Pastor Leonid Regheta had planned to enjoy a sabbatical last year. The Russian invasion of Ukraine turned the past 12 months into anything but sabbath rest.

Regheta is the Ukrainian-born pastor of River of Life Church-Dallas, a Baptist General Convention of Texas-affiliated congregation in Plano, and Eastern European missions director for Hope International Ministries.

The Russian army launched its attacks on Ukraine Feb. 24, 2022. Within 24 hours, Regheta was fielding phone calls, texts and emails. He began mobilizing ministry partners to provide emergency relief and humanitarian aid to help displaced Ukrainians.

“It has been an incredibly tough year,” he acknowledged, noting he began experiencing high blood pressure for the first time in his life. “I got very little sleep for the first few months.”

Regheta has some family members who have remained in Ukraine the past year, some who relocated temporarily to Poland before returning to Ukraine, and some who moved permanently to Germany. He also has relatives serving with the Ukrainian military on the front lines, and one cousin sustained serious shrapnel wounds.

“It’s been an extremely difficult year,” he said.

‘God has used his people’

Nevertheless, Regheta was energized and encouraged by the support of the BGCT and several Texas Baptist churches.

“God has used his people,” he said.

The Texas Baptist Hunger Offering provided ongoing financial assistance, and Texas Baptist Men supported ministry to refugees in Poland, he noted.

Regheta particularly expressed appreciation to David Hardage, who retired as BGCT executive director last December.

“Top leaders at the BGCT prayed with us, putting their arms around us to embrace us. It was meaningful,” he said.

In the eyes of Texas Baptist churches, Hardage’s “unwavering support” gave credibility to the ministry to people in Ukraine, to displaced Ukrainians in Europe and to refugees resettling in Texas, he noted.

“Churches realized they have a partner in us,” Regheta said. “We are doing kingdom work together.”

Both River of Life Church and Hope International Ministries benefitted. Regheta pointed to support from First Baptist Church in Garland, Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, Crosspointe Church in Plano and Lake Pointe Church in Rockwall.

“We raised $10,000 to provide wood-burning stoves and generators” to Ukraine, he noted.

The Faith in Action program at Baylor Scott & White Health provided furniture for Ukrainian families resettling in North Texas, and the donation center at Hunters Glen Baptist Church in Plano supplied furniture and a variety of household items.

Brookhaven Church in McKinney offered grocery store gift cards to refugee families, and First Baptist Church in McKinney welcomed several Ukrainian families into its English-as-a-Second-Language program.

“The biggest need now is trauma counseling for women who have been living apart from their husbands and fathers for a year,” Regheta said. “The family separation is traumatic.”

Hope International Ministries has developed trauma-informed materials to guide ministry, and they are working with a Christian counselor ministering to refugees in Poland. The ministry also works with refugees in Germany, Latvia and Romania.

This week, Regheta travels to Eastern Europe to help plan a retreat for churches that are ministering to refugees—and to deliver scarves and mittens knitted by women at First Baptist Church in Garland. He has traveled to Ukraine two times since the war began a year ago.

“We hope to work in 10 countries,” he said.

Regheta asked Texas Baptists to pray for a just end to the war in Ukraine, for displaced Ukrainians, for the health and stamina of those who are ministering to them, and for refugees from Ukraine who are resettling in other nations.

“The needs will still be there, even after the war is over,” he said.

DALLAS—People in Syria displaced by recent earthquakes need blankets. Now, 10,000 blankets are on the way, thanks to efforts by Texas Baptist Men, in cooperation with key partners in the United States and Syria.

“The suffering is great in Syria, and this week God opened a door for TBM to help respond to that need,” TBM Executive Director Mickey Lenamon said. “We are not at liberty to go into details, but TBM quickly secured 10,000 blankets and started them on the trek to Syria.

“We are working with trusted international partners and are confident that this shipment will get directly to people in need. We do need help in defraying the expenses involved, but friends of TBM have always been faithful in stepping up to meet needs.”

It costs about $10 to purchase and ship each blanket, and TBM has made it possible for people to support the project at tbmtx.org/syria.

The first shipment of 10,000 blankets is being called Phase 1. TBM now is preparing for a second shipment—Phase 2. Buckner International and Baylor Scott & White Health’s Faith In Action initiative gave the second phase a boost by providing 3,800 blankets.

Many of those donated blankets needed to be folded and packed for shipment. So, 33 TBM volunteers responded this week to do the folding and packing.

“We had a great turnout of volunteers on a very short notice,” said David Wells, state director of TBM disaster relief. “They jumped right in Tuesday afternoon and got the job done in much less time than anticipated.”

Wells noted TBM is not accepting donations of blankets from individuals.

“The need is urgent, and the shipping opportunity is available right now,” Wells said. “This is why we are buying most of the blankets and handling the two large institutional donations.”

The Texas Baptist Hunger Offering is joining with Baptist World Alliance to raise funds to provide critical resources and aid to meet the needs of those injured and displaced by the earthquake in Turkey and Syria.

The death toll from the powerful 7.8 earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on Feb. 6 has risen to more than 44,000. Countless others are injured and displaced, seeking aid and assistance in the aftermath of what is being considered the deadliest natural disaster in Turkey’s modern history.

BWA is coordinating a Baptist Forum on Aid and Development response among three lead agencies: German Baptist Aid, Lebanese Society for Educational and Social Development—Middle East Revive and Thrive, and Hungarian Baptist Aid.

Partnering with the Turkish Baptist Alliance and the Baptist Convention of Syria, immediate relief and aid is being distributed in the affected areas to those who need it most.

“We are grateful for the ways Texas Baptists respond in loving our neighbors through humanitarian aid and crisis relief. We are truly better together,” said Irene Gallegos, director of the Texas Baptist Hunger Offering.

She encourages Texas Baptist churches to support ongoing relief efforts by giving through the hunger offering, and by praying for those impacted by the disaster and those seeking to provide relief. To contribute financially, click here.

Prayers are requested:

• For the leadership and churches of the Turkish Baptist Alliance, Baptist Convention of Syria and Lebanese Baptist Convention
• For the Hungarian Baptist Aid Rescue Team and other rescue teams, who are still engaged in recovery efforts amidst the rubble
• For the families who have lost loved ones or currently have loved ones missing
• For the millions of displaced people in Turkey, Syria and Lebanon
• For all impacted to be drawn nearer to God as a result of this tragedy

From Hungarian Baptist Aid joining intensive search-and-rescue missions to Texas Baptist Men providing them with generators and other supplies, global Baptists have responded to earthquakes in Turkey and Syria that claimed more than 36,000 lives.

A Hungarian Baptist Aid Rescue24 team—19 specialists with seven rescue dogs and two metric tons of equipment—left Budapest within 24 hours of the earthquake. They are working in Turkey to rescue people trapped in the rubble, the European Baptist Federation reported.

TBM is providing financial support to supply generators, blankets, food, bottled water and other items to Hungarian Baptist Aid and other regional ministry partners.

“As our partners distribute the goods, they will be ministering to people, helping them work through the trauma they experienced and take first steps in the recovery process,” TBM Executive Director Mickey Lenamon wrote in a Feb. 8 email.

TBM will send two water ministry workers to Turkey to serve alongside Missouri Baptists in providing clean water for people in areas where the infrastructure has been destroyed.

 “The most pressing immediate needs for impacted communities are access to food, clean water, trauma care, temporary shelter, medical care and evacuation,” Jason Cox, vice president of international ministry for the Southern Baptist Send Relief collaborative, told Baptist Press.

Send Relief local partners began distributing water, food and other emergency supplies within hours after the earthquake, BP reported.

“In Acts 11:29, we see that the church at Antioch set the example for the church all through the ages,” said Send Relief President Bryant Wright, who visited southern Turkey. “They took up an offering for the church in Jerusalem that was going through a tough time.

“Now we can respond to their example as Antioch has been devastated by this earthquake, by praying for them and by giving to help them in this time of recovery.”

How to pray and give

The European Baptist Federation specifically requested prayer for:

• Hungarian Baptist Aid Rescue24 team members who are racing the clock to find survivors in the rubble of collapsed buildings.
• Leaders of the Turkish Baptist Alliance, the Baptist Convention of Syria and their churches.
• Ministry partners in Lebanon who are working with Syrian churches.
• Families who have lost loved ones or whose loved ones remain missing.
• Millions of displaced people in Syria and Lebanon.

To support TBM disaster relief, mail a designated check to Texas Baptist Men, 5351 Catron Drive, Dallas, TX 75227 or click here.

Documented violations of religious freedom in Cuba more than doubled from 2021 to 2022, a new report revealed.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide—a human rights organization based in the United Kingdom—reported 657 documented violations of freedom of religion or belief in 2022, compared to 272 the previous year.

Actual numbers of violations almost certainly were greater, since all of the individuals who were documenting them for CSW were forced into exile before the end of the year due to threats and harassment.

Situation in Cuba as ‘deteriorated’

Violations include harassment, arbitrary detention, travel restrictions, being prevented from attending religious services, confiscation of property and attacks on social media.

