Open Doors’ ministry has its origins in one man and one journey. In 1955, a young Dutchman went to Warsaw and discovered the existence of a persecuted church. He became known as Brother Andrew, and from 1955 to 1967 he travelled throughout Eastern Europe, delivering Scriptures, encouraging persecuted believers, and recruiting others to help him.
The publication of God’s Smuggler in 1967, catapulted Andrew to worldwide renown. An entire generation caught the vision of supporting the persecuted church.
Beyond the Soviet Union
This vision soon pushed the ministry beyond the Soviet Union. Open Doors grew in the 1970s due to the Andrew’s international travel. He met and recruited ‘mini-Andrews’ to work among the persecuted in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
In particular, the Love China conference in 1975 brought the issue of Christian persecution in China to a much larger audience. And it was in China where one of Open Doors’ most famous projects took place – Project Pearl, where a staggering one million Bibles were delivered in a single night in June 1981.
Into the Muslim World
In 1982, Open Doors launched a seven-year prayer campaign for the Communist Bloc. Seven years later, in 1989, the Berlin Wall fell and the world changed. Nevertheless, there were still Christians suffering in other Communist lands, such as China, Vietnam, North Korea, and several African states.
Meanwhile, Open Doors had long been aware of growing persecution in the Muslim world. Brother Andrew visited Saudi Arabia as early as 1973 and warned of the need to prioritize churches meeting under Islamic influence throughout the 1980s. Increasingly, Open Doors turned towards supporting the church in the Muslim world.
More than Bibles
Supporting the church means more than delivering Bibles. In 1978, the first training manual for leaders on how to resist persecution was produced for Christians in Asia. In the 1990s, a training institute was established for pastors in sub-Saharan Africa. Open Doors also developed a global training program for persecuted church pastors. This became Standing Strong Through The Storm (SSTS), first published in 2001, and still used around the world today.
At the same time, Open Doors Socio-Economic Development (SED) programs helped persecuted Christians in other ways. Literacy projects were launched to help Christians read and study the Bible. In 1998, Open Doors launched its first major relief project – ‘Operation Daily Bread’ – to fly in food and supplies to remote areas of war-torn southern Sudan. Today, Open Doors provides relief aid, livelihood support, and community development projects for hundreds of thousands of Christians around the world.
Amplifying the voices of the unheard
One of the big challenges in the post-cold war world was the rise of religious nationalism. Hindu extremists came from nowhere to form an elected government in India in 1996. Sri Lankan Buddhists began persecuting rural Christians, and guerrilla groups expanded their violence in places like Colombia. Religious nationalism continues to be a major factor in persecution.
In the late 1990s, Open Doors also began developing more targeted advocacy work. Since then, speaking to the powerful on behalf of the powerless has become a core part of our work; from speaking to national leaders to equipping the local church to know its legal rights.
Arise Africa
In recent years, Africa has become home to the largest number of Christians in the world and the most violent persecution on the planet. 95% of believers killed for their faith in 2024 were killed in Sub-Saharan Africa. The region was home to75% of the world’s destroyed, damaged, looted or closed churches.
Nigerians account for more than half of all Open Doors beneficiaries, reflecting the size of the persecuted church in this nation. Christians who are uprooted and displaced in their own country have been supported with emergency aid and trauma care. Many say without this support, they would be begging–or women would have to sell their bodies–to survive. In Sudan, amid insecurity and ongoing civil war, Open Doors has found new ways to reach the persecuted church, and work there has increased significantly, with persecuted believers also helped in Burkina Faso, Chad and Tanzania.
Just over a month ago, there was a devastating attack in the community of Yelewata, a village in Benue State, Nigeria. More than 200 people were killed in the violence, and thousands were displaced. The attackers were Fulani militants, a group that has killed many Christians over the last decade.
Virtue*, a local Open Doors’ partner, visited these displaced believers shortly after the attack. She prayed with them and learned how the ministry could serve them best. She learned the biggest need was hunger, and so Open Doors’ local partners recently delivered life-saving relief aid to 300 families who fled from Yelewata.
The IDP camp where the believers live centers around an abandoned marketplace. Sleeping quarters are cramped inside the brick building, and many people have very few worldly possessions. Families are separated because the camp is organized so that women must stay with small children, and men and teenagers are on their own. Children have lost access to education. The problems are long-term and not easy to fix.
Additionally, Virtue explains that these Christians are so traumatized that many of them seem to be in shock. This kind of trauma is normal after such horrific violence. Even those who don’t have physical scars, or didn’t lose loved ones, bear immense pain.
Farmers from Yelewata are losing out on precious planting and harvest time, with their families dependent on these crops for their basic needs. In the coming months, the little food these believers have will run out. Trauma will take root and, perhaps most alarmingly, they may begin to wonder if God really cares about them.
These precious believers need food, living necessities like clothing and blankets, along with trauma care and basic protection. They also need Bibles—and the presence of believers like Virtue, who will pray and cry with them and offer them the encouragement of God.
But even amidst the devastation, there are signs that God is at work. “God is supreme; He has a reason for everything,” one believer shares. “I cannot relent in my worshiping Him. I will still praise Him and be glad for my life and my other surviving family members. God is great all the time; I believe in Him and I trust in Him.”
This kind of faith is a miracle, attributable only to the work of the Holy Spirit. As Open Doors continues to walk alongside these thousands of displaced believers, they covet our prayers. “Pray that God will strengthen their faith even through this, that they will really see Him even through their pains,” Virtue says.
The story continues…
Today, in addition to seeking out and strengthening those who suffer violent persecution and discrimination for their Christian faith, Open Doors increasingly speaks out for freedom of religion or belief – a cornerstone of human rights. As growing numbers of Christians are targeted for their faith, today – more than ever – they need to be heard, understood, and supported on their journey.
With the aid of the international community, Open Doors now serves persecuted Christians in more than 70 countries, working with churches and local partners to provide Bibles, Christian materials, training, livelihood skills, and advocacy.
This past year alone, Open Doors has achieved things that are a true “loaves and fishes” story when one thinks back to Andrew’s little suitcase full of Bibles. The statistics tell a remarkable story of expansion: in 2024, Open Doors reached 9.5 million persecuted Christians: 5.7 million received biblical training and discipleship, 2.5 million received Bibles and Christian literature, more than 535,000 received socio-economic support and another 542,000 received advocacy support.
The verse that launched Brother Andrew’s mission was: “Strengthen what remains and is about to die” (Revelation 3:2). In it, persecuted Christians found hope. Open Doors’ comprehensive response brings them practical support that helps them not just survive, but thrive as witnesses in their communities.
As Open Doors marks its 70th anniversary, the mission that began with one man’s courage continues through thousands of supporters who understand a simple truth: When someone comes alongside you in your darkest moments, everything changes.
Today, that “someone” continues coming for 380 million persecuted Christians worldwide.
