One Body: Hope for the Persecuted

An APCN Conference Coming This Fall

“I am so thankful for the dedicated and faithful ministry of the Anglican Persecuted Church Network through New Wineskins.  Standing and supporting our brothers and sisters in Christ who are persecuted and suffering is the responsibility of all Christians.  I encourage your participation in the conference and your advocacy for all who are persecuted.” 

The Rt. Rev. Julian M. Dobbs, Anglican Diocese of the Living Word.

The Anglican Persecuted Church Network of New Wineskins is excited to announce that we will be sponsoring a national conference on Christian persecution this coming September. The conference, One Body: Hope for the Persecuted Church, will be held at St. Mark’s Anglican Church in Arlington, Texas, on September 27 & 28, 2024. Details on agenda and speakers are on the APCN website.

But why is this conference so important? APCN co-leader, Patricia Streeter, explains: 

“In these horrific days of attack on the church, it is imperative that we encourage each other in our quest to share the hope and light of Jesus to a very dark world. 

God commands us in His Word to lift up our brothers and sisters in Christ with our prayers and giving!  All over the Scripture Jesus tells us how important this is.  Right before He suffered death on the Cross, in John 17, He shared with His disciples a new command – to love one another, saying that this loving unity within the Body of Christ is the most important method of winning the world to Christ. As we come together in this conference, obeying the mandate of the Lord, I know that the Lord will use this time to encourage us in our faith as we unify our hearts with our suffering brothers and sisters in much darker areas of the world.”

We have all read 1 Corinthians 12 that tells us that we are all members of one body, Christ’s body, the Church, and that “if one member suffers, all suffer together.” But do we experience the reality of that declaration? Learning more about the faith of persecuted Christians around the world – not just their suffering – but who they are – helps connect Christ’s body.  You will have that opportunity at this conference, as we hear from Christians from China, Pakistan, Nigeria, Sudan, and elsewhere. 

And have you ever stopped to reflect that immediately after St. Paul writes about being one with those who are persecuted, he writes the most famous love treatise of all time – 1 Corinthians 13? As Patricia said above, it is by love that all men will know that we are Christ’s disciples, and this will be a powerful method of winning them into His Kingdom. And our persecuted brothers and sisters will one day before the Throne of God testify to what we did for the least of our brothers and sisters, and so for the Son of Man Himself.

Finally, we have called this incredible conference “One Body,” not just because we are one body with the persecuted, but because we understand the powerful testimony when many parts of the Body of Christ reach out in unity to the persecuted. It is our prayer to see our fellow Anglicans joined by Catholic and Orthodox brothers and sisters, as well as Protestants of all various denominations at this conference. Around the world, all of these expressions of the Christian faith have often been on the receiving end of persecution. 

Please prayerfully consider joining us for this conference as together as One Body we seek to be God’s instrument of hope to our persecuted brothers and sisters.

(Originally published on the New Wineskins Missionary Network blog.)