MAGAZINE MAY | JUNE 2021

Locked up in Stories from secret believers in the Middle East

www.opendoorsca.org GARY’S TAKE

4 INSIDE THIS ISSUE Dear Friend,

Lately I have been burdened for those in our Christian family who are PAGE 4 | Secret Believers Find imprisoned for faith-related reasons. Open Doors’ latest World Watch List Freedom in Prison reveals that in 2020 alone, 4,277 were detained without trial, arrested, sentenced and imprisoned and another 1,710 were abducted. PAGE 8 | Be Prepared to Escape Countless others have been held captive for years without hope of being released. The suffering and worry they bear is immeasurable. PAGE 10 | A Safe Haven in the Midst of Hopelessness In this magazine you’ll read the story of a young father by the name of Taher who was incarcerated for a period, but then had to flee with his family to another country to avoid imminent long-term imprisonment. PAGE 14 | Because of You... Taher shared that a song close to the heart of everyone in his family is, “I Surrender All.” A line from the hymn says, “All to Jesus I surrender, all to 8 Him I freely give. I will ever love and trust Him, in His presence daily live.” Even amidst the challenges of living as refugees, their faith inspires us to trust God’s plan. Open Doors Canada 8-19 Brownridge Rd. In June we are launching an annual focus on prayer for our family Halton Hills, ON L7G 0C6 members who are imprisoned or held captive for their faith. It will culminate on Sunday, June 27, with, One With Them: A Day for Christian (905) 636-0944 Captives. I am praying that this becomes a prayer movement and that we www.opendoorsca.org will see significant answers to our prayers. Thank you in advance for your [email protected] participation.

Grace & Peace,

/OpenDoorsCanada

Cover image: Saghar gathered with other Christians, worshiped and prayed. It was always risky, but the fellowship was the base for their growth in faith. They shared their lives together—and became family. Eventually Saghar even decided to take the most dangerous job in church: the Pastor Gary Stagg pastor. And then the unavoidable happened: The Iranian secret service raided the church. Read her story on page 8. Executive Director

OPEN DOORS MAGAZINE is published 6 times a year to provide concerned Christians with information about events affecting persecuted Christians worldwide. ODC is a member of Canadian Centre for Christian Charities and the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. The material contained in this publication cannot be reproduced in any form, including on the internet, without written permission. © 2021 Open Doors Canada. www.opendoorsca.org 3 Miracles, dreams and TV MESSAGE OF STRENGTH shows are bringing Muslims in the Middle East to Christ. Taher may not have written the The church is growing, names of his fellow believers in but the threat of rejection, the interrogation room, but he did violence and imprisonment quietly slide a pen from the table is rising. These believers into his pocket. When the guards need their worldwide family returned him to his cell, he began to scribble in the cracks of the wall. to stand alongside them. “Ask, seek, knock, and it will be “Taher*. You need to come home, given to you,” he wrote, with now.” The call came from the reference to Matthew 7:7. Iranian secret police. They were in Taher’s house with his wife and He desperately hoped these words two daughters, ransacking the would encourage Christians just place for evidence of his Christian like him—believers from the Iran faith. underground church who would be arrested and find themselves There was plenty to find, because in this same cell. Perhaps these Taher loved to share his faith in faint messages would give others Jesus. In front of his family, he was courage to stay strong in the face of handcuffed, blindfolded and was their interrogators. taken away in a car. The secret service eventually For the next week he survived in a released Taher on bail. Months later, tiny cell, interrogated every night during his sentencing, the judge between midnight and 4am. He decided to have mercy on Taher was given paper and a pen and and released him under one instructed to write down the names condition—he stop evangelizing. If of the Christians he knew. the authorities arrested him again, the judge would have no leniency, He never wrote a single name. and the conviction would be SECRET BELIEVERS FIND execution. All over the Middle East, God is revealing Himself to new believers. NEVER STOP MINISTERING FREEDOM IN PRISON These converts from Islam live with “The time that I had with Jesus in prison was the real freedom for me,” the constant threat of rejection, However, the warning to stop says Taher*, who hopes the secret messages he wrote on his cell walls violence and imprisonment. Open preaching didn’t deter his calling. will encourage other Christian prisoners. Doors helps them to grow and Taher says simply, “I went back build healthy faith communities. home and started ministering again.”

