Hello Richard

Sorry the holiday didn’t provide better weather. Yes, there is a growing film industry here in Wales and that kind of link between here and there (NZ) has been noted before.

John (or anyone else), would you like to discuss what you see as possible responses to persecution, or do you want to have a rest

I’m not sure that I’ve got much more to say at this point Richard. The main defence I was making was that westerners should be involved, not lack courage because of past failures, not give up on the persecuted and should expect God’s power to accompany such a holy struggle. I believe that a case for that has been made; your boundary lines to that struggle have been elucidated, primarily in terms, as far as I can understand, of not going about it in a culturally imperialist manner - something I’d never thought about before and never associated with this struggle. Thus, ultimately, a fruitful creative engagement.

As for strategies, I think I only have one real strategy to suggest (and I’m not being glib), which flows out of my personal experience: CARE.

I believe mission (action, in co-operation with God) begins when we care about someone or something that we have seen, at least to some degree, from God’s point of view. Almost inevitably we then have to discover the end of our own power, before we discover access to God’s power to do things we could never do on our own. I appreciate that not everyone would be comfortable with that ‘jargon’ or interpretation, but I suspect it’s a pervasive pattern for most of us, whether we recognise it as such or not.

For most of us, the opportunities to care specifically about the internationally persecuted are limited to interaction with bodies like Open Doors who are already active. For those exposed more directly an even more vital (by which I mean more life-giving, as opposed to more urgent) opportunity is provided. Ultimately, whatever we do, it will stem from what we choose to care about and to care for…

shalom! - john