash.

Last month, the three congregations that meet in this historic building received an eviction notice from a government official. The notice said the building was structurally unsafe and the congregations would have to move out before August 24. 

Turkiye’s history of quakes makes structural integrity an issue everyone is invested in. However, Bruce Allen with FMI says the church has gathered evidence that that shouldn’t be a concern with their building. 

“They have just had a survey done by the Chamber of Geological Engineers — another government agency — and their foundation is secure. There is no corrosion. There’s no cracks. Their building is one of the safest in the city,” Allen says.

Screenshot from an August 2024 interview with the ANKA news agency (Screenshot courtesy of FMI)

“What is unique about [the church] is that it is the only church building in Türkiye in which three different sects of Christianity all share [the] facility: Syrian Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant.”

Allen says all three congregations sense that the eviction notice is an attempt to eliminate the Christian presence in the city. They received a similar threat of closure in 2016 which was later resolved.

The pastor of one of the three congregations, who we’ll call Irik, has petitioned the new governor of the province. He has also publicly called on President Erdogan to intervene. Irik suspects this is also intended to prevent Christians from gathering to celebrate a significant anniversary next year. 

“His city was where the Council of Nicaea was held, which was pivotal in Christian history,” Allen says. “[The year] 2025 marks the 1,700th anniversary of that council. So there will be people descending on his city from all over Christendom, all over the world, to mark this anniversary.” 

As this situation unfolds, pray for favor with the government. Pastor Irik’s first prayer request is this: “I want this church to be a witnessing church, sharing the gospel until the day Jesus returns.” 

“Obviously he’s saying, ‘We don’t want to stop gathering together,’” Allen says. “But what he’s really saying is, ‘We just want to keep being a lighthouse of hope in this city.’”

Pray that the church will trust God regardless of what their government leaders decide. Pray that any meetings they have with officials will bring glory and honor to God. 

Header photo of a church in Istanbul, Türkiye is a representative stock photo courtesy of Igor Sporynin/Unsplash.

Erik Burklin with China Partner says some pastors reported that services were well attended, with clear gospel invitations and baptisms celebrated. But other pastors shared they had not been allowed to gather on Christmas Day at all.

“We saw some reports of pastors who were discouraged, because the government now is no longer allowing some Western-type celebrations, including Christmas. [These churches] were not able to do a Christmas Day celebration that they had done in the past. Yet they were faithful [in] doing what they could do in the midst of those new restrictions,” says Burklin.

“I’d always heard that, you know, the sanitization push [by the Chinese government] is trying to control everything. But that this one church would actually literally say, ‘We could not celebrate Christmas Day any longer because of the restrictions,’ that was surprising.”

Don’t miss the hope that remains. Both Chinese pastors and lay people faithfully use the Christmas season to share the message of the gospel with others. They are not silent. 

Image courtesy of China Partner.

“I think Satan would love to discourage us. He is in the business of destroying our faith. That’s what we need, to rally as Christians, to come together and be reminded by Scripture that Christ is still on the throne, that He’s defeated Satan. He’s the Victor and the Church will survive all this.”

Pray for Chinese churches to persevere under increased limitations by the government.

Learn more about how you can support Chinese churches through the ministry of China Partner.

Header photo courtesy of China Partner. 

Then, the pandemic reached Cuba, bringing with it a whole new slew of problems.

Todd Nettleton of Voice of the Martyrs says the Cuban Church faces three primary problems.

1. Technology: In the United States and other parts of the world, a lack of in-person services meant a transition to online programming. But in many parts of Cuba, that’s not an option. “Very few people in Cuba have access to the internet,” Nettleton says. “Christians are really anxious and desperate to be back together and to meet together.”

2. Food: In some countries, local officials distribute food to economically struggling communities. But in Cuba, there is little aid to speak of. There is, however, a surplus of theft and violence, making resources even tougher to come by. Pray that locals will get access to essential supplies, especially food.

