Fast approaching is an anniversary that should not happen.
Churches throughout the nation will recognize but not celebrate the anniversary of China’s One-Child Policy. Most people know that the policy has brought death throughout all of China, and combined with a son-preference, has meant the loss of millions of little girls.
But not everybody realizes that the policy was set to end in September 2010—three decades after it was created. According to Chai Ling, his autumn marks the 31st anniversary of the policy, which—with its violent forced abortions and sterilizations, heavy fines and destruction of property—“has already prevented 400 million lives,” according to official Chinese government records. Is there an end in sight? No. China has decided to keep the policy around “for decades to come.”
“As Christians, our only reaction should be deep sadness and outrage that leads to desperate prayer,” says Ling, founder of All Girls Allowed, a humanitarian organization devoted to restoring life, value and dignity to girls and mothers in China. “We are standing up to a massive communist government and saying that every baby deserves to live. This is God giving us an opportunity to pray more desperately than we ever have before. ”
Churches around the world will view a short video then pause to pray for China and remember the 37 million girls lost to the policy since it was created in 1980. “One out of every five people lives in China,” says Ling. “It’s 2011 and the world is getting smaller. The response we’ve seen from churches all throughout America shows that believers are becoming increasingly concerned for their oppressed brothers and sisters worldwide.”
The campaign’s website is found at http://allgirlsallowed.org/37seconds. It includes an up-to-the-minute map with pinpoints representing participating churches and campuses throughout the U.S., and offers free resources to individuals and groups willing to participate.
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