There are a number of reasons why Western Christians have tended to ignore or remain silent about the persecution of Christians worldwide.

Some churches stress prosperity and personal inner peace as the inevitable results of spiritual virtue. Believers then become preoccupied with their own personal peace, spirituality, and well-being that they have little or no time or motivating interest in the plight of others. Consider what books are popular among Christians today. Think about the sermons you hear that focus mostly on how you can have a better life. Think of all the classes and seminars. This emphasis is clearly reflected in the literature, sermons, and teaching materials which tend to be needs orientated; focusing mostly on what people want to hear about rather than on what they should hear.

Other Christians are so concerned about what they perceive to be the needs in Canada that they either don’t want to hear about needs in other countries or unjustly, equate Canada’s own problems with the plight of those who are being persecuted for their faith.

Other churches tend to be obsessed with end-times prophecy, which tends to produce either a sense of favoritism (i.e. "we will be raptured before we suffer"), or fatalism (i.e. "why should we seek to stop persecution since it is a sign of the end?"). For some Christians with a fatalist or even romantic view of martyrs and the persecuted church, they think that they ought not to seek to eliminate suffering and persecution since Scripture teaches that it will happen to those who truly follow Christ and that persecution always produces personal maturity and church growth. "Why speak against something that has such positive results?"

Other church leaders are concerned that if they open the doors to allowing their congregation to hear about the persecution of Christians that this will take away money from their own programs and priorities. To their mind, helping persecuted Christians doesn’t really help to put people in the pews or offerings in the plate.

For some church leaders, especially those who are very denominationally oriented, they may not have had access to relevant, up-to-date information on the plight of the persecuted church. Most denominational magazines only rarely address persecution and usually only in reference to their own churches or mission programs. Some denominations never mention persecution because of a desire to retain access for their missionaries to countries where persecution is occurring.

The secular media also rarely mentions the plight of the persecuted church and this has contributed to limiting critical discussion of this issue to the few organizations (like The Voice of the Martyrs) who have focused specifically on it. Oppressed Christians, on the other hand, often do not tell or publish their own stories, either due to the fact that persecution is such a part of their daily life that it doesn't seem significant, or because of fear of retribution, lack of communication media or simply because no one seems interested in hearing.

Sadly, most pastors and teachers either misunderstand or inappropriately apply scripture passages that deal explicitly with persecution. Many are unaware of the original intent of the authors of Scripture and/or the social environment in which the New Testament was written. Much of the Bible was written by persecuted believers to other persecuted believers. Without this understanding, preaching and teaching rarely refer to persecution as a normal part of what it means to be a Christian.

There is a final and perhaps the most obvious reason for why many churches rarely or never talk about persecution. Perhaps no one has ever told them!! You can have a part in changing this! Consider being a volunteer church representative or a VOMC Ambassador. By becoming a VOMC volunteer, you become part of our mission team, receiving training and support in order to become am effective voice for the persecuted church. Through our newsletter, website, the Persecution & Prayer Alert, conferences, and special speakers, you can introduce your church to the reality of Christian persecution in today's world and invite them to fellowship with this important part of Christ's Body. Find out more.