Pray For…The Persecuted Church in Saudi Arabia

Stats
•Population – 28,686,633
•Percentage of Evangelicals – 0.9%
•Total Number of People Groups – 29
•Number of Unreached People Groups – 28
•Human Development Rank – 55
•Persecution Index – 2

Saudi Arabia has enormous oil wealth, much of which has financed Islamic expansion around the world. Billions of dollars are spent every year to propagate Islam worldwide. Saudi Arabia is an Islamic state, committed to its role as custodian of Islam and its holiest sites. Most Saudis are Wahhabi Sunnis. Much of the Islamic hate exported throughout the world is disbursed by Wahhabi extremists. Converts from Islam to Christianity are rare in this nation. Barriers to spreading the gospel are intense. Leaving Islam is punishable by death. Any person who does mission work or converts a Muslim faces jail, expulsion, lashing, torture, or execution. Public non-Muslim worship, even for foreign Christians, is prohibited. Christians are regularly imprisoned or deported, and there is a ban on Christian churches. Saudi Arabia is a main source of funding for madrassas, religious boarding schools where extremism can breed. After North Korea, Saudi Arabia is the most repressive nation in the world for Christians. A young woman, Fatima Al-Mutairi, was killed by her brother in Saudi Arabia in 2008; after he found out she was a believer. She was led to Christ and discipled over the internet. Sources: www.joshuaproject.net, www.imb.org/GlobalResearch/links.asp, www.opendoorsusa.org, www.persecution.com

•Pray that the gospel will spread through and in spite of the barriers that are present
•Pray for our Saudi brothers and sisters that they will hold fast to the faith and be bold
•Pray for those being persecuted that the Lord will show Himself strong in their lives
•Pray that the Lord will continue to grow and strengthen His Church there