Barnabas Aid March/April 2009

The Church in Sudan: rebuilding after conflict Campaigning for the safety of converts: your letter can help Christian converts from Islam: their plight in the West March/April 2009

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

Front cover: A Christian girl from South Sudan Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and obtain permission for images used in this publication. Barnabas Fund apologises for any errors or omissions and will be grateful for any further information regarding copyright.

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Contents

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Projects Caring for the whole person in Ethiopia

Newsroom How Muslims in Africa use aid to win converts

Focus The struggles of Christian asylum seekers with Western procedures

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Country Profile he suffering Church in the T

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In Touch

Campaign Update Your letter will help Christian converts from Islam

Resources Books on women and Islam, and our alternative gift catalogue

Information Pull-Out The plight of converts from Islam in the West

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divided nation of Sudan

A great response to Suffering Church Sunday

Prayer Booklet Prepare for Easter by praying for the persecuted Church

FROM THE DIRECTOR

His Cross and His Peace When I visited South Sudan in the mid-1990s the civil war was raging – a conflict in which 2 to 3 million Sudanese people died, primarily black African Christians, as the South resisted the imposition of sharia law and Arabic language by the North. I was struck by the enormity of suffering endured by the Christians and by their deep faithfulness to Christ. Suffering and faithfulness could not be separated.

They painted crosses on their clothes, they carried crosses as they walked, and they topped each tukul (round thatched hut) with a cross.

BARNABAS AID march/APRIL 2009

Soon we will enter the Easter season and reflect again on our Saviour dying on a cross for our sins and rising again for our justification. We need to keep in mind His words to His followers, as He described the persecution they could expect. “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world!” (John 16:33) Today Sudan faces an uncertain future, and Christians in many countries live with hostility, injustice and danger. It is in this context that the Lord sustains and continues to build His Church, a Church that we are privileged to be part of, a Church that is His body here on earth. He has promised us His peace, and it is this

peace for which we must pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters.

Joyce Meyer tells the story of how two artists were commissioned to paint a picture entitled “Peace”. One produced a tranquil pastoral landscape of fields and a little stream. The other painted a turbulent waterfall, pounding the rocks below, all noise and spray, but hanging over it, at the end of a branch, was a nest with a tiny bird sitting on her eggs – peace in the turmoil.

Dr Patrick Sookhdeo International Director Turn to pages 14-17 to read more about Sudan.

For prayer resources in the weeks before Easter, turn to page 20.

Newsroom Focus

Fleeing Persecution: Converts and Western Asylum Procedures

According to the teachings of sharia (Islamic law), leaving Islam is a crime on a par with treason. It is therefore punishable with death (or, according to some schools of sharia, life imprisonment if the apostate is a woman). A range of other penalties are also listed in sharia, including forced dissolution of the former Muslim’s marriage, loss of children and disinheritance.

Some of these punishments – even the death penalty – are included in the legal systems of a number of Muslim-majority countries in the 21st century.

Furthermore, the concepts of such punishments for those who leave Islam are well known to the majority of ordinary Muslims, and particularly to radical Muslims. Family members or Muslims

Asylum seekers behind wire in an Australian detention camp (Source: Video Teppista, photograph

by Richard Schweizer)

BARNABAS AID march/APRIL 2009

from the local community may attempt to enforce such punishments themselves, believing that what they are doing is correct in God’s eyes. Many converts from Islam are arrested and imprisoned by the authorities, even if apostasy is not forbidden by the laws of the land; some other legal pretext will be used.

A convert from Islam can therefore be in severe physical danger whether or not there is any law against apostasy on the statute books of his or her country, and whether or not any such laws are enforced. Although many converts remain in their homelands, some face such threats or violence that they may seek refuge in non-Muslim countries.

Christian converts from Islam The persecution that Christian converts from Islam face is often not recognised

by Western governments. Several

Christian converts from Islam have been refused asylum in recent years, and immigration officers frequently fail to distinguish between Christians who come from a Christian background and those who have converted from Islam.

A briefing by the British Evangelical Alliance (EA), published in 2007, expressed concern at the way in which asylum decisions were often based on inaccurate and out-of-date background information. Many countries rely on United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recommendations in deciding whether Christians are in real danger of persecution in the country that they have fled. Barnabas has heard of cases of Iranian converts being refused asylum in the UK, Germany and New Zealand. Sometimes church leaders vouch for the genuineness of conversions, but the New Zealand Minister for Immigration has reportedly claimed that this is irrelevant in the case of Iran. The issue is whether the fear of

Newsroom Focus

A mosque in Tripoli, Libya. A Libyan Christian convert who fled to the UK was beaten almost to death by Muslim detainees at a Removal Centre, where he was placed after being refused asylum (Source: Luca Galuzzi – www.galuzzi.it)

persecution is well founded and, according to the UNHCR, it is not. He was reported as saying, “We are governed by the advice of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, not vested interest groups, and not representations from others, though they are taken into account. To date ... the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees does not support the contention that Christians face these dangers if returned to Iran.”

Many Western people also do not understand that persecution can come from community and family rather than from police or government authorities.

One such example is the case of “George” and his wife, who fled to the UK after receiving death threats from his family. George grew up in Syria in a Muslim family. When he converted to Christianity in 2003, his family was furious. He soon began to receive death threats, including a video of a beheading, and his family told him that

if he did not return to Islam they would “wash their shame”, meaning that they would kill him.

After living in hiding for several years, George and his wife (who converted in 2005) fled to the UK, and they applied for asylum. They provided their case worker with George’s baptism certificate and a letter from their previous church leader.

However, the Home Office initially refused their request for asylum, claiming that it would be safe for the couple simply to re-locate within Syria, further away from their families. Another reason given for the refusal was that the Home Office did not believe that George’s father would actually hurt his son.

George said, “What could I do in this situation? Should I ask my father for a note forwarded to the Home Office, guaranteeing for them he will hurt me if he catches me?”

This perception shows the wide gap between the Western (and Judeo-

Christian) worldview and the Islamic one.

It is almost impossible for many in the West to imagine that a father would kill his own child, but this action is accepted as legitimate and even necessary in many Muslim contexts if the child dishonours the family. A case in point was the murder of Fatima Al-Mutairi, a young Saudi Christian woman, by her Muslim brother after he found out that she had converted from Islam to Christianity. In some Muslim countries this principle is taught from a very young age.

