International Day of Prayer

for

the persecuted church

For 30 years, churches around the world have set aside a Sunday to pray for brothers and sisters who suffer for following Jesus. Join them this November.

1st and 8th November 2026

Get the free resources

This year’s theme

You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings … In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

2 Timothy 3:10-12

Paul commends Timothy for knowing his teaching, his way of life and the persecutions he endured. This year we turn that into a question for the whole Church: do we really know the believers we pray for?

The question invites us to examine ourselves rather than simply to celebrate an anniversary. And it reflects the Bible's honesty about the cost of following Christ.

Our example, not our object

The persecuted Church is not the object of our prayer. It is our example in it.

Those paying the highest cost for Christ are walking the path every Christian is called to walk. We come to pray as learners, not benefactors.

The reality in 2025

Christians killed in recorded violent incidents across 36 countries

Abductions

People forced from their homes within their own country

Source: IIRF Violent Incidents Database, January to December 2025. These are recorded incidents, so they are a floor rather than a total.

See the full picture

Thirty years of praying together

IDOP began in 1994 as an emergency call to prayer for Iran, after the murder of Bishop Haik Hovsepian Mehr. The response was so great that in 1996 the World Evangelical Alliance (then the World Evangelical Fellowship) called the whole Church to a day of prayer for the persecuted. More than 100 countries took part in the first year.

Persecuted believers often say that what they fear most is being forgotten. Thirty years on, the global Church still remembers.

Read the story

For thirty years, the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church has reminded the global Church that persecution is never someone else's problem … Their courage calls the rest of us to pray more deeply, care more practically, and defend, everywhere, the God-given freedom to believe, worship, and live according to conscience.

Godfrey Yogarajah, Chair, WEA International Council

Three ways to take part

Pray on 1 or 8 November

Choose the Sunday that fits your church's calendar, and give time in your service to pray for the persecuted Church.

Use the free resources

Bible studies, prayer points, country prayer guides, songs and posters, in English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Arabic.

Tell others about IDOP

Share IDOP with your church, your network or your national alliance.

Get the free resources

Uniting in prayer

If one member suffers, we all suffer together; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together.

1 Corinthians 12:26

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Organised by the World Evangelical Alliance, the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church is an annual, global event that unites Christians in prayer for the persecuted church.

1st and 8th November