One of the missionaries from my missions organization went to Pakistan recently to preach the Gospel. There he met and made several brothers in Christ. Now in Pakistan there are rolling blackouts that conserve power for the country, and it was during one of these blackouts where the missionary asked these brothers if they would want to go to Iran to preach the Gospel. There was a long pause in the darkness, and the missionary wondered if he spoke out of line since Pakistan and Iran are not on the greatest of terms. At least one of the brothers spoke up, “We don’t have any money to cover the travel costs.” The missionary thought for a moment, and said, “Why don’t you walk there?” Another pause, and another voice was heard in the darkness. “Wow, why didn’t I think of that? Let’s go!” Other voices chimed in agreement in that moment, and 20 brothers went by foot to do missions in Iran.
While the brothers were on their way to Iran, the missionary
brother emailed them asking if they needed prayer for the persecuted church
there, and their reply really got me thinking (as well as the missionary). “Why
do you call it the persecuted church? What is the church, if it isn’t
persecuted?” That was when the missionary realized that the Western evangelical
movement has got it all wrong, and a paradigm shift began in his thinking.
I write this as both an encouragement and reminder, for you
and for myself. I have to remember to pray for these 20 very real brothers
walking to almost certain death, but they don’t fear death because they know to
live is Christ and to die is gain. I also need to remind myself that if the
local church isn’t being persecuted for living for Christ, then what is its
purpose?
