Pray for the Persecuted Church: Shockwave 2008 - 3 Oct 2007

Our faith needs to play out in the communities we are planted in, in the streets where we walk, in the schools and colleges we attend.  But we, as believers, need to be connected to the global Body of Christ, drawing inspiration from the strength which every joint supplies.  The Apostle Paul wrote:

"If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it."

We must embrace those of our faith who are suffering. We must pray for them. No, better yet, we must pray with them.  The persecuted church doesn't need our pity.  They need our attention and prayers.  We in the western church have much to learn about prayer from our suffering brethren.

Pastor Ha’s church in Vietnam grew from twenty-nine to over 5,000 in just a few years during the communist regime in the late 1970’s. When asked the secret of this phenomenal church growth, Pastor Ha replied, “I have a very simple theology. When you have problems, pray! When you have more problems, pray more!” Every morning this church had a well attended church prayer meeting at 6 am. And the church grew and grew. Although they were constantly living under pressure, there was one Scripture text chosen for the wall of their sanctuary, ‘In everything give thanks.”
 
And yet after his years of imprisonment, Pastor Ha said, “When I had my freedom, I worked with prayer sometimes in the background. In prison, I discovered that prayer is everything. It’s like a pilot using a checklist before he takes off. If he skips the first item, many lives might be in danger. The first item on our checklist should always be prayer. If we skip it the whole mission is in jeopardy.”

Mike Pilavachi, part of the leadership team for Hope 08, an amazing call for word and social action on a scale never before seen, also gives his take on the importance of connecting globally with the persecuted:
 
“There are 1000’s of Christians around the world who are persecuted for their faith. Part of the body of Christ is hurting. And when part of the body hurts the eyes need to weep and the mouth needs to scream. And what we want to do is we want to weep and we want to cry out to God for the part of his body that is hurting that is bruised that is persecuted that is in prison."
 
24-7 and Open Doors want to give you an opportunity to get involved.  We are presenting an event called Shockwave.  Shockwave is an opportunity for us to come together all over the world and call out to God and intercede for the persecuted church.  You can get together with a few other people or organise a prayer event with your church. There are going to be some great events taking place around the world, but you can pray on your own in your room as well.

Shockwave is being planned for this first weekend in March 2008.  Over the coming months, you'll see more updates on this website about how you can be involved along with locations, times and dates of events around the world.

Can you make space for the persecuted church in your life?  Visit the Shockwave website for prayer resources, video clips and other news.