How to Pray for the Persecuted Church: The 10 Hardest Places to Follow Jesus (World Watch List 2025)

Somewhere today a believer will choose Jesus knowing it may cost a job, a family, freedom or life. Scripture does not let the rest of the Church look away. Here is where the pressure is heaviest, and how to carry those brothers and sisters in prayer.

The scale of it

Open Doors' World Watch List 2025 — the most widely used annual measure of persecution — found:

• 380 million Christians facing high levels of persecution and discrimination (about 1 in 7 worldwide; 1 in 5 in Africa; 2 in 5 in Asia).
• 4,476 Christians killed for faith-related reasons — the majority in Nigeria.
• 7,679 churches and Christian buildings attacked.
• ~210,000 Christians forcibly displaced from their homes.

Behind every figure is a name God knows. The figures are not there to overwhelm; they are there so our prayers can be specific.

Remember those who are in bonds, as bound with them; and those who are ill-treated, since you are also in the body.

Hebrews 13:3 (WEB)

The ten hardest places to follow Jesus

Ranked by Open Doors, measuring both pressure in daily life — family, community, work, church and state — and outright violence. Each nation links to a full profile on this site, with its church's story and more ways to pray. The italic line under each is one prayer to start with.

1. 1. North Korea — About 1.5% Christian. Pray for North Korean believers whose faith has been secret for three generations.
2. 2. Somalia — About 0.05% Christian. Pray for the very small number of Somali believers, at genuine risk of death.
3. 3. Yemen — About 0.1% Christian. Pray for Yemenis facing hunger, disease and displacement.
4. 4. Libya — About 1.5% Christian. Pray for the small number of Libyan believers living in secret.
5. 5. Sudan — About 5% Christian. Pray for an end to the war in Sudan.
6. 6. Eritrea — Not yet profiled on this site. Pray for believers there by name — for courage, for one another, and for the Church to endure.
7. 7. Nigeria — About 46% Christian. Pray for Christians in northern and middle-belt Nigeria facing violence.
8. 8. Pakistan — About 1.8% Christian. Pray for Pakistani Christians facing blasphemy accusations.
9. 9. Iran — About 0.5% Christian. Praise God for what He is doing in Iran against every human expectation.
10. 10. Afghanistan — About 0.02% Christian. Pray for Afghan believers meeting in secret — for courage, for protection, and for at least one other believer they can trust.

How to pray for persecuted believers

When the first church was threatened, they did not pray to be left alone. They prayed for boldness:

Now, Lord, look at their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness.

Acts 4:29 (WEB)

• Courage before safety. Ask for boldness and endurance, as the early church did — and for protection too.
• Their families. Pray for spouses and children of those imprisoned or killed, and for believers rejected by their own households.
• Their persecutors. Jesus told us to. Many of today's church leaders in hard places once opposed the faith.
• Scripture and fellowship. For Bibles that reach them, and for at least one other believer they can trust.
• Justice and peace. For governments and armed groups to stop the violence, and for displaced families to go home.

But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you.

Matthew 5:44 (WEB)

Growth and cost, side by side

Growth and cost sit side by side. Nigeria has one of the largest churches on earth and the highest number of Christians killed for their faith. Iran has one of the fastest-growing churches anywhere and no legal way to gather. The Christians paying the most are very often the ones the numbers above are counting.

That is the paradox the Church has lived since Acts 8, when persecution scattered the believers and the Gospel went with them. Pressure has never been the end of the story.

Make it a habit

Take one country a week for ten weeks. Read its profile on Monday, pray the prayer points through the week, and tell one person which nation you are carrying. When the ten weeks end, start again — the believers there will still need it.

Source: Open Doors, World Watch List 2025 (reporting period October 2023 to September 2024). Christian shares are rounded estimates from each nation's profile on this site.

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