3. Persecution: In the middle of a pandemic, some local officials are using the crisis as an excuse to further harass pastors and leaders in the area. Some believers report officials barging into their home under the guise of safety checks, “But it was purely harassment. It wasn’t out of a concern for the wellbeing of the pastors.”

This last point is the continuation of a regular pattern in Cuba. According to Nettleton, the government sees “Christians as undermining their authority, undermining the government. Even a Christian journalist has been accused of disseminating enemy propaganda for posting what’s happening inside the country and what’s happening with the coronavirus.”

A makeshift baptism (Photo courtesy of Voice of the Martyrs USA)

Pastors have felt pressure from officials and have been accused of various crimes. Christian media has been silenced in some places, and officials use every chance they get to suppress the Gospel in Cuba.

So pray. Pray that believers will find encouragement in each other, in the global Church, and in Christ. Pray that God will give them peace and discernment as they navigate these crises. Pray that God will protect them in their efforts to make His love known.

“Pray that they will soon be able to meet together again. There really is that need for fellowship and encouragement that comes as the body of Christ gathers together.”

Learn more about Voice of the Martyrs and their work right here.

Header photo courtesy of Unsplash.

Changes in Church Life

Kurt Rovenstine with Bibles for China says their contacts are facing many of the same troubles other Christian organizations have expressed; the government is cracking down on Christianity.

(Photo courtesy of Bibles for China)

For many churches, this means programs are being shut down.

“Sunday school is going away. [There is] pressure from the government to try to control and limit the scope of Christianity. And part of that is, I believe, that the church is still strong. And we visit folks that are doing great things and still have a passion for the Bible, still have a passion for evangelism, still have a passion to see the Church grow. And we know that when things are moving forward that the enemy will come in and try to thwart that.”

A New Focus

The growing pressure to limit the scope of Christ in China is changing the way many ministries operate. Bibles for China sees these changes as a way to broaden or shift their focus.

Instead of solely Bibles, they want to offer study Bibles and commentary sets as well. These items are more difficult to get to their partners. However, they are valuable assets for training younger, rural generations and lay-pastors. Because of security concern, these materials are handed out one-on-one to specific partners instead of en masse.

However, the focus on Scripture is not going away, Rovenstine explains. “We still will be primarily about Bibles, as many as we can, as far away as we can. You know into the remote areas, we’ll try to see that Bibles are distributed so that there’s plenty of copies of God’s Word if things would ever shift, you know, really radically.”

A New Verification System

In addition to a small shift in focus, Bibles for China has been forced to change the way they operate. Changes in government have made it very difficult for Westerners to do much beyond traditional sight-seeing.

That’s why Bibles for China relies more heavily on partners they have made in the past. They no longer send teams into China to verify Bibles and encourage local believers; instead, they work with Chinese partners who do the coordination for them.

(Photo courtesy of Bibles for China)

“They send us reports. Numbers of Bibles to specific churches and those kinds of things. And then we’ve had partnerships for many years with several provinces. We trust the leaders. We’ve been there multiple times. They send us a similar report. Number of Bibles, names of Churches … So, we do still have a verification process, it’s just a little different.”

These changes can be difficult. However, Bibles for China is continuing to bring Bibles and study materials to people who need them in China, at least for now.

Pray for Revival

When asked how people can pray, Rovenstine recounted the last time he was permitted to attend a church service in China. The pastor spoke about the dry bones in Ezekiel. He asked his people to seek a revival in China through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Rovenstine explains, “Not that there aren’t good things already, but it’s so easy to see the conflict, trouble, and persecution and strife and think that the dry bones are going to just remain in the valley and continue to rattle around in the desert wind. But as Ezekiel saw that great vision, I think we can pray for a great coming together of the Church in China and the Church around the world. That the Holy Spirit through the word of God, through the determination and faithfulness of His people there would be a great revival.”

Please join Bibles for China in praying for God’s spirit to revive the Church in China and protect His people who are facing troubles.

Please also consider joining Bibles for China financially here.

