Journey through Ramadan with Secret Believers
Ramadan is the most sacred month of the year for Muslims. It’s a period of fasting and praying, reflection, and gathering together as a community. But for Christians in Muslim countries, Ramadan can be an isolating, even dangerous time. It’s especially hard for secret Christians who come from Muslim backgrounds. They must either hide their faith and pretend to follow Ramadan or reveal their faith and face ostracism, anger and even violence from their families and communities. So please will you pray with and support our persecuted brothers and sisters during this time?
Ramadan is the most sacred month of the year for Muslims. It’s a period of fasting and praying, reflection, and gathering together as a community.
But for Christians in Muslim countries, Ramadan can be an isolating, even dangerous time. It’s especially hard for secret Christians who come from Muslim backgrounds. They must either hide their faith and pretend to follow Ramadan or reveal their faith and face ostracism, anger and even violence from their families and communities.
With the spread of coronavirus, much of the usual ways of celebrating Ramadan are not possible. But imagine what it is like for a secret Christian, locked in with their family. There really might be no escape.
So please will you pray with and support our persecuted brothers and sisters during this time?
Resources for Church at Home
This year, Ramadan runs from sunset on Thursday 23 April – Saturday 23 May .
To help you pray during this time, for each week of Ramadan we will be releasing a story about the experience of persecuted Christians during the fast.
These stories will be accompanied by prayer points, and questions for reflection, so they can be used as the basis of a Bible study or discussion group. We have also prepared a simple Ramadan factsheet, giving some background on the fast.
- Ramadan: Ten Key Facts
- Week 1: Ramadan in Central Asia – Halida's* Story
- Week 2: Ramadan in Sub-Saharan Africa: Achiam's* Story
- Week 3: Ramadan in the Gulf – interview with partner Hannah*
- Week 4: Ramadan in Indonesia – Samir* and Lina*
Please pray and support
Ramadan is a time when Open Doors partners work harder than ever to connect with and support secret believers. But because Ramadan is also a time of reflection and prayer, it is also a time when many Muslims find themselves asking questions about Jesus.
So, please pray with our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world at this time. Please help Open Doors partners in building the Kingdom through:
- helping believers reach Muslims with the gospel
- equipping Christians to offer proper discipleship to new believers
- offering emotional and practical support as they endure persecution
- supporting underground believer communities and help them find identity in Christ.
Jesus says “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7–8)
As thousands of Muslims around the world stop to pray and fast and seek God, please pray that they will find Jesus – the real truth that they are seeking.
* Names changed for security purposes
