Coptic Christian Priest Upholds the Great Commission

Krystafer is a Church leader for the Coptic Christian Church in Egypt.  The church is one of the oldest in the world.  They trace their lineage to the First Century AD with the ministry of Mark, the author of the Gospel of Mark, widely considered to be the earlies of the Four Gospels of the New Testament.  Today, the Coptic Church composes roughly 10% of Egypt's population and the face ongoing discrimination within their homeland.  Coptic Christian girls are routinely kidnapped and forced to covert to Islam and marry Muslim men.  Islamist terrorists continually target their churches or kill groups of Christians.  Many Copts choose to keep to their own communities.  Few are willing to share the Gospel with their Muslim neighbors out of fear of violent reprisal, but their are some, like Krystafer, who are not afraid.

Many Coptic Priests will not baptize Muslims who choose to turn to Christ, but Krystafer does so, for he sees his work as fulfilling Jesus' Great Commission.  Krystafer faces constant danger for what he does, both from the Islamic police and from Egyptian authorities, but he remains undeterred.  In Egypt, blasphemy against Islam, Muhammad, or the Qur'an is punishable with up to five years in prison.  Moreover, government agents constantly monitor churches to keep an eye out for Muslim converts who enter churches and often raid churches in an attempt to capture converts and punish both them and the church leaders.  

Krystafer has been repeatedly warned by the Egyptian police that they cannot protect him if he continues what he's doing.  They have also gone after some of the former Muslims that Krystafer baptized.  In one instance, they kept a young mother and her two children who were former Muslims but were baptized by Krystafer locked up for five hours.  During that time the police tried to get these converts to recant their faith and incriminate Krystafer, but they refused to do so.  They police then ordered her to attend Islamic instruction from an Imam five days a week and warned her that if she did not recant, her children would go to her ex-husband and she would never see them again.  

The police are not the only ones who threaten Krystafer.  Islamist extremists have also targeted him and in 2020, Kyrstafer and his family had to go into hiding for three months.  Despite the ongoing danger, Krsyafer continues to baptize dozens of new believers every month, following the command Jesus gave us in Matthew 28:19-20 to make Disciples of all Nations.  

Sources:

"A Baptism Unto Death."  Voice of the Martyrs.  October 2021.