Thursday, March 6, a band of Alawite fighters from the old regime killed more than a dozen soldiers in the coastal town of Jableh affiliated with the new government. 

But it might not have “started” on Thursday. Samuel* with Redemptive stories says, “They killed, the reports say, 16 to 20 soldiers related to a dispute…. There [are] suspicions that there was some act done even before that, which then this [attack on soldiers] was recompense for that previous act.”

Syrian citizens celebrate the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, December 2024 (Photo courtesy of Shvan Hark via Unsplash)

In response, the government sent in troops and a massacre began. The numbers are still coming in, but reports are saying hundreds of fighters and civilians were killed. Christians were among those slain. However, the chief targets were Alawites, a minority sect of Shia Islam that Syria’s former president belongs to. (Amid misinformation regarding this event, read a detailed analysis here.) 

Samuel explains the killing happened “primarily in areas that were hubs for Alawite fighters, or Alawite military personnel historically. But then they were killing quite indiscriminately — killing families, young people who had nothing to do with [it]. I mean, they were part of the previous regime, [by] the fact that they were Alawites, but it was more of an ethnic cleansing as retribution for what was done [in Jableh].” 

The fallout from these horrific killings has already begun. “Some say over 10,000 have crossed into Lebanon, trying to seek refuge there,” Samuel says. 

But there’s another, deeper issue in the fallout.

“The new government is showing their inability to form systems of society that are needed in order to be able to govern its people,” he says. “They’re working towards it, but still, there seems to be a disconnect, as you can tell by the goon-ery of their troops and this massacre that occurred.”

Photo courtesy of Ahmed Akacha via Pexels

Another example of this lack of structure is that security checkpoints in Syria are haphazard, not clearly regulated. One of Samuel’s teammates was in Syria recently. He says checkpoints during al-Assad’s rule were clearly marked with flags and different uniforms signifying which factions had charge of them. 

“Now you get to a checkpoint, [our partner says, and] you have no idea who these people are. They’re just wearing this regular old camo. They might have a new flag on it, but there’s no marking that these are military personnel, police officers or civil defense,” Samuel explains. 

“So they’re still lagging behind in their ability to create the structures necessary for a flourishing society. The honeymoon period is over, and the true colors seem to be coming out more and more.”

That’s not the full story though. Samuel says that in the midst of deep suffering, there are opportunities for believers to step in with gospel hope and help. At the same time, this kind of hardship “also exacerbates already [existing] issues, like fear, the ability to do meetings, to connect together, to meet together.” 

Please, pray for the minority church in Syria. Pray for those who are fleeing to Lebanon and believers who will receive them there.

“We’re just praying for our brothers and sisters on the ground that they can find that balance of still being able to engage people and particularly help them in their season of fear and concern,” Samuel says. “This is an opportunity to care for Alawites. Also in Lebanon, for the refugees that are coming there, [pray] for the church to engage to help them there.”

*Pseudonym

Header photo courtesy of Alexas_Fotos via Pixabay.

“We don’t know where things are going, and how things will be in future, especially in the social area,” said Dr. Moez Mediouni in a recent conversation with Voice of the Martyrs Canada on their podcast Closer to the Fire. Dr. Mediouni is a professor as well as TV producer and host in Tunisia.

“Lots of people are becoming poor[er] on a daily basis. Many are trying — especially youth — to leave schools and leave the country. Many are dying in the sea, trying to cross to Europe.”

Christians make up less than 1% of Tunisia’s more than 12 million people. The country is 99% Muslim. (Image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Herbert Bieser via Pixabay)

Christians make up less than 1% of the majority Muslim population. However, churches are not underground. Dr. Mediouni says many Muslim Tunisians know there are Christians in the country. Christians also have a presence on TV and society in general.

“The Constitution provides the freedom of belief, [but] maybe practicing faith is not fully guaranteed,” says Dr. Mediouni. 

