Southern Baptists Urged to Pray on Nov. 1 Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church: An Estimated 388 Million Christians Face Extreme Persecution
Southern Baptists joined Christians around the world on November 1, the annual Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, praying for an estimated 388 million believers suffering extreme persecution for their faith in Jesus, Baptist Press reported on October 29. The Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) and the International Mission Board (IMB) encouraged churches to observe the day, alongside Voice of the Martyrs (VOM), Open Doors U.S. and Iran Alive Ministries.
"From our nation's founding, religious liberty has been recognized as a fundamental freedom and protected within our constitutional framework," ERLC President Evan Lenow told Baptist Press. "As Baptists, we have historically defended this freedom for all people, recognizing that genuine faith cannot be compelled by governments or institutions." Lenow said that even as Americans give thanks for their freedoms, they must remember the countless believers worldwide who face opposition, imprisonment and persecution, and he encouraged Southern Baptists to pray that persecuted Christians remain faithful, bold and unwavering in sharing the Gospel. The ERLC, he added, will keep advocating for religious liberty wherever it is threatened at home and abroad.
IMB President Paul Chitwood noted that Southern Baptists supported nearly 3,500 missionaries in the 2025-2026 fiscal year, allowing more than 2 million people to hear the Gospel, and that those missionaries increasingly meet fellow Christians who pursue their faith at great cost while facing hardships, risks and persecution themselves. "Prayer is the work we can do as fellow believers to lift them to the Lord, to ask Him to sustain them, comfort them, and bring them justice," Chitwood said. The IMB offers free downloadable resources to help churches observe the day.
VOM Vice President Todd Nettleton said persecuted Christians request prayer more than anything else, calling the observance a practical response to their number one request; this year VOM spotlights Bassam, a Christian in the Arabian Peninsula who suffered persecution after converting from Islam. Open Doors, which publishes the annual World Watch List, is focusing its 2026 prayer effort on the church in Syria. Hormoz Shariat of Iran Alive Ministries told Baptist Press that 14 people connected with his ministry are currently in jail in Iran, three of them on death row, and urged believers to pray for all Christian prisoners, especially those 14.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 信徒围着烛光十字架祷告（资料图）。HappyNikita 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Believers praying around a cross of candles (file photo). Photo by HappyNikita, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
