A DAY of prayer and action for the persecuted Church was endorsed by the General Synod after a debate filled with stories about how believers continued to suffer for their faith around the world.
Prebendary Dr Amatu Christian-Iwuagwu (London) introduced the motion, which had arisen from the London diocesan synod. A day of prayer and action for the persecuted Church could raise awareness and mobilise Christians, he said. Persecution affected 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 nations around the world. The situation was, if anything, getting worse, Dr Christian-Iwuagwu said, and required concerted efforts to offer support and advocacy from those living in safe countries.
Christian teaching emphasised solidarity for the oppressed, he said, quoting passages from scripture in which the Early Church had been instructed to look after those in prison. “Establishing a national day of prayer and action is a concrete way 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 could lead to special Bible study materials being produced. There could be school programmes, too, to educate young people about religious freedom, Dr Christian-Iwuagwu suggested. A committee would be set up to lead on this, collaborating with existing advocacy groups and church projects. “This is a profound opportunity for the Church of England to lead on a vital area of witness,” he said. Uniting in prayer and action would reflect the love of Christ, standing in solidarity with persecuted brothers and sisters worldwide.
The Revd Falak Sher (UKME co-opted) said that every persecuted Christian around the globe was close to his heart. He spoke about Christians’ being persecuted in his home country, Pakistan, who often felt forgotten by the Church of England. “They need to know we care about their struggles, pray for them, and fight for their rights,” he said. Shame surrounding the history of colonialism should not prevent Christians in the West from speaking out, he said. Silence would not only fail to improve the situation, but also “deepen our guilt for remaining quiet while our fellow believers suffer for their faith”.
The Revd Graham Sparkes (Ecumenical Representatives) praised the motion for drawing attention to persecution, and said that some of those at the college he taught at had had harrowing experiences. He praised the motion’s ecumenical focus, and urged the C of E to coalesce around one day with the other advocacy groups and denominations already working in this space. He detected a tension in the accompanying papers between specifically Christian persecution and the wider issue of religious freedom. Mr Sparkes recalled how the founder of British Baptist churches fought for religious liberty, not just for non-Anglican Christians, but for all people of all faiths. He urged the Synod to speak out for all those persecuted for their beliefs, whatever they may be.
The Bishop of Winchester, the Rt Revd Philip Mounstephen, the author of a report on the persecution of Christians (News, 5 November 2021), said that this was a huge issue, and it was important 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 in 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 give some thought to its implementation. There was already the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, an ecumenical initiative in which the C of E took part. Should the C of E focus on engaging with this, “rather than trying to do it on our own?” The motion made clear that the proposal was for an ecumenical event, rather than a day of prayer specifically for persecuted Anglicans, and so thought was needed on how best to implement its aims.
The Revd Folli Olokose (Guildford) said that there were countries around the world in which he could not 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 safe.” Passing this motion would send a message to the wider 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 action on persecution.
The Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally, said that a national day of prayer would help to raise awareness of the issue. It was a spiritual action, as well as a signal that those suffering persecution were not forgotten.
The Revd John Bavington (Leeds) spoke of the privileges that everyone in the chamber enjoyed to speak publicly of Jesus Christ without fear of any consequences. He backed the motion, and supported the existing ecumenical Day of Prayer in November. He had been brought up in Pakistan, and spoke of a recent case in 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 in which Christians were now frequently persecuted were the “cradle” of the faith. He was born and brought up in the Middle East, but the Christians he knew there had now mostly emigrated. Inaugurating a national day of prayer would allow members to go back to their parishes and encourage them to pray for Christians around the world. “Many here in England, living in comfort, do not care about the plight of their fellow Christians,” he said.
Dr Rachel Jepson (Birmingham), vice-chair of the Council for Christian Unity, said that she was happy to facilitate ways to implement this motion. “This would 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 in the 1980s, where she had felt very safe. Since then, persecution had arrived, and not only from governments. The Christians in Mali did now have the scriptures in their own language, thanks, in part, to her work, which gave them comfort when in prison for their faith. She urged members to vote for the motion, asking not just for prayer, but for action.
Philip Baldwin (London) said that a national day for persecuted Christians was needed now more than ever, and it would complement existing days of action and remembrance. The inauguration of a new Government was also an opportunity to increase 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 street with an imam in 2006 (shortly after the 7/7 islamist terrorist attacks), who had held up persecuted Christians arriving in the UK as asylum-seekers. Awareness needed to be raised of the “evil” of persecution and our human tendency to “other one another”. 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 put it into action. “We should undoubtedly pray for the persecuted Church,” he said, but also hoped that those in the persecuted Church would pray for him, and the Church of England. “The blood of the martyrs is the seedbed of faith,” 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 find historical examples of this in England and throughout the world; even today: Anglicans were complicit in the persecution of LGBTQ people of all faiths, she said.
Responding to the debate, Dr Christian-Iwuagwu said that resourcing this would be important, 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 light of the motion passed at the February 2022 Group of Sessions relating to the persecuted Church (i.e. item 18 on the Agenda, as amended), request the Archbishops’ Council to work ecumenically with other churches to establish a national day of prayer and action for the persecuted Church around the world.