c. 1997 Religion News Service

ORLANDO, Fla. _ Baroness Caroline Anne Cox has seen the faces of persecuted Christians in Sudan, Myanmar (Burma) and the Armenian enclave of Ngorno-Karabagh in Azerbaijan, and on Thursday (March 6), she used that firsthand experience to encourage the swelling cry for Americans to support those persecuted around the globe.”Our brothers and sisters in Christ are wearing their crown of thorns with great dignity in the name of the Lord,”Cox told a breakfast session of the World Evangelical Fellowship (WEF) held during the annual meeting of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE). The NAE, meeting here March 4-6, is a member of the Singapore-based WEF.

More than once, as she landed in areas that had witnessed bombs, fires, murders, slavery and other tragedies, Cox said she was greeted by Christians saying,”Thank God you have come. We thought the world had forgotten us.” The WEF has been highlighting the need for greater attention to the plight of persecuted Christians and has called for a”season of prayer”from Sept. 28 to Nov. 16 for those suffering persecution.

Dwight Gibson, WEF’s North American director, urged U.S. Christians to consider the persecuted as a hurting part of their family.”Persecution of our fellow believers around the world is very real today,”he said.

Cox, deputy speaker of the House of Lords in the United Kingdom, is the president of the British branch of the Swiss-based Christian Solidarity International, a human rights organization that helps people of all faiths.

In her travels, Cox said, she met Sudanese Christians who had to trade cattle to buy back their children taken into slavery.”Isn’t is incredible that we can talk in 1997 about a child being worth three head of cattle?”she asked.

She said many of the persecuted do not speak in anger about their plight but rather about how to maintain their dignity and their faith.

Cox said some of those she met have seen great atrocities _ children hung from trees or who had their heads severed by enemies _ but did not focus on vengeance in their conversations with her.

Rather, she said, some of the most persecuted follow the biblical directive to”beat swords into plowshares.”She recalled a church in Burma that used half a bombshell as its church bell.

And instead of vengeance, she said, she heard thanks for the efforts of groups like Christian Solidarity International, which bring medicine and other support for the persecuted.

Prior to Cox’s remarks, NAE President Don Argue spoke of the recently formed Secretary of State’s Advisory Committee on Religious Freedom Abroad. The panel’s formation has been criticized by some evangelicals who believe its broad mandate will deflect attention from the persecution of Christians and that momentum for the issue will be smothered by bureaucracy.

Argue said he accepted a position on the panel because he believes the committee has been given serious attention by the U.S. government.”The committee has the largest budget of any committee in the State Department currently,”said Argue.

But he is uncertain how effective the group will be.”We don’t know yet what the outcome will be but so far it looks like efforts will prove productive,”he said.

A number of those attending the breakfast said they hoped Cox’s remarks would spur more churches to be involved in prayer and other activities in support of persecuted Christians.”This is something that should sear our conscience,”said Steve Haas, U.S. coordinator of the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church.”This truly is a grassroots movement. It’s a movement of knowledge, of education, and of prayer.” Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, said some of his staff have suffered persecution in their work abroad.”We have staff who are in prison,”he said after the breakfast.”We have staff who have been killed. We have staff who have constantly been persecuted.” In many cases, Bright said, Christian couples part in the morning and don’t know if they will ever see each other again.”It’s wrong we’re not demonstrating greater compassion for one another,”he said.

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