Dr. Tekleab Mengisteab was a medical doctor and a leader in the World Health Organization for the nation of Eritrea. He was also an ordained minister in the Orthodox Church of Eritrea. Since November 19, 2004—20 years ago this week—Dr. Mengisteab has been a prisoner for Christ, imprisoned without charge or trial by the government of Eritrea. Today he is one of more than 300 imprisoned Christians there.

This week on VOM Radio Mengisteab’s daughter, Hana, shares the story of her father’s arrest and of God’s faithfulness to her and her family through the past 20 years. She will tell us how she has found joy amidst suffering, but also how she’s come to know that the Lord “welcomes my grief.”

In 2002, the government of President Isaias Afwerki outlawed evangelical churches. The Eritrean Orthodox Church was permitted to continue holding services. While Hana’s father was leading a legal church congregation, his ministry looked different than some others within that church structure.

“My father was a very faithful preacher of the gospel,” Hana says. “In his writing and teachings, he was calling for a transformation of the heart.” Dr. Mengisteab wanted Eritreans to have the gospel preached—and have the Bible—in their own, everyday language.

Hana was just six years old when her father was arrested. She remembers her mother and church elders at their home talking about her father being gone. “What did it mean that my father is in prison?” Hana wondered. Even after Dr. Mengisteab’s arrest, the church continued to meet and minister. Hana’s mom continued her church activities, risking her own arrest.

Only months after her father’s arrest, Hana found herself in police custody when authorities raided a children’s Sunday School meeting. Children as young as 12 were put in handcuffs, yet these young believers had been prepared for Christian persecution. They began to loudly sing praises to God.

The same week that Dr. Mengisteab was arrested, two other pastors were also taken into custody. All three will mark 20 years in prison this week. Please pray for Dr. Tekleab Mengisteab, Dr. Fitsum-Berhan Gebrenegus, and Rev. Gebremedhin Gebregergis, along with more than 300 other Christians currently imprisoned in Eritrea. Pray also for Hana and her family as they continue to learn how to grieve her father’s absence while also finding joy in serving the Lord.

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“Pastor Joe” was drawn to North Africa not by a call to gospel work but by his own dreams and interests. However, once he was there the Lord opened his eyes to the needs of the people and gave Joe a deep love for them. Ministry in North Africa is difficult, but as Pastor Joe and his family read the Bible, they see that it’s not about them. Rather it’s all about Christ.

“We are just the instruments,” says Joe. “We don’t count on ourselves; we count on God.”

As Muslims seek spiritual truth and come to Christ, they encounter challenges with unbelieving family and friends. Pastor Joe says that’s why the church is so important to help make up for the family and community new believers have lost by connecting them with new brothers and sisters in Christ.

One young lady had a difficult time approaching her family with the gospel message. Joe encouraged her to focus on living out Jesus’ love in front of her family members. Soon, her mother became curious: who was behind the changes she saw in her daughter’s life? Pastor Joe also tells the story of a brother who never misses church gatherings. He says, “I lost so much time not knowing Jesus! Now I want to learn as much as possible.”

Joe’s wife always says, “There’s no mission without sacrifice.” The couple are ready to answer questions about Jesus and Christianity from anyone who is seeking, although proselytizing is illegal in the restricted nation where they live.

Hear more stories from Pastor Joe and how he prepares new believers to face Christian persecution. He will also share the joy and hope that come as faithful believers live their lives for Christ on display to the people around them. Pray for Christians in North Africa and for Pastor Joe and his family as they continue their gospel work.

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With almost 90% of people in Bhutan identifying as Buddhists, those who follow Christ are a tiny minority. Pastor Rajiv, a church planter and leadership trainer in South Asia, works to reach Bhutanese people for Christ and knows what happens when someone follows Jesus in this restricted nation.

In Bhutan, the king is seen as both a political and religious leader. One of his duties is defending Buddhism in the nation. Becoming a Christian is seen as being a traitor to the country and the king. It’s also against the law, so Christians who gather together must do so in secret.

