Barnabas Aid January/February 2008

barnabasaid THE MAGAZINE OF BARNABAS FUND HOPE AND AID FOR THE PERSECUTED CHURCH

• India: how Christians fit into her rich diversity

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2008

• Islam and love: sorting fact from fiction • Iraqi Christian refugees: building for the future

From the director

barnabasaid JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2008

Contents To guard the safety of Christians in hostile environments names have often been changed or omitted. Thank you for your understanding.

3 Project News Training a few brings blessing to many

6 Country Profile: Christians in India

Information pull-out Islam, love and a response to the Muslim open letter

11 Testimony Peace, joy and persecution in Jordan

12 The Other Nine Where are they? Can you tell them?

14 Newsroom A martyr in Gaza

15 In Touch When God matches people to projects

17 Focus Think big and think long-term: a new project to help Iraqi Christians

18 New Book “Faith and Power” by Patrick Sookhdeo

Cover: An Indian Bible School student praying. (Photo: Gary S. Chapman)

Barnabas, Joseph and Agabus In 1989 I was asked by the World Evangelical Fellowship and the Lausanne Movement to convene a conference in Cyprus about Christians in Muslim countries. Leaders came from across the Muslim world. The stories they brought were heart-rending as they spoke of the difficulties they faced and which Christians had faced in history, even torture and death. The reality of persecution in the Muslim world was little known at that time, for most Christians’ attention was on the plight of Christians in the communist world. The conference delegates agreed to create two organisations: (1) an institute for research and information to make known the situation of persecuted Christians in the Muslim world (2) a relief agency to be called the Barnabas Fund.

The name Barnabas was chosen because the Apostle Barnabas came from Cyprus. He was a good man full of the Holy Spirit and faith (Acts 11:24).

His gentleness, compassion, courage, faith, integrity and generosity are clear – a wonderful model to follow. His name means “son of encouragement” and what Christians in the Muslim world at the time most needed was to be encouraged, to be remembered, to be helped.

Very soon the institute was set up.

Meanwhile I contacted various mission and aid agencies requesting that perhaps 1% of their budget be given to assist Christians in the Muslim world, but sadly this was not possible. With the appeal coming from Christian leaders in the Muslim world, we found it necessary in 1993 to bring into being the Barnabas Fund, to be a channel of help and hope.

Little did we realise at the time what a popular name “Barnabas” was for many Christian ministries. Nor did we dream how the Lord was going to bless the work of “Barnabas Fund” and make it grow.

Barnabas’ original name was Joseph (Acts 4:36), a name which recalls the Joseph we read about in Genesis, the eleventh son of Jacob. Joseph was the man whom God sent ahead of his father and brothers (Psalm 105:17), allowing him to be sold into slavery in Egypt. By the time famine afflicted the land, Joseph had risen to be in charge of the whole country, under Pharaoh, and had organised the storage of surplus grain to tide Egypt over the famine years and indeed to help those starving in neighbouring countries.

Thus he was able to help his brothers when the famine struck Canaan. God had prepared, years ahead of time, a means to help Jacob and his sons when the hard times came.

The Bible tells us also of another famine, many centuries later, when God prepared in advance for help to come to His people.

It happened while Barnabas and Saul (Paul) were spending a year at Antioch teaching the Christians there. Agabus came from Jerusalem to the church in Antioch and prophesied a famine.

The Christians in Antioch immediately organised an offering to help the Christians in Judea where the famine would apparently strike first. The offering was sent through Barnabas and Saul who carried it to Jerusalem.

(Acts 11: 25-30) It is striking that the Antioch Christians took up the offering before the famine started. Through the faith and generosity of this fledgling church, aid was sent to the elders of the church in Jerusalem before the need had even arisen.

Forwarding gifts for Christians affected by famine is something which the Apostle Barnabas did in the first century and which it is our privilege at Barnabas Fund to continue doing in the twenty-first century.

(See page 5 for one example.) We also support long-term feeding programmes in countries such as Iraq, Pakistan and elsewhere, to help Christians who are on the brink of malnutrition and hunger.

But feeding is just one of many ways we help needy Christians.

As we enter a new year, it must be with hope and confidence, remembering that the God who knew the famines would come is in control, and has prepared help for His people. But we must also recognise that we live in times of increasing instability, especially for Christians, as we see the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and antiChristian violence.

Dr Patrick Sookhdeo International Director

Project news These are the pages where we keep you informed about how your gifts are helping Christians under pressure because of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Several reports in this issue are concerned with training of various kinds - for pastors, Christian teachers, and Christian writers. In places where the Christian community is generally poor and does not have many resources, short training courses add to the skills and knowledge of committed and hard-working Christians serving the Lord’s people in various ways. The courses usually cost very little but the results can be dramatic. What the church leaders in Ethiopia and Sierra Leone have learnt will make them far more effective in strengthening the faith of ordinary Christians so that they can withstand the pressures and challenges which may face them from other faiths. The Christian teachers in Sudan will be more effective in educating the children in their schools, and this will result in a new generation better able to support themselves and develop their community as a whole. The Christian writers in Pakistan will be able to produce materials with greater impact, to encourage and edify more of their fellow-believers. Please pray that the Holy Spirit will remind all who have taken these courses and workshops of what they have learned and help them to put it into practice. Pray also for the other projects described here. Thank you for your prayers and for your gifts which make these projects possible.

Morning devotions started each day of a training course for pastors in Sierra Leone

EQUIPPING FOR CHURCH MINISTRY IN ETHIOPIA AND SIERRA LEONE A grant of £3,575 (US$7,507; NZ$9,653; A$7,865; €5,005) covered some of the costs of two training courses, each 5 days long, which were held in different locations in Ethiopia in October. Altogether 150 church ministers were trained, and each was given eight books to take home afterwards. The courses focused particularly on preaching skills and also looked at the Bible in

overview, as well as studying in detail key theological concepts such as grace, justification, regeneration and sanctification.

Another grant of £7,475 (US$15,698; NZ$20,183; A$16,445; €10,465) covered similar training for pastors in Sierra Leone earlier in the year. Both Sierra Leone and Ethiopia face a strong challenge from the growing presence of Islam.

Reference 46-679

A workshop for Pakistani Christian writers

URDU CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND WRITERS’ WORKSHOP A long established Christian publishing house produces Urdulanguage materials used by many Christian groups in Pakistan. One of their current projects is to publish 1,000 copies of a Bible Concordance and 2,000 copies of a Bible Dictionary, both in Urdu. Barnabas Fund sent a grant of £10,313 (US$21,657; NZ$27,845; A$22,687; €14,438) to help subsidise the production costs.

A further grant of £956 (US$2,000; NZ$2,580; A$2,103; €1,338) paid for a writers’ workshop for 15 Pakistani Christian writers held over 4 days in early October. The aim of the workshop was to encourage the production of original and authentic Pakistani Christian literature, rather than relying on translation of foreign works. Here are some comments from the participants: • “Being together with other likeminded people gives more inspiration, motivation and incentive to write.”

• “In the workshop I received a great pile of blessings.”

• “I learnt that we need to write by faith and that in writing we face a spiritual battle.”

Please pray that those who attended the workshop – all of them mature Christians – will use what they have learnt to produce powerful new material in Urdu for theological training, Bible study, Sunday schools, women’s groups, children etc.

Reference 41-596 JAN / FEB 2007 BARNABAS AID 3

Project news

Project news

Primary school teachers discussing teaching methods

SUDAN: TRAINING CHRISTIAN TEACHERS FOR CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS According to the United Nations, only 2% of Southern Sudanese have completed primary schooling. This reflects the colossal disruption of normal life which occurred during the civil war of 1983-2005.

As life in the South begins slowly to return to normal, and the infrastructure is rebuilt, education is seen as the priority. The population of the South is mainly Christian,

and church growth during the terrible war years was enormous. In both the South and the North it is important that church-run schools are established to give Christian youngsters an education in a Christian environment; otherwise they would probably have to study in government schools with a strongly Islamic environment (if available) or have no education at all. But there are many teachers who have never had any training for the job they are doing.

Barnabas Fund has been assisting a large church-run programme of teacher training, by means of courses run during the school holidays. A recent grant of £11,787 (US$24,752; NZ$31,825; A$25,931; €16,500) completed a set of four grants over two years used to fund various kinds of teacher training. The programme included training for pre-school teachers, primary teachers, and head teachers, as well as training in how to make educational resources. One of the parts of the programme assisted

by Barnabas Fund’s grants was training 13 teachers to be trainers of other teachers.

Reference 48-494

SUDANESE REFUGEES – FOOD AND SCHOOLING

A grant of £4,000 (US$8,400; NZ$10,800; A$8,800; €5,600) is Barnabas Fund’s most recent contribution to the running costs of a Christian school for African refugee children (mainly Sudanese) in Egypt. The school provides a feeding programme, giving each student and teacher a hot meal each school day.

Many of the children are underweight, and this school lunch is probably the only nutritious meal they have in the day. A school doctor visits twice a week to care for the many medical needs of the children.

4 BARNABAS AID JAN / FEB 2008

The school began the current academic year with 468 students.

Of these, 111 are at the secondary school, and the rest attend the primary school in two shifts each day.

Not only the students, but also many of the teachers are refugees, so there is a high turnover of both as people leave for Western countries or return to South Sudan. Despite the inevitable disruption, the school has achieved good academic results.

Seven students graduated from Grade 12 in June 2007, and one pupil has transferred to the top international school locally. The staff have also been delighted to hear from students who have moved with their families to the US and Australia that they have been able to keep up well in their new schools there.