4 Open Doors Magazine - May | June 2021 www.opendoorsca.org 5 more acute. Trapped inside Stand with secret believers in with their potential persecutors, the Middle East who live under secret believers found it harder the threat of imprisonment to hide their faith. Peter, another and . Open Doors worker, reports that during lockdown, government PLEASE PRAY surveillance increased leading to a higher number of arrests Pray for secret believers and the imprisonment of whose house churches are believers. raided, for those whose family members are violent against “Even though you can’t them, those who have lost their jobs because their employer put an arm around them: found out about their faith. Secret believers in the Middle East rely on prayer from nobody should face PLEASE GIVE the global church to stay strong under persecution. persecution alone.” Every $50 could provide Eventually, the situation in Iran secret believers know they are not Yet perhaps the greatest counselling training for a secret became too dangerous for Taher alone. danger is to leave these secret believer, so they can support fellow and his family. The secret service believers in the Middle East Christians facing persecution. followed them everywhere. Jonathan, an Open Doors field without prayer and without He couldn’t find a job and the worker, says, “We have a lot of support. Jonathan explains, Every $90 can provide two regular harassment become online programs to reach new “When we don’t support the secret believers who’ve fled overwhelming. One night, they met believers. We give them pastoral Christian community in the to a neighbouring country with as a family and made the prayerful care, help them grow in faith and Middle East to grow in faith practical and spiritual support at decision to leave Iran. connect them to a community of and stand strong in the face of a Christian community centre. believers if possible.” persecution, many will fall back Today, Taher and his family are into their old faith. This is also a Every $100 could provide refugees in , but they hope COMMUNITY ONLINE hindrance in the maturing of the online training for ten secret to return someday if God opens church.” church leaders to develop their a door for them. Believers from He continues, “Community really is leadership skills, so they can a Muslim background across the the key word here. Having others “Most importantly we need our better disciple their churches. Middle East face persecution to share your faith with helps you supporters to not cease their not only from the police and the to endure persecution. If you know prayers. It helps secret believers PLEASE WRITE authorities, but their own families that there are people like you, if to know that people are praying and communities too. As a you know that there are people for them. Even though you don’t Use the power of your pen to write consequence, they hide their faith praying for you: then you can stand speak their language, you can’t a message of encouragement and suffer from severe isolation. strong.” put an arm around them: nobody to secret believers. See Open Doors aims to connect should face persecution alone.” page 12 for more details. believers online, as well as in During the Covid-19 restrictions, person where possible, to help the dangers of isolation became *Names changed for security reasons. 6 Open Doors Magazine - May | June 2021 www.opendoorsca.org 7 DELETE THE EVIDENCE As she found her seat, her name Be prepared to escape echoed through the airport. The Next, she began to delete all security service had just received a evidence of her Christian faith from warrant for her arrest. When the secret service raided Saghar’s church her phone. One of the female secret in Iran, she knew what to do. She’d been to service officers pushed on the toilet But it was too late. Saghar’s plane gatherings to prepare for persecution – but she door, trying to force it open. But took off safely. still relied on God to save her. Saghar firmly explained her rights, forcing the officer to back off. Four years later, in a country of refuge, Saghar still suffers As the interrogation continued, occasional flashbacks of the raid. A crowbar forced the door open, officers told Saghar she was under But the regular nightmares come but no voices were raised. The arrest. But she remembered what less often now. Her terrifying secret service had thought she’d learned: they couldn’t arrest experience has left scars, but she is through every detail of their raid her without a warrant. When they aware it would’ve been much worse on the house church meeting. But told her they’d intercepted her in prison. Saghar, the church’s pastor, was passport, she recognized the bluff. prepared too. “I wouldn’t be sitting here talking to Three days later she arrived at the you if it wasn’t for my preparation,” Saghar had recently been to airport, petrified: surely her arrest she says. “No Christian should meetings to prepare Iranian warrant had been processed by face persecution unprepared, and Christians to endure a raid. now. no Christian should go through it without prayer from the worldwide So, when Saghar was led into the As she joined the queue to board church.” living room for interrogation, she the plane, her heart skipped a beat. held her nerve. The room was full Checking documents was one of of burly men, one of them filming the secret agents who had raided everything. Saghar was