Love in Action: Advocacy as the Foundation of Gospel Witness

To earn the ability to share about ultimate questions, we must first demonstrate care about immediate concerns.

A pandemic of persecution victimizes Christians around the world. But from my 20 years of work advocating for religious freedom globally, I know they are not alone. A community of suffering includes Christians and their non-Christian neighbors also oppressed for their beliefs. While we must not forget our own, Christians are also invited to pray and advocate for all.

Christians are known for helping others with food and medicine, regardless of background, as a tangible demonstration of the Gospel. However, when it comes to religious persecution, our approach has differed, mainly focusing on the persecuted church. That isn't wrong, it's just incomplete. We can supercharge our testimony by adopting a broader view of prayer and advocacy, both remembering our own as well as the community of persecution around them.

Living Out the Great Commandment and Great Commission Together

To understand persecution is first to remember the pain of the global church and then to commit to standing alongside them and all others who suffer for their beliefs. The Parable of the Good Samaritan, found in Luke 10, provides important guidance. Familiar to many both inside and outside the church, the hero of the story ignored religious and ethnic differences to help a stranger in need. No questions were asked about the victim's beliefs or background. When concluding the parable, Christ said we are to "go and do likewise." Love of neighbor was no trivial matter for Jesus; he gave the Great Commandment in response to a question about gaining eternal life.

The Great Commandment provides a beautiful example of how we should engage the world, yet one always pursued in conjunction with the Great Commission. We are charged to live out both, a synergistic approach that blends loving our neighbors with an openness to sharing. In evangelical circles, sharing comes naturally, while advocating for the rights of other faith communities has felt uncomfortable. But we must overcome this uneasiness. Each command supports the other. Consider how it is hard for non-believers to experience (or even consider) the reality of God's love when they are locked in prison or face violence on account of their faith.

New Effort to Shine a Light

In Paul's letters to the Corinthians, he addressed church division and their witness in a multi-faith context. Explaining their purpose in 2 Corinthians 5, he highlighted how "God has given us this task of reconciling people to him," which then made us "Christ's ambassadors." His exhortation remains valid in our pluralistic 21st-century world. As then as is now, "God is making his appeal through us." 

Thus, in a very real sense, human rights advocacy for non-Christian neighbors is pre-vangelical. Meeting them in their time of physical suffering will display genuine care and compassion. Doing so enables us to be an expression of God's love for them, ambassadors that respect their dignity, allies who defend their freedom of conscience. If done with a heart of love and friendship, with no quid pro quo in mind, such advocacy lays the groundwork for relationships that can provide opportunities to discuss ultimate questions.

Why? Because they may only experience God's love through the practical act of advocacy. A few years ago, a Baha'i friend was surprised to the point of shock that a Christian organization was advocating for his community in Iran. He had mainly observed Christians focusing on the persecuted church. He didn't begrudge them; every group has a vested interest in helping their own. But seeing Christians advocating for his faith was a powerful and surprising testimony.

Such advocacy can bring light into someone's hurting world. Paul's exhortation to the Romans in chapter 12 to live counterculturally applies here. If we are not to "conform to the pattern of this world," what could be more mold-breaking, more counter-cultural, more radical than speaking up for other persecuted faith communities?

Praying and advocating for all could be what Christians are known for. As followers of Jesus, we are called to "remember those in prison as if you were together with them" (Hebrews 13:3), to pray for them, to speak up on their behalf, and to stand alongside them. In response to this call, new efforts are emerging among Christians to explore this approach.

To inspire Christians to prayer and advocacy, we are marking "Day of Prayer for ALL the Persecuted" on November 1st, hoping to spur the American and global Church to action. Coming one day before the annual week of prayer for the persecuted Church, we will pray against religious persecution oppressing every faith community somewhere. Praying for and caring for all provides new ways for the Word of God to flow through us and impact the world around us.

Serving a God of Justice Demonstrates Radical Love of Neighbor

Such an approach is grounded in the Imago Dei, the fact that each and every person is formed in the image of God. Consequently, ignoring injustice is something God detests. Isaiah 1:17 tells us to "Seek justice. Defend the oppressed; take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow." The prophet does not make exceptions for race, religion, or nationality, thus providing a clear understanding of how we should care for all.

Similarly, Micah 6:8, which hangs on my study wall, retells God's requirement that followers are to act justly and with mercy. While Micah asks what the Lord requires of us, Jesus answers it, confirms it, and demonstrates it through His ministry. As Christ said in Matthew 5:46, "If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?" The world expects groups to advocate for their own, and we Christians must do a better job of remembering our own persecuted brothers and sisters. But that's a minimum. We are called to love everyone, which should lead us to prayer and advocacy for anyone facing religious persecution.

If we are to proclaim Christ in all that we say and do, even in the context of persecution, new action is required. Raising our voice in prayer and advocacy is essential for a credible witness. If we fail to defend others, our testimony loses moral weight. If we ignore the plight of the persecuted, we fail to demonstrate our love for all.

In this time of division, we should ask ourselves and our local church communities an important question this fall: Will Christians only defend our own, or will we reflect Christ's radical love by standing with all who suffer for their faith? Demonstrating radical love for our religious neighbors would shock the world, and defending human dignity would invite others to know the love that inspires us to act.

Knox Thames is a former U.S. diplomat who served in the Obama and Trump administration as the special advisor for religious minorities in the Middle East. He is the founder of Christians Against ALL Persecution.

https://knoxthames.substack.com/p/love-in-action-advocacy-as-the-foundation