Around the world millions of Christians face persecution for their faith, often in Muslim-dominated communities. Many are secret believers, Christians who are prevented from freely living out their Christian faith for fear of reprisal from family or friend, colleague or foe.
The ministry of Open Doors began in 1955 when God called a young Dutchman to act on the basis of Revelation 3:2: ‘Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die.’ He went to Poland and discovered a Church under threat behind the Iron Curtain, and desperately longing for the Word of God.
Brother Andrew became ‘God’s Smuggler’, taking suitcase after suitcase of Bibles to the Persecuted Church, facing great danger, but determined to bring encouragement and hope. He has never forgotten the words of one believer: “Your presence here with us is worth more than your ten best sermons.”
Martin Luther King once said this: “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.” Brother Andrew, the founder of Open Doors, pioneered the way for the Church in the West to reach out to its persecuted family in love, prayer and commitment. Andrew advocated a fresh and dynamic approach to Muslims characterised by using the acronym I.S.L.A.M. — I Sincerely Love All Muslims. We need to distinguish between Islam as an ideology and Muslims as human beings, reducing our fear of Islam and increasing Christians’ love for Muslims. For Jesus commands and enables us to love all people while the Apostle John notes in 1 John 4v18 that ‘perfect love drives out fear’. Whilst praying for secret believers in the Middle East, crying out for their blessing, welfare and provision, we must also remember to pray with them, asking God to soften the hearts of their Muslim neighbours and to reveal His true nature.
Open Doors is active in around 45 countries, supplying Bibles, leadership training, Scripture-based literacy programmes and support for Christians suffering for their faith. And we want to continue to encourage the Church here to play its part: that means not only responding to the needs of the Persecuted Church, but also learning from their experience of what it means to follow Jesus.
ETHIOPIA | Three Muslim men have been sentenced to life imprisonment for the deadly machete attack on two churches in the village of Nensebo Chebi in March. Of another 17 people arrested for the attack, six remain in prison while the rest have reportedly been set free. (Compass Direct)
INDONESIA | Islamic extremists, together with local officials, have demolished two church buildings in West Java. The compound has been sealed shut since 2005, and since that time, church members have been meeting in homes. (Compass Direct)
GAZA | - Since Christian bookstore manager Rami Ayyad was murdered on October 7, the small Christian minority in Gaza has lived in heightened fear. Several Christian families have been evacuated from Gaza in the face of death threats from militants. Many Christians have fled. Hanna Massad of Gaza Baptist Church, now lives temporarily outside Gaza. He attempted several times to return to his church to preach, but was turned away at the border. He says members of his congregation now meet only in small groups on Sunday mornings.
SRI LANKA | Christians in Middeniya, southern Sri Lanka, faced increasing hostility in the run up to a huge anti-Christianity rally in June, organised by Buddhist extremists. One Christian girl was viciously beaten by classmates after her school prinicipal encouraged students to attend the rally.
(Compass Direct)
Night of a Million Miracles
It is estimated that in China today approximately one third of all believers still do not have a personal Bible. Open Doors remains committed to supplying Bibles and Christian literature to China.
1981 - This story of Project Pearl will help you understand how and why the revival sweeping through China was fuelled by the infusion of one million Bibles.
Out of the ashes of death and destruction in China’s Cultural Revolution, rises a purified, renewed and fast-growing church. The need for one million Chinese Bibles is urgently requested and a team of ordinary men respond with a strong faith in an extraordinary, miracle-working God.
Using a tugboat and a specially-designed barge, twenty men clandestinely deliver one million Chinese Bibles—232 tons—in one night to thousands of Chinese Christians waiting on a beach in southern China. But the untold story is the million miracles that occurred in getting to that night of delivery.
(For ordering information, please refer to the Open Doors office nearest you.)
Shiraz – One woman’s story
"My journey with Jesus started five months after I joined Khartoum University. The first book I read about Jesus was anti-Christianity; I did not know what made me search for the gospel but I think God was looking for me as I was looking for Him."
Shiraz knew her pursuit would involve risks. "Reading the Bible in the house was a fearful idea” but “the important thing is that I found the Bible and started to read it. I read the Bible for a year and four months and every time my conviction grew more and more.”
But one day her fears came true. "When my family learned that I was reading the Bible, they beat me severely and threatened to kill me because they considered me as one who does not believe in God.”...
To read the full story and more, click here to go to the Secret Believers website.
Please Pray for Shiraz and many other Secret Believers like her:
- That their faith will be strengthened
- For secret believers to have some fellowship with other Christians
- For protection from physical and psychological attacks by extended family or neighbours
- That female secret believers will find fellow believers to marry and not be forced into marriage with Muslim men.
For more information about Open Doors
visit our
International Website: www.od.org or
Australia: www.opendoors.org.au |
New Zealand: www.opendoors.org.nz |