Standing for Persecuted Christians plus a Sign of Hope

I first met Gia Chacon at the 2019 March for Life. She’s a dynamic young woman dedicated to raising awareness of the growing crisis of Christian persecution worldwide.

At that time, her work and her organization, For the Martyrs, were taking shape. And plans for a rally and march were in their infancy.

But on September 5, 2020, the first official march was held in Long Beach, California. Despite the pandemic, hundreds gathered, including ‘Chosen’ actor Jonathan Roumie. The historic day marking the start of a journey that would ultimately lead to the foot of the White House in 2021.

And on September 25, 2021 the 1st national March for the Martyrs took place in Washington, DC.

As she took to the stage on the National Mall in Washington, DC, the same hallowed ground on which Nellie Gray and Martin Luther King stood for the rights of the unborn and the oppressed. She gave a voice to countless Christians around the world.

“One of the experiences that I carry with me throughout my work is when I had the opportunity to sit down with an Iraqi refugee girl, who was just about 20 years old, living in Jordan. When she was living in Iraq, ISIS came into her home, Islamic militant extremists came into her home and threatened her whole family to convert, they were going to be killed, or they had to leave. ISIS actually kidnapped the sister and killed the brother in front of the whole entire family. Despite this horrible, horrific tragedy, the family refused to deny Christ, and they fled everything they knew to live in Jordan as refugees.” Gia Chacone

“We know that as Christians when one member of the Body suffers, we all suffer. And we have an obligation as people of the West to advocate on behalf of the voiceless and defenseless” Gia Chacone

According to the For the Martyrs website, “The number of people persecuted because of their faith in Christ increased over 30% in 2020 alone. There are now over 340 million Christians around the world who face high-levels of persecution because of their faith. Despite this growing crisis, Christian Persecution is widely ignored by the media and often overlooked within Western faith communities.”

For the Martyrs is founded on three pillars; aid, advocacy, and awareness.
They provide direct aid to groups suffering persecution which includes food, clothing, transportation, and Bibles.

In the Middle East and Africa, Christians are often stripped of their belongings and are forced to flee their homes. Material aid is critical to their survival.

They advocate by bringing the Christian persecution crisis to the forefront of the fight for Human Rights through various programs, including the Annual March for the Martyrs.

The organization believes that knowledge inspires action. By generating greater awareness of the plight and struggles of those in crisis, solutions at both national and international levels can be achieved.

“As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.” 1 Corinthians 12:12–13

Ours’ is a message of hope: Persecuted believers are not forgotten, Christian Persecution will not be ignored, and Jesus Christ still has the victory. — For the Martyrs