Issues@Hand

AFA initiatives, Christian activism, news briefs

April 2020 – Open Doors USA has ministered to persecuted Christians globally for more than 60 years. Each January, it prepares a World Watch List, an annual report of the 50 countries where it is most dangerous to follow Jesus. A compilation of extensive data gathered by Open Doors, the 2020 list also alerts believers to trends in global persecution.

Open Doors noted a number of disturbing trends: Christians in populated countries such as China and India who are living in a surveillance state; spikes in violent Islamic extremism in sub-Saharan Africa as well as Southeast and South Asia; and the virtual disappearance of Christianity in Iraq and Syria.

North Korea tops the report, with 66.5% of the nation’s 300,000 Christians experiencing violent persecution of some type. Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, and Pakistan round out the top five on the 2020 World Watch List.

opendoorsusa.org, 1/15/20