What We Don’t Know about the Persecuted Church

Katherine Britton
Thursday, July 07, 2011

American Christians know astonishingly little about their brothers and sisters overseas, say Dr. Carl Moeller and David Hegg, co-authors of the book The Privilege of Persecution: And Other Things the Global Church Knows That We Don't (Moody). Moeller, who heads up persecution ministry Open Doors USA, says many people believe his job must be depressing because they think he works with needy, third-world believers who live in fear. In an interview with Crosswalk.com, however, he says nothing could be farther from the truth.

To start with, he says, “the most surprising thing about the persecuted church is its joy.” He can tell story after story of Christians who are excited to live a life of persecution. They don’t enjoy being martyrs, he says; instead, “they do have something those of us in the United States don’t have very often, and that is a deep and intimate reliance on Jesus Christ. The fact that they know Jesus is enough in a practical way is a way that we can gain from them.” the rest