The head of the World Evangelical Alliance’s Religious Liberty Commission, Godfrey Yogarajah, is urging Christians around the world to unite in prayer for persecuted believers.

Hundreds of thousands of Christians are expected to take part in the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church on November 8, an initiative of the World Evangelical Alliance.

“Can we today pause our busy lives and think of those who are enduring persecution for the sake of the Gospel?” said Mr Yogarajah in an appeal to churches.

“Let us remember those who have not eaten for days because they are given nothing to eat, those languishing in prison … those who are facing death, even right at this moment, for refusing to denounce Christ.”

He pointed specifically to recent violence against Christians in the Indian state of Orissa, where dozens were killed by Islamic extremists, and the plight of believers in communist North Korea.

“In countries like North Korea, acts of persecution take place daily, but we often don’t see or hear of it,” he said.

Mr Yogarajah said it was important that persecuted believers feel “that they are neither forgotten nor abandoned”.

He said: “Let us unite in prayer for the persecuted church, in the spirit of oneness that Christ commanded, ‘For, if one suffers, we all suffer.’”