|
the late Steve
Snyder of ICC |
The late Steve Snyder, founder of International Christian
Concern, said, "If
you drop a heavy object on your toe, there are two immediate
reactions-- your voice cries out and your hand reaches out
to comfort that hurting part of your body. This should be
the automatic reaction of the body of Christ today. When one
member suffers, our voice needs to cry out and our hands
reach forward to help the one suffering." |
|
|
"FAQs"
| "I
thought all persecuted Christians were dead," said a
teenage girl in a high school assembly that had gathered
to find ways to help persecuted Christians. "Why are
we sending money to a bunch of dead people?"
Christians
(including Catholics) are in the forefront among other
religious minorities being persecuted because of the
religious bigotry of others. Some are tortured or
imprisoned, others are killed.
Methods of
persecution include arrest, imprisonment, forced labor,
breaking up of families, starvation, solitary confinement,
beatings, forced sleeplessness during days of
interrogation, rape, dismembering limbs of bodies,
enslavement, crucifixion, torture by breaking bones,
inserting needles under fingernails, hanging in precarious
positions, and death.
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| China, Sudan,
Colombia, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Mexico,
Nigeria, Afghanistan, Turkey, Iraq, Myanmar (formerly
Burma),Indonesia, India, Vietnam, North Korea, to
name a few.
Click
Here for information on organizations
helping believers in other countries.
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 |
"In
a recent poll most Christians said they think the
Government or UN should handle the persecution of
Christians. I disagree. It’s the job of the church
to help persecuted Christians."
(Jim
Jacobson of CFI) |
Hebrews
13:3 tells us to remember those in prison as if you were
their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if
you yourselves were suffering. We’re stirred to ask
ourselves once again, what would Jesus do?
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| Religion
Today (Crosswalk.com) and Charisma News Service often run
a persecution-watch segment on their on-line news
services. It’s helpful for writers to save stories of
interest to them, filing them under the name of the
country in Word Perfect files for retrieval later on.
C. Hope
Flinchbaugh has written fiction and non-fiction articles
about persecuted Christians for the following
publications:
BREAKAWAY
(teen guys)
BRIO (teen
girls)
CAMPUS LIFE
(teens)
CHARISMA
& CHRISTIAN LIFE
CHRISTIAN
FREEDOM INTERNATIONAL
CHRISTIANITY
TODAY
CLUBHOUSE
(elementary children)
CLUBHOUSE
JR. (5 - 8 year-olds)
DEVO’ZINE
(teen devotional mag)
GOD’S
WORLD TODAY (Christian school newspaper)
STRAIGHT
(take home paper)
WASHINGTON
WATCH (Family Research Council)
WORLD
CHRISTIAN
You can’t
write stories of horror for children, but you can put your
main character in a particular country and show them
"hiding" Bibles or sneaking away to church in a
fiction story. The writing market is definitely open to
the news and stories of persecuted Christians.
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|
"Open
your mouth for the speechless, in the cause of
all who are appointed to die."
Love, God. (Proverbs 31:8, NKJV) |
 |
Writer
friend, if you’ve read this far you’re obviously
sensing God’s compassion for the persecuted. You have in
your hands and heart the power to be their voice, tell
their stories, and express their needs.
Writing for
them is not complicated. Do you write for adults? Teens?
Children? Seniors? What is your niche? Books? Mags?
Devotionals? Fiction? Nonfiction? Take what is already
working for you and include a story or a statistic about
persecuted Christians. Pull information from the web sites
listed under the link, "Contact Human Rights
Orgs," call them for further information, fact check
until it's coming out of your ears, then write from your
heart.
Please
notice that I’ve written for every age group and used
many methods of telling the stories of persecuted
Christians including devotional, fiction, nonfiction,
feature, editorial, and news pieces. These precious
brothers and sisters have a story to tell. Will you be
their voice?
November 9, 2003
is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted
Church. Why not write a bulletin insert for your church
about persecuted Christians? Inform your church family and
encourage them to be involved in prayer for persecuted
Christians. Click
Here
for information on this event.
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| "The
dangers of doing the wrong thing can be greater than the
dangers of doing nothing," said Paul Marshall, senior
fellow of Freedom House.
C. Hope
posed this question to several leaders of human rights
organizations. Here’s what they said:
"It’s
no help to Christians overseas for us to think of them as
western clones," Paul Marshall told C. Hope
Flinchbaugh in a telephone interview. "We’re not
trying to make them Christians like those in the west. Our
actions should be tied to the needs, desires, and wishes
of those actually suffering the persecution. To find out
what they want, talk to the organizations. Listen to those
who are listening to their voice."
|
Steve Snyder of
ICC |
Steve
Snyder, president of ICC said, "Don’t be a
maverick and assume that you know it all. Pick up
the phone, call someone working in the field of
persecution and ask plenty of questions. The story
that is false or exaggerated could go to press and
discredit the cause of those who serve as a voice
for the persecuted church. At worst, it could
make us laughing stock or jeopardize the safety of a
persecuted Christian. |
There are
some who want to make money off the misery of others and
sell fabricated stories to American journalists. Find
credible sources and stick with those."
"If
you go to countries to report on persecution, you
could jeopardize getting visas to that country or
getting kicked out," said Jim Jacobson,
president of Christian Freedom International.
"You could get a death sentence against you by
some two-bit Islamic group. It’s never happened to
me, but I haven’t written for the Wall Street
Journal either."
Simply
put: Don’t:
1.
Exaggerate -- Tell the Truth,
underestimate rather than overestimate, fact check
2.
Exploit
-- Persecuted Christians are a tender
lot. They aren't there for writers or
human rights organizations to make money from their
woes....
3.
Expose -- If a persecuted Christian is
in hiding, you may need to conceal
their name(s) or even the country they're from...
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Click
Here
for information about persecuted Christians from the
organizations that serve them. You can also check
out these books and videos at your local Christian
bookstore:
RESOURCE
MATERIAL:
Lilies
Amongst Thorns
by Danyun
Their
Blood Cries Out
by Paul Marshall with Lela Gilbert
In
The Lion’s Den
by Nina Shea
Daughter of China
by C. Hope Flinchbaugh
China
Cry
By Nora Lam
VIDEOS:
China
Cry
Bamboo
in Winter
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