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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 their persecuted family for two primary reasons: to encourage believers who are persecuted because of their faith and to be inspired and transformed by these believers’ testimonies.

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

VOM has a Prayer App! Go to your app 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 create a connection between students and their persecuted family so that they don’t feel like they

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

Preparation:

• Attached are 20 cards with a name and country, and 20 cards telling the story of each person. Print enough copies of the “name-and-country” cards for each student to have one.

• Tell students to bring their journals.

• Depending on which activity option you choose (see below), you may need to place the story cards around a room or throughout several rooms, or tape or pin each story card to a map on the appropriate country.

On the Day of the Event:

• As students enter, give each one a name-and-country card and tell them to hang on to it throughout the activity.

• Before going into a time of prayer for the persecuted, ask the students to take a moment and look at their card. Tell them 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, tell students to go find the “story” of the person on their card.

o Option 1: For younger students, you may want to have them search a room or rooms for their matching card.

o Option 2: For older students, you may simply have them find their matching card on a map, where you’ve placed each card on the appropriate country.

• Tell students to spread out and take some time to read their story card, praying for the person named. They can write some of their prayer requests in their journal.

• Bring the group back together and ask 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 the person throughout the week.

• Close the event by asking students to help lead corporate prayer for persecuted believers.

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

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, or look for stories in VOM’s newsletter or on the 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 students’ answers, such as, “Why do you feel that way?” or “What do you think God says about that?” If students are leading the discussion you can tell them that they can talk about more than just the questions listed below.

• 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

Murot Turdiyev Caleb

Pastor EmreUmid Gojayev

Uzbekistan Uganda

TurkeyTurkmenistan

Murot Turdiyev, a prominent Christian, was tortured by police until he lost consciousness, after being stopped at a checkpoint along with three other Christian men. Police arrested all four men and also threatened another of the men with serious bodily harm. Murot, who was driving the car, is under close police surveillance and is listed on a registry that subjects him to a variety of police “preventive measures” for at least a year.

Caleb’s Muslim relatives have threatened to kill him and his daughters because they chose to follow Christ. Caleb’s Muslim wife was taken away from him and given in marriage to another man, but his two daughters chose to follow Christ and stay with Caleb. He asks for prayer for his daughters, who miss their mother.

Pastor Emre Karaali and his church have attracted both local and international attention for their Easter celebration and outreach in Turkey. In preparation for the April 5 Easter service, church members went door to door in Izmit, sharing baked goods and inviting as many as possible to the service. Two local television stations interviewed the pastor, and several newspapers (including an international newspaper) also reported on the church’s Easter celebration. Pastor Emre asked for prayer that the stories will help many throughout Turkey understand why Christians celebrate Easter.

After spending almost three years in a labor camp, Umid Gojayev was granted early release under a prisoner amnesty marking the country’s celebration of Flag Day. However, he is still required to report to a local police station each week. In April 2012, Umid was sentenced to four years in prison in connection with a disagreement between himself and a neighbor over the use of a local well. Although the neighbor withdrew his complaint against Umid, investigators continued prosecution after learning that Umid was a Christian. He is now home with his wife and their three young children.

Imran Ghafur Tabita Adamu’s Family

KeoAhmed’s Family

Pakistan Nigeria

LaosMiddle East

Imran Ghafur’s family requests prayer for his release and for the needs of the family. He is currently serving a life sentence on a conviction of burning a Quran. Imran’s brother Naveed told VOM contacts that the entire family was able to visit him before Easter and that Imran continues to read his Bible, fast and pray. His attorney has filed an appeal with the Pakistan High Court, but no hearing date has been set. VOM has regular contact with Imran’s family, offering prayer and encouragement.

Tabita Adamu and two of her eight children were among five killed in a suicide bomb attack on a church. Tabita is the sister of Habila Adamu, who survived being shot in the face by Boko Haram in 2012. Habila, whom VOM has supported, gained international attention in 2013 after testifying before members of the U.S. House of Representatives on the threat of Boko Haram. The church’s pastor and an elder also reportedly died during the July 5 suicide bombing. Boko Haram is believed to be behind the attack.

“Keo” has been denied access to public utilities, such as water and electricity, because of his Christian faith and evangelism. Since January of this year, Keo has led more than 26 people to Christ. They meet regularly for worship and study in his home, and Keo has provided them with radios that receive Christian programs in a number of languages.

After “Ahmed” and his family converted from Islam to Christianity, their Muslim relatives had Ahmed killed. A pastor took in Ahmed’s orphaned children and raised them with his family. Although it has been seven years since Ahmed’s murder, Muslim family members continue to harass and pursue his three children in an attempt to make them return to Islam. When Ahmed’s son turned 18, the Muslim relatives had him arrested and charged with leaving Islam, but he was released after police changed the charges against him. The pastor asks for prayer for each of the children, now young adults, as their relatives continue to harass them.

