VOMK RELEASES DAILY OLYMPIC PRAYER POINTS FOR CHINA’S PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS
The 2022 Beijing Olympics open Friday February 4 and end Sunday February 20. Persecution ministry Voice of the Martyrs Korea has released prayer points for each of the 13 days of the games to help Christians pray together on behalf of China’s persecuted Christians.
“Christians in China are experiencing an ‘Olympics of persecution’ that requires endurance beyond anything that even an Olympic athlete can imagine,” says Voice of the Martyrs Korea Representative Dr. Hyun Sook Foley. “Each of us will cheer for our own country’s athletes as we watch the games. But as Christians, we should daily lift our eyes beyond the events and stadiums and remember together the massive suffering church of the host country.”
Representative Foley says that even as China seeks to put its best face to the world during the games, it will be simultaneously cracking down on Christians. “In China in the month of January alone we witnessed the arrest of nine leaders of Linfen Golden Lampstand Church; the denial of the appeal of a Christian Bookstore owner in Taizhou; the sentencing of five Christians from Taiyuan Xuncheng Reformed Church; the denial of the appeal of Christians manufacturing Bible players in Shenzhen; and the announcement of massive new restrictions on Christian Internet content set to take effect in March. All that happened in January in China. Imagine what will be happening to Christians in China even as we are watching the Beijing Olympic games. That’s why we need to be praying for them daily during this time.”
Photo for February 5th prayer request: Early Rain Church service in 2018 before Pastor Wang Yi was arrested.
Photo for February 15th prayer request: Pastor Pan is pictured with one of the youngest Mayflower Church members.
Voice of the Martyrs Korea released the following daily prayer points for persecuted Chinese Christians for each day of the upcoming Olympic games.
February 4: Pray for the spread of the gospel among participants in the games, especially among local, provincial, and national Communist Party Leaders in China.
February 5: Pray for Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, its imprisoned pastor Wang Yi, and the pastor’s family. Pray that they will rise up with wings like eagles as they enter the third year of relentless persecution from the authorities.
February 6: Pray for Pastor John Cao, serving a seven-year prison sentence in Yunan Province for starting schools for poor children on the Myanmar/China border.
February 7: Pray for Chen Yu, the owner of Xiaomai Christian Bookstore in Taizhou, who is serving a seven-year prison sentence and whose appeal was denied in January.
February 8: Pray for China’s pastors in both the unregistered and registered church as they are ordered by the government to preach Communist Party doctrine and praise Communist party martyrs to their church members. Pray for them to preach only the gospel and to never forget the Christian martyrs.
Photo for February 6th prayer request: Pastor John Cao is currently serving a 7-year prison sentence in Yunnan Province for starting schools for poor children on the Myanmar/China border.
Photo for February 13th prayer request: Chinese street evangelist Chen Wensheng
February 9: Pray for Christians to stand bold in the face of upcoming Internet regulations. Pray that they will not drop out of Christian websites and online chat forums or change their usernames to delete any sign of their faith.
February 10: Pray for Deacon Jang, a Chinese Korean from Changbai, China who ministered to North Koreans who crossed the border into China until he was kidnapped into North Korea in November 2014. Pray for his health and faithful witness in prison, and pray for Chinese authorities to be moved to insist on his release from unlawful detainment.
February 11: Pray for the Shenzen “Bible player prisoners”, who are now facing multiple years in prison for allegedly operating an illegal business because of their evangelistic work.
February 12: Pray for the safe distribution of Bibles in every part of China, especially the Sunday School in a Box kits enabling even ordinary illiterate Chinese Christians to disciple their families in their homes.
February 13: Pray for bold street evangelist Chen Wenshen, who was detained six times in 2021 but who witnessed with the love of Christ to all the police officers who arrested him. Pray the Lord will empower him to love many enemies in 2022.
February 14: Pray for the Linfen Golden Lampstand Church, the 50,000-member house church who has been facing steady persecution since 2009, including the destruction of their building. Pray for the nine church leaders arrested last month.
February 15: Pray for Pastor Pan Yongguang’s “Mayflower Church”, the 60-member church which fled Shenzen, China in 2019 and has unsuccessfully been seeking asylum in Korea ever since. Pray that the Lord will open the door for asylum even this month.
February 16: Pray for Taiyuan Xuncheng Reformed Church and for the five church leaders there who were arrested for alleged illegal border crossing because they attended a Christian conference in Malaysia.
Representative Foley says that more information can be found about each of the Chinese Christians and churches mentioned in the prayer request by visiting https://vomkorea.com/en/chinaprayer/, or by visiting our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/vomkorea.kr.
Individuals interested in donating to Voice of the Martyrs Korea’s work in partnership with the house church Christians of China can visit www.vomkorea.com/en/donation or give via electronic transfer to:
KB Bank: 463501-01-243303
Account Holder: (사)순교자의소리
Please note “China” on the transfer