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Student Resources for the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church

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The voice of the Martyrs

The Voice of the Martyrs challenges students to become engaged with persecuted Christians, not only so that they can encourage their persecuted family but also so that they are inspired and transformed by the testimonies of standing firm in the face of trials; leading them to a deeper commitment to Christ and His great commission.

Our connection with persecuted Christians is emphasized in Hebrews 13:3, “Remember those in prison as if bound with them

and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.” Again in Corinthians 12:26, Paul writes about the body of Christ: “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it.”

Would you walk for eight hours just to get your own copy of the Bible? Can you imagine having a family member taken from your home and put in prison simply because they shared Jesus with others? How would you feel about telling someone who might want to kill you about the love Jesus has for them? These are real-life situations for Christians in other parts of the world today and are healthy questions for young people to process. On the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (IDOP), you can get involved by lifting up your persecuted family in prayer with the students in your church, youth group or small group.

VOM has developed some activities that will help you challenge young people to get involved in IDOP. VOM would love to hear your feedback about what you did to encourage prayer for the persecuted! We might be able to use this content to encourage others via social media or our blog. Please send this information to: youth@vom-usa.org

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VOM has a Prayer App! Go to your iTunes store and search Pray Today to download for free. You’ll be given a new country every day to pray for.

Activity ONE:: What’s their story?Overview:

The purpose of this activity is to provide a personal connection with students and their persecuted family, so that they don’t feel like they

are praying for nameless strangers in need. It provides them with a picture of the body of Christ.

Preparation:

• Attached are 20 different names and matching description cards. Print enough copies of these for each student to have one.

• Tell students in advance to bring their journals

• Plan out if you need a map or a location for a scavenger hunt and then place the description cards ahead of time accordingly.

On the Day of the Event:

• When students come into the service they will each be given the card with a name and a country on it. They are not given an explanation about the card but are told to keep this card with them throughout the opening activities.

• Before going into a time of prayer for the persecuted, ask the students to take a moment and look at their card. They are told to think about who they think this person is and what this person’s life might be like in the country they live in. They can write down their thoughts in the journal.

• After a few minutes they are told they must now go find out who the person they are holding is.

o Option 1: For younger students you can have a scavenger hunt around the room or the church for them to find their matching name with the card and description. You can tell students that everyone needs to find their person so that no one is forgotten.

o Option 2: For students that may have outgrown the scavenger hunt you can have a map in another room or at the back of your sanctuary. Each of the card descriptions should be tapped/ pinned to the country on the map where it is from. Students are told to go to the map and find their country in order to find their matching person’s description.

• Afterwards give students the time to spread out and read their cards and pray for their person. Tell them they can journal some of the things they are praying for that person.

• Bring the group back together and ask for a few volunteers to share about their person and what they would pray for them. You can remind students that in the same way we had to find the people and not forget anyone, our persecuted family asks us not to forget them but to remember them by praying for them. Encourage all the students to keep their cards and keep praying for their person throughout the week.

• End the time in corporate prayer for all our persecuted family. Ask

Teens can go to icommittopray.com to read the urgent prayer needs updated weekly. You can then post a prayer for that person online!

icommittopray.com

students to help lead this time.

Tips and Suggestions:

• If you have more than 20 students, it’s okay for more students to have duplicates of the people. For example if you have 80 teens, not only do they have to find their matching description, but also they have to find their other three prayer partners. Then students will break into the smaller groups of four to pray together for their persecuted person.

• If it’s possible, try to print the cards on cardstock or something more permanent than regular copy paper. This will encourage students to hang on to the card and continue praying after the event.

• Read the descriptions prior to using. If you have younger children present you may wish to remove some of the descriptions because of their violent/graphic nature.

• All of the 20 cards attached are prayer requests VOM has received in the last six months. If you wish to continue this event at a later time with more recent or updated prayer needs you can visit www.icommittopray.com which is updated weekly, or you can look for stories in VOM’s newsletter or website, www.persecution.com

“If you are a Christian, you will suffer. That is the gospel. So, pray for the brothers and sisters around the world, for the suffering around the world, because one day you will need them, you need their voice. I know they will be praying for you when the time comes.”

–VOM National Contact

You can write to prisoners online at www.prisoneralert.com! Tell them what you are praying for them and write them words of encouragement.

Activity two:: What Would You Do??Overview:

The purpose of this activity is to provide students with a glimpse into what life would be like if they lived in a persecuted nation. This

provides them with a deeper motivation to pray as well as live out their own faith boldly. Teens will be divided into groups of four each (if practical) to discuss several real-life situations of persecuted Christian teens. The discussions will focus on the personal implications of the story, prayer, and what the Bible says about the persecuted church.

You’ll Need:

• Copies of the four “What would you do?” stories provided below for each group of four.

• Bible for each student.

Preparation:

• Make copies of the “What would you do?” stories.

• Preview the scripture passage listed at the beginning of each story.

On the Day of the Event:

• After students are divided into groups, give each student a different story.

• Instruct students to read their story aloud to their group, discuss the questions and read the scripture passage with one another. If enough youth leaders are present, they can help guide the discussion time in each group.

• When all groups have discussed their story, gather the students back together for a group prayer time for persecuted Christians.

• Before leading the prayer time, ask students to share what they think persecuted Christians need prayer for based on the scriptures they read and the stories they heard.

Tips & Suggestions:

• If you are leading a group, don’t feel forced to stick to the discussion questions outlined below. Allow the Holy Spirit to direct the conversation and ask follow up questions to student’s answers such as, “Why do you feel that way?” or “What do you think God says about that?” Or if students are leading the discussion you can tell them that they can talk about more than just the questions listed below as well.

• Have a different student read the scripture verse, the story, and if applicable, the discussion questions to include and engage more people.

• If you would like the activity to last longer, you can have groups trade stories with each other and continue to discuss.

“Before we go out to evangelize, we pray and ask God to show us who really needs God and loves God and God shows us which people to speak to.”

– Tahirih, Iran

What Would You Do? — Story 1

Pakistan Read This: (Matthew 5:43-45) Rimsha, a 14-year-old girl from a poor Christian family in Islamabad, was arrested on Aug. 16, 2012, for allegedly burning pages of the Quran. After a TV news channel reported the accusation, made by a Muslim shopkeeper, a mob of Muslims quickly filled her working-class neighborhood. They surrounded her home, chanting and calling for her death.

More than 150 families fled their homes as the mob raged through the neighborhood. They remembered a similar attack in another neighborhood three years earlier, when mobs looted and burned entire blocks of Christian homes. Before police could reach Rimsha’s home, she and her 15-year-old sister had been badly beaten by the mob.

Police took the girls, along with their mother, to the police station. Rimsha was charged with blasphemy and held in prison during her trial. She was detained for more than three weeks, until witnesses revealed that a Muslim leader had planted the burned Quran pages.

Discuss This: What would you do if you were falsely accused of a crime that resulted in a severe beating and arrest?

Read This: Rimsha was released from prison on Sept. 8, 2012, but she and her family were immediately forced into hiding.

What Would You Do? — Story 2

Israel Read This: (Hebrews 10:38-39) Ami was a normal 15-year-old. He loved to play basketball. And he was always hungry. So when he came home and found a gift basket for the Jewish holiday of Purim on his family’s doorstep, he did what any teen boy would do: he took the basket to the kitchen and dug in, looking for snacks. But instead, a bomb hidden in the basket exploded in his face, blasting shrapnel throughout his body. Miraculously, he survived, but he faced months and months of painful surgeries and rehabilitation.

Ami’s father, David, was an active evangelist and pastor who worked in a Jewish settlement within the West Bank. He led a group of Jewish followers of Christ at their church and had also brought many Muslims to Christ.

Discuss This: If this happened to you, would you want your father to continue telling people about Jesus? How would this affect your daily life?

Read This: The bomb was planted by an extremist who believed all Christians, especially missionaries, should be expelled from Israel. A few years after the attack that almost took Ami’s life, he was back playing basketball, this time on his college team.

“In America, you have the freedom to proclaim Jesus and share the gospel...you have the right to read the Bible, to pray and go to church. Please do that.”

- Bounchan, Laos

What Would You Do? — Story 3

Uzbekistan Read This: (Philippians 1:12) Sasha was just 14 when her pastor father was taken to prison in Uzbekistan in January 2007. She didn’t know the Christmas she had just celebrated would be the last one she spent with her dad for four years. Sasha, as well as her mom and three sisters, missed her dad enormously. He had been the life of their family, always joking around. He was also the one who supported the family, and Sasha’s mom was having a hard time making ends meet. Now, there was often very little to eat in the house.

Sasha’s dad, Dmitry, was held in a prison 12 hours away by bus. Still, she, her sisters and her mother visited as often as they were allowed — two days every three months. That was a lot of long bus rides, and not much time with her dad. She worried about him, because he had high blood pressure and wasn’t getting the medicine he needed in prison.

At first, they were sure her father would be released early. Every time the government would announce a general amnesty for prisoners, Sasha and her sisters prayed that her dad would be one of those set free. And every time the list was published in the newspaper, his name was missing from the list.

Discuss This: Would you find it difficult to remain hopeful if you were in this situation? What would it be like to know your father was in prison simply for being a pastor?

Read This: Finally, in January 2011, Dmitry completed his prison sentence and returned to his family. He had missed four years of Sasha’s life — band performances, school graduations and those father-daughter talks that she treasured. Having him home again was a hard adjustment. The family had learned to live without him, and he was sick and sad when he got home. But every day, it gets a little bit better.

What Would You Do? — Story 4

Colombia Read This: (Romans 12:14) In 1999, when Luis was 10, guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) attacked his town. He hid under the bed with his disabled brother to avoid being hit by gunfire. As the violence continued over the years, Luis saw many of his friends and neighbors killed.

At age 13, God touched Luis’s life and he became a Christian. He finished high school early and entered a two-year seminary program at age 16. He longed to help people who had suffered because of the recurring violence. He knew that Christians were often targeted by the guerrilla groups, and he also knew that a visiting evangelist would be especially endangered.

Discuss This: If you had grown up in a situation like that of Luis, would you want to leave as soon as you could or would you be inspired to go back and help those who continue to suffer?

Read This: Luis used some of his small savings to buy some books, a few games and other presents before returning to his old village. He brought New Testaments donated by The Gideons International and gave them to everyone, even police officers, soldiers and guerrilla members. “I told them, ‘Jesus still loves you despite all the pain you caused,’” he said. “I was scared, but I thought, if I die, I die with Christ.” Luis is 22 and married now, and he continues to travel through the Colombian jungles sharing about the same God who touched his life.

“How great and deep and wide His love is, which makes us help each other and pray for each other, though we are from different countries and nation...this can only happen in Jesus Christ.”

– Sun Li, China

“People prayed for me to escape. Their prayers are what saved my life.”

– Abdi, Somalia

JOHN YAKUBU huang

HadarMaina

Nigeria China

IsraelAsia

John Yakubu, a Nigerian Christian, was tortured by Boko Haram terrorists recently for refusing to convert to Islam. After surviving multiple attacks by Boko Haram in the Gwoza area, the 43-year-old believer had escaped with his family to a refugee camp in Cameroon. Unable to feed his family, he returned home to sell some of his animals. When members of Boko Haram saw him enter his house, they captured him and demanded that he convert to Islam or suffer the consequences. John refused to convert, so the terrorists tied him to a tree and cut both of his hands with large knives. When they again demanded that he convert to Islam, he replied that they could kill only his body. The terrorists continued to cut him on the head, back and legs, finally leaving him to bleed to death. John was later rescued and taken to a hospital. Speaking to a VOM contact, he said, “I have forgiven the Islamic militants because they did not know what they were doing.”

Huang, a Christian man, was arrested in western China when he and a group of other church members tried to reclaim Bibles and other illegally confiscated church property from a police station. Authorities arrested “Huang” after one of the other church members apparently grabbed the collar of an officer. Government officials told Huang’s wife, “Li,” that if she would pretend not to be a believer, Huang would be released early. Li has refused to deny Christ.

An evangelist named “Hadar” and group of visitors were harassed by a shop owner and a policeman for distributing Christian materials during Ramadan. The group was distributing Christian literature, CDs and DVDs in Jericho when a Muslim man came out of his store and threw one of the Christian CDs at Hadar. He shouted at the group and called a police officer to arrest them for “blasphemy against Allah.” As the police officer warned Hadar that the group could be harmed by Muslims, a Palestinian detective arrived and helped prevent the group’s arrest. Ramadan, which lasted from June 28 to July 28, is Islam’s holiest month. Although tensions remained high, many people accepted the literature, CDs and DVDs, and some even asked if they could meet with Hadar privately at a later time.

On July 15, members of a radical Hindu group abused and tortured a Christian woman for sharing the gospel in their village. When “Maina” refused to stop witnessing, village leaders began to threaten her husband. Maina’s husband then beat her, demanded that she return to the Hindu faith, and threatened to leave her and their 22-month-old daughter. She still refused to leave her Christian faith, so her husband abandoned the family for fear of retribution by the radical Hindus.

Jaya Amir

JamesEsmir

Nepal Iran

ColombiaCuba

A Christian woman in western Nepal was attacked for spreading her “foreign” religion. “Jaya,” an evangelist who has led 32 people to Christ in the past two years, was beaten by nearly 20 Hindu women and then kicked out of her village. Her father is said to have taken part in the beating. Jaya is currently in the care of her pastor, and VOM will soon be moving her to a safe house where she can heal from her wounds.

Iranian authorities have set Aug. 12 as the execution date for a Christian man who is imprisoned outside Tehran. “Amir” was imprisoned two years ago after being caught transporting a truckload of Bibles. Publishing, importing or reprinting Bibles or Christian literature is illegal in Iran. A VOM partner asks that we pray for Amir and his family, for his deliverance and for all Christians living in Iran.

The wife of a pastor serving in one of Colombia’s red zones was shot to death recently by FARC guerrillas. Two men on a motorcycle stopped by Pastor James’s home one night at 9:30 p.m., after the family had gone to bed. They lured him outside by asking him to help them fix their motorcycle. When the pastor went to take a look at the motorcycle, he heard the men behind him ask his wife what her name was. When she replied, they shot her twice at point-blank range. Pastor James and his family were the only Christians in their village, and his wife was very active in sharing Christ with everyone she met. The pastor and his four daughters are being cared for by a VOM contact in another city as they mourn their loss. Pray for comfort and restoration.

Pastor Esmir Torreblanca, his wife, Marieta, and their two children, ages 7 and 11, were left homeless on July 2 after Cuban authorities raided and demolished their home, which also served as a church. Government authorities, including state security and Cuban Communist Party officials, broke through the front door of their home in Santiago de Cuba at about 6 a.m. while the family was still sleeping. Officials were seen loading church property and the family’s belongings into trucks before bulldozing the building. Authorities also confiscated identification cards from church members who tried to interfere.

Sergei Kosyak Behnam Irani

RosaSusan

Ukraine Iran

ColombiaUganda

Evangelical churches in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk are being targeted by pro-Russian forces, which view the evangelicals as “sects” that support the Ukrainian government by praying for peace. VOM has received reports of at least nine attacks on Christians, churches and church-run drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers. Pastor Sergei Kosyak, pastor of an Assemblies of God church in Donetsk and founder of the “Prayer for Ukraine” movement, was detained and beaten for four hours. In another incident, on June 17, gunmen broke into a Christian rehabilitation center and held 29 people hostage, before later releasing them. Many evangelicals in the region refuse to take up weapons on principle, and some congregations have been very public about the fact that they are praying for unity in Ukraine.

Pastor Behnam Irani has been returned to prison after being held in solitary confinement for weeks at an undisclosed location. Religious police reportedly beat him on June 7 and threatened him with further prison time. The pastor, who was accused of communicating with the media, was interrogated repeatedly for hours at a time. He began serving his six-year prison sentence in 2011 after being convicted of “action against the state.” He underwent stomach and colon surgery earlier in 2014.

Members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) killed a pastor and his oldest son recently after the pastor refused to shut down his church or allow them to recruit his oldest son and daughter. The FARC guerrillas confronted the pastor three months ago because he had reopened a church located in a red zone. They told the pastor that if he didn’t allow them to recruit his two oldest children he would have to close his church. When he refused to do either, they immediately killed the pastor and his son. The pastor’s wife is now left to care for the couple’s three daughters alone.

Susan Ithungu was 13 years old in 2009 when she accepted Christ. The Ugandan teen stood up for her faith even though her father beat her and locked her in a room for six months with little food or water. She weighed just 45 pounds when she was rescued, and it has taken time for her to recover physically and emotionally. Susan is now thriving in her new boarding school and is in good health and spirits. She clings to her faith in Jesus, has hope for her future and shares her faith with classmates and peers. Her guardian, Dedra Biira, is doing well in her business and is able to help provide for Susan as well as her other children.

Pastor Michael Asim

Viktor KandybaSort

Nepal Iraq

KazakhstanLaos

Pastor “Michael” and his wife have been beaten, burglarized and threatened with death if they didn’t leave their city, but God continues to provide for them as they serve in an area of Nepal where few Christians would go. Within a year of being called to the area, which is known for violence, the pastor had gained the respect of many in the town and had seen 10 people come to Christ. Soon, however, he began to face persecution by those opposed to his work. The pastor persevered through many difficulties, and a new believer recently contributed a large sum of money to help him continue his work in the church, which now has 150 members. Although the church faces great opposition, the pastor hopes to see it grow to 500 members. He said he has seen the love of Jesus transform the worst of offenders.