terrified. her house only days ago. But she remembered her training Please pray for secret believers: and knew what to do. This was the toughest moment in her life. • to find strength to act boldly “No Christian should face under threat, as Saghar did. ASK FOR A MIRACLE persecution unprepared.” • who’ve fled their country Alone, no fellow Christians to help because it was no longer Her first step was to ask to use the her, she realized that only God safe for them to stay. bathroom. There, she grabbed her could save her. Like Peter stepping phone, snapped a selfie and sent it out of the boat, Saghar stepped to • who’ve been imprisoned Saghar thanks God for her dramatic to the outside world. Her message: the front of the queue. And while for their faith. escape from the secret police. “Please pray for us, our church is the agent’s eyes were turned, a being raided!” miracle happened: Saghar was allowed to board the plane. 8 Open Doors Magazine - May | June 2021 www.opendoorsca.org 9 and eventually became a leader. we create hope? ‘ is the question A Safe Haven in the But it came at a price: he faced that he and his local church asked arrest and torture. He is still themselves. In the blueprint of the Midst of Hopelessness astonished about the injustice he centre the answer becomes visible: was met with in prison: “I hadn’t there is space for spiritual needs: a How community centres help Christian Iranian committed any crime to deserve library full of Farsi Christian books this. I didn’t murder anyone; I didn’t and room for discipleship courses. refugees in the region to heal and grow steal anything. All I did was to But a refugee can also just share surrender my heart to Jesus.” his story over a cup of tea in the Four walls, a ceiling and a lot of café or receive biblical counselling. dust and building material: that’s The time in prison didn’t scare Distribution of relief items will also how the community centre in a big Kouroush off: After his release take place from the centre. city in Turkey looks when we visit he continued his ministry. But the it. But that is not what Kouroush* secret service tracked him down Kouroush wants to thank you sees when he looks around: “Here again. Kouroush saw no other for your support: “Without the we will make the entrance, and option then to leave his beloved international family of God we this part will become the library,” country and flee to Turkey. wouldn’t have been able to he gestures. “And that there in the establish this centre. I feel like back, that will be the hall where It’s hard for Kouroush to put words God’s hand was in this. He brought we’ll have trainings.” to how he felt when he first arrived us all together.” While the builders in Turkey. He takes a moment are still busy installing toilets and Kouroush grew up in a Muslim to think and then replies: “It was building walls, Kouroush is already family in Iran. He first heard the some kind of fear, mixed with counting the days to the opening gospel in high school, but resented sadness and confusion about why I of the centre: “I am really looking the friend who told him about it. was here. I lost everything. My job, forward to what God is going to Years later, it was the same friend my family, my country.” do here, to see the fruits of this that invited him to the house centre. All to glorify the name of church meeting that ignited his What would have helped Kouroush our triune God!” search for the true God. at this time in his life? A safe place. Each year numerous Iranian A place to feel at home again The community centre is planned Christians flee the oppressive It was a struggle for Kouroush and talk to people that speak his to open in the spring of 2021. Islamic regime. While they to admit all that he had learned language, a place to share his escape fierce persecution and from his parents wasn’t true. But story and find help. A place also *Name changed for security reasons. imprisonment, life as a refugee in the more he studied, the more he where he can satisfy his hunger for the region is hard and can seem realized he is a sinner and Jesus the Word of God. “And I am not the SPECIAL OPPORTUNITY! hopeless. With your support, is the Almighty Saviour. And then, only one,” says Kouroush. “Finding local churches set up community one night, he surrendered to such a place is one of the biggest Encourage Kouroush with a centres as safe places to heal and Christ: “I prayed: ‘I need you and I challenges for any Iranian refugee”. letter! See page 12 for more grow. Young leader Kouroush, a want to trust you, I give my life to information on how you can refugee himself, shares about the you.’” That safe space Kouroush missed encourage him and others with community centre he built in his when he came to Turkey is what pen and ink. city with your support. Kouroush found a house church he creates for others now. ‘How do 10 Open Doors Magazine - May | June 2021 www.opendoorsca.org 11 st Letter writing Oct 1 “WHILE Did you know you can write a letter or send a greeting PETER WAS card to a persecuted believer and we will deliver it to them? IN PRISON, If you have been moved by the stories of secret believers, and would like to support them in a meaningful way, would THE CHURCH you write a note of encouragement to them? This is a great way to stand with your persecuted brothers and sisters and let them PRAYED VERY know they are never alone! EARNESTLY Taher and family FOR HIM.”

