We took the decision at our last PCC to support Open Doors as one of our new partner organisations.
Each year they publish The World Watch List.
This is Open Doors’ annual ranking of the 50 countries where Christians face the most extreme persecution. It is a unique, indepth record of those countries where faith in Jesus costs the most. It demonstrates the enormous scale of the persecution being faced by Christians around the world.
Measuring the scale and severity of persecution is a complex task. Open Doors understands persecution as ‘any hostility experienced as a result of one’s identification with Christ’. Sometimes, just living in a chaotic world creates substantial amounts of suffering for Christians and others alike. But often allegiance to Jesus leads to focused hostility from neighbours, government and police.
That hostility can take many different forms, from insults and abuse, to discrimination in education and the workplace, to outright violence.
Following a suggestion from a member of the congregation, from Advent Sunday onwards we will be including some information about each of these countries in the bulletin over the next 50 weeks. Please include these nations in your prayers at home. If you are leading intercessions in church, praying for them will be a good way of helping to focus our attention on the needs of the persecuted church world wide.