Open Doors With Brother Andrew Inc
Serving Persecuted Christian Worldwide
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
215 million Christians experience high levels of persecution in the countries on the World Watch List. This represents 1 in 12 Christians worldwide.
As a result, according to The Pew Research Center, over 75% of the world's population lives in areas with severe religious restrictions (and many of these people are Christians). The United States Department of State reports that Christians in more than 60 countries face persecution from their governments or surrounding neighbors simply because of their belief in Jesus Christ.
Open Doors seeks to support people experiencing religious persecution-that is, any hostility experienced as a result of one's identification as a Christian. Incidents include, but are not limited to, beatings, physical torture, confinement, isolation, rape, severe punishment, imprisonment, slavery, discrimination in education and employment, and even death.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Bible and Christian Literature Distribution
Advancing the Scripture: Permeating the world’s most difficult places with Scripture and discipleship materials.
Training and Discipleship
· EEquip the Body: Disciple Christians to display the love of Christ through church leadership development, marriage and family counseling, youth discipleship, pastoral education, discipleship seminars, trauma counseling and curriculum development;
Persecution Preparedness
Christians are trained to stand strong in the storm dealing with the hostility to their faith.
Where we work
Accreditations
Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA)
Charity Navigator
Affiliations & memberships
Evangelical Council of Financial Accountability - Member
Better Business Bureau
External reviews

Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of groups/individuals benefiting from tools/resources/education materials provided
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Training and Discipleship
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
These numbers reflect the number of Bibles, Training Materials, and Christian books that were provided.
The number of Christians helped through microloans, education, job training, medical assistance, relief and community development.
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
This reflects the number of Christians who have been helped through microloans, education, job training, medical assistance, relief and community development.
Number of people engaged in influencing lawmakers to protect persecuted people groups
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Persecution Preparedness
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
This reflects the number of people who visibly participated in advocacy efforts to urge government officials to supported persecuted Christians.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Open Doors USA is a 501c3, non-profit organization with more than 60 years of experience offering many kinds of support to persecuted believers in more than 60 countries. At Open Doors, we seek to serve the worldwide persecuted through:
* Bible distribution in regions where the Scriptures are not readily available
* Christian training and discipleship
* Children's education programs
* Rebuilding Christian communities who have suffered attacks
* Safe houses for at-risk believers
* Trauma care
* Emergency food aid
* Provision of clothing and necessities
* Legal advocacy
* Job training
* Microloans and other customized support
In addition to our support efforts, our research provides needed data for the worldwide community. Every year, Open Doors releases the annual World Watch List via a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. This comprehensive, authoritative report ranks the top 50 countries where it is most dangerous to live as a Christian.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Our strategies include, but are not limited to...
* Our U.S. based administration staff and international field partners use a digital reporting system to communicate and report incidents of persecution.
* U.S. staff work closely with partners working on the ground in hostile regions to authenticate and evaluate each need presented. Together, they determine the most effective way to support Christians facing various types of hardship and coordinate new initiatives to help meet those needs.
* Open Doors representatives also raise awareness and engage support in the free world through the sharing of stories across multiple channels: our website (opendoorsusa.org), mainstream media, a monthly Frontline newsletter, a quarterly Presence magazine, weekly emails, social media and other types of alerts.
* Our Advocacy Director in Washington D.C. works closely with government and public officials by providing information, education and opportunities to act on behalf of groups whose religious rights have been violated. This includes making supporters aware of opportunities to sign petitions, write letters and pray for social and political changes to protect victims of persecution.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Open Doors is the foremost organization in the world who works with persecuted Christians. We have more than 60 years of experience in this work and a long track record of organizational integrity. By persevering in our work through six decades, Open Doors has forged a worldwide network of international partners with expertise in building systems that identify needs and channel practical relief and support to Christian communities in the world's most hostile regions.
Today, Open Doors has bases and staff all over the world who work to support persecuted believers in more than 60 countries where Christians face persecution as a result of their faith. In recent years, to meet the growing needs due to an increase in religious persecution, we have expanded our team to over 50 U.S. staff persons, refined our infrastructure and adopted new innovative technology so we can be more effective in supporting even more persecuted Christians in the generation to come. This includes building a comprehensive digital reporting system that enables team members around the world to securely report persecution incidents as they occur. We've also adopted technology and systems to promote the acquisition and distribution of data, photos, video footage and other pertinent reporting information from around the world.
Among other roles, our team includes travel coordinators who network with hosts in-country; professional communication staff and journalists who seek to share stories across many mainstream and in-house platforms; an Advocacy Director who hosts events and lobbies government officials on behalf of the persecuted church; church representatives who engage churches across the country in prayer and support; and coordinators who recruit and train volunteers to act in support of persecuted Christians.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Open Doors USA is determined to raise massive awareness, prayer and support for persecuted Christians around the world--making the needs of the Persecuted Church unavoidable to the American Church. We believe that nothing impacts the world more than when followers of Jesus come together in his name to ask God to support, encourage, and strengthen His people.
In being present on the ground in 60 countries, Open Doors seeks to further the Great Commission by supporting the local church in some of the world's most difficult places. We help underground and struggling Christian communities survive and thrive so they can go on being the church in their contexts for generations to come. By coming alongside native believers with Bibles, Christian materials, training and practical relief, we help the church overcome hardships and advance the gospel in their local communities.
Our founder, Brother Andrew (Andrew van der Bijl), first began this work in Poland in 1955. During this time, Andrew began risking his life to smuggle Bibles behind the Iron Curtain at the height of the Cold War.
Andrew's work went on to span many decades and geographic locations. As of this writing, he had personally visited 125 countries and logged an estimated 1 million miles since his first missionary trip.
Throughout the years, Andrew and Open Doors have been able to positively impact persecuted Christians, while also raising awareness of religious rights violations in the free world. In 1967, for example, Andrew wrote the best-selling book, God's Smuggler, that has sold over 10 million copies and been translated into thirty-five languages. Although Open Doors delivers Bibles and offers various kinds of routine support to persecuted Christians on a daily basis, there have been many notable successes along the way. In 1981, for example, Open Doors coordinated "Project Pearl" which secretly delivered 1 million Bibles to China in one night. In the 1980's, during a seven-year prayer campaign for the Berlin wall to fall, Open Doors delivered one million Russian New Testaments to the Russian Orthodox Church. In 2017, Open Doors launched a campaign to raise more than 750,000 signatures to help rebuild communities in Iraq and Syria that had been destroyed by ISIS. These advocacy efforts successfully brought Iraqi Christians to the United States to meet with United Nations officials as well as Mike Pence, Vice President of the United States.
Currently, Open Doors is devoted to building "Centers of Hope" in Iraq and Syria to meet emerging needs in the Middle East where Christian communities have been plagued by terror for close to a decade. Countless churches have been destroyed and an estimated 900,000 Christians have fled to refugee camps and surrounding areas.
These Centers of Hope will be built out to enable local churches to care for their people and serve the wider community through rebuilding efforts, trauma counseling, job creation, and Bible training.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Open Doors With Brother Andrew Inc
Board of directorsas of 02/25/2021
Colin Steward
Steve Haas
David Curry
Bruce Dingman
Frnacesca Fajinmi
Steve Haas
Tim Kachuriak
Nathaniel Spoelman
Roger Spoelman
Colin Stewart
Daisy Szabo
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes