Pray for abducted Coptic Christian women in Egypt
Not stand by while the Christians of the Middle East are being attacked.
Pray the protection of Psalm 91 over my brothers and sisters facing dangerous circumstances around the world.
The entire Coptic Christian community in Egypt has been under intense persecution for many years. Their situation has grown even more dangerous since the Arab Spring in 2011. Just a few days ago, the main Coptic cathedral in Cairo was bombed and 25 Christians were killed. Although Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has made admirable rhetorical efforts to unify Egypt’s majority Muslim population with the Coptic minority community specifically, the Egyptian government has done little to protect Christians from terrorism, mob violence, kidnappings, and murders that are on the rise.
Coptic women are especially vulnerable targets. Between 2011-2014, over 550 young Christian women and girls were kidnapped. In the first half of 2016, International Christian Concerndocumented 17 abductions. Most of these girls are never heard from again, and in many cases Egyptian authorities refuse to investigate their disappearances. The few girls who escape tell horrific stories of torture, rape, forced conversion to Islam and sometimes being forced to marry their captor.
In April 2016, Sandy Shehata was kidnapped while shopping for Easter clothes. A man hit her over the head, and the 16-year-old girl awoke in the mountains far away from her home. For two weeks she was beaten and raped as her kidnappers attempted to force her to renounce her faith and convert to Islam. Eventually the men abandoned her, and a stranger helped her call her parents and return home. Sandy’s emotional reunion with her family was an answer to prayer.
One of the oldest Christian communities in the world, the Copts, desperately need our prayers. Hundreds of Coptic women and girls are still missing, and their families have no idea if they are alive or dead. Please join CUFI this Christmas season as we lift them up in prayer.
Please Pray:
- God will protect and enable the rescue of Coptic women abducted in Egypt.
- The entire Coptic community will be sheltered from harm according to Psalm 91.
- The Egyptian government and law enforcement authorities will pursue, find, and prosecute the criminals who are terrorizing this community.