ACTS 12:5 Saghar Kouroush

Taher (father), Donya When pastor Saghar’s Kouroush is a former COMING SOON! (mother), Arezoo (26, house church was raided, prisoner from Iran now PLEASE PRAY married and has a she knew how to respond living as a refugee 1-year-old son) and to stay out of jail. She in Turkey. Together • For Christians currentlyWHAT YOU CAN DO In June, Open WHO IS OPEN DOORS? PLEASE PRAY! During the month of June, we are raising awareness and prayer Farah (16). with other believers, Since 1955, when our founder,imprisoned Brother Andrew, first travelled behind for fortheir Christian captives. Thefaith first way we can stand with our Doors Canada will kept her church together the , Open Doors has been strengthening Christians where persecuted family, and the number one request of persecuted front cover faith costs the most. Christians, is prayer. Here are some ways to help you pray and for you to learn more: NE during a truly difficult he recently opened a From small beginnings wein have Iran.grown to work in moreSome than 60 might spend be launching a countries globally as currently, more than 340 million Christians • All month long, you’ll find special blog posts at suffer high levels of persecution and discrimination for their www.opendoorsca.org focused on Christian captives. faith. That’s 1 in 8 Christians worldwide. Taher was arrested and community centre to help time in isolation• cellsJoin us on Sunday, Juneor 13th for a special Night with the month of prayer time. She has since left Persecuted Church entitled, Remember Those: Focusing WITH We serve persecuted Christians through Bible and literature on Christian Captives. This event will be held virtually on distribution, discipleship and leadership training, trauma counselling, Facebook and Youtube at 7pm EST. the family had to flee other newcomers. urgent aid and Christian facecommunity development. other We stand with forms of torture. for Christian Iran and returning would them in prayer, through presence ministry, and by advocating on their • Participate in One With Them: A Day for Christian behalf. Captives. On Sunday, June 27th, we are calling THEM Canadians to stand with Christian captives in prayer. You the country following his involve risks. We also strive to connect Canadian Christians with persecuted family can stand one with them by setting aside a period of time prisoners and members around the globe, providing truthful research, information to devote to praying for them. You can also invite your and current prayer resources. church to pray together. Free resources are available at A DAY FOR • For those who havewww.onewiththem.ca been. release. They now live For more information on ways to engage with and pray for persecuted CHRISTIAN captives, with a family members, visit our website: www.opendoorsca.org. CAPTIVES I want to stay connected to my persecuted family as refugees in Turkey. released but still bearYES! with thethe latest news, prayer requests and more JUNE 27, 2021 special day on from Open Doors Canada.

