{"id":1640,"date":"2022-08-05T15:10:32","date_gmt":"2022-08-05T14:10:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.opendoorsuk.org\/countries-watch\/burkina-faso\/"},"modified":"2025-01-16T14:37:55","modified_gmt":"2025-01-16T14:37:55","slug":"burkina-faso","status":"publish","type":"countries-watch","link":"https:\/\/wwl.opendoorsuk.org\/ireland\/persecution\/world-watch-list\/burkina-faso\/","title":{"rendered":"Burkina Faso"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-how-many-christians-are-there-in-burkina-faso\">How are Christians persecuted in Burkina Faso?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Believers living in areas where militant groups are active risk being kidnapped, displaced or worse. Christians have been targeted and killed and churches destroyed. Because of jihadist activity, hundreds of churches have been closed.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Converts from an Islamic or traditional religious background face particular\u202fpressure and violence.\u202fFamilies sometimes beat them, force them to marry a Muslim, withdraw them from school and, in some instances, cast them out of the family or issue death threats.\u202f<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Large numbers of pastors and their families have been abducted and remain in captivity, and some have even been killed.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Christian women face rape, forced marriage, banishment and abduction, and face pervasive threats of death and abuse. \u00a0 \u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Many Christian men and boys flee the country due to the pressures they face.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n    <div class=\"pull-right-wrapper \">\n        <blockquote><p>\u201cWhen the terrorists come to churches and find Christians, they tell them that Christianity\u2019s time is over, and they should turn to the Islamic religion.<\/p> <cite>Pastor Sor\u00e9<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n    <\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why are Christians persecuted in Burkina Faso?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Over the last few years, Burkina Faso has risen sharply on the World Watch List owing to a spike in violence against followers of Jesus.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The rise of violent Islamist extremists has forced Christians to flee, and even cities that used to be safe are now at risk of attack.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Who is particularly vulnerable in Burkina Faso?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Currently, the government only controls about half the country. Christians living in areas controlled by Islamist militants are most likely to face violence and pressure for their faith in Jesus.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Converts from Islam are also particularly vulnerable to persecution and intense pressure.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What has changed in Burkina Faso in the past year?<\/h2>\n\n\n    <div class=\"pull-right-wrapper \">\n        <blockquote><p>\u201cWe are displaced, but Jesus is not and will never be displaced from our lives.\u201d<\/p> <cite>Pastor Sor\u00e9<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n    <\/div>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Though Burkina Faso\u2019s World Watch List ranking hasn\u2019t changed, the situation continues to deteriorate. There have been increased attacks from Islamist extremists, including Jama\u2019a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM). Since their goal is to create an Islamic caliphate, these groups regularly target Christians and Christian communities, forcing churches to close and destroying Christian schools.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The violence has also caused severe displacement and food shortages, creating a significant humanitarian crisis in Burkina Faso that is affecting many followers of Jesus.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Christians who have been driven from their homes by Islamist extremists face food insecurity, lack of protection and limited governmental or international support.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How can I help Christians in Burkina Faso?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Please keep praying for your brothers and sisters in Burkina Faso. Your prayers make an enormous difference to those following Jesus no matter the cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Open Doors works through local partners to strengthen Christians in Burkina Faso by providing persecution survival training, relief aid, and spiritual and trauma care.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n    <div class=\"wwl-country__feature-box\" style=\"\">\r\n        <div class=\"small-label\"><span>please pray<\/span><\/div>\r\n\r\n\t\t<p>God, we pray for Your people in Burkina Faso. We see how violence has impacted so many believers, and how even those who have escaped with their lives now live on the run. We ask You to provide; we ask You for peace; we ask You for strength for these brothers and sisters. Bring about renewal and healing, so that the church in Burkina Faso can grow and thrive to serve You with gladness and singleness of heart. In Jesus\u2019 name, Amen<\/p>\n    <\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"featured_media":100476,"template":"","class_list":["post-1640","countries-watch","type-countries-watch","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Burkina Faso : World Watch List - Open Doors Ireland<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Burkina Faso is number 20 on the Open Doors World Watch List, which ranks the countries where Christians face the most extreme persecution.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Burkina Faso : World Watch List - Open Doors Ireland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Burkina Faso is number 20 on the Open Doors World Watch List, which ranks the countries where Christians face the most extreme persecution.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/wwl.opendoorsuk.org\/ireland\/persecution\/world-watch-list\/burkina-faso\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Open Doors Ireland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-01-16T14:37:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wwl.opendoorsuk.org\/ireland\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2022\/05\/wwl-25-banner-730-20.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"730\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wwl.opendoorsuk.org\\\/ireland\\\/persecution\\\/world-watch-list\\\/burkina-faso\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wwl.opendoorsuk.org\\\/ireland\\\/persecution\\\/world-watch-list\\\/burkina-faso\\\/\",\"name\":\"Burkina Faso : World Watch List - 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Why are Christians persecuted in Burkina Faso? Who is particularly vulnerable in Burkina Faso? What has changed in Burkina Faso in the past year? How can I help Christians in Burkina Faso? Please keep praying for your brothers and sisters in Burkina Faso. Your prayers make an enormous&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwl.opendoorsuk.org\/ireland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/countries-watch\/1640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwl.opendoorsuk.org\/ireland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/countries-watch"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwl.opendoorsuk.org\/ireland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/countries-watch"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwl.opendoorsuk.org\/ireland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwl.opendoorsuk.org\/ireland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}