Header photo courtesy of Bibles for China

As some governments claim, some places in Syria are relatively safe, and some refugees are admittedly reluctant to return not because of safety but because of the economic stability they’ve found in their host countries.

However, “there’s also truth in the pressure and in the difficulties of some families to go back because of deserting the Army or because of the alliance against the government,” Nuna says. “If they proclaimed themselves against the government, going back to Syria after this government would be a bit difficult.”

This increased pressure is uprooting families and individuals who are already weary and battered. Nuna says these refugees may no longer live in fear of losing their lives, but they do face “the trauma of being arrested, the trauma of being taken prisoner, of being beaten, and of being forced into signing something or doing something that you don’t want to do.”

Photo courtesy of Unsplash

Thanks to their work with refugees, Triumphant Mercy sees the frontline of this discussion. They’re working to develop economic stability for refugees, but with official eyes on them, they’re doing their best to show that they care for both Syrians and Lebonese.

As the situation shifts, so too will their mission. “It’s not just me; it’s everybody now,” Nuna says. “Every NGO is doing that. They’re all shifting gears, they’re all going in a different direction. Even though we’ve been focusing on very much like on Syrian refugees who are here, we’re trying to differentiate between the Syrian refugees who are here to receive help, or just because it’s easier on them, or those who are really needing help and needing to be supported in Lebanon.”

For years, they’ve been working to help displaced refugees feel safe. “People started to feel that they can start a life, that they got out of the trauma,” Nuna says. Now, with new pressure from host countries, “the trauma’s back. Now they sleep not knowing if, at four in the morning, the camp will be surrounded by the military just coming to take people to prison.”

That being said, they’re still trying to guide refugees who are interested in returning home, telling them “We can help you even there, we can direct you somewhere, we can just give you some tips and points. But it’s better for you to actually go back home and start to build.”

In short, these are people who are looking for hope. They need something steady to hold on to in times of turmoil and a source of peace as their world shifts once again.

Photo courtesy of Triumphant Mercy

That’s what makes Triumphant Mercy so uniquely equipped to take on this challenge. “We’re a Christian agency before we’re a humanitarian agency, and we have a message and we have a desire to see God’s kingdom expand,” Nuna says.

“We believe that every person we see, we need to encourage, bring hope, show them a different view, and let them see that the hope is not gone, and everything is not black.”

This new pressure is proof that any sense of stability based on politics or the material world is can be taken away. That’s why Triumphant Mercy focuses “on the real issue, and the real issue is what do you have inside you and the real peace that they can have when they just give everything to Christ and you let him direct your life.”

Pray for Syrian refugees wrestling with the choice of whether or not to return home, and ask God to give Triumphant Mercy wisdom as they come alongside Lebanese and Syrians. You can learn more about Triumphant Mercy right here.

“People are suffering. People are traumatized. People don’t have a future. People don’t see a future, they can’t imagine a future,” Nuna says.

“If we join together, if we all have a goal in mind, we can actually do something, and I really want to encourage people to take a stand to just say ‘It’s not acceptable. We got used to it, but it’s unacceptable.’”

Header photo courtesy of unsplash

That’s why religious holidays oust many believers who wanted to keep their faith hidden from their families or communities, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa.

According to Todd Nettleton of Voice of the Martyrs, when “the new Christian believer says, ‘Well, I don’t want to be a part of that anymore,’ that immediately raises the question, ‘Well, why not? Why wouldn’t you want to be a part of our religious festival? Why wouldn’t you want to be a part of something that everyone else is a part of?’”

Answering those questions means admitting that “‘I’m not a Muslim anymore, I’m now a follower of Christ,’ [which] can bring down persecution on that new believer,” Nettleton explains.

This isn’t unique to Muslim holidays or Muslim-dominate countries; Nettleton says Hindu celebrations and regional religious festivals can reveal previously-secret faiths, too. The issue is especially pressing right now, however, because of the global Muslim requirement of the Hajj over the next few days.

