Skip to main content

International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church

International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church stack of books and films on a wooden chair against a white blanket

Today is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. It's a reminder that global Christians in different parts of the world are likely facing persecution and even martyrdom for their Christian faith.

Here are a few books that may help in learning more about their struggles and plight. As one part of the body of Christ hurts, so do the others. If you are interested in learning more, some of these resources come from Voice of the Martyrs.

📗 Jesus Freaks by dc Talk
📗 Live Like a Jesus Freak by dc Talk
📗 Killing Christians: Living the Faith Where It's Not Safe to Believe by Tom Doyle
📗 Persecuted: The Global Assault on Christians by Paul Marshall, Lela Gilbert, and Nina Shea
📗 Between Two Tigers: Testimonies of Vietnamese Christians compiled by Tom White
📗 Tortured for Christ by Richard Wurmbrand
📽 Tortured for Christ
📗 God's Double Agent by Bob Fu
📘 Safely Home by Randy Alcorn
📘 Across the China Sky by C. Hope Flinchbaugh
📘 Daughter of China by C. Hope Flinchbaugh
📽 China Cry

Not pictured:
📗 Foxe's Book of Martyrs by John Foxe
📗 I Dared to Call Him Father by Bilquis Sheikh and Richard H. Schneider

I've read a few biographies and books over the years from other parts of the world as well; however, you can probably detect that I have a heart for Christians in East and Southeast Asia and have collected those stories. If you're interested in learning more about which countries top the list for where Christians face the most extreme persecution, Open Doors offers a World Watch List to help guide our prayers.

May we remember our brothers and sisters in Christ and the trials they face for believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.
For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. - Matthew 16:25

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Didactic Scenes

I love researching and recently looked into Harlequin's Love Inspired line's submission guidelines to find out if there were certain parameters in the stories they accept and publish. One of the lines that stood out to me was: "Mandatory faith element that is integral to story and shows rather than tells, avoiding didactic, preachy tone or doctrinal language." This had me thinking about one of the cinematic attributes I've heard over the years between British and American movies and television, where one tends to show the story and have people reason it out, whereas the other can get into further detail, eliminating the need to piece things out as much when watching a story.  I wish I could find the source for this thought as it's shaped how I view and compare a lot of mysteries and dramas (I confess that I may be a tad too shy for British comedies)—broadly speaking, of course. As a result, I can understand how didactic language isn't always pleasant to s...

Christian Book Review Programs

Over time, I've been on the hunt for Christian book review programs that readers can join. As a result, I've been able to compile the following list which may be of interest if you are seeking review copies of Christian books. This list mostly applies to print and ebooks, although some publishers offer audiobooks as well. If further information is available for any of the publishers below (or any missing publishers), please let me know as I am happy to update this list—thank you! Please note that you can also search for these publishers on NetGalley and other review sites in case there are no review programs available to you or you don't qualify for one 😊 List last updated: September 23, 2026 Christian Publishers 10ofThose Availability: U.S., Canadian, and U.K. residents Format: Only books published by 10ofThose qualify for review requests so as to avoid impeding with other Christian book review programs Genre: Christian non-fiction, children's books Email for availabi...

Lord of Our Entertainment

I have to give full credit for the title of this post to Heather Wood who used this phrase in an Instagram story to promote the #ClearlyChristianReadathon . Thank you for using this term as it's been in my head ever since I saw it! In thinking about what it means to have Jesus as the Lord of my life, this clearly and obviously extends to how I fill my time and what content I consume. Although my reasons for being more intentional with my reading were initially pragmatic (as in if I die soon, did I waste a lot of time in my life reading things that weren't even that great?), I also see how it can both reflect my walk with God and shape what it becomes. Though I'm sharing a lot of content about the Clearly Christian Readathon , I'm encouraged to think of all of my entertainment choices in the light of eternity. While I've certainly struggled with this at different times in my life, it's been hitting me in a different way now. I confess that even quite recently, ...