My first meeting today was at 7.00am with a man who heads up a ministry supporting believers in countries where worshipping as a Christian is not tolerated. Where having a Bible is a crime. He told me of a Small Group of believers that secretly meets that was exposed last week and the members arrested - a very different challenge to Small Group life. Sometimes our challenge in the UK might be feeling tired, or watching TV or just not bothering - for our brothers and sisters in other lands the stakes are much higher - literally life and death. The laisez faire attitude of believers in the UK genuinely puzzles and angers my friend:
"Why", he asks, "can we not be bothered in this country when others are paying for their lives?" . He told me of the scores of believers arrested in the last month and pointed me to an informative website: www.fcnn.com.
As it happens, the day before I had been struck whilst reading Andrew Wilson's excellent book "God Stories" where he quotes 171,000 Christian martyrs currently per year.
What a challenge.
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