Western ignorance of Muslim attitudes to apostasy can have serious consequences for asylum-seeking converts even without their being deported to their home countries. According to reports, a Libyan Christian convert from Islam was beaten almost to death by Muslims while at West Drayton Removal Centre in the UK. Twenty-eight-year-old Moftah Abdulghani, who had fled Libya after converting to Christianity, was awaiting a review of his case following the failure of BARNABAS AID MArch/APRIL 2009

Newsroom Focus his application for asylum in the UK. His Christian faith became known to the hundreds of Muslim detainees at the same Removal Centre, who began to abuse and threaten him. The assault, allegedly at the hands of Yemeni and Somali detainees, happened as Moftah left the makeshift church at the Removal Centre. After the attack, he was moved to another detention centre and kept in solitary confinement for his own safety.

Moftah has since been given temporary leave to stay in the United Kingdom.

How to prove one’s faith To qualify for refugee status in Western countries, displaced Christians have to go through the often lengthy “process of verification”. During this process the respective authorities will try to determine whether the person applying for asylum will face real danger if returned to his or her home country. In the cases of Christians asking for asylum on grounds of religious persecution, authorities will also try to establish if their Christian faith is genuine.

Unfortunately the way in which Western immigration and asylum officers try to verify the claims of asylum seekers often displays a great deal of ignorance and insensitivity. Immigration and asylum officers frequently struggle to understand the severity of the danger converts may face from their government, community or family. Insufficient knowledge of the Christian faith and of asylum seekers’ social and political background is a serious obstacle to determining the validity of asylum claims on grounds of religious persecution.

A UNHCR paper on verifying claims for protection on religious grounds pointed out as early as 2002 that in many cases the questions asked during interviews were inappropriate and did not help to establish whether claims were genuine or not. The paper explained that

. .. knowledge of a particular faith does not necessarily correlate to sincerity of conviction. This is especially true where the test of

BARNABAS AID march/APRIL 2009

knowledge is being conducted cross-culturally... judging an applicant’s knowledge or consistency of actions with beliefs runs the risk of being subject to error as the adjudicator may not have a sufficiently adequate understanding of the religion to be able to make these type of assessments.1 Despite reports such as this, the problem of Christian asylum seekers being deported even though they genuinely face severe danger seems to persist. The EA briefing listed a number of questions asked of Christian asylum seekers.2 An Iranian convert to Christianity was asked questions such as “Who was turned into a pillar of salt?”, “Who had a coat of many colours?” and “What was Daniel famous for?” As he had never read the Old Testament he was unable to answer and failed. One convert was asked to “recite the [Catholic] mass”; another one, “How do you cook a turkey for Christmas?”3; yet another, “What were the names of the thieves either side of Jesus as he was crucified?” (they are not named in the Bible). One asylum seeker was asked, “What was the forbidden fruit?”

His application was refused because he did not name it as an apple (the Bible does not identify the fruit).4 A further problem that often weakens the case of Christian asylum seekers is the failure to provide them with Christian interpreters. While asylum seekers have the right to demand a female or male interpreter, they cannot request someone who is a Christian or at least neutral and objective towards the Christian faith. It often happens that Christian converts from Islam are given Muslim interpreters. At best these interpreters may be unfamiliar with Christian terms. But what the convert asylum-seekers fear most is a hostile interpreter who deliberately mistranslates what they say, or even reports their story to the Muslim community in the UK or the authorities in their home country, thus potentially putting the converts in huge danger.

A positive sign In a landmark victory on 29 September 2008 George and his wife were finally granted asylum in Britain. Their legal representative said, “This is a significant and groundbreaking decision that clearly puts the focus on the fact that many converts to Christianity from Islam face real danger, including the ultimate penalty of death.” Please join with us in praying that the decision will mark the beginning of a better-informed and more sympathetic approach to Christian converts who flee to the UK for protection, and that other countries will take note and reform their practices too.

Refugee: a person who has fled his/ her country owing to wellfounded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his/her nationality, and is unable or, owing to such fear is unwilling to avail himself/ herself the protection of that country.5

Karen Musalo, “Claims for Protection Based on Religion or Belief: Analysis and Propose Conclusions”, Legal and Protection Policy Research Series, UNHCR, 2002.

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2 Jennifer Coton, Altogether for Asylum Justice: Asylum seekers’ conversion to Christianity. London: Evangelical Alliance UK, 2007.

Joanna Sugden, “How the Government tests for faith”, The Times, 18 July 2007.

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4

Coton, pp14-17.

Pocket Guide to Refugees, UNHCR, May 2008.

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Campaign: Why should they be secret?

Immigration Issues: how you can help to keep converts safe It has been very encouraging to see how Barnabas‘s 2009 campaign for the abolition of the Islamic apostasy law has already caught the imagination and touched the hearts of many people. For example, in the USA it has been featured on a Los Angeles Christian radio talk show and in WorldNetDaily.

Please do continue to make the petition and campaign known. Have you contacted your local newspaper or local radio about this issue? It is a matter of freedom and justice – which should be top of everyone’s agenda – that Muslims who choose to leave their faith should not have to face the fear of death or any other penalty.

Danger in the West Sadly, such converts can face danger even in the West. Read more about this in the pull-out supplement at the centre of this magazine.

Even worse, the danger can come not only from elements of the Muslim community but also from non-Muslim officials making decisions on immigration and asylum applications.

Many times Barnabas has heard of cases of Christian converts from Islam being refused asylum in a Western country. They are forced to return to their country of origin, where they could face persecution or even death.

This is because the officials dealing with their cases are unaware of the Islamic apostasy law. Therefore they do not realise the difference in the position of, say, Egyptian Christians born into families that have been Christian for

countless generations and Egyptian Christians born into Muslim families who have decided for themselves to follow Christ. People in the first group may face discrimination at school or in the workplace, or discourtesy from taxidrivers or shopkeepers. They may attend church buildings that are shabby and overcrowded owing to difficulties in getting permission for repairs. They may even, if living in rural areas, occasionally experience anti-Christian rioting or – if female – kidnap or rape by Muslims. But people in the second group face the ever-present possibility of violence from their own family members, of arrest on false pretexts followed by torture and imprisonment, or perhaps periods of forced psychiatric treatment to brainwash them out of their “deviant” beliefs.

Change the situation Please help to change this situation.

Write to the head of the immigration authorities in your country and urge her or him to train the staff to know the different security situations of Christians from a Christian background and Christians from a Muslim background. The staff need to be made aware that in Muslim-majority countries a convert from Islam can be at severe risk even if Christian-background Christians face little or no danger. Ask the head to recognise that Muslim staff handling convert cases could face a painful conflict of loyalties, having to choose between the demands of their job and the demands of their faith. Ask her or him to make sure that converts from a Muslim background are not given

Muslim interpreters or housed with Muslim asylum-seekers, thus increasing their personal danger even while in the country where they would like to have asylum. This often happens, not out of deliberate malice, but simply because officials from a Judeo-Christian background have no concept of the hostility with which converts from Islam are treated. (Turn to pages 6-8 to read more.)

