Sunday, November 7, marks the International Day of Prayer for Persecuted Christians.
Todd Nettleton with The Voice of the Martyrs USA says, “My co-workers and I here at The Voice of the Martyrs often go and sit down with persecuted Christians. We ask them, ‘How can we help you? How can Christians in places like the United States, in freer countries, help? The first thing they say is ‘Pray for us.’”
Get your church involved
You can get involved, especially through your local church. In fact, Nettleton hopes every church takes time Sunday to pray for persecuted Christians around the world. VOM has created resources to help, including a video. You can find these resources here.
Nettleton talks about the video. “It’s short, usually three to five minutes. It gives the story of a real-life persecuted Christian, or somebody that kind of puts a face to the idea of persecuted Christians.” Additionally, VOM gives churches specific things to pray for on Sunday. “If you want to have a kind of a guided prayer time, in the course of your service, there are slides that say, hey, let’s pray for this situation. Let’s pray for this person who’s in prison. Let’s pray for this need that persecuted Christians have right now.”
VOM has observed this day of prayer for over 20 years. But does prayer really make a difference in the lives of persecuted Christians?
Nettleton tells the story of a co-worker at VOM who was imprisoned in Sudan for 14 months. Despite the harsh setting, he got a restful sleep every night. “When Peter was released from prison, he went back home to the Czech Republic. He went to his church, his congregation. They said, ‘You know, Peter, every night at 8:00 pm we stopped what we were doing and we prayed for you.”
News by Mission Network News