Persecution can be an opportunity for the church to grow

|PIC1|Godfrey Yogarajah is no stranger to persecution. In his native Sri Lanka, the minority Christian community regularly faces attacks at the hands of violent Buddhist nationalists.

Now that firsthand experience will be put to use in his appointment as the new head of the World Evangelical Alliance's Religious Liberty Commission.

Here, Godfrey speaks about his commitment to supporting the persecuted church and how the Religious Liberty Commission is helping suffering churches stand firm for Christ.

CT: Christian persecution watchdogs say that the persecution of Christians in the 21st century has been greater so far than in any other century. Do you feel overwhelmed by the scale of the challenge or do you feel like there is a place where you can make a real difference?

GY: I come from a country where there is so much persecution so my heart goes out to many in other countries where there is persecution. I think it is a big challenge but it is also a calling on the WEA Religious Liberty Commission to respond to these matters. Also, it is a time to prepare the church for suffering and persecution. If the church is prepared it can usually withstand persecution but if the church is not prepared then usually the church gets wiped out.

If the church is prepared then actually persecution is followed by the growth of the church, but where the church is not prepared the church is completely destroyed. That's why you find in countries like Japan that went through persecution in the 15th and 16th century, it is said that there were over 15 % Japanese Christians, but today there is only 3 per cent because the church was not prepared.

In a lot of other countries where the church was educated and trained to really go through persecution and see it as something that God is using to purify the church then you find that the church experiences a tremendous growth. It can be a great opportunity.

In my own country, we were a very divided church led by several centric personalities. But when persecution came it brought leaders together to pray together to really seek God and to work together and that was something I never saw before persecution came to Sri Lanka.

CT: What do you think of Christians in Iraq who feel that the persecution there is too much and are leaving, whilst some Christians are saying they should stay?

GY: I think it is a very tough decision for us to either stay or leave because each Christian and each church has to make that decision. From the outside it is very easy to say run or stand. I would leave the decision to the people there to make that choice.

It also depends on how mature the church is - whether they can withstand that kind of suffering and persecution. And Iraq is a very complicated situation because it is not only Christians who are being persecuted. The Sunnis are persecuting the Shiite Muslims and the Shiites are persecuting the Sunnis and they both get together and persecute the Christians so it is a very complicated situation and that has to be dealt with.

But I think we have a responsibility to see that the security of the Christians in Iraq is taken care of and that the rule of law is taken care of and if we can do what we can to alleviate the suffering they are going through. If they needed asylum or refugee status in some other country, for example, we would help in that but again if they wanted to stay there we would support them to stay and go through it and maybe build a church or witness in that area.

CT: It seems like the situation in India had been boiling for a long time and then just flared up in the last few months. How do you respond in these instances where persecution comes upon a Christian population very suddenly?

GY: South Asia has been a hotbed and religious fundamentalism has been on the rise over the last 10 years. The Orissa situation was at a boiling point and has now exploded and the WEA Religious Liberty Commission has already responded. We work with the Religious Liberty Partnership and we have already sent resources and funding.

We are initially tackling the legal aid through the Christian Legal Association in India so that they can take up some of the legal cases that need to be documented and taken in course, because there are a lot of other relief agencies which are working and programmes organised by the government, groups who are in Orissa itself and are responding immediately to the relief needs.

We have also done advocacy work. I was in Washington DC and met with the US State Department, with the special ambassador for religious freedom, John Hanford, and I also met some Indian lawyers there. So we are on the move and in terms of the immediate situation we have been very proactive.

CT: There are so many countries where Christians are being persecuted. Looking at a wider response, are you taking your concerns to international bodies like the UN or to national governments?

GY: Our strategy has been that when we do advocacy and even expose some of the things that are going on in a particular country, we do it in consultation with Christians in a particular country because we go by the principle 'do no harm'. If we didn't do that, then sometimes our statements and advocacy could have a backlash for the people living in the country.

So if the ok is given to us, then we will work with the UN, the EU and Washington lobbies. We work in all these areas. The situation with the UN Social and Economic Council is very complicated right now because it is slower than the earlier UN Human Rights Council because they have three sessions a year, they are a working group, so it is a very slow process that is sometimes frustrating to us.

We have a representative at the UN and we are continuing to plug into that system but it takes a long time to bring about a resolution.

CT: Will the religious commission advocate for other faith groups?

GY: On principle we stand for religious freedom for all but our focus will specifically be for Christians because we cannot take on all the problems in the world. And there are specific groups handling those. So our work and focus would be on marginalised and persecuted Christians worldwide.

CT: Which areas on the persecution map are giving you cause for hope?

GY: That is a very tough question because if you look around things are really getting worse not better. But there is a lot of openness in countries like China which was not there before. China is one country where things could improve much more but there is still a lot of improvement and that is encouraging.

In countries like Vietnam things are bad but one thing is that you can now talk to the government and engage with them in conversation and in dialogue and in that sense I would say there is some openness that wasn't there before in previous years.

CT: But in any case you will be in it for the long haul, no matter how long it takes?

GY: Yes. I don't think persecution is something we invite upon ourselves but it is something that the Lord uses to purge and purify the church and make the bride of Christ refined and ready for him. That is our hope and that's our prayer. But we will do everything possible to make things easier.

There are three things we want to do as WEA Religious Liberty Commission, the three Es of educate, expose and encourage.

We want to educate the church through training consultations and to prepare the church to face persecution and suffering. The second, expose, is concerned with monitoring, documenting, lobbying and advocacy work by which you expose what is happening in certain countries. For the third, we would encourage Christians and churches in a particular country through practical, tangible assistance like helping families of prisoners, martyrs and burnt churches and come in with resources and other things and encourage the Christians there to stand firm for Christ.

Doing these three things will be our priority as we go forward.