Reference 11-439

BEE-KEEPING TO SUPPORT CHRISTIANS IN CENTRAL ASIA AND IRAQ

Barnabas Fund has enabled 20 bee-keeping projects to be established in northern Iraq, which will provide an income for 60 Christian families

Two recent grants to countries in very different parts of the world have gone to fund bee-keeping projects to help persecuted Christians support themselves.

In a certain country of Central Asia “Samir”, a convert from Islam to Christianity, has six children to support. As a convert, he finds it virtually impossible to get work, because those who have left Islam are so despised in this society. He thought of going to Russia to look for a job, but his pastor counselled him to find a way to start his own small business so that he would not have to leave his family.

Samir has experience in keeping bees and already has some equipment.

Therefore a grant from Barnabas Fund of £322 (US$650; NZ$870; A$708; €450) was all that he needed to repair his 25 bee hives and to buy a swarm for

each hive, 200kg of sugar and some other equipment needed. Samir plans that, if all goes well, he will repay the sum to his church leaders after one year, so they will be able to use it to help others in his church, most of whom are converts from Islam.

Reference 00-356 (small business start-up fund) In the Kurdish regions of northern Iraq the security situation is better than in the rest of the country, and many Christians from Baghdad and Basra have fled to the north.

Here is part of a letter from a committee representing 41 Christian families: Following the fall of the criminal regime of Saddam, the instability, terror, fear, horrors, blind killing and kidnapping started in these cities [i.e. Mosul and Baghdad, where the families had settled after their village in Kurdistan was destroyed in 1961 by the Iraqi army].

Terror gangs with religious and sectarian names appeared and started to kill people indiscriminately, especially in the last period as the churches were bombed and Christian families were threatened and our children kidnapped. This forced us to leave our houses and furniture and all that we had behind us and seek refuge in the north as there is security and stability.

The time is changed and Kurdistan region has become secure, so we returned to our villages in the last two months. Other families, who get the chance, are returning as well.

We appeal to you to offer any sort of support as all the families are residing now in the village’s school building, which is the only building left in the village and is half destroyed. We lack blankets, kerosene and food.

Barnabas Fund is helping to provide the basic needs of Christians like this, but the long-term solution is to enable them to support themselves. A grant of £9,500 (US$19,950; NZ$25,650; A$20,900; €13,300) is being used to set up 20 “bee farms” each employing three people, thus providing support for 60 families. This sum covers the hives, other equipment and some training.

The cost per bee farm is £475 (US$997; NZ$1,282; A$1,045; €665) and the cost per family is £158 (US$330; NZ$427; A$348; €220).

Reference 20-689

FEEDBACK ON FAMINE RELIEF

Distributing food to families affected by last year’s famine in Burundi. “My family danced and rejoiced because we had food,” said one of the recipients

Regular readers of Barnabas Aid will remember a report last year on aid for famine victims in the tiny central African nation of Burundi. Although this famine received virtually no attention in the media, for its victims it was all too real. Severe floods in the north-west of the country destroyed the crops, and to make matters worse there had been drought in the preceding months. People were beginning to die of hunger. Every day they would come to the church leaders asking for food, but as one senior leader wrote to Barnabas Fund, “we have nothing to offer them apart from prayers. I have urged members of the church to collect food for those in need but they themselves are hungry.” Another church leader wrote to us that many Christians were tempted to convert to Islam in order to get aid from Muslim charities.

In this situation, Barnabas Fund was thankful to be able to send grants totalling £31,955 (US$63,910; NZ$86,279; A$76,692; €47,933) which were used by church leaders to buy beans, maize and salt to help 4,868 families. The grants were also used to provide seed to enable a new crop to be sown. We are reporting this again in order to share with Barnabas Fund supporters the encouragement of comments recently received from some of those who were helped. It is due to your generosity that we were able to assist.

• “Our families owe their lives to the relief. We really thank you very much. We are amazed that you found our village out of all the villages in the whole world to help us in our time of hunger.”

– A village elder • “I was almost dying. I had nothing to eat or plant but God loved me so much and He gave me something to eat and plant. I have not enough words to thank you.”

– A mother • “I brought the food home and my family danced and rejoiced because we had food.”

– A village elder • “We want to say thank you to Barnabas Fund… the relief helped give seeds for new crops. Six hundred and forty-two families in the village received seed and maize for food. Please pray for peace for Burundi because this is the foundation of development. Please also pray that we can come out of our hunger. After the drought there was a flood, and we want to come out of dependency and we don’t want to keep asking for help.”

– A village chief Reference 67-681 MARCHJAN / APRIL / FEB2007 2007 BARNABAS BARNABASAID AID 55

Country Profile India

Country Profile elements clash. In such an uncertain climate, India’s Christian minority is being placed under increasing pressure.

Religions of India (approximate percentages) Hindu 73% Muslim 13%

Christianity in India

Some of the needy Indian Christian children who get an education in a Christian environment, with help from Barnabas Fund

India I

ndia is a vast country which is home to more than a billion people: one in every six people in the world is Indian. Modern India is heir to a rich and eclectic civilisation which spans thousands of years and the influence of Indian culture permeates beyond the Indian subcontinent into Asia. Within India’s borders three of the world’s major religions were birthed – Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Indian history has witnessed the rise and fall of many dynasties and rulers who have sought to dominate it; for more than 400 years it was under the foreign rule of the Muslim Mughals and the British Raj. While foreign rulers have been influential, Indian civilisation has always retained its own distinct identity. It gained its independence from British rule in 1947.

Modern India is a country growing in confidence and seeking to assert

itself on the world stage, economically, militarily and politically. It is the largest functioning democracy in the world. However, it is riven by internal divisions and sometimes seems almost bewilderingly diverse.

The population comprises hundreds of ethnic groups, over 1500 languages are spoken, and there are numerous religious affiliations. India frequently witnesses inter-ethnic, inter-religious and political conflict as these diverse

Christianity has a long and rich history in India. According to tradition it was the Apostle Thomas who first brought the Gospel to India as early as 52 AD. He is said to have established seven congregations, before dying in Madras. While the visit of Thomas to India is a matter of debate, there is some evidence for its plausibility; he is celebrated in the poems and oral traditions of Christians in South India, and in 1293 Marco Polo described his tomb as a place for pilgrimage. The modern Mar Thoma (Saint Thomas) Christians in Kerala state in the south believe themselves to be descendants of the original Christian community established by the Apostle Thomas.

In the second and third centuries there are reports of Assyrian or Persian missionaries arriving in India and also from other parts of the Middle East. By 200 AD the Syriac Chronicle of Edessa described the existence of a “church of the Christians” in India. So, far from being recently introduced under colonialism, Christianity is an authentic part of Indian culture with a long history, and no less “Indian” than any other religion practised there.

The Hindu Caste System Christian 6% Ethno/tribal religions 4% Sikh 4% Non-religious 1% Other (Buddhist, Jain, Bahai, Parsee, Zoroastrian, Chinese universist) 1%

In the Middle Ages Assyrian Christians were active in spreading Christianity to India, and an Assyrian community emerged there. From the sixteenth century onwards the first Roman Catholic missionaries arrived in India, and enclaves of Catholics were established on the coasts, particularly in Goa. The first Protestant missionary to arrive in India is thought to have been the Dane, Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg, who began to evangelise in 1706. He worked among the Tamils in Southern India. By 1733 the first Tamil pastor was working in the area. By the end of eighteenth century missionary work began to expand, through such figures as the “father of modern missions”, William Carey, who translated the Bible into Indian languages such as Sanskrit and Bengali, and several other dialects. Throughout the nineteenth century Protestant missionaries of all denominations preached and founded churches throughout the subcontinent.

Left and below: Indian Christians worshipping

At first mission usually focussed on the elites in Indian society, but this began to change as Protestant missionaries realised that there was a great willingness to hear the Gospel amongst rural people and members of the lowest castes (see box for more on the caste system). Various “mass conversion movements” occurred amongst them. These movements often began through local initiative, with low caste people themselves seeking out the missionaries. An illustration of this is the way many of the Chuhras came to Christ.

They were one of the lowest castes in the Punjab area in North India (half of which is now Pakistan).

They followed a kind of “islamised Hinduism” which included belief in a mediator and the offering of sacrifices. In 1873 an illiterate elderly Chuhra called Ditt was converted to Christianity by a young Hindu convert. Ditt sought out Presbyterian missionaries who baptised him. He returned to his village where he faced ostracism and rejection, but he stayed there and before long his family became Christians. Ditt preached the Christian message as he travelled from village to village selling hides, and a Christian presence grew in the area. Missionaries became more active amongst the Chuhras and thousands of them embraced Christianity.

Every Hindu is born into a “caste” or level in society. There are 3,000 castes and 25,000 subcastes, each of which is related to a specific occupation. There are four main categories, called varnas, into which all the castes are grouped: Brahmins, who are priests Kshatryas, who are warriors Vaishyas, who are traders and craftsmen Shudras, who are labourers It is not possible to change your caste. Your caste will dictate not only your occupation, but also other areas of life such as what to eat and how to interact with other caste members. Higher caste members enjoy greater wealth with their status and more opportunities. Discrimination on the basis of caste is prohibited by the constitution, but the caste system is strongly embedded in Indian society and social structures.

Dalits Occupying one of the lowest levels in Indian society are the Dalits (also called “scheduled castes” and formerly “untouchables” or “outcastes”). Their status is so low that they are outside the caste system. Dalits, who comprise about 16-20% of the total population, have the worst jobs, such as toilet cleaning or refuse collection. The literacy rate among Dalits is 37%, which compares with 57% for non-Dalits. A large proportion of Indian Christians are Dalits. When becoming Christians, Dalits have often been able to improve their social position, but even within the Church there are unfortunately often still the remnants of caste prejudices and loyalties.

