Faith Unyielding: The Global Church Endures Unprecedented Persecution

Brothers and sisters in Christ, a sobering report from Open Doors reminds us of the profound challenges facing our global family. The newly released World Watch List 2026 reveals that Christian persecution reached unprecedented levels in 2025. Yet, even in the face of escalating darkness, the light of their faith continues to shine brightly, a testament to God’s enduring grace.

Here are the grim realities our fellow believers are confronting:

• Who: More than 388 million Christians worldwide – roughly one in seven believers globally – now live under high levels of persecution or discrimination because of their unwavering faith in Jesus. These are our brothers and sisters, facing daily threats simply for following the Lord.
• Where: This crisis spans at least 50 nations, with a particularly sharp and uneven acceleration of violence across parts of Africa (especially Nigeria, Somalia, and Sub-Saharan regions) and the Middle East (notably Syria). Authoritarian regimes, like North Korea, are also employing advanced digital surveillance to hunt down believers.
• What happened: 2025 was the deadliest year on record for Christians, with 4,849 martyrs globally for faith-related reasons, including 3,490 in Nigeria alone. This surge is driven by war, Islamist extremism, authoritarian governance, targeted violence, displacement, and increasingly sophisticated digital tools used to monitor and suppress Christian communities.

As members of the same Body of Christ, we cannot stand idly by while our family suffers. Their suffering is our suffering (1 Corinthians 12:26). These believers are on the front lines, bearing witness to the Gospel even unto death. Their steadfastness in the face of such adversity should stir our hearts to prayer and action. We are called to love our neighbors, especially our spiritual family, and to bear one another’s burdens. Standing with them means amplifying their voices, supporting organizations committed to their aid, and, most importantly, upholding them in fervent prayer.

Prayer Point: Please pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters to be supernaturally strengthened and encouraged by the Holy Spirit. Pray specifically for divine protection and wisdom for those facing sophisticated digital surveillance and targeted violence, particularly in Nigeria and Syria, that their underground networks would remain secure and that the Church would continue to grow and multiply even in the most hostile environments.

This story was analyzed for Christ P2P. You can read the original reporting here: https://relevantmagazine.com/current/world/global-christian-persecution-reaches-record-breaking-high/