WORLD-Prayer for the persecuted is changing lives
25/02/05-an overview of Christian persecution and how prayer is making a difference
For accompanying pictures, please go to: http://www.opendoorsuk.org/media_photos/prayer_changes_lives/HTML/index.htm
Many things conspire to prevent the Church in the West from connecting with their persecuted brothers and sisters around the world, but the overwhelming feedback from those who do, is that the rewards of persevering are well worth the effort.
A Sixteen-year-old supporter testifies, “I used to be really timid and afraid to stand up as a Christian before I heard about the stories from the Persecuted Church. When I came home from my first Open Doors Conference, my parents jokingly said, 'What have they done to you?' Seeing how much their faith means to persecuted Christians, has made me realise that I have nothing to fear in living fully for Jesus, because He will always be with me.”
However, statistics – such as the estimated 200 million Christians around the world who are being persecuted for their faith – can make many of us wonder what on earth we can do to change things. We can be left reeling by the stories we hear. Three generations of a family will be thrown into barbaric concentration camps in communist North Korea – the world's number-one persecution hot-spot – if just one of those family members is caught with a Bible.
In Ethiopia, young girls who convert to Christianity, are routinely thrown out of their homes by their families and left to fend for themselves. In Colombia, Christian pastors are a target for lawless armed groups, with 42 pastors murdered in 2003 alone.
So, simply, what can be done?
First and foremost, we can do what persecuted Christians are asking us to do more than anything else – pray. Pray that their faith will stay strong, that their persecutors will come to Jesus and that the Church in these lands will be strengthened and be salt and light in their communities.
Following an Open Doors seven-year prayer campaign for the Soviet Union, communism crumbled and the Berlin wall fell – coincidence or not? We believe not and surely, prayer will see the dividing wall between North and South Korea broken down. As thousands come to know Jesus throughout Ethiopia, through the brave and courageous witness of dedicated Christians, the Church is built up and strengthened through Open Doors’ courses, teaching them how to ‘Stand Strong through the Storm’ as one popular Open Doors seminar is entitled.
In Colombia, traumatised and orphaned children find safety in Christian refuge centres, and widows are enabled to earn a living through livelihood projects. The many thousands who are helped in this way are very grateful to those Christians in the West who could so easily ignore their plight, but who choose to be amongst the righteous spoken of in Matthew 25:37–40.
By writing letters to those incarcerated for their faith, they are in fact visiting Jesus in prison; by helping to support livelihood projects, they are feeding the hungry and thirsty Jesus; by providing literacy courses, they are clothing the discriminated-against Jesus; and by training pastors and supplying them with Christian literature, they are visiting the tired and sick Jesus.
Moreover, the rewards are not just for when Jesus returns, but are enjoyed here and now, in opportunities to rejoice with those who rejoice, as revivals spring up against the odds, faith overcomes fear, miraculous stories abound, and prisoners are freed and reunited with their families.
I recently had the privilege of meeting David de Vinatea, a Peruvian Christian, wrongfully imprisoned for sixteen years, but released eight years early. I still remember the day, 12 months ago now, when he was released, and I joined many people around the world who cried for joy. David told us, “Your letters were like oxygen to me and I know that it was because of your prayers that I was released early.”
He still asks us to pray for 35 prisoners who came to the Lord through his ministry in the prison.
Prayer is also required for many other situations:
• wives and children of five Afghan converts who were brutally murdered during the summer of 2004 for practising their faith.
• 64 refugees in Chiapas, south-east Mexico, who join thousands of other Christians throughout these jungle areas who have been driven from their homes for following their evangelical beliefs and refusing to participate in pagan sacrifices and rituals.
• the increasing wave of religious oppression that is currently sweeping through Vietnam and China, resulting in many hundreds of Christian pastors being arrested. Some are released with merely a fine or a caution not to continue practising their faith, but others are imprisoned, particularly if they have contact with overseas Christians, and some are even sentenced to 're-education' in labour camps.
• Nigerian students who carried out an evangelistic outreach and who subsequently sustained an attack on their lives. Their attempted murder was carried out in February by militant Islamists, who were supported by the leaders of their home tome in Bauchi.
No one promises that weeping with those who weep is an easy road to travel. However, the privilege of connecting with Jesus through His persecuted family makes it an exciting and very worthwhile path to take.
An easy way to begin this connection is by signing the Open Doors ‘Petition for Persecuted Christians’ being launched this year to mark 50 years of ministry to the Persecuted Church. We need to let our suffering brothers and sisters know that they are not forgotten. To find out more, call Open Doors on 01993-885400, e-mail info@opendoorsuk.org or visit www.opendoorsuk.org.
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Open Doors serves and strengthens persecuted Christians in over 45 countries across the world.
For example, we:
1. train church leaders and Christian workers
2. supply Bibles, hymnals, Sunday School materials and other Christian literature
3. provide livelihood training and self-help opportunities
4. visit, comfort and encourage those who are suffering
5. raise awareness of the difficulties facing persecuted Christians and mobilise prayer support throughout the western world.