Afghanistan

Afghanistan has received one of the highest Christian persecution rankings as defined by the World Watch List which uses “pressure” and “violence” as metrics for evaluating persecution.

Afghanistan is rated as “extreme”, ranking highly as a nation that pressures Afghans to reject minority religious beliefs. It also prohibits the establishment and operation of churches. This is compounded by acts of serious violence against Christians and the detention of Christians without due process.

This makes life as an open Christian nearly impossible for people living in Afghanistan. With a total estimated population of 40,626,000 people, +99% are considered to be unreached by the Gospel.

Our footprint in Afghanistan over the past several years has been capacitated mainly by our relationship with our local partner who has over 26 years of experience producing Christian media content. Together, we have begun to make inroads into this region where accepting Christ as one’s Lord and Savior equates to literal and figurative death. Our efforts to reach the Afghani people are not restricted by country boundaries. This, as a significant portion of those impacted by our work come from the Afghani diaspora.

Recently, our partner’s social media team sent out 5,400 electronic portions of Scripture, Christian worship songs, and related content. They have also distributed an additional 7,000 electronic portions of Scripture. Their social media following has grown to a combined total of 110,725 across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, yielding 558,673 engagements and interactions.

This is significant when considering the hostile landscape within which they are propagating the gospel.

Testimonies from Afghanistan

Transformed by the word

The testimony of a former student of Islamic law, who joined our online Bible study course, illustrates the efficacy of social media evangelism in attracting and developing new believers into disciples of Jesus. “I have been reading the New Testament and following your Facebook page, and now as I read the Bible I start to understand… This lesson has transformed me! I have shared my [new] faith with my neighbor and I am in touch with two other believers in other parts of the country, how can I help them to grow in faith?” Fazal – Afghanistan.

Significant Impact

Our data show that the minority Christian population in Afghanistan is not the result of the Afghan people rejecting the Gospel, rather, it is due to lacking access to the word. We see this reflected in the online engagement with our content which spans tens of thousands, of which 72% of responses come from people living in Afghanistan. This engagement from within the country exceeds the estimation of Christians being in the low thousands, implying that there are many non-Christians in Afghanistan who are eager to draw near to Christ.