DAVID ADAMS reports…
Amid reports of growing suffering among Christians in many parts of the world, the persecuted church will be the focus of prayer next week as Christians across the globe mark the annual International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church.
The event is actually run over a week – 3rd to 10th November – with churches able to mark it on either the 3rd or the 10th (or both). In Australia – where event is also known as the International Days of Prayer for Persecuted Christians – hundreds of churches across the country are expected to take part.
This year’s theme for the week is “One in Prayer” with Christians and churches encouraged to pray a threefold prayer – for the persecuted, for forgiveness and for the persecutors.
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“A lot of it is about just raising awareness and then driving people to pray…We do find a lot of people say ‘I had no idea this (persecution) went on’ and I have to say 15 years ago myself I wasn’t quite aware so much persecution went on around the world.”– Jeanette, Open Doors Australia |
Jeanette*, who works for persecuted church ministry Open Doors Australia – one of the organisations which provides resources to churches for the day (others include Voice of the Martyrs), says it’s about trying to focus the church in the free world on the issue.
“A lot of it is about just raising awareness and then driving people to pray…We do find a lot of people say ‘I had no idea this (persecution) went on’ and I have to say 15 years ago myself I wasn’t quite aware so much persecution went on around the world.”
That said, Jeanette says the internet and use of social media has increased awareness of the issue among people in countries like Australia. “I think just our information era is giving us the opportunity to reach a far broader (number) of people.”
While some churches in Australia will dedicate much of a service to the issue in the next couple of weeks, Jeanette says she’d encourage all churches to at least raise the issue and take the time to “stop and pray”.
Many commentators have suggested that the level of persecution currently facing Christians around the world is beyond anything ever seen before.
One recent report from the UK-based Aid to the Church in Need said that in two thirds of the 30 countries they assessed where persecution of Christians occurs, violence and intimidation against Christians had worsened since 2011.
“Christianity, the world’s most persecuted religion, now risks being wiped out in countries where until recently it has been well established,” the group said in a summary of the report. “Oppression and exodus threaten Christianity’s status as a worldwide religion.”
In particular the group said a rise in the “potency of fundamentalist Islamist groups” represents the greatest threat to religious freedom worldwide with radical groups counting the eradication or at least subordination of Christianity as their goal.
Jeanette says that in many countries, the persecution of Christians is growing. In countries like Iraq and Syria, for example, Christians are under increasing pressure, with many now forced to leave their home countries. In Egypt, Coptic Christians are being deliberately targeted in an unprecedented manner. “(There’s) a lot of deliberate acts of persecution upon the church in Egypt, which has not been normal…”
Jeanette says one interesting trend overseas has been that Christians living in countries where persecution may still be taking place are now also dedicating time to pray for persecuted people elsewhere.
“China would be a perfect example of that – where it was very focused on just surviving…now the Chinese church are looking outward at what’s happening in other countries and wanting to send missionaries to other countries.”
Jeanette says prayer does work.
“I’ve been in the field enough times now to know the effects of prayer,” she says. “And it’s not just one day. The challenge is to get the free church to turn its attention to the persecuted church on this one day but as a ministry we want people to get involved and get our prayer calendar and pray for them every day. Maybe IDOP is a springboard to engaging with the persecuted church more fully.”
* Jeanette asked that her last name not be used.
For resources and further information about the day, see:
