Groups Urge Prayer for China During Olympics

By Grace Pennington

As the Olympic season in Beijing begins, TV programs, newspapers and magazines are all focused on telling the stories of famous athletes and displaying images from countries around the world. But the story of 11-year-old Anna is one the media will miss.

Anna is not a former Olympic medalist, nor can she run the 100-meter dash in under ten seconds. She is an ordinary Chinese girl with an unpopular yet extraordinary story.

Anna has been run out of a Christian orphanage and refused admission to public school, simply because she is a Christian. Anna lives in an orphanage that is run by an underground church pastor. In the past, Chinese government officials have cut off the electricity to the orphanage, so Anna and other orphans had to read and play by candlelight. Officials have also kicked the pastor, his wife and the orphans out of their home, forcing them to move several times. Anna is currently in hiding and attends an illegal underground Christian school.

Through all of her hardships, Anna, like many Chinese Christians, has remained hopeful and encouraged in her faith. “I think God must really love me. He has taken such good care of me,” Anna told The Voice of the Martyrs.

Recently, a prominent representative of a group of house churches in China asked that Christians throughout the world to take up the torch to pray for the people and nation of China during the 2008 Olympics.

The Voice of the Martyrs, a non-profit organization ministering to the persecuted Church worldwide, has teamed with China Aid Association, a leading voice for the persecuted Church in China, to offer an Olympic Prayer Band in answer to this plea. The band is a gray bracelet with “Pray for China” printed in black on the outside of the band in both English and Chinese.

The bands serve as a reminder that amidst the publicity and preparations for the Olympics there are Chinese men, women and children, like Anna, who are being forced to keep their beliefs in hiding. Out of the limelight of all of the new Olympic buildings, super-sized arenas and eye-catching advertisements, there are Christians across the nation who must hold their religious meetings in covert, crammed spaces under many risks. Although government officials attempt to make the world believe China has religious freedom, believers there are being punished for their faith daily through beatings, imprisonment and even death.

Because of this offer, people around the country have the opportunity to be symbolically connected to Christians like Anna in China by wearing this band around their wrist and praying for China during the Olympic season.

Although the bands are being offered in the United States, they will also be dispersed to Christians in China to wear. As Christians in America pray for China, Christians in China will also be praying for America.

The Voice of the Martyrs and China Aid hope that as one wears a prayer band, they are reminded of Chinese Christians like Anna, who make daily sacrifices for their faith. Both organizations believe that as Americans pray for China, God will allow the Chinese to know that their voice is heard and not forgotten.

You can sign up to receive a free prayer band at www.persecution.com/prayerband. You may also choose to purchase prayer bands for your family members, Sunday School class or other Christian friends, to encourage others also to pray for China.

Grace Pennington is a summer intern at The Voice of the Martyrs. She is from Hot Springs, AR., and is a junior majoring in journalism at John Brown University in Siloam Springs, AR.