Photo courtesy of Unsplash

But this isn’t a story of hopelessness. Most believers have to practice caution, but they can also use religious holidays as opportunities. “Yes, they are thinking of safety,” Nettleton says. “They’re thinking of, ‘Okay, you know, I want to avoid large crowds where I might be singled out or I might become a target.’ But they also are saying, ‘How do we share Christ during this festival and during this holiday with our neighbors who are thinking about spiritual things?’”

After all, religious holidays like the Hajj often revolve around searching for spirituality through their own faith. Why shouldn’t they find Jesus Christ, instead?

“We hear so many stories from throughout the Muslim world of dreams and visions and supernatural occurrences where God is just supernaturally reaching people,” Nettleton says. “They’re thinking about, ‘How do I earn God’s approval? What can I do to get God to approve of me, to pay attention to me?’ So it is a great time for them to have an encounter with the Gospel message.”

Pray for Christians seeking safety and solace, but also pray that Muslims seeking Allah will find God. Learn more about the Hajj and what it means to be a Christian in Muslim-dominated worlds right here.

Header photo courtesy of unsplash.

How bad is persecution in China? Eric Foley with Voice of the Martyrs Korea says that since February 2018, “it has become a crime to be an underground Christian.”

But being a part of the registered church presents its own problems. Foley says that China is trying to “Bring the state churches under greater control in terms of their involvement in spreading communism through the church and through the church services.”

That leaves many Chinese believers with a nearly-impossible choice. They can either be associated with an underground church that is now illegal or be part of a church in which sermons are censored and surveillance efforts take attendance rather than providing religious privacy.

Keep Quiet

So where do silencing efforts come in? Foley says one of the major tools used against the Church is

Photo courtesy of Pixabay

interrogation. Investigations focus “not only your own involvement in that church, but you’re expected to talk about, for example, does the church have any connection with outside churches? Have there been foreign speakers?”

If authorities release someone after interrogation, they are then committed to silence. If they tell anyone they were questioned in an interrogation setting, they could face jail time. “The person who exposes that information, which is called revealing state secrets, can face between 7 to 15 years in prison simply for indicating that they were interrogated,” Foley says.

Preserving Public Image

But why is silence so important to maintain? Foley says it’s all about keeping up appearances. “China actually does pay attention to how the church and the rest of the world responds,” he says. “It also cares what governments think… if governments around the world recognize that the Chinese government is engaged in religious persecution, this creates real problems for the Chinese government.”

To dissuade such problems from cropping up, China attempts to “undermine the claims of persecution on the part of underground Christians and on the part of Chinese refugees who are now fleeing the country.” Take members of the Early Rain Covenant Church, who are trying to make asylum claims so they can enter the U.S. China is currently doing what it can to stop that from happening.

“All they can say is, ‘These people were part of cult organizations or their churches were illegally connected to foreign organizations that are seeking to undermine the Chinese government,’” Foley says. If China can undermine Christian credibility within China and the Chinese Church’s credibility outside of China, it can silence dissenting voices that could tarnish China’s image.

Pastor John Cao, arrested in 2017 (Photo courtesy of Voice of the Martyrs)

How to Stay In Touch

So what can you do? First and foremost, Foley says, you can stay up to date with what’s happening around the world, particularly in China.

“You have situations like Early Rain Covenant Church, you have situations like Pastor John Cao, and with those situations the Chinese government is very willing to draw those situations out as long as they can, because their belief is that Christians around the world will lose interest and move on to the next case,” Foley says.

In other words, don’t lose sight of the problem. China expects people to forget about how bad persecution actually is in China. “What China counts on us doing is simply losing interest,” Foley says.

So don’t.

Stay up to date with organizations like Mission Network News. Send letters to the Chinese standing office at the United Nations. Send letters to support prisoners in China.

“We also need to be aware that the changing religious regulations mean that China is digging in for the long haul, so we have to be ready to dig in for the long haul too.”

Header photo courtesy of pixabay.