Jeremiah Homayoun

SantoshPastor Manik

Kenya Iran

IndiaIndonesia

A VOM contact who works with Somali Christians in Kenya was arrested on suspicion of funding terrorists. Since the April 2 attack at Garissa University by Somali terrorists, Kenyans have been more suspicious of the many ethnic Somalis living in the northeastern part of the country. Somali Muslims in Kenya are reportedly taking advantage of the Kenyans’ distrust and reporting Somali Christians as terrorists. “Jeremiah” was eventually released. Pray for his continued work with Somali Christians.

Homayoun, an Iranian Christian, was released from prison on June 28. He and three others were arrested in February 2012 in a raid on their house church. Homayoun was sentenced to three years and eight months in prison. In April of this year, he was transferred to a notorious punishment ward in Adelabad Prison and was not allowed to have contact with his family. Please pray that he will recover quickly and readjust to life outside prison.

Shortly after “Santosh” presented a gospel message that resulted in healings and in several people turning to Christ, his home and several of his neighbors’ homes were destroyed by fire. One person was killed in the fire and three others were injured. Santosh and three of his neighbors lost their homes, livestock and all of their belongings. Police continue to investigate.

Muslim extremists have forced Pastor Timotius Manik and his congregation out of the church building where they have met legally for the past 16 years. A group calling itself the Islamic Defender Front (FPI) falsely reported that the church does not have the required signatures or legal documents. Police arrived to secure the building and to prevent violence between Muslims and the 80 Christians in the church. The congregation now meets in the homes of church members.

Yousf Bhat Mena Ghattas

Kurdish RefugeesBahaa Mikhael

India Egypt

IraqEgypt

An entire community of believers is grief-stricken by the murder of Mohammad Yousf Bhat, a Christian convert from Islam who was shot to death at his home in Kashmir. On July 1, four gunmen wearing uniforms and masks pushed their way into Yousf’s home before shooting him to death. Yousf had been involved in sharing Christ with Muslims for more than 15 years and was a key Christian leader in the region. He leaves behind a wife and three children.

Christian businessman Mena Meshreky Ghattas was attacked by armed men. The men shot at Mena’s car and tried to force him off the road, presumably to kidnap him, but he managed to escape. Mena lives in a Christian village in Upper Egypt where kidnappings are common. Many Muslims think Christians should not have a right to own property.

A VOM-supported team of Christian workers is providing assistance to Kurds from Yezidi and Shabak backgrounds who were forced to flee their homes due to violence and threats from Islamic extremists. In addition to providing basic aid, such as food, tents and blankets, the workers are demonstrating God’s love and sharing the gospel with the refugees.

The family of Bahaa Gamal Mikhael, a soldier in the Egyptian Army, recently received news that their son had committed suicide. The family strongly doubts the alleged cause of death, as it’s unlikely he would have been able to shoot himself in the heart twice. The family believes Bahaa’s outspoken Christian faith motivated someone to kill him. A VOM worker said Christian soldiers in the Egyptian Army have previously been killed for refusing to convert to Islam.

Syrian Christians Algerian Student

Sudanese MotherSri Lankan Pastor

Syria Algeria

SudanSri Lanka

Intense fighting between Islamic State militants and government forces erupted in Damascus, and media outlets warned Christians living in the area to evacuate immediately. Government forces are employing air assaults and armored tanks to fight the militants, making it extremely dangerous for those living in the immediate area. Last month, it was reported that IS had moved into a part of Damascus that is less than a mile from several Christian neighborhoods. A VOM contact whose family lives in the area requests prayer for believers there. “They can’t go anywhere at this point,” he said. “Pray for the safety of our family and churches all over Damascus and Syria.”

A 19-year-old student in Algeria has been ordered by her family to stop attending church and reading the Bible. The young woman, who recently converted to Christianity after watching Christian TV broadcasts, openly declared her faith to her science teacher who had denied Jesus’ divinity and death on the cross. The school notified the young woman’s family, who then began receiving threats from community members. The young woman hopes to attend a university where she might have more freedom to practice her new Christian faith.

The Sudanese Air Force bombed an area near Kauda, killing a 3-year-old girl and seriously injuring her Christian mother. Hamida Osman suffered a head injury and her daughter was killed when the bomb exploded outside their home. Two days later, a man and woman were seriously injured in another bombing in Kauda. The Nuba people who live in the area believe the government is trying to eradicate Christianity and all non-Arabs.

Two men abducted a Sri Lankan pastor and threatened to kill him if he didn’t beg forgiveness for his Christian activities. They eventually took the pastor to a remote location, where they beat him and threatened to destroy his church. The pastor filed a police report, but the men have not been caught.

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Murot Turdiyev

Uzbekistan

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Umid Gojayev

Turkmenistan

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Imran Ghafur

Pakistan

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Ahmed’s Family

Middle East

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Jeremiah

Kenya

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Caleb

Uganda

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Pastor Emre

Turkey

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Tabita Adamu’s Family

Nigeria

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Keo

Laos

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Homayoun

Iran

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Pastor Manik

Indonesia

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Yousf Bhat

India

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Bahaa Mikhael

Egypt

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Syrian Christians

Syria

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Santosh

India

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Mena Ghattas

Egypt

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Kurdish Refugees

Iraq

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Algerian Student

Algeria

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Sri Lankan Pastor

Sri Lanka

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Sudanese Mother

Sudan

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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