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Justin Long’s
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What happened among the unreached this week, and why it matters to Kingdom workers
7 August 2026
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My Column
The persecuted you will always have with you
Persecution is promised and foretold by Jesus (Matthew 24). It is neither common nor unusual in many parts of the world today. It can be confusing–because sometimes people are persecuted for their faith, sometimes because they are of a different and not understood religion, and sometimes because someone else wants something the Christians have (e.g., a building, grazing rights, a job, a daughter). Persecution is the context in which the Gospel spreads, and often an amplifier that enables its advance.
Martyrdom rates have fluctuated over the years, declining from their peak of 3.7 million in the 1970s to an estimated 900,000 in the 2020s, though the decline is thought to have leveled off. Researchers estimate it will rise slowly toward 1 million per decade by 2075 (Status of Global Christianity 2026).
On the one hand, martyrdom–those who have died for Jesus–is its own clock, like the “countdown to every unreached people before the throne” (Revelation 5:9, 6:9, 7:9). But we should remember that the word martyr comes from the original Greek word, martys, which is the word for “witness.” It became what it is today because many witnesses in the early church died for their faith. That said, when martys was used in Scripture, it was rarely of a person who died. Martyrdom is its own form of witness, but while we should not shirk it if it comes, of course we should not seek martyrdom (which can be its own form of spiritual pride).
Martyrdom itself is part of the broader issue of persecution. Data on state hostility (USCIRF) and social hostility (Open Doors) show three times as many Christians live under severe social hostility (families, mobs, employers, friends) as under severe state hostility (regulation, police, internal security). Open Doors data further show that violence exerts less pressure than any of the five spheres of life in 41 of the 72 countries it lists. Much persecution is daily attrition (access to employment, benefits, marriage, cemeteries, markets, health care, kicked out of families, words, threats, bullying, and so on) rather than violence (attack, injury, death).
The argument Christian Post was suggesting is that persecution is a human rights issue: it should be stopped. Todd Nettleton of VOM argues that, yes, it’s a human rights issue–but it’s also, biblically, the context of Christian work and can’t really be stopped; we need to stand with Christians in prayer. I would take the argument one step further: persecution is provoked by the reaction of structures of sin to the spread of the Gospel.