This Christmas, like thousands of isolated Christians across the Middle East and North Africa, Behrooz is determined to celebrate the birth of Jesus.
In Afghanistan, Behrooz was abandoned by his family because he’s a Christian. Now he prays and worships in secret, unable to meet in person with other believers, even if he could find any.
According to UNICEF, Afghanistan is the worst place to be born in the world. Prejudice and persecution run rampant in the country ruled by the Taliban. The total lack of freedom is summed up by a young woman there, describing herself as “trapped in a (burka), only able to peer through a small opening, as though through the bars of a prison window.”
Under threat of discovery and possible execution, Christians like Behrooz keep their faith hidden, living in the shadows, physically isolated from other believers, never meeting publicly or openly celebrating Jesus.
As an American, it’s hard for me to imagine a Christmas so isolated, so distant, from other believers. Pandemic lockdowns gave us a taste of what it feels like to live separated from others. But thousands of Christians across the Middle East and North Africa aren’t just “tasting” separation. It’s their daily diet. They live in solitude every single moment of every single day. They can never embrace another Christian or greet another believer face-to-face in public.
They identify with Mary and Joseph on that first Christmas, shunned by relatives and neighbors, forsaken, and isolated as the holy Christ Child entered the world.
How many Middle East Christians will be worshiping in isolation this Christmas? Thousands – perhaps even millions
How many Middle East Christians will be worshiping in isolation this Christmas? Thousands – perhaps even millions.
Isolated, but not alone
Isolation, however, does not necessarily mean being alone. In fact, across Afghanistan and the entire region, isolated believers actually have a church they’re part of. It’s a church that’s virtually impossible to shut down or disrupt. This church does not gather in a building. It meets on their smartphones, digital devices, and television screens.
What would have been unimaginable only a few years ago is now real. Isolated believers in the most hostile locations are able to worship, pray, and share their burdens with each other on their phone apps in real time.
SAT-7 USA (www.sat7usa.org), has just launched Church4Afghanistan. It’s a live social media program that brings interactive encouragement in the local Dari language to isolated Christians across the country, even those living in the remote mountain and desert areas where Afghanistan’s poppy crop is grown, supplying 80% of the world’s opium and heroin.
Dr. Rex Rogers is president of SAT-7 USA (www.sat7usa.org), the U.S. arm of the SAT-7 media ministry that broadcasts Christian and educational programs across the Middle East and North Africa in local languages.