“Persecuted believers have become the new face of genuine Christianity. They are filled with passion to live or die for Christ, and we in the West have much to learn from them.”
So writes
I just started reading it, but I couldn’t get past the Introduction without commenting. Listen to Doyle . . .
Persecution Malfunction. “Oppressors over the centuries have never recognized that the persecution of Christians is always a failed initiative. It just doesn’t work. To the contrary, killing believers routinely accelerates the spread of the gospel and the growth of the church.”
This reminds me again of Psalm 2:4a about the nations who rage against the LORD and his Anointed . . .
He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the LORD holds them in derision.”
Radical Islamists like ISIS and antichrist governments like Iran may vow to destroy Jesus’ followers, but their plots (according to Doyle and history) produce the opposite results.
Why? “Because Jesus’ message of love and reconciliation thrives in a climate where hostility, danger, and martyrdom are present. Persecution and the spread of the gospel are as inseparable as identical twins. Suffering propels the growth of Jesus movements around the world” (Doyle).
Muslim vs. Christian Growth. Can that be true? Are persecuted churches really growing, especially when they are virtually all little house or underground churches? Certainly our mega-churches far exceed their growth! But Doyle writes what all American-church studies have shown: “For those of us in the West, the threat of persecution is virtually nonexistent, but statistics show church growth in America—which experiences no persecution—has leveled off during the last twenty years.”
Nevertheless, one gets the feeling that Muslims are out-growing us. Not so, writes David Garrison, author of Church Planting Movements (in 2012). “The annual global growth rate is currently 2.6% for evangelicals, 1.2% for historical Christians, 1.2% for the world population growth [and] 1.9% for Islam (with 96% of that growth estimated to come through biological births).”
Global vs. American Church Growth. Whew! Gospel-spread remains ahead of Islam-spread! Globally. But in America church growth has been level for two decades. And I would argue that much “growth” we see in most local churches has come mainly from “church shoppers.” Four-plus years ago, when we moved into our new church building, newcomers visited about every Sunday. A new church building attracts “shoppers.” So does the latest and loudest praise music. And smoke and disco lights. And a coffee bar with free Sunday newspapers. And a “multi-plex” where six different-style services are held simultaneously. That’s church growth by Madison Ave. marketing. Books have unashamedly argued for it. Many pastors have bought into it. Only recently have they learned that church growth by marketing usually produces consumer “Christians.”
Growth vs. Gospel. The term “church growth” implies we’re playing the numbers game. Counting people is biblical (see Acts), but only as a sign that the Gospel is spreading and converts/disciples are being made. That’s how I’m using the term here. Not bodies in a building, the Spirit of Christ in lives.
Persecution and Gospel-Spread. We should ask why “persecution and the spread of the gospel are as inseparable as identical twins.” Listen again to Doyle: “As inconceivable as it is to Christians who have not faced life-threatening persecution, the suffering produces immense blessing through the radical transformation of individual believers. Each one comes away marked, never truly returning to the same life. Sometimes survivors are unrecognizable even by their own families because, in the midst of their brutal afflictions, they experienced Christ in an hour of need as few of us ever do.”
How sobering! Apparently the higher the cost of following Jesus the deeper the devotion to following Jesus!
Oh, we do suffer. Chronic physical pain. Broken heart over a broken marriage. Loneliness from losing a loved one. This is real suffering— but suffering common to fallen humanity. It’s not suffering because we follow Jesus (even though it genuinely, and sometimes cruelly, tests our faith). Nevertheless, despite the growing threat to religious freedom, I’d guess 99% of us aren’t suffering for Christ.
Action Suggestions. So what can we do? Pray for persecution? That’s not being a fool for Christ, that’s just being a fool! Here are three sensible suggestions . . .
- Read Killing Christians or Dreams and Visions (both by Doyle and available from Amazon), or other books or websites about persecuted Christians (Voice of the Martyrs-http://www.persecution.com/.) Media news says little about Christian persecution. So most of us are only vaguely aware of what’s happening. We’re left with a truncated view of the Body of Christ and presume all Jesus’ followers live in a “Disney World” somewhat resembling ours. Consequently, we’re blind to the life-and-death war that following Jesus drafts us into.
- Mentally compare our Jesus’ following with theirs. Even when we are informed, it’s easy to dismiss what we read. How much greater impact when we measure our life of following Jesus with the lives of believers in the Middle East! Let’s read, but then imagine our following Jesus potentially costing our job, our home or our lives. How would we respond if Jesus invited us, “Come, follow me and die”?
- Repent of lukewarmness and pray for the Holy Sp[rit to inflame our hearts with passion for Jesus. In the final analysis, reading and comparing are only aids. The Holy Spirit alone can inflame our hearts with passion for our Lord. What changes he might work if we regularly prayed, “Lord, ignite my heart with passion for you. Deepen my devotion to you, so that I’ll die more to myself and live more to you.”
- Pray in daily devotions for the persecuted church. Lois and I have established that habit. It reminds us of our suffering brothers and sisters everyday. And who knows what the Lord might do in response to our little prayers for a “little” believer in Iran?
- Ask the persecuted church to pray for us. We may have beautiful air-conditioned buildings and overflowing libraries of books and the freedom to argue secondary theological points. But what I’m reading tells me they have the heart, the passion and the devotion to Jesus that we’ve lost (if we ever had it). So maybe when we send our missionary offering each month, we should send this humble prayer request . . .
Will you please ask the Jesus’ followers you serve
to pray earnestly for us in America?
We so need the faith and passion and life-or-death devotion to Christ they have!
Allen,
You always have a good message.
John and Sue K