Church on the Run (Open Doors)

Christians report being forcibly displaced from their homes in 58 of the top 76 World Watch List countries because of their religious identity, either as a sole or contributory factor. The displacement of Christians from their homes and communities seems to be a deliberate strategy of religious persecution, designed to erase the presence of Christianity from regions where persecution is most intense. This comes as a key finding from a new Open Doors/World Watch Research report published in June 2022.

Coinciding with the latest figures from the United Nations showing there are now 100 million displaced persons in the world, the Open Doors “Church on the Run” report looks at the extent and nature of religious persecution and its impact on internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees.

Gender Persecution Specialist Helene Fisher explains: “In order to gain a complete picture of religious persecution, we need to look at both the church at home as well as the displaced church. … Part of this deliberate strategy is to fracture religious communities. Displacement is not just a by-product of persecution, but actually, in many cases, it is an intentional part of a broader strategy to drive out Christianity from the community or country.”

The full report is available at: https://opendoorsanalytical.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IDP-Refugee-specific-religious-persecution-report-Church-on-the-run-June-2022.pdf .