Updates on the persecuted Church – 22 February 2023

Fifteen Christian families in Laos expelled from home village; Chin believers in Myanmar required to submit names to authorities before attending church; abductions of Christians in Haiti; six Egyptian Christians released after being abducted in Libya.

• Fifteen Christian families have been expelled from their home village in rural north-western Laos. The families were driven out after their conversion to Christianity and have been left with no place to stay. The authorities have sought to negotiate with the village in order to allow the families to return to their homes, but so far with no success. This incident follows previous evictions of Christians in Laos. Pray for a resolution that will allow our brothers and sisters to return to their homes, and for local and regional authorities to enforce a national law protecting the rights of Christians.

• The military authorities in Chin State, Myanmar, announced on 13 February that Christians in seven of the state’s nine townships must register their names seven days before attending church. It is not known whether believers would face punishment for attending church without giving their names in advance. Ask the Lord to sustain His children in Christian-majority Chin State. Pray that this new requirement will not become a tool of further persecution.

• Three worshippers were abducted by an armed gang after attending church in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Sunday 12 February. The incident came just days after Antoine Macaire Christian Noah, a church minister originally from Cameroon, was abducted. Pray for our brothers and sisters, asking that they will be kept safe from further harm and swiftly released.

• Six Egyptian Christians were released on 17 February after being abducted and illegally detained in neighbouring Libya earlier in the month. The six men, all construction workers from the same family in Sohag Governorate, were held at an unofficial detention centre, not controlled by the Libyan authorities. Give thanks that the six have been able to return home in safety.