“The situation for freedom of religion or belief deteriorated once again in Cuba in 2022, and without significant and concerted international intervention this trend is likely to continue into 2023,” said Anna Lee Stangl, head of advocacy for CSW.

“Despite this, we are heartened by the many religious leaders and human rights defenders on and outside of the island who continue to speak publicly on [freedom of religion or belief] and other violations.”

Javier Peña, communications director for Outreach Aid to the Americas, said the finding in the CSW report are consistent with what his organization has observed and heard from Cuban faith leaders.

“The regime’s repression of Christian as well as non-Christian groups continues to deepen and shows no sign of letting up,” Peña said.

Continued crackdowns since July 2021

The violations of freedom in 2022 marked a continuation of a government crackdown that started after a series of protests in Cuba on July 11, 2021.

Peña pointed to efforts to “intimidate and prevent religious leaders and their followers from offering spiritual and material support to political prisoners and their families.”

“Evangelical and Catholic leaders have made many efforts to provide spiritual encouragement and service to political prisoners, many of them quite young, but such efforts have been opposed on threat of punishment by the authorities,” he said.

“In addition, there is a heightened sense of fear and caution among many citizens, making them less likely to publicly criticize the regime out of fear of harassment and even arrest.

“One of the measures taken by the regime following the July 11 popular uprising is a tightening of restrictions on freedom of expression, which extends to online activities and statements. This has had a further chilling effect on religious expressions of support for justice and human rights.”

New laws, more repression

The CSW report suggests the situation for religiously observant Cubans likely will grow worse. A new criminal code that went into effect last December increased the government’s ability to crack down on religious leaders, particularly those related to unregistered groups.

And when a new family code goes into effect this year, it will add another weapon to the arsenal of the government against noncompliant religious leaders—the threat of removing their children from their homes if parents are not considered sufficiently supportive of authorities.

“Numerous pastors and other religious leaders who have taken to social media to criticize the criminal and family codes, which they oppose on various grounds, including opposition to even more repressive policies and to state-directed indoctrination of minors, have been harassed and received threats,” Peña said.

“Some of this response by the state is also shaped by the mobilization of Cuba’s religious community to oppose the regime’s push for a 2019 referendum to approve the new constitution, which many religious groups opposed on various grounds, including concerns about weakened religious freedom protections.”

Constitution fails to meet international standards

Based on a survey of faith leaders and other research, the commission concluded the Cuban constitution fails to meet 34 of 36 freedom-of-religion standards established in international law, and it only partially meets the other two.

The same survey revealed 95 percent of respondents agree freedom of expression in religious pastoral practice is partially or totally repressed in Cuba; 93 percent of the faith leaders said they were victims of state repression; and 84 percent agreed freedom of assembly is impeded.

Stangl called on the international community to take steps to hold “the Cuban Communist Party to account for its decades-long mistreatment of religion and belief groups in the country.”

The CSW report urged Latin American counties, in particular, to “emphatically voice concerns about Cuba’s consistent violations of human rights, including [freedom of religion or belief], and seek ways to support independent civil society in Cuba, including religious groups.”

Stangl called on the international community to take steps to hold “the Cuban Communist Party

“The European Union and the United States, for their part, must actively seek ways to coordinate with each other and engage with other governments, especially those in the Western Hemisphere, to ensure that demands that the Cuban government make long overdue reforms to ensure that the fundamental rights of all are protected and upheld are made consistently and in unison,” the CSW report concludes.

“Ultimately, the future of Cuba lies with its people; those around the world who believe in the principles of democracy and fundamental human rights must stand with them in their peaceful pursuit of political and social change.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article was posted Monday morning, Feb. 6.  By Tuesday morning, Feb. 7, the Associated Press was reporting the death toll had exceeded 5,000. By Wednesday morning, Feb. 8, the reported death toll had surpassed 11,000. By Thursday morning, Feb. 9, the number of reported fatalities topped 17,000.

A massive earthquake that claimed at least 2,700 lives in Turkey and Syria left a Baptist church in Aleppo severely damaged, the Baptist World Alliance reported.

A 7.8-magnitude earthquake—followed by aftershocks and a second quake measuring 7.5—injured more than 10,000 people across southern Turkey and north central Syria on Feb. 6.

In the immediate aftermath of the deadly earthquake, Baptists met to plan ministries in response, while Hungarian Baptist Aid mobilized a team to assist with relief efforts and BWA called on Christian globally to pray.

