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2013-12-23

Secret Church

Secret Church

On Christmas, Persecution Is Real

Posted: 22 Dec 2013 11:00 PM PST

For Christians all over the world, today is a day to celebrate the coming of our Savior. And most of us are free to do that openly. Right now, many are gathering together with loved-ones, singing songs about the coming of the Messiah, feasting, celebrating. In fact, for many of us Christians, taking advantage of this religious freedom doesn’t stop at personal worship in our homes or churches; Christmas is an opportunity for gospel proclamation. We “tell it on the mountain” as we strike up gospel conversations using our seasonal surroundings, from our front yard nativity scenes featuring baby Jesus to our “Keep Christ in Christmas” bumper stickers. However, there are many believers who pay a high price for associating with Jesus during Christmas.

Last Christmas in Nigeria, 36 Christians were killed between December 24 and December 30, 6 of those deaths occurring at the hands of gunmen during a Christmas Eve service. Christmas 2011 saw the death of 44 Christian Nigerians.

These tragic killings happened in a place where people are often murdered for following Jesus, but Nigeria is just one of many places where such atrocities occur. And most instances of persecution don’t end up in believers’ deaths. Sometimes worse, their persecutors often make their lives miserable. So they limp on, repeatedly counting the cost and, with joy, daily taking up their cross.

Today, let us pray for these dear brothers and sisters. Whether they find themselves homeless and outcast in the Middle East or face-to-face with violent opposition in places like Nigeria or the Central African Republic, they need our prayers for God’s strength in their lives.

Over 2,000 years ago, when thousands of baby boys were murdered at the hands of King Herod, it was made clear that suffering and death were not to be strangers to Christmas. After all, Christ was born in the manger to die on the cross. And as encouraging confirmation to our brothers and sisters suffering this Christmas, let us remember Jesus’ words to His disciples in John 15:20: "'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you." God fulfilled His glorious purposes through Christ's suffering, and in Jesus, we can be sure that God will do the same for Christ’s followers.

"The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us… And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.  For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers." – Romans 8:16-18, 28-29
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2013-12-20

Secret Church

Secret Church

[VIDEO] SC 14 Simulcast – “The Cross and Everyday Life”

Posted: 19 Dec 2013 12:19 PM PST

It’s not too early to begin making simulcast plans for Secret Church 14, “The Cross and Everyday Life.” On April 18, we’ll be diving into the Word to see how the gospel affects our lives on a day to day basis, whether we’re doing the apparently spiritual things like praying and helping people in need, or whether we’re busy doing the things we’re tempted to deem routine, monotonous, or unimportant.

Thankfully, because the event will be simulcast, you can participate from anywhere in the world. The simulcast is ideal for small groups, churches, organizations, and groups of any size.

Are you registered yet? If not, watch the video below and plan to join us. If you are registered, then help us spread the word to your friends and family… feel free to use the 42-second video below.

One More Month of Early Simulcast Pricing

Posted: 19 Dec 2013 06:00 AM PST

As you may know, registration for this year’s Secret Church simulcast, “The Cross and Everyday Life,” is already open. But what you may not know is that on January 24, the price will increase. So as the new year rolls around and you begin making plans for the April 18 simulcast, make sure you also make plans to register for your group before the current early rate ends and the regular pricing goes into effect.

CLICK HERE NOW to take advantage of this special early pricing and register for the Secret Church 14 simulcast.

Glowing Faces

Posted: 19 Dec 2013 02:30 AM PST

For believers being relentlessly and brutally persecuted, what does hope look like? It looks like light shining out of darkness. The Gospel Coalition’s Collin Hansen explains.

“For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.” – 2 Corinthians 4:6-10
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2013-12-19

Pray for Clarice and Sarah, Widows of Murdered Pastors

iCommitToPray

Dec. 19, 2013 | Kenya

Pray for Clarice and Sarah, Widows of Murdered Pastors

Widows Clarice and Sarah are still in shock after their husbands, both pastors in the Mombasa region of Kenya, were murdered in separate incidents on Oct. 20. Clarice’s husband, a pastor at Mombasa’s Vikwatani Redeemed Gospel Church, was found dead of a gunshot to the head in his church. Clarice told a VOM worker she believes he was murdered to scare Christians away from the area. Pastor Charles Matole, 41, was found slumped in a chair, a Bible still in his lap, as church leaders came in to prepare for Sunday morning worship services. His widow recounted that in the months prior to her husband’s death, there were times that people would throw stones at the church while they held prayer services. Furthermore, death threats made on the pastor’s life were never followed up on by police.