“There are some Christians who even went to the Ministry of Religious Affairs asking for a public building. Normally the state should provide spaces for worship for Christians, but this topic is still not yet taken seriously. Many Christians are forced to use homes [or] house groups [to meet].” 

Intense government persecution may not be present today in Tunisia, but there is high social pressure for believers. They risk rejection and threats from their families by sharing Christ with them. 

“There are a lot of Tunisian Christians [who] can face their friends, they can talk to their friends, but the family is always the last part,” Dr. Mediouni says.  

“Our culture is based on the role of the family and the role of community. So it’s very hard always to be ready to pay that cost. That difficulty is almost faced by everyone who became Christian.”

Pray for courageous gospel witness for Tunisian believers. Pray also for fairness in the upcoming election. 

Click to learn more about Voice of the Martyrs Canada and hear the full episode from Closer to the Fire. 

Header image is a representative stock photo of Sfax, Tunisia courtesy of Taha Loukil via Unsplash.

Eric Mock with Slavic Gospel Association says believers in Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and parts of southern Russia experience several challenges.

(Photo of a man in Dagestan is a representative stock image courtesy of Daria Kraplak via Unsplash)

“One challenge, especially in southern Russia, is if [they are] evangelical believers, they are seen as set apart from Russian Orthodoxy,” Mock says. 

“About 69% of the (Russian) population would respond that they are predominantly Christian. But a lot of that comes through tradition and Orthodoxy, with less than 1% of them being Protestant, and probably less than half of 1% of the population being evangelical.”

While many members of the Russian Orthodox Church have true faith in Christ, for others there is the danger of simply following tradition without having a living, growing relationship with God. 

And as for that evangelical population of less than 0.5 percent? It decreases as you go farther south in Russia, where a second cultural challenge is present. In Russia’s Republic of Dagestan, government statistics say that 95% of the population identifies as Muslim. 

“The form of Islam in that region is more conservative,” Mock explains. “In conservative Islam they hold very tightly to the view that anyone who prays in the name of Jesus or worships Jesus as God is a blasphemer.”

Conservative Muslims accept that Jesus is an honored prophet. But they denounce any Christian who calls Jesus the Son of God. This persuasion runs so deep that they believe Allah is honored by such a Christian’s death or destruction.

Map of Russia, Republic of Dagestan courtesy of АбуУбайда via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Dagestan, which is located between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, has a history of unrest and violence against Christians and Jewish people alike. 

“The persecution that they face is similar to what [Christians in the West] will see in the days ahead. That persecution is inner and then external. They [experience] isolation, loneliness, despair, and even depression, as they face life really ostracized in their community,” says Mock. 

“We see those people holding to their faith much like you might imagine James was talking about in James 1, where he calls on them to count it joy in the middle of trials, knowing that the testing of their faith produces endurance or steadfastness.” 

Read more about what these Russian believers want to say to the West in another story coming later this week. For now, join in praying for endurance with joy for Christians in southern Russia. Ask God to “[add] to their number daily” (Acts 2:47). 

Click here to learn more about the ways SGA serves the Church.

Header photo of mountain climbers in Dagestan courtesy of Farid Mardanov/Unsplash.

The attacks targeted churches, synagogues and a police checkpoint in two cities. The death toll has reached twenty-one, most of them police officers, with 46 more injured. 

Eric Mock with Slavic Gospel Association says that by God’s grace, no one they knew was injured in the tragedy, but the churches are deeply grieved. 

“They’re more brokenhearted that there may have been some [whose] lives were lost apart from knowing Christ. So rather than worrying about the stress of their persecution, they’re more focused on what do they do to honor God in declaring hope in Christ alone?” 

Map of Russia, Republic of Dagestan courtesy of АбуУбайда via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Persecution is a reality for Christians in Caucasia.

“[Southern Russia] is a very unique environment where there are multiple multiple ethnic groups. Predominant religions are Islam and Russian Orthodoxy, and [believers] face a world that probably does not want them there,” says Mock. 

