Does persecution always bring growth?

Global persecutions suggest otherwise!

Abstract

While Christians have long had a theology of church growth resulting from persecution, this article develops a modest “theology of extinction” to go alongside. Five global persecutions are identified – Roman, Islamic, Mongol, Christian and Atheistic – where the persecution lasted for more than one generation, covers the known world, and leaves a permanent change. The first of these, Emperor Decius’s strategy to create apostates rather than martyrs, is examined with a call to preserve a greater awareness of how persecution can really damage the church.