Like Clarice, Sarah also mourns her murdered husband, whose body was found in a brush pile that same morning in Kilifi, about 35 miles north of Mombasa. Pastor Ebrahim Kidata, who started 36 churches in the region and had recently been named the new overseer of the church in Malindi County, had been out the day before to see his cattle and check on lumber to be used to build new tables for his church. His wife grew concerned when she could not reach him on his cell phone, and her worst fears were realized when he was found strangled to death. In addition to his widow, he leaves behind seven children. Two of the children are married, but five are school-aged and still live in the home. Sarah was shocked by her husband’s murder as no threats had been received and there is little motive for his death. Both murders are thought to be related to unrest between Christians and Muslims in the Mombasa region, but no one has claimed responsibility.


 Sarah and three of her children: Rose, Emmanuel and Mary.
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2013-12-17

Secret Church

Secret Church

UPGs and Persecution: Shared Cause = Shared Solution (3/3)

Posted: 17 Dec 2013 01:00 AM PST

This is the third of three posts examining the relationship between unreached people groups and persecution, represented respectively in the maps above. Make sure you catch the first and second posts in this series, too.

We’ve found that at the root of both unreached people groups (UPGs) and persecution is sin. But let’s not stop at simply uncovering how the two are related.

Due to their shared cause, the problems of UPGs and persecution also share a common solution: the gospel of Jesus. Simple, though not necessarily easy. As we have seen, people are born hating the only one that can cure them of their hatred. It seems that this “catch-22″ would lead to an inescapable cycle of lostness and unbelief that stops the spread of the gospel before it even begins. But in true gospel form, God uses this “insurmountable” obstacle to show himself strong, and despite humanly-unbeatable odds and unrelenting opposition, the gospel goes forth. God loved us and sent his Son to die for us while we were still enemies (Rm 5:10), and now he commands and empowers us to love our enemies too. In Christ, the gospel is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rm 1:16), whether friend or enemy.

Both unreached people groups and persecution exist because of sin. Therefore, both UPGs and persecutors need the gospel. And while no sane man would ever involve himself in such a losing battle, God uses the foolish things to shame the wise. Rather than the light of Christ being snuffed out or swallowed up by the dark of the thick forest into which it proceeds, God sets the dense foliage ablaze to spread his light faster, stronger, and brighter than it ever would otherwise. As Christians suffer for their faith, their gospel witness to Jesus – the Suffering Servant – may at times become even more powerful, undercutting the very intent of the persecutors.

Look at those maps one more time and see the red, orange, and yellow of the unreached and the persecuted. Now hear the thing for which the fiery colors are calling – the gospel.

How will you respond?
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2013-12-14

Secret Church

Secret Church

Richard Chin – Suffering With Gladness

Posted: 13 Dec 2013 03:00 AM PST

College Students: You can still register for Cross HERE
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2013-12-12

Secret Church

Secret Church

From the Central African Republic: “They are slaughtering us like chickens.”

Posted: 11 Dec 2013 02:00 AM PST

The Central African Republic (CAR) is in the middle of a violent upheaval. For the most part, it’s our Christian brothers and sisters who are bearing the brunt of this violence. ”They are slaughtering us like chickens,” said one believer of their mostly Muslim attackers. Unlike many instances of Christian persecution from extremist Muslims, believers in the CAR are not facing sporadic strikes from rogue terrorist cells. Their Muslim attackers, since they overthrew the CAR government in March, have been in power, oppressing believers from the top down through horrendous acts of violence, brutality, and injustice.

In what seems to have been a last ditch effort, a Christian militia tried to overthrow the de facto Muslim government. Tragically, this only resulted in the death of 280 people on Thursday (and many more since), the continued reign of this brutal government, and thousands of Christians having fled to the Bangui airport, where French guards and barbed wire fences stood between them and their machete-weilding, gun-bearing attackers.

In the wake of Nelson Mandela’s death in South Africa and international crises in the middle east, the situation in CAR is getting shockingly little attention. But while world may be largely overlooking the plight of these hurting and afraid Christians, the church cannot afford to. We must pray for them.

 Information for this post was gathered from Yahoo News. HT: David Platt
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Pray for Christian Girls Kidnapped by Boko Haram Refugees

iCommitToPray

Dec. 12, 2013 | Nigeria

Pray for Christian Girls Kidnapped by Boko Haram Refugees

Three young Christian girls were kidnapped and abused by Boko Haram militants for three weeks in the Gwoza community of Borno state, Nigeria this year. The group killed more than 60 people and caused 14,000 to flee their homes in Gwoza between May and September of 2013. The militants also occupied, burned or destroyed many churches, schools and homes of Christians. The violence has forced about 6,500 Christians to seek shelter in area refugee camps, and another 5,000 have fled to the bordering country of Cameroon. VOM staff took the three girls who were abducted to the VOM-supported Stephen Center, a boarding school for victims of persecution in Nigeria, where they are recovering.


