No Going Back: Living Openly as a Christian Convert from Yemen

Amid economic collapse, widespread hunger, and frequent outbreaks of violence, Yemen is not an easy place for anyone to live these days.

Much of the country is beyond the government’s control, and most of the population inhabits areas occupied by Houthi extremists.

For religious minorities — Hindus, Baháʼís, Christians, and one incarcerated Jew — conditions are especially tenuous. Due to lawlessness and humanitarian issues, the number of foreign Christians has declined in recent years.

“A small number may remain, but their position is extremely vulnerable,” said John Ghanim, a Yemeni ex-Muslim turned Christian evangelist now living in the United Kingdom. He is the founder of Faith and Love Media, a ministry focused on sharing the gospel, particularly with Arabic-speaking people, supporting discipleship, and raising awareness about persecuted Christians.

In Yemen, several Christian churches, such as the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church, are allowed to operate if they keep their religious practices private.

There are also hospitals connected to Christian groups, but emergency aid is usually distributed through mosques, and the names of religious minorities are often removed from aid distribution lists.

Ghanim said that, during the past year, “there have been arrests and intense pressure” on people suspected of unlawful Christian activity. A significant number of foreign humanitarian workers in Yemen have also been detained.

Finding and Following Jesus

Before he left his homeland, Ghanim had already abandoned his faith but “was still publicly living as a Muslim … in order to protect myself.” He lived this way from 2014 to 2017. During this period, there was no one safe to talk to.

Agnostic for a few years, he eventually grew curious about Jesus. Upon arriving in Europe, he first resided in Greece, where he met other Syrian Christian refugees. He eventually converted to Christianity and migrated to the U.K.

Now that his apostasy is no secret, most of his family has disowned him, though he knows of at least one relative living abroad who has converted to Christianity.

Even if he still had normal relations with his family, he could not return to Yemen. His former mosque has issued a fatwa on him. In other words, he has been marked for murder.

In many majority-Muslim countries, you can leave Islam if you don’t make it too obvious. For example, many nominal Muslims in Iran and Turkey can get by just fine without going to the mosque or praying five times each day.

But Yemen — which has been ranked as the most religious among Arab nations — is different. If you stop attending mosque and start ignoring prayer time, people will notice, and you could easily find yourself in a bad situation.

Yemeni converts to Christianity “may continue attending a mosque” for reasons that include “concern for their safety,” Ghanim said. These believers “separate themselves internally from Islamic belief and practice” while going through the necessary motions for survival.

The Penalty of Death

Yemen is currently ranked as the third-most hostile country toward Christianity.

According to the law, a Yemeni can face execution for converting to the faith. That said, there have been no documented cases of such executions in recent years. However, Christian converts have been killed by extrajudicial means.

Estimates of the number of Christians in Yemen vary widely. Ghanim said it’s impossible to provide an accurate figure. He added that different reports may not include foreign residents, humanitarian workers, or Yemenis who are “exploring Christianity.”

“What I can say confidently,” Ghanim stated, “is that there is a real and growing number of native Yemeni people who are asking questions about Christianity, reading the Bible, following Christian media and, in some cases, placing their faith in Jesus Christ.”

Of course, Christians remain a fraction of the population, likely less than 1%. For security reasons, Ghanim does not maintain direct contact with believers inside Yemen. His name is well known among officials who deal with unlawful religious activity. He does, however, maintain contact with Yemeni believers outside the homeland.

Living openly in the U.K. as an apostate and evangelist, Ghanim is no stranger to hostile reactions. “I receive insults, hatred, and death threats online regularly,” he said.

Ghanim has been recognized by Muslims both in the U.K. and while visiting several other European countries. “Some encounters are peaceful,” he added. “But others can feel intimidating or potentially dangerous.”

He knows there’s a considerable chance of an attack at some point. “However, I do not want fear to control my life or silence my testimony,” he said.

Clearly, Ghanim has a high degree of spiritual courage. But he hopes people see his story foremost as living proof that “no person or nation is impossible for Jesus to reach.”

Story by R. Cavanaugh

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The post No Going Back: Living Openly as a Christian Convert from Yemen first appeared on International Christian Concern.