Counting the Cost, Day 16

Egypt

Overview

Egypt has the fastest-growing population in the Middle East and also the largest Christian population among majority-Arab nations. It remains a base for Christian activity throughout North Africa and the Middle East. Many well-established evangelical churches and parachurch ministries in Egypt are working to reach both cultural Christians and Muslims with the gospel.
Several of these groups also send their own Egyptian missionaries throughout the region. While overt Christian activity results in persecution, church growth and the establishment of Egypt as a regional base of missionary activity are encouraging developments.

Major Religions 
87 percent of Egyptians are Sunni Muslims. 13 percent are Christians, including 4 percent who are evangelical Christians.

Persecutor 
Various Islamic extremist groups operate in Egypt,  including the Muslim Brotherhood and the self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIS).

What it Means to Follow Christ
Christians who are outspoken about their faith are often beaten or imprisoned. When Christians are attacked or kidnapped by Muslims, the government rarely provides protection or assistance Christian converts from Islam face the most problems, including being expelled from their families, being divorced by their Muslim spouses, losing their children and losing their jobs.
Additionally, because their government-issued identity cards identify them as Muslim, it is difficult for them to attend church, to marry, to register their children in school, to get a job or to emigrate elsewhere. Christians charged with apostasy or proselytizing Muslims are generally imprisoned for a week or two, with a few notable exceptions.

Access to Bibles
Bibles are readily available at Bible societies, churches and bookstores in a variety of formats, translations and languages. However, not all Egyptian Christians can afford a Bible, and persecution and high illiteracy rates make Bible distribution an ongoing challenge.

VOM Work
VOM responds to widespread persecution needs, provides Bibles and Christian literature, distributes assistance, and trains pastors and other leaders.

Counting the Cost, Day 15

Djibouti

Overview

Djibouti is mainland Africa’s third smallest nation. It is dominated by two majority-Muslim groups, the Afar and Somali, and is nearly surrounded by parts of neighboring countries that serve as safe havens for Islamic terrorists. Despite this, Djibouti itself is not dominated by extremists. The capital hosts many foreigners, and international aid groups operate freely out of the country. Even though Islam is the official state religion, the rights of Christians are generally respected, Bibles are legally available and there is no law preventing Muslims from converting. Still, Djibouti seeks to maintain its Muslim identity, and Christian organizations are not allowed to officially register.

Major Religions
98 percent of Djiboutians are Sunni Muslims. 1 percent are Christians.

Persecutor 
Christian converts from Islam may experience government oppression, but most persecution comes from families and local Muslim communities.

What it Means to Follow Christ
The government tries to limit the spread of Christianity and the growth of evangelical churches by prohibiting public meetings and the construction of buildings for Christian activities. The only churches allowed to worship openly are French Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Ethiopian Orthodox. Foreigners are granted personal religious freedom, but evangelism and the discipleship of new believers are discouraged. Muslims who express an interest in Christ face the risk of persecution from family and friends, and those who convert are isolated, beaten, and sometimes killed for abandoning Islam.

Access to Bibles
Bibles are available, but owning one in some communities comes with the risk of government
harassment or violence at the hands of Muslim family members and the Muslim community.

VOM Work
VOM supports believers who are persecuted because of their faith.

Counting the Cost, Day 14

Cuba

Overview

Despite the change in leadership in 2018, churches in Cuba face unrelenting pressure from the government, which remains committed to communism’s atheistic ideology and views churches as a threat to the revolution begun by Che Guevara and Fidel Castro in the 1950s. Cubans are poor, and the government seeks to control every aspect of their lives. In April 2021, Miguel Diaz-Canel was announced as Raul Castro's successor as first secretary of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party — the first time the country has been governed by someone other than a Castro since the revolution. Then in July 2021, Cubans protested their deteriorating living conditions and called for an end to dictatorship.

Major Religions
Most Cubans are atheists. A significant number of Cubans engage in superstitious and spiritist practices, including the Afro-Cuban religion of Santeria. 11 percent are evangelical Christians.

Persecutor
The government persecutes Christians.

What it Means to Follow Christ
Unlike the overt violence Christians faced during the Communist Cuban Revolution, more subtle methods of persecution are now used by the Cuban government, largely out of concern for its global reputation. Christian leaders are often summoned by government officials for questioning or held for up to 48 hours to pressure them, and churches are demolished by hired gangs so the government can deny responsibility. Legal church buildings are seized, and no new church buildings have been legally built in the country since the revolution. Many believers meet in illegal house churches, often extensions of the pastor’s home or shaded structures in the backyard of a family’s home. Churches continue to grow through active evangelistic activity, but some believers have never owned a Bible because of government oppression. Though no Christians are known to be imprisoned in Cuba, many are closely watched so that they are effectively under house arrest. In addition, Christians are often denied jobs and educational opportunities.

