Open Doors Youth, PO Box 6, Witney, Oxon, UK, OX29 6WG
We serve Christians around the world whose brave faith in Jesus means they are, beaten, threatened, imprisoned, tortured, falsely accused, disowned and hated.
“Jesus had changed me. I realised that I didn’t choose Him, but He chose me.”
Nala, a Somali Christian who fled the country
When Nala (name changed for security reasons) heard about Jesus online, from Somali converts living abroad, she was initially shocked. But she kept exploring: “I started to look for more videos and found others who shared the Word of God,” says Nala. “I connected with them through Facebook and asked them to tell me about Christ. One girl, Hani (name changed), shared with me some things from God’s Word.”
After a while, she chose to follow Jesus! She met with other secret believers and was eventually baptised. She had to keep her faith secret from her Muslim family, of course, because she knew how furious they’d be. They might even kill her.
Unfortunately, while Nala was exploring her new faith, her family became increasingly suspicious and tricked Nala into coming home by telling her that her mother was dying. “When I got home, the men in my family were waiting for me,” Nala says. “They beat me and took my mobile phone and locked me up in a room.”
The following days and weeks were torturous. “They tried different rituals to fix what was ‘wrong’ with me. Sometimes they put a lightbulb against my head and repeated words from the Quran over and over… They even tried some concoctions on me.”
Her family then pledged her in marriage to a sheikh who already had two wives. But a few days before the wedding, Nala ran away and hid with friends, who helped her to escape the country. Her life has changed completely and she lives in danger, but does not regret choosing to follow Jesus.
“Jesus had changed me. I realised that I didn’t choose Him, but He chose me. I didn’t go out looking for Him, but He found me. Previously I didn’t have happiness, but now I have joy… I know that until I came to know Jesus, I knew nothing at all.”
We want to help you pray to bring light into the darkness, so we’ve created an awesome new map with stories, actions and prayer points. It also glows in the dark and comes with a glow-in-the-dark tattoo which will help to remind you to keep praying for God’s light to shine in the darkest places. We’ve also got a youth session outline for leaders to use alongside the map too.
Lord, we come to You in prayer for our brothers and sisters in Somalia. You know they are constantly in danger because they follow You; we ask they would feel Your Holy Spirit working in and through them, that they would be able to persevere and build Your Church. We pray especially for the secret Christians who feel alone – give them a supernatural sense of belonging to the worldwide Body of Christ. We pray all these things in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen.
