Sarah J spoke with Open Doors

Sarah: I believe a single came out last year called Coming for Me and that included artists like Guvna B and Jahaziel. How could people help the persecuted church by downloading this single?

Boy from Vietnam

Open Doors: This idea came about because these rap artists have a great heart for persecuted Christians and some of them visited projects in Pakistan and other countries where Christians face heavy persecution. When they went and visited these projects their hearts went out to the persecuted Christians and they wanted to use their talent to be able to help in whatever way possible. I really appreciate what they've done. I believe that the single they've released went into the top 200 on ITunes and had more than 20,000 hits on U-tube. The proceeds will go towards some of the projects we are undertaking.

Sarah: Do you have any plans for the future to help reduce persecution?

Open Doors: We've recently had what we call the Right to Believe Campaign. Every year 60 different countries come together and they want to push through something called the Defamation of Religions Revolution. What it's doing is allowing persecution for anyone who speaks up against major religions in those countries. Christians are already having such a tough time; this in many ways makes it legal for Christians to be persecuted.

Can we cancel out persecution altogether? I believe when people stand up for their rights, there's always going to be opposition in different ways. Yes we'd like Christians to have the freedom to practise their religion and we are trying our best to help Christians who are persecuted. The best way Open Doors can support Christians who are persecuted is to bring it to people's attention and the political agenda's of different countries.

Sarah: You recently went to Bangladesh. Can you tell us a bit about that?

Man and baby from China

Open Doors: Bangladesh is a wonderful country. I have lived and worked there before. Before this government it was an Islamic state. That was changed by the high court and it has reverted back to a secular state. When it was an Islamic state, it was illegal for people to convert or even to distribute any non-Islamic material. All those things have changed because of the ruling. Christians are less that 1% of the population. Open Doors have quite a few projects to help support Christians who are in Bangladesh.

Sarah: What do you gain out of helping people in other countries?

Open Doors: I came to this country and I've lived here since the 70's. I'm very grateful for the freedom that I've been given through democracy and human rights. I realise that in many countries this is not so and I've lived and worked in some of these countries. It disheartens me that this is how the situation is in the 21st century; that you can find countries where Christians are persecuted just because of their faith. It's a personal satisfaction that I have in wanting to be able to go and help people who are persecuted in such a way.

Sarah: If people want to find out more about the work of Open Doors and how they can get involved how do they do that?

Open Doors: We have people who want to be involved in various ways. There are Christians who want to pray and organise prayer groups. There are people who want to do volunteering work with us. There are those who want to do campaigning work. All of these different ways of being involved can be seen on our website. You can also sign up to the free monthly magazine online.