 A young girl at the Stephen Center in Nigeria.
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2013-12-10

Secret Church

Secret Church

UPGs and Persecution: At the Root of it All (2/3)

Posted: 10 Dec 2013 01:00 AM PST

This is the second of three posts examining the relationship between unreached people groups and persecution, represented respectively in the maps above. Be sure to catch the first one, and keep your eyes peeled for the final post soon.

Rather than trying to figure out whether unreached people groups cause persecution or persecution causes unreached people groups, let us look to more foundational causes, examining each issue independently.

Let’s start with unreached people groups (UPGs). People groups are the largest group through which the gospel can flow without encountering significant barriers of understanding and acceptance. UPGs, then, are people groups in which less than 2% of the population are Evangelical Christians. There are about 6,400 UPGs in the world today. On a fundamental level, why are people unreached? The simplistic answer is that they haven’t yet heard the gospel. At this point, we could delve into any one of the practically innumerable factors that contribute to their not having heard – geographic isolation, hostility, the church’s inaction, etc. Yet whatever the immediate cause, we can trace its root back to the Fall. Because of the Fall, people are born sinners, and everyone needs salvation from their sin and the punishment it merits. So, “Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim 1:15), and everyone needs to be “reached” with this joyous news. However, until it is proclaimed to a group of people, they remain in their default, “unreached” state.

Now for persecution. Open Doors defines Christian persecution as “any hostility, experienced from the world, as a result of one's identification with Christ.” Why does it occur? Jesus told his followers, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you,” (Jn 15:18) and, “If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you” (Jn 15:20). Clearly, persecution is an inevitable byproduct of hatred for God. People act on this sinful hatred by rejecting God and persecuting those who identify with him. This hostile repulsion is often even more evident when a Christian tries to tell unbelievers that they are sinners in need of a Savior.

So at the root of both UPGs and persecution, we find sin. UPGs exist because “unreached” is the default state into which people are born in sin, and persecution exists because of people’s sinful hatred for their Creator. There’s the link. Because of their common origin, in areas where one phenomenon is intense, we can be sure that the other is as well.

Let the Replacements Flood the World

Posted: 09 Dec 2013 09:58 AM PST

Ronnie Smith was recently shot and killed at the hands of a gunman in Benghazi, Libya. World has the full story here. This American teacher was a follower of Christ, and he was influenced by John Piper's ministry. Here is Piper's reflection on Ronnie's death:

Ronnie is not the first person who has died doing what I have encouraged them to do. He won't be the last. If I thought death were the worst thing that can happen to a person, I would be overwhelmed with regret.

But the whole point of Ronnie's life is that there is something worse than death. So he was willing to risk his own life to rescue others from something far worse. And he could risk his own life because he knew his own risking and dying would "work for him an eternal weight of glory" (2 Corinthians 4:17). And he knew God was able to meet every need of his wife and son (Philippians 4:19).

We are not playing games. When I preach that risk is right, I know what I am doing. When I say, "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him — especially in suffering," I know what suffering may mean. When I say, "Fear not, you can only be killed" (Matthew 10:28), I take seriously the words of Jesus: "Some of you they will put to death. . . . But not a hair of your head will perish" (Luke 21:16).

Finally, I call thousands of you to take Ronnie's place. They will not kill us fast enough. Let the replacements flood the world. We do not seek death. We seek the everlasting joy of the world — including our enemies. If they kill us while we love them, we are in good company. Jesus did not call us to ease or safety. He called us to love for the sake of his name. Everywhere. Among all peoples.

Read the entire post here.

Photo credit
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2013-12-07

Secret Church

Secret Church

Beloved Brother Killed Overseas

Posted: 06 Dec 2013 10:06 AM PST

Ronnie Smith, chemistry teacher at the International School Benghazi in Libya, was shot and killed yesterday morning while going on a  jog. He was a member of the Austin Stone Community Church in Austin, TX. Below is an open letter regarding this tragedy, posted to the church on Austin Stone’s website. Let us join them in grief and prayer as we are inspired to emulate the example of sacrificial service Ronnie gives us, to the glory of God among all nations.

Dearest church,

It is with a very heavy heart that we write to you today about the loss of our dear brother Ronnie Smith. Ronnie was shot and killed in Benghazi while going for a morning jog. We don't fully understand the motives of his attackers. He had been teaching chemistry at the International School Benghazi in Libya for the last year and a half.