In the modern era Christianity in India has shown continuing growth.

Christian mission continues to make a huge impact amongst the Dalits (see box on caste) and also has been very successful amongst tribes who Continued overleaf

6 BARNABAS AID JAN / FEB 2008

JAN / FEB 2007 BARNABAS AID 7

Country Profile Which states have the most Christians?

Country Profile Which states have the most persecution?

What is Hindutva?

“Hindutva” (literally meaning “Hinduness”) was a term coined

by Hindu nationalist Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in the 1920s. It is a philosophy which strives for India to be a single, united nation.

It has been criticised for its overt communalism, traditionalism and its negative attitude towards religions which did not evolve in India, and which are therefore seen as being “not compatible with the Indian social ethos”. It has been particularly influential in Indian politics since the 1980s.

Anti-conversion laws have been excluded by the Indian mainstream. For many years most evangelism has been spearheaded

by Indian Christians themselves spreading the Gospel. The growth of the Church in recent years has been rapid, but there is no precise record of how many Christians there are in India. The 2001 census put the number at 25 million, but most Christians feel this is a serious underestimate.

Just as India is a country of huge variety, so the Christians in India are diverse. The most important divide between them is between those in the North and those in the South. The majority of Indian Christians – 70% - live in the South. Christianity in the South is very much integrated into Indian culture and society. In many areas in the South, such as amongst some of the Tamils, Christianity has strong roots. Figures such as the renowned Tamil poet, Vedanayakam Sastri, showed that Christianity and Indian culture could complement each other. There is also a significant number of Christians living in the north-east part of India bordering Nepal, Bangladesh and Burma, with 25% of India’s Christians living there.

However, the situation for Christians in the north-west is quite different. In these highly populated Hindi-speaking areas, there is a very small number of Christians – only 650,000 amongst a population of 350 million.

8 BARNABAS AID JAN / FEB 2008

Christianity has contributed significantly to modern Indian society.

Christian missionaries established hospitals, schools and colleges all over India. In addition the teachings of faith, peace and goodwill have influenced many intellectuals and philosophers, finding their way into the Indian consciousness, including Mahatma Gandhi. The compassionate and serving side of the Christian faith is reflected in that a disproportionately high number of doctors and nurses are Christians. In fact it is estimated that as many as 30% of nurses are Christians. It is also generally accepted that Christian institutions will tend to give a higher quality of medical care and education than can be found in government-run hospitals and schools.

Religious liberty in modern India India’s first prime minister after independence, Jawaharlal Nehru, was a champion of secularism and envisaged India as being a country where religions were equal and where religious liberty was protected. India’s constitution has consistently provided safeguards for religious freedoms since it was drafted following India’s independence. However, secularism has never been universally accepted in India, particularly by some

amongst the Hindu majority. Hindu nationalism has been resurgent in India since the 1920s and from this have grown many organisations including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which has been a force in Indian politics since its formation in 1980. The BJP, and other Hindu nationalist groups, strongly tie Indian nationality to the Hindu religion.

Thus, the implication is that to be Indian is to be Hindu. The BJP and Hindu nationalists have also sought to undermine secularism in India and have stirred up antipathy towards religious minorities. While the Indian people as a whole display a tolerant attitude towards religious minorities, pressure from Hindu nationalists is making life much more difficult for Christians.

This Christian centre will provide accommodation for destitute Christians, both elderly and orphans.

Barnabas Fund is contributing to the building costs

The constitution provides for freedom of worship and freedom of witness for all faiths. But India has a federal political system, so individual Indian states are allowed to establish their own laws on some issues. Since the 1960s there have been attempts to introduce laws which restrict conversion from one faith to another.

These are rather absurdly called “Freedom of Religion Acts” and popularly known as “anti-conversion laws”. Currently there are seven states with anti-conversion laws in place (Rajasthan, Gujarat, Arunchal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Orissa) but the laws are only actually enforced in the last four listed. An eighth state, Uttarakhand, is considering introducing such laws.

The stated aim of these laws is to prevent forced conversions using fraudulent methods or inducements.

In practice the laws are mostly used to prevent the legitimate evangelistic activity of Christians. Often the laws are seen as giving a green light to Hindu radicals to attack evangelists and other Christian workers. When the victims of these attacks report the incidents to the police, they often find themselves under arrest, rather than their attackers.

Each time a new anti-conversion law is put in place, there is a

correlating rise in anti-Christian violence in the state. Almost all the states with anti-conversion laws are governed by the BJP. However Himachal Pradesh state, which introduced its anti-conversion law in 2007, is controlled by the Indian National Congress, which is the ruling party of the federal government and is usually more inclined towards secularism. This is a particularly worrying development as it shows acceptance of anti-conversion laws by those who are not strident Hindu nationalists.

Legal discrimination against minorities Official measures and restrictions against Christians are sometimes more subtle. An example of this is that India practises a policy of affirmative action where places are reserved in educational establishments for Dalits, but currently Christian and Muslim Dalits are denied access to these places. It is hoped that a review currently being conducted by the Indian Supreme Court will lead to this being changed.

Reconversion campaigns Hindu nationalists have organised large scale “reconversion campaigns” which aim to convert Christian Dalits and tribal people to Hinduism.

Ironically these campaigns sometimes feature intimidation and inducements, which are methods that Hindu nationalists often falsely accuse Christian evangelists of using.

Militant Hindu groups Amongst Hindu nationalists there are many who are prepared to resort to violence, particularly groups such as Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal. A rapid increase in the number of incidents of violence or persecution made against Christians has been evident since the mid-1990s.

Between 1964 and 1996 there were only 36 recorded incidents but now there are an average of four incidents every week, most of which involve

A minister in Goa was beaten up on 10 June 2007. A local Hindu became unhappy that his wife had begun attending the church, and he approached the Bajrang Dal for help.

The Hindu husband and 25 Hindu extremists attacked the minister at the church.

New accommodation for Christian children orphaned in the 2004 tsunami. Barnabas Fund is covering the costs

radical Hindu groups. Very often they are trying to force converts from Hinduism to return to their old faith.

Many incidents are attacks on church services or other Christian meetings and events. Typically the building and furniture will be damaged and the Christians beaten up, with a special focus on the church minister. Many attacks occur in rural areas.

The president of the Global Council of Indian Christians has said, “Christians tend to be soft targets, because they do not fight back. Hindu radicals use them for target practice before they go after the Muslims.”

Dr John Dayal, General Secretary of the All India Christian Council, has also commented on the violence

by Hindu militants. “The pattern of violence indicates a design. The antiChristian violence is not the sort of communal violence recorded between other communities. A tiny minority is the target and it never retaliates.”

He also noted the police’s frequent unwillingness to take action against the perpetrators, even when the evidence against them was plentiful.

Islamic pressure India is home to the second largest Muslim population in the world, numbering around 130 million and growing. This is a legacy of the conquest of much of India by Muslim rulers. There has been a spate of attacks on converts from Islam to Christianity in Muslim-majority Kashmir, including at least one beheading. It is thought that some of these attacks were linked to the Continued overleaf

JAN / FEB 2007 BARNABAS AID 9

Country Profile group Lashkar-e-Toiba, a terrorist organisation fighting for Kashmir to be part of Pakistan.

Six martyrs in one year Barnabas Fund is aware of at least six Christians active in evangelism who were martyred in a 12-month period recently. The deaths occurred in five different states, three of them in a Hindu context, two in a Muslim context and one possibly linked to Burma.

16 September 2007, JHARKHAND state Ajay Topno was shot dead, apparently

by Hindu extremists. It is believed the background to his murder was a dispute involving Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Hindu Jagran Manch who had “reconverted” a Christian family in the area. This had caused anatgonism between Christians and Hindus and had also been reported in the local media.

4 July 2007, MANIPUR state A Burmese Lutheran pastor, Pastor Pau Za Khen (aged 62), was kidnapped and later found beheaded.

He had previously worked as a pastor in a church in Chin state, Burma.

28 June –1 July 2007, ASSAM state Hemanta Das (aged 29) was beaten so severely on 28 June that he died of his injuries three days later. The attack is thought to have been the work of Hindu extremists. Before becoming a Christian, Hemanta Das had himself been a member of a Hindu extremist group, and he had received several threats because of his Christian outreach work.

14 April 2007, JAMMU & KASHMIR state Manzoor Ahmad Chat, a convert from Islam, was abducted and beheaded.

His head was left in a plastic bag outside a mosque. It is thought that Islamic extremists are responsible.

A house church sometimes met in his home.

20 February 2007, ANDHRA PRADESH state A 29-year-old church minister, Goda Israel, was found stabbed to death.

A news report quoted a comment that he had no personal enemies, but he had previously been threatened

by Hindu extremists due to his involvement in preaching the Gospel in the area 21 November 2006, JAMMU & KASHMIR state Ahmed Tantray, a 50-year-old Christian convert from Islam, was shot dead. Tantray had been a Christian for about ten years and was active in ministry as well as being an engineer. It is not known whether he was killed by Islamic militants or whether a member of his family was responsible.

Barnabas Fund at work in India Barnabas Fund has been supporting projects to help Indian Christians for many years. These have included helping converts from Islam and supporting Indian evangelists. After the 2004 tsunami we assisted with a variety of needs e.g. rebuilding Christian homes and churches, and creating income-generation projects for those whose livelihoods were destroyed by the terrible wave.

This baptism is on the Andaman Islands, a territory owned by India. The islands were badly affected by the 2004 tsunami and Barnabas Fund has helped with many projects to rebuild Christian homes and churches and to create income-generation opportunities for Christians who lost their livelihoods

• Barnabas Fund is currently contributing towards the construction of a Christian home for the destitute elderly and orphans.

