Prisoners of Hope

While the world's attention has turned elsewhere, Sudan has become the fourth most dangerous country on earth to follow Jesus. A civil war now in its fourth year has killed an estimated 150,000 people and displaced roughly 14 million, and Christians are being crushed between two armies that answer to no one. In the Nuba Mountains, pastors are being executed and churches bombed. Across the border in South Sudan, Sudanese refugees who fled the fighting are discovering that a change of country is not a change of danger, especially the converts from Islam, who are hunted by their own families even inside the camps. In this episode, Josh Youssef talks with two of our Field Ministers serving Sudanese believers, Alaa and Mousa, about what is really happening, why almost no one is talking about it, and how the Gospel is spreading in the very places the world has written off.

Join our Prayer Network at htp.org/prayer

Sudan is home to the world's largest displaced population, and for Christians there, survival itself is no longer certain. In this episode, Josh sits down with our ministry partner Cliff, to talk honestly about what is actually happening on the ground: the decades of genocide against Sudan's Black African tribes that set the stage for today's war, the fight for oil, gold, and territory now raging between the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces, and a government determined to erase the Church from the country entirely. Cliff shares what more than twenty years among Sudan's persecuted believers has shown him: that even as Christians are hunted, imprisoned, and driven from their homes, the Gospel keeps spreading, and hope has not run out.

Pray for the church in Sudan: htp.org/prayer

Nigeria has become the deadliest country in the world to be a Christian. Last year, roughly 72% of all Christians killed for their faith globally were killed there – in village raids, in burned churches, and in homes that became coffins. In this episode, Josh Youssef sits down with Dr. Sainom, the Help The Persecuted team leader in Nigeria and a peace builder who has spent decades in the Middle Belt, to talk honestly about what is actually happening on the ground: who is doing the killing, why the world keeps looking away, why the government keeps denying it, and how believers who have lost everything are refusing to leave, refusing to deny Christ, and choosing to stay.

SHOW NOTES: Pray for Nigeria by joining our Prayer Network email list: htp.org/prayer

Iran hasn't left the headlines in over a year, and the pressure on its church has only intensified. In this episode, Dr. Sasan Tavassoli and Help the Persecuted field coordinator Qasem join host Joshua Youssef to give an on-the-ground account of a country caught between war, economic collapse, and a regime tightening its grip.

Almost five years after the Taliban takeover, Afghanistan remains one of the most dangerous places on Earth to follow Jesus. In this episode, Joshua Youssef talks with two Field Ministers who live that pressure every day. Marjan shares the story of a young believer marked for death by his own father and brothers and of a grieving father who found new hope through our Enduring Livelihood Ministry. Timothy recounts sharing the Bible with Afghan refugees abroad, several of whom came to faith after years hiding a Bible they were too afraid to open under the Taliban.

Show notes:

Join our Prayer Network: htp.org/prayer

Help Persecuted Christians: htp.org/donate

Previous episodes with Timothy and Marjan:

https://htp.org/stories/steadfast-in-afghanistan

https://htp.org/stories/you-can-shoot-me-i-will-be-with-jesus-timothys-story

What does it cost to follow Jesus in a country where converts are turned away from churches and worship must be kept to a whisper? Joshua Youssef sits down with Bassam, one of our Field Ministers in Morocco, who shares the night he came to faith in Jesus and how he now walks alongside believers who risk family, job, and freedom to remain steadfast in Christ.

Show notes:

• Discover the Steadfast Campaign: htp.org/steadfast

• Give today: htp.org/donate

Yemen is the only country we serve where it is too dangerous to bring a believer who lives there onto the podcast, even with their voice disguised. This week, Joshua Youssef sits down with Saif, a coordinator who serves the Yemeni church from outside its borders, for a rare look at the Christians the world rarely sees: imprisoned, watched, and pressed on every side, yet remaining steadfast in Christ.

Show notes:

• Discover the Steadfast Campaign: htp.org/steadfast

• Give today: htp.org/donate

Egypt is home to one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, yet for those who follow Christ out of a Muslim background, that faith can cost them their family, their livelihood, and even their lives. This week, Joshua Youssef sits down with Mark and Rami, two of our Field Ministers in Egypt, to talk about how they walk alongside believers who, in spite of overwhelming pressure, are remaining steadfast in Christ.

Show notes:

• Discover the Steadfast Campaign: htp.org/steadfast

• Give today: htp.org/donate

What does it cost to follow Jesus in Iraq and Syria? This week, Joshua Youssef sits down with team leads Daniel and Nabeel, who share the testimonies that brought them to faith and the lives being changed around them through your generosity: a convert rebuilding through a small grocery shop, a family who found refuge in a new safe house, and believers who wait all year for the one gathering where they can worship Christ openly.

Show notes:

• Discover the Steadfast Campaign: htp.org/steadfast

• Give today: htp.org/donate

In Libya, converts face death if discovered. This week, Joshua Youssef sits down with Aseel, one of our Field Ministers in Libya, for a conversation about ministry in one of the most closed countries on earth. Aseel shares the story of a South Sudanese couple kidnapped at knifepoint, a Libyan family hunted by their own nephew, and why our Emergency Relief Kits have become proof to scattered believers that they have not been forgotten.

Show notes:

• Discover the Steadfast Campaign: htp.org/steadfast

• Give today: htp.org/donate