'My Heart Is in Gaza' | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

'My Heart Is in Gaza' | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction:

"Gaza Baptist Church used to draw hundreds of Palestinian worshipers to its two Sunday services. But on a recent Sunday in January, less than 10 people risked attending the only evangelical church in the 25-mile coastal strip.

Palestinian evangelicals, a group of hundreds living among 1.5 million Muslims, have been fleeing the Gaza Strip for the West Bank in response to increased violence and threats from Islamic extremists. In October, Rami Ayyad, the 29-year-old manager of Gaza's only Christian bookstore, was kidnapped and murdered. Then on February 15, a group of 14 masked gunmen forcibly entered the ymca offices and set off a bomb in the library, burning thousands of books. ..."

This article raises issues that Christians need to come to grips with. First, there is most definitely persecution in today's world, and it seems to be growing in some areas. And second, warfare has significant effects on innocent bystanders.