When Christmas Brings Discomfort and Joy to the Nations

There’s a region of South Asia where church services draw hundreds of unbelievers to eat cake, light candles, and learn about Christmas. In the very same region, there are places where churches have been burned down during Christmas.

“Christians enter into this time of year with joy mingled with fears,” a Radical global strategist says. 

That’s true in many parts of the world.

The season of celebrating Jesus as the Prince of Peace and the ‘Banner for the Peoples’ is also a season of challenges for believers in places where this great news is met with great suspicion, opposition, or even violent persecution.

But it’s also a season of opportunity. It’s an opportunity for believers in hard places to remember the reality that God is with us, and that Christ is gathering his church from every nation, tribe, and tongue. 

It’s an opportunity for those same Christians to reach out to neighbors, sometimes quietly, often carefully, and tell them that this good news is for them too. It’s good news of great joy for all the people.

And it’s an opportunity for the global church to unite in praying that Christ will protect the vulnerable, comfort the suffering, gladden his people, and use this season to draw more and more to himself—that the people walking in darkness may see a great light. 

Here are a few specific places and peoples to pray for this Christmas:

PRAY FOR PLACES WHERE CHRISTMAS IS DANGEROUS 

It’s no surprise that the countries most hostile to the gospel are also hostile to celebrations of Christ’s birth.

In North Korea, leader Kim Jung Un officially banned Christmas in 2016. Instead, he encouraged citizens to celebrate his grandmother, who was born on Christmas Eve in 1919. Ironically, she lived during a time when North Korea’s capital city was known as the “Jerusalem of the East,” and Protestant missionaries founded churches and schools.

Today, North Korea tops the list for the worst persecution of Christians in the world. Simply believing in Jesus can be punishable by death. The gospel remains largely unknown to vast numbers. North Korean refugee John Choi has said most North Korean citizens do not know what Christmas is: “They do not know who Jesus Christ is.” 

Pray for the secret church in North Korea, and for believers facing severe danger for their faith in Christ. Pray for their protection and comfort, especially during Christmas. And pray for efforts to help them, including Radical’s work to encourage believers and provide humanitarian relief to highly impoverished areas. 

Pray for believers in other nations facing severe persecution, including places like Afghanistan. It’s perhaps more dangerous than ever to be a believer in Afghanistan, but people are still coming to Christ. One of our partners tells us that believers in the country try to quietly visit each other’s homes at Christmas, sharing prayers and food. Pray for God’s blessings on these simple gatherings, and for ongoing efforts to help believers in the country. 

In other nations, public celebrations aren’t forbidden, but Christmas gatherings in churches can make Christians a target for terrorists. Pray for believers in places like Nigeria, where more believers are killed and kidnapped than anywhere else in the world. 

Pray for God’s protection on churches gathering to celebrate Christmas together in this East African nation, and other spots around Africa, Asia, and the Middle East where believers face danger at Christmas.  

PRAY FOR CHRISTMAS OUTREACH IN HARD TO REACH PLACES

Despite the challenges, and even threats, many believers in hard to reach places still plan to use the Christmas season for outreach to unbelievers. 

One of our global partners in Indonesia says non-Christians in their community often attend a December church event that features drama, songs, a meal, and a message about Christ’s incarnation. Pray many will come and hear the good news about Jesus.

In another part of Indonesia, a global partner tells us they will be holding special Christmas services every weekend in December. Pray that many of the invited guests will come and respond to the gospel. 

Another church in a different region of the country will be focusing on ministry in their city and praying for the kingdom of God around the world. Pray for this congregation, and praise God for their desire to remember the nations themselves.

In Uzbekistan, where less than 1 percent of the population are believers, one of our partners tells us that Christians love to celebrate Christmas together. They also use the season to focus on evangelism: “We go to busy places, invite close friends and relatives to hear the good news, or invite those who have already heard the message to join our Christmas celebration.” House churches also hold services, “and a festive table is prepared for everyone to share a meal together.”

Pray for these brothers and sisters in Uzbekistan, and for others who are working in more rural areas of the nation to make Jesus known.

And back in South Asia, where believers enter the season with “joy mixed with fear,” our global strategist says they’ll focus on outreach too. When there was less persecution in the area, church members went caroling for hours each night in the three days leading to Christmas. Now they plan to invite neighbors, family, and friends to their homes and gatherings to hear about Jesus. Pray this will bear fruit! 

“Though my church can no longer preach the gospel in the open air,” he says, “we still look forward to celebrating Christmas with joy.”