It’s an environment where Mock says evangelical Christians are “in many ways rejected as part of society, because they are not preaching a Christianity that flows from Russian Orthodoxy. [Also] being a Christian in a predominantly Muslim context makes it very difficult for them.” 

But God is faithful to lift up His people through difficulties. Mock says Christians can walk through these challenges with joy, recognizing that these experiences affirm their faith in Christ (1 Peter 4:12-19).

Please join in praying for the families of those who were killed this past Sunday. For the local Christians, pray that they will hold fast to the gospel in the circumstances God has placed them in. 

“In the midst of everything that we read, let us also grieve and also pray that the gospel moves even faster in a region that is highly resistant to the gospel,” Mock says. 

Header photo courtesy of Julia Kadel/Unsplash. 

Pastor Israel Pochtar of Beit Hallel Congregation in Ashdod says, “Israel has the biggest military mobilization of people ever in its entire history. So 350,000 Israelis — young fathers and mostly young ones — who were mobilized in the military. It’s affecting every part of our society.”

War relief action teams deliver much-needed essentials to soldiers at the Israeli army bases in the south of Israel. (Photo courtesy of Beit Hallel Congregation)

Pochtar’s own two sons are in Israel’s military – one is already serving and one was recently deployed. His youngest son’s best friend (also in the army) was killed by the Hamas attack on October 7th, as was his daughter’s best friend who was at the music festival.

At least 30 young men from Pochtar’s church have deployed since the start of the conflict. Civilians are feeling the impact of war.

“Church services, we have to limit them to 50 people,” Pochtar says. “We do have a bomb shelter in my church that helps, praise the Lord. We still can do services. But even just to drive to the church is dangerous because we can come under fire at any time. So when we have sirens, people need to run to the bomb shelter. That’s our reality now for the last 16 days.”

During this time, Christians in Israel are showing compassion in Yeshua’s name to their communities.

“It’s tragedy. It’s painful. It’s caught us by surprise, so it is a difficult situation. But as a church, we have no time to slow down. We are working hard because crisis and war and tragedy, that’s the best time for the Church to be light, and that’s our focus. We’re collecting ourselves and going through the pain of losses.”

(Photo courtesy of Beit Hallel Congregation)

With so many Israeli soldiers suddenly deployed, their troops need day-to-day essentials. Beit Hallel Congregation’s war relief action teams are getting food, water, hygiene products, and other aid items to Israeli army bases in the south.

Ashdod where the church is located has been hit by continued bombing from Gaza. It’s also very close to Ashkelon, another major target of rocket fire.

“I live on a high floor, so I can see from my windows Ashkelon and Gaza,” Pochtar says. “When rockets fly, I personally see it with my eyes. So we’re close.”

Beit Hallel Congregation is providing emergency food baskets and care hampers to Israeli families affected by war in the south.

Pochtar says, “For us in the beginning when it started, we said, ‘We need to go ahead and buy groceries, buy food to be ready because soon people will cry for help.’

“As time goes on, people stay home. With the rocket fire, they cannot go into the shop. There is no house delivery. You cannot order Uber or other ways people order food. Women, young moms with little kids…stay home. They cannot even go out and buy groceries. Disabled people, old people, they are stuck home… We know from experience as time goes by, the needs will grow.”

Please pray for a resolution to the conflict and for Gospel opportunities among devastated Israeli and Palestinian communities.

You can give to Beit Hallel Congregation’s war relief efforts here.

Header photo of war relief action teams delivering much-needed essentials to soldiers at the Israeli army bases in the south of Israel. (Photo courtesy of Beit Hallel Congregation)

The reality is Palestinian women in Arabic culture are not often celebrated. In fact, women tend to be treated as second-class citizens.

Bethlehem Bible College’s communications officer Amira Farhoud says, “Each house here has a different story. There is a lot of beating, a lot of threatening, [and] a lot of abuse for women and for kids all behind closed doors. We know a few, but there are a lot of stories that are hidden.

