This Sunday is the international day of prayer for the persecuted church. The president of Open Doors, an organization founded by Brother Andrew that’s dedicated to assisting Christians who are suffering under persecution, says in this interview that persecution is increasing around the world. But he also sees hope in that fact:
I just became aware of a story of a family in Indonesia whose daughter was one of three girls who were attacked by Muslim extremists in 2004. Her face was horribly disfigured, and her friends were decapitated as they walked home from school. What was remarkable was the mothers have taken up a cause of demonstrating Christian forgiveness to the extremists in a very remarkable way. Their effort on behalf of the cause of Christ to forgive those who had done the most horrible things to their families and their daughters is a testimony of the way the Christians are called to respond.
Many times people neglect the fact that as martyrs they’re witnesses for the reality of Jesus Christ. When people die in the name of Jesus Christ, it presents a strong testimony to the culture. And in each case, where we see that Christians are publicly persecuted and killed, the church is correspondingly growing. We see hope in the face of that kind of tragedy.