Pray for Yemen

A rich, fertile land, Yemen was historically known as Arabia Felix, or the “Happy Land.” Rain-soaked mountain ranges fueled thriving agriculture — most famously, coffee. In fact, the term “cafe mocha” comes from the Yemeni town, Mocha, which once boasted a thriving coffee trade. Today, Yemen is far from thriving. Decades of war and unrest have torn this nation apart, leaving it crippled by corruption, horrific violence, famine, drought, severe poverty, and gruesome persecution.

Civil war has raged since 2015, plunging the nation into one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. Hospitals, medications, and clean water are in short supply, and preventable diseases have killed thousands of people. The cultivation of qat, an addictive stimulant, consumes an estimated 40% of the nation’s available drinking water. Terrorist and militant groups like Al-Qaeda, ISIS, and the Houthis have used the chaos and suffering to take land and power.

But the most dire issue in Yemen is that it remains one of the least evangelized nations on earth. Only a handful of its population knows and follows Christ; nearly 100% of the population is Muslim. Yemen ranks in the top ten of the world’s worst countries for Christian persecution. Most believers are first-generation. The majority of expatriate or migrant Christians have fled due to war and violence. Of the few believers that remain, most have converted from Islam. If discovered, they are often banished from their tribe, imprisoned, or brutally murdered. Evangelism is against the law, and those who do so risk death. Still, despite this unrelenting suffering, Christians have found ways to gather Through the internet and secret gatherings, more people are turning to Christ than ever before!