Since 1955
We support people who are beaten, tortured, laughed at, imprisoned, falsely accused, disowned, ignored and hated simply for following Jesus.
Thousands of believers from countries across the Middle East, including Syria, Iraq, Jordan and Egypt, have signed up to receive daily messages from Christians around the world – and you can write to them!
Open Doors has launched a Hope for the Middle East encouragement app. Email us a short message (to inspire@opendoorsuk.org) – maybe with a picture or a 15 second video – and we will pass it on to persecuted Christians who will be able to access your messages via their phones and tablets.
Already, the app is being well received by Christians in the Middle East. One believer wrote: “May the Lord bless you, I’m very happy with this app. I hope we can encourage each other in reading the gospel. May the Lord repay you for your efforts…” Another said: “Thank you for this valuable devotion. May the Lord bless you and us as well, now and ever and to our last breath.”
Guidelines
If you can, please upload with your message a good-quality photo OR short videoOR audio clip – as the Middle Eastern culture is very visual and audio based, messages containing media are easier to share on the app and are viewed by more people.
Write a short message up to 500 characters without a picture, or 100 characters with a picture (including spaces).
You could include an encouraging Bible verse.
If you are willing, you can state your firstname, age, profession, and/or country. Be aware that this information will then become public on the internet and may be shared on social media by believers in the Middle East. Do not include your full name or full address.
Provide a picture so that more people view it, eg a Bible verse, a group of you praying, a picture of a cross, you waving at the camera, nature. etc.
As believers in the Middle East are facing struggles, you could talk about how you deal with personal (spiritual) struggles – is there a special prayer that helps you?
You must email your message to inspire@opendoorsuk.org only. We cannot pass on hardcopy messages.
Technical things
Make sure pictures and videos are in the landscape orientation (and copyright free!)
Try to send pictures that are at least 700 pixels wide, but not more than 1080
If the pictures contain posters or text, please make sure that they are legible
Leave enough space on your video, or if you have text in your picture, for an Arabic translation (roughly, your text should not take up more than 20 per cent of the image)
When creating a video, include a short description, make sure that it is under 15 seconds in length and no larger than 1GB.
Do not create a complicated video with music and moving text, because the video will be translated into Arabic. Simply send the text you want to include in the video (in mov, mp4, m4v, wmv and flv formats only, between 400-1000 kbps) and any specific instructions – like when/where you want the text to appear. The aspect ratio must be either 4:3 or 16:9
You could record an mp3 song snippet and/or include a message up to 30 seconds in length.
Struggling with what to say?
Below are some ideas of messages you could send.
Keep the faith brothers and sisters. We fight the good fight. You are loved deeply by the Almighty.
Be strong, brothers and sisters. My husband, David, myself, Anna, and my two daughters, Hannah (aged 9) and Lucy (aged 5) are praying for you. Your faith is an inspiration to us all. We are telling our friends in the church about what you are going through. We are praying for you. God bless!
On behalf of Your family, God, we are praying for the safety of all our persecuted family. We pray for their protection. Lord, let Your love fill them once again specially for those who are about to give up. Lord, let them see the hope again in You, that You are always there for them. Lord, we are lifting our family to You. Guide them protect them, and let Your most precious and holy blood cover them. Amen.
Do you know someone who is deaf? If so, you’re likely aware of the challenges that this can bring. Thankfully, there is often a lot of support from the societies in which we live to help those who are deaf.
But in parts of Central Asia, this is not always the case, because being deaf carries a stigma that brings isolation and rejection, including trouble finding work. This adds to their suffering. In fact, some interpretations of Islam believe that deaf people cannot go to heaven.
Amazingly, the deaf community are among the fastest growing group of believers in Central Asia, helped by a centre run by Open Doors local partners who show deaf people how treasured they are by God. This includes training in skills such as computing, make-up and how to repair mobile phones, as well as support for children, including road safety help because of the dangers facing deaf people near roads.
The centre also provides support to withstand persecution, because those who come to know Jesus from a Muslim background can face hostility from their families and communities.
We’d love to particularly encourage the young people who attend this centre by inviting you to write to them! They’d love to hear from you and be reminded that, amidst the rejection they can face because of their deafness and faith, their global church family is thinking about and praying for them.
