When All Else Fails, Try Persecution

I own dozens of books that claim the secret to growing the Church in America. Looking up at my bookshelf and reading the first seven titles my eyes fall on, all we need for growth is to become the emergent, transformational, contagious, purpose-driven, upside down, simple, comeback church (I'm not making this up...those were part of the titles of seven books, in order). Its working great so far, isn't it?


Perhaps our brothers and sisters in Christ living in the Sudan have found a church-growth scheme that actually works. It's called "persecution."

The civil war that raged throughout the Sudan from 1983 to 2005 left over two million dead, entire villages destroyed, hundreds of thousands of refugees, and established a brutal Shar'ia-based government. Tens of thousands were executed or sold into slavery simply because of their Christian faith. And yet, despite the fact that Western missionaries were expelled from the Sudan in 1964, the country has emerged to boast a church twice the size of the Episcopal Church in the United States. (and that doesn't include the millions of Catholics living in the Sudan).

Earlier this week, President Barack Obama announced that the United States would renew economic sanctions against Sudan for another year. Our decision, in part, is the result of Sudan's continued support for Islamist terrorists. It may also reflect the genocide in Darfur. The conflict between the Muslim north and the Christian south will certainly continue. And the Sudanese government will still ignore its own slave trade.

But the growth of the Christian community in the Sudan rivals anything we see in the world today. Just as persecution of the early Church fanned the flames of growth and expansion, so have the incredible hardships and dangers imposed upon all who profess Jesus as Lord in the Sudan. On January 9, 2011 the country will vote on a referendum that could grant freedom to Southern Sudan.

As we pray this weekend for the persecuted Church, we should all lift up the upcoming election in Sudan. Let us pray for the freedom of those who have endured so much for their faith. The words of a Sudanese praise chorus go like this:

     For I'm building a people of power
     and I'm making a people of praise,
     That will move through Sudan by my Spirit,
     and will glorify my precious name.

While our own recent election was little more than clueless people voicing a rage that they are not able to define, the January election in Sudan could profoundly change the lives of millions of believers. If only we could be so blessed.