Sarah J spoke with Open Doors

A man from Yemen

Founded by Brother Andrew in 1955, Open Doors is now in over 50 countries providing Bibles, Christian literature, training and practical support to the persecuted church. Sarah J spent some time with them to find out more.

Sarah: Tell us a bit about the work of Open Doors.

Open Doors: Open Doors are an international ministry. We supply Bibles, leadership training, literacy programmes, livelihood support and even advocacy services. We especially focus on persecuted Christians who are suffering because of their faith. We also try to mobilise the church in the UK to serve Christians who are living under religious persecution all over the world.

Sarah: I understand that in some countries it's illegal to practise the Christian faith. What might happen if people were caught reading their Bible or praying in those situations?

Open Doors: In many countries, especially in Islamic nations, it's illegal for people to change their religion. That becomes a bit of a problem when people want to get to know more about Jesus or the faith that's mentioned in the Bible. This is where problems come in and people are ostracised in their communities and cultures. They face problems with their families and are put into prison and some face death threats.

Children from Sudan

Sarah: What are the hot spots where it's toughest for Christians?

Open Doors: Countries like North Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Afghanistan and quite a few of the Stan countries.

Sarah: How long have Open Doors been helping people that are persecuted?

Open Doors: Since 1955. Our founder Brother Andrew realised that behind the Iron Curtain in Russia, the Communist State was oppressing the Christian church. He felt to go and help the Christians. The way he went about doing that was going and giving them free Bibles, which was illegal at that time. That's why he was called Gods' Smuggler.

Sarah: You have an online gift catalogue to help persecuted Christians. Tell me about this.

Ethiopian mother and child

Open Doors: We put together a collection of virtual gifts online and you can go to our website to search on there. There are an array of gifts you can give. There are gifts toward supplying Bibles to churches and individuals in different parts of the world. There is training and development.

Quite a few of these countries are very illiterate; the Governments don't have programmes to educate. We have literacy programmes to teach and train the Christians in those countries.

We have quite a few projects to support women. When men are put in jail, the women have to earn money for the families. We provide training skills they can use in those situations to help the whole family. We also support children. Children are affected when one or both parents are put in prison; sometimes children suffer trauma. We do a lot of counselling and support for children so they can have training.

There are various types of projects that Christians in the UK can support through virtual gifts.