Persecution Generates Growth

29 June 2026  Acts 12:1-11

Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles

“…and when he saw that this was pleasing to the Jews he proceeded to arrest Peter also.” (Acts 12:3) 

The context for the story of Peter busting out of prison, the very last major story about Peter in the Bible, is one of famine and persecution. The previous chapter of Acts ends with the announcement of a famine and a special offering from the Christians in Antioch for the struggling Christians in Judea to be delivered by Barnabas and Saul (Acts 11:28-29). Acts 12 ends with Barnabas and Saul completing the delivery of that offering and returning to Antioch (Acts 12:25). Jerusalem was mostly unimpressed by the Christians’ charity, and King Herod found that it pleased the people to have someone to blame for their misfortune, and so he had the Apostle James killed, and Peter arrested.

For the rest of classical antiquity, periods of persecution marked major shifts in the way the Church witnessed, and those shifts ironically became periods of remarkable growth.

This would not be the last time that Christians were blamed for a terrible crisis. About twenty years later there was a terrible fire in Rome which destroyed almost 70% of the city.

Only four of Rome’s 14 administrative districts were untouched by the fire, and rumors began to circulate that the emperor Nero had ordered the blaze to make room for some of his building projects. A scapegoat became an urgent requirement, and Nero chose to blame Christians. Both Peter and Paul, along with many unnamed others, became martyrs as a result.

For the rest of classical antiquity, periods of persecution marked major shifts in the way the Church witnessed, and those shifts ironically became periods of remarkable growth. The rest of the book of Acts turns away from the Church in Jerusalem and Judea, focusing on Paul, the Gentile mission and thousands of new believers. In the second and third centuries, when various pandemics led to increased persecution, the Church saw another spike in membership as people were impressed by the Church’s care for the afflicted. In the fourth century, the Great Persecution under Diocletian persuaded many that they had had enough, and Constantine became the first Christian emperor. By the end of the fourth century Christianity was the official religion of the Roman Empire. A compelling case can be made that the early Christian Father Tertullian was right: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church” (Apologeticus, A.D. 197).

Today almost 400 million Christians face physical violence, subjugation, false detention, expropriation of property, enslavement, forced exile and murder because of their religious beliefs – a number amounting to one in seven Christians worldwide. Over 5000 Christians were killed for their faith in 2025, on average about 13 per day. In 2024 there were over 760 anti-Christian hate crimes in Europe such as arson attacks on churches, physical assaults and vandalism. Despite all that, and often in the places facing the worst persecution (like Nigeria and many other places in Africa, also China) Christianity is growing at a fantastic rate. It is projected that China will be the most Christian country on earth by 2030, and by 2050 there will be more Christians in China than there are people in the United States. In the United States, while old-line Protestant denominations continue their decades-long decline, Catholic Christianity is growing – there was a 38% increase in people joining the Catholic Church at Easter in 2026, in some places, like Los Angeles, that growth was over 100%. Bible sales continue to enjoy double-digit growth, doubling since 2019.

It continues to be the case that periods of persecution backfire on violent, repressive non-believers. They are backfiring now. Parishes and their leaders can do perhaps the most good by calling attention daily to the numbers. Secularized non-believers can’t resist the data forever.