Serving our Brothers & Sisters

Level of Need: Greatest

We challenge you to dig deep to restore the lives of our persecuted brothers and sisters. From the simple to the heroic, the mundane to the extraordinary, we are guided by one simple fact: whatever we do for the least of these, His sons and daughters, we do for Jesus.

The Where Most Needed fund provides for exactly that: the greatest needs of the persecuted. When unexpected tragedies arise, or another fund is running low, we call upon the Where Most Needed fund to fill in the gaps. The Where Most Needed fund also supports much of the behind-the-scenes work that makes advocacy, awareness, and assistance for the persecuted possible.

Through your generosity toward this most crucial fund, we will touch thousands of victims in the coming year.

Suggested Gifts for Projects Like:

• $50 – The average cost of an emergency food package for a victim of persecution
• $100 – One day of an overseas trip for our US staff
• $1,500 – The average cost of bringing an overseas victim of persecution to meet with members of Congress as part of our advocacy efforts

Suggested Gifts:

• $30 – Support a persecuted family for 2 weeks
• $100 – Support for a persecuted family for 2 months
• $500 – Small business assistance for a persecuted family to recover financially after COVID-19
• $1,000 – Support for 20 persecuted families for one month

Restoring Christians During the COVID-19 Crisis

Level of Need: Low

For communities and nations across the world, COVID-19 has represented disruption, death, and economic upheaval. For the persecuted Church, it has only exacerbated the problems they already face. Church planters have been cut off from their church support and believers have been denied food aid from their government. In one village alone, 100 Christian families in Pakistan were denied food aid from the government.

One Muslim-background believer shared, “I work in a coffee shop, [which closed due to COVID-19], and it seems that it will be a long time until it opens again. I am staying at home with no support.”

We are rallying our followers to bring food packages that provide emergency supplies to persecuted families without the aid of their governments, families, or jobs.

Restoring Children through Hope House

Level of Need: High

Christians in Egypt are treated as second-class citizens at best. Many homes have no food, no running water, no clean clothes, and no medicine. There are few opportunities for a future. Yet, they hope for a better life.

By pairing sponsors with some of the poorest Christian children, ICC’s child sponsorship program makes this dream come true. Hope House provides them with access to regular educational, medical, and spiritual care. A biannual exchange of letters helps sponsors stay prayerfully updated on the child’s situation.

Hana is one of several children who needed a sponsor. For Hana’s father, child sponsorship means that his son can have the opportunities he was never able to grasp. “I am a carpenter. I am not educated because my father passed away when I was three years old,” Hana’s father said. “I missed a lot of things that a child would enjoy growing up because I had to go to work at 10 years old. I want to see Hana educated and reach his dreams, and have the chance I didn’t have.”

Suggested Gifts:

• $30 – Sponsor a child on a monthly basis
• $50 – Teaching materials for one teacher a year
• $150 – Transportation costs for the students to travel to and from Hope House
• $300 – One small business for Hope House parents
• $700 – Support for one class for the whole semester
• $1,000 – Average cost of 2 micro-finance projects
• 2,000 – Build out one new classroom to accommodate Hope House’s growing needs

Suggested Gifts:

• $30 – Food and farming opportunities for one person for a year
• $100 – 200 kg of fertilizer, enough for five acres
• $250 – Two irrigation pumps
• $1,250 – Land clearing for up to 100 acres
• $5,000 – Plowing and harrowing for up to 100 acres
• $17,000 – Cost of implementing a communal farm for an entire village (approx. 75 families)

Restoring Displaced Christian Farmers with Nigeria Farms

Level of Need: Medium

In Nigeria, Christians have suffered horrendously at the hands of their Muslim countrymen over the last 20 years. Boko Haram and Fulani militants have killed more than 50,000 Christians and forced millions of Christian farmers off their land. The attackers burn their crops and their homes, and murder any Christians they can catch. The survivors, of course, flee and live as internally displaced persons within Nigeria.

As a result, ICC developed communal farms to feed and provide a living for these farmers. We currently have nine farms growing crops and two more in development. Each farm provides food and a living for approximately 75 Christian farmers and their families.

Incredibly, this program costs only $30 per person, per year! By giving to ICC’s Nigeria farm initiative, you will be providing the necessary equipment and raw materials to help persecuted farmers get back on their feet.

Restoring Victims of ISIS

Level of Need: Low

Over the month-long span of Ramadan in 2020, ISIS took advantage of the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to target the vulnerable and claimed responsibility for more than 260 attacks across Iraq. This string of attacks resulted in the death or injury of at least 426 people.

