Suffering Church Action Week focuses on persecuted children

Children growing up in persecuted minority Christian communities are the focus of this year's Suffering Church Action Week AP

Barnabas Fund is asking the church to rally around Christian children growing up in hostile parts of the world where they are part of a persecuted minority.

The organisation, which supports persecuted Christians, is asking believers to support the next generation in the suffering church with their prayers.

Free resources have been put together to enable churches and individuals take action on their behalf during Barnabas Fund's Suffering Church Action Week 2013 running from 27 October to 3 November.

The week includes a worldwide Day of Prayer on Friday 1 November.

Barnabas Fund warned that the wake of the Arab Spring had brought a strengthening of Islamism and a deterioration in conditions for persecuted Christian minorities.

It said Christian children growing up in this context "will need to be courageous in the years ahead".

"When Christians are persecuted, it is often children who suffer most acutely," said Barnabas Fund.

"They are easy targets for violence or injustice. Persecuted Christian children are often subject to aggression at school, discrimination in exams and pressure to convert to the majority religion."

However, it added that even Christian young people growing up in Western countries were in need of prayer to "stand firm in their faith at a time when it is being publicly undermined and marginalised".

Dr Patrick Sookhdeo, International Director of Barnabas Fund, said: "Christian children need protecting, teaching and strengthening in their faith to stand amid persecution.

"By providing for children's spiritual and material needs, supporting suffering families and resourcing the persecuted Church today, we are helping to raise a new generation of courageous Christians.

"Please make a note of the dates for our Suffering Church Action Week and start to think about how you and your church can get involved in this important campaign.

News
18 church leaders arrested in China as part of crackdown
18 church leaders arrested in China as part of crackdown

Christians in China have long faced harassment from the authorities.

Less than half of American adults say religion is important - study
Less than half of American adults say religion is important - study

Despite less than half of Americans ranking religion as an important part of their daily life, America is still more devout when it comes to religion than its economic peers, such as the United Kingdom or Germany, new data from Gallup shows.

Report shows huge contribution of faith communities to Welsh society
Report shows huge contribution of faith communities to Welsh society

The Evangelical Alliance has produced a report showing the impact that faith communities are having in Wales.

Church historian highlights challenges and opportunities for evangelicalism in a changing world
Church historian highlights challenges and opportunities for evangelicalism in a changing world

A leading church historian has warned that the public image of evangelicals is being distorted by US politics, even as the movement experiences rapid growth and renewed vitality across the Global South.