Courage Under Fire: From Inner Healing to Global Witness

Most discipleship programs skim the surface. Emotionally Healthy Discipleship goes for the jugular—exposing the buried fears, wounds, and emotional immaturity sabotaging your faith. Their premise is blunt: you can’t follow Jesus courageously if you’re still ruled by what you refuse to face. Transformation starts where avoidance ends.

Then there are believers who don't have the luxury of avoidance. Open Doors US works where following Jesus can cost everything – freedom, family, even life. Over 388 million Christians face persecution today, yet many persist with defiant faith, proving courage isn't theoretical – it's forged under pressure most Western Christians will never face.ⁱⁱⁱ

And what happens after trauma reshapes a life? Courage For Life steps into prisons and recovery spaces, delivering Scripture and formation resources to those rebuilding from addiction, abuse, and loss. Here, courage isn’t heroic—it’s daily, fragile, and hard-won, as people rediscover their voice, their story, and their future in Christ.^iv

iii. Sobering to remember that for many followers of Jesus in the early church in ancient Rome, “in the arena” wasn’t a metaphor, it was a literal reality.  Susan Bergman’s wonderful book Martyrs reminds us of the heroes that have walked before us and still  walk beside us.

iv. it’s striking how much of attachment theory mirrors Scripture.  In the Bible, “Don’t be afraid” is followed by “For I am WITH you.”  The antidote to fear is generally not to find less daunting circumstances, but to bring the Presence of God into the daunt.  (Is daunt a word?  If it’s not it should be.)