Persecution can be hard to identify. The severe forms of it may be crystal clear, especially outside the West where some believers suffer physical violence, while others endure frequent threats of violence. The evil sometimes comes from those who don’t know them but who simply see that they stand with Christ. Such was the case in recent murders by ISIS, where major news services reported that the victims were targeted solely because of their Christian faith.

In places like the U.S., U.K., and Canada, such physical threats and violence are rare. Yet increasingly Christians are hearing people “speak all kinds of evil against you.” Even that is complicated, because malefactors often lump us together with folks who generically consider themselves Christians but who don’t hold to basic Christian teachings. We are lumped with all kinds of clearly non-Christian practices that have been performed in the circle of Christianity, whether by true Christians or false Christians or fallen Christians.

In those cases it can be hard to extract what the persecution is for. I doubt that it’s going to get easier. Christian students and Bible study hosts and landlords and businesses face increasing governmental restrictions on practicing their beliefs in public or even in private. Even the RPCNA Synod and Geneva College are affected, as they consider how to handle pension plans and medical plans because of increasing governmental pressure to be politically correct at the cost of moral correctness.

Some groups garner sympathy and concern when they are persecuted. Typically those groups who are considered less powerful receive more understanding. Since Christianity was, after a fashion, a dominant position in the West, there is little sympathy for Christians when things don’t go our way. And there’s still a lot of fear of what a mobilized Christian constituency could do.

But not much mobilization appears to be occurring in the broader church. So, as the Understanding the Times Committee of the 2014 RP Synod asked, “Are we prepared for life in a society truly hostile to the church? Have we considered how these changes will affect not only our corporate activities but the average member’s life?”

That report also sees positive changes occurring, as some of the chaff of false Christianity withers and dies around us. At the same time gospel-centered ministry seems to be prospering, with planting of churches and contending for truth and ministering of mercy in the RPCNA and far beyond.

As Gordon Keddie (p. 6) points out, our situation is not outside the historical Christian norm. There is much good work for us to do, and no need to be distracted by the enemy from doing what we already know to do and where we already have the certainty of victory. And as Jeanette Li’s story (p. 10) reminds us, we stand with other believers of every generation and nation in a great mission that carries with it a great cost and a great reward.