{"id":8584,"date":"2025-10-31T15:49:47","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T15:49:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=8584"},"modified":"2025-10-31T15:49:47","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T15:49:47","slug":"where-is-the-church-religious-freedom-advocate-decries-churchs-silence-amid-global-persecution-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=8584","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Where is the Church?\u2019 Religious freedom advocate decries Church\u2019s silence amid global persecution crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Joshua Williams, Director of Africa Services for Open Doors International, speaks under an alias at the World Evangelical Alliance General Assembly in Seoul on Oct. 28, urging global believers to break their silence and stand with persecuted Christians.<\/span>\u00a0(Photo: Christian Daily International \/ Hudson Tsuei)<\/span><\/p>\n

The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) General Assembly in Seoul turned its attention to one of the most sobering realities facing the global Church on Tuesday, as Joshua Williams, a representative of Open Doors International, issued an urgent appeal for prayer, repentance, and solidarity with persecuted Christians around the world.<\/p>\n

Williams, who serves as Director of Africa Services for Open Doors, shared heart-wrenching testimonies of believers enduring violence and displacement in regions where faith in Christ comes at a devastating cost.<\/p>\n

Referring to an earlier panel on the specific impact of persecution on women, he recounted the experiences of women and girls who have been subjected to repeated violence in conflict regions. \u201cIt is horror and hell,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen a village or a family attacks these girls and women and keeps them, rapes them again and again and again, what these women and ladies go through cannot even be imagined.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams said such survivors often return home facing rejection. \u201cThen talk about stigma,\u201d he said. \u201cThen these girls come back and they have Boko Haram babies, and then those children grow up as Boko Haram babies.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I also want to say these women and ladies, they deserve our highest respect. They are warriors of the faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that persecution and conflict are widespread. \u201cThis is not happening somewhere in the corner,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s happening from Somalia right across to the western coast of Africa and in Asia and in many, many countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams called attention to global statistics. \u201cThirty-five of the conflicts are in Africa,\u201d he said, referring to data from 2024. \u201cThat is out of the 121 conflicts recorded in 2024 alone. Globally, more than 55 countries are affected. In Africa alone, there are more than 45 million displaced people.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that \u201cglobally, 2024, almost 21 million displaced people\u201d were recorded, emphasizing that while the world focuses on conflicts such as Gaza and Ukraine, \u201cthere are more than 121 global crises.\u201d<\/p>\n

Out of the African conflicts, he said, \u201c45 million displaced people\u201416 million are Christians. Sixteen million of our brothers and sisters live in the most horrific realities, and the biggest percentage are women and girls and young ones.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams referred to the story of Cain and Abel to illustrate accountability before God. \u201cWhen Abel was murdered by his brother, God came to ask accountability for the life of Abel,\u201d he said. \u201c\u2018Where is your brother Abel? His blood is crying to me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

He connected this with present-day suffering, saying, \u201cThe blood of hundreds of thousands are crying to God globally. And one wonders, where is the Church? Where are the people of God?\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the proper response begins with repentance. \u201cWhen Nehemiah heard the state of the nation of Israel, of his time of Jerusalem city, he broke down before God,\u201d Williams said. \u201cHe went into the state of repentance and he confessed. He cried to God. He confessed the sin of his family, confessed the sin of his people, his community, and his nation. And so did the man of God Ezra.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quoting\u00a0Ezra 9, he said, \u201cWhen he heard the news of the unfaithful of God\u2019s people, [he] tore his clothes, he bathed himself before God, he was broken. And when he started praying, he prayed this prayer in Israel. He said, \u2018I\u2019m too ashamed to lift my head to you. Our sins are higher than our heads.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am praying for a revival of repentance in the church and in our nations,\u201d Williams said. \u201cUnless otherwise, this one will not go out except by prayer and fasting.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that churches in Africa, together with partners such as Open Doors, had begun an initiative called\u00a0Africa, Arise, which calls believers to pray for Christians suffering persecution. \u201cThere is a call to the people of God globally and Africa and everywhere to rise up to pray for our brothers and sisters, not only in Africa but in 55-plus nations of the globe,\u201d he said. \u201cNot to speak about it, bury it under the cushion, not talk about it as if it\u2019ll go away by itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the stark reality, Williams concluded on a hopeful note by quoting the words of Jesus in\u00a0Matthew 16:18. \u201cDespite all these challenges,\u201d he said, \u201cI will build my Church. Praise the Lord!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Christian Daily International<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joshua Williams, Director of Africa Services for Open Doors International, speaks under an alias at the World Evangelical Alliance General Assembly in Seoul on Oct. 28, urging global believers to break their silence and stand with persecuted Christians.\u00a0(Photo: Christian Daily International \/ Hudson Tsuei) The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) General Assembly in Seoul turned its<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8585,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[93,82,95,99,94,92,97,98,91,96],"class_list":["post-8584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jesus","tag-advocate","tag-church","tag-churchs","tag-crisis","tag-decries","tag-freedom","tag-global","tag-persecution","tag-religious","tag-silence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}