Access to Bibles
Though great strides have been made in Bible distribution, access remains restricted. In 2017, Cuba allowed the purchase and sale of Bibles only to members of the ecumenical Protestant church organization, but most Christian literature remains illegal. There are no Christian bookstores in Cuba. There is a shortage of Bibles, which even when available can cost a third of a worker’s monthly income.

VOM Work
 VOM distributes Bibles and supports discipleship and evangelism.

Counting the Cost, Day 13

Comoros

Overview

Comoros is among the poorest nations in the world, with less than 1 million people and few economic and educational opportunities. Comorians have no religious freedom, and leaving Islam is illegal. Sharing the gospel and discipling new believers are also highly restricted and can lead to expulsion for foreigners and brief imprisonments for locals. The strongest deterrent to becoming a Christian is societal pressure. Those who leave Islam to follow Christ are usually ostracized by their family and community. Some Christian organizations are allowed to operate, but they are strictly monitored and restricted to humanitarian projects. Despite these challenges, the gospel continues to spread inside the country.

Major Religions
Nearly 99 percent of Comorians are Sunni Muslims.

Persecutor
Anyone who leaves Islam is persecuted by family members and also risks possible persecution by the government.

What it Means to Follow Christ
Believers must meet in small groups and can share their faith only through one-on-one relationships. When they gather to read their Bibles or speak about their faith, they risk persecution from the community as well as imprisonment by the government. For example, when five believers hosted a Christian debate in a private residence, they were imprisoned upon their discovery. Prison terms are generally short, and treatment of Christians is usually left to the discretion of local village leaders.

Access to Bibles
Translating the Bible into the native languages has been slow and difficult, with only portions of the Scripture available after more than a decade of work. Most Comorian believers have digital versions of these translated portions on their smartphones.

VOM Work 
VOM helps equip believers to share the gospel.

Counting the Cost, Day 12

Colombia

Overview

Many Christians in Colombia are taking great risks to share the gospel in some of the most dangerous places for Christians on earth. Working in these hostile areas often results in persecution from armed guerrillas and paramilitary forces. After voters rejected a 2016 peace agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a Marxist rebel group, the government approved an agreement with the insurgents without public approval in 2017. Since the agreement, various paramilitary groups in rural areas of the north and west have grown more active and violent.

Major Religions
94 percent of Colombians are Christians. The vast majority are Roman Catholic, while 11 percent are evangelical Christians.

Persecutor
Marxist (atheistic Communist) guerrillas and paramilitary groups violently persecute Christians.

What it Means to Follow Christ
Pastors in Colombia’s “red zones” (areas controlled by militant groups rather than the government) have not benefited significantly from the government’s 2017 peace treaty with the Marxist guerrillas. While the guerrillas no longer officially affiliate with the FARC, they continue to oppress Christians and remain involved in the drug trade. Christians are targeted because their obedience to God’s Word prevents them from supporting or joining the violent factions (guerrillas or paramilitary groups) funded through narcotics trafficking and other criminal activities. Worship, evangelism and travel are dangerous in these areas, as the guerrillas seek to control all aspects of villagers’ lives.

Access to Bibles
Bibles are available in the cities, but remote and difficult terrain, poor security and lack of transportation make it dangerous and difficult for Christians in red zones to obtain Bibles.

VOM Work 
VOM provides ministry tools to front-line workers and responds to violent persecution in the red zones.

Counting the Cost, Day 11

China

Overview

Revival and rapid church growth have characterized China’s churches since the 1990s. About 130 million Chinese are Christians, most of whom worship in illegal house churches. Only about 30 million are affiliated with the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM), which, as the only legal church, is controlled by the Communist government.

Despite continuous pressure and oppression from the Communist government, house church leaders refuse to compromise the gospel by joining government-controlled churches. Because of decades of government oppression, few Chinese Christians have their own Bible or access to discipleship literature.

Major Religions
Influenced by their atheistic government, many Chinese are nonreligious. About 20 percent are Buddhists, and another 20 percent practice Chinese folk religion. 9 percent are Christians.

Persecutor
The main persecutor is the government.

