Originally published in Christian Today
Millions of Christians are being driven from their homes by conflict, extremism and religiously motivated violence, threatening the future of longstanding Christian communities, according to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
The Catholic charity’s latest Persecuted and Forgotten? report, launched on Tuesday, found that conditions for Christians had deteriorated in 10 of the 18 countries examined, including China, Nigeria and Pakistan. None recorded an overall improvement.
Covering August 2024 to June 2026, the report examines countries where ACN considers the situation of Christians to be of particular concern.
“Millions of Christians are part of a mass exodus of those displaced in conflict zones, some of it religiously motivated,” it states.
“This has spread, turning entire swathes of countries in Africa and Asia into danger zones.”
Sub-Saharan Africa features prominently, with ACN warning that attacks and displacement could alter the religious composition of affected areas.
In Nigeria, at least a million Christians were among more than 3.5 million internally displaced people, according to the report. It describes communities fleeing attacks by bandits, ethnic groups and jihadists, particularly in the north and Middle Belt.
One survivor, 33-year-old Solomon Ako, told ACN how militants kidnapped him from his village near Zaria in northern Nigeria and tried to force him to abandon his faith.
“They immediately asked us to convert and, when we refused, they started beating us. They flogged us with whips. Our legs were put in chains. Shackles [were] placed round our ankles,” he said.
The report says he and other hostages were also held up to their necks in cold water for hours at a time.
In Burkina Faso, Islamist militants reportedly control at least 40% of the country. ACN describes Christians being forced to observe Islamist customs, including dress requirements, while others have been summarily executed.
In neighbouring Mali and in Mozambique, Christian communities have also faced killings, abductions and the destruction of churches.
The charity notes that six of the 10 countries most affected by terrorism in the 2026 Global Terrorism Index are in Africa.
Conflict is also deepening concerns about the survival of Christianity in parts of its Middle Eastern heartland.
Syria’s Christian population is reported to have declined by more than 80% since 2011. Church leaders have warned of a possible existential threat, while the report highlights a suicide attack on Mar Elias Church in Damascus that left 23 people dead and 65 injured.
Alongside extremist violence, ACN identifies growing repression by authoritarian governments.
In China, it reports intensified pressure on underground churches, including detentions, church closures and tighter controls over religious teaching and online content. In Iran, arrests of Christians doubled over a 12-month period.
Nicaragua’s government has expanded its crackdown through the arrest and exile of clergy, the seizure of Church institutions and restrictions on ordinations.
Religious nationalism is another major concern. The report records more than 700 incidents of anti-Christian violence in India in 2025 and links the spread of state anti-conversion laws to increased attacks.
In Pakistan, it highlights the abduction, forced conversion and marriage of Christian girls and young women, alongside continuing insecurity surrounding blasphemy accusations.
“Rarely is religious animosity the sole driver of acts of hatred towards Christians,” the report states. “Mostly it forms part of a matrix of factors which can include ethnicity, access to resources, poverty and politics.”
It continues, “The lack of religious literacy in the West is such that anti-Christian animus is frequently downplayed in favour of other factors. Hence a skewed understanding of the human rights context often exacerbates an already critical situation for persecuted Christians.”
John Pontifex, ACN UK’s head of press and public affairs, described the findings as evidence of a continuing failure to confront persecution.
“Twenty years after we first launched Persecuted and Forgotten? we can say that the oppression of Christians remains a human rights catastrophe the world refuses to acknowledge,” he said.
“Persecution has become a huge, yet often hidden, factor driving entire communities from their homes, changing the religious demography of entire regions, especially in Africa. What will it take for the world to act?”
The report’s foreword is written by Peter Bhatti, whose brother Shahbaz, Pakistan’s Christian minister for minorities affairs, was assassinated in 2011 after campaigning for religious freedom.
Reflecting on his brother’s witness, he asks: “What are we willing to do for our persecuted brothers and sisters?”
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