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The Manhattan church's help and prayers gave Nunu hope and a special feeling of a new calling from God. He wrote Andrea Clark from his detention cell: "With a burdenful heart, 'yet not ready to quit,' I look daily in fearful wonderment at the architectural designs of this city and my heart cries for the countless brethren." After getting out of jail, Nunu has been in training to help other Christian torture and abuse victims.

Steve Haas, president of the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, says now that American Christians are praying for their suffering brothers and sisters around the world, they are beginning to realize the full dimensions of the problem.

"I have just finished meeting with church people in Los Angeles, and it is nowhere more true than in L.A. that people who are objects of persecution in their own country have come here," Haas says. "Prayer for the persecuted is to discover where they live and be surprised by the fact that they live down the street."

In Dallas, Holston also sees that Christians have a special role. Torture and abuse victims who have fled to Texas are often alone and poverty-stricken. "They live on the kindness of strangers," he says. Invoking Matthew 25, Holston observes that Christians are uniquely prepared and called to host strangers: "Jesus said, 'I was a stranger and you invited me in.' " Holston says his work with people tortured or abused for their faith has been an education in world Christianity.

"I felt I had to go to school on the world. But now when I get into the cab and hear an African accent, I strike up a conversation. More often than not, I discover my driver is a Christian. Recently, my cab driver and I started trading Psalms. It was a great moment."

A common theme for Christians who help refugees fleeing violent persecution and torture is how they change from distant benevolent patrons to servants in Christ. "I used to feel good about doing this until the day a Zairian Christian came with his family to thank me," Holston says. "He told me, 'You gave me my life.' I was stunned for that moment, thinking: Who is getting the most out of this? Most people can go through their whole life without a moment like this."

Tony Carnes is Senior News Writer for Christianity Today.

For more on persecuted Christians, see the Web sites of the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church in the US and Canada, which offer news, essays, resources, prayer suggestions, and other materials.

ChristianityToday.com regularly covers religious persecution around the globe. For example, we covered Bob Fu's story in a September 1, 1997 news story titled "House Church Leaders Flee with American Help" (CTLibrary.com paid content).

Copyright © 2004 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

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March 6 2000, Vol. 44, No. 3