Yet being in fellowship with other believers is crucial to spiritual growth and perseverance. Pastor Rajiv reveals his heart for young people and shares how vital it is for them to meet together to study the Bible and pray with one another. Over the last ten years, God has made Pastor Rajiv’s prayers reality: there are now Christian groups that meet on all the college campuses in Bhutan.

Rajiv will share his own story of coming to Christ and how he was called into missions. He will also share stories of Bhutanese who have come to faith along with the pressure and Christian persecution they face from the government if they do not renounce Christ.

“When you want to live a radical life for Christ, you’ll be willing to pay the cost,” Rajiv says.

As you learn how to specifically pray for Bhutan and for Pastor Rajiv, pray with Christians all over the world for the persecuted church this month as part of the International Day of Prayer for Persecuted Christians. Also, be inspired by this year’s IDOP video, which features the Martinez family in Colombia.

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Fred and Karen, long-time gospel workers in Asia, share this week about the church in Brunei and the challenges they face daily to live boldly for Christ. Christians there can live comfortably—if they don’t share the gospel or attempt to witness to ethnic Malay people. Ethnically, the church there is primarily made up of Chinese, Indians and other expats.

It is illegal for ethnic Malay people to be present in a church, and many Christians are hesitant to speak about Christianity to a Malay person for fear of Christian persecution. With such strong repercussions for a Malay person following Christ, and for those who shared the gospel with that person, some Christians in Brunei have the mentality that the Malay will never choose Jesus.

The government, which censors information through every medium, always displays Islam in an attractive light—even publishing the names of Christians or people of other faiths who convert to Islam. There are financial and other enticements for non-Muslims to convert—and for Muslims to continue following Islam.

Listen as Fred and Karen share the story of a Muslim entering the house of a friend and seeing a Bible; the story illustrates the strong resistance Malay Muslims have toward anything Christian. Pray for God to move in the hearts of Malay Muslims, revealing himself in dreams and visions to them. Pray against the spirit of fear that has fallen on many within the church in Brunei. You may even want to book a plane ticket to go personally to pray on the ground in Brunei.

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Middle East Concern was founded in 1991, in response to needs expressed by Christian leaders in the Middle East and North Africa. Through a network of ministry partners, Middle East Concern seeks to help Christians facing persecution across the Middle East and North Africa. They work to come up with strategies to improve conditions and protect rights of Christians with a goal of seeing Christians able to live out their faith in Christ freely.

Brother Rob, a researcher for MEC, shares with VOM Radio this week about his work and about persecution faced by Christians in the MENA region.

One of Rob’s areas of interest is Iran, and he will tell us about recent large-scale research that shows how many Iranians are questioning and even rejecting Islam since the Islamic Revolution. Many of those have become followers of Jesus Christ—despite the risk of persecution.

Rob also tells how God is bringing good out of Christian persecution in Türkiye (formerly Turkey) as Turkish Christian leaders are stepping up to shepherd the church after the expulsions of numerous foreign Christians. The Turkish government’s strategy since 2019 has been to designate Christians from other countries living in turkey as a “threat to national security” and force them to leave, causing upheaval to many families who’ve lived there for decades. David Byle was one of those pushed out of Türkiye after fighting the expulsion order through the court system.

Israel is another country where Rob monitors religious freedom and you’ll hear about challenges to gospel outreach there. Brother Rob will also share how we can pray for Israel, including Palestinian Christians in the West Bank and Gaza, as there is so much conflict there.

“The Christian community in this part of the world,” says Rob, “are the light and salt in these lands.”

Prayer is the central part of the ministry at Middle East Concern as they continue to seek God’s wisdom in each sensitive situation. Learn how you can pray specifically for Christians in Israel, Iran and Türkiye as Rob shares the needs of the church in these nations.

