One Body: Hope for the Persecuted Conference – What You Can Do While You Wait
If you're like me, you think that time goes by way too fast. In spite of the current heat wave, it seems as if we were just celebrating Christmas, never mind Easter and Pentecost, and now…it's the end of July!
We would like to slow time down for a while. Except, that is, when thinking about the One Body: Hope for the Persecuted conference coming up Friday, September 27, and Saturday, September 28 at St. Mark's Parish, 2024 S. Collins Street, Arlington, TX! We are so excited about being together with all of you who care about our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world.
I'm sure you've already registered for this very important conference. What? Not yet? Better do it soon if you want a 15% discount off the registration fee, which is already a great deal. Registration includes dinner on Friday and breakfast, lunch, and snacks on Saturday. Register here now!
The goal of the conference is having the Body of Christ in the West be the best prayer warriors and advocates for our persecuted brothers and sisters all over the world that we can be, and the conference will spotlight Christians in China, Pakistan, Sudan, and Nigeria. These are some of the many areas where egregious religious persecution is taking place and where we will learn what we can do defend our persecuted brothers and sisters.
At the conference there will be lots of prayer! This will include a Stations of the Cross-type time of prayer focused on banners featuring some 20 different countries. There will be worship! Under the leadership of Marcus Foster from Christ the Redeemer Anglican Church, Fort Worth, we will sing praise to God and use the spiritual weapon of worship to wage war against the forces of the evil one. And there will be some special surprises in the Advocacy Action Sessions.
By now you're thinking, I can't wait till the One Body conference to find out what I can do to help persecuted Christians! If only there was something I could do now, while I'm waiting!!
Good news! There is! There are actually several things that you can do! Here are just a few examples:1
1. For Christians in Nigeria. Right now, there is a resolution in the House of Representatives to put Nigeria back on the State Department's list of Countries of Particular Concern (CPC), a very effective deterrent to persecution. Unfortunately, Nigeria was removed from this list by the Biden Administration in 2021 in spite of escalation of persecution. You can:
A. Send a note or call House Speaker Mike Johnson's office (H-232, The Capitol, Washington, D.C. 20515, 202-225-4000) and Majority Leader Steve Scalise's office (Contact | Majority Leader) urging them to bring H. Res. 82 to the floor for a vote before this session of Congress ends. The fact that the resolution gets passed by the House, even if there is not a similar one passed by the Senate, just the news that the House has passed such a resolution will send shock waves through the Nigerian government and make them take protection of the Christian community more seriously.
B. Check the list of co-sponsors so far on this H. Res. 82. If your US Representative is on the list, send them a thank you note to show them you appreciate their concern for persecuted Christians and encourage them to keep up the good work! If they are not on the list, send them a note urging them to become a co-sponsor!
2. Also on Nigeria, you can help blast the lie that the mass slaughter of Christians is "not persecution of Christians, but a crisis caused by climate change!" You can find details on this ridiculous and offensive assertion here as blasted by famous French filmmaker/philosopher/journalist Bernard-Henri Levy. You can also see this reported by our friends at Truth Nigeria. It's a project of Equipping the Persecuted, whose founder, Judd Saul, will be one of our speakers at the conference. Managing editor Douglas Burton will also be one of our speakers.
3. For Christians in Pakistan: At the conference, you will hear an incredible story about impoverished Christians (and Muslims and Hindus!) whose whole families become slaves in Pakistan's enormous brick kiln yards because of debt that grows and grows and that they can never repay. The ministry that is redeeming brick kiln slaves, paying the debt of people, some that have been enslaved for 30 years or more is Families Set Free. The ministry's founder, Mike Brickley, will speak at our conference.
But before you get to Arlington for our conference, you can check out the website of the ministry and you can help purchase the freedom of a poor Pakistani Christian family!
That should keep you busy until it is time for the One Body: Hope for the Persecuted conference.
Why not see how many of these advocacy items you can accomplish before you arrive at St. Mark's!
Oh, and one other thing to do. Urge your friends to come to the One Body conference. Especially friends from other denominations. We truly do want our coming together in solidarity as one Body, the Body of Christ, to be the hope of the persecuted.
Faith McDonnell has recently become the Director of Advocacy at Katartismos Global, a Christian non-profit organization founded by The Rt. Rev. Mrs. Julian Dobbs for the purpose of "Equipping the Saints." Previously she directed the International Religious Liberty Program and Church Alliance for a New Sudan at the Institute on Religion and Democracy, Washington, DC. Faith has been an advocate for persecuted believers and for wider human rights issues for over 27 years, speaking, writing extensively, and mobilizing church members. Faith organized rallies and protests, drafted legislation on religious persecution for both houses of Congress, and for the Episcopal Church. In addition to co-leading the Anglican Persecuted Church Network, Faith co-leads GAFCON’s Suffering Church Network with the Rt. Rev. Andudu Adam Elnail.