Guidelines
Greeting cards, children’s artwork and postcards are best
Use simple English and keep your letter brief and without too much text (some of the children can’t yet read English)
Print clearly
Be encouraging and include one or two Bible verses
Show sensitivity; please don’t dwell on the recipient’s plight, or share about the blessings of life in your country.
For security
Do not mention Open Doors in your letters
If writing a postcard, please send it in an envelope and do not write the Open Doors’ address on the postcard
You may provide your name, but do not provide your full name or address
Do not criticise a region’s religion or religious extremists, its government, judicial system, or political leaders
Do not send money or make proposals to help.
Send to us!
This campaign is postal only. Please send your physical drawings, cards or letters to us at the below address:
PO Box 6
Witney
Oxon
OX29 6WG
And we’ll do the rest!
Please note this campaign ends 31 December 2023. Since we are restricted in the amount of letters we can send to the centre, we may have to close the campaign early.
“I felt that I had no freedom where I lived,” shares 15-year-old Valentina from Cauca in Colombia. “I used to say, ‘My God, I want to get out of here. I don’t even know where I want to go, but I want to leave.’”
The reason for this is persecution. At school, Valentina was pressurised into performing indigenous rites, while in society, she was acutely vulnerable to recruitment into guerrilla groups who often target prominent Christians (her father is a church leader).
Because of these dangers, her parents sent her to the Children’s Centre run by Open Doors local partners. “Thank God there was an open door at the Children’s Centre,” share her parents, while Valentina adds: “I don’t know if my life would exist if I still lived in Cauca, or if I’d be lost.”
As well as providing a safe haven for Valentina, the Children’s Centre is also helping Valentina develop in her studies and grow in her faith. “I know that, in the middle of persecution, God is faithful and merciful,” she says. “He is the best because He takes care of us. It’s Jesus who unites us and means we can enjoy peace and hope.”
Read beautiful Christmas letters written to you from young people at the Children’s Centre in Colombia
This Christmas, Valentina will return to spend it with her family. “For me, the best Christmas is when I’m with my family,” she says. But she won’t be able to stay beyond Christmas, because it’s too dangerous.
You can write to Valentina to encourage her in her faith, and other Christians in children who are also vulnerable to persecution for their faith, be that from indigenous groups or criminal gangs. They’d love to hear from you!
There are two ways you can write to Christian children in Colombia:
Get your church to write one large card
Our Christmas resources includes a large fold-out card for your church to write to children at the Children’s Centre.
Write an individual letter
You can also write to specific children at the Children’s Centre and elsewhere in Colombia…
Valentina
Keiner (15), Sneiker (13) and Rubén (9), whose father was shot dead earlier this year, having served as pastor in an area rife with criminal activity. You can also write to their mother, Yaneth
Daniela (14) and Sebastián (7), whose father was shot dead for speaking out against criminal activities and helping prevent young people from recruitment to gangs
Children living in the following regions: Nariño, Tumaco, Arauca, Chocó, Catatumbo, Buenaventura, Córdoba and Cauca (for these, introduce the letter by saying, Dear child from )
Greeting cards, postcards and children’s artwork are best
Be encouraging and include one or two Bible verses. For security reasons, please do not use verses that refer to Israel, armies, or war
Show sensitivity. Please do not dwell on the recipient’s plight, or share about the blessings of life in your country.
For security
Do not mention Open Doors
Do not mention other religions
Do not refer to Israel, even when using Scripture
Do not criticise religions, religious extremists, governments, judicial systems or political leaders
Do not send money or make proposals to help
You can disclose your name and the country you live in, but do not provide your full name or full address.
Send to us!
This campaign is postal and digital. Please send your physical drawings, cards or letters to us at the below address, and your digital encouragements to messagestocolombia@opendoorsuk.org
Charity and her three children from Nigeria were getting ready for bed when her brother ran into the home with an urgent warning: “Put out the light! Put out the light!”
Charity grabbed her youngest daughter, Patience, and quickly placed her on her back in a wrap. “We ran away towards the mountains,” Charity says. In the scramble, Charity got separated from her other two children, Theophilus and Elizabeth.
On her way back to the village the following day, Charity heard that Boko Haram had killed some of her family members in the attack. She was devastated; all she could think about was her missing children.
