A DAY of prayer and motion for the persecuted Church was endorsed by the General Synod after a debate stuffed with stories about how believers continued to suffer for his or her faith world wide.
Prebendary Dr Amatu Christian-Iwuagwu (London) introduced the motion, which had arisen from the London diocesan synod. A day of prayer and motion for the persecuted Church could raise awareness and mobilise Christians, he said. Persecution affected tens of millions of believers, including killings, physical violence, imprisonment, and discrimination. In countries including Nigeria, Pakistan, and Sudan, regular martyrdoms of Christians occurred, and other believers faced harassment in dozens of countries world wide. The situation was, if anything, getting worse, Dr Christian-Iwuagwu said, and required concerted efforts to supply support and advocacy from those living in protected countries.
Christian teaching emphasised solidarity for the oppressed, he said, quoting passages from scripture by which the Early Church had been instructed to take care of those in prison. “Establishing a national day of prayer and motion is a concrete method to live out these principles,” he argued. It would raise awareness, foster ecumenical unity, promote advocacy, and “strengthen faith” by highlighting the courage and perseverance of persecuted brothers and sisters.
A day of prayer would mean that churches would hold special services, encourage Christians to contact their MPs, and support Christian asylum-seekers fleeing persecution, and may lead to special Bible study materials being produced. There might be school programmes, too, to coach young people about religious freedom, Dr Christian-Iwuagwu suggested. A committee can be arrange to guide on this, collaborating with existing advocacy groups and church projects. “This is a profound opportunity for the Church of England to guide on a significant area of witness,” he said. Uniting in prayer and motion would reflect the love of Christ, standing in solidarity with persecuted brothers and sisters worldwide.
The Revd Falak Sher (UKME co-opted) said that each persecuted Christian across the globe was near his heart. He spoke about Christians’ being persecuted in his home country, Pakistan, who often felt forgotten by the Church of England. “They must know we care about their struggles, pray for them, and fight for his or her rights,” he said. Shame surrounding the history of colonialism shouldn’t prevent Christians within the West from speaking out, he said. Silence wouldn’t only fail to enhance the situation, but additionally “deepen our guilt for remaining quiet while our fellow believers suffer for his or her faith”.
The Revd Graham Sparkes (Ecumenical Representatives) praised the motion for drawing attention to persecution, and said that a few of those at the faculty he taught at had had harrowing experiences. He praised the motion’s ecumenical focus, and urged the C of E to coalesce around sooner or later with the opposite advocacy groups and denominations already working on this space. He detected a tension within the accompanying papers between specifically Christian persecution and the broader issue of non secular freedom. Mr Sparkes recalled how the founding father of British Baptist churches fought for religious liberty, not only for non-Anglican Christians, but for all people of all faiths. He urged the Synod to talk out for all those persecuted for his or her beliefs, whatever they could be.
The Bishop of Winchester, the Rt Revd Philip Mounstephen, the creator of a report on the persecution of Christians (News, 5 November 2021), said that this was an enormous issue, and it was necessary that the C of E remained involved. Geopolitics, he said, was increasingly driven by ideological and theological notions, with authoritarian nationalism bolstered by religious chauvinism; he referred to Russia, China, and Iran as examples.
The Revd Sarah Siddique Gill (UKME co-opted) also spoke of the persecution of Christians in her native Pakistan, where all believers lived in fear as “strangers in our own society”. Blasphemy laws were widely abused by Muslims to settle disputes, she said, sometimes violently, with their Christian neighbours. The foundation of the Church was the sacrifices of martyrs over previous centuries. Pakistani believers lived in freedom and “not timidity”, speaking truth in love and testifying to Jesus’s grace of their lives, she said. She asked for the support and prayers of the worldwide Church, and urged members to support the amendment.
