What I Learned About Persecution of Christians From A Kids’ Camp
This summer I had the opportunity to be invited back to Pleasant Valley Christian Camp as a counselor for my church’s 4-6 grade camp for the third time, and it was a blast. But aside from hanging out with kids and showing them the love of Christ for a week, I learned a great deal about the idea of persecution, specifically the persecution of Christians. The theme for this year’s camp was “Underground Reality” and was focused around the underground churches in the communist country of Vietnam.
Growing up in a Christian household and attending both a private Christian school from 1-12 grade and attending church quite regularly, I knew that Christians were and have been persecuted in many countries, but honestly, I didn’t know just how badly those Christians were persecuted.
The videos that were shown at camp last week (August 9-15) were about a group of teenagers (back in 2008) who travelled to Vietnam to experience both the persecuted underground churches, but also to smuggle Bibles into the country and those churches. The videos captured both the happiness of being around Christians who live their life so boldly that they would and could die for their faith any moment in their lives, as well as the horrific sadness of just how bad the persecution is in the country.
Throughout the week, I learned a lot about persecution, but I felt like I was just learning the same stuff that I had learned over and over again about the idea of persecution that I had learned before. Then came Friday night.
Friday evening, after worship, the camp directors set out little booths so that the kids could pray for certain countries or places: Vietnam, Guinea (Africa. The country the missionaries visiting our camp did work in.), the state of Washington, American families, and lastly the countries in the world that had the most persecution of Christians. After I said a quick prayer about the week and the underground churches and stuff, I made my way to the station representing the persecuted countries and right away something on the map caught my eye and changed my whole perspective on persecution.
On the map of the world, one country in particular was shaded in: Colombia.
For those who know me, my grandma was born in Colombia which makes me a quarter Colombian... a significant amount of Colombian blood is in me. Seeing Colombia on the map of heavily persecuted countries brought a tear to my eye. I, personally, have never visited Colombia, though it is on my list of hopeful future travels, but my heart and my prayers instantly went out to not only the persecuted church in the country, but also to my relatives who still live there.
After I ended my quick prayer for Colombia, I moved on to the station representing the state of Washington, and once again I was moved. On the map of the state, there was a bulletpoint that read “1 in 5 people don’t even know a Christian.” As a Christian, I can easily point out tons of other Christians... my immediate family, my best friend, my girlfriend... but to wrap my head around that stat forced me to think as if I wasn’t a Christian. Just the idea of someone not able to point out a single Christian is crazy considering the fact that I am surrounded by so many constantly.
The last of the bulletpoints on the map of Washington read: “66% of Washington residents are non-Christian. 30% of Washington residents are Christian. 4% of Washington residents are Mormon.” 30%. Only 30%. Once again, from the perspective of a Christian, born and raised, that is a number that is hard to believe. If someone was to ask me what percent of Washington residents are Christians before reading the bulletpoint on the map, I’d probably say about 55%, but to read that it’s really only around 30%, that’s just plain crazy!
To be honest, I never thought that being a camp counselor at a Christian kid’s camp that I’d learn so much about persecution. In fact the last two years I really only learned everything that I already knew, but this year was so different.
