Persecution Blog

Experience Exile for One Night

EXILE NIGHT

Our brothers and sisters choose Christ over safety, homes and jobs. For one night, you can share their experience — and be inspired by their choice.

Exile Night is an opportunity for you to identity with your persecuted family members in a tangible way. You will eat what they eat, sleep how they sleep and gain a deeper understanding of what they learn through severe trials — Christ is what matters, even when He costs everything.

Exile Night is designed to be as simple to implement as possible, and VOM provides almost everything you’ll need for the event (most of which is free).

Host an Exile Night

Exile Night is an overnight event that can be held indoors or outdoors. The goal of Exile Night is for attendees to gain an understanding of what Christian refugees experience on a daily basis, to be encouraged in their faith in Christ and to stand with their persecuted family through prayer. Click on the link above to learn more, and begin to plan how your church, youth group or university will host an Exile Night.

Muslim Refugees are a Gospel Opportunity

"John" and "Mary" are working among Muslim immigrants and refugees in Europe, sharing the love of Jesus with people from a particular nation. Their work includes contacts with both long-term European residents and new refugees fleeing the crisis in the Middle East; each group requires different approaches when presenting the gospel.

Listen as John and Mary share stories from their work--including the unique way God prepared Mary as a teen-ager to work among Muslims--and some common characteristics and experiences among Muslims who are choosing to leave Islam and follow Christ.

We'll also talk about how you can reach out to Muslims, even if you feel intimidated or don' think you know the Quran well enough or know the right answers for their questions. We'll inspire your faith and add to your prayer list this week on VOM Radio.

Never miss an episode of VOM Radio! Subscribe to the VOM Radio podcast on iTunes or Google Play Music.

Living a Print-Worthy Faith

People love seeing their name in print.

During my days as a reporter for a small daily newspaper, people who had been featured in the paper would often stop by to pick up extra copies. They wanted to send them to family or friends, or cut out their story to display on their refrigerator. Some would even frame it.

Seeing their name, story and photo included among the day’s top news and feature stories was a validating experience. They felt, maybe for the first time, that their story mattered.

Given the opportunity, I think we all would feel the same way. We all want to be known on a deeper level. We all want to be remembered.

In January, a field worker and I traveled to Bangladesh to collect new stories to share with our readers across the United States. During the trip, we met “Fani” Bitan, 44, a pastor living in northern Bangladesh. That night, he sat in a plastic chair across from us and, in front of a room full of other pastors sitting on a dirt floor, shared the story of the persecution he had experienced.

In our American context, his story was remarkable. It included him being shut off from the Muslim society and suffering multiple beatings. In the context of the other pastors in the room, it was somewhat ordinary. In fact, he started his story by saying, “As a believer of Christ, we have to go through lots of persecution every single day.” In Bangladesh, pastors often receive death threats and have been attacked conducting VOM projects for persecuted believers.

As I listened, I waited for something that made his story stand apart from the rest – those details that were unique to him.

Suddenly, his eyes grew big. He remembered something. He put his hands in his right pants pocket and pulled out some crumpled pieces of paper. Under the room’s single light bulb, he handed them to me.

I unfolded the papers to discover copies of newspaper articles. Although I couldn’t read Bangla, I knew why he was excited.

His story was print-worthy.

The articles discussed a Top 10 list created by the Islamic extremist group Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh. The list ranked the most-wanted Christians in the region – those who were working among Muslims.

Fani was No. 8 on the list for living a bold Christian life, sharing the gospel and baptizing former Muslims.

“Oh my goodness, I saw this news on TV, but I didn’t know he was one of them,” our translator said after Fani explained what he had just handed me.

Fani’s inclusion on the list didn’t bother him. He was actually thrilled to see his name in the paper.

“I am very happy because my name is on the list,” he said. “How many people can get their name on the list?”

I then asked him if he was worried since his name – and Christian faith – were now in print, for potentially thousands of Muslims to see.

“No, I have no worry,” he said. “I am not nervous. If God wants me to die in this way, why not? It is up to God. What can I do?”

One of our many goals at The Voice of the Martyrs is to tell the stories of our persecuted brothers and sisters standing firm in their faith in the 68 countries where we serve. And they are not spiritual superheroes. They are regular believers, like you and I, who, after remaining faithful, were empowered by the Holy Spirit to stay strong in their faith during persecution. The strength of their story is found in its ability to be shared as a testimony to God’s work in their lives.

Another goal of VOM’s is to inspire you, as part of the American church, to live a better faith story by hearing those of our persecuted family members. After reading how they’ve overcome fears to stand Christ, we hope you’ll be moved to do the same in your own unique circumstances.

