Author: ADF Senior Legal Counsel Erik Stanley

A story from Asia News relates that the Indonesian Police recently demolished a house for no other reason than that it contained a home church that met regularly. The Narogong Pentecostal Church in the village of Limusnunggal, Cileungsi sub-district, regularly met in the house for worship. The report also stated that ten people were detained, questioned and released.

The police tore down the entire house in response to complaints from a group calling itself the “Forum of the Muslim Brotherhood of Limusnunggal.”

This horrible story should remind us of a few things. First, as our Lord reminded us, Christians should expect persecution in this world because of their faith. Jesus said in John 15:20, “Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.”

But we should also be thankful that here in the United States of America, we do not have to endure such intense persecution. And we have remedies when our rights are violated. That’s why ADF was founded. As one of our founders, the late Dr. Bill Bright stated about ADF’s purpose, our mission is to “keep the door open for the spread of the Gospel.” A good example of this was when the Town of Gilbert, Arizona, completely excluded all house churches from the town. ADF stepped in to protect the rights of house churches to meet freely without restriction.

Let’s remember to pray for our brothers and sisters across the globe who are physically persecuted for the Gospel. Pray specifically for the Narog0ng Pentecostal Church and its leadership as they recover from this intense persecution. And let’s work hard here at home to maintain our freedom to share the Gospel freely.

This post originally appeared here.