The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) General Assembly in Seoul turned its attention to one of the most sobering realities facing the global Church on Tuesday, as Joshua Williams, a representative of Open Doors International, issued an urgent appeal for prayer, repentance, and solidarity with persecuted Christians around the world.
Williams, who serves as Director of Africa Services for Open Doors, shared heart-wrenching testimonies of believers enduring violence and displacement in regions where faith in Christ comes at a devastating cost.
Referring to an earlier panel on the specific impact of persecution on women, he recounted the experiences of women and girls who have been subjected to repeated violence in conflict regions. “It is horror and hell,” he said. “When a village or a family attacks these girls and women and keeps them, rapes them again and again and again, what these women and ladies go through cannot even be imagined.”
Williams said such survivors often return home facing rejection. “Then talk about stigma,” he said. “Then these girls come back and they have Boko Haram babies, and then those children grow up as Boko Haram babies.”
“But I also want to say these women and ladies, they deserve our highest respect. They are warriors of the faith.”
He said that persecution and conflict are widespread. “This is not happening somewhere in the corner,” he said. “It’s happening from Somalia right across to the western coast of Africa and in Asia and in many, many countries.”
Williams called attention to global statistics. “Thirty-five of the conflicts are in Africa,” he said, referring to data from 2024. “That is out of the 121 conflicts recorded in 2024 alone. Globally, more than 55 countries are affected. In Africa alone, there are more than 45 million displaced people.”
He added that “globally, 2024, almost 21 million displaced people” were recorded, emphasizing that while the world focuses on conflicts such as Gaza and Ukraine, “there are more than 121 global crises.”
Out of the African conflicts, he said, “45 million displaced people—16 million are Christians. Sixteen million of our brothers and sisters live in the most horrific realities, and the biggest percentage are women and girls and young ones.”
Williams referred to the story of Cain and Abel to illustrate accountability before God. “When Abel was murdered by his brother, God came to ask accountability for the life of Abel,” he said. “‘Where is your brother Abel? His blood is crying to me.’”
He connected this with present-day suffering, saying, “The blood of hundreds of thousands are crying to God globally. And one wonders, where is the Church? Where are the people of God?”
He said the proper response begins with repentance. “When Nehemiah heard the state of the nation of Israel, of his time of Jerusalem city, he broke down before God,” Williams said. “He went into the state of repentance and he confessed. He cried to God. He confessed the sin of his family, confessed the sin of his people, his community, and his nation. And so did the man of God Ezra.”
Quoting Ezra 9, he said, “When he heard the news of the unfaithful of God’s people, [he] tore his clothes, he bathed himself before God, he was broken. And when he started praying, he prayed this prayer in Israel. He said, ‘I’m too ashamed to lift my head to you. Our sins are higher than our heads.’”
“I am praying for a revival of repentance in the church and in our nations,” Williams said. “Unless otherwise, this one will not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
He added that churches in Africa, together with partners such as Open Doors, had begun an initiative called Africa, Arise, which calls believers to pray for Christians suffering persecution. “There is a call to the people of God globally and Africa and everywhere to rise up to pray for our brothers and sisters, not only in Africa but in 55-plus nations of the globe,” he said. “Not to speak about it, bury it under the cushion, not talk about it as if it’ll go away by itself.”
Despite the stark reality, Williams concluded on a hopeful note by quoting the words of Jesus in Matthew 16:18. “Despite all these challenges,” he said, “I will build my Church. Praise the Lord!”
