Open Doors USA reports that new converts to the Christian faith in North Africa are suffering the pain of rejection by their family and friends.

In a new report, the organisation tells the story of one young Algerian woman named Hassina - not her real name - who was respected in the community and a devout Muslim known for her good works.

She and her husband Djamel came to faith in Christ after hearing the Gospel through a Christian TV channel, Al Hayat TV.

The leader of a local church visited them in their home and explained the Christian faith and salvation to them, convincing Hassina and her husband that they wanted to follow Jesus with their lives.

"I listened closely and I was convinced by the message of the Gospel," she said.

"I immediately expressed my faith in Jesus and told about my desire to follow Him. The man prayed and asked me to repeat the words. When I did, I felt as if God had rescued me from a deep well. I experienced a deep peace inside my heart." 

They started attending the church after realizing that "Jesus did not come only for Westerners, as we were once told". 

Despite her new found joy and peace, difficulties soon arose for Hassina when she visited her family and shared her faith with them.

To her dismay, instead of sharing her joy and accepting the faith, her parents were "furious". Her mother called her "crazy" and her father said she had "disgraced the name of the family".

"My father presented me with a difficult choice. If I renounced Jesus, my father would accept me. If I would continue as a Christian, I would lose any relationship with my family," she said.  

Her father also told her to divorce her husband, believing that he had led her astray.

She was new to the faith but the challenge from her family was not enough to shake her conviction and she chose Jesus. 

"I could not deny Christ. I told my father that it was impossible for me to give up Jesus Christ. When I gave this answer, my father immediately ordered me to get out of the house," she said.