“Baptist church leaders in Turkey are gathering in Izmir to mobilize response efforts, and leaders in Lebanon are working with Syrian Baptists to respond to needs in the communities impacted,” BWA reported online.

“The Baptist church in Aleppo has sustained significant damage, and Baptist World Aid is working in collaboration with European Baptist Federation to ascertain details regarding current needs.”

In an email, Merritt Johnston, director of communications for BWA, noted European Baptist Federation representative Helle Liht contacted Nabil Costa, executive director of the Lebanese Society for Educational and Social Development, who was able to confirm the Aleppo church was “badly damaged.”

Liht also contacted Hürrem Cevik in Turkey, a BWA United Nations representative.

“She said the church in Adana, which is closest to the earthquake epicenter, was not affected by the earthquake. Pastor Şükrü is also safe but has family members in Istanbul who were impacted,” Johnston wrote.

Paul Chitwood, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board, noted Southern Baptists will respond to needs in the region through its Send Relief collaborative.

“Turkey’s disaster agency has appealed for help from the international community as it conducts search and rescue operations, and we thank the Lord that he is allowing Send Relief’s international relief team to respond as initial needs are assessed,” Chitwood told Baptist Press.

Bryant Wright, president of Send Relief, urged prayer for those affected by the earthquake and for all who are responding to their needs.

“The devastation cannot be put into words, and we are praying for the first responders, as well as the churches and others who will be bringing relief during this tragic and difficult time,” Wright said.

In spite of continued missile attacks, widespread dislocation and the threat of a major Russian assault in coming weeks, Ukrainian Pastor Igor Bandura insisted, “God is good.”

“There is a lot of suffering, but the spirit of the nation is strong,” said Bandura, vice president of the All-Ukrainian Union of Evangelical Christian-Baptists. “The spirit of the church and of Christians is strong.”

Bandura provided an update on churches in his country during a webinar hosted by the Baptist World Alliance. Marsha Scipio, director of BWAid, moderated the Zoom call and took questions from the virtual audience.

“The war has gone on longer than we expected,” Bandura acknowledged.

Early on, Baptist churches provided respite care to internally dislocated people from Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine. And throughout a bitter winter, they have become “centers of hope and heat,” he said.

Frightened and anxious Ukrainians quickly learned they could go to Baptist churches for physical assistance and emotional support, Bandura noted. But some also have found spiritual direction and support, he added.

“We see how God is working,” Bandura said. “Not everybody comes to church only because they get [physical assistance]. … We see men and women who are really open to the church, to the Bible and to the meaning of prayer.”

Supporting and encouraging pastors

As the war between Russia and Ukraine reaches its one-year anniversary in late February, the Ukrainian Baptist Union is seeking to provide support and encouragement to pastors—both those who were displaced from about 300 churches in Russian-occupied territory and those who have been serving day-in and day-out to meet needs.

“Most of our pastors are really tired,” he said. “You can see this when you speak with them and when you look into their eyes.”

The Baptist Union has sponsored two-day and three-day retreats for pastors and spouses “to just let them rest, and we minister to them with the word of God,” Bandura said.

Pastors have adapted their sermons to the crisis, he noted. Preaching in wartime demands “unusual preparation”—not dealing with complex theology, but requiring simplicity and “gospel-centered” clarity.

Preachers recognize worshippers include “people who are just trying to understand who Christ is and what he is doing,” Bandura said. “It’s very contextual, because people would like to find Christ in the middle of their terrible situation.”

Adapting to meet needs

In some cities, 70 percent of buildings have been seriously damaged, and the infrastructure has been destroyed, he noted. Churches distributed generators made available by the Baptist Union.

“People need not only food, but also the means to prepare food,” Bandura said.

With assistance from BWA and the European Baptist Federation, the Ukrainian Baptist Union is preparing mobile kitchens and equipping teams to staff them in areas where people are unable to prepare their own meals.

The Ukrainian Baptist Union and the European Baptist Federation are discussing how to create a network of Ukrainian Baptist churches throughout Europe, recognizing many refugees will not return to Ukraine.

Texas Baptist Men continues to work with Baptists in Poland to minister to refugees. TBM has supplied food, heaters and generators in recent months to churches that are caring for refugees from Ukraine.

Ukrainian Baptists are asking Christians worldwide to pray for peace with justice in Ukraine. Just as the Ukrainian military needs other countries to provide weapons, Ukrainian Christians need the prayers of fellow believers globally, Bandura noted.

“The most powerful weapon—the spiritual weapon—is our prayer,” he said.

Second Baptist Church in Gdańsk, Poland, has helped meet the needs of more than 100 refugees from Ukraine in the past 11 months—without the benefit of its own building but with financial assistance from missions partners such as First Baptist Church in Temple.

