By Ronald E. Keener
Is it possible we have been Christians too long — and have become stale in our hearts for others? For those who are “the forgotten family of God.”
The group is called Underground Faith and there were just 16 of us. To get to the meeting I had to climb a stairs outside the facility, weave left and right down an outside corridor toward the back of the building, and there ahead was a nondescript door titled 254A.
Inside were friendly people preparing to worship and learn about the underground church. No, this was not China or a Muslim country. It was a congregation near my home in Mesa, AZ, that hosts this event each month, and a husband and wife team from Voice of the Martyrs would speak about the persecuted church in North Korea and Ethiopia.
It turned out that this group was observing its 10th year meeting in this way, committing themselves to prayer, encouragement and awareness about fellow Christians who endure so much for their new found faith. For the past year I have been wearing pliable bracelets on my right wrist, one that says Pray for China and another bearing the reminder that we are “bound with them.” (Heb 13:3) They are rather drab colors, but there is nothing ordinary about their purpose in reminding me of those who suffer, really suffer, for the faith.
Take China for example. One report from the ChinaAid Association says that the Chinese government intensified its pressure against Christians last year for a “fifth straight year of escalating persecution.” The Christian human rights organization reports (through Baptist Press) that “beatings, torture, arrests, harassment, and church demolitions are among the 90 recorded cases of persecution, a nearly 17 percent increase over 2009.”
PrisonerAlert.com. It provides a way to write phrases of encouragement in a letter to a prisoner and the software automatically translates it to the native tongue.
I chose a pastor (and his wife) imprisoned in Iran who have been detained since last Sept. 4. There was a lump in my throat as I put the 98 cent air mail stamp on the envelope and hoped it might reach the pastor in a moment when it would lift his spirits with a bit of hope through my meager letter. Many such prisoners do receive letters like my own; many know they are not alone. (Open Doors has a writing program too.)
The couple that spoke that night to my group recalled how the Apostle Paul, once a persecutor of Christians, often used the words “remember” and “less we forget.” People like my Iranian friend — for that is what he is now — are thought of as the “forgotten family of God,” with a stress on the word family.
Within the 60 countries of persecuted Christians, their most frequent request is for prayer, the couple reminded us. It’s important that they are not forgotten, they told the 16 of us. It is groups like ChinaAid, VOM, and Open Doors who work faithfully at keeping people informed so that they know how and who to pray for.
We shouldn’t take religious freedom for granted, not even in this country, as Muslims here also seek to be given the same privilege.
Everyone favors religious liberty except when it’s for someone else, it’s been said.
Those meeting that night behind door 254A are free to worship as they please. Their secluded location had nothing to do with their purpose of gathering. Still, there is a “Door 254A” in many neighborhoods in many cities in many countries around the world. What happens behind those doors is of great importance to us in America, and we can’t be silent.
