"God is moving there (Cuba) ... under the perseuction and the resistance of the authorities," explains Phil James on today's Footsteps.  Phil is not the only Footsteps guest who has talked about persecution contributing to church growth.  It's true.  It's happening.  But how? 

Recently, I watched a television program about the hedgerows in England.  Originally, I thought that a hedgerow was just a line of untouched, overgrown bushes.  I was wrong.  Hedgerows are created and shaped.  The farmer takes his axe and makes a long, deep, angled cut through the trunk of a bush or small tree near it's base.  He then bends the cut branch down and lays it across it's neighboring cut bushes.  Together, they form a living wall.  You see, even though each branch has been severely cut, because it remains barely attached to the base, the tree stays alive and keeps growing parallel to the ground.  In fact, because all of these branches are lying on top of each other, and with many of them intertwined, the hedgerow becomes a much stronger, even impenetrable wall.  

In a similar way, when part of the body of Christ is persecuted or severely hurt, because it remains connected to Jesus, and with of the support of fellow believers, the Church remains alive, growing, and even stronger.

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(Photo of Phil James of The Word For You Today)