Pastor “Asim,” who was planting a church in Mosul, was forced to flee the city in July when the Islamic State (IS) began threatening to kill Christians and other non-Muslims. The U.N. estimates that 500,000 people have fled Mosul for Erbil, in the Kurdistan Region. Churches in the region have taken in many Christian refugees, and some believers in Kurdistan have turned their businesses and office buildings into shelters. Many Syrian Christian refugees have provided the Iraqi refugees with supplies from whatever extra they had. Pastor Asim has now had to relocate four times.

Viktor Kandyba, leader of a Baptist congregation in Kazakhstan, was sentenced to 10 days in prison for refusing to pay a fine his church received last year for holding unregistered prayer meetings. The prayer meetings were considered illegal because all religious activity in Kazakhstan must be registered.

A Christian man in Laos was arrested on May 29 and tied to a post after refusing to recant his faith. Sort, who has been a Christian for the past year, was approached by a police official and the village leader on May 15 and threatened with expulsion from the village if he would not give up his Christian faith. “I’ve embraced the Christian faith over a year, and I have not broken any law!” he told authorities. They then took the equivalent of $500 from Sort and tied him to a post as punishment.

Alimujiang Yimiti Qhua Ha

Asia BibiTien

China Vietnam

PakistanLaos

The wife of Uyghur Christian Alimujiang Yimiti reports that her husband, who is being held in a prison in China, has lost a lot of weight since her last visit to the prison and that he looks pale. However, she said he is still doing well spiritually. She asks that we continue to pray for Alimujiang’s strength to overcome the difficulties he faces in prison, such as unkind guards. Gulinuer and her two children are allowed to visit Alimujiang for only 15 minutes every three months. The couple’s oldest son, who is 15, is sad and discouraged about his father’s continued imprisonment, and their 8-year-old son misses his dad and remains anxious for his return. Alimujiang was arrested in 2008 and sentenced to 15 years for “illegally providing state secrets to foreign nationals.”

On April 14, a family of Hmong believers in Vietnam were beaten and forced from their home. For months, local authorities and villagers had pressured Qhua Ha, 37, his wife and their four children to renounce their faith, but they refused. After beating the couple and their 9-year-old son, authorities forced the family to leave, seizing their home and property, including 10 bags of rice and 125 chickens. Qhua Ha and his wife became Christians in February 2013 and were the only Christians in the village. VOM contacts ask for prayer for Qhua, his wife and their four children, ages 9, 6, 4 and 1.

Asia Bibi, a wife and mother, was accused of blasphemy from the Muslim women she worked with. Asia told them, “Our Christ sacrificed His life on the cross for our sins ... Our Christ is alive.” Upon hearing this, the Muslim women became angry and began to beat Asia. Then some men came and locked her in a room. Police came and took Asia into custody. After a trial in 2010, Asia was sentenced to death by a judge for blasphemy. She would be the first woman to be executed under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. Due to international pressure, Asia has not been executed yet, but her sentence has not been revoked as judges fear the radical Muslims. Today, Asia remains in prison, waiting to hear the high court’s final ruling. Her husband and children continue to pray for her release.

A 16-year-old Christian girl is being prevented from attending church by her Buddhist family members. “Tien” loves God and loves attending church, but her family has prohibited her from attending church because she refused to go to temple with them. Tien continued to attend church despite her family’s demands, until her grandmother began coming to the church every week to yell at church leaders. Tien has stopped attending church because she does not want to cause the church trouble. “I really love God and I want to go to church,” Tien said. “Please pray for me, that one day my grandmother or my family will understand me.”

John Yakubu

Nigeria

Maina

Asia

Amir

Iran

Sergei Kosyak

Ukraine

Rosa

Colombia

Huang

China

Hadar

Israel

James

Colombia

Behnam Irani

Iran

Susan

Uganda

Michael

Nepal

Sort

Laos

Qhua Ha

Vietnam

Tien

Laos

Asim

Iraq

Victor Kandyba

Kazakhstan

Alimujiang Yimiti

China

AsiA Bibi

Pakistan

Pastor Esmir

CubaJaya

Nepal

P.O. Box 443 Bartlesville, OK 74005-0443

tel: 918-337-8015 orders and contributions: 800-747-0085 ministry information: 877-337-0302 e-mail: thevoice@vom-usa.org website: www.persecution.com

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