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"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor' and 'Hate your enemy.' But I tell you, 'Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you ..." (Matthew 5:43-44).
What does it look like to obey Jesus' words to the crowd as he preached the Sermon on the Mount? Our team recently met and captured footage with a church leader in Burkina Faso who shared his story of persecution—and then showed us how he's following Jesus' difficult command.
Pastor Maturin* (we can't share his real name for his safety) told us how Christians in his village of Balembar saw nine church buildings destroyed by extremist followers of African Traditional Religions (ATR), who adhere to practices passed down through generations. ATR often center on animism, ancestral worship and belief in spirits.
"The Bible encourages us to pray for our enemies. Those who persecute us. If they knew the Lord ... if they knew the meaning of life ... they wouldn't do this. So, pray for them."
Pastor Maturin*, Burkinabé believer
The conflict stems from a local chief, who in May 2024 re-instituted the observance of "Kpanda day," a traditional no-work feast day dedicated to ancestral spirits. A young Christian was beaten for working on that day, and the chief accused Christians of refusing to comply.
Traditional leaders then ordered all churches closed and demanded a heavy fine. Each church was expected to pay six oxen, 10 sheep, 10 goats, 50 chickens, and 12,000 cowries (a cowrie is a sea shell, used as an ancient form of currency in Africa and Asia).
When Christians refused to meet the chief's demands, ATR adherents, under the local chief's orders, attacked and destroyed the buildings, homes and food supplies. Regional authorities assessed the damage but took no action.
In this video, Burkina Faso church leader Pastor Maturin calls for prayer and details the desperation of the current situation. The extremists destroyed his home; he has to rent a house. "Otherwise, [my family] has nowhere to sleep," he says.
But instead of focusing on the injustice of these violent acts, he began and ended his message to the worldwide Church with John 5:44 and the hopeful outcome of Jesus' command:
"The Bible encourages us to pray for our enemies. Those who persecute us. If they knew the Lord ... if they knew the meaning of life ... they wouldn't do this. So, pray for them.
"We see that in the Bible that several had persecuted the church, and at the end, they became servants of God. If God would permit all those who have done this to our children to one day become servants of God, we will love it, and it would be a lesson for this village."
Pastor Maturin understands that following John 5:44 means taking the difficult but powerful step of asking God to act for his enemies' good rather than seeking revenge.
Open Doors' field partners tell us the case has been taken to court in the nearby town of Diebougou, with investigations ongoing. This is the kind of injustice and persecution that Christians throughout sub-Saharan Africa are experiencing ... and no one's talking about it.
That's why Open Doors launched the multi-year Arise Africa campaign ... to break the silence and start the healing. Our sisters and brothers in sub-Saharan Africa are asking us to pray with them and pay attention to what's happening by raising 1 million prayers and petitions to help the church in sub-Saharan Africa live out their resilient faith.
As Pastor Maturin shows us, we can learn so much from our African family's testimonies and the way God works through and among His people. Pray with Pastor Maturin for his requests, in addition to his plea to bring his persecutors to Jesus:
