Persecution, although a terrible trial on those being persecuted, has proven to be beneficial to church growth and orthodoxy throughout history. In early Christian history, when the church was originally persecuted with a key factor being the destruction all of its writings and the execution of those who did not cooperate, it was very important to determine which writings were the important ones. Without the printing press or later advances, books were very valuable, but perhaps not always valuable enough to give your life for. This led to the canonization of the books we now have in the New Testament.

Also, as the alleged beliefs of the Christians began to spread throughout the world, some non-orthodox or heretical groups emerged that were often confused with the Christians. There was also some confusion regarding what the true beliefs of the Christians were. Sometimes they were called cannibals because it was thought that they ate flesh and drank blood. Because of all of this confusion, it was important for them to theologically define who they were so that both their own practices were understood (e.g. The Lord’s Supper) and they distanced themselves from the heretics.

In addition, with persecution comes conversion through martyrdom. Of course this is not our preferred method of evangelism, especially if you are the one being martyred, but those who witness someone dying for a cause wonder if they have anything as special or important in their lives that they would likewise be willing to die for. This leads to more hearts and minds that are open to the Gospel message.