We are continuing our work in Iraq this year, where many Christians affected by ISIS are just beginning to tackle rebuilding their lives. A single attack could overturn all of their efforts.

ICC assisted an Iraqi Christian, Ghazwan, rebuild his chicken farm, while giving him a means to provide for his family long-term on his own. Since then, Ghazwan has already raised and sold his first round of chickens—approximately 3,500 birds—and has begun raising the next flock. By rebuilding the farms that were once the backbone of the local economy, we hope to restore the region to the thriving community that it once was.

Suggested Gifts:

• $40 – 100 chicks for a new chicken farm in Northern Iraq
• $250 – One round of vaccines
• $450 – One ton of fodder
• $2,000 – One well to provide clean water for 10 persecuted families

Rescuing Bereaved Families

Level of Need: High

Last year, ICC launched the Rescue: Wives and Kids fund to rescue the families of believers who are killed, imprisoned, or sidelined due to persecution. Through this fund, we aid bereaved families who have lost their breadwinner, terror attack survivors, and women in danger.*

What happens to a family when the husband and father is killed or imprisoned for loving Jesus? They are left destitute. The children often have to drop out of school and start working, even as young as eight years old. Elizabeth lost her eldest son, Charo Karisa, when al-Shabaab executed him and three others on August 17, 2017. What made the attack even more devastating was that he was also her provider. Elizabeth, who was in her seventies, was too old to take care of the family of seven.

ICC originally helped Elizabeth by providing her with 10 goats. A year later, she told us, “Today I have 16 goats and a modern shelter where they sleep. I have enough milk for our morning tea, for my grandchildren, and I sell the extra liters to the neighbors.” The simple gift of 10 goats from ICC gave Elizabeth and her family a future.

Suggested Gifts:

• $50 – Emergency food package for a victim of persecution for one month
• $500 – Average cost to provide medical care for a persecuted Christian after an attack
• $1,000 – Business assistance for the widow of a martyr

Suggested Gifts:

• $50 – Physical therapy for a bombing survivor
• $150 – School expenses for one year for a child of a martyr
• $300 – Average expense of monthly doctor visits
• $2,400 – Surgery to repair an injured survivor

Rescuing Terror Survivors

Level of Need: Medium

On September 22, 2013, suicide bombers rocked Pakistan’s Christian community when they attacked All Saints Church in Peshawar. The bombing took place as congregants were exiting the Sunday morning service, leaving roughly 600 churchgoers exposed to the blast. When the dust settled, approximately 100 Christians were killed, in addition to many more who were wounded. As a result of the bombing, many children were orphaned or their parents were left unable to provide financially due to their injuries.

After an attack, ICC’s Rescue fund is used to help survivors who need long-term care. Many of them will need years of physical therapy and trauma counseling.

In order to support the families of these young children after the All Saints bombing, we have been providing the children with educational support ever since. This support includes tuition costs, school supplies, and transportation to and from school. In the most recent school year, 30 children participated in this initiative.

Equipping God’s Witnesses

Level of Need: High

Through ICC’s Messengers fund, we support indigenous church planters, pastors, and ministry leaders in the world’s most dangerous places. These brave men and women need resources to fulfill their vision to penetrate the darkness, bring life to those facing opposition, and disciple the persecuted.

Ever since converting to Christianity, Pastor Tin Shwe has faced hostility for his faith. In 2018, the threats became a reality when he was beaten up by Buddhist extremists and suffered a serious head injury.

ICC came alongside Pastor Tin Shwe in his time of need to help pay off the medical bills he incurred. Upon receiving the assistance, Pastor Tin Shwe expressed, “I am so grateful to ICC for reaching out to us in the remote country and in this kind of remote area. We are very encouraged because we have been reporting about our situation to [other] organizations…but no one pays any attention. Thank you so much, ICC.”

Suggested Gifts:

• $50 – Average cost to verify a persecution case
• $150 – Monthly support for an underground pastor in a closed country
• $200 – Average monthly cost for a frontline worker to support local persecuted families
• $1,000 – Persecution response training for underground pastors

Suggested Gifts:

• $150 – A month’s worth of food supplies for MBB families living under threat
• $300 – Monthly support for MBBs who smuggle and distribute Bibles underground
• $1,000 – Cost of relocating a newly converted family to a safe place

Supporting MBB Evangelists

Level of Need: Medium

Muslim-background believers (MBBs) in Egypt are often abandoned by their Muslim families and friends. Therefore, they rely on their new community of believers for discipleship, friendship, and protection. Within these communities, pastors play a crucial role by connecting them with other believers and guiding them in their newfound faith.

