Christian leaders unite in call to prayer for persecuted church

An interdenominational, multicultural group of religious leaders is calling on Christians to set aside time for silence and prayer on Sunday in memory of Egyptian martyrs killed by ISIS.

Members of the Islamist terror group in Libya beheaded 21 Coptic Christians and released a video of the execution last Sunday.

“Persecution of Christians wakes a slumbering church,” said Gabe Lyons, president of Q Ideas, one of the organizations sponsoring the effort. “This call to remembrance and prayer reminds us that the blood of the martyrs has always been the seed for a revived church. May we remain sober-minded and fall to our knees in prayer for God to stir our hearts to obedience.”

Other religious leaders joining Lyons to endorse the movement include the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of The National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference; Russell Moore, president of the South Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission; Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, producers of the film Son of God; Doug Beacham, general superintendent of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church.

The group launched the 21 Martyrs website and produced a video to raise awareness of the persecution of Christians worldwide.

“In a time when the world is on fire with the threat of Islamic jihadist extremism and religious persecution, the church must be the people who know how to engage our neighbors with the gospel that reconciles,” Moore said. “At the same time, our government must do its duty, and Christians are right to pray for swift action against this terror. We stand in solidarity with our persecuted brothers and sisters, as the people of the cross.”