This lent I am using resources provided by @BarnabusFund to pray & fast for the persecuted Church. Each day is challenging & humbling – reading of the terrible suffering of my brothers & sisters in Christ endure for His name’s sake. (There is a recurring theme to most of the persecution, but like the recurring theme to most of our domestic terrorism – it shall remain nameless so as not to offend liberal ears!)

This sentence by a Church leader struck me today:

Living or dying is of very little importance now. The most important thing is keeping faith in the Lord

What a challenge to my personal courage & conviction.

What a marked contrast to the moral cowardice & capitulation I’ve witnessed from the Church of England of late.

Dear friends, don’t be afraid of those who want to kill you. They can only kill the body; they cannot do any more to you. But I’ll tell you whom to fear. Fear God, who has the power to kill people and throw them into hell.

Luke 12v5

For most of us these words of Jesus are academic. For Christians in Burkina Faso – and the other countries on the Barnabus Fund list – they take on a whole new level of meaning & faith.