This story opens with “Is this the day, the day I die?” and continues to tell a story that will remain in your mind long after you finish the book. What would you do if your home was taken from you, your spouse swept off to an unknown place—a prison, and you are left to rely on the support of others to live? What if they were sent to jail simply because they were a Christian? And what if situations like this actually existed in the world?
Such a situation is portrayed in Randy Alcorn’s book, Safely Home.
Persecution is the focus as we see Li Quan, a Chinese would be college professor, smuggling in Bibles, meeting secretly in the middle of the night for worship services, and risking his very life to worship Yesu.
From Jon Pratt —
Usually when I read fiction, I do so for fun. I place this type of entertainment in the same category as attending a Twins’ baseball game. But a book I’ve recently finished, while clearly a fictional work, did not have the same effect as baseball. Randy Alcorn’s Safely Home (Tyndale 2001) kept my attention like any well-written book, but Alcorn’s story provided insight into the suffering of our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world in a way that profoundly affected my thinking.
Using an American businessman and a Chinese house-church pastor as his main characters, Alcorn describes the realities and challenges faced by the persecuted church in China as a window into the life of the suffering church throughout the world. Along the way Alcorn provides a sound theology of the wisdom and providence of God in bringing people through suffering, even when that suffering ends in martyrdom.
From Jon Pratt —
Usually when I read fiction, I do so for fun. I place this type of entertainment in the same category as attending a Twins’ baseball game. But a book I’ve recently finished, while clearly a fictional work, did not have the same effect as baseball. Randy Alcorn’s Safely Home (Tyndale 2001) kept my attention like any well-written book, but Alcorn’s story provided insight into the suffering of our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world in a way that profoundly affected my thinking.
Using an American businessman and a Chinese house-church pastor as his main characters, Alcorn describes the realities and challenges faced by the persecuted church in China as a window into the life of the suffering church throughout the world. Along the way Alcorn provides a sound theology of the wisdom and providence of God in bringing people through suffering, even when that suffering ends in martyrdom.
The International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (IDOP) is a global day of intercession in November for persecuted Christians worldwide. Its primary focus is the work of intercessory prayer and citizen action on behalf of persecuted communities of the Christian faith. 
Please pray that they would:
These questions will help guide your discussion of Randy's book Safely Home.
