New year, fresh challenges for persecuted church

A Christian group serving the worldwide persecuted church is thanking God for answers to prayer while bracing itself for another challenging year in 2009.

As part of its 7x7 prayer campaign, Release International and its supporters have for the last seven years focused their prayer efforts on China, Indonesia, North Korea, Pakistan, Sudan and Vietnam, all countries which curtail the rights of Christians to worship freely.

In China, Release said that the state was continuing to monitor official churches closely, despite the constitution espousing religious freedom. Christians who choose to become members of unregistered underground churches are still at risk of imprisonment and sometimes torture, said Release.

In spite of the restrictions, however, Release said the church and particularly the unregistered churches were continuing to grow in China and that some Christians imprisoned for their active witness to Christ were freed early. They included Zhou Heng, who faced up to 15 years in prison for possessing illegally published Bibles. He was released in February 2008 after serving six months behind bars.

Release International also saw answers to prayer in its work supporting refugees from North Korea through partner organisation, Helping Hands Korea. When Helping Hands co-worker and former North Korean refugee Yoo Sang-joon was arrested by Chinese authorities in August 2007 for helping North Korean refugees in China, Release urged supporters to pray that Yoo would not be forcibly repatriated to North Korea, where he faced possible imprisonment, torture or even summary execution. Yoo was eventually repatriated to his adoptive home of South Korea, where he also holds citizenship.

Rights organisations have received reports of the reclusive communist country sending entire families of Christians to prison camps and executing people who own a Bible. Release appealed to the worldwide church to keep praying for Christians who are helping North Korean refugees in China.

In Pakistan, where Islam is the official state religion and proselytising among Muslims is banned, Release celebrated the release of one Christian who had been imprisoned on blasphemy charges after his accuser changed his story.

Upon his release last November, Dr Robin Sardar said, “I am grateful to all people who prayed for me. I stayed in the jail silently, reading the Bible and praying to God.”

Release appealed to Christians to pray for Dr Sardar who is in hiding with his family because of threats made to his life by extremists. The group also asked Christians to pray for its partners in Pakistan, Sharing Life Ministry Pakistan and CLAAS, whose staff members have been attacked on several occasions.

“For many of us the New Year offers renewed hope and the possibility of realising dreams and plans,” said head of Release International, Andy Dipper.

“But for pastors and other Christians jailed for their faith, 2009 may simply mean more imprisonment, hard labour, solitude, beatings and abuse from those who persecute them because of their faith in Jesus Christ.”

Mr Dipper said he hoped the testimonies of answered prayer would encourage Christians to keep praying for Release, its partners and persecuted Christians.

“Prayer makes such a difference, and is a key part of our ministry,” he said.

Mr Dipper asked Christians to consider setting up a prayer group to pray specifically for the needs of persecuted Christians on a regular basis.


On the web:
Release has provided a free prayer group guide to support prayer groups, as well as prayer bulletins and updates.

For more information, see www.releaseinternational.org