Not all of us will experience the thrill of seeing our stories told in the pages of a newspaper. Thankfully, we don’t need that to happen to be known on a deeper level or to be remembered.

God already knows our stories intimately. He knew them before we were born (Psalm 139:16), and is recording the stories of those who look to him in a “Book of Remembrance” (Malachi 3:16). Your story matters to Him. What a validating thought.

In the meantime, we must allow Him to continue writing our stories while prayerfully and courageously following his lead. Then, when the time is right, we’ll be able to reach into our figurative pockets, pull out our testimony of his work in our lives and be able to share it with others, printed or not.

Darren Sanders is a writer on staff with VOM. He learned about VOM as a teenager after reading Jesus Freaks and began receiving the newsletter. He continues to be inspired by those living out their faith despite persecution.

Against All Odds: Amazing Tenacity

Those who work with persecuted Christians realize we have a lot to learn from them. One of the lessons recently impressed on my mind by the underground church in China is their tenacity to carry out the task of global evangelism. At a recent gathering of mission leaders, mission teachers, and missionaries I heard a presentation by a Korean missionary who works with the underground church in China to prepare missionaries who will be sent out by the Chinese underground church. His main role is to help train Chinese missionaries who will be sent cross-culturally within China and also into neighboring countries in Asia and beyond. He said that there is no shortage of candidates from the underground churches desiring to go out as missionaries.

Some of the motivation to go out as missionaries stems from missionary movements within the Chinese underground church.  The “Back to Jerusalem” missionary movement, which began in the 1980s, is a movement to send missionaries to all the Buddhist, Hindu, and Muslim people who live between China and Jerusalem, for example. Similar indigenous missionary movements continue to inspire and motivate Chinese Christians to serve as missionaries and have so for a century.

As the Korean missionary spoke, I was struck by the profundity of it—that in spite of being under restrictions, harassed, and sometimes persecuted, the underground church is looking beyond its borders to carry the gospel cross-culturally. It is recruiting, training and sending out missionaries. Apparently this is not new. Scott W. Sunquist, Dean of the School of Intercultural Studies and Professor of World Christianity at Fuller Seminary, wrote that even though the early Jesus movement [the early church] was fragmented and persecuted, it managed to retain its zeal for missions.

An article titled “The Chinese Church: The Next Superpower in World Mission?” by Kevin Xiyi Yao reports that Operation World lists 20,000 cross-cultural missionaries from mainland China. This is probably a very conservative figure since it is hard to gather all the information from the underground church. The article also reports that a survey done by a Korean missiologist reveals that 90% of urban and rural ministers in China are concerned about missions. Over 40% of believers in urban churches are preparing to participate in mission. The writer says: “Chinese Christians have ample experience of persecution and suffering, and they are more ready to endure harsh conditions.” I would doubt whether the countries these missionaries are going to will welcome them with open arms. Their experience helps prepare them for difficult assignments.

As the missionary movement slowly dies in the West, those persecuted Christians with just about everything going against them (from the Western viewpoint) are picking up the mantle and seeking to fulfill God’s mandate—against all odds. How ready are we to accept the difficult assignment? Does our present situation make this prospect unlikely? What are we going to do about it?

Roy Stults, PhD, is the Online Workshop Coordinator and Educational Services Coordinator for The Voice of the Martyrs. He graduated from Olivet Nazarene University (BA and MA), Nazarene Theological Seminary (M.Div.), Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Doctor of Missiology), and The University of Manchester (England) with a PhD (theology). A Vietnam veteran, Dr. Stults served as a missionary for 19 years and pastored U.S. churches for eight years. Prior to joining VOM, he was a Professor of Religion at Oklahoma Wesleyan University.

Middle East Update on Moody Radio

Yesterday VOM's Todd Nettleton was a guest on In the Market with Janet Parshall, aired nationwide on the Moody Radio Network.

In the 30-minute interview with Parshall, Nettleton shared highlights from his recent visit with VOM contacts and Christian workers in the Middle East.

Please click here to listen to this interview (a new window will open; Nettleton's interview begins at about the 24:45 mark). We are thankful to our media friends who help VOM share the stories of our persecuted family.

Can You Join Us to Be Inspired?

When you attend a VOM Advance Conference you’ll be inspired by how the gospel is advancing in hostile nations.

Some of the richest fellowship comes from meeting our persecuted brothers and sisters face-to-face. But you don’t have to go overseas to meet them; we are bringing them to your area with the VOM Advance Conference. Their inspiring words will wrap you in a blanket of hope. You will leave with fresh motivation and joy!