Please make your letter polite. It does not need to be long. Ask for an answer. It is likely to have more impact if you put it in an envelope and post it, but you could use fax or email if you prefer.

In the UK write to: Ms Lin Homer Chief Executive UK Border Agency 1st Floor Seacole Building Room S.1.40 2 Marsham Street London SW1P 4DF Fax 0870 3369050 Email Lin.homer@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

Meanwhile…

Keep on gathering signatures for the petition. Sign-up sheets and more details about the petition are available from http://www.barnabasfund.org/ whyshouldtheybesecret or from your national Barnabas office (contact details on the back cover).

BARNABAS AID MARCH/APRIL 2009

Resources

In this edition we highlight two books by Rosemary Sookhdeo on the theme of women and Islam. She has been involved in ministry among Muslims for over 30 years.

Stepping into the Shadows: Why women convert to Islam Rosemary Sookhdeo Why is it that every year thousands of women, including Christians, are converting to Islam?

What is the attraction of Islam to them, and what can we do about it?

This book goes behind the scenes into the lives of several women who married Muslims or converted to Islam by conviction, and reveals what happened to them. It uncovers and analyses the problems and challenges that such women encounter, and addresses the longterm implications of the decisions that they make. It also includes testimonies of how some of them come to Christ.

The book will be invaluable to parents, pastors and church leaders and will warn and challenge anyone about to marry a Muslim or convert to Islam.

Isaac Publishing, paperback, 121 pp, special offer price £5.00 + £2.00 postage (normal price £7.99)

Secrets behind the Burqa Rosemary Sookhdeo Secrets behind the Burqa reveals what really happens in the daily lives of millions of Muslim women and girls in the West. Going behind the scenes, it describes how the Muslim male views women and how the behaviour of Muslim women is completely controlled. Rosemary Sookhdeo details the hidden religious and cultural systems within Islam that oppress and endanger women.

With Islam a growing religion in the West, Secrets behind the Burqa analyses whether Muslim women will be able to embrace Western values and thinking or will be trapped inside their own systems.

Isaac Publishing, paperback, 145 pp, special offer price £6.99 + £2.00 postage (normal price £9.99)

To order either of these books, please visit www.barnabasfund.org/shop. Alternatively please contact your nearest Barnabas office (addresses on back cover). Cheques for the UK should be made payable to “Barnabas Books”.

Gifts of Love Our 2008-2009 “alternative gift” catalogue describes a selection of twelve different key ministries supported by Barnabas that bring hope and change to Christians in many parts of the world. These include the supplying of clean drinking water to Christian communities, the support of Christian victims of natural disasters, and the provision of clinics and other medical assistance for Christians who cannot easily access adequate health care. These projects are just some from a wide range that we support, helping Christians under pressure in over 50 different countries.

Whether you are looking to give to a ministry as an alternative gift for a loved one, or you yourself, your small group or your church would like to give support (perhaps on a regular basis) to a specific project, you will find here a wide range of options for gifts large and small that will help to transform the lives of Christian brothers and sisters.

You may already have received the catalogue, but further free copies are available on request.

Please contact your nearest office or order online at www.barnabasfund.org/gol. Gift certificates are also available.

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Pull-out Supplement

Introduction The majority of Muslim scholars agree that apostasy from Islam is a crime for which God has ordained the death penalty. Further punishments are laid down in Islamic sharia law, including losing one’s spouse and children. These views are not only held in Muslim-majority countries, but are also widespread in the West. The following quotes, from an Islamic website based in South Africa, are typical of many Muslims: “When any member of a Muslim family abandons his/her faith (May Allah forbid) and adopts the teachings of another creed, he will not be regarded as an heir to the estate of any of his family members. His marriage to a Muslim lady is immediately terminated, thus causing her to become unlawful for him.”1 “The law for the renegade is that firstly Islam will be presented once again to him and if he has any doubts or queries then these should be cleared out and he will be given a respite of 3 days. If he accepts Islam again, then fine otherwise he will be killed.”2

MUSLIM CONVERTS TO CHRISTIANITY IN THE WEST

Muslim Converts to Christianity in the West

This understanding of the Islamic law of apostasy creates serious difficulties for Muslims in the West who have converted to Christianity.

The plight of converts from Islam to Christianity in the West Many non-Muslims who convert to Islam in the West are publicly celebrated and applauded. They feel secure and under no threat, able to pursue their lives and careers and proselytise for their new faith. Among such converts in Britain, for example,

are Cat Stevens, Jemima Khan, and the sons of Frank Dobson, the former Health Secretary, and of Lord Birt, the former BBC Director-General.

However, the growing numbers of Muslims who convert to Christianity in the West face severe persecution and often live in fear of their lives. They face not just being disowned and shunned by their families and communities, but also harassment, violent attacks, kidnappings and even murder.

A 2007 Policy Exchange study found that 36 per cent of British Muslims aged between 16 and 24 believed that Muslims who converted to another religion should be punished by death.3

1

http://www.islam.tc/ask-imam/view.php?q=13536, viewed 6 January 2009.

2

http://www.islam.tc/ask-imam/view.php?q=7676, viewed 6 January 2009.

3

D. MacEoin, The Hijacking of British Islam: how extremist literature is subverting Britain’s mosques. Policy Exchange, 2007.

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Pull-out supplement Some observers argue that in Western countries with large Muslim populations, Muslims feel under pressure from the majority culture and the demand to maintain a Muslim identity is intensified, so generating an even stronger reaction against converts: “When identities are precarious, their enforcement will take an aggressive form.”4 Converts may also be put under pressure by the embassies of their former home countries, which warn them that they will be denied entry unless they repent and return to Islam. Some countries prescribe the death penalty for apostasy (although it is rarely put into practice), and the Iranian parliament has provisionally approved a bill to add this to its national law. The same bill will also allow the courts to convict Iranians living outside the country of crimes relating to national security, which for most Muslims include apostasy, which is widely viewed as equivalent to treason.

Just as in the Muslim world, many Muslims who convert in the West have to do so secretly, fearing for their lives from family, friends and the local Muslim community. They often use assumed names in order to protect themselves and their families. A convert in the UK reported that people in his local Muslim community had told him that had they all been living in

Many Muslims who convert in the West have to do so secretly, fearing for their lives from family, friends and the local Muslim community. a Muslim country they would have been the first to chop off his head. Many converts face pressure from Islamist radicals in the West. Khaled converted to Christianity in 1990 in Iraq and then emigrated to the Netherlands, hoping to enjoy freedom of religion. He was surprised to receive regular death threats there from Islamic radicals. An Egyptian convert to Christianity, Paul, had a similar experience in Chicago. Once his conversion became known within the Muslim community there, he was threatened by radical Muslims, who maintained a sustained campaign of threats and intimidation against him.