Over the past two decades, Second Baptist Church has met for worship in a variety of increasingly larger rented venues as its membership has grown to about 150 worshippers on a typical Sunday. Eight out of 10 people in the church are first-generation evangelical Christians.

“We base the life of our church on small groups, mostly meeting in homes,” said Pastor Adrian Stróżek, who at age 50 is the senior member of the young congregation.

When Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 last year, some young families in Second Baptist Church opened their homes to women and children who fled eastern Ukraine.

“One family who had a house took in seven from Ukraine,” he said.

The first families to offer short-term housing to refugees were Ukrainian-born church members who relocated to Poland after Russia invaded and subsequently annexed Crimea in 2014.

“The apartments are really small. So, it usually meant people had to sleep on the floor,” Stróżek said. “That may be all right for a few days or a week, but not for long.”

When it became clear the need for housing was going to extend for months, the church rented three apartments and a house for the Ukrainian refugees.

Meeting needs of neighbors from Ukraine

“We have provided for the needs of our Ukrainian brothers and sisters—material, emotional and spiritual,” Stróżek said.

In addition to housing, Second Baptist Church provides the refugees food, medicine, assistance in finding employment and help in learning the Polish language. Second Baptist also partners with a church in Lutsk that helps internally displaced people in Ukraine.

Members of Second Baptist have helped mothers walk through the process of securing the necessary documents to enroll their children in school. They also have walked alongside the women through periods of long separation from their husbands, who are required to stay in Ukraine.

“One woman’s husband was in Mariupol, where he was taken prisoner by the Russian army,” Stróżek said. “She lost touch with him for weeks. Finally, the Red Cross was allowed limited access. He had been injured, but he survived.”

Missions partnership with Temple congregation

First Baptist Church in Temple established a relationship with Second Baptist Church in Gdańsk several years ago.

Initially, Evan Duncan—at that time the teaching and communications pastor in Temple and now senior pastor of a church in West Chester, Penn.—led small volunteer groups from Central Texas who were permitted to visit Gdańsk schools to help students practice conversational Spanish.

Later, mission groups from the First Baptist Church led summer camps for children and youth in Poland.

So, when First Baptist in Temple learned about how the Gdańsk church was caring for refugees, members wanted to help support that ministry financially.

“The work they are doing is just phenomenal,” said Josh Flores Olvera, missions minister at First Baptist in Temple. “It’s a nonstop, hard-working ministry … and they are doing it all without a centralized facility.”

‘We are preparing for the future’

But that will change. Second Baptist Church is in the process of constructing a building strategically located within walking distance of a major university in Gdańsk. The worship center will seat more than 250, and the building will include space for ministries to refugees.

“They need to learn the Polish language to be self-sufficient. They need to form new relationships in a foreign country,” Stróżek said. “They will need help with their children and teens. Right now, most of the refugees are single mothers with children.

“To some extent, they are starting over. We want to meet them in this situation. And we want our new church building to serve in this sensitive ministry.”

The church also hopes to offer a Christian counseling center at its new building and provide a safe place for teenagers to gather.

“To make all this possible, we need our new church to be self-sustaining,” Stróżek said. “We want to buy and install solar panels and an internal heat pump to limit energy costs.”

Next month, Stróżek will travel to Texas to meet with potential financial supporters and missions partners in the Temple area.

“The war is far from over, and we are preparing for the future,” he said. “We want to be prepared for the new needs.”

For more information about the ministries of Second Baptist Church in Gdańsk, Poland, contact Pastor Adrian Stróżek at adrian.strozek73@gmail.com.

A call for accountability from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and announced sanctions punishing the Burmese army marked the two-year anniversary of a military coup in Myanmar.

Since the Burmese military—known as the Tatmadaw—seized control of Myanmar’s government on Feb. 1, 2021, human rights monitors have verified about 3,000 civilian deaths, as well as the destruction of houses of worship and homes.

“The real death toll, taking into account the military’s offensives in the ethnic regions, is likely to be much, much higher,” Benedict Rogers, senior analyst for East Asia with Christian Solidarity Worldwide, wrote in a recent blog.

Military targets ethnic and religious minorities

The Tatmadaw and the State Administration Council, which the military established to run the country, have targeted ethnic and religious minorities, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom reported.

“It has been two years since the coup, and we have yet to see the SAC brought to justice for the Rohingya genocide and myriad abuses of religious freedom and human rights,” Commissioner Eric Ueland said.

