Persecution comes in many forms. The most extreme is out-right violence or the criminalising of Christianity. But more often than not, Christians in many countries around the world face a creeping form of persecution. States can exert increasing pressure on churches and believers, whilst communities can exclude and discriminate Christians because of their choice to follow Jesus.
Across Central Asia increasingly harsh laws and punishments are being imposed against Christians. Bibles and Christian materials can be hard to access, whilst churches often need to be registered – a process that means all members can be identified easily by the authorities.
But it’s not just the laws and the government. Other groups oppose Christianity too. Below you’ll see images taken recently from the inside of a small church in a country in Kyrgyzstan. Local Muslim extremists broke into the church, stole things of value and damaged the furniture. They then sprayed warnings on the walls to scare and intimidate the church members.
The graffiti here says ‘We will kill you’.
This says ‘Don’t teach our children’.
This last piece writing simply says ‘Allah’ sprayed across the window.
We support people who are beaten, tortured,
imprisoned, falsely accused, and hated simply for following Jesus.