News / Thoughts

Tajikistan: Pray for Sitora

Sitora is 17. She’s from Tajikistan and has been bought up in a Muslim family. She chose to follow Jesus and was keeping her faith a secret, but her brother found out. He badly beat her and threatened here.

She’s now recovered from the attack, but she can’t visit church, meet with other Christians or easily read the Bible. Her grandmother is also a secret Christian. They occasionally read the Bible late at night in bed, hiding under the blankets and using a torch to ​help them see. They have to be extremely careful out of the fear of further beatings.

More about Tajikistan

Tajikistan is number 35 on the 2017 Open Doors World Watch List – a ranking of the countries where Christians face the severest persecution for their faith.

In Tajikistan the government puts intense pressure on all ‘deviating’ groups, including Christians. More and more laws has been imposed in the last two years. The youth law, in particular, has left Christians in legal limbo as it is not obvious what is allowed and what is denied. Churches that are active in evangelism suffer from raids, threats, arrests, and fines, especially when they have not been registered. However, people who turn to Christ from a Muslim background bear the brunt of persecution from state, family, friends and community.

Pray now…

• Pray for faith and strength for Sitora and her grandmother
• Ask that they would have the opportunity to meet with other believers and to pray and praise openly
• Pray for Sitora’s brother – for his salvation.

*Names changed for security reasons