UPDATE: All 17 Christians released after being arrested during peaceful protest

UPDATE: All 17 Christians have been released after they were arrested during a peaceful sit-in after their church was closed by the local authorities. Please pray for our brothers and sisters during this difficult time.

18 October 2019

Praise God that all 17 Algerian Christians who were arrested yesterday (Thursday 17 October) are free again. Some of them were ill-treated and insulted; they were not told if they will face charges. Please continue to pray for our brothers and sisters in Algeria.

17 October 2019

Seventeen Christians in Tizi Ouzou, Algeria, have been arrested during a peaceful sit-in after their church was closed by the local authorities. They are currently being held at the police station.  

Full Gospel Church, the biggest church in Tizi Ouzou, was closed by force on Tuesday 15 October; Pastor Salah, the church leader, and some of the congregation were beaten by officials. It’s one of three churches that have been closed in just two days. 

Pastor Salah held the last service on Tuesday afternoon in his church building, as on Friday they received the announcement that the church would be closed on Wednesday 16 October. During the service, he informed his church members about the situation. But then, unexpectedly, uniformed police entered at the end of the church meeting and ordered the people out.

Video recordings sent by members of the church show how the police mainly used their hands to push the congregation out of the building. At one point, some of the police officers became violent and started beating church members, including Pastor Salah. 

An Open Doors partner in Algeria says, “As [the police] entered unexpectedly, it first led to panic among the church members.”

When all people were out of the church hall, the doors were sealed off by the police. A notice of closure now hangs on the doors of the church.

On Wednesday 16 October, the authorities closed another church in Tizi Ouzou. Some church members videoed the moment the doors were sealed. In the recordings, a large number of church members are standing outside; two women can be seen praying on their knees on the street. 

An Open Doors partner reported: “One police officer told one of the elders of the church: ‘You can film as much as you want and send these videos to the United States; nobody can change our determination to close your churches’.”

Up to now, 14 churches have been closed by the authorities, with another church closure imminent. 

‘Angry and sad’

The closure of Pastor Salah’s church – one of the biggest churches in Algeria with around 700 members – is seemingly another step by the government to close all Protestant churches in the biggest country in Africa. Most of the churches are part of the EPA (Eglise protestante d'Algérie), the legally recognised umbrella organisation of Protestant churches in Algeria.

“I think these closures are not legal, they are not according to our law,” says Pastor Salah. “It is a consequence of the abuse of power by the local authorities.

“I was invited to the police station in Tizi Ouzou last week. There they told me that they were going to close the church. I was angry and sad at the same time. But we expected it, as it is a strategy of the government to close the churches. I believe that all Protestant churches in Algeria are targeted. I think one of the main reasons is that we have so many believers coming from a Muslim background. The authorities don’t feel comfortable with that.”

‘Pray like the prayer in Acts 4’

Pastor Salah believes that the church members will continue to meet together in the houses of the believers as house churches. “Some congregations in our country gather outside in nature to worship the Lord together. Other churches now gather as house churches. I think we will do that, come together in the houses.”

He sees the trend of church closures as ‘very worrying’ for the future of the church in Algeria. “I am afraid that the authorities will also forbid the house churches. We have already seen that happening in Algeria. Pastors whose churches were closed started having meetings in the houses, and the government forbid that.

“I ask the worldwide church to pray that the Lord will be with us during this hardship. I hope you will pray like the prayer in Acts 4.”

Acts 4:24-30
This is the prayer Salah asks the worldwide church to pray.

“Sovereign Lord”, they said, “You made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: 

‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed one.’

Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

Please pray: 

• For the believers currently being held in the police station after staging a sit-in; pray for God’s peace and for His justice to be enacted on their behalf
• For Pastor Salah and the congregation who were harmed during the church closure; ask for God’s healing and continued protection
• For all congregations in Algeria who are losing their church buildings; pray that God will strengthen them and provide new places for them to meet together and worship.