Streams partners arrested last year for apostasy in Mauritania
Twenty-six believers arrested at the end of 2023, many of them graduates from Streams of Living Water’s Tyrannus Missionary School, have been released and returned to their families. But many still face hostility from Muslim family and community members.
When a pastor with OneWay’s Streams of Living Water baptized a new believer in Mauritania, someone secretly recorded it, posting the video online. Outraged Muslims called for the deaths of apostates and proselytizers, and authorities arrested 26 Christian leaders and their families, including the pastor, a village chief and a school principal.
At least half of those arrested were Tyrannus Missionary School graduates.
Miraculously, the charges were dropped, and all 26 believers were released in less than a month.
“The biggest miracle of all,” Streams staff said, “is that the government has had to acknowledge and even normalize the presence of God’s people here for the first time.”
Mauritania is number 23 on Open Doors International’s 2024 World Watch List. “Baptisms can only be carried out secretly,” Open Doors says, “but many converts [from Islam] are reluctant to do this, fearing the awful consequences of discovery,” — including being disowned by their family, exiled or even killed.
Despite their release, the majority-Muslim population still poses a threat. After returning home, one man’s wife left, taking their children and much of his farmland. Please pray for restoration of this family and protection for the other men and women now known by their community as Christians.
Number eight on Stratus Index’s list of countries with least access to the gospel, Mauritania is a key country in Streams of Living Water’s mission to train indigenous Christians to reach least-reached people groups in the Arab world. A Tyrannus Missionary School stationed in Mauritania equips believers there to evangelize and disciple their own people. Pray also that community outrage and government attention won’t hinder the work of Tyrannus graduates.