“The Biden administration must be more active in support for international efforts to hold the Tatmadaw and the Burmese authorities accountable with all tools at their disposal, including coordinated sanctions against Tatmadaw leaders for particularly severe violations of religious freedom.”

Last July, the Baptist World Alliance general council at its meeting in Birmingham, Ala., approved a resolution condemning the coup in Myanmar and singling out the Burmese military for waging “a campaign of terror and violence, particularly against minority religions.”

Myanmar’s State Administrative Council has increased its sponsorship of extremist factions with the nation’s Buddhist majority, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom noted.

The commission “stands in solidarity with the people of Burma who have endured great suffering in these two years since the coup,” Commissioner Mohamed Magid said.

“We urge the U.S. government to continue to coordinate with international partners to hold the SAC accountable for its human rights abuses within Burma, especially its persecution of the Buddhist majority who do not want the authoritarian government to coopt their faith, the predominately Muslim Rohingya, and various Christian communities.”

Sanctions focus on aviation fuel for military

On Jan. 31, the eve of the second anniversary of the coup, the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom announced a new round of sanctions focused on the Tatmadaw. The sanctions target the supply of aviation fuel to the military, which has carried out multiple airstrikes on civilians.

“Our sanctions are meticulously targeted to deliver maximum impact, reducing the military’s access to finance, fuel, arms and equipment. The junta must be held to account for their brutal crackdown on opposition voices, terrorizing air raids and brazen human rights violations,” said U.K. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide applauded the announcements of sanctions focused on the Burmese military and urged they be “implemented swiftly and fully.”

“We urge these governments to go even further and call on other members of the international community to follow suit until the military is completely unable to access the arms, aviation fuel and money that keep it afloat,” Rogers said.

“On this second anniversary of the coup, we reiterate our unwavering support for the people of Myanmar and emphasize our commitment to ensuring that this ongoing tragedy is neither ignored nor forgotten.”

Arrests of minority religious leaders

Since the coup, more than 17,000 people have been arrested, and at least 13,700 remain imprisoned.

Hkalam Samson, the past president and former general secretary of the Kachin Baptist Convention, is among the religious leaders who remain imprisoned in Myanmar. Samson was taken into custody Dec. 4 before he could board a flight to Bangkok, Thailand, for medical treatment.

He currently is held in a prison in Myitkyina, where he has been charged with two offenses under the Unlawful Association Act.

“To arrest, jail and prosecute one of the country’s most prominent Christian pastors is a sign of how hostile this regime is to the church,” Rogers said.

More than five dozen Christians remain in Thailand, where they fear deportation to China unless they are granted refugee status by the United Nations or humanitarian parole by the United States.

In early January, Trent Martin from 21Wilberforce—a human rights organization focused on international religious freedom— and a colleague worshipped with members of the Shezhen Holy Reformed Church in Thailand.

“Pastor Pan Yongguang and the members of the church were there to greet us. We had the opportunity to join them for a moving Sunday morning worship service,” Martin wrote in a Jan. 30 email. “As the congregation joyfully sang Chinese hymns and recited Scripture, we saw first-hand the strong conviction to remain faithful to Christ that had brought them on this journey.

“Pastor Pan shared a sermon on maintaining our faith and joy in the midst of trials and suffering. While I had heard these verses many times before, it was exponentially more impactful to hear them in a community that really knew the meaning of suffering for their faith.”

Members of the church fled their homeland after enduring repeated threats and interrogation by the Chinese police. After being denied asylum in South Korea, they relocated to Thailand on tourist visas.

However, the Thai government has refused to renew their visas, and the Chinese Christians— nicknamed the “Mayflower Church” for their commitment to seeking religious freedom—face deportation.

After the worship service, Martin shared a meal with the church’s pastor and his family.

“We discussed what their new lives are like in Thailand and how they were currently educating all their children at home, something they could not do without government sanction in China,” he said.

“While several of the church members already speak English, many of them are looking for ways to strengthen their English skills in preparation to move to America. They also shared that while they were able to find work in South Korea, they currently haven’t been able to work in Thailand.”

Threatening calls, messages and pressure

Martin also learned about continued persecution the Christians have endured even after they fled China.

“It was surprising to hear firsthand the lengths to which China’s Communist Party is willing to go to silence a church that simply wants to peacefully worship God in a free land. While living in Jeju Island in South Korea, the congregants received threatening calls, messages and pressure from the CCP to return to China,” he said.

“Even while they are overseas in Thailand, they still fear the CCP will send agents to kidnap them or pressure the Thai authorities to deport them.”

