Remember Us and Pray for Us: the Persecuted Church

I'm calling this "encouragement Monday" today because the following blog post is going to encourage you and I pray inspire you to become involved in ministry.

The post is written over at Randy Alcorn's website, Eternal Perspective Ministries and is a guest post by Tami Yeager.  Tami is the bookkeeper at Eternal Perspective Ministries and she's also an area coordinator for The Voice of The Martyrs.  Tami has also gone on numerous short term missions trips and has a passion for the nations and the persecuted church.

I encourage you to click here to read her full blog post.  Here's a few highlights that I know will encourage you.

This month marks the 45th anniversary of The Voice of The Martyrs (VOM). It was in October of 1967 with $100, an old typewriter, and 500 names and addresses that Richard Wurmbrand published the first issue of Jesus to the Communist World, later renamed The Voice of The Martyrs. It was a newsletter dedicated to sharing the testimonies from our brothers and sisters in restricted and hostile nations.  

Both Richard and his wife Sabina had been imprisoned in Communist-ruled Romania. Richard spent nearly 14 years in prison, three of which were in solitary confinement.  Sabina spent three years in forced labor on the Danube Canal. Birthed from their time of torture came a passion to share the stories of the persecuted church with the free world. 

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My introduction to The Voice of The Martyrs came through a newsletter handed to me in 2003. The stories in this publication disturbed me greatly, yet I was compelled to learn more. I found in the words of these pages real people with real stories. I was being confronted with a reality that did not fit into the neat package I had unknowingly wrapped my knowledge of God in.

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As I learned more about the persecuted church, I sensed a passion for those who suffer igniting within me. In 2004, I attended a Regional Conference at the Voice of the Martyrs headquarters in Oklahoma. As each speaker took the platform, I witnessed the purest form of humility and sweet surrender to Christ (see 2 Corinthians 2:14-15).

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I felt as if I were alone with the Lord in the room. This statement seared my heart, and I knew the Lord was speaking directly to me. I recalled the list of demands I called “a prayer” the night before, and heard Him say to me, “I did not create you that way.”  At that moment, I said “Yes!” to His way in all my life.   

Shortly thereafter I joined the Voice Volunteer Network, a ministry of VOM.  As area coordinator I lead area representatives from Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska. We are among over 300 area representatives and area coordinators who speak for the persecuted church in the United States. It is a joy to share the stories of our brothers and sisters who are persecuted for their faith with the American church. “Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body” (Hebrews 13:3).