“After my salvation, attending your conference has been the most important event in my spiritual life.”

—Norfolk, Virginia, conference attendee

Register now for a powerful day of worship and fellowship. Be sure to bring your family and friends. There’s no registration fee, but we ask that you pre-register so that VOM and the host church will know how many people to expect.

“We certainly don’t hear [in the media] how the church is advancing in the midst of and in spite of suffering. This might have been called a conference but I see it as a message from God to open our eyes to how He is growing the church in and through persecution and suffering.”

—Norfolk, Virginia, conference attendee

REGISTER NOW and join us for a day of inspiration and challenge!

A Price Had to be Paid in Mexico

“Mike” and “Rose” serve the Lord in Mexico, where they planted a secret church in a tribal village hostile to evangelical work. They’d been warned that gospel work in that village was dangerous, but God’s call was clear. Several villagers came to Christ, and they began a secret Bible study.

But the Good News didn’t stay secret for long, and Mike and Rose were evicted from their home and kicked out of the village. Listen in as they share how God moved through that difficult time to encourage them and empower local Christians stand strong in their young faith, and draw others into the Kingdom.

 

Never miss an episode of VOM Radio! Subscribe to the VOM Radio Podcast on iTunes or Google Play Music.

 

Extreme Sufficiency

NIGERIA: ROSE

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you.” 2 Corinthians 12:9

“Hurry, get into the closet. Do not make a sound unless you hear my voice. Do you understand?” Rose heard the two small voices of her preschool children say, “Yes, Mommy,” then she bolted out the door and headed toward her daughter’s school, praying that it was not too late.

At the proclamation of Sharia, or Islamic law, by the Nigerian government, pockets of violence broke out against Christian groups because they had opposed the laws. Rose’s oldest daughter was still at school during the rioting, and Rose was sure she would not be safe there. When she arrived at the school, her daughter had been taken to a military base for safety. Eventually, Rose found her, and they returned home where the two younger children were waiting safely.

The following day, when her husband left for a Christian gathering, it was the last time she saw him alive. Roughly 260 churches were destroyed during these riots, and more than 460 Christians were killed.

In the months since her husband’s murder, Rose has drawn comfort from the book of Acts. She said, “The same God that allowed Stephen to be stoned also allowed Peter to escape from prison. God has been faithful, and his grace has been sufficient.” Today Rose continues to work in the church where her martyred husband pastored, and she busily raises her three children.

It has been said God will never lead us where his grace cannot keep us. We must realize that sometimes his plan does not include a miraculous deliverance from illness, death, or oppression. Yet his grace is sufficient, and he has not abandoned us. We must trust that God would not lead us to a place of ministry or work without an adequate measure of his grace to make it. Sometimes his plan involves simply seeing us through an ordeal instead of delivering us from it. Have you come to a point where you are willing to entirely rely on him? You’ll likely never say that God’s grace is all you need until his grace is all you have.

This is one of the readings from the book, Extreme Devotion, available from VOM’s online bookstore. You can also receive devotional thoughts daily via email. Sign up here. Daily devotional readings are also available in the PRAY TODAY app for your smartphone or tablet.

"I'd Rather Be In Prison"

The Voice of the Martyrs USA is part of a worldwide family of missions that were started through the influence of Pastor Richard Wurmbrand. SDOK is VOM’s sister mission in the Netherlands. Stef is SDOK’s children’s publication and website.

The following story comes from Stef magazine.

Hi. I’m Rebecca. In our country [Iran] are great food and beautiful old buildings. At the same time, there are horrible places. In one horrible place is my dad. His name is Behnam. He is in prison.

I was 9-years-old when everything changed. A lot of [Christians] were in our living room. We were singing when the police arrived. They beat [my father] and took him away in their car.

[In prison] they simply mistreated my dad — sometimes so bad he had to go to the hospital. That’s not normal, right? One time we went to visit. My little brother Adriel didn’t even recognize him and called him “Sir.” That made my mother cry a lot.

Recently … the government said he could come home. But then he would no longer be allowed to do Christian things. Do you know what my dad said? He said, “I’d rather be in prison with Jesus in my heart than at home cozy on the couch without Him.”

I so badly want him to come home. I pray a lot for that, and I know a lot of other Christians pray that also. Would you pray along with me that my dad would be released soon?

(Source: SDOK. Translated and edited.)

Learn more about Rebecca’s dad here.

VOM’s Kids of Courage resources help parents and educators teach children ages 5 to 13 about persecuted Christians. The resources provide opportunities for children to serve and pray for their suffering brothers and sisters around the world.