The persecuted church
Christian religious persecution is any type of hostile behavior experienced as a consequence of a person's identification with Christ, and can take many forms, including social discrimination and/or violence against physical integrity.
Many Christians believe that persecution occurred long ago against the early church, but in reality, today, more than 340 million brothers and sisters in faith experience some form of persecution every day. And it doesn't stop there; in fact, persecution of Christians has intensified globally, and the number of Christians who have to meet secretly because they cannot meet publicly to praise God, nor can they even speak to anyone about God without risking imprisonment or worse, has increased.
How can I help?
We pray for these brothers and sisters of ours who are persecuted daily for loving Christ.
In 1 Timothy 2:1-2, Paul gives us the following instruction:
"I ask, first of all, that everyone make prayers, requests, supplications, and thanksgivings to God for all people. Pray for those who govern and exercise authority, so that we may live in peace and quiet, praising God with dignity and with all respect."
It may seem like a distant reality, but Jesus warned us that there would be persecution, that there would be suffering for the sake of His name. Therefore, pray that the Lord continues to give you the freedom to speak about Him publicly, and pray that the suffering of persecuted brothers and sisters may bear good fruit, that the Lord may bless them for all that they have faced for Him and strengthen them more each day.
Finally, we want you to reflect on how you have been living. Have you been making good use of your freedom? Have you used that freedom to spread the Word, or have you been negligent with the last instruction Jesus gave to the church: to GO and make disciples of all nations?
It is to be expected that you will experience some form of persecution, as we see in 2 Timothy 3:12:
"And all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted."
Being persecuted is like a barometer of your faithfulness to Christ, because He also said that if they mistreated the master of the house, how much more will they mistreat his servants (see Matthew 10:24-31).
+340 MILLION
CHRISTIANS AROUND THE WORLD FACE SOME FORM OF OPPOSITION AS A RESULT OF THEIR IDENTIFICATION WITH JESUS CHRIST
For more information, click on Open Doors or on the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe.
