Leading up to the International Day for the Unreached on May 19 here at the Prayer Wall, we are praying daily for unreached people groups and closed nations in the news. Come join us, and invite your praying friends.
Due to an increase in persecution, China rose 26 places in three years on Open Doors’ list of most dangerous countries for Christians to live. Their highly sophisticated surveillance system is both invasive and oppressive, with Christians as a main target. Churches have been invaded, threatened and forced to disband in recent years, with believers suffering a span of persecution including arrests, interrogation, threats, imprisonment and worse. Children and youth are forbidden to learn about Christ and those who teach them (including their parents) are punished. In addition, the government is adjusting Scripture to fit their socialist agendas, and has expelled nearly all foreign Christians, especially those involved in mission activities.
China numbers nearly 1.5 billion, including 443 unreached people groups cut off from the gospel by linguistic, cultural, geographic, political and other barriers. Due to the persecution the Uyghur people have endured in recent years, let’s pray specifically for them today.
The Uyghur are an ancient Turkic people numbering about 12 million in China’s northwestern province of Xinjiang, which borders the countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Russia and Mongolia. There was a time about 1,000 years ago when nearly all the Uyghur professed Christianity. But through the pressure of Islam, including a mass execution of Uyghur Christians in 1933, they are now one of the most unreached people groups of China. Nearly 100% Muslim, today’s Uyghurs have come under intense persecution by the government because of protests and other violence in their region. An estimated over one million Uyghurs have been placed in internment camps.
O Lord, please be a Shield around every Christian in China and protect them from persecution and harm. Use them as a powerful witness to share Your good news with those who do not yet know You. Please also have mercy on the lost Uyghur people. Make a way where there seems to be no way for every person to hear Your good news and be saved. Meet them in their dreams. Talk to them throughout the day. Surround them with Your felt presence. Lift the veil from their eyes, and show them who You really are. Open wide the gates for them to meet the King of Glory, experience Your great love, and choose You as their Sovereign. Father, so many Uyghurs have experienced such terrible tragedy in their lives. Some have been tortured, women and children raped, and others forced to marry Han Chinese men against their will. Have mercy, please. Be a Shield around them and keep them safe from harm. Break down the walls of the internment camps and make a way for Your good news to burst forth among them. Don’t let even one more Uyghur die without knowing the truth of Your death and resurrection. When they cry out, comfort them with Your love. Meet them in their suffering and point them the way to Christ. Bring an end to the torture, and awaken them to Your love. Father, very few Uyghurs know Christ, but those who have believed are also in the same danger as their Muslim neighbors. Please strengthen their faith and give them boldness and opportunity to share with others in the internment camps with them. Flow Your Spirit through them, speaking just the words each lost person needs to hear, and begin a movement of Your Spirit that spreads all throughout Xinjiang and beyond, with millions coming to faith, even among their persecutors. Spare the lives of Uyghur babies and children, and prepare their future to be one filled with Your love. May they hear of You at an early age and follow You all the days of their lives. In the orphanages where so many Uyghur children have been placed and their identities erased, bring Christians as cooks and caretakers who will love them and tell them what it means to find their identity in Christ. Awaken the Uyghurs and all of China to You, O Sovereign One. May Your praises be sung from shore to border and everywhere in-between. In Jesus’ precious name. Amen.
Mikaela Vincent and her husband are missionaries who live by faith, trusting in God to provide for their needs as they pray for and share Christ with the nations. If you would like to help their ministry through a donation, or by finding gifts for those you love at Mikaela’s online bookstore, click the buttons below:
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