Nik and Ruth Ripken have served in some of the toughest areas of Africa. They’ve known believers who have been martyred for Christ. They’ve interviewed hundreds of Christians experiencing persecution in more than 70 countries.
They’ve learned something about persecution.
“The most persecuted person is a lost person who has no access to Jesus,” Nik said. “Satan wants to keep people from hearing about Jesus. If he can’t do that, he wants to shut you up, to silence your witness.”
Most American Christians fall into the second category. They experience no persecution because they tell no one about Jesus. Yet persecution of Jesus’ true followers has been normal from New Testament times to our day. The No. 1 cause? People coming to know Jesus.
The Ripkens learned that the hard way. They served in South Africa and Kenya after sensing a call from God in the early 1980s. They experienced the drama — and trauma — of ministry amid racial apartheid, religious and tribal tensions, and other challenges.
But Somalia, their next place of service, was even worse. The overwhelmingly Muslim nation was wracked by civil war, chaos and danger in the 1990s, as it is today.
Their son was fatally stricken by an asthma attack in Kenya on an Easter Sunday. And they saw nearly 150 Muslim-background followers of Christ in Somalia martyred. Four of their closest friends died on a single, terrible day in 1994.
The Ripkens and other workers were forced out in 1998. They have not been able to return.
Their experiences have led them to a long-term effort to understand the nature of persecution and how God works through it. Trying to stop it in every case or “rescue” every believer experiencing it is a misunderstanding of religious freedom, they said.
“We need to pray intelligently, not that persecution will increase, but that the peoples of the earth have access to Jesus — all of them,” Nik said. “When that happens, persecution is going to be a reality. Sometimes God needs to have Joseph in Pharaoh’s prison. Historically and biblically, persecution is normal. In many places today it authenticates the faith. So persecution is not something you run toward or run away from. … It’s what you make of it that counts.”
Now based in northern Africa and the Middle East, Nik and Ruth specialize in training and research to help the global body of Christ, including Southern Baptist representatives and churches, understand effective gospel witness and church planting in environments where persecution is the norm.
Everywhere they go they meet Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and others hungry to know about God. “Every time we send a missionary through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, we’re saying, ‘We will not stop until every man, woman, boy and girl on earth has access to Jesus,’” Nik said. “Being His heart, His hands and His voice means we’re representing Jesus among all the nations.”
The nations are often much closer than we think, Nik said. Immigrants arriving in America include people who are hard to reach in their home countries. Here they can be reached by crossing the street.
But we must cross the street.
“God … is bringing the nations to us,” Nik said. “But we’re running from the nations in our midst. … [Often] these people are lonely and isolated. Get out of your church. Go to their homes. Invite them to your home. Shop where they shop.”
Southern Baptists’ gifts to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering and through the Cooperative Program help Southern Baptist workers around the world share the gospel. Give to the offering through your local Southern Baptist church or online at imb.org/offering, where there are resources for church leaders to promote the offering. Download related videos at imb.org/lmcovideo.
A book about the Ripkens, “The Insanity of God,” is their true story of faith persecuted in the midst of war, opposing religions and personal loss. It will be available at major outlets beginning Jan. 1.
To learn more about the Ripkens and their ministry, visit nikripken.com.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Names have been changed for security reasons. (IMB)
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