8th November, 2007

DAVID ADAMS

Millions of Christians from across the globe will pause this weekend to pray for an estimated 200 million persecuted believers across the globe as part of the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church.

The day is one of the largest prayer events in the world and this year is expected to involve people from 130 different countries.

The event was first held in 1996 and is coordinated internationally by the World Evangelical Fellowship which works in conjunction with a broad spectrum of churches and numerous other faith-based organisations including Open Doors, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Christian Freedom International, The Voice of the Martyrs and the World Evangelical Alliance.

President of Open Doors in the US, Dr Carl Moeller, says the day presents a “tremendous opportunity” for people to make a difference in the lives of people being persecuted because of their faith in nations like Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and North Korea.

“Persecuted believers have asked us who live in freedom to pray for them – always their number one request,” he says. “And on November 11 we have the opportunity to collectively lift our petitions to the Lord on their behalf.”

Open Doors USA has made people who have suffered persecution after converting from Islam to Christianity the focus of this year’s event.

In a statement released this week, Open Doors has highlighted a number of countries where Christians are undergoing persecution including Iran, Egypt and China.

According to the organisation, Christians in Iran, where the official religion is Islam, have reported a marked increase in persecution since the election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in August 2005.

“Christian prisoners face strong psychological pressures, including threats to kill their family and other Christian believers, in order to force them to recant their Christian faith and return to Islam,” Open Doors says in the statement.

Meanwhile in Egypt, they say reports claim that while Christians are free to “embrace Islam”, Muslim citizens are not being allowed to change their religion. Those who have become Christians are subject to “severe harassment” by state security services.

The group says they have also received reports from China that following the launch of a government crackdown ahead of the Olympic Games, house church Christians “fear tough restrictions on their freedom to worship” with reports of ongoing house church raids and arrests. An “unprecedented number” of foreign Christians have been expelled from China since they start of the year, they say.

~ www.persecutedchurch.org
~ www.idop.org
~ www.secretbelievers.org
~ www.opendoors.org.au

Updated: Due to a typographical error, the original article said Christians would be praying for 200,000 persecuted believers around the world. The figures has been amended and should have read 200 million.