It was reported that Nigeria, India, and China need prayers for being the world’s worst persecution hotspots in 2023.
That’s according to the recent findings of Release International, a ministry dedicated to helping persecuted Christians all around the world.
Christian Persecution in Nigeria
The Bible instructs Christians to advance the Good News around the world. This is especially important in places like Nigeria, where more than half of the population is Muslim.
And so, the pressure is rising from the Islamists in the north as they demand to be an independent Islamic state. Nigeria’s upcoming presidential elections can be used as a tool to further their demands.
Many Christian families and children are being persecuted and discriminated against. Millions of people have been driven away from their homes. Some were kidnapped for ransom by terrorist groups, and children are unable to go to school. The number of rape victims continues to rise, as well as people having disabilities because of the attacks.
According to Release International, “Terror groups Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa continue to defy the authorities, and Fulani militants attack Christian villages with impunity. In 2022, reports indicate Fulani extremists killed more than 6,000 Christians and destroyed 17 villages.”
Nigeria’s village, Release International, December 28, 2022, https://releaseinternational.org/persecution-trends-2023-focus-on-nigeria-india-china/
Christian Persecution in India
Anti-conversion laws in India are passed one after another. The majority of Hindu extremist groups continue to encourage laws and bills to hinder the advancement of the Gospel.
Sadly, they also put matters into their own hands by violently attacking pastors and Christian congregations. Release International stated, “The Evangelical Fellowship of India reported 200 attacks on Christians in just the first five months of 2022. And over the recent Christmas period, there were reports of Hindu supremacists burning effigies of Santa Claus, which they equate with Christianity, and chanting ‘Death to Jesus Christ.’”
Christian Persecution in China
China was never welcoming to Christians in the first place, but persecution is reportedly set to increase in 2023. Missionaries and evangelicals are set on to advancing the Good news despite being repressed, and even though they were accused of being corrupt and engaging in illegal religious activity. Some were even taken by the authorities for questioning.
Few of them also experienced being turned down for job opportunities when they expressed their Christian beliefs.
Prayers for Nigeria, India, and China
Persecution Trends 2023, Release International, December 28, 2022, https://releaseinternational.org/persecution-trends-2023-focus-on-nigeria-india-china/
Our brothers and sisters in Christ are fighting the good fight of faith in these nations despite the threat to their lives, livelihood, and loved ones.
As the world’s worst persecution hotspots in 2023, these nations, Nigeria, India, And China, need prayers.
Let’s come together and pray for God’s divine protection for them. Pray for the Prince of Peace to rule in the hearts of the government officials and leaders, and for God’s intervention against violence in these nations and the anti-conversion laws. Ask for divine favor to those who were questioned, arrested, and imprisoned that they will be miraculously released. Call on to God for provision to sustain them physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
We can fight alongside our brothers and sisters in Christ through praying and giving. So that we will see, “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10-11, NLT).
Reference: Release International