Who will be arrested next in Eritrea?

Paulos in Eritrea risks arrest every day as he serves God in one of the darkest places in the world to be a Christian.

“We all live in fear of who will be arrested next.” Paulos* knows it could be him. Every day, he lives with that danger.

Paulos is a Christian in Eritrea, which is number six on the World Watch List. Being a Christian isn’t illegal – but only if you belong to one of the denominations recognised by the government: the Orthodox, Catholic and Lutheran churches. If you’re Protestant or Evangelical, then you’re in extreme danger. Paulos is church elder in an Evangelical church and a convert from the Orthodox church. He has to watch his back.

“Often, I have to run from the police,” he says. “God has protected me. There were times we were surrounded but weren’t caught.”

The ‘North Korea of Africa’

The Eritrean government demands complete obedience. Eritrea is often called the ‘North Korea of Africa’ due to its extreme censorship, and Christians are among those who face heavy scrutiny, including monitoring of phone calls and internet use. The authorities also conduct regular house raids, to arrest ‘unsanctioned’ Christians – particularly church leaders like Paulos. It’s estimated that there are around 1,000 Eritrean Christians in prison for their faith, having committed no crime.

And this isn’t prison like you might imagine. Eritrea’s prisons are notoriously inhumane. Some are underground, and prisoners rarely see daylight. Others are collections of shipping containers in the desert – ferociously hot during the day and brutally cold at night. Sometimes people die from these conditions.

Paulos sees how this persecution is harming whole families and communities. “There are many children without a mother,” he explains. “They are in jail for Jesus and have been robbed from their families. There are also many wives without a husband. Their husbands are in jail for Jesus. Meanwhile, the wives are mocked: ‘How can you say your religion is the right one? Where is your husband? Why isn’t he taking care of his family?’” The whole church is affected by these attempts to undermine it.

Pressure from village elders

Sadly, persecution also often comes from other Christians. When believers choose to leave the sanctioned denominations, their families and communities often turn against them. “I grew up in a family that was Eritrean Orthodox, although we lived in a region dominated by Muslims,” says Paulos. As he grew up, he started attending some discipleship training courses and he realised he’d never truly committed to following Jesus. When he gave his life to Jesus, he was drawn to a more evangelical expression of his faith.

In Paulos’s case, his closest relatives were open to his newfound faith – but that wasn’t true of the wider community. “My family was alright with this, but some shunned me for breaking with the more traditional faith of the Orthodox Church I was a member of,” he says. “Fortunately, nobody beat me, but my family and I were put under a lot of pressure by the elders of the village.”

Determination despite fear

He hasn’t been arrested yet, but lives with the danger every day. Is Paulos ever scared? “Yes, of course,” he says. “Will it be another brother in Christ arrested next? Will it be me? But we must continue to walk with God. We build upon what others have done before us.”

He adds: “Sometimes I think about leaving the country. But then I remind myself: who will preach the gospel? I’m determined to stay here and serve the Lord in Eritrea. I have a ‘gospel responsibility’.”

And Paulos is seeing the church standing strong – and growing. Even as Christians are arrested, churches are shut down and believers suffer in prison, God is at work. “What I see is that while the persecution is intensifying, the number of believers increases,” Paulos says. “This is how the gospel works. The gospel bears fruit in times of persecution and oppression.

“Many people thirst for God, thirst for salvation, thirst for the right way. Often, when believers share the gospel with their friends and family, God uses those words to win their hearts and souls.”

Your prayers and support are deeply valuable to believers from Eritrea, and from the other countries where Christians face the most persecution for their faith. You can show our brothers and sisters that they are not alone, as they shine the light of Christ in some of the world’s darkest places. Thank you.