With the Messengers Fund, we often support those who take the Gospel to dangerous regions. We support a group of 80 converts in Egypt who have sacrificed everything in their journey to follow Jesus. They receive home visits, discipleship, and financial support as well. We recently distributed fans to help families endure the hot summer months. We try to make sure they don’t have to worry about where they will sleep or where their next meal will come from.

Through your financial support, these extremely vulnerable new believers are cared for and discipled as they transition from their old world to their newfound faith.

God’s Word in Dangerous Regions

Level of Need: High

The Bible is a living message, which is spiritual fertilizer that brings life wherever it is spread. We use the Gospel fund to spread the Good News on the frontlines through printed Bibles, Gospel radio broadcasts, and discipleship materials in areas that are hostile toward Christianity.

Over the years, we have witnessed the Gospel explode within Southeast Asia. It is one region that we support through the Gospel Fund. There, the Hmong Christian community has more than doubled within the region as the Good News continues to spread. In order to continue this trend, we are actively working to distribute Bibles throughout Laos.

Last year, we supported the distribution of Gospel materials, including Bibles and the Jesus Film, in over 300 villages in Laos alone. Within many of these communities, many new churches have sprung up. One of our partners on the ground shared, “What a joy it is to bring all these Bibles… and all these pastors excitedly come out to help carry all the suitcases [of Bibles] in.”

Suggested Gifts:

• $10 – One USB drive loaded with Bibles content, devotional content, and Christian music
• $100 – 20 Bibles to distribute into the hands of persecuted believers
• $500 – Monthly support for North Korean ministry workers to do radio broadcast outreach

Suggested Gifts:

• $25 – 25 New Testaments for a church planter
• $100 – A new bicycle for a church planter
• $200 – Equip a church planter with a new bike and 100 New Testaments so that he can reach thousands and start 6 new churches in the coming year!
• $1,000 – Equip a team of 5 church planters with bikes and 500 New Testaments

Bibles and Bikes: Equipping an Army of Evangelists

Level of Need: Medium

India has been in a spiritual prison for thousands of years, but Jesus has come to the nation’s rescue. He is moving through the work of rural pastors, opening prison doors and freeing people from Satan’s prison of discrimination and deprivation.

Rural pastors are incredibly passionate about their ministry, but they are limited to traveling on foot from village to village. After launching the Bibles and Bikes fund, we’ve been able to equip hundreds of pastors with their own bicycle and 100 Bibles as they continue their ministry work.

After Pastor Raju was attacked in India by Hindu extremists while sharing the Gospel, we helped him with his medical expenses, replaced his bike, and gave him new Bibles to distribute. We sat with him and asked him why he would go back to this kind of work when the cost is so high. He told us through his broken teeth that this is the cost of spreading the Gospel in India and he is happy to pay.

Lessons from the Persecuted

With Christmas just around the corner, there is no better time than now to give to the persecuted Church! All of the profits from my new book, The Last Words of the Martyrs, with a foreword by Francis Chan, will be used to support the families of Christian martyrs.

Sixteen years ago, when I started with ICC, I felt the Lord insistently impressing on me that the persecuted and the martyrs had a vital, life-giving lesson that He wanted me to discover and share with the free Church.

For more than a decade, I watched and listened to the martyrs, but I could only hear their message as a faint whisper.

Over time, I realized that the core of the martyrs’ message was not how they died, but rather how they lived and the lessons they learned along the way.

The whispered message of the martyrs will challenge your understanding of what it means to be a Christian. Your perception of what the Lord is doing with you and where He’s taking you in life will be forever changed.

I have no desire to sell you a book for a few dollars, but I do want to see your heart transformed by hearing the whisper of the martyrs as they call you not to death, but to real life!

To learn more and sign up for the companion devotional series, visit www.lastwordsofthemartyrs.org.

All of the profits from The Last Words of the Martyrs will be used to support the families of Christian martyrs, so please purchase copies today as Christmas gifts for your friends and family.

Jeff King
President
International Christian Concern

Order Your Copy Online Today for $16.99.

Call ICC at 1-800-422-5441 for quantity discounts:

• 2 for $27
• 3 for $35
• 4 for $43
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