After a week without news, Charity was alone in her mother’s house when she heard her son calling out her name. When she looked out her front door, she saw Theophilus and Elizabeth walking toward her. “I was so shocked and excited as I shouted their names!” Charity recalls. “Seeing my children felt like a new dawn – everything changed because my lost children were back.”
When Open Doors heard about the attack, local partners in the field rushed into action to help provide emergency aid, food relief and support to rebuild, thanks to your prayers and gifts. They were also able to deliver vital trauma counselling to Charity and her family.
“Your coming helped us a lot,” Charity says.
You can further help Charity and her family by writing to them – they’d love to hear from you!
Writing guidelines
Greeting cards, postcards and children’s artwork are best
Be encouraging and include one or two Bible verses. For security reasons, please do not use verses that refer to Israel, armies, or war
Show sensitivity. Please do not dwell on the recipient’s plight, or share about the blessings of life in your country.
For security
Do not mention Open Doors
Do not mention other religions
Do not refer to Israel, even when using Scripture
Do not criticise religions, religious extremists, governments, judicial systems or political leaders
Do not send money or make proposals to help
You can disclose your name and the country you live in, but do not provide your full name or full address.
It was 2014 and Pastor Andrew was serving a church in Monguno, north east Nigeria, when Boko Haram attacked his community, forcing him and his family to flee.
The family ended up in Guyaku, where Pastor Andrew began serving a new church who he warned should prepare for a possible attack by Boko Haram. He even began teaching them how to deal with persecution. But people felt his concerns were unfounded, given how peaceably people lived with one another.
In February 2015, the pastor’s worst fears were realised when Boko Haram militants attacked the town. “We lost everything,” Pastor Andrew recalls. At the time, he felt the church would never recover.
The pastor and his leadership team later returned and encouraged other Christians to return and rebuild their homes and church. The message was heeded, with members returning and each donating money to fund the church’s restoration. Open Doors also contributed to this.
Remarkably, the church is now bigger than it was prior to the attack – there were 300 members beforehand, now there are more than 450. The faith of the believers has also grown stronger. Pastor Andrew – who has received other support from Open Doors, including trauma care and advocacy training – now leads a different church, but he often revisits the church in Guyaku.
Pastors in Nigeria carry a huge weight of responsibility – not just in helping believers to grow spiritually amid persecution but in the pastoral care they provide for those traumatised by attacks. Pastor Andrew needs nourishing as he seeks to nourish others, and you can do just that by writing to him.
Writing guidelines
Greeting cards, postcards and children’s artwork are best
Be encouraging and include one or two Bible verses. For security reasons, please do not use verses that refer to Israel, armies, or war
Show sensitivity. Please do not dwell on the recipient’s plight, or share about the blessings of life in your country.
For security
Do not mention Open Doors
Do not mention other religions
Do not refer to Israel, even when using Scripture
Do not criticise religions, religious extremists, governments, judicial systems or political leaders
Do not send money or make proposals to help
You can disclose your name and the country you live in, but do not provide your full name or full address.
Send to us!
Send your drawings, cards or letters to us at:
PO Box 6,
Witney,
Oxon,
OX29 6WG
And we’ll do the rest!
Please note this campaign ends on 15 December 2022
This is Talitha. She’s 17 years old and from a country in Central Asia. On 5 December 2021 she made the most important decision of her life – she kneeled and gave her heart to the Lord Jesus.
In the country where she lives (to protect her identity, we can’t say which country), choosing to follow Jesus can be really dangerous. So, when she knelt to say her prayer, she became a secret believer – she’s the only member of her family who is a Christian.
She’s worried what her parents or other family members will do if they find out that she is a Christian. But, being full of brave faith, she decided that she wanted to be baptised – which happened on 24 December!
Talitha is in a precarious position – but despite what her family might do, she’s chosen Jesus.
She knows little about the global church, so we’d love to send her a bunch of messages and prayers from young people in the UK to let her know she’s not alone. She needs your prayer support to know that she’s part of a global family, all cheering and spurring her on.
Could you send a message to Talitha? Write a prayer or short message for her in the box below we’ll make sure she receives it!
Guidelines
Write in simple English and keep it relatively short
Be encouraging and include one or two Bible verses (for security reasons, please do not use verses that refer to Israel, armies or war)
Show sensitivity – do not dwell on the recipient’s plight, or share about the blessings of life in your country.
