Somalia (MNN) — Somalia is considered one of the hardest places to follow Christ in the world, second only to North Korea. That’s why stories like this one are so significant and worth celebrating.
Shania came to faith in Jesus out of a Muslim background. Her husband, Shino, accepted Christ a few years later after much prayer.
When they first began sharing their faith with fellow Somalis online, they kept their identities secret. They were met with distrust and suspicion. There were questions about whether they were Westerners pretending to be Somalis.
Eventually, Shino and Shania decided to go public. They shared their real names and faces and even their contact information. “That,” Shania said in a recent conversation with The Voice of the Martyrs USA, “shook [the] whole Somali nation.”
Over 98% of Somalis follow Islam. (Representative stock photo courtesy of Mohamed Abukar via Unsplash)
Their story was covered by major news outlets. “All the imams, they sat down, and they said, ‘What [can we] do?’” Shania explained. “They give us (Shino and Shania) a fatwa. They said, ‘Anyone who see them, either kill them or find where they are from.’”
Though Shino and Shania have had to move frequently for safety, they are still sharing the gospel through Somali Christian TV. The fruit of their ministry has been profound, but so has the opposition, Shania says. “Millions of Somalis have seen what the Lord is doing. Many of them come to faith, but many of them are threatening us, and they are after us.”
Even so, this couple celebrates how God is changing peoples’ hearts and lives across Somalia and across the Somali diaspora.
“Many of them, when they come to faith, they will say, ‘I used to hate you. I was the person who [was] threatening you. Please forgive me,’” Shania says. One woman in the U.S. told them, “I used to hate you every day, and now I pray for you every day.”
There’s so much to pray for. Pray for the gospel to spread and deepen among Somalis! Shino explained no aboveground church can exist in the nation, and small underground churches are always in danger of discovery and violence.
“If you are Somali, and they know that you are Christian, they will persecute you. They are scattered everywhere, and they are isolated,” he said. “The whole nation needs to know Jesus. Please pray for those who are already believers in Somalia that the Lord’s Spirit [will] equip them and make them bold.”
Then, pray for much fruit as Shino and Shania reach and disciple Somalians for Christ. Lack of access to Scripture, biblical teaching or fellowship makes growing in faith a slow process for believers in Somalis. Yet God is moving and building His Church!
Listen to one of two conversations with Shino and Shania on VOM Radio here to hear more of their story.
Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Khalid Abdalla via Unsplash.
