Will Middle East Christians be all alone this Christmas?
This Christmas, like thousands of isolated Christians across the Middle East and North Africa, Behrooz is determined to celebrate the birth of Jesus.
In Afghanistan, Behrooz was abandoned by his family because he’s a Christian. Now he prays and worships in secret, unable to meet in person with other believers, even if he could find any.
According to UNICEF, Afghanistan is the worst place to be born in the world. Prejudice and persecution run rampant in the country ruled by the Taliban. The total lack of freedom is summed up by a young woman there, describing herself as “trapped in a (burka), only able to peer through a small opening, as though through the bars of a prison window.”
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Under threat of discovery and possible execution, Christians like Behrooz keep their faith hidden, living in the shadows, physically isolated from other believers, never meeting publicly or openly celebrating Jesus.
As an American, it’s hard for me to imagine a Christmas so isolated, so distant, from other believers. Pandemic lockdowns gave us a taste of what it feels like to live separated from others. But thousands of Christians across the Middle East and North Africa aren’t just “tasting” separation. It’s their daily diet. They live in solitude every single moment of every single day. They can never embrace another Christian or greet another believer face-to-face in public.
They identify with Mary and Joseph on that first Christmas, shunned by relatives and neighbors, forsaken, and isolated as the holy Christ Child entered the world.
How many Middle East Christians will be worshiping in isolation this Christmas? Thousands – perhaps even millions.
Isolated, but not alone
Isolation, however, does not necessarily mean being alone. In fact, across Afghanistan and the entire region, isolated believers actually have a church they’re part of. It’s a church that’s virtually impossible to shut down or disrupt. This church does not gather in a building. It meets on their smartphones, digital devices, and television screens.
What would have been unimaginable only a few years ago is now real. Isolated believers in the most hostile locations are able to worship, pray, and share their burdens with each other on their phone apps in real time.
SAT-7 USA (www.sat7usa.org), has just launched Church4Afghanistan. It's a live social media program that brings interactive encouragement in the local Dari language to isolated Christians across the country, even those living in the remote mountain and desert areas where Afghanistan’s poppy crop is grown, supplying 80% of the world’s opium and heroin.
This Christmas, we’re bringing isolated believers across the Middle East and North Africa spiritual gifts – treasures that mirror those presented to the Christ Child by the Magi, as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew:
- The GOLD of the majestic Gospel story that began with the birth of a King in a lowly manger in Bethlehem.
- The sweet-smelling FRANKINCENSE of the Word of God, strengthening their faith and worship.
- The MYRRH of sacrificial praise alongside other believers, encouraging and rejoicing with one another.
Imagine what it means for a secret believer like Behrooz in the hills of Afghanistan to talk, pray, and worship with other believers in their own language live on social media. To share their troubles and anxieties. And to receive uplifting words of encouragement from the Scriptures.
This is now possible not only for Christians in Afghanistan, but also for hidden believers in places such as Iran, Syria, Algeria, and Türkiye (formerly Turkey) where isolated followers of Jesus often experience oppression, threats, and discrimination.
Joy to the world
This Christmas, these believers will rejoice together over the most glorious event in history. The miracle Child born in the Middle East. God’s greatest gift of love and joy to the world.
Are they isolated? Yes.
Alone? Never.
They’ll never walk alone while we stand with them.
Dr. Rex Rogers is president of SAT-7 USA (www.sat7usa.org), the U.S. arm of the SAT-7 media ministry that broadcasts Christian and educational programs across the Middle East and North Africa in local languages.
