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Eritrea is one of the world’s most difficult places to be a follower of Jesus. The government recognises only four religious groupings. These exclude most Evangelical and Pentecostal groups, who are treated as illegal. Christians who worship outside state-sanctioned churches face intense surveillance, violent police raids and indefinite imprisonment – often in brutally shocking conditions. Converts from Islam or the Eritrean Orthodox Church also risk rejection by their families and social exclusion, in addition to state persecution.
The militarised nature of society compounds repression. People who are forcibly drafted into the military face an indefinite period of service. There is no leniency for anyone unwilling to serve, and Christians in the military caught worshipping are punished severely. Christians face a devastating dilemma: endure persecution and forced service or flee the country through routes made hazardous by trafficking, danger and the risk of torture.
Non-traditional Christian groups, such as Evangelical, Pentecostal and Baptist churches, face the harshest repression. Unrecognised by the state, these groups and churches endure raids, imprisonment and systemic marginalisation. Worship is banned, members are labelled foreign agents, and their gatherings are criminalised. At times, the Eritrean Orthodox Church supports state efforts to suppress these groups. Young people are also highly vulnerable, as many are forcibly and indefinitely conscripted into the Eritrean military. Additionally, converts from Islam or Eritrean Orthodoxy can face pressure from their families and community.
"We live in fear of who will be arrested next. Will it be another brother in Christ? Will it be me? But we must continue to walk with God. We build upon what others have done before us."
"Paulos" an Eritrean Christian.
Eritrea remains one of the world’s most repressive and militarised authoritarian regimes, ruled without interruption by President Isaias Afwerki since independence from Ethiopia in 1993. Raids continue to be carried out on house churches, non-registered Christian communities are consistently shut down, and unjust forced military service continues to be brutally imposed on believers.
Open Doors works through strategic partnerships and local church networks in Eritrea to provide persecution-response training and discipleship.
Father God, it’s difficult to know how to even begin to pray for Christians in Eritrea. It’s been such a difficult place to follow You for so long… and yet, we trust that Your plans will not fail, as You’ve promised in Your Word. Bring a sense of hope and understanding to Christians in Eritrea, that they may be filled anew with Your life-giving Spirit. Provide joy where there is sorrow, hope where there is despair, and light where there is darkness. We pray this in Jesus’s name. Amen.
