Our vision is ‘a world free from religious persecution’. This may seem impossible, but we are committed to doing all in our power to work towards this vision and aim for the impossible. Every answered prayer, every prisoner released, every unjust sentence overturned is a cause for celebration and an encouragement for us to continue. Confident that we serve a God of the impossible, join us this week in praying for breakthrough in some of the most difficult areas of our work.
Sunday 21 March
Today is Persian New Year. Pray for all religious minorities in Iran, including Christians, Baha'is, Sufi Dervishes and Sunni Muslims. Pray they would be able to practise their faith in freedom, without fear of harassment, imprisonment, torture or execution.
Monday 22 March
Attacks on religious minorities in central, north-west and north-east Nigeria have become relentless. Pray today for the impossible to become reality: for an end to kidnappings, attacks on schools and violence at the hands of Fulani militia, Boko Haram, ISWAP and other armed groups. Pray for all captives to be released and for peace to reign in the land.
Tuesday 23 March
Today is Pakistan Day. An estimated 1,000 Christian and Hindu women and girls are abducted each year in Pakistan, raped, forcibly married and converted; most never escape. Pray for an end to forced marriages and conversion, and that all currently held would be returned to their families. Pray also that the organs of state will be committed to putting an end to these crimes.
Wednesday 24 March
This week we mark the Week of Solidarity with the Peoples Struggling against Racism and Racial Discrimination. Pray today for the Uyghurs detained in ‘re-education camps’ in China, and for the Chin, Kachin, and Rohingya ethnicities, many of whom live in refugee camps in Myanmar/Burma. All are persecuted on account of their ethnicity and faith.
Thursday 25 March
Pray that everyone in Cuba would be free to practise the religion or belief of choice. Every year we receive hundreds of documented violations of freedom of religion or belief. Religious leaders are harassed and detained; property is confiscated, and people are prevented from attending religious services.
Friday 26 March
In 2014 a UN Commission of Inquiry found that North Korea ‘does not have any parallel in the contemporary world’ in terms of the gravity, scale and nature of its human rights abuses. Pray for an end to the human rights atrocities, and that North Koreans would be granted the dignity and freedoms they deserve.
Saturday 27 March
Merciful Father, we ask you to bring about dramatic and lasting change in all these countries, and throughout the world. We place these seemingly impossible situations into your hands for we know ‘with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible’. (Matthew 19:26) Amen.