Although the below referenced article is about foreign missionaries (outsiders) being deported from Morocco, it makes a huge case for the importance and necessity of ‘indigenous’ ministry – from within a society/people group/demographic segment of society.

Forced Deportations in Morocco Worry Native Christians

Damaris Kremida

May 25, 2010

ISTANBUL (CDN) — In a second wave of deportations from Morocco, officials of the majority-Muslim country have expelled 26 foreign Christians in the last 10 days without due process.

Following the expulsion of more than 40 foreign Christians in March, the deportations were apparently the result of Muslim hardliners pressuring the nation’s royalty to show Islamic solidarity.

The latest deportations bring the number of Christians who have had to leave Morocco to about 105 since early March. Christians and expert observers are calling this a calculated effort to purge the historically moderate country, known for its progressive policies, of all Christian elements – both foreign and national.

“I don’t see the end,” said Salim Sefiane, a Moroccan living abroad. “I see this as a ‘cleansing’ of Christians out of Morocco, and then I see this turning against the Moroccan church, which is already underground, and then persecution of Moroccan Christians, which is already taking place in recent days.”

At least two Moroccan Christians have been beaten in the last 10 days, sources told Compass, and police have brought other Moroccan Christians to police stations daily for psychologically “heavy” interrogations.

Authorities are enquiring about the activities of foreign and local Christians.

Copyright 2010 Compass Direct News. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The remainder of the article can be read here. 

Given the spread of incidents such as these, is it a stretch to consider the possibility of such things in our country? We say we deplore such things, and rarely consider they might happen here in the good old U.S.A. Yet Jesus did promise such things would happen to his followers, didn’t he?

Food for serious thought. . .