Sam Atkins/Church TimesThe Revd Falak Sher (UKME co-opted)
Nadine Daniel (Liverpool) urged the Synod to support the motion, but asked them to provide some thought to its implementation. There was already the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, an ecumenical initiative by which the C of E took part. Should the C of E give attention to engaging with this, “slightly than attempting to do it on our own?” The motion made clear that the proposal was for an ecumenical event, slightly than a day of prayer specifically for persecuted Anglicans, and so thought was needed on how best to implement its goals.
The Revd Folli Olokose (Guildford) said that there have been countries world wide by which he couldn’t openly follow Jesus, including his home country of Nigeria. The Primate of the Church of Nigeria had been bombed out of his home when he was a newly married priest. “No one is protected.” Passing this motion would send a message to the broader Anglican Communion and the C of E’s ecumenical partners, he said. He also asked for more urgent measures and resources to implement previous Synod calls for motion on persecution.
The Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally, said that a national day of prayer would help to lift awareness of the problem. It was a spiritual motion, in addition to a signal that those suffering persecution weren’t forgotten.
The Revd John Bavington (Leeds) spoke of the privileges that everybody within the chamber enjoyed to talk publicly of Jesus Christ without fear of any consequences. He backed the motion, and supported the present ecumenical Day of Prayer in November. He had been brought up in Pakistan, and spoke of a recent case by which an elderly Christian man had been beaten to death over an unfounded accusation of blasphemy.
The Revd Marcus Walker (London) told members that areas by which Christians were now often persecuted were the “cradle” of the religion. He was born and brought up within the Middle East, however the Christians he knew there had now mostly emigrated. Inaugurating a national day of prayer would allow members to return to their parishes and encourage them to hope for Christians world wide. “Many here in England, living in comfort, don’t care concerning the plight of their fellow Christians,” he said.
Dr Rachel Jepson (Birmingham), vice-chair of the Council for Christian Unity, said that she was pleased to facilitate ways to implement this motion. “This can be an inspiring and uplifting way” to work more closely with other denominations, particularly Pentecostals.
Elizabeth Olsen (Chester) spoke of her time working as a missionary in Mali within the Eighties, where she had felt very protected. Since then, persecution had arrived, and never only from governments. The Christians in Mali did now have the scriptures in their very own language, thanks, partially, to her work, which gave them comfort when in prison for his or her faith. She urged members to vote for the motion, asking not only for prayer, but for motion.
Philip Baldwin (London) said that a national day for persecuted Christians was needed now greater than ever, and it will complement existing days of motion and remembrance. The inauguration of a recent Government was also a possibility to extend the profile of this cause, he suggested.
The Acting Bishop of Coventry, the Bishop of Taunton, the Rt Revd Ruth Worsley, recalled leading prayers on the road with an imam in 2006 (shortly after the 7/7 islamist terrorist attacks), who had held up persecuted Christians arriving within the UK as asylum-seekers. Awareness needed to be raised of the “evil” of persecution and our human tendency to “other each other”. She urged support for the motion, drawing upon resources already in existence elsewhere.
The Archbishop of York said that, when the motion was passed, the Archbishops’ Council would take it very seriously, and act swiftly and ecumenically to place it into motion. “We should undoubtedly pray for the persecuted Church,” he said, but additionally hoped that those within the persecuted Church would pray for him, and the Church of England. “The blood of the martyrs is the seedbed of religion,” he said, quoting a second-century Church Father.
Canon Jane Richards (Chelmsford) supported the motion, but drew attention to times when Christians persecuted others. It was not hard to search out historical examples of this in England and throughout the world; even today: Anglicans were complicit within the persecution of LGBTQ people of all faiths, she said.
Responding to the controversy, Dr Christian-Iwuagwu said that resourcing this may be necessary, including through grants, and pledged to work closely with other organisations.
The motion was carried 230-0 with one recorded abstention:
That this Synod, in the sunshine of the motion passed on the February 2022 Group of Sessions referring to the persecuted Church (i.e. item 18 on the Agenda, as amended), request the Archbishops’ Council to work ecumenically with other churches to ascertain a national day of prayer and motion for the persecuted Church world wide.
