Lausanne Congress 2010

onsdag den 20. oktober 2010

Blue spots= no pictures please!

“Please, don’t take pictures of any of any person who will be speaking from the stage as they risk persecution if they are identified”. “Please, don’t take pictures of any congress participant who has a blue spot on their name badge”.

This week I am attending the Cape Town “Lausanne Congress 2010”.

4000 church leaders from all over the world have gathered here in Cape Town to mutually inspire and encourage each other in being a church that brings God’s love and reconciliation to the world.

The participants with blue spots are from countries where being a Christian is dangerous, as they risk being jailed or being objects to other forms of persecution.

I have heard stories before of Christians who are persecuted for their faith, but I was never confronted so directly with the life stories of people who are actually living it right now.

A Nigerian pastor told us from the stage, that many of his Christian colleagues had been killed by Muslims in Nigeria. He has on various occasions been close to being killed because of his Christian faith. “I will eventually be killed, but until the day I will tell people of Jesus Christ”, he said before leaving the stage.

An 18-year old North Corean girl shared with the Congress how she and her family fled to China from North Corea. In China they became Christians and started to preach to others in China. As his "missionary work" was discovered the Chinese authorities sent her father back to North Corea where he continued to preach the gospel to his fellow country men. Since 2006 the 18-year old Nort Corean girl has not heard from her father and there are good reasons to believe that his “mission” in North-Corea was discovered and that he was executed by the North Corean authorities.

“Suffering” is something I usually avoid. If I feel limited in any way I seek ways to remove those limitations. I take pills if I have a head ach, I take a loan in the bank if I don’t have money to travel and I may chose to keep my mouth shot if I disagree with people around me, because I don’t want to stick out. The "people with the blue spots” are people who have not chosen the comfortable solutions and have continued to do what they believe is right, even if it means that they will suffer.

These people are people like me. But they have taken extraordinary choices based on their faith and convictions. In Denmark conformity and the wish to have a comfortable life, I think, are depriving Christians of taking extra ordinary choices that can potentially be a blessing in other people's lives. I hope that Christians in Denmark, including myself, will chose to take courageous and extra ordinary choices like the "people with the blue spots', and not let conformity and comfortability prevent us from taking extra ordinary choices that can be a blessing to others.