Project reference 21-688 • Since the tsunami on December 26th 2004, Barnabas Fund has been supporting 25 Christian children who were tragically orphaned in the disaster. As the children are getting older, many now reaching their teens, we are currently funding the construction of a new accommodation block which will have purpose-built separate dorms for the boys and girls.

Project reference 00-540

Who is responsible for incidents of persecution of Christians in India 2005 – 2007?

Some of our current projects include: • Many Christian families are simply too poor to afford school fees. Barnabas is enabling nearly 500 Christian children in India to have an education in a Christian environment by helping to cover their school fees. Assistance is also given with school uniforms and books. In some instances accommodation for the pupils is also provided in hostels.

Project reference 21-510

On 8 June 2007 Laxmi Narayana, a church-planter in Karnataka state, was set upon by a mob of 250 people, who beat him and tried to set him on fire by pouring kerosene on him and throwing a burning Bible at him. Then they stripped him naked, tied a board on his chest reading “I am one who converts people” and paraded him through the town for more than an hour.

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Islam and Love

Hindu Militant Groups 55% Community 18% Government - Local/Regional 8% Islamists 4% Police 10%

This pull-out supplement looks at the place of love in the Islamic faith. It is an issue which has become very relevant in the West because Muslims are beginning to say to Westerners that love is as central in Islam as it is in Christianity. This claim is far from true, as the main article in this supplement will show. After the main article, a case study analyses a recent and very prominent example of Muslims claiming that love is central to their faith.

Introduction: the contrast with Christianity God’s love is the central theme of the New Testament and therefore of the Christian faith. Love is God’s main attribute and very essence. The main message of the New Testament is that God is love in His very being, and that this love was revealed in Jesus Christ and His supreme act of love, His self-giving in his sacrificial death on the cross.

(John 3:16; 1 John 4:7-12) In Islam, however, the focus is on submission, so love is never more than one of many secondary themes.

Modern Muslim apologists in the West sometimes assert that God is a God of love. This is not a concept which traditional orthodox Islam would accept, but appears to be a modern stance of adaptation to the environment they find themselves in.

Love in the Qur’an and hadith Love is mentioned in the Qur’an over 50 times, mainly in the sense of love between persons and love of material things. There are several verses that speak of humans’ love towards God, for example: Yet there are men who take (for worship) others besides Allah as equal (with Allah); they love them as they should love Allah. But those of faith are overflowing in their love for Allah. If only the unrighteous could see behold they would see the penalty that to Allah belongs all power and Allah will strongly enforce the penalty. (Q 2:165) 1 A few verses speak of God’s love towards specific categories of humans (good Muslims). One of the Beautiful Names of God is Al-Wadud (The One who Loves, The Most Loving, The Most Affectionate, The Beloved). This is based on Q 85:14 “And He is the Oft-Forgiving, full of loving-kindness [al-wadud]”. Wadud, from the root wdd, is somewhat akin to the Old Testament Hebrew word dod or dodim (plural) used extensively in the Song of Songs for the pure love between man and woman. From it we get the name David (the beloved).

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This series of pull-out supplements is intended to provide background information for Christians seeking to understand the nature of Islam and its contemporary expression. One aspect of this relates to understanding the reason for the oppression and persecution of Christians in various Islamic parts of the world, and another to the growing challenge which Islam poses to Western society, culture and Church.

The word most often used in the Qur’an for love is hubb and its derivatives (mahabba, yuhibbu, etc.). This is linked to the Hebrew Old Testament word ahabah (root ahb) which is the one mostly used to denote love, both God’s love to man and man’s love to God. For example: “I have loved you,” says the Lord. (Malachi 1:2) Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. (Deuteronomy 6:5) Mahabba, the most common Islamic Arabic term for love, denotes an affection inspired in humans by gratitude for God’s blessings. On God’s side mahabba is usually bestowed as a reward for a good believer who follows Muhammad and submits to God. Say: If ye do love God, follow me: God will love you and forgive you your sins: For God is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. (Q 3:31) Love in the Qur’an mainly means “liking” or “preference”.

It derives from God’s will, rather than from His very nature. God loves the righteous. … verily Allah loves those who act aright. (Q 3:76) For Allah loves those who do good; (Q 3:134) And Allah loves those who are firm and steadfast.

(Q 3:146) For Allah loves those who turn to Him constantly and He loves those who keep themselves pure and clean.

(Q 2:222) For Allah loves those who are fair (and just). (Q 49:9) Truly Allah loves those who fight in His Cause in battle array as if they were a solid cemented structure. (Q 61:4) However, God does not love sinful people and he rejects his enemies. … He loves not those who reject Faith (Q 30:45) Verily He loveth not the arrogant. (Q 16:23) Love appears also in the hadith collections, which record traditions about what Muhammad and his companions said and did. In the hadith, love appears in a variety of contexts: love for things, for martyrdom, for God, and God’s love for Muhammad and for deserving Muslims.

Unknown 7% Family 1% 1 Quotations in this article are taken from The Holy Qur’an: Text Translation and Commentary by A. Yusuf Ali (Leicester: The Islamic Foundation, 1975 and many other editions) unless otherwise stated. Please note that different translations of the Qur’an have slightly different verse numbers. So in another translation, it may be necessary to look at the verses just before or just after the text references given here in order to find the same text.

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According to Islamic teaching, God’s essence and nature cannot be known. Therefore a statement like “God is love” (which appears in the Bible, 1 John 4:8,16) would be theologically wrong in classical Islam.

Islam does teach that God’s attributes can be known, and these are described in the form of the “99 beautiful names”. Love is one of these 99, as we have seen above, but only one. The names emphasise much more God’s omnipotence and omniscience, his mercy and compassion, his sovereignty and inscrutable will.

In Islam God reveals himself mainly through his law (shari‘a) which calls for submission and obedience. While in Christianity God is personal and establishes personal relationships of love with humans, in classical Islam God is seen as totally self-contained and beyond personal relationships. In Islam, although God loves certain Muslim people of whom he approves, he is not bound to love them even if they deserve his love. Ultimately God is not obliged to do anything, but acts as he wills, sometimes in an entirely capricious manner.

Orthodox classical Islam is more concerned with God’s greatness and transcendence, with shari‘a law and its applications, than with God’s love. God is absolutely other, unknowable, far beyond what can be known or imagined (wara’l wara i.e. beyond the beyond). The role of humans is to submit, fear and obey God and his law. For example, following the call in March 2005 by a well-known Islamist scholar, Tariq Ramadan, for a moratorium on the brutal hudud punishments still implemented in some Muslim states (amputation, stoning, flogging etc.), several Islamic scholars opposed the suggestion. Sheikh Muhammad al-Shinqiti, director of the Islamic Center of South Plains in Lubbock, Texas, claimed that harshness was part of shari‘a and any attempt at softening it was giving in to Western Christian concepts which were incompatible with Islam. Shinqiti stated that a personalised faith, like that of Christians, leads to corruption and immorality. He preferred the detachment and severity of Islam, citing the Qur’anic verse And let not pity for the twain withhold you from obedience to Allah, if ye believe in Allah and the Last Day. And let a party of believers witness their punishment.”

(Q 24:2, translation not specified) In this view, harshness rather than love and mercy are at the heart of Islam. The inference is that Christianity is weak and contemptible because it has love and mercy at its very core.

Love in Sufism It was left for Islamic mysticism (Sufism) to try to redress the balance and introduce the theme of love into Islam.

Sufism offered an escape from the dry and intellectual legalism of the orthodox Islamic teachers and scholars.

It focused instead on the human yearning for an authentic personal experience of God. Sufism taught that this experience could be had by a spiritual interpretation of the Qur’an aimed at finding its secret meaning, and by the disciplines of asceticism, repetition of God’s names, breath control, meditation and trance.

Rabi‘a al-Adawiyya (died 801) introduced the theme of Divine Love into Sufism. She longed to love God only for himself, not for hope of any reward in paradise nor out of

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fear of judgement and hell. After her death the love theme became a dominant feature of Sufism, expressing the Sufi’s endless search for unity with the divine Beloved. The yearning for a love relationship with God was expressed by Sufis in the language of human love, similar to the Bible’s Song of Songs and some psalms. Sufi poetry described symbolically the relations between God the Divine Lover and the human person searching for his love. In addition to the Qur‘anic terms mahabba and wudud, Sufis coined the term ‘ishq for love. ‘Ishq denotes an unquenchable and irresistible desire for union with the Beloved (God).

While Sufism used to be found in every branch of traditional Islam, the strict Islamist reform movements which have developed in recent times have rejected much of Sufism as pagan additions and innovations which should be purged from Islam. The concept of love is downplayed by such movements and condemned as a pagan, Christian or Western notion incompatible with true Islam.

Case study: An open letter from Muslim leaders about love, 13th October 2007 To mark the end of Ramadan last year “An Open Letter and Call from Muslim Religious Leaders” was published, dated 13th October 2007. The letter was addressed to Pope Benedict XVI and 26 other named heads of Christian denominations as well as to “Leaders of Christian Churches, everywhere….”. It is ostensibly a presentation of Islamic teaching on love for God and love for one’s neighbour. (The text of the open letter is available at http:// www.acommonword.com/lib/downloads/CW-Total-Final-v12g-Eng-9-10-07.pdf) The 138 signatories represent a wide spread of Muslim leadership from 43 nations and from Sunni, Twelver Shi‘a, Zaydi, Ibadi and Sufi backgrounds. Amongst the signatories are traditionalists, Islamists and several liberal Muslims. Some of the signatories are known for their moderation and peaceful intentions, while others are known for their Islamist extremist inclinations.

