Previous | Next 

Larnaca, Cyprus
Key religious liberty battles ahead


Religious liberty advocates working on behalf of persecuted Christians will face five important battles during the next 20 years. This was the message Johan Companjen, president of Open Doors International, gave to church and mission agency leaders meeting in Cyprus Feb. 22, 2000. Ironically, the battles will not necessarily take place in restricted-access areas, Companjen told the conference, sponsored by World Evangelical Fellowship.

1. Ideas

“The first battle is in the realm of ideas,” Companjen said. “The idea that Westerners, whether states or individuals, have the right to interfere, criticize and hold other states and cultures to account for religious liberty abuses is under great attack.”

2. Communication

The second battle is in communication. “The paradox of our information age is that, although more information is available, people are less well-informed. The danger of this for the persecuted church is that more people will try to help, but their lack of knowledge may mean they either hurt the church or use it for their own ends.” Companjen, a former missionary to Vietnam, said he had seen many Westerners make one trip to a restricted-access country and return as “instant experts”. Ultimately, they exploit rather than serve suffering Christians.

3. Spirit

Christians who have religious liberty can learn much from those who don’t, Companjen said. “The lives of the persecuted have implications for the shape of discipleship in the West.” In the past 30 years, the Western church has provided resources for the persecuted church, and the persecuted church has provided inspiring testimonies of God’s triumphant power to the Western church. Companjen said this exchange must grow richer. “The persecuted church wakes us up to the harsh spiritual realities around us – realities our culture pressures us to ignore. This may be a key to the renewal of the entire Western church.”

Citing the need for a “theology of suffering”, Companjen said prosperity theology has harmed the church. “We have had pastors say, ‘Suffering church? I don’t believe in suffering. I only believe in prosperity.’ And I wonder what Bible this brother is reading.”

4. Politics

“Political elites all over the world have awakened to persecution as a political tactic,” Companjen said. “One can get into power by starting a religious war and creating terrible persecution.” As examples, he cited the Iranian revolution in 1979 and the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janatha Party in India.

5. Church

“In the past five years, the mainstream Protestant church has embraced the cause of the persecuted church,” Companjen said. “This represents an historic opportunity for exchange and reconciliation. It confronts us. Can we establish a common front against persecution with those we don’t always agree with?” He said evangelical churches can teach mainline churches what life is like for the persecuted church, and that evangelicals can learn from the diplomatic experience of mainstream churches.

Stages of persecution

Following Companjen’s presentation, Johan Candelin, director of the WEF Religious Liberty Commission, listed a three-stage process of how persecution becomes entrenched in a country. The first step involves spreading disinformation about the targeted group (Christians or others), which results in discrimination, the second stage. The third stage is persecution. Candelin said that if disinformation about any group, including Christians, is disseminated long enough, no one will help when that group is discriminated against. Once discrimination takes place, “You can go to persecution, and still nobody will do anything because ‘You know they are bad people anyway; they had it coming.’ As soon as we see the very first start of disinformation, we need to act right away. If we act all together when there is disinformation in any country in the world, we can stop the following process from coming.”

 – Jeff Taylor, Compass Direct news service

Previous | Next 

Last modified January 5, 2001.

© 2001 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
Masthead and usage information.