Written by Aaron M. Renn |
Friday, February 2, 2024
While Christians might experience persecution, just because you are in trouble doesn’t mean you are being persecuted for being a Christian. In the case of this church, it is willfully violating the city’s zoning code, which is religiously neutral – if anything, religious institutions are privileged in zoning – and not to single this church out or because of some anti-Christian animus. The city may be unwise or even heartless, but that doesn’t mean they are persecuting the pastor. 

I saw several articles posted about a pastor in Ohio who is being charged with several zoning code violations because he allowed homeless people to stay in his church during freezing weather. He’s apparently allowed homeless people in the church previously, had been warned against it, and is de facto using the church as an overflow facility for the homeless shelter next door.
Per the article, some people have called this persecution:
Ashton Pittman, editor of the Mississippi Free Press, said Avell’s story was a rare example in the U.S. of “actual religious persecution of a Christian by the state.”
I beg to differ. The city may be heartless here, but this is the sort of zoning dispute people of all stripes run into all the time in cities. It’s not unusual for even those who have followed all the rules to end up in kafkaesque situations. (Also, it’s not clear if his case, which is in a municipal court, is actually a criminal one).
As the guy who coined the term “Negative World” to describe the way post-2014 American culture now views Christianity negatively (or at least skeptically), you might think I would be aligned with people talking about persecution in America. But I’m not.
Christians are not actually being persecuted in America today. I’m sure there are individuals who have been attacked by a disturbed whack job or something because of where they go to church. But such cases are surely rare.
When I think of persecution, I think of places like China, where pastors get thrown in prison and churches get demolished by the state. Or India, where some Christians groups have been the target of sectarian violence. Or North Korea. Or perhaps some Muslim countries where Christians suffer various legal or cultural debilities.
This is not what is happening in the United States.
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Your future is not determined because of your past. You will become that which captures your attention. Is your attention set on the things of God, you will look like God. Is your attention captured by your family, you will probably love them well. Your attention is valuable and it is transformative. Don’t waste it. Where do you spend your attention? That is what you will become. The focus of your attention is transforming you.

We have a tendency to focus on all the things in life that happen or exist outside of our control. You can’t control the weather, you can’t control other people, you can’t even control when your hair turns gray or turns loose. You did not choose where you would be born or to whom. You had not part to play in your genetic make-up or your siblings or even your kindergarten teacher. You do not control the drivers in the other lane or the barista taking forever to make your black coffee.
But, it turns out, none of those things matter as much about who you become as you might think. The things outside of our control are more excuses than they are causes. The things I cannot control become perfect excuses for my bad behavior or my lack of commitment or initiative.
How do I know?
I am often tempted to blame my kids for my short temper or slow drivers for making me late or even others around me for distracting me from the task I need to accomplish.
I can be an expert excuse-maker.
But I have great news. The things outside of your control are not the most important things in your life. The things outside of your control do not have to be the most formative things in your life.
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Andrew and Norine, millions of people were praying for you, including the Open Doors community. Did you sense people’s prayers in prison?
Andrew: My two years in prison were marked by what I would call the silence of God, and not having any sense of His presence. Because my past experience with Him was really rich, to have that intimacy removed led to a fence around my heart toward God. Woundedness.
I was the only Christian in prison, and the only Christian I had any contact with throughout my two years was Norine. So I was very alone, isolated in my faith. I prayed for peace so much. I did not feel much peace. Grace was taking me through, but finding strength, determination, peace and joy was actually much more difficult than I expected. So I didn’t feel people praying for me. I had grace, but it was an unfelt grace. My first year in prison, I broke repeatedly
Were there specific times that were harder than others?
A: I had a number of bad ones. Being thrown into prison for the first time. I had been held in detention centers before that. Being in solitary confinement was very difficult. When I went on trial, that was initially very difficult. The first year, especially, is when I broke physically. I lost 50 pounds. I broke emotionally. I went into that spiritual crisis.
Still, I had this desperate need to know that people were praying.
Norine: Each time we met, he said, “Are they still praying?” Because it would be natural for people to move on to the next crisis. So that was something he kept coming back to.
A: And the encouragement I got often came from knowing that. The prayer just kept growing. I’ve been told by a church historian that what happened with me was an unprecedented prayer movement focused on one person.
So, clearly this was supernatural. It was God-initiated, God-driven, God-sustained, and I came to see that God was doing something much bigger with that movement of prayer than just sustaining me and then delivering me from prison. There was something much bigger going on.
Did you see that in prison, or was that in hindsight?
A: Well, in hindsight it’s clearer, but I began to see it in prison. I didn’t know the numbers of people praying when I was in prison. Norine started to hear that people were praying in a number of countries. We saw that something unusual was happening.
Did you have a sense of what God was wanting to do?
A: I came to see during my imprisonment that actually, God was using this to draw in prayer for Turkey, in an unusual way. In 2009, God had said to me: “Prepare for harvest.” I came to see that being in prison was part of that assignment. That just by being there, I was the lightning rod that was drawing in prayer God intended to use for the region.
People have told me, “I’d wake up in the middle of the night and pray for you.” Even children were praying for me. Wow!
N: So many children. I think God was doing many, many things. But one of the things was bringing praying for the persecuted into children’s hearts and minds. I heard about the prayer more than he did, and I understood earlier on that this was something happening for Turkey.
A: I came to see that over time, but I did begin to worry that I was more valuable or useful to God in prison than out. So: He might keep me there.
N: Or for a while, at least. It was really hard, but I do remember once or twice just saying to somebody, “You know, I should be feeling a lot worse right now. My spirit is lifted. There’s probably somebody praying for me, somewhere, in some time zone, right now.”
One day in church, a woman felt something behind me. And she said, “God, what is this? Is it an angel, or what?” And God said to her, “It’s My giant hand holding her up.” That was because of the prayers of people. So, I just want people to know that whether we felt it or not, their prayers were propping me up and strengthening me to be able to pass some of that on to him.
For those who prayed for us, we really want you to know how grateful we are and that your prayers accomplished much more—they’re sowing into the spiritual harvest in Turkey. Your prayers were behind all of everything that happened.
Andrew, you said that God used you like a lightning rod to bring prayer into Turkey. What are you seeing today that’s showing you how God has used you and your suffering?
A: There are two main factors. One is that Turkey’s becoming more oppressive, and it’s being done in the name of Islam.
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