As the persecution of Christians worldwide increases, churches in the UK and Ireland are being called to pray.
The International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (IDOP)was launched in 1996 by the World Evangelical Alliance and is marked by Christians around the world as a way of focusing prayer on the plight of persecuted Christians.
Churches in the UK and Ireland are being invited to use Sunday November 5, or any another Sunday in November, to stand with Christians who face violence and discrimination because of their faith.
UK-based Release International, CSW and Open Doors will be taking part in an online event hosted by the Evangelical Alliance, at 7.30pm on Sunday, November 5.
Streamed event
The streamed event will feature stories from Eritrea, Nigeria, and Nicaragua, and highlight Christians who have been imprisoned for their faith.
To help churches hold their own special services of prayer, a range of resources is available for download from the Release International website. These include a short film telling stories of imprisoned Christians in China, Eritrea, and Pakistan.
Among the prisoners featured for prayer on the RI website is Pastor Wang Yi from China, who was jailed for publicly refusing to implement the Communist Party’s strict new religious laws. He was given nine years for allegedly ‘inciting subversion of state power.’
Pastor Wang stated: ‘I firmly believe that the Bible has not given any branch of any government the authority to run the church or to interfere with the faith of Christians. Therefore, the Bible demands that I, through peaceable means, in meek resistance and active forbearance, filled with joy, resist all administrative policies and legal measures that oppress the church and interfere with the faith of Christians…
‘I hope God uses me… to tell those who have deprived me of my personal freedom that there is an authority higher than their authority, and that there is a freedom that they cannot restrain, a freedom that fills the church of the crucified and risen Jesus Christ.’
Other downloadable resources include presentation slides with prisoner profiles, a sermon outline for speakers, prayer points, testimonies, and songs.
One family
Says Release International CEO Paul Robinson: ‘In the New Testament the Apostles sought to strengthen and encourage persecuted Christians. And they prayed for them.
‘On this International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, we have the opportunity to truly count those who suffer for Christ as brothers and sisters, to stand with them and lift our voices with theirs in prayer. Join us!’
To register for the online event, please click here
Release International is active in some 30 countries. It works through partners to prayerfully, pastorally, and practically support the families of Christian martyrs, prisoners of faith and their families. It also supports Christians suffering oppression and violence, and those forced to flee.
