Whether you like it or not, we were all born behind enemy lines. Nowhere is this more visible than in places where persecution for the faith is rife. And yes, those are exactly the very places where both spiritual fervor and often the rate of numerical increase is incredible. Why?

It isn’t persecution that generates growth, it’s the situation that persecution forces them to embrace. When persecution forces the church out of a traditional leader-centered ministry model into a more relational model, where the focus is on the personal ministry of individual believers, the results are startling. Ask a typical Chinese believer where they go to church and they’ll probably tell you the same thing Jesus did—they don’t go to church, they are the
church. If only we could keep that focus even if we are not being persecuted!

God put us here for a reason, to be a part of the greatest initiative in world history, the redemption of humanity from sin. When that truth burrows deep roots into the soul of a believer, and we understand that no one else can fulfill that purpose in our relational world like we can, then something transformational happens in us.