Again, as in the Muslim world, some church leaders in the West prefer not to evangelise among Muslims nor to accept converts from Islam into their churches in order to avoid the security repercussions and maintain friendly relations with the local Muslim community. The growing tendency to conduct interfaith dialogue with Muslims while ignoring the problem of Muslim attitudes to evangelism and the Islamic apostasy laws has a negative effect on many converts from Islam, who feel

abandoned by the churches and defenceless in the face of harassment and threats.

Converts who suffer harassment and persecution often accuse the police, religious authorities and politicians of finding the issue of apostasy from Islam so problematic that they refuse to respond to appeals for help.

Many converts from Islam feel abandoned by the churches and defenceless in the face of harassment and threats.

There is a growing number of Muslim converts to Christianity in the West, but relatively few church leaders understand their special problems. Like their sisters and brothers in the Muslim world, converts often feel alienated and misunderstood and find it difficult to fit into the church culture, where they are often viewed with suspicion as second-rate believers who might still be Muslims or might return to Islam. Used to the community-centred Muslim culture, they find the isolation and rejection doubly painful and difficult to bear. Facing threats from other Muslims, rejection by their families and a chilly reception in church, many new converts are loners who share their testimonies and communicate on the internet with others in a similar position. Some gather with other “Muslimbackground believers” in small fellowships to establish the community they so desperately need.

Other problems are faced by converts who come to the West to seek asylum specifically because of the persecution they have suffered as a result of their faith. These are detailed on pages 6 to 8 of this magazine. Christian asylum-seekers from Muslim countries face a real danger of being denied permission to stay in the West and of being deported back to their home countries.

Some specific cases The Hussein family Nissar Hussein is a hospital nurse in Bradford, UK. Born a Muslim, he converted to Christianity in 1996, and his wife converted soon after. Since their conversion they and their children have been regularly jostled, abused, attacked, told loudly to move out of the area and given death threats in the

Ruth Gledhill, “British Muslim ‘bullied’ for converting to Christianity”, The Times, 28 April 2008, quoting Christian Solidarity Worldwide report, No Place to Call Home.

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Pull-out supplement

Mr Hussein told The Times: “It’s been absolutely appalling.

This is England — where I was born and raised. You would never imagine Christians would suffer in such a way ... We feel completely isolated, utterly helpless. I have been utterly failed by the authorities. If it was white racists attacking an Asian guy, there would be an absolute outcry ... They are trying to ethnically cleanse me out of my home. I feel I have to make a stand as an Asian Christian.”

A British imam’s daughter “Hannah”, a British imam’s daughter, became a Christian after she ran away from home in 1992 (when she was 16 years old) to escape an arranged marriage. She is living in fear of her life and was recently placed under police protection after receiving death threats from her family for converting to Christianity. She has been in hiding since 1994, when her home was attacked by a group of men armed with knives, axes and hammers, and she has had to move house 45 times to escape detection by her family since she first became a Christian 15 years ago. The latest threat was a text message from her brother warning that he could not be responsible for his actions if she did not return to Islam.

Hannah has been in hiding since 1994, when her home was attacked by men armed with knives, axes and hammers.

Sofia Allam Sofia grew up in a traditional Muslim family in Dagenham, London. Although the family read the Qur’an and prayed regularly, her parents did not force her to wear Islamic dress and allowed her to attend a girls’ comprehensive school. When she was 18 years old, her parents wanted her to accept an arranged marriage. However, she refused, stating that she wwanted to continue her education, and was allowed to go

to university. This episode lasted for only three months as she was so homesick that she returned home to her parents.

She then got a job in a hotel and eventually became a manager.

While working she became interested in Christianity and bought a Bible, which she hid in her bedroom. Reading it convinced her to leave Islam for Christianity. Her mother found the Bible in 2003 and asked her if she was still a Muslim, to which she answered that she did not think so.

Following that confession, her parents’ attitude changed completely. Her mother constantly screamed at her and beat her around the head. Her kind father insulted her, called her a kafir (an offensive term for a non-Muslim or “infidel”), and threatened to kill her. Her uncles were recruited to intimidate her and try to convince her to return to Islam.

Finally, after three weeks of abuse and bullying, Sofia left her parents’ house.

“Tahir” “Tahir” comes from a Palestinian Muslim family that had emigrated to Chicago, USA. Following the 9/11 attacks he started reading the New Testament and gradually became convinced of its truth. His father disowned him and threatened to recruit thugs to beat him up. His wife threatened to leave him and return to Palestine. She accused him of selling his soul to the devil and warned him that he would not get custody of their children, who would be brought up as Muslims. His brother-in-law told him that his marriage was no longer valid. Finally he found a spiritual home in a small fellowship of converts from Islam.

MUSLIM CONVERTS TO CHRISTIANITY IN THE WEST

street. His wife has been held hostage inside their home for two hours by a mob. His car, walls and windows have been daubed in graffiti: “Christian b___”. Bricks have been thrown through their sitting room window and through their car window. Nissar’s car has also been rammed and torched, and the steps to his home have been strewn with rubbish.

Recently he was told that his house would be burnt down if he did not repent and return to Islam. He reported this threat to the police, who told him that such threats were rarely carried out and that he should “stop being a crusader and move to another place”. A few days later the unoccupied house next door was set on fire.

Raped for reading the Bible A Muslim woman (whose name was not disclosed for legal reasons) arrived in New South Wales, Australia as a refugee from Iraq and began to read the Bible. A Muslim man noted her contact with Christians and warned her that if she went with them, anyone who killed her would go to heaven. In September 2002 he lured her to a farm claiming to have news of her family. She was hit on the head, had a hijab tied round her face, and was raped twice. She has since converted to Christianity. In her statement to the court at the man’s trial, she said, “Before I’m not afraid of anyone. Even when Saddam Hussein put me in prison, I was still strong. Now I’m afraid all the time. They can kill me here too in Australia.” She said that she had become isolated within the Iraqi community, and that her father had refused to speak to her for months because of the shame she had brought on the family.

“Sabatina James” Sabatina was aged 20 when her father and other family members threatened her with death in 2003 for apostasy.

She had converted from Islam to Christianity while attending high school near Linz, in Austria. Her father, who originates BARNABAS AID MARCH/APRIL 2009

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MUSLIM CONVERTS TO CHRISTIANITY IN THE WEST

Pull-out supplement from Pakistan, said to her, “In two weeks you have to become a Muslim again or you’re dead.” When she appealed to the Austrian authorities for help, they suggested that she resolve the conflict by returning to Islam. She fled across the border to take refuge with a family of Christian refugees from Pakistan living in Germany.

“Sabatina James” was threatened with death by her family when she converted from Islam to Christianity

Abolition of the apostasy law?