For security
Do not mention Open Doors
Do not mention Islam
Do not refer to Israel, even when using Scripture. Also, do not use images, flags or maps of Israel, or Hebrew signs
Do not criticise the region’s religion or religious extremists, its government, judicial system or political leaders
Do not send money or make proposals to help
Do not add your address or any personal details bar name, age and where you are from in the message itself (it’s fine to include those in the later bits of the form if you want to get emails or postal mailings from us!).
“Sele never knew his dad, Solomon,” explains Cecilia, Sele’s mum. He died when Sele was just two years old.
Cecelia has managed to carry on farming without her husband. But not without help from Sele and his siblings.
For some children in Nigeria, the field surrounding their house is as far as their future will go, simply because there’s no extra money for school. But thanks to your support, Sele can go to a school where he can study and dream of making an impact on people’s lives. He wants to be a doctor.
Sele says: “I want to say thank you to the brothers and sisters who are helping me to pay my school fees, may God bless them.”
Will you write to Sele to encourage him in his faith and studies?
Writing guidelines
Sele speaks and reads English but greeting cards, children’s artwork, and postcards are best
Print clearly
Be encouraging and feel free to include an encouraging Bible verse. For security reasons, please do not use a verse that refers to Israel, armies or war
Show sensitivity; please do not dwell on the recipient’s plight, or share about the blessings of life in your country.
For security
Do not mention Open Doors in your letters
Do not mention other religions
If writing a postcard, please send it in an envelope and do not write the Open Doors’ address on the postcard
You may provide your name, but do not provide your full name or address
Do not criticise a country’s religion or religious extremists, its government, judicial system, or political leaders
Please note:all names featured in this campaign have been changed for security reasons
When a mission team visited his school, Salim had many questions. He lives in East Africa and grew up a Muslim. “But what came vividly to my understanding is that Jesus is a loving God who came to save the lost,” he says.
He became a Christian and his life was transformed. Today, he is a pastor reaching out to people in the Muslim-majority community where he lives. His church also disciples new believers – a huge part of which involves answering the kind of questions Pastor Salim initially had, which in turn equips these believers to answer others.
Unsurprisingly, the work is not without its dangers. Meetings must be held discreetly, and because of the opposition new believers can encounter, Pastor Salim’s church looks after several secret believers.
Pastor Salim himself is exposed to ridicule, mocking and even threats. “It troubles my wife,” he shares. “She is more traumatised than me, because of the messages, threats, calling us names, and people throwing stones at our home. That affects me negatively.”
Whilst he refuses to give up, Pastor Salim admits it’s a battle to fight loneliness and discouragement. Will you write to Pastor Salim, to encourage him in his faith and calling?
Writing guidelines
We advise using greeting cards, artwork by children and postcards. If writing a postcard, please send it in an envelope and do not write Open Doors’ address on the postcard
Be encouraging and include one or two Bible verses. For security reasons, please do not use verses that refer to Israel, armies or war
Write in simple English. Keep your message brief and print clearly
Show sensitivity. Please do not dwell on the recipient’s plight, or share about the blessings of life in your country.
For security
Do not mention Open Doors
Do not mention Islam
Do not criticise the region’s religion or religious extremists, its government, judicial system or political leaders
Do not send money or make proposals to help
You can disclose your name and country, but do not provide your full address.
When the authorities discovered that Farah’s* dad was a Christian he was taken away by the secret police. Farah, along with her mum and sister, were left to clear up their flat, not knowing if her dad would ever come home. Whilst her dad was eventually bailed and released, the family’s faith in Jesus meant the police were always watching. For their safety, Farah and her family have had to flee the home and country they love.
No believer should face persecution alone. Could you write to Farah and send her some words of hope and encouragement. Could you let her know that they are not alone and that you’re praying for her?
When Farah’s* dad was arrested he was asked to provide names of other Christians. The police told him that Farah could be put in prison if he didn’t do what they asked. But with remarkable bravery, he refused. Amazingly he was later released without charge, as long as he didn’t resume any evangelistic activities – otherwise his sentence would be death.
But Farah’s dad couldn’t stop telling others about Jesus. Farah and her family continued to be watched, and so they made the difficult decision to flee the country. It was too dangerous to stay.