“A woman can’t defend herself because your father will tell you that your husband can do whatever he wants with you — beat you, hit you, humiliate you. You’re his now. So yeah, we have this culture.”

At home and in society, Arabic women often hear they are worthless, or at least “worth less” than men. Then they open up social media and are bombarded with messages that if they want to achieve a sense of worth, they have to strive for impossible beauty standards or become a counter-cultural “boss babe.” Neither messages are ultimately fulfilling.

(Photo courtesy of Bethlehem Bible College)

The Gospel’s message to women is entirely different in every way: God has instilled women with inherent dignity, value, and worth as co-heirs to the Kingdom of Heaven.

“Our worth is in Jesus,” Farhoud says. “We know that He loves us. He respects us. He gave us our dignity. He gave us our worth. The Gospel of God makes the whole difference.”

Ultimately, Bethlehem Bible College is educating and uplifting women in the heart of the Gospel. The college even has a women’s ministry that encourages female staff and students with biblical counseling. Today, their aim is to celebrate these women!

“In a society that doesn’t respect women a lot, here at Bethlehem Bible College we are well respected [and] well treated,” Farhoud says.

“We came to say that you are celebrated even if you are an ordinary woman…. The small things that you do are extraordinary, like cooking for your kids, like teaching them, like managing all of that while being a full-time staff or a full-time working mom. You are extraordinary. So that’s the idea of the campaign.”

This International Women’s Day, Farhoud asks, “[Be] praying for us, of course — especially for us as women in our daily life jobs that we do and for our families, for our children, and even for Arabic society.”

(Photo courtesy of Bethlehem Bible College)

Pray for Palestinian women to embrace their worth in Jesus Christ and be beacons of confident faith to their families, friends, and communities.

Click here to learn more about Bethlehem Bible College.

Header photo courtesy of Bethlehem Bible College.

On top of that, it can be difficult for the Church to grow. We spoke to a Tunisian Christian who lives outside the country. For safety reasons, we will call him Joe. He says, “Statistically, we have lots of people that have come to the faith and get baptized as disciples. And then we lose them. It’s a big number of people that we have lost. They came to get baptized, and we don’t see them afterward. One reason is fear.”

“Secondly, it’s the mentality. They don’t understand why they should belong to only one group.”

When the call to prayer goes out, as it does five times a day throughout Tunisia, Muslims go to any nearby mosque. They do not belong to one congregation. Joining a local Christian church is a hard transition.

Unity

Pray that God will bring an understanding of diversity to the Tunisian Christian community. Joe says, “We can be different. We worship in different ways. That problem of disunity, it exists with the missionaries themselves. It’s sad when you see mature believers coming to do mission work, but they want to do the mission work not only for Christ, but for their denomination.”

This leads to a lot of problems in ministry, Joe says. “The Baptists say, ‘Oh, I don’t like the Pentecostals,’ and vice versa.”

Ask God to bring unity and growth to the Church in Tunisia.

Learning curve

Christians coming from a Muslim background in Tunisia relearn a lot of what they know about the Bible and Jesus. It can be an identity crisis as people learn things as simple as the word “Hallelujah.” The discipleship takes time.

There are parts of the Christian life that Muslims in Tunisia will already be more familiar with. Joe says, “In Tunisia, we don’t have polygamy, for example.”

(Header photo courtesy of pmoulie from Pixabay)

According to Jonathan, a Christian worker focused in Pakistan, local interest in the Gospel partly stems from a growing disenchantment with Islam.

“A lot of this is because of some of the horrific things that have been done in the name of Islam by people claiming to be good Muslims,” he explains. “Al Qaeda and the Taliban and ISIS are sort of chief among them. And I think there’s this growing sense among many Muslims that… if this is what Islam is, I want nothing to do with it.”

But now that Pakistanis are more open than they perhaps have ever been, the local Church is underequipped to reach them. “Pakistan is the second largest Muslim country in the world; there are more than 200 million Muslims in Pakistan,” Jonathan says. Among those 200 million Muslims are “at least 12 of the totally unreached and unengaged people groups.”