In London in December 2004, in response to letters from Barnabas supporters, Prince Charles called a private meeting of Christian and Muslim leaders to seek for ways to reform the sharia apostasy law and end its compulsory death penalty for converts from Islam to other faiths. The Muslim leaders cautioned the prince and other non-Muslims against speaking publicly on the issue becase, they said, sharia comes from God and cannot be changed. They argued that Islamic moderates could have more influence on those upholding the traditional position if the debate remained internal. A number of Christian delegates expressed their unhappiness with the outcome.

Some urged the prince and Muslim leaders in Britain openly to criticise the traditional Islamic law on apostasy, calling for it to be abolished throughout the world.

The reluctance of Muslim leaders to deal openly with the problem reflects the widespread reluctance of Muslims to tamper with what they believe is God’s law. Even those who may believe that the apostasy law needs to be reformed or abolished would need to be very courageous to say so in public. They might face accusations of heresy, blasphemy and apostasy, so putting their own lives in danger.

In response to this reluctance by Muslim leaders to make a determined stand against the law of apostasy, Bishop Michael

Nazir-Ali of Rochester, UK warned that converts from Islam might be killed in Britain unless British Muslim leaders speak out openly on behalf of the right of individuals to change their faith. He added that it was still common for those deemed apostates in Britain to be ostracised, to lose their job, and to have their marriages dissolved and their children taken away.

The Bishop called on the Muslim leaders in Britain to “uphold basic civil liberties, including the right for people to believe what they wish to believe and to even change their beliefs if they wish to do so”.

The reluctance of Muslim leaders to deal openly with the problem reflects the widespread reluctance of Muslims to tamper with what they believe is God’s law.

On a positive note, however, on 22 October 2007 Christian and Muslim groups in Norway signed a joint declaration affirming the right to convert from one faith to another without fear of harassment or violence. This was the first time that a church and a representative national Muslim organisation had publicly acknowledged the right to convert. Barnabas’s 2009 campaign seeks to build on this precedent and eventually to bring an end to the Islamic apostasy law. (For further details and information on how to be involved, please turn to page 9 in this magazine.)

Conclusion The Islamic law of apostasy has a profoundly negative impact on converts from Islam to Christianity in the West. In spite of the rights to individual religious freedom, including the right to change one’s religion, enshrined in Western legal systems, these converts often find the upholders of the law reluctant to provide them with the protection they need as they face severe persecution from within the Muslim community.

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BARNABAS AID MARCH/APRIL 2009

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Newsroom Islamic school and mosque, South Africa

Islamic Dawa and Humanitarian Aid in Africa “I have never seen such poverty as I saw in the war-ravaged Democratic Republic of the Congo when I visited recently. More than 5 million people have been killed in recent years because of the continued civil conflict, and almost another million are homeless and displaced. I saw food being handed out at mosques or given door-todoor. I heard the message from the loudspeakers: ‘What are the Christians doing to help? See how Muslims are meeting the needs of the community.’

I was deeply saddened to see how Islam is exploiting the desperation of the neediest Christian people in order to gain converts to Islam.” - Brendan Smith, Barnabas’s Africa Regional Coordinator Africa, the poorest and most troubled continent in the world, is a main target of Islamic outreach (dawa). Humanitarian aid is one of the most important and effective methods. Islam focuses on the key

vulnerabilities of poverty and nominalism in the African Church, often offering aid on condition that the recipient converts to Islam.

Schooling In the traditionally Christian townships of South Africa a number of schools that specifically target the poor have been built

by Muslims. They offer free education, uniforms, stationery and two meals a day, as well as sports and cultural tours across the country. Millions of children in South Africa are AIDS orphans and live in childheaded households. These Islamic schools offer boarding facilities to such orphans.

Many parents, too poor or sick to look after their children, abandon them at these schools. The top students are offered scholarships to attend university. The only requirement for the children to attend the school is that they and their parents (if they

are not orphans) convert to Islam. They have to sign a declaration of their new Islamic faith and attend Islamic prayers a number of times a week. Some schools are more like madrassas than normal schools and the children are instructed in Arabic and radical Islam at a very young age. The schools are funded by Islamic businesses and by countries such as Iran, Saudi Arabia and Libya.

This approach is certainly not unique to South Africa, and similar schemes operate in, for example, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Malawi.

Governments of these countries actively welcome such initiatives, as they reduce the burden on overstretched education departments. Free government land and relaxed syllabus requirements are often given as incentives for Islamic groups to build schools.

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Newsroom

Health care Because of the prevalence of HIV, tuberculosis, malaria and a host of other diseases in rural Africa, life expectancy is low and infant mortality is high. Health care is virtually nonexistent in many parts of the continent. In recent years there has been a dramatic increase in the number of Islamic medical clinics in rural areas.

Many of these clinics are set up in nonMuslim areas. The health care that is offered is excellent; however, in many

Islamic food aid station, DRC. It is built next to a church

clinics patients will not be treated unless they convert to Islam. In life-and-death cases many people feel they have no choice and convert. Some Islamic hospitals and clinics in Burundi offer free maternity care if the mothers promise to bring their children up as Muslims. The children are often registered with Islamic names by the hospital. Many clinics have mosques attached to them.

Islamic clinic and mosque, Malawi

Food aid

Business support

Much of Africa is in a state of famine because of poor farming methods, climate change and a global food shortage. Where food is scarce and people are starving, hunger is often used as a tool to gain converts to Islam. In recent months there have been cases in countries such as Ethiopia, Malawi, Burundi and Tanzania of food aid being provided to people if they agree to become Muslims. In Malawi there are even specific examples of people having to receive and change into Islamic clothing before they are allowed food aid.

These methods are extremely effective in gaining converts. There is an old Swahili saying: “A hungry stomach has no ears.�

Another very successful dawa initiative is that of micro-credit or micro-finance. Small loans are made available to families or businesses at reduced and manageable repayment rates. However, they are available only to Muslims. Many people convert to Islam in order to gain access to these loans. Communities are educated in the benefits of joining such schemes, which include access to Muslim suppliers and customers as well as business mentoring and support. Conditions are often imposed on those who take the loans: that they may hire only Muslim staff and may deal only with Muslim partners.

This kind of activity occurs throughout subSaharan Africa.

Sharia Courts in the UK: what do they mean?

In September 2008 the British Government acknowledged that it had for some time accepted the role of sharia tribunals in arbitration, in certain limited fields. The Government has not given any official endorsement of sharia law or sharia courts, but the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal (www.matribunal.com) is seeking to give that impression, presumably with the aim of establishing wider recognition for sharia in the UK. The following analysis is based on information provided to Barnabas by several senior lawyers.

