Delhi: In one of the largest prayer events on Sunday, Nov. 8, thousands of churches from over 150 countries prayed for the persecuted Christians across the globe.

An initiative of the World Evangelical Alliance, the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (IDOP) prepared an occasion to offer prayers for “thousands of our Christian brothers and sisters around the world who suffer persecution, simply because they confess Jesus Christ as Lord.”

Executive Director of the Religious Liberty Commission of WEA, Godfrey Yogarajah, asked Christians to pause their busy lives and think of those who were enduring persecution for the sake of Gospel.

He urged Christians to go on their knees praying for “those who have not eaten for days because they are given nothing to eat…those languishing in prison…Christian families who have watched their homes burn to the ground…pastors who are brutally beaten and tortured for their faith…those who are facing death, even right at this moment, for refusing to denounce Christ..”

He recalled his meeting with widows of several Christian leaders who were killed during the Kandhamal violence last year. “They had lost everything: their homes, their possessions and their husbands. ‘We have lost everything except our faith,’ one told me, clutching her baby,” he shared. “Pray that we stay strong and bring up our children in the faith for which their fathers gave their lives,” Yogarajah quoted a victim saying.

Yogarajah exhorted Christians to “unite in prayer for the persecuted church, in the spirit of oneness that Christ commanded, ‘For, if one suffers, we all suffer’.”

Started in 1996, the prayer event co-organized by the Open Doors USA, “presents a tremendous opportunity for millions of people to make a difference in the lives of those being persecuted for their faith in countries like North Korea, Iran, Iraq, China, India and many more,” according to the ministry’s President Carl Moeller.

“Persecuted believers have asked us who live in freedom to pray for them—always their number one request,” he adds.

Incidentally, the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church falls in the month of November which also celebrates “All Saints Day” and “All Souls Day” - set apart to remember the saints of the church and the souls of those who departed this world.

According to the organizers, the prayer campaign has been earlier participated by over 100,000 US churches, representing nearly every US denomination.

The goals of IDOP are three-fold: increase awareness of the persecuted church worldwide, lead in prayer on behalf of the persecuted church, promote ongoing and appropriate action on behalf of the persecuted church.