The Endangered Family

This time of year is almost always dedicated to the family. Whether we have immediate family at home, or extended family visiting from elsewhere, or college aged children returning from school, we all celebrate Christ with family.

The past few weeks in middle and high school I have tried to broaden our appreciation of family by talking about our brothers and sister in Christ who live in persecuted lands. Each year, there is recognition of the international persecuted church in November but it never seems to go beyond a tacit acknowledgment of our distant relatives half way around the world. With an ever-increasing sense of interconnectedness and shrinking global boundaries between peoples, we as Christians should be the first with such an appreciation. Scripture says that we are "to rejoice with those who rejoice, and suffer with those who suffer" (loose paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 12). As I've spent the last few weeks myself studying the spread of the gospel in the book of Acts, I have been struck by the similarities.

This Christmas season may I encourage you to talk with your children (and listen to them talk with you) about our overseas family? If you would like further information from an excellent resource please click on the link below. You will find an rss feed in order to stay informed on the current state of the persecuted church. It is an excellent spring board for prayer for our suffering brothers and sisters.

http://www.persecution.net/webrss.htm


MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!