| Hannah Nation has worked with the Chinese church for the past 16 years. She’s born witness to stories of the struggle and suffering that come to bear in hostile cultural contexts. She’s watched as faithful believers were attacked and jailed. And now, she finds herself recalling what she’s observed in the Chinese church as she watches the horrors taking place in Afghanistan.
In “To Pray for Afghan Christians, I Look to China’s Church,” Nation recounts sharing coffee with a friend who said she could not get an image out of her mind: an Afghan mother passing her baby over a fence to an American soldier. How, Nation’s friend wondered, could she pray for people experiencing such excruciating loss?
As Nation pondered her friend’s question, she found herself reflecting on her fellowship with Chinese believers.
“Paying attention to the global church causes us to realize just what our brothers and sisters are sacrificing in their walk with Christ,” Nation says. “Engaging with the suffering church—from Afghanistan to China—has discipled my own heart. We must not let our own fear of suffering dictate the narrative, but rather we must be discipled by those in Afghanistan and China and elsewhere.”
Nation goes on to write that there are a lot things she’s praying for Afghanistan—justice, protection for women, and economic stability among them. But she also prays for a flourishing church, one that’s sure to be persecuted. And she prays that believers both overseas and at home will not make it their mission to avoid suffering, but to engage it with courage as those who suffer with the Christ who will one day wipe away every tear. |