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J.D. Bridges, Vice President of Global Outreach for Ligonier Ministries, tells us this week about Ligonier’s efforts to produce content and teaching materials to defend and teach the holiness of God—not only to American Christians but to Christians around the world, including persecuted Christians in hostile areas and restricted nations.

Since 1971, when R.C. Sproul founded the ministry in the Ligonier Valley of western Pennsylvania, Ligonier has continued to produce more and more Biblical content. As people from other nations discovered the work and requested resources in their own languages, Ligonier’s international efforts have grown.

Creating a strategy for translation and dubbing, Bridges and his team are focusing on the top twenty languages around the world—which creates the potential to access 80% of the world’s population with gospel materials and theology training. God has opened doors to provide resources in Chinese, Urdu, Hindi, Indonesian, Farsi and many other languages.

Out of 5,000,000 pastors around the world, only 5-10% have any theological education. Listen as J.D. shares his heart to create more opportunities for more people to freely engage with Biblical content and how Ligonier works to equip pastors and churches.

“For us the first impulse is to equip the pastor…because we know that the church will benefit,” he says.

Bridges tells of the difficulties in translating theological concepts into a new language for the first time and the most important thing he gets to do as he builds relationships with persecuted Christians and how Ligonier uses many different and creative angles to provide these tools to Christians in places like China, Iran, Pakistan and other restricted nations.

Pray for God’s blessings on continued translation work and distribution efforts. Also, check out the Things Unseen Podcast from Ligonier for thoughtful reflections on the Christian life and our relationship with God.

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Sister Sara wrestled with faith questions as she studied Christianity, Islam and other religions in a years-long quest for truth. Last week, Sara shared her struggle to understand and believe how Jesus could be God—a common stumbling block for Muslims hearing the gospel message. Listen this week to hear what happened after she received forgiveness of sin through Christ—and how you can pray for her and other Christians living and ministering in Central Asia.

As soon as Sara read Matthew 28:18-19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,” she gathered her words to tell others the gospel. Her first effort was sharing the hope of Christ with her family. Sara tells how her family responded and explains the importance of discipleship resources, written in local heart languages, to train up new Christians in the former Soviet republics of Central Asia. Sara worked to learn how to share the gospel in her own language—and then began learning to explain Jesus’ love in other languages as well.

“People need God, but they just didn’t know it.” Sara says. It was only a short time into her outreach ministry when Sara first experienced pushback. God reminded her that Jesus faced persecution with humility and that is the model Sara tries to follow when opposition arises. Her own family’s responses to her Christian faith reminded her that she couldn’t save anyone herself but had to trust God to do the work, and to trust his timing.

When Sara reads of historic missionaries who went to the difficult places, she asks, “Why don’t we go there sooner? The harvest is plenty and ready!”

Pray the Lord will raise up gospel workers and evangelists to preach the gospel in Central Asia. Pray that, as these workers face Christian persecution, they would be faithful to Jesus even in difficulty and suffering.

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As a young woman in an Islamic culture in Central Asia, Sara was drawn to stories of Jesus. He was a good man, she thought, one whose life matched his teachings. But how could Jesus be God?

Sara wrestled deeply with this question in her search for truth. Intellectually, she found the Bible to be true, but she couldn’t commit to everything it said. Eternal life was attractive, but the idea that Jesus was God was confusing to her. Sara poured herself into studying different religions, desperate to figure out how she could be confident she’d go to heaven when she died.

She prayed, “God, there should be only one way to you.”

Sara loved the Bible study she joined at a local church. She was attracted by the love Christians had for each other, even being willing to share their weaknesses and struggles. Everything about Jesus and his followers was attractive to Sara.

After so much study and so many questions, Sara heard God’s voice—speaking to her in her own language. “You need to make a decision.” She knew it was God himself speaking with love, authority, gentleness, and power. Sara remembered reading John 14:6 where Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and they life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Listen to hear how Sara came to understand Jesus as the perfect sacrifice for her sin and the peace he gave to overcome her anxieties. Join us next week to hear the price Sara paid for her faith in Christ.

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