Europe

9,000 Christians Killed Every Year: The Massacre the Media Won't Cover

Michael Ringer

04 Nov 2025 — 4 min read

More than 380 million Christians worldwide, one in seven believers globally, face high levels of persecution and discrimination for their faith in Christ, according to Open Doors.

As Christians around the world observed Sunday's International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church on November 2, 2025, Voice of the Martyrs Vice President and radio host Todd Nettleton reflected on the stories of Christians who are oppressed for their faith and the miraculous signs of God they encounter during their trials.

Nettleton recently traveled to South Asia, where he met with Christians in India, Nepal, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka. Despite threats from their communities or from the government to burn down their houses or beat them up, Nettleton witnessed persecuted Christians remaining steadfast in their faith.

One story that deeply moved Nettleton concerned an Indian pastor who was placed in prison for four months. At first, the pastor was doing well and saw God at work. God placed him next to a Muslim prisoner who defended him to the other inmates, saying

"Hey, leave this guy alone."

As the months dragged on, however, with the pastor enduring separation from his family and rough prison conditions, he began to feel discouraged.

The Indian pastor prayed that God would allow another pastor to be arrested, and the Lord answered that prayer. Another pastor was arrested and assigned to the bed right across from him. The two were the only Christians in the prison. The new arrival told him, "You've got to hang on. God's going to work this out." It gave him the strength to continue faithfully suffering in prison. Both pastors have since been released from prison.

"When we go through hard times, whether it be persecution, arrest, or maybe it's illness, unemployment, or some other difficulty, it just shows how important it is for us to be walking in fellowship with other believers," Nettleton said.

Nettleton recounted powerful stories from India of God showing up in miraculous ways.

"Someone is healed, or a family member is healed, and once they see the power of God, you cannot talk them out of following Jesus," he said.

After seeing that Jesus had answered their prayers, those in India who may have initially been skeptical about Christ saw that He had the power to do things that the gods they had been worshipping could not do.

"Once they see that kind of dramatic show of God's power, they will not be talked out of it, and they will not be persecuted out of it," Nettleton said. "They'll say, 'You can burn my house down or beat me up, but I saw that Jesus was powerful, and He answered prayer.' They cannot be dissuaded after that kind of encounter with God."

India ranks as the 11th worst country in the world for Christian persecution on the 2025 Open Doors World Watch List. Most of the violence against Christians is often driven by Hindutva, the belief that all Indians must be Hindu. At least twelve states in India have passed anti-conversion laws, and converts from Hinduism to Christianity may face pressure from their family, the community, or extremists to reconvert to Hinduism. Christians also regularly face the threat of death or physical assault, and extremists are known to target believers who attend house churches.

Nettleton encouraged believers to put themselves in the shoes of those suffering for their faith. "The important thing is to put ourselves in their place," the ministry leader told The Christian Post, citing Hebrews 13:3, which states, "Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering."

"If I were in prison, I'd want to know people were praying for me and looking out for my family," Nettleton said. "And I would want to know that they were banging the drum to say, 'Hey, this guy's not a criminal. Let him go free.'"

For this year's International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, Voice of the Martyrs is offering free resource kits to help churches, families, and Bible study groups pray for their brothers and sisters in Christ who reside in hostile regions.

"Thousands of churches and thousands of Christians are going to be praying for our persecuted brothers and sisters on this Sunday. And that's such an amazing thing," Nettleton said. "As we think about unity in the body of Christ, we recognize that when one part of the body suffers, others are supposed to feel that pain."

THE CRUSADER'S OPINION

380 million Christians face persecution.

One in seven believers worldwide lives under threat of violence, imprisonment, or death for following Jesus.

And most Western Christians have no idea.

We're too busy with our comfortable Christianity. Our biggest concern is whether the worship music was loud enough or if the coffee was hot. Meanwhile, our brothers and sisters in India pray that another pastor gets arrested just so they'll have Christian fellowship in prison. Read that again. A pastor in an Indian prison was so desperate for encouragement that he asked God to let another believer get thrown in jail with him.

That's the reality of Christianity in 2025. While we debate theology on social media, believers in India are being told their houses will be burned down if they don't renounce Christ. And they're saying, "Burn it down. I saw Jesus answer prayer, and I'm not turning back."

This is what real faith looks like. Not the watered-down, culturally acceptable version we practice in America. Real Christianity costs something. It costs your family. Your safety. Your freedom. Sometimes your life.

The persecuted church isn't asking for our pity. They're asking for our prayers. They're asking us to remember them as if we were in prison with them, as Hebrews 13:3 commands. And they're showing us what it means to follow Jesus no matter the cost.

Western Christians need to wake up. Our comfortable faith is making us weak. While believers overseas are experiencing miracles and seeing God's power firsthand, we're questioning whether God even hears our prayers about parking spaces. The persecuted church is putting us to shame.