Under the Arbitration Act 1996, parties can enter into arbitration agreements whereby they agree that a civil legal dispute can be dealt with by a mutually agreed arbiter rather than through the

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ordinary courts. The parties can choose to have the Arbitration conducted under the rules of any legal system, whether French law, Japanese law or sharia.

Arbitration is very common in business and building disputes and, once an arbitration agreement has been signed, the verdict of the arbiter can be enforced by the ordinary civil courts.

The Muslim Arbitration Tribunal (MAT) claims to operate under the Arbitration Act, and it is this that has led to press reports claiming that the British Government had given official recognition to sharia courts.

Arbitration, however, does not apply to criminal disputes. It is therefore surprising that some police forces are reported to have allowed cases of domestic and other violence to be dealt with by sharia tribunals. This is contrary

to arbitration law and is particularly dangerous in domestic violence cases.

It has long been recognised that victims of domestic violence are extremely vulnerable to pressure from their abusive partners, and to prevent this the Crown Prosecution Service does not allow victims of abuse simply to decide that they no longer want to proceed.

There is no legal reason why this should be different because the violence has occurred in a Muslim family.

It is also important to note that arbitration cannot be used in cases involving child custody, access etc., which have to be decided by Family Courts acting in the best interests of the children. In such cases, mediation is allowed, and it seems that MAT may be deliberately confusing mediation and arbitration. A mediator will try to bring

Testimony Newsroom

Refugee support There are millions of refugees and internally displaced people throughout Africa. Islamic humanitarian organisations often hand out aid but are biased towards Muslims in its distribution. Many refugees become Muslims just to be able to receive aid.

In the Great Lakes region of Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo many returning refugees who have lost everything through war and famine are given houses, land and businesses by Muslim groups if they convert. It is not surprising that many people do convert.

Where Christian nominalism is rife because of illiteracy and a lack of effective discipleship, many Christians do not know their own faith well enough to spot that the teachings of Islam are so different. It is small wonder that the hungry, sick and vulnerable are easily swayed by material provision. The impoverished churches in Africa cannot compete with the wellfunded Muslim groups that deliberately target the poor. Many churches in Africa

rely on donations from within their congregations, most of whom live below the breadline, while the Muslim groups are funded by countries such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Libya and the UAE. Barnabas is helping to stem the tide of Islam in Christian areas of Africa by empowering local churches to meet the needs of Christians in impoverished communities.

Conclusion Christianity is said to be growing at an astonishing rate in Africa. Yet as a number of recent conflicts across the continent have indicated, tribalism often overrules allegiance to Christ.

Unspeakable atrocities have been committed in majority Christian countries. Within this context the Islamic faith is gaining influence and converts.

both parties to a mutually acceptable solution, which can then be endorsed by the Family Court and become the court order. However, it is a principle of mediation that the mediators do not make any decision themselves. It appears that MAT may be making child custody etc. decisions according to sharia principles with the intention of having those decisions “rubberstamped” by a Family Court as if they were mediation agreements. If this is happening, it is a misuse of the law and involves the potential misleading of a Family Court.

Arbitration can be applied to disputes over inheritance, and therefore a sharia tribunal could be asked to deal with inheritance disputes between members of a Muslim family. However, it may be that enforcement of a sharia arbitration decision on inheritance would be contrary to public policy, since sharia rules automatically mean that a

Islamic school (madrassa), water project and mosque, Uganda

daughter’s inheritance is half that of her brother and a woman’s evidence is worth half that of a man. Under the Human Rights Act 1998, a court in the UK cannot act in a way that is incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights requirement for a fair trial. A trial where a woman’s evidence carries less weight than a man’s is not a fair trial.

In a 2003 case, the European Court of Human Rights specifically stated that sharia law is incompatible with the European Convention, and it is therefore arguable that any decision of MAT reached through the application of sharia law cannot be enforced by the UK. In 2008 the House of Lords refused to allow the extradition of a woman to Lebanon because it said that the rules of sharia law applying to custody of children was arbitrary, unreasonable, and incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. It is ironic

that the House of Lords made this decision only weeks after the Lord Chief Justice had suggested that sharia law might have a place in Family Law cases.

While freely chosen arbitration between equal parties in limited areas of law is long established in Britain, the attempt to extend Arbitration to allow the use of sharia in Family Law matters is of great concern. Many Muslim women in the UK are disadvantaged in terms of language and education, making it hard for them to know what their legal options are, and they can be subjected to immense pressure from family and community. In addition some Muslims consider that it is haram (forbidden and punishable) for a Muslim to use nonIslamic courts if a sharia alternative is available. This view carries with it an implied threat of violence towards British Muslim women who want to choose British law rather than sharia.

BARNABAS AID MArch/APRIL 2009

13

Country Profile

Sudan at the Crossroads After decades of civil war and intense distress for its people, Sudan today stands at a crossroads. Will it go forward into a new era of peace and development, or turn aside into renewed violence and suffering?

And what of its Church, so often caught in the crossfire of its conflict?

This small hut (tukul) in Juba is typical of many poor homes in South Sudan (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

A divided nation The Republic of Sudan is roughly the size of Western Europe and is the largest country in Africa, covering a vast area west and south-west of the Red Sea. It has a wide variety of geographical features, from deserts to mountains and swamps to rain forests.

But the most important division in Sudan is not between its natural environments, but between the mainly Muslim North and the mainly Christian South. It is this that principally determines the life of the nation today, and the conditions of its Christian population.

Christianity was introduced into what is now Northern Sudan by the late 3rd century AD, and by the seventh century the population was largely Christian. But at this time Islam was brought to neighbouring Egypt and its surrounding region by an armed invasion of Muslims from the Middle East. The result of their military conquest, and the subsequent influence of Arab Muslim traders and culture, was the Islamisation and Arabisation of all North Africa. It was not until the 15th century, however, that the Christian kingdoms of Northern Sudan succumbed to this process.

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This five-star hotel is in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan located in the North (Source: Wikimedia Commons) The South of Sudan retained its tribal religions, and was a source of slaves for Arab slave traders in the North. But Western Christian missionaries were working in Sudan as early as the 17th century, and after the territory came under joint Egyptian and British control in 1899 their numbers increased. During this time, however, the North and the

South were kept virtually separate, and a passport was needed to pass from one to the other. Christian missionaries were allowed to work only in the South, where they made a significant impact. The British authorities favoured the North, and allowed the South to stagnate both socially and economically. At independence in 1956 they in effect

Country Profile handed the South over to Northern control. Southern ministers were soon dismissed from the new government, and Southern members of parliament resigned in protest at its actions.

So now the twelve provinces of Northern Sudan are dominated by Arab Muslims, while the Southerners, who are mostly African by race, are predominantly Christian. The proportion of Christians in the whole country is around 23%, but in the South it is nearer 70%. About 65% of the total population is Muslim, and around 10% (mainly in the South) follow traditional tribal religions.

