The persecuted church & the distracted church

Defining moments mark every life. Such moments, for good or for bad, can be triggered by a significant event or even a simple spoken word. Often, they give us a new outlook and are life-altering. I had one such moment just a few weeks ago.

As part of a Great Commission effort, I journeyed with a team from my church to Central Asia, where we taught the Word of God in a country that respects religious freedom to a group of persecuted Christians from a nearby Muslim-majority country with no such freedom. In turn, I gained a fresh, albeit sobering, perspective of the perils confronting the church worldwide today. My defining moment -- one that would take shape over the course of that week -- had begun to unfold.

Specifically, my eyes were opened wide to two types of Christians: those who face the fires of affliction for their faith in their hostile homelands and those who enjoy the freedom to worship Christ openly as citizens of the United States. Both face testings. Both are under attack by the evil one. But the points of assault are distinct. One might distinguish the two as the persecuted church and the distracted church. To read more, click here.