Brother Andrew, founder of Fill out the enclosed response form and we will send you a free emotionalOpen Doors, with his VW consequences Beetle on one of his many voyages One With Them bracelet to remind you to pray for your perscuted family. June 27. behind the Iron Curtain. of their time and experience in jail. WRITING GUIDELINES Join us for this special time and • For those who expect to remember those who share our faith • Please have all letters delivered to the Open Doors Canada by October 1st. be summoned to prison but not our freedom. • Do not mention Open Doors on your cards or letters. soon. • Greeting cards, artwork by children, and postcards with scenes of More information: www.onewiththem.ca landscapes, nature and gardens are much beloved by Iranians. • That they know they are not alone. For more important guidelines on this and other letter writing campaigns, please visit www.opendoorsca.org/write.

12 Open Doors Magazine - May | June 2021 www.opendoorsca.org 13 YOUR SUPPORT IS STRENGTHENING BECAUSE OF YOU... BELIEVERS IN THANK YOU FOR SHARING Our partners in Indonesia have just returned from MAHESH’S BURDEN strengthening believers through training seminars in Palu, Indonesia. Palu is the nearest town to Sigi Mahesh is a believer from who village, where terrorists killed four believers on lost his job as a result of the pandemic. November 27, 2020. Around the same time, the government During the sessions, the participants learned about demolished his home in order to expand “Thank you for your the Church, suffering, forgiveness, and advocacy the road. There were many other prayers and support regarding church persecution. The sessions gave buildings in the same area but only his for our family in Sigi.” new insight and perspective to them. house was demolished as he was the “As an answer to our prayers, only Christian. Thanks to your support An Open Doors field partner says, “Please pray we were provided with grocery and prayers, Open Doors partners for the sown seeds of the seminars to take a items. Also, our house was helped Mahesh by providing him with deep root and to grow strong while facing many built through the support of the groceries to cope with the crisis, as well challenges. Pray that the participants will never organization. Thus, I am very as supporting the family in constructing a forget what they have learned and that they are grateful to God as well as the house. able to apply it in their lives by the grace of God.” organization for standing with us and sharing our burden.” *Names changed for security purposes

YOUR SUPPORT HELPED REBUILD CHIEN’S HOME We are committed to keeping you Chien* and his family live in a village in informed about what’s happening where animism is the default religion and STAY with our persecuted family. Christians are outcasts. Last July, their house and CONNECTED harvest were burned by villagers while they were • Mark your calendars for Sunday, June 13 @ 7pm EST/ 4pm PST for out attending a Bible study. As a result, they had Night with the Persecuted Church: One With Them - Focusing on those to move to another village to stay with family. A who are held captive for their faith. View online on our Facebook and local church provided Chien with a piece of land “I thank the Lord and I YouTube pages. and some raw materials to begin rebuilding their thank you for helping • Join us for prayer on Zoom on the first Tuesday of every month. We’ll life. Thanks to your support, Chien and his family our family during this pray through the most recent news and prayer requests. For more received roofing materials and financial assistance time. Please pray that information please email [email protected]. to help with construction. my family will be able • You can find out specific ways to pray for the persecuted church on our to plant a church in our podcast, World Watch Weekly. You can find it on your podcast app or at area,” says Chien. www.opendoorsca.org/podcast. • The most up-to-date information is found on our social media channels. 14 Open Doors Magazine - May | June 2021 Find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @opendoorscanada. The secret police demanded Taher* name his Christian friends. He bravely chose to leave the page blank.

The secret police arrested Taher, Every $90 can provide two secret because he used to be a Muslim, believers who have fled to a but now he believes in Jesus. Under neighbouring country with practical interrogation, he was pressured to and spiritual support at a Christian reveal his friends’ names. community centre.

Taher bravely refused and instead To make your gift please call chose to use a smuggled pen to (905) 636-0944 or visit write words of encouragement www.opendoorsca.org on his prison cell wall. He stayed strong in his faith until, miraculously, *Name changed for security reasons he was released. He has now escaped with his family.

Secret believers in the Middle East face great risks. They need your prayers and support today.

Open Doors Canada 8-19 Brownridge Rd., Halton Hills, ON L7G 0C6 (905) 636-0944 | www.opendoorsca.org | [email protected]

PERSECUTED CHILDREN CHRISTMAS APPEAL 2020 /OpenDoorsCanada