The Persecuted Church

Here in America our faith in Christ doesn’t really cost us anything, in terms of persecution.  On the doorstep of the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Pastor Jay gives us a thought-provoking look into what many Christians around the world are facing for their faith in Christ.

Did you know that 163,000 Christians die every year for their faith in Christ?  It is estimated that currently over 200 million Christians are being persecuted worldwide. What is Persecution? Persecution is a situation where people are repetitively, persistently and systematically inflicted with grave or serious suffering or harm and deprived of (or significantly threatened with the deprival of) their basic human rights because of a difference (race, religion, nationality, political opinion, membership in a particular social group) that the persecutor will not tolerate.

With that definition of persecution what is Christian Persecution? Christian persecution is a situation where Christians are repetitively, persistently and systematically inflicted with grave or serious suffering or harm and deprived of (or significantly threatened with the deprival of) their basic human rights because of a difference that comes from being a Christian that the persecutor will not tolerate.  To distinguish religious persecution from other types of persecution it is helpful to ask, “If a person had other religious beliefs or would change their religion to the majority religion of the country, would things get better for them?”  If the answer is “yes”, then it seems that the persecution is on religious grounds.

Join Pastor Jay as we explore “The Persecuted Church”.