By: Laura Bennett
For the last 31 years, Open Doors has released their World Watch List, detailing the countries where persecution against Christians is most prolific.
North Korea has topped the list for the third year in a row – dropping down only in 2022 when Afghanistan fell to the Taliban – sharing the list with countries who’ve seen a rise in authoritarian government, violence and prejudice directed towards Christians.
Observing trends over the last 12 months, Open Doors Australia CEO Adam Holland says the experience of Christians globally is increasingly unsettling.
“It is challenging, persecution continues to grow,” Adam said. “It’s now over 380 million Christians who face [an] extreme level of persecution.
“That’s still about 1 in 7 Christians, but the number’s gone up by about 20million, which is realty confronting.”
Over 380million Christians now face an extreme level of persecution, according to Open Doors Australia.
Persecution is defined by Open Doors as “any hostility experienced because of one’s identification with Christ”.
It covers “not just violence but also the full range of pressure experienced by Christians because of their faith in Jesus including hostile attitudes, words, and actions”.
In some countries that means being denied access to basic care or even facing the threat of death for practicing your faith.
“One of the common factors [of persecution] is political prevention of people following their faith,” Adam said.
“It’s not accepted that Christians are part of society – we see that particularly in Asia, North Korea is the most extreme – but we’ve seen pushes of that in India and other countries in Southeast Asia.”
Persecution is defined by Open Doors as “any hostility experienced because of one’s identification with Christ”.
Trying to empathise with the experience of Christian’s facing such treatment can be hard to understand in a country where our religion can be followed freely.
However, Adam’s encouragement is to be informed about “where the body of Christ is hurting” so we can pray and support them accordingly.
“We can learn so much from our persecuted brothers and sisters,” Adam said. “They don’t have hope in the world: you imagine not being able to look to your political leaders, or even social or cultural leaders, for [protection or support].
Adam’s encouragement is to be informed about “where the body of Christ is hurting” so we can pray and support them accordingly.
“There’s no place for Christians, so they turn to each other and to fellowship where they can – often it’s so dangerous that they have to be in hidden communities – but they also turn to scripture and find eternal truth in passages that resonate with them.
“Reading [Psalm 34:18] ‘the Lord is near to the broken hearted’ means so much to us, but how much more does that mean to someone living in absolutely oppressive persecution?”
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Article supplied with thanks to Hope Media.
Feature image: Image Sourced from Unsplash
About the Author: Laura Bennett is a media professional, broadcaster and writer from Sydney, Australia.