The volunteer blog

We’ll be posting blogs here each month as stories come in from our volunteer teams across the UK and Ireland. If you have a story to tell or pictures to share, we’d love to hear from you.

2 September 2008 - Prayer

Every week I prepare a prayer letter and the back page is dedicated to the Persecuted Church so I know that each week people from our Corps [Salvation Army] are upholding our brothers and sisters in Christ up to the Lord in prayer, and like you, believe in the almighty power of Christ to answer all those prayers in His own inimitable way.

May He continue to anoint all the work that Open Doors is doing in the name of Jesus and I pray God's blessing on each one of you as you continue to work to further His Kingdom here on earth.

'... blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence' Jer 17:7 NLT

In Christian love

Sheila - Church Representative

21 July 2008 - Standing in another's shoes

Well! Praise God, we had a very good Open Doors Week,  I think more people than ever were made aware of the Persecuted Church, several came up to me and talked about it and how moved they were to pray and write letters and cards of encouragement.

We used the idea from a few months ago on the Church Reps Resources showing the shoes on the front.  We had four small groups of shoes out the front of the church facing the cross including two pairs of children’s sandals.  Then during the service different people came out and spoke about that person whose shoes they were, their situation and then said a prayer for the person(s) and their country. it was very moving also as we stayed sitting and sung one verse of the hymn between each speaker.

Barbara Jane – Church Representative

20 June 2008 - The Great Big Tea Party

As part of the Open Doors' Great Big Tea Party, the Open Doors Prayer Group of Gilcomston South Church in Aberdeen organised a Ceilidh and a Tea Party as a way to raise awareness of the Persecuted Church worldwide and to raise funds for Open Doors and the work that they are doing.

The Ceilidh was a huge success with many people attending and expressing an interest in their time and prayers for Open Doors. The Ceilidh included well-prepared food, enthusiastic dancing and an auction of promises ranging from three hours' manual labour to a weekend guided tour of Glasgow. The evening also involved spending time learning more about the Persecuted Church and the work of Open Doors. We raised over £400, with all profits going to Open Doors, and everyone had a a great time!

The Tea Party on Sunday was a time to reflect and pray for the Persecuted Church, concluding a weekend focusing on the suffering of Christians worldwide.

John-William – Church Representative

15 May 2008 - The home group circuit

A few weeks ago I showed the film, ‘A Cry from Iran’ to my home group.  I started the evening by showing the 2008 World Watch poster and talking about the persecution that Christians can face.  Then we all watched ‘A Cry from Iran’ which is a totally eye-opening film.  Even mature Christians were shocked as to what was happening to Christians across the world.  There was almost a stunned silence!

Afterwards, we discussed what we could do to support our persecuted brothers and sisters, particularly through prayer, writing cards of encouragement and giving.  It was only natural to end the evening in prayer.

Since then I’ve been invited to share the film with the other home groups at my church.  It’s wonderful to have these opportunities to tell people about our persecuted brothers and sisters.  It’s very straight forward to show a film and ask people to respond in prayer.  I’d really encourage you to do the same!  I’ve even been encouraged to become a Church Representative for my church because apparently I’m doing most of the role already!

Paul – Open Doors team

26 April 2008 – North Korea freedom protest

[On Saturday 26 April Open Doors held a protest and prayer vigil outside the Chinese Embassy in London, challenging China’s violent repatriation of North Korean refugees. Click here for more information.]

We felt very strongly that it was important to come and support this protest today. God really convicted us to come. Our hearts go out to the North Korean refugees who are in desperate straits.  We are asking the Chinese government to honour their UN agreement and treat the North Korea refugees as refugees and give them asylum in China.

It is important that we stand up and actually are here physically to show that we agree. It is very easy to stay at home. We need to love our Chinese and North Korea brothers and sisters and also pray for them that the Lord will soften their hearts and change their minds.

Russell & Gerda – Open Doors volunteers

March 2008 – A family matter

Seventy people gathered at a conference centre in Leicestershire from all across the UK with one thing in common: their desire to speak out on behalf of our persecuted brothers and sisters. It wasn’t just our amazing Area Rep team who made up this number, but we were joined by seven people considering joining the team and volunteering as an Area Rep in their own locality.

Entitled ‘A Weekend of Hope’, we began by celebrating all that God has done to stir the UK church into supporting the Persecuted Church over the last year. But the story didn’t end there (or we’d all be no longer required)! A great need to raise awareness still exists as many churches remain unaware of the persecution faced by our brothers and sisters in Christ. Through updates of our work in the field, regional discussions and times of prayer, the team re-focused on the challenges of the next few years.

Then on Saturday evening we were reminded that, first and foremost, it’s a family matter as we made family photograph albums of a persecuted brothers and sisters. Why not try it yourself? Simply cut out pictures from Frontline of the people you want to pray for and write your prayers in the album. Show your persecuted family to friends at church and encourage them to make it a family matter too!

It was an awesome blessing to be surrounded by so many people committed to serve the Persecuted Church. You too can share in this blessing as the Area Rep team gets out on the road to talk about their persecuted family.

Sarah – Open Doors team