Praying For the Persecuted Church

The pastor this morning shared a story that he heard this past week at the conference he attended from a missionary that had recently been to China. This missionary told about meeting with some underground church leaders there. When they gather for worship, they have to be very careful, since their church is not legal there. When they sing, they cannot sing out loud like we do, they must whisper their songs of praise. Our pastor had us stand and whisper-sing Amazing Grace to get a feel for what it is like for our brothers and sisters in China. It made me cry. I complain and whine and moan here in our free country, and I count the cost so lightly, while these believers risk their lives just to sing a song. And the church there is flourishing as it meets "underground" and under persecution. Pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters all over the world and pray, too, that we in the free world will not treat grace so lightly.