Intended audience While addressed to a specific group of named Christian leaders, the fact that it is an open letter widely disseminated by the world media means that world public opinion is another intended audience. Furthermore, certain terminology in the letter, as well as the choice of Qur’anic quotations cited, indicate that the letter is also intended for the global Muslim audience. Different messages are delivered to the different audiences, a practice which is frequently found in Islamic discourse, and is permitted according to the Islamic doctrine of dissimulation (taqiyya). The message for the Christian audience and for the general public is that Islam and Christianity are basically identical religions, both focussing on love to God and neighbour. But, as we shall see there is a very different message for Muslims.

Veiled threat On the surface the letter looks like a well intentioned plea for better understanding between Muslims and Christians, so as to avert an apocalyptic war between the two largest religious blocs in the world.

If Muslims and Christians are not at peace, the world cannot be at peace . . . the very survival of the world itself is at stake . . . So let our differences not cause hatred and strife between us.

However, the letter goes on to lay the blame for all wars in which Muslims and Christians are involved on the actions of Christians.

As Muslims, we say to Christians that we are not against them and that Islam is not against them – so long as they do not wage war against Muslims on account of their religion, oppress them and drive them out of their homes. [emphasis added] This implies that the war against Islamist terrorism is a global war of Christianity against Islam, and that Christianity is the aggressor against Islam (which is the radical Islamist view). There is no sense of sorrow for the wrongs inflicted by Muslims on Christians historically, or indeed currently in many Muslim lands.

There is no recognition that in many places things may be the opposite, with Muslims oppressing Christians and driving them from their homes (e.g in Iraq, Sudan, Nigeria, Indonesia and Pakistan). There is no admission that Muslim actions could have played any part in the alienation between Muslims and Christians.

So an apparently moderate appeal for reconciliation actually contains a subtext of warning and threat.

Expression of Islamic mission (da‘wa) Although presented as interfaith dialogue, the letter can equally be viewed as a classical example of Islamic da‘wa (mission). It is a call to accept the Muslim concept of the unity of God (tawhid) and therefore to reject the incompatible Christian views of the Trinity and the deity of Christ.

In their stress on monotheism and the unity of God, the Muslim leaders quote verses from the Qur’an which express the Muslim concept of a God with no associates and no partners – verses which are always traditionally interpreted as a direct attack on the basic Christian doctrines of the Trinity and Christ’s deity. For instance, Q 3:64, quoted numerous times in the letter, calls the People of the Scripture (Jews and Christians) to agree not to ascribe partners to God and not to take other Lords beside him.

Say: O People of the Scripture! Come to a common word between us and you: that we shall worship none but God, and that we shall ascribe no partner unto Him, and that none of us shall take others for lords beside God. (Aal ‘Imran 3:64) 2 In the Saudi-sponsored English Qur’an of Hilali and Khan,3 this verse has a footnote which quotes the letter Muhammad sent to the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius, calling upon him and his people to embrace Islam and threatening that otherwise there would be severe consequences. It may be that a similar frame of mind lies

behind the letter in which this verse is so often quoted.

Other Qur’anic quotations in the letter have a similar message about the unity of God: [emphasis added] Yet there are men who take rivals unto God: they love them as they should love God. (Q 2:165).

Say: Lo! my worship and my sacrifice and my living and my dying are for God, Lord of the Worlds. / He hath no partner... (Q 6:162-164) Hadith quotes support the same theme: The best that I have said—myself, and the prophets that came before me—is: ‘there is no god but God, He Alone, He hath no associate... (Sunan Al-Tirmidhi, Kitab AlDa’awat, Bab al-Du’a fi Yawm ‘Arafah, Hadith no. 3934).

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Love in Islamic theology

He who says: ‘There is no god but God, He Alone, He hath no associate, His is the sovereignty and His is the praise and He hath power over all things’ one hundred times in a day... Sahih Al-Bukhari, Kitab Bad’ al-Khalq, Bab Sifat Iblis wa Junudihi; Hadith no. 3329.

A hidden message for Muslims It is unusual to see Islamic scholars basing their presentation of Islamic doctrines mainly on the Qur’an alone. Usually the scholars also make good use of the hadith and a number of recognised methods of interpretation. Yet the open letter cites only three quotations from the hadith in its main text (although there are several more in the footnotes).

Significantly, all the Qur’anic verses chosen for quotation in the letter are ones that have hadith comments and other recognised interpretations which would be well known to most Muslim readers. In most cases these comments and interpretations are more aggressive to Christians, Jews and other non-Muslims than the stance taken in the letter. Selectively quoting from the Qur’an in this way conveys a message to Muslims that this is not a letter of appeasement but a call to submit to Islam.

For instance, the fatiha (Q 1) is quoted in the letter and presented as the greatest chapter in the Qur’an, reminding humans of their duty of praise and gratitude to God for his mercy and goodness. Included are verses 6 and 7: Guide us upon the straight path. The path of those on whom is Thy Grace, not those who deserve anger nor those who are astray. [emphasis added] In Muslim interpretations and commentaries on these verses, it is explained that those who deserve God’s anger are the Jews, while those who are astray are the Christians.

Most Western readers of the open letter will not realise this, but for Muslims reading the letter, the meaning is clear: a call to Christians and Jews to avoid God’s anger and judgement by accepting Islam.

Loving God The letter suggests that Islam has much to say about loving God. For example, it quotes a hadith of Muhammad describing God with a string of Qur’anic phrases: “He Alone, He hath no associate, His is the sovereignty and His is the praise”. The letter asserts that each phrase describes “a mode of love of God, and devotion to Him”.

2 The open letter did not specify which English translation of the Qur’an was used for the quotations. 3 Interpretation of the Meanings of the Noble Qur’an in the English Language by Dr. Muhammad Taqi-ud-Din Al-Hilali and Dr. Muhammad Muhsin Khan, 15th edn. (Riyadh: Darussalam Publishers and Distributors, 1996)

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A similar assertion occurs at the end of the section about loving God. Again the statement that God has no “associate” appears, carrying the implication that Chrisianity strayed from this by making Jesus an associate of God. we can now perhaps understand the words ‘The best that I have said—myself, and the prophets that came before me’ as equating the blessed formula ‘there is no god but God, He Alone, He hath no associate, His is the sovereignty and His is the praise and He hath power over all things’ precisely with the ‘First and Greatest Commandment’ to love God, with all one’s heart and soul, as found in various places in the Bible. That is to say, in other words, that the Prophet Muhammad PBUH was perhaps, through inspiration, restating and alluding to the Bible’s First Commandment. God knows best, but certainly we have seen their effective similarity in meaning.

In this part of the letter it is argued that Muhammad’s emphasis on the unity of God who has “no associate” is a re-statement of the Bible’s command about loving God with all your heart, soul and mind. The letter states that these two concepts are similar in meaning, although this is hard to derive from a straightforward reading of the two texts.

Perhaps the authors of the letter hoped that by simply telling Christians that two different statements were really the same they would be believed in the same way that history has shown people can be convinced of nonsensical assertions if they are presented forcefully enough.

Alternatively they could have had in mind the Muslim belief that Christian and Jewish Scriptures have been distorted, so that Muhammad’s statement is correcting the falsified Biblical teaching to what it was originally meant to have been.

Loving your neighbour The letter suggests that loving your neighbour is a concept common to both Islam and Christianity. But it ignores the fact the Muslim concept of love for your neighbour can only operate within the limited scope of shari‘a. Therefore in Islam there can be no absolute love for all humans, as in Christianity. Islam treats specific groups of people in specific ways: Christians and Jews are to be humiliated and brought under Islamic dominion as second rate subjects; infidels (polytheists, pagans) must accept Islam or be killed;

apostates are to be killed if they do not return to Islam; Islamic sects considered heretical are to be fought and annihilated. Thus “neighbour” is a very limited concept in Islam.

Furthermore, the word used for “neighbour” in the Arabic version of the letter is jar, a term which carries only a geographical meaning. It is not equivalent to the Biblical Hebrew word for neighbour, which is re‘a (denoting kinship, even as close as a brother or sister). Yet there is another word for “neighbour” in Arabic which is closer to the meaning of the Hebrew re‘a and which could have been used. This is the word qarib, which is used in Arabic Bibles and which more closely translates the Biblical original. This choice of differently nuanced vocabulary for different audiences appears to be another example of taqiyya.

Search for common ground In seeking common ground, the open letter suggests that the central Muslim concept of unitarian monotheism and the central Christian concepts of love to God and love to neighbour are beliefs held in common by both religions. It stresses that the two commandments to love are the basis of what is common to both religions. But presenting love to God and neighbour as central to Islam is a misrepresentation of the truth.

The message is that if Christians will accept Islam’s concept of the unity of God (thus denying the basic doctrines of the Trinity and deity of Christ), Muslims will accept the Christian values of love for God and neighbour as central to Islam. Thus a radical revolutionary change in Christianity is demanded in exchange for a superficial change of emphasis in Islamic perceptions.

• For a full version of Barnabas Fund’s response to the open letter and call from Muslim religious leaders to Christian leaders, 13 October 2007, go to www.barnabasfund.org/responsemuslimletter • For further reading on the concept of love in Islam, see J. Windrow Sweetman, Islam and Christian Theology: A Study of the Interpretation of Theological Ideas in the Two Religions, Part 1, Vol. 2, London and Redhill: Lutterworth Press, 1947 especially sections B “The grace of God” and B(IV) “The love of God”. © Barnabas Fund, 2008

BARNABAS FUND HOPE AND AID FOR THE PERSECUTED CHURCH

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Testimony The price for seeking peace and joy I was born in Amman, the capital of Jordan, one of five children in a well known and affluent Muslim family.