Numerous other fault lines cross the national scene: between the 140 or more people groups with their more than 100 languages; between itinerant pastoralists with their herds and settled farmers with their land; between moderates and hardliners, especially among the Muslims. There is a saying in Sudan: “If you are not confused, you don’t understand the situation.” But more seriously, these multiple divisions are a potential – and actual – source of severe conflict.

Civil war For most of the last 54 years Sudan has been racked by a civil war waged between the Arab Islamic government in the North (based in the capital, Khartoum) and the African and mainly non-Muslim population in the South.

The first government of the independent nation attempted to discourage the practice of Christianity and insist on Arabic as the official language. When in 1958 it then abrogated an earlier agreement that provided for North and South to be governed separately, the violent unrest among Southerners exploded into full-scale war.

A peace treaty in 1972 granted autonomy to the South. But in the late 1970s oil was discovered in Sudan, in areas straddling the boundary but mainly in the South, and the Northern government then took back the oil-rich regions. In 1983 Northern rule was re-introduced in the South, and President Nimeiry imposed Islamic sharia law over the whole country. The Northern government was dominated by a committee from the National Islamic Front (NIF), and the party

leader, Hassan Turabi, exerted enormous influence through his vision of Sudan as a new worldwide centre of Islam. The government apparently intended to keep the South underdeveloped until it could be Islamised.

The non-Muslim South, which did not want to be ruled by Islamic law, rebelled again, and this second phase of the war lasted until 2002, with the deaths of over two million people (mainly Southerners) and the displacement of at least five million. Atrocities were committed not only by the Northern government, but also by Southern guerrilla movements, splinter groups from the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA).

Sudanese Christians suffered grievously with the rest of the South. Many were killed, died of disease or starved to death. Millions fled from rural areas to the towns or to neighbouring nations.

Christians were frequently harassed by the regime, for example by having their homes and church buildings demolished, and there were credible reports of massacres, kidnappings and forced labour. Children were abducted and either conscripted to the army or subjected to an Islamisation process

by Islamic education groups. Pastors were arrested.

The influx of displaced Southerners into the North, however, and their spreading all over the region, led to the

establishing of many active churches in areas with many unreached peoples. The war years also saw massive church growth in the South, especially among the Dinka and Nuer peoples. It is estimated that the proportion of Christians amongst Southern peoples increased from 5% in 1960 to perhaps 70% in 2000.

Neither side was able to gain victory in the war, and international pressure eventually led to negotiations, and then to the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005. Under this the South is given a considerable degree of autonomy for six years under a Government of South Sudan (GoSS), and in 2011 a referendum on secession will be held. Among various other provisions of the CPA was the commitment that sharia would have no jurisdiction over non-Muslims anywhere in the country.

A Christian congregation in South Sudan gathers for worship in the open air

A large mosque in Khartoum, symbolising the strength of Islam in North Sudan (Source: Wikimedia Commons) BARNABAS AID MArch/APRIL 2009

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Country Profile

Continuing tensions and violence Since the CPA came into force the conditions for people living in the South have undoubtedly improved. But serious problems remain throughout the country.

In the western region of Darfur, progovernment Arab militias called the janjaweed stand accused of the ethnic cleansing of non-Arab groups. The Sudanese President, Omar Al-Bashir, has recently been accused by the International Criminal Court of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in the area. Although Christians have not been especially targeted, their security, like that of the rest of the Darfur population, continues to be threatened.

The South was wrecked during the war by indiscriminate bombing and violent raids and was left largely without roads or crops, money or electricity. The GoSS has struggled to obtain the resources it needs to achieve reconstruction. For example, it is supposed to pay teachers’ salaries, but in many places it either does not have the money or will not assume

the responsibility. Many of its leaders have no experience in governance or administration. The South is meant to receive 50% of the country’s oil revenues, but some observers doubt that the Northern government is dividing the money fairly. A kind of peace may have returned to Christians in the South, but no sort of prosperity as yet.

The CPA gives further grounds for concern. Some issues remain unresolved, and little effective machinery exists to make the Northern government honour its commitments. In the long run the CPA may prove to be no more dependable than earlier agreements that were broken by Khartoum, and give no more security to Sudan’s Christians.

The process of Islamisation and Arabisation, begun after independence and continuing ever since, has been extended in the North by President Bashir. Women are expected to wear the black chador (a loose cloak that covers the whole body and the head), whether they are Muslims or not, and a woman whose head is uncovered will be turned away from her workplace. They are not supposed to walk on the street with a man who is not a relative. An Islamic

The political division of Sudan into North (Muslim-majority) and South (Christian-majority) 16

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banking system has been implemented.

Southerners in the army are offered inducements to convert to Islam.

There is strong support for independence in the South, and the vote on this in 2011 is likely to be the most crucial event in the near future for Sudan’s Christian communities. A smooth transition will however be very difficult to achieve.

Merely organising the referendum will be a challenge when many people have never voted before. Violence continues, especially in places where the border between North and South has never been agreed, and a vote for secession may provoke a major war over frontiers and oil fields. In any case, several decades of development will be needed to rebuild the infrastructure. So Christians in Sudan face an uncertain future, even without the many ways in which they are specifically targeted.

The suffering Church in Sudan Sudanese law expressly declares that apostasy (leaving Islam) is a criminal offence punishable by death in accordance with sharia. The government claims that any manifestation of apostasy in public constitutes a threat to public order and should therefore be prosecuted as high treason. In fact the death penalty is seldom imposed, but in the North Muslim converts to Christianity face arrest, imprisonment and torture.

Even if they escape judicial censure, converts face severe social pressure to recant. They may be held prisoner by their families, suffer beating, or simply disappear. In the South, however, the constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the policies of the GoSS have so far confirmed this.

Conditions remain difficult for Christians in other respects. In June 2008 it was reported that Sudanese government troops had been pressuring some impoverished Christians to become Muslims by withholding international food supplies and even drinking water. To receive aid they first had to enter a mosque and make the Islamic statement of faith, and then confirm their “conversion” with a thumb print. Some Christians have also been transported into the desert and left there without

Country Profile food or water. Children of Christian families are especially vulnerable to abduction and enslavement by government forces or militias.

In the North Christians face many forms of discrimination. It is difficult for anyone with a Christian name to get a job, and some destitute Christians have even changed their names in the hope of gaining employment. Christians are also excluded from government and the professions, including some in which they have traditionally been prominent, such as banking. An atmosphere of suspicion against Christians, especially their leaders, has been created by the media.

Various measures designed to restrict the spread of Christianity and the work of the Church have been imposed, and all Christian activities are subject to control.

