Barnabas aid January February 2015

barnabasaid

barnabasfund.org

BARNABAS FUND - AID AGENCY FOR THE PERSECUTED CHURCH

January/February 2015

Pakistan

Dawa

Changing lives of bomb victims

Hope

God’s grace to the persecuted

Understanding Islam’s outreach strategy

Pushed to The edge

Christians in iraq have to resort to living in unfinished buildings as they flee their persecutors

What helps make Barnabas Fund distinctive from other Christian organisations that deal with persecution?

The Barnabas Fund Distinctive We work by:

●● directing our aid only to Christians, although its

benefits may not be exclusive to them (“As we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” Galatians 6:10, emphasis added)

●● aiming the majority of our aid at Christians living in Muslim environments

●● channelling money from Christians through Christians to Christians

●● channelling money through existing structures in the countries where funds are sent (e.g. local churches or Christian organisations)

●● using the money to fund projects that have

been developed by local Christians in their own communities, countries or regions

●● considering any request, however small ●● acting as equal partners with the persecuted Church, whose leaders often help shape our overall direction

How to find us New Zealand PO Box 27 6018, Manukau City, Auckland, 2241 Telephone (09) 280 4385 or 0800 008 805 Email office@barnabasfund.org.nz UK 9 Priory Row, Coventry CV1 5EX Telephone 024 7623 1923 Fax 024 7683 4718 From outside the UK Telephone +44 24 7623 1923 Fax +44 24 7683 4718 Email info@barnabasfund.org Registered charity number 1092935 Company registered in England number 4029536 For a list of all trustees, please contact Barnabas Fund UK at the Coventry address above.

barnabasaid 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

●● acting on behalf of the persecuted Church, to

be their voice – making their needs known to Christians around the world and the injustice of their persecution known to governments and international bodies

We seek to:

●● meet both practical and spiritual needs ●● encourage, strengthen and enable the existing local Church and Christian communities – so they can maintain their presence and witness rather than setting up our own structures or sending out missionaries

●● facilitate global intercession for

the persecuted Church by providing comprehensive prayer materials

We believe:

●●we are called to address both religious and secular ideologies that deny full religious liberty to Christian minorities – while continuing to show God’s love to all people

●● in the clear Biblical teaching that Christians

should treat all people of all faiths with love and compassion, even those who seek to persecute them

●● tackle persecution at its root by making

●● in the power of prayer to change people’s lives

●● inform and enable Christians in the West

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

known the aspects of the Islamic faith and other ideologies that result in injustice and oppression of non-believers to respond to the growing challenge of Islam to Church, society and mission in their own countries

and situations, either through grace to endure or through deliverance from suffering

(Matthew 25:40)

You may contact Barnabas Fund at the following addresses Australia PO BOX 3527, LOGANHOLME, QLD 4129 Telephone (07) 3806 1076 or 1300 365 799 Fax (07) 3806 4076 Email bfaustralia@barnabasfund.org Germany German supporters may send gifts for Barnabas Fund via Hilfe für Brüder who will provide you with a tax-deductible receipt. Please mention that the donation is for “SPC 20 Barnabas Fund”.

If you would like your donation to go to a specific project of Barnabas Fund, please inform the Barnabas Fund office in Pewsey, UK. Account holder: Hilfe für Brüder e.V. Account number: 415 600 Bank: Evang Kreditgenossenschaft Stuttgart Bankcode (BLZ): 520 604 10

To guard the safety of Christians in hostile environments, names may have been changed or omitted.

Thank you for your understanding.

Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and obtain permission for stories and images used in this publication. Barnabas Fund apologises for any errors or omissions and will be grateful for any further information regarding copyright. © Barnabas Fund 2015

Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland PO Box 354, Bangor, BT20 9EQ Telephone 028 91 455 246 or 07867 854604 Email ireland@barnabasfund.org

USA 6731 Curran St, McLean, VA 22101 Telephone (703) 288-1681 or toll-free 1-866-936-2525 Fax (703) 288-1682 Email usa@barnabasaid.org

Scotland Barnabas Fund Scotland, PO Box 2084, Livingston, EH54 0EZ Telephone 07722 484 742 Email scotland@barnabasfund.org

International Headquarters 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

Singapore Cheques in Singapore dollars payable to “Barnabas Fund” may be sent to: Kay Poh Road Baptist Church, 7 Kay Poh Road, Singapore 248963

To donate by credit/debit card, please visit the website www.barnabasfund.org.nz or by phone at (09) 280 4385 or 0800 008 805 Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations are taken from the New International Version®.

The paper used in this publication comes from sustainable forests and can be 100% recycled. The paper used is produced using wood fibre at a

Front cover: Displaced Iraqi Christians living in unfinished buildings in Iraqi Kurdistan

© Barnabas Fund 2015. For permission to reproduce articles from this magazine, please contact the International Headquarters address above.

mill that has been awarded the ISO14001 certificate for environmental management.

Contents

“Let justice roll on like a river” Dr Patrick Sookhdeo International Director

“T

he day after the departure of our missionaries from Urmi, that is the 3rd January (1915), the Kurds and Turks, and with them a great number of Moslems of Urmi, began to raid and kill and to make captives from a large part of the Christian villages.” Thus wrote Rev. Y.M. Nisan from Urmia on 25 May 1915 to the Organising Secretary of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Assyrian Mission.

Urmia (on the modern Iran-Iraq border) was a spiritual centre for Assyrian Christians. Rev. Nisan describes how 25,000 Christians sought refuge in American, French and British premises. There was not enough food and many died.

Rev. Nisan put the causes of death in this order: fear, inadequate shelter, cold, hunger, typhoid. He estimates that 6,000 Christian villagers were killed during the attacks, and at least another 3,000 who fled the slaughter died of other causes.

The year 2015 will be marked as the 100th anniversary of the Armenian and Assyrian Genocide, an episodic killing spree spread over decades, in which 3.5 million Christians died. 1915 was not the first year or the last year, but it was the worst year with the highest death toll.

With horrifying irony, we now see the same events being played out in the same part of the world, with Assyrian, Armenian and other Christians fleeing for their lives before radical Islamic forces. And looking further afield, as I write, there is Aasia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian mother whose appeal against the death sentence has just been rejected.

A Pakistani couple were beaten and then burnt alive in a brick kiln furnace. In Mosul a slave market has been established selling Christian and Yazidi women and girls. In Northern Nigeria Christian mothers weep for their daughters, as Boko Haram announced that 270 captured schoolgirls have been converted to Islam and married.

For the prophet Amos, justice is a fundamental characteristic of God. He records God’s own words in response to violence and exploitation: “Let justice roll on like a river and righteousness like a never-failing stream” (Amos 5:24). There will be a day when the oppressed are vindicated, when the almighty and ever-loving God will establish His reign.

As he neared the end of his account for the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rev. Nisan wrote, “Today we are very confused and fearful.” How many of our brothers and sisters would echo those words now! Let us pray to the God of justice for their deliverance and vindication.

Patrick Sookhdeo

is the International Director of Barnabas Fund. Dr Sookhdeo is a spokesman for persecuted Christian minorities around the world. He is an advocate for human rights and freedom of religion.

There will be a day when the oppressed are vindicated

4 Compassion in Action Support for a Syrian Christian family in their darkest hour

5 8

Newsdesk

Aasia Bibi’s death sentence confirmed

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Editorial

Dawa

Islam’s original outreach strategy applied today

11

Advocacy

Speak out for