And there are fewer and fewer foreign missionaries. Ongoing security issues in the region and challenges with visas and other paperwork have caused a large drop in the number of foreign missionaries in Pakistan.

Photo courtesy of Unsplash

Thanks to their origin in the lowest castes of Hindu society, Pakistani Christians have stayed quiet for generations. They looked to Westerners, who they perceived as better-equipped, well-resourced, and more respected, to spread the Gospel.

Not only that, but leaders who did step up often saw each other as rivals. Because Pakistan’s Church only has access to a certain limited number of resources, Jonathan says many leaders had a mentality that “resources that go to you are resources that did not come to me.” Instead of collaboration, Christians engaged in competition.

Now, Western missionaries are disappearing, and the Pakistani people are looking for answers. Competition and muted humility are no longer options.

“There’s a new movement among younger leaders who really value collaboration and partnership and sharing resources and turn to each other for help rather than turning to foreigners for help,” Jonathan says. “There’s this move across the country of ministries beginning to work together and stepping up to the plate, realizing that ‘God has placed us strategically in the most remote parts of the country.’”

The Church in Pakistan is rolling up its sleeves and digging in to help their neighbors. They may not have personnel from the global Church, but they still need your prayer. Pray for the continued efforts of a young, under-resourced Church as they show other Pakistanis that God does have the answers.

“This is where it’s really important for the Pakistani church stepping up; the cultural differences between them and the unreached people groups are far less than the cultural differences between a Western missionary coming and having to learn a new language. It’s a very exciting time.”

Header photo courtesy of Unsplash.

Zoom out for a big-picture look and Rex Rogers, president of SAT-7 USA, a satellite TV ministry to the Middle East and North Africa, notes this is not a complete surprise. There have been signs for quite some time that Christianity is losing its influence in the public square.

“Our country, our culture has largely drawn its sense of morality and values, which, of course, goes into law and education and entertainment…from that source. From Judeo-Christian sources. That’s what’s changing rapidly in the last…20 years,” Rogers says.

Living a Biblical Christian Lifestyle

What Christians need to realize is that even though their influence on U.S. culture is slipping away, God has not disappeared. Rather, Christians living out a biblical worldview will increasingly look different from their culture. In a sense, this is a good thing.

(Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash)

“If we’ve become too much like what preachers call the world, worldliness, and people can’t see in the church, or in Christian people, any distinctive difference from the world around them, then what’s to draw them to Christ in Christianity. What draws them to the Church? So, it can get our attention in a positive way to make us wake up,” Rogers explains.

The message of the Gospel doesn’t change, but how it is shared might. And U.S. Christians will likely need to relearn how to live out the Christian faith, particularly in a pluralist society where God’s truth is increasingly hard to share and unpopular. After all, truth in the United States is viewed through a relative lens rather than considered absolute. However, it is vital truth is shared with love and respect.

But how?

Still, this leaves a question unanswered. How do believers in the U.S. live out their faith in a changing cultural and moral landscape?

(Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash)

“The answer is spiritual. You still go back to Micah 6:8 that were to walk humbly with our God, and that were to be faithful, or to speak the truth and love [as it] says in the New Testament. We’re to live out Christ. How shall they know we’re different? Well, we love one another…It’s not rocket science. It’s really pretty basic, Biblical Christianity,” Rogers says.

“You look back at Jesus, He didn’t start a political party, He didn’t hold an office. You know, He didn’t even own property or vote. He didn’t do any of those things. He did say render to Caesar those things that are Caesar’s, to God things [that] are God’s. And then He, of course, set forth the ethic of a Christian faith and how’re to live out our lives, no matter what the society. So, it might get tougher…but we’re still to live as unto the Lord.”

Are you living out Biblical Christianity today? Join us tomorrow as we look at examples of Christians in the Middle East and North Africa region who are doing just this in multi-religious societies.

Header photo by Matt Botsford on Unsplash.