No mission work is permitted except by governmental licence, and churches have to register with the state. Christian use of the media is severely restricted, and evangelistic programmes are not broadcast from within Sudan for fear of intimidation. Evangelism among Muslims is discouraged. Christian preaching is permitted only within church buildings, and special permissions must be obtained for other events, such as large rallies.

Christians in the North have difficulty in obtaining permits to build churches or other institutions such as schools, despite the increase in demand caused by largescale migration to the North during the war. Those living outside Khartoum cannot easily travel into the city, but because the churches there are underutilised the government has argued that there is no need to build any more. Some older church buildings have been bulldozed and land expropriated by the government. Migrants are now returning

to the South, increasing the need for buildings there.

After years of persecution there was some hope that the signing of the CPA would bring an extension of religious freedom for those living in the North as well as those in the South. But given the fragility of the peace and the uncertainties of the future it remains to be seen how far the government’s promises will be fulfilled.

Food aid from Barnabas for Christians in Darfur is unloaded from a lorry

The Church in South Sudan Despite the horrendous suffering of Christians in South Sudan in the last 25 years, they have provided a striking example of faithfulness to Christ.

When one group of Christians were asked, during the civil war, why they always crowned their small round huts (tukuls) with a wooden cross (see picture), they said that they did not want government warplanes accidentally to bomb the local nonChristians, when the bombs were intended for Christians!

The churches are also renowned for the joy and persistence of their singing, even in the midst of unbelievable deprivation and distress. When asked why they sang so joyfully, when they seemed to have nothing to be thankful for, they replied, “Because God has given us another day, and because we are going to heaven.�

Aid from Barnabas to Sudan During the war a whole generation of young Southerners were entirely deprived of the opportunity to go to school. Education is a vital need. Barnabas has been helping a number of different Christian schools for displaced children in the North, as well as schools in the South. (Project reference 48-344) The need for health care is pressing. A local Christian group is setting up four church-run clinics in isolated rural areas of the South. Barnabas is financing their construction and equipping, and their running costs in the first year, including the salaries and further training of three health workers. (Project reference 48-758) Barnabas is providing food aid (such as corn, sugar, lentils and rice) for a hundred Christian families in Darfur. (Project reference 48-511) Many Christian school teachers have received little or no training in how to teach, or have fairly basic education themselves. Barnabas is supporting a variety of training courses for Christian teachers, in their schools or at a training centre.

(Project reference 48-494)

Barnabas supports a training project for Christian teachers

Barnabas is helping to support a Christian prison ministry in North Sudan. Many Christian women are imprisoned, either for debt (as displaced people they have little or no income) or for failing to adhere to some aspect of sharia, for example, the requirement to cover themselves properly. (Project reference 48-575)

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In touch

A great response to Suffering Church Sunday 2008

The Son of Man in all His glory Will sit upon His heavenly throne “Let all the nations pass before Me, I shall choose those who are My own.

It has been a huge encouragement to us at Barnabas to hear of the imaginative ways in which our supporters have used our Suffering Church Sunday resources since last November.

“You that fed Me when I hungered, You that quenched My raging thirst: You are My sheep, I am your Shepherd You are the ones who shall be first.

A pastor in Beaudesert, Australia wrote to say, “I think that we as Christians know that terrible things are happening around the world, but we don’t like to be confronted with the reality. You have helped our eyes to be opened and have provided ways to be active. Thank you!” �

A church in Pontlottyn, South Wales, held a “meal in a bowl” event (pictured) after their morning service and considered the information we had provided. After this they were able to send a generous donation to support the persecuted Church. �

Another reader, from Smethwick, West Midlands, UK, combined material from various agencies that support suffering Christians. He developed the idea of a week-long prayer calendar for the children to make and then use, for those who have to read their Bibles in secret, those who do not have enough to eat, and so on. �

At a church in Croydon, UK, the outline sermon and “Faith Costs” cards made an effective combination. Not only did people respond positively on the day; they also used the resources as part of a month’s fundraising and prayer for the work of Barnabas. �

A church in Barnstaple, Devon, UK that meets in a converted railway shed was able to project the PowerPoint presentation ten feet wide! With the reading and six-point message shown behind him, the speaker was able to recount in depth the stories and information from the magazine.

Finally, some supporters were challenged by the statement that there are very few hymns or songs on the theme of caring for our fellow believers, and were moved to produce works of their own. We have reproduced one of these on the right, which arose from the author’s reflections on the Bible study notes on Jesus’ story of the sheep and the goats. �

We offer our thanks to these individuals and their congregations for their creative concern, prayers and generous support for the persecuted Church.

The resources, which can be used at any time of year, are available at www.barnabasfund.org/scs

�

Suffering Church Sunday lunch at Pontlottyn Church

Confirmed dates and venues of Dr Patrick Sookhdeo’s speaker meetings on Islam, the Church and the Future of Britain (described in the January/February 2009 edition of Barnabas Aid) are listed below. We extend a warm welcome to all our supporters and their friends.

Grange URC, Kings Road, Higher Bebbington

Saturday 9 May Shrewsbury 7 pm Barnabas Community Church Centre, Longden Coleham Saturday 16 May Ipswich 10 am-4 pm Venue to be confirmed Saturday 28 May N Ireland 7 pm Ballynahinch Baptist Church, 24 Lisburn Road, Ballynahinch And don’t forget the UK Supporters’ Day, to be held on Saturday 6 June at Freshbrook Evangelical Church, Worsley Road, Swindon, Wiltshire. Further details will be provided in the next edition of Barnabas Aid. 18

BARNABAS AID march/APRIL 2009

Those righteous ones will then ask of Him, “When did we do these things You say?”

The Son of Man will answer gently, “You did these things for Me today.

“For when you tended for My brothers, Cared for My sisters, friends, you see, And did it for the least among them, Then you did it as for Me.” So when, in times of tribulation, Your brothers and sisters are oppressed, Hold out your hand to them in friendship And you will then by God be blessed.

Chris Trigger, 2008

Barnabas UK meetings

Friday 6 March Wirral 7.30 pm

“I was a stranger, and you healed Me; I was naked; Me you clothed.

I was sick; you gave Me comfort; A prisoner, and yet was not loathed.”

Chris suggests that these verses could be sung to the tune St Clement, which is often used for The day thou gavest, Lord, is ended.

Remember persecuted Christians this Lent – and Easter The weeks leading up to Easter are especially good for focusing on the needs of the persecuted Church, both in prayer and with practical giving. Why not hold a simple soup and bread lunch and invite people to give a donation to support the persecuted Church? Some congregations also give their Easter offering to help our Christian brothers and sisters who are suffering for their faith.

To help Christians intercede for the persecuted Church at this time, Barnabas has produced a special prayer booklet (enclosed). Turn to the back cover of this magazine for more details.