In December, numerous pastors and religious leaders—including Elijah Brown, general secretary of the Baptist World Alliance, and Katie Frugé, director of Texas Baptists’ Christian Life Commission—signed a letter to congressional leaders, urging them to advocate for the persecuted Chinese Christians.

A group of Tyler-area churches have committed to sponsor their resettlement in the United States.

However, at this point, the U.S. government has not offered members of the Mayflower Church humanitarian parole or an expedited pathway to asylum.

“We are continuing to work with our congressional contacts to strongly advocate for the State Department to take action for the church,” Martin said.

He noted Christians in the United States can help members of the Mayflower Church by praying:

• For their security from deportation by Thai authorities and abduction by agents of the Chinese government.
• For the United Nations to allow them to enter its refugee program.
• For the United States government to offer humanitarian parole or a path to asylum.

On Jan. 5, President Joe Biden announced the United States is expanding the humanitarian parole process already in effect for Venezuela and Ukraine to allow up to 30,000 nationals per month from Nicaragua, Haiti and Cuba. However, persecuted religious minorities in China were not included.

“We are continuing to call on the U.S. State Department to maintain our proud tradition of being a refuge for those seeking freedom to worship, just as the first Pilgrims did in 1620,” Martin said.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (BP)—Pakistan’s lower house of parliament passed a bill strengthening punishment for blasphemy despite international outcry and security concerns among Christians and other religious minorities there.

Blasphemy already carries punishment as severe as death in the majority-Muslim country, but the Criminal Laws Bill amendment passed Jan. 17 in the National Assembly would increase jail terms from three years to 10 years for insulting the prophet Mohammad’s companions, wives and family members, Christian Solidarity Worldwide reported. Fines of more than $4,343 (1 million Pakistani rupees) would accompany prison time.

The unanimous passage of the Criminal Laws Bill on Jan. 17 makes it likely the bill will gain final passage and the president’s signature within months, Christian Solidarity Worldwide said.

“The ease with which it passed the lower house does not bode well,” a Christian Solidarity Worldwide spokesperson said. “It is likely to pass again.”

Mervyn Thomas, founder and president of Christian Solidarity Worldwide, is among many international religious freedom advocates expressing concern.

“Existing blasphemy legislation has resulted in extra-judicial killings and countless incidents of mob violence based on false accusations,” Thomas said. “Policymakers have ignored the long-standing demands of civil society organizations and minority community leaders for the repeal of the blasphemy laws or, at the very least, the introduction of procedural amendments to curb the misuse of these laws.”

Blasphemy laws feed mob violence

At least 16 individuals received the death penalty for blasphemy in 2021, the U.S. State Department said in its 2021 International Religious Freedom Report, but added the country has never carried out its death sentences in such cases. Instead, those suspected or convicted of blasphemy, as well as attorneys representing those accused and leaders advocating for the repeal of blasphemy laws, face repercussion and death by angry mobs.

After Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab Province and a prominent critic, tried to reform blasphemy laws, his bodyguard killed him in 2011.

Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian sentenced to death by hanging in 2010, was released from death row in 2018 after the Pakistan Supreme Court reversed her conviction. She was safely transported out of the country under cover of secrecy.

Pakistan is widely noted for religious persecution despite religious freedom stipulations in its national constitution. Religious freedom advocates cite Pakistan’s blasphemy laws and its inability to protect religious minorities from societal persecution and violence.

In its Freedom of Religion or Belief Victims List, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom highlights 55 individuals detained or imprisoned for blasphemy charges in Pakistan.

Among those named are Tabitha Gill, a Christian nurse accused of blasphemy in January 2021 by her colleagues and beaten and tortured by hospital staff. In December 2021, a violent mob killed and burned the body of Sri Lankan national Priyantha Kumara over blasphemy allegations, the commission said.

Used for personal revenge

Pakistan’s blasphemy laws are poorly defined and require low standards of evidence, CSW said. The statutes criminalize anyone who insults Islam, including by “outraging religious feeling,” and are often used as a weapon of personal revenge against religious minorities including Christians.

“Pakistan must do more to protect its most vulnerable minority communities by upholding its international obligations and guarantees enshrined within the country’s constitution,” Thomas said. “And the international community must hold the government to account for where it fails or refuses to do so.”

The U.S. State Department deems Pakistan a Country of Particular Concern under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, a designation USCIRF also recommended.

The Open Doors U.S. 2023 World Watch List of Christian persecution deems Pakistan the seventh most dangerous country for Christians.