Life in their new home is really hard. There’s a new language to learn, school and work are different, and Farah misses her friends. But despite all of this, the family know that sticking with Jesus was their only option.
Whilst in prison, Farah’s dad wrote small messages on his cell wall, to encourage other Christian prisoners. Will you do the same for Farah and her family? Could you write Farah a message to encourage her after her whole world has been torn apart? Use the form on this page to send a message and we’ll make sure it gets through to Farah.
Guidelines
Write in simple English and keep it relatively short
Be encouraging and include one or two Bible verses (for security reasons, please do not use verses that refer to Israel, armies or war)
Show sensitivity – do not dwell on the recipient’s plight, or share about the blessings of life in your country.
*Please note, for security reasons, we’ve changed Farah’s name for this writing campaign – you might want to avoid using this pseudonym in your message.
For security
Do not mention Open Doors
Do not mention Islam
Do not refer to Israel, even when using Scripture. Also, do not use images, flags or maps of Israel, or Hebrew signs
Do not criticise the region’s religion or religious extremists, its government, judicial system or political leaders
Do not send money or make proposals to help
Do not add your address or any personal details bar name, age and where you are from in the message itself (it’s fine to include those in the later bits of the form if you want to get emails or postal mailings from us!).
Send a Christmas message to youth from churches that have been forced to close…
The Algerian government has been closing churches and investigating the activities of congregations over the last few months (like the one in the video above). The closures have specifically targeted a group of protestant churches – eight have been closed this year. Could you send a message to young Algerian Christians facing the prospect of Christmas with no church to celebrate in?
We’re looking to send a bunch of digital messages over the Christmas period to let our family in Algeria know that they aren’t alone and that we are standing with them in prayer – a kind of digital Christmas card! Could you write a short note, something that could fit into a text or WhatsApp message that we could send to them? Maybe an encouraging Bible verse, prayer, song lyrics or some other encouraging words. Use the form on this page to submit your message, then we’ll get it translated and sent on in time for Christmas.
Real-time WhatsApp message timeline…
Some of the most recent churches were closed in October – and we heard directly from young Christians who were there when the police raided their services and forced them to leave their church. They kept us up to date via WhatsApp.
13/10/2019 at 18:47
‘Please pray for us, today the authorities gave the order to close our Church next Wednesday on the 16th of October.’
15/10/2019 at 18:58
‘They are closing our Church right now. The authorities told us that would close the Church tomorrow but they came today at 6pm while we were praying and worshipping. They say that we can film this and tell America all we want, but that they won’t stop closing our Churches.’
20:12
‘They’ve beaten our pastor, he is covered in bruises.’
16/10/2019 at 14:52
‘They have closed the building where we do the services, but we who have not been arrested and are staying to protest. Tomorrow, all the Christians in the region are going to protest against the local government for what they have done.’
17/10/2019 at 10:27
‘We went to protest and do a sit in in front of the authorities but the police stopped us and arrested 12 people. The local authorities have decided to do all these bad things, hurt us and beat us, please pray for us.’
17/10/2019 at 11:53
‘They arrested five more people. That’s 17 people now, please pray that they will be released soon.’
17/10/2019 at 13:16
‘I was arrested while I was with my Dad, we were walking towards the local authorities to protest against the Church closures but the police came and put me in jail. They took down my name, they took my phone and searched through it.’
17/10/2019 at 14:00
‘For now they released everybody, we are waiting outside the Church for our elders to tell us what to do.’
18/10/2019 13:00
‘Tomorrow we decided with our youth leaders that we as a youth group will fast and pray. We don’t have a Church service to go to but we will fast and pray together.’
Why are churches closing?
There are various reasons. Most churches aren’t registered with the government – they need a license, and no licenses have been given in 13 years. The government says the churches and their pastors are spreading ‘destructive ideas’. It’s more likely that the churches are full of converts from Islam, and those people are seen as traitors. Those who convert can be hated, even by their own family, for going against Islam. There are even laws that mean you can get into trouble for ‘shaking the faith of a Muslim’, so Christians have to be careful when talking about their faith. Churches can exist, but they have to stick to the rules – those rules prohibit Bible studies, foreign preachers and Sunday schools, so you can see why many don’t stick to them!
We support people who are beaten, tortured, imprisoned, falsely accused, and hated simply for following Jesus.