Before moving to Benghazi, Ronnie was a member of the church staff at the Austin Stone. Ronnie, his wife Anita, and his son are dearly loved by our church family; many of us knew Ronnie and his family well. Ronnie and his family were planning to spend time before Christmas with us here in Austin. Anita and their son had returned to the U.S. and are safe with family. Ronnie, out of a sense of dedication, had stayed in Libya to be with his students through their midterm exams.

Ronnie and his family moved to Benghazi to teach high school chemistry and to be a blessing to the Libyan people. Ronnie loved Libya and was dedicated to his students to help them aspire to their dreams. Ronnie's greatest desire was for peace and prosperity in Libya and for the people of Libya to have the joy of knowing God through Christ.

Ronnie was a brother in Christ and a faithful servant of this church for many years. Although we grieve because we have lost a friend, a husband, and a father, we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God has a greater purpose than we can imagine right now. Though we don't fully understand right now, we place our full trust in the one who does until we see our friend again.

For right now, we ask you to:

  • Pray for Anita, Hosea, and the rest of Anita and Ronnie's family
  • Grieve for the loss of our brother with the hope of Christ
  • Trust that God's will is perfect and His purposes are good

If you happen to be contacted by news media, please refer them to Dave Barrett, our Executive Pastor.

“If one member suffers, all suffer together…” – 1 Corinthians 12:26
“… follow me.” – Luke 9:23
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2013-12-06

Pray for Christian Refugees in Sudan

iCommitToPray

Dec. 06, 2013 | Sudan

Pray for Christian Refugees in Sudan

When Christians were driven from their homes in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains by government bombings, most fled with little more than the clothes on their backs. Many had to walk for days to reach refugee camps that offered very little in the way of meeting their numerous needs. Recently, VOM workers and partners distributed Action Packs through church networks in the camps. Displaced families, widows and the disabled were among those who received the VOM reader-sponsored Action Packs recently in Yida, a refugee camp in South Sudan. The Action Packs contained shoes, children’s clothing, towels, soap, bed sheets and many other badly needed items. In total, VOM will distribute 3,500 Action Packs in various refugee camps in 2013. One recipient, a widow with five children, said, “With all that happened to me during the war and up until now, I still trust in God. Last month as I was seated in my house, one of the church members brought me an Action Pack from the church, which he said were gifts from our Christian brothers and sisters in U.S. who are praying for us. This really touched my heart.”


 Women in Sudan look at a Bible received with their Action Pack.
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2013-12-03

Secret Church

Secret Church

UPGs and Persecution: Neither the Chicken nor the Egg (1/3)

Posted: 03 Dec 2013 01:00 AM PST

This is the first of three posts examining the relationship between unreached people groups and persecution, represented respectively in the maps above.

It doesn’t take an expert eye to see outstanding similarities in the two maps above. In fact, one could easily assume that, with a slightly different color scheme, each map measures the same thing. But this is not the case… at least not primarily.

The first shows unreached people groups (UPGs), red representing areas in which people groups are least reached. (“A people group is unreached when the number of Evangelical Christians is less than 2% of its population.” For more information on people groups, unreached people groups, and unreached unengaged people groups, check out the International Mission Board – Global Research.) The second marks the countries of the world in which Christians are most persecuted for their faith, red representing the countries in which it is most severe. The overlap between the two maps won’t let us ignore the apparent link. But just how exactly are they linked, and what does it mean?

It could be that unreached peoples exist because of persecution. Both common sense and history will tell us that many unreached peoples persecute the gospel messengers attempting to bring them the good news. Clearly unwelcome, Christians stop going to the persecutors (whether from inability or fear), and they remain unreached.

However, it could also be the case that persecution exists because people are unreached. After all, Christians are persecuted by the unreached because the unreached are enemies of Jesus (Matt 12:30), and by extension, of his followers also.

The reality of these two scenarios – both equally true in their own right – are evidence that these two maps and the phenomena they represent are more intertwined than any simple cause-and-effect analysis could reveal. Our exploration into the relationship between UPGS and persecution, then, should not center around the question of “which came first?”
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Pray for Christians Traumatized by a Rebel Attack

iCommitToPray

Dec. 03, 2013 | Syria

Pray for Christians Traumatized by a Rebel Attack

Thousands of Christians were forced to flee their homes and dozens were killed on Oct. 21 when an Islamist group linked to al-Qaida stormed the historically Christian town of Sadad. Islamist rebels robbed those who were fleeing of money, documents and other valuables. They looted and destroyed many homes, businesses, schools and other public buildings, and they attacked church buildings, marking them with insulting graffiti. Government forces re-captured Sadad on Oct. 28, enabling Christians to return to their homes. When they returned, they discovered a mass grave filled with almost 40 bodies.


 VOM is providing assistance to Christian refugees in Syria.
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