In its 2023 Global Prayer Guide, Voice of the Martyrs describes Pakistan as a “restricted” country where all “Christians face difficulties, discrimination and persecution because of their Christian identity.” Voice of the Martyrs encourages widespread prayer for the repeal of blasphemy laws there, and for the “courage, wisdom and protection” of Christians there.

WASHINGTON (RNS)—In the three decades since the religious liberty organization Open Doors has been compiling its World Watch List of the 50 countries where Christians face the most persecution for their faith, that persecution has never been worse.

That’s according to the 2023 World Watch List released Jan. 17, which showed North Korea returning to the top spot after scoring its highest level of persecution ever, following an increase in arrests of Christians under its “anti-reactionary thought” law.

Last year, Afghanistan toppled North Korea from the top of the list for the first and only time since 2002, as the Taliban takeover of the country forced many Afghan Christians into hiding.

Afghanistan dropped to No. 9 in this year’s ranking, as the organization says the Taliban has shifted its focus from searching out Christians to searching out those with links to the country’s former government.

Wybo Nicolai, a former Open Doors global field director who first created the World Watch List, said that since 2010, the number of countries on the World Watch List reporting “high” levels of persecution has increased, nearly doubling since the first list was compiled in 1993. So has the intensity of that persecution.

The “extreme high levels” of 2022—when more than 360 million Christians around the world reported at least high levels of discrimination and persecution—have remained roughly the same, Nicolai said.

How the World Watch List originated

Nicolai joined Open Doors in 1985 as a researcher for the Soviet Union. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Nicolai said, the organization began to look beyond Eastern Europe, where it had been founded by “Brother Andrew” van der Bijl in 1955.

Nicolai was tasked with mapping the world, finding where Christians were being persecuted and where Open Doors should be active. As he began collecting data in 1991, he developed a method to measure Christian persecution “as objectively, maybe even as scientifically as possible,” he said.

The World Watch List was born.

The list scores the levels of pressure Christians and church communities suffer in private life, family life, community life and national life, along with violence levels.

At first, Nicolai’s list was used internally to inform Open Doors’ work, he said, as Open Doors became a global organization, opening field offices in Nigeria, Bangladesh, Indonesia, countries in East Asia and beyond.

Today, more than 4,000 people, including teams of researchers and lawyers, contribute data to the list, and academics and politicians interested in religious freedom have come to rely on it, as have Christians who are motivated to pray and support their co-religionists facing persecution around the world.

“It’s been a tremendous tool and very much welcomed, generally, by governments in the countries where we are mobilizing prayer support and advocacy because of that recognition that there’s an in-depth, deep dive, underground church, village-level picture and lens of what is happening in countries,” said Lisa Pearce, interim CEO of Open Doors U.S.

Increased violence by Islamist extremists

The list of 10 countries where Open Doors reports Christians currently face the most persecution has changed little since 2022.

On this year’s list, North Korea is followed by Somalia, Yemen, Eritrea, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan and Sudan. Sudan, at No. 13 last year, is new to the Top 10.

The organization also noted a troubling trend: an “alarming” increase in violence against Christians by Islamist extremists in sub-Saharan Africa. In Nigeria, the number of religiously motivated killings jumped from 4,650 last year to 5,014 in 2022—making up 89 percent of all religiously motivated killings worldwide.

“What we noticed is not just an increase of persecution, but also an increase in the size and the strength of the body of Christ. Yes, a lot of atrocities, a lot of drama; at the same time, a lot of church growth, as well,” Nicolai said.

Pearce agreed that church growth despite persecution gives her reason to hope.

“Partly, it’s extraordinary—but incredibly encouraging and challenging—that in a number of countries in the world where it is hardest to live as a Christian, where the consequences are most grave, the church is continuing to grow,” she said.

The 2023 World Watch List covers the period between Oct. 1, 2021, and Sept. 30, 2022.

The United States, notably, is not on the list, though some U.S. Christians have expressed concern about discrimination.

The United States has become more secular over the past 30 years since the World Watch List began, Nicolai said. But there’s a “vast difference” between the experiences of Christians in the U.S. and the countries on the World Watch List.

Wherever freedom of religion is being threatened, Christians must pay attention, said Pearce, who is heading Open Doors’ continued presence in the United States after its previous U.S. arm parted ways with Open Doors International and relaunched this month as Global Christian Relief.

The U.S. office’s commitment to connecting Christians around the world hasn’t changed, though she noted longtime supporters do need to register again on the new website of Open Doors U.S.

Not only should Christians support those who are persecuted, Pearce said, but also they should learn from them.

“I would say to American Christians that relative to many, many, many places in the world, you have extraordinary freedom,” she said. “Use it well.”