What it Means to Follow Christ
In the early 2000s, many unregistered churches enjoyed some freedom from government intrusion and harassment despite their illegal status. However, in recent years restrictive religious regulations and persecution have increased significantly. Hundreds of churches have been forced to close, pastors and church members have been arrested or detained and the online sale of Bibles has been prohibited. A campaign to remove crosses from churches continues in one province. The government has installed more than 170 million facial recognition cameras, many in or near churches, to identify those who attend worship services. Church leaders are under intense pressure to join the government- controlled TSPM. In general, the farther Christians are from Beijing, the more freedom they have. Authorities pressure Christian parents by refusing their children an education; even the grandchildren of Christians are often denied schooling. It is illegal to disciple anyone younger than 18. Christians are often charged with participating in cults or with other spurious accusations, such as “bad business practices” or “intent to undermine the state.”

Access to Bibles
Those living in rural areas have little access to Bibles and usually cannot afford them even when they are available. Bibles can be purchased at some bookstores operated by the TSPM, but rarely in significant numbers. The Bibles that VOM and other frontier missions organizations distribute each year have only begun to meet the massive need.

VOM Work 
VOM distributes Bibles in the least reached, most challenging areas of China. We distribute children’s Bibles, which are illegal, as well as study Bibles for Christian leaders, which are both illegal and expensive. We also support groups that are reaching Muslims in China.

Counting the Cost, Day 10

Central African Republic

Overview
Christians have suffered greatly from the civil war that began in 2012. They are targeted and attacked by Muslim rebels and their sympathizers, who accuse them of assisting militias that have carried out revenge killings against Muslims. Christians are among the most vulnerable in the country’s conflict, at times being driven from their towns and villages as attackers loot and destroy their homes and churches. Yet churches are often the only ones caring for the hundreds of thousands who have been displaced in the conflict. While the CAR’s civil war has presented opportunities for the church to display Christ’s love to a ravaged nation, indigenous churches need support from the larger body of Christ.

Major Religions
70 percent of the population identifies as Christian, including 30 percent evangelical Christians. The remainder of the populace are predominantly Sunni Muslims, though many who name themselves either Muslim or Christian continue to practice animistic tribal beliefs.

Persecutor
Christians who actively share their faith suffer intense violence at the hands of Muslim rebels.

What it Means to Follow Christ
Because of the civil war between rebel groups that publicly identify themselves as “Muslim” or “Christian,” some have struggled to distinguish between political violence and religious persecution. However, attacks targeting churches, Christian families, and pastors because of their Christian witness and other activities of biblical faith have become common. In a four-week period in 2017, five pastors were murdered by Islamist Seleka rebels in targeted attacks to eliminate their witness for Christ.

Access to Bibles
Bibles are routinely destroyed by Islamist rebels. While they can be purchased in the capital, most people cannot afford them.

VOM Work 
VOM is serving more than 45,000 Christians who have been driven from their homes and villages.

Counting the Cost, Day 9

Cameroon

Overview
Boko Haram has been regrouping in Nigeria, and increasing attacks there have correlated with increasing attacks in Cameroon. Boko Haram’s previous incursions into Cameroon were not well organized, but recent, organized attacks have specifically targeted churches and Christian activity. In a typical attack, Christians are killed or displaced, churches are burned and homes are destroyed. Several Christian villages have been abandoned completely after recurring attacks. From January 2018 to November 2019, seven predominantly Christian villages were attacked in one northern region. The attackers killed 10 people and kidnapped 7 others, while burning 575 houses, 7 churches, 2 schools and 1 evangelical hospital.

Major Religions
Cameroon is a majority Christian country, including 52 percent Christians and 24 percent Muslims.

Persecutor
The main persecutor is the Boko Haram Islamist terrorist group.

What it Means to Follow Christ
Most of Cameroon has a thriving Christian presence and many churches. But Christians living along the northern Nigerian border have experienced repeated, brutal attacks by Boko Haram. In these villages 50 to 80 miles from the border, men, women, and children are attacked simply for being known as Christians.

Access to Bibles
Bibles are generally available, but distributing them in the north is challenging because of security issues. Many people cannot afford a Bible and would prefer the Scriptures in a local language rather than French or English. Bible translation ministries have done great work translating the Bible into local languages, such as the local Fulani dialect, in both Roman and Arabic script.

VOM Work
VOM is providing relief and trauma-healing workshops for displaced Christians in northern Cameroon who have fled their villages due to attacks by Boko Haram. VOM also supports pastors and evangelists who are ministering in areas targeted by Boko Haram.