In the quiet neighbourhood where we lived there was a church, very near to our house. As a child I found myself attracted to the church, wanting to know what was inside the building, and whenever I went there I felt a peace and joy such as I never felt in my own home. I found something in the church which I felt I needed, and I loved the image of the cross, though I did not understand why. So I went to my mother, who was very religious, and began to ask her about God. Of course, she told me her beliefs and urged me to go to the mosque and read the Qur’an. She was very pleased to see me so thirsty for God, especially because my father was greatly occupied with his business, with travelling and other worldly things.

When I went to pray in the mosque, many questions would come into my mind. Why is this mosque different from the church? Why can’t I find joy here? Why do I feel barriers between me and God when I am here? I did not like the talk about jihad and fighting others, because I had many Christian friends and I loved them. I kept asking, is it fair for them to go to hell when they are very good and honest people? One day one of the teachers in the mosque tried to rape me, but I somehow managed to escape and went back home crying. I did not tell anyone what had happened, but I just avoided going to

the mosque again and refused to talk about religious things.

Because of my experiences in the mosque, I grew up denying God. Yet for many years I continued to search for Him, thinking, reading books etc. One day I watched the film “The Passion of the Christ” which made me cry a lot. I wished that I could have been on the cross instead of that decent man. I went straight from seeing the film to the church, to talk to Christ, and He explained many things to me. I felt very peaceful that night, after I had spoken to Him. At that time there were many problems in my family. My parents got divorced and so did my sister.

My youngest brother and I were living with my father and I had a job with a big translation company. I started to read the Bible and found myself praying , calling my Lord by a new name, “Jesus” and also “our Father”.

I felt very sorry for my mother because of the divorce, and also because she was wasting so much time and money organising meetings to study Islam and going several times on pilgrimage to Mecca. I thought to myself that we are in a free country and that Jordan is known as a peaceful oasis in the Middle East, and I saw Christians and Muslims living peacefully together.

So I began to talk to my mother about Islam and Christianity and tried to get her to face many things about her religion. But her expression changed and she

threatened to reject me if I converted to Christianity and to tell the whole family about me. Even though my father was very occupied with his work, he noticed that something was happening to me. One day he found me reading the Bible. He took it from me and threw it away, and he pulled from my neck a cross which I used to wear. He said he would not hesitate to do anything to stop me converting, and he cut me to prove his threat was genuine.

I went again to the church near our house to talk to the minister. He welcomed me, but when I told him I wanted to become a Christian his face changed and he asked me to leave.

I tried several other churches and was rebuffed by them all. No one would baptise me. This made me think that even God didn’t want me.

Then through the internet I found people I could ask about Jesus, people who did not know my family. One of them devoted much time to helping me study the Bible and teaching me about Jesus and the church. I began to have peace again, and during that time I had many visions. In one of them I saw Jesus Himself baptising me. After a few months, the minister I knew through the internet put me in touch with a church in another Arab country who were willing to baptise me. So I travelled there and was baptised on 27th May 2005.

Two months earlier my father had died, and my mother had returned to live in the family home and started bringing women to the house to Continued overleaf

A mosque in Amman, Jordan, with a church in the background, topped by a cross.

The symbol of the cross played a part in Moses’ coming to Christ and in the persecution he suffered afterwards

www.barnabasfund.org JAN / FEB 2007 BARNABAS AID 11

The Other Nine

The Other Nine in general despises Christians.

School children in Saudi Arabia are taught from a young age not to trust Christians or to be friends with them.

According to the Annual Report 2007 of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, “The government of Saudi Arabia engages in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of the right to freedom of religion or belief.”

The Report chronicles numerous infringements of religious liberty of Christians, including:

In Saudi Arabia being a Christian means ... . . . you could be arrested in your own home, and your Bible and Christian What does “being a mean to you? books confiscated, for Christian” For Christians in Saudi Arabia it you are at the mercy of the no reason except that means dreaded religious police, the mutawaa, also known as the Commission to you were meeting Promote Virtue and Prevent Vice. could raid your worship service with others to pray as They and arrest you just for gathering with other Christians to pray. If you are Christians. from a Western country, you would

• March 2005 – An Indian Christian was arrested and his religious materials confiscated.

He was released after four months. probably be deported but if you are from a non-Western country you could be held in detention for months, and probably be tortured.

In Saudi Arabia any form of non-Muslim religious practice is forbidden. The state rigidly enforces the strict and puritanical form of Islam called Wahhabism.

Even if you are not harassed by the mutawaa, daily life is difficult for you as a Christian because society

12 BARNABAS AID JAN / FEB 2008

from Islam was applicable, which would have meant a death sentence for me. I started going to church secretly, but one day I was arrested at the door of the church when I had to show my ID which had my Muslim name on it. I was taken away and beaten with cables for a whole night. In the morning, they agreed to accept everything I owned in exchange for letting me go free. I still went to church every Friday for Holy Communion, but was even more careful than before.

One day my boss noticed that I was wearing a cross. He searched all my things and found my Bible. Then he started watching me. I used to come back home in the evening and find that someone had messed up my place. Several times someone broke in at night and attacked me or stole

• April 2005 – Forty Pakistani Christians and five African Christians holding a private service were arrested and held in detention for up to a month.

• May 2005 – Eight Indian Christian leaders were arrested; six were deported and the whereabouts of the other two are still unknown.

• April 2006 – An Indian church minister was deported for conducting a religious service.

Testimony (cont. from p11) study Islam. So I had to move out and live by myself, in order to have some freedom with my Lord.

Some Christians at my workplace saw me going to church and asked my boss if I was a Christian. My boss was furious and asked me why I was going to church. He insulted me and the cross and Jesus Himself, fired me from my job, refusing to give me my salary or a reference. He tried to spread rumours about me, which made it hard for me to find any other job in Jordan.

After my baptism I returned to Jordan but things got worse and my whole family was against me. I got an offer of a job in Sudan, so I seized the opportunity to go there as quickly as I could. But I found things were much worse than in Jordan. In Sudan the Islamic law on conversion

• April 2005 – A Filipino Christian service was raided and Bibles were confiscated.

things. One night he attacked my car and wrote on the windows “maseehi baleed” meaning “Christian fool”.

I told the minister of the church and he advised me to leave Sudan immediately. I went to the country where I was baptised. Here I go to church but I am careful not to mingle with many people so that nobody knows me. I pray, thanking God first for salvation. I believe that God will not allow us to experience something beyond what we can bear.

God bless you.

“Moses” Since writing this testimony, Moses has been able to move to a safe Western country, with help from Barnabas Fund who paid his airfare. He is active in Christian ministry and also writes many Christian songs and hymns.

• June 2006 – Four East African Christians were arrested and deported after a month for leading a private worship ceremony.

• October 2006 – A Filipino Christian leader was detained and Bibles confiscated.

Where are the other nine?

When Jesus healed ten men with leprosy, one of them came back to Jesus, praising God in a loud voice, and threw himself at Jesus’ feet to thank him. Jesus asked, “Where are the other nine?” (Luke 17:11-17) If one in ten Christians in the world today lives with discrimination and persecution, that means the other nine are blessed with religious liberty.

These other nine can use their freedom to help the one who is persecuted.

But where are they?

If you are reading this magazine, you are probably already aware that your freedom to practise your faith without discrimination, harassment or persecution is a blessing which many Christians in other contexts do not have. But do all your Christian friends realise this as well? Does everyone in your congregation know it? Can you help to get the rest of “the other nine” involved? Their prayers, their time and their gifts can all be used by the Lord to help the one in ten who are suffering.

Please help us to get all the other nine involved.

Ask your national Barnabas Fund office or the UK office for our free The Other Nine resource pack. (Addresses on the back cover.)

The resource pack contains a guide with ideas about how to make others in your church aware of the plight of the persecuted Church plus resources to help you do it, such as a poster, DVD, prayer cards, leaflets, and response cards. The guide also contains information about the kind of pressures and persecution faced by the one in ten Christians living out their faith in difficult contexts, and gives ideas of how we, the other nine, can respond in terms of prayer, action and giving. The pack also contains a booklet entitled A Christian Response to Islam.

Urge your friends to subscribe to Barnabas Aid with its daily prayer diary to help them pray for the one in ten (visit www.barnabasfund.org or contact their nearest Barnabas Fund office). Can you add another nine to our mailing list?

Although most Christians in Saudi Arabia are foreigners, there are also some Saudi nationals who have converted from Islam to follow Christ.

They must be secret believers, because if their conversion were to become

publicly known, Saudi law would have them executed as apostates from Islam.

Please pray for Christians in Saudi Arabia. It is difficult to get news out from Saudi Arabia and it is difficult to get help in. But nothing can prevent us praying for our brothers and sisters, and we are praying to a God who has incomparably great power, the power which raised Christ from the dead (Ephesians 1:19-20).

1 in 10 Christians lives with discrimination and persecution www.theothernine.org JAN / FEB 2007 BARNABAS AID 13

Newsroom Rami Ayyad, murdered in Gaza, apparently targeted because of his prominent role at a Christian bookshop. (Photo: Compass)

Palestinian Territories: Gaza Bible Society bookshop manager killed THE SMALL CHRISTIAN MINORITY in Gaza (approximately 3,000 people) has been shocked by the kidnapping and murder of Rami Ayyad (aged 30).

Rami, who ran the Bible Society’s bookshop in Gaza, was kidnapped after leaving the shop on the afternoon of Saturday 6th October.

The next morning his body was discovered, showing knife wounds and bullet wounds. It was the first known Christian martyrdom in Gaza in recent times.

A colleague at the Bible Society said, “Rami was the most gentle member of the team, the ever-smiling one. He was the face of our Bible shop, always receiving visitors and serving them as Jesus would.”

Rami’s death received much coverage in the local media, and the Chrisitan community received many messages of condolence, prayer and support. He leaves a wife, Pauline, who is pregnant, and their two small children.

Grenade in Sudanese church service kills six children A MAN IN MILITARY ATTIRE walked into a church meeting in Khorfulus in South Sudan on the evening of Thursday 27th September 2007 and detonated a grenade. Five children were killed instantly and another died two days later. Another child, a woman and the minister who was leading the service were all taken to hospital in a critical condition.

14 BARNABAS AID JAN / FEB 2008

Newsroom in a charge of insulting Islam and the prison sentence, which is far longer than the sentences normally imposed on Chinese Christians. It is significant that the police officer, prosecutor and judge in the case were all Muslims. Liu is appealing on the MUSLIMS FROM ALABED VILLAGE, basis that all of the court officers were in the province of Minya, upper Egypt, Muslim. Islam is growing fast in were angered by rumours that a church western China where he lives.

The concept of Christians being in the neighbouring village of Gabal Alteer was going to build an extension. considered guilty of insulting or vilifying Islam when they share their After midday prayers on Friday 26th Christian beliefs has been raised in October 2007, some young Muslim recent years in very different contexts men started fires on a piece of land owned by a Christian where quantities from China, for example, Australia of reeds were stored. Soon Muslims and Pakistan. and Christians from the villages were throwing stones at each other. Twelve people were injured and 37 were arrested.

The rumour about the church extension appears to have developed because Christians were purchasing a plot of land adjacent to the church.

Any kind of church building work, Fire damage at the church (Photo: Compass) or even the repair and renovation of churches, is very sensitive in Egypt.

Until recently the President himself was required to give permission for any such work, which meant applications for permits took years to be processed A BAPTIST CHURCH in Narkiss and sometimes would be refused at Street, Jerusalem was set on fire on the end of the long process. Even 23rd October. Although the police now he must give permission for new have not yet made any arrests, churches, while local governors handle the Israeli press are unanimous requests for repairs and renovation. in attributing the crime to Jewish To build or repair mosques does not extremists. A church building on the require this special permission. same plot of land was destroyed by As a result there are not nearly ultra-right wing Jewish arsonists enough church buildings in Egypt in 1982. for the Christian community, which may number as many as ten million.

Incidents of anti-Christian violence in Egypt have often been triggered by rumours that Christians are developing their church buildings without the A REFERENDUM held in Kyrgyzstan requisite permission. on 21st October produced a

Violence in Egyptian village because of rumoured church extension

Israel: Church arsoned in Jerusalem

Kyrgyzstan changes constitution

Chinese Christian imprisoned for giving out tracts LIU HUIWEN WAS SENTENCED to 18 months in prison at a court hearing on 23rd October. He had written and distributed a Christian tract to people in his local community, some of whom were Muslims. This resulted

large majority in favour of a new constitution. The new constitution strengthens the secular basis of the country and has various clauses banning religious groups from becoming involved in politics. This is clearly aimed at preventing Islamists from gaining political power and moving the country towards a more Islamic stance.

A ban on religious discrimination, already in place in the previous constitution, remains in the new one.

South Sudan pulls out of National Unity Government THE GOVERNMENT OF SOUTH SUDAN has withdrawn from the National Unity Government which was formed in September 2005, nine months after the long-running civil war had come to an end. South Sudan is predominantly Christian, and the civil war began in 1983 when the South protested against attempts by the Islamic government of North Sudan to impose Islamic law on the South.

The Southern Government’s move is a protest against what it sees as the failure of the National Unity Government to implement the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

The Agreement is supposed to give the South a measure of autonomy, a fair share of oil revenues, and allow them to vote in due course about whether they want complete independence.

Husband and wife show the injuries from their whipping (Photos: www.fcnn.tv)

Iranian Christian couple whipped for attending worship meeting AN IRANIAN CHRISTIAN COUPLE have been punished by whipping for apostasy from Islam. Six officials visited their home in September to carry out the punishment, which was handed down to them for apostasy from Islam.

The husband is indeed a former Muslim, who became a Christian many years ago, but the wife was born into an Assyrian Christian family and

has never been a Muslim. The basis of the accusation against her lies in the couple’s marriage seven years ago. Although both were Christians, they could not find a church willing to marry them because of their different backgrounds, so they married under Islamic law. According to the Justice Court of Revolution, when non-Muslims marry under Islamic law they are considered to have converted to Islam. So both were legally considered Muslims, although they were in reality convinced and practising Christians.

Some five years later the couple were among a group of Christians who were arrested on 21st September 2005 while meeting for worship in a home in a town north-west of Teheran. In July 2007 the couple’s case came to court. They declared before the judge that they were Christians. Because the law considered them Muslim, this led to the court’s ruling that they were both apostates from Islam, and hence the brutal punishment.

In Touch the Indonesian army is wreaking on Christian villages in their province.

The amount needed for the project was about £59,000. Taking this as a sign from the Lord, we were able to gratefully accept the most generous donation, which covered almost the whole cost of the clinic project.

Matching projects to people On page 2, our International Director, Dr Patrick Sookhdeo, writes about the Old Testament story of Joseph sent ahead to Egypt and the New Testament story of Agabus and the Jerusalem famine.

Both are examples of how the Lord made preparations ahead of time to help His people later when famine came. Here at Barnabas Fund we are thrilled to see how God still guides His people to meet specific needs of their brothers and sisters.

Last year a Barnabas Fund supporter contacted the UK office to say that she was thinking of giving a gift of around £50,000. She enquired if there were any projects needing that particular sum and told us that one of her special interests

The clinic in Papua New Guinea

was medical work. As it happened, our committee was at the time considering whether we could support a request from Papua New Guinea, where a run-down Christian clinic was in desperate need of complete renovation, plus the building of homes for the clinic staff. The clinic is situated near the border with Indonesia and some of its patients are Indonesian Christians who have fled to Papua New Guinea to escape the violence and destruction which

Another good “match” occurred when a small British trust contacted us to say that they had received an offer of a donation of around £1,000 for needs in the Holy Land. Did Barnabas Fund have anything that fitted the bill? The answer was yes. The Christian school at Bethlehem which Barnabas Fund supports needed a projector and two speakers, total cost £922.

An elderly gentleman setting his affairs in order found that he had Continued overleaf

JAN / FEB 2007 BARNABAS AID 15

In Touch

Focus Cycling for Cana

New church building in Sri Lanka, built to replace churches destroyed in the tsunami of December 2004. A Barnabas Fund supporter has given £8,500 to build and equip a similar church

an investment about to mature which he wanted to “re-invest” in the Lord’s work. The sum was £8,500. He told us he would like it to be spent on constructing a church, preferably built of local materials with local labour. His gift will be sent to Sri Lanka where Christians are still rebuilding churches destroyed by the 2004 tsunami. The costs of such a church are approximately £2,750 to buy the land and approximately £4,850 to build. This means there will be around £900 left over from this gift to help with furniture and equipment for the new church.

A very generous offer came from a supporter who wanted to give £39,000 to help Christian children and orphans in situations of great need.

We contacted the school for African refugees in Cairo (see page 4) which Barnabas Fund has been helping to support for a number of years.

Many of the children attending this school have lost their parents in the Sudanese civil war. We asked if they had any current needs not covered by donations. Yes, they replied, they had a shortfall of around £50,000 on their running costs for the current academic year. We were delighted to be able to forward the gift of £39,000 to cover a large proportion of the need.

Praise God with us for the encouragement of these “matches” and for the privilege of Barnabas Fund being involved as the channel and link. It is wonderful to see how He prompts believers by giving them a desire to help their brothers and sisters with a certain kind of need at just the right time. We are very grateful, too, for the generosity of the donors.

All these examples happened in 2007. What will He do in 2008?

16 BARNABAS AID JAN / FEB 2008

Regular readers of Barnabas Aid may remember some of the previous exploits of Canon John Bowers of West Kirby, Wirral, Cheshire in the UK who has raised large sums for Barnabas Fund by his sponsored cycle rides. This year he chose to cycle in the footsteps of the Pilgrim Fathers in New England and raised £16,248 (at the time of writing) for the Cana Girls Rescue Home in Kenya (project reference 25-663).

This centre provides a refuge for Christian girls and women in a context of traditional African religions, where they are in danger of forced marriages to much older men, female genital mutilation (“female circumcision”) and polygamy. There are now over 20 girls living at the centre and dormitory is bulging at the seams. Many other girls are waiting to obtain a place, and a number are being looked after by the local minister and his wife in their home.

Cooking is done outside and the girls eat under a tree. Barnabas Fund has been helping with running costs and also furniture and fittings.

The leaders of the project desperately want to build an additional block to provide extra accommodation for a further 48 girls plus a matron’s room, a proper dining room and kitchen/store facilities. This will cost £12,570 so what John has raised more than covers the costs of the new block, with some left over towards other needs at the centre.

Many thanks to John and all his sponsors.

Cana Girls Rescue Home helps Christian girls in danger in a context of traditional African religions in Kenya. John Bowers raised enough from his sponsored cycle trip in New England to cover the cost of an additional block with sleeping accommodation, kitchen, dining room, store and matron’s room.

This picture shows work starting on the new building

Iraqi Christians face genocide – but you can help save them Christians in Iraq are facing extermination at the hands of Islamic extremists who want to cleanse their country of any trace of Christianity. These extremists threaten Christians that they must convert to Islam, leave or be killed.

Some of the Burundian ministers with their bicycles, donated by Barnabas Fund

Thank you for encouraging us Barnabas Fund is helping to support ten church leaders in Burundi at the rate of £60 per month each. We have also given them each a bicycle costing £80.

(Project reference 67-675) Some of the pastors came to thank a visitor from Barnabas Fund and made these comments.

• As you know, God’s work is not easy and the places we go are very far…

We heard that you were the ones who helped us to get the bicycles and have travelled to show our appreciation.

We wanted to thank you… they reduce our journey from a whole day to just a few hours. They help Christians because if they need us we can be there in just some hours.

• I was always late because the journey was far. But since I have the bike I have not been late once. As for the salary support, I have used some of the money for a new iron roof.

There was then great joy in our house because we had no more leaks. I have also bought some glasses for my eyes and now I can see.

• I used the money you gave me for school fees. I was ashamed.

I had failed as a man because I could not afford to send my children to school. But now thanks to you I have respect again. I also used some money to treat my eldest son’s eye problem. He had had this problem for many years but I could not afford to treat him. Please tell the people in Barnabas Fund that we are praying for them. [This pastor cycled a round trip of 50 miles (80km) just to say thank you.]

Iraqi Christians will not abandon their faith, and many of them have already been killed. Some have fled to the relatively safe Kurdish areas of Iraq and huge numbers are fleeing to neighbouring Syria. Those who have escaped the genocide need help to survive in their new locations.

Barnabas Fund has been helping to provide food and basic needs for Iraqi Christian refugees in Syria since just after the invasion of March 2003. But now it has become clear that the refugees will not be able to return to their homeland in the foreseeable future. A longer term solution is needed.

Building new communities for refugees to settle Barnabas Fund is therefore working with senior leadership of all the main Christian denominations in Iraq and Syria to build a new community and infrastructure where Iraqi Christian refugees can settle and re-start their lives.

Thanks to the generosity of the city authorities, a plot of land for the building project has been purchased at a fraction of its real value.

On this will be built around

350 apartments together with facilities such as a clinic, school and community hall. At a later stage small businesses will be started to provide employment opportunities.

Will you help to make this a reality?

The whole project will cost an estimated total of £2,850,000 (US$5.7 million; NZ$7.7 million; A$6.3 million; €4 million). So the cost to provide one family’s needs - home and amenities - is approximately £8,100 (US$16,300; NZ$22,000; A$18,000: €11,400). With many churches and individuals around the world all playing their part, the whole sum can be raised.

Your gift WILL make a difference.

Please send your gift to your nearest Barnabas Fund office or visit www. barnabasfund.org to make a donation.

Please quote project reference 20/49-710 when you send your gift.

May we also ask for your prayers that the Lord will protect and guide in every aspect of this project.

This piece of land in a Christian area of a Syrian city is to be transformed into a thriving community for 350 Iraqi Christian refugee families. Please pray that the Lord will guide every aspect of the project

Background Syria has at least 1.5 million refugees from Iraq. According to the United Nations, Christians were 5% of the population before the 2003 invasion, but make up 35-40% of the refugees. (This disproportionately high figure reflects the specifically anti-Christian nature of much of the violence in Iraq.)

The recent influx of Iraqi refugees (adding to 3.5 million Palestinian refugees already in Syria) has sent prices spiralling upwards. Many basic foods have tripled in cost, and rents have gone up five-fold or more. Only 30% of the refugee children can go to school.

Muslim agencies are building 150,000 units of housing for Muslim refugees.

But many Christians are staying in church buildings, old people’s homes and other kinds of lodging which are not appropriate for long-term family accommodation.

Christian refugees fill the churches in Syria each Sunday. There are large numbers of women and children amongst them. Recent arrivals are poorer than those who fled a year or two ago, and have little realistic prospect of moving on to settle in any other country. They must wait in Syria until peace is restored in Iraq.

Iraqi Christian refugees in Syria. Families like this now realise that they will not be able to return home to Iraq in the foreseeable future, and that only a few will be able to move on to another country. Most must settle down in Syria and re-start their lives. But the first problem is to find affordable accommodation. Barnabas Fund is launching a project to build 350 apartments for refugees like this

JAN / FEB 2007 BARNABAS AID 17

Please send me ____ copies of the 8-minute DVD “Save Iraqi Christians”

Books NEW TITLE

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FAITH AND POWER: A HANDBOOK OF BRITISH ISLAM By Patrick Sookhdeo

Yes, I would like to help the persecuted Church

Normal price £12.99 Special introductory price £7.99 (+ £2.50 postage and packing within the UK)

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Islam believes itself to be a faith and also recognises that it is a political and territorial power. How is this going to be expressed in the UK? Will there be assimilation or separation? This book has been written to provide an easy-to-use resource to help non-Muslims understand Islam in Britain today and the way in which it is seeking to transform the country. Introductory chapters look at what Muslims in the UK believe and do, what they have in common as well as the wide range of variation and differences amongst them. There is an emphasis on tracing current movements and trends, in particular the more radical movements which are those likely to have the greatest impact on non-Muslim Britons. Later chapters review influential Muslim figures who have shaped or are shaping Islam in the UK, and give concise information on a wide range of Muslim organisations active in the UK, showing the inter-linkages between them. A final chapter looks at a range of very specific issues and challenges relating to the subject of Islam in Britain. Dr Sookhdeo asks penetrating questions about the way in which the Muslim communities in the UK may develop in the future and how British authorities and institutions appear to be yielding to the process of Islamisation.

Hardback, approx. 330 pages Isaac Publishing Publication date, January 2008 Pre-order your copy now. ISBN 0-9787141-3-X 978-0-9787141-3-0

STEPPING INTO THE SHADOWS By Rosemary Sookhdeo

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This book explores the reasons why so many women are converting to Islam and answers many questions you may have about the issue of its attraction to women. The author unpacks and analyses the problems faced in circumstances such as conversion by conviction or by marriage and addresses the long-term implications of such decisions. Essential reading for every parent, church leader or pastor to enable them to understand and to educate to prevent such situations in the future.

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Paperback, 121 pages Isaac Publishing, 2005 ISBN 9-0-9547835-7-0

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GLOBAL JIHAD By Patrick Sookhdeo Price £15.99 (free postage and packing within the UK) In Global Jihad, Dr Patrick Sookhdeo takes an in-depth look at Islamic teaching on violence and war, past and present, as he analyses the rise of Islamic terrorism in the modern world.

“Patrick Sookhdeo has written another book of great scholarship and clarity, which examines the roots and nature of Islamic jihad and the long war that lies ahead. Patrick Sookhdeo is a man uniquely qualified to explain to the reader what lies behind the resurgence of militant Islamic fundamentalism and how the West should respond. This important book is most strongly commended to everyone who wants to understand the nature of the Islamic threat we face.” Ivar Hellberg OBE, Cranfield University, UK Hardback, 669 pages Isaac Publishing, 2007 ISBN 09787141-2-1 978-0-9787141-2-3

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18 BARNABAS AID JAN / FEB 2008

New DVD on Iraq “God at work in Iraq” is an 8-minute presentation focussing on the place of Iraq in the Bible and on the Christian presence in Iraq for two millennia. The DVD complements Barnabas Fund’s DVD “Hope and Fear in Iraq” which deals with the current persecution of Christians and what Barnabas Fund is doing to bring them aid and hope. So the two DVDs can be shown either separately or together.

Order your free copy using the form above.

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The ‘Barnabas Fund Distinctive’ Barnabas Fund was established in 1993 with the aim of providing practical help to Christians in Muslim environments. Since that time our ministry has grown and we now bring hope and aid to the persecuted Church in over 50 countries.

So, what helps make Barnabas Fund distinctive from other Christian organisations which deal with persecution?

• We support only Christians (“Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” Galatians 6:10) • The majority of our aid goes to Christians living in Muslim-majority environments.

• We help by channelling money from Christians through Christians to Christians: • The money is used to fund projects which have been developed by local Christians in their own communities, countries or regions.

• The money is channelled to existing structures in the countries where funds are sent (e.g. churches and Christian organisations).

• We do not set up our own structures or send people (i.e. Western missionaries). Instead we seek to encourage, strengthen and enable the existing local Church and Christian communities – so they can maintain their presence and witness.

• No request is too small to be considered.

• We aim to meet both practical and spiritual needs.

• We are equal partners with the persecuted Church, whose leaders often help shape our overall direction.

• We seek to tackle persecution at its root by making known the aspects of the Islamic faith which result in injustice and oppression of non-Muslims.

• We believe we are called to address the Islamic faith – an ideology which denies full religious liberty to Christian minorities – while continuing to show God’s love to Muslim people.

• We seek to inform and enable Christians in the West to respond to the growing challenge of Islam to the Church, society and mission in our own countries.

• We believe in the clear Biblical teaching that all Christians should treat all people of all faiths with love and compassion, even those who seek to persecute them.

• We believe in the power of prayer to change people’s lives and situations, either through grace to endure or through deliverance from the suffering. We therefore seek to facilitate global intercession for the persecuted Church by providing comprehensive prayer materials.

• We act as champions for the persecuted Church, to be their voice – making their needs known to Christians and the injustices of their persecution known to governments and international bodies.

“Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”

(Matthew 25:40)

Barnabas Aid The magazine of Barnabas Fund Published by Barnabas Fund The Old Rectory, River Street, Pewsey, Wiltshire SN9 5DB, UK Telephone 01672 564938 Fax 01672 565030 From outside UK: Telephone +44 1672 564938 Fax +44 1672 565030 Email info@barnabasfund.org

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