Prayer for Persecuted Christians!

Voters in southern Sudan continue this week to cast ballots on whether or not to declare independence from the north. The outcome could result in the birth of the world's newest state.
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Assyrian Youth Delegates Meet for First International Black March Movement Conference

GMT 1-20-2011 5:24:19
Assyrian International News Agency
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Detroit (AINA) -- On January 8th and 9th, 2011, youth delegates from across the United States, Canada, and Europe met in Detroit for the Black March Movement's Inaugural Global Youth Conference. The Black March Movement is founded as a response to the October 31, 2010 massacre of Assyrians at Our Lady of Deliverance Syriac Catholic Church in Baghdad, in which 58 Assyrians were killed by members of the Islamic State of Iraq, an Al-Qaeda affiliate. On November 8, 2010 more than twenty protests, dubbed Black Marches, were held in cities around the world to call attention to the Baghdad church massacre (AINA 11-10-2010).

The Conference represented a revolutionary and unprecedented step for the Assyrian diaspora as youths representing various diaspora communities, organizations, and religious sects [including the Church of the East, the Ancient Church of the East, the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church, and the Syriac Catholic Church] came together to begin connecting the diaspora and to outline the Movement's goals while stressing and reiterating the theme of unity expressed by the agreement of the Assyrian political parties in Erbil, Iraq.

Click here for full coverage of the Baghdad Church Massacre.

The country of Iraq has had one of the biggest changes this year on the 2011 World Watch List - moving up from position seventeen in 2010, to number eight!

In response to this jump Open Doors USA is launching an advocacy campaign on behalf of the Christians in Iraq whose persecution has rapidly escalated in recent months. Advocate on behalf of our Iraqi brothers and sisters by signing the petition urging Secretary Clinton to work closely with the Iraqi government to protect its Christian community. Sign the petition today and ask others to sign as well, collectively we can globally raise awareness of the situation of Christians in Iraq.
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Tunisians hold their breath, uncertain how the situation will develop after the ousting of President Ben Ali. Also for the 1,000 to 1,500 Tunisian Christians and approximately 20,000 foreign Christians in the country, they ask for our prayers.
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Last December a gathering of thirty-two leaders from various countries in Central Asia attended an Open Doors training seminar. A young leader from the Karakalpakstan church shares their testimony.
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The current crisis in Egypt is challenging for Christians and they are calling on the church in the West to unite in prayer with them for the future of their country.
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