International Day of Prayer for Persecuted Christians: Sunday November 7th
by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – International Day of Prayer (IDOP) 2021 falls on Sunday, November 7, and is a day for the international church to pray for believers around the world who have been harassed, silenced, tortured, displaced, wounded, maimed, and imprisoned because of their faith in Christ, CBN News reports.
The IDOP initiative was launched nearly 20 years ago and is supported by, among others, Open Doors USA, a 70-year-old advocacy organization for persecuted Christians worldwide, CBN said. Open Doors monitors global Christian persecution and publishes an annual Watch List of top 50 countries where believers are persecuted for their faith.
In an interview with CBN, David Curry, president and CEO of Open Doors USA said it is important for believers around the world to take time to focus on praying for their brethren who are suffering for the sake of the Gospel. “Over 340 million Christians are persecuted or oppressed because of their faith in Jesus,” Curry attested. “Some of those places like North Korea are exceptionally difficult. If you’re caught with the Bible, you may spend the rest of your life in prison or even lose your life.”
“Then there are other places around the world where the Gospel is opposed,” Curry added. “You may be harassed and bothered so there are any number of ways people can be persecuted for their faith… prayer is what it’s all about…to pray is to actively do something to help someone else.”
Believers can take part in IDOP on Sunday by downloading the Pray for the Persecuted app in order to receive detailed, real-time prayer requests from persecuted Christians, CBN said.
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