International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church

“They will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify” (Luke 21:12-13).

Yesterday was the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, when Christians around the world lift up their brothers and sisters who are being persecuted for their faith in areas where it is illegal to be a Christian or illegal to convert others to Christianity.

I shared a sermon in the churches in Sighișoara and Țigmandru, based on Luke 21. (Click here to read my whole sermon.) As Christians who are not being persecuted for our faith, it is our responsibility:

1. To be thankful to God – thankful for our freedoms, thankful that we’re not persecuted.
2. To pray for those who are being persecuted for their faith. There are missionaries and church leaders in these countries that we must pray for, who risk their lives to spread the Gospel.
3. To live our lives with the same dedication and integrity as those who remain strong in the face of persecution. The persecuted Church often grows because believers are dedicated to what they believe in. But often believers who do not face opposition do not develop their faith.
   

We paused in the middle of the sermon (after point 2 above) for a special time of prayer for the persecuted church. I told about 7 missionaries I know personally who minister in areas of the world where it is unsafe and/or illegal to spread the Gospel. I reminded the congregation of Nazarene church leaders who were killed earlier this year for sharing their faith. After introducing each of the 7 missionaries, I invited a member of the congregation to pray for that missionary and for those to whom they minister.

We concluded the service with singing the song “You are my Hiding Place” (in Romanian), changing the pronouns to reflect those in persecution:

You are their hiding place
You always fill their hearts with songs of deliverance.
Whenever they are afraid, they will trust in You. They will trust in You.
Let the weak say, “I am strong in the strength of the Lord.”

Appropriately, today is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which was the most symbolic of all the revolutionary changes in 1989. With the fall of the Iron Curtain new freedoms (including religious freedoms) came to the countries of Eastern Europe like Romania.

Note: This article has been published in Engage Magazine.

Click here to read more about the Persecuted Church in the 10/40 Window.