By Leah MarieAnn KlettAssistant editor Saturday, April 13, 2024

In a world where comfort often silences the cries for justice and religious freedom, Ryan Brown, CEO of persecution watchdog Open Doors USA., highlights the realities faced by believers in hostile regions and challenges the Western church to wake up from its slumber of comfort and materialism.

“People often assume that when we come together with the persecuted Church, the goal is to get them out of their persecution and that context,” Brown told The Christian Post.

“That's not what they're asking for. As we come alongside the persecuted Church, they want to be the hands and feet of Christ, right there in the context of their persecution. What they ask is that we remember them in prayer, that we lift them up, that they be faithful in their testimony. They believe that Christ put them there for a reason and that they want to be faithful to that purpose to which Christ has called them.

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Certainly, there are circumstances where it is necessary for the people to be extracted, but that is not their first request. Their first request is that they be resourced and supported to be the hands and feet of Christ right there.”

According to Brown, many Christians in persecuted countries prioritize their faith over cultural conformity, often at great personal sacrifice – something the Western Church would do well to emulate.

“We must be awakened, we must strengthen what remains and is about to die in our own context,” he said. “It is a testimony to the way Christ designed His Church. When He gathers us all together, we have the opportunity to lift up our brothers and sisters in prayer, to provide appropriate types of support, to allow them to be the hands and feet of Christ right there in their context … they have an understanding of this pearl of great price, they know that the Kingdom of Christ can cost us something.”

It was this conviction that the Western Church can learn valuable lessons from its persecuted counterparts that first drew Brown to Open Doors, which operates in more than 70 countries, delivering Bibles, training church leaders, providing practical support and relief, and supporting Christians who suffer persecution and discrimination because of their faith.

“I think very few of us here in the United States would argue that we increasingly live in a post-Christian culture,” he told CP. “This is such new territory for many of us, yet we have our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world who have gone before us in this, and, at great cost and great sacrifice to themselves, made that decision to use their faith to to determine how they will engage with their culture, rather than using their culture to determine how they will engage with their faith. And that is something we need here in the West.”

One of Open Doors' main contributions to awareness is the annual World Watch List, which ranks the 50 countries where Christians face the most severe persecution.

The most recent list, Brown said, highlights the distressing trend of increasing violence, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, where nations like Nigeria are seeing believers killed for their faith in staggering numbers.

“What's happening there can be considered an epicenter of what's been happening across the region, where the complexion of persecution continues to become increasingly violent,” Brown said.

The list also saw a significant increase in the persecution of Christians worldwide, marked by a notable increase in the destruction of their homes, churches, schools and hospitals, he said. The number of Christians forced to flee their homes due to violence and persecution has also grown exponentially, according to the World Watch List.

Open Doors USA was founded in 1955 by a Dutch missionary named Brother Andrew, who at the time helped smuggle Bibles behind the Iron Curtain to persecuted believers in Poland, which was at that time part of the Soviet bloc. Brown shared how today, Open Doors has adapted to meet the changing face of persecution, addressing contemporary needs such as livelihoods and education.

“Christians are denied access to opportunities for livelihood, they are denied access to opportunities for education,” he said. “When someone can't provide for their family, even though they want to be the hands and feet of Christ right there, they have to leave. So, you must come together with the local Church and equip them.

Sometimes, it creates opportunities through microfinance or gives individuals a chance to earn a living and continue to be the church in those areas. Other times, it gives access to education so that your people can read the written word of God.”

In support of Open Doors and the persecuted church worldwide, Brown encouraged Christians to engage with the World Checklist as a starting point for awareness and prayer.

“Each of those countries is profiled and gives some information about the realities on the ground, but it doesn't stop there. It actually gives specific prayer points that we can lift up our brothers and sisters in prayer,” he said.

“Awareness is a starting point. But if consciousness is where it ends, we have fallen short. Ideally, it drives us to our knees. We should lift up our brothers and sisters in prayer.”

As for the future, Brown said his hope for the global Church, especially those under persecution, is rooted in faithfulness. He noted that persecution is essentially connected with the Christian faith, as evidenced by the experiences and teachings of the New Testament.

Some of the regions experiencing the most significant growth of the Church today, he said, are also those facing the most severe persecution.

“Persecution and the Christian faith are connected,” he said. “Even now, the areas of the globe in which the Church is exploding the most are where persecution is the greatest. My prayer is that we pray for safety, absolutely, and plead for justice for religious freedoms and those basic human rights Absolutely… But the prayer is that in those realities of persecution, myself and others would be faithful in our testimony and testimony of what Christ. called us to do and who Christ called us to be.”

Learn more about Open Doors US here.