Open Homes, Open Doors

In Central Asia, every time you open your home to someone seeking Jesus, you risk inviting in persecution. Your support keeps the door open to the Gospel – and you are family to isolated believers.

Ruslan* is sitting round a table, in an ordinary family kitchen, with a group of new believers who have converted from Islam. They appear to be quietly drinking tea. But really, they are worshipping. These secret believers are praising God with all their hearts, filled with love for Jesus and each other.

This is Central Asia**, where Christians face rejection, punishment, violence and even death – and where church leaders like Ruslan risk persecution every time they open their homes.
 

Waves of persecution

Across this region, Muslims are coming to faith in Christ. But the decision to follow Jesus comes with a high cost.

Persecution is a growing wave. It starts small then builds up.

Ruslan’s home is routinely vandalised and his daughter was attacked. In one village, Muslim clerics made life impossible for new believers. Converts were told: your children can no longer attend school, your cattle cannot eat the grass of Muslim livestock, and you cannot have water to irrigate your fields. For these families, their very survival is a struggle.

Inviting in

But still, Ruslan, a church leader for 16 years, won’t stop sharing his faith. He opens his home to anyone wanting to explore Christianity, and visits isolated believers across the country. Ruslan knows many homes where Jesus is secretly worshipped behind closed doors. It’s dangerous work – but without this vital support, new believers may become disheartened and lose their faith.

In the same way, Ruslan depends on support from people like you. “Thanks to your prayers and support, we are able to survive in this hostile environment,” he said.
 

“An answer from the Lord.”

For more than a decade, your generous support has strengthened Ruslan’s faith and ministry. “You took the first step to find me,” said Ruslan, “and you helped me personally when I could not afford medical treatment.”

When isolated believers were banished from their community, Open Doors provided life-saving aid, including water, food and tools or training in a new trade. For Ruslan, you are family sent by God.

“What you do is essential,” he said. “You are not ordinary people, but an answer from the Lord.”

*Name changed | Representative image used to protect identity © Getty
**We can’t tell you the name of the country we are working in for reasons of security