Syria (MNN) — New details emerge following a Kurdish pastor’s persecution in Syria this summer.

Police arrested Pastor Nihad, the director of Kurdish ministry for Horizons International, while he visited northern Syria in late July.

“Our vision was to go and gather [Kurdish believers] together, see what the Lord is doing among them, see how open their friends and family are, and start to pull them together in gatherings,” says Horizons’ Executive Director Pierre Houssney.

“But Pastor Nihad wasn’t there long before some people stirred up trouble for him. They incited the government based on the internet crimes laws in Syria, which are very strict but usually unenforced.”

Originally from Afrin, Syria, Pastor Nihad Hassan became a Christian in 2008 and has since played a crucial role in reaching Muslims in several countries.
(Photo, caption courtesy Horizons International)

As the Lord often does, He turned a troublesome time into a Gospel opportunity.

“Pastor Nihad was able to share his faith in jail. He was surrounded by people who were actually protecting him and treating him with dignity,” Houssney says.

“In the prisons, there are a lot of extremist factions, and so it’s a miracle that God protected him throughout that time.”

Quick legal action secured Pastor Nihad’s release, and he returned to his young family roughly two weeks after his arrest. However, questions now surround the future of church planting efforts among the Syrian Kurds.

What’s next for Kurdish Christians?

Horizons International has ministered among Syrian Kurds for several years, combining humanitarian aid, evangelism, discipleship, and church planting.

As Kurdish refugees fled violence in northern Syria, Horizons served them in Lebanon and trained new believers to reach their own people. In 2018, Christian refugees from Afrin wanted to return home and establish new congregations with Horizons’ help; those plans were thwarted by renewed fighting.

(Map created using ChatGPT)

The following year, Pastor Nihad announced a goal to equip Kurdish Christians to return to Syria and plant churches. By 2021, entire churches in Lebanon were made up of Syrian Kurds who had come to faith through ministry among the displaced.

More recently, Horizons supported Kurdish believers returning to northern Syria to establish churches and ministries in their home communities. Pastor Nihad’s arrest now raises questions about how freely those believers will be able to continue that work.

“We still don’t know what the long-term effects of [Pastor Nihad’s] imprisonment are going to be,” Houssney says.

“It’s possible that the broader Syrian Muslim community could turn against them. It’s also possible that there could be widespread grassroots support for minority groups like Christians, and this could have a positive long-term impact.”

Only the Lord knows what the future holds. Pray that Horizons leaders will follow His guidance. Pray for the safety of the Kurdish refugees who returned to Syria as church planters.

“Pray that they would be able to boldly share their faith, and that the Lord would open hearts and open doors for the ministry, so that there could be many churches planted throughout Syria in Jesus’ name,” Houssney requests.

 

Header image depicts Horizons International’s founder, Georges Houssney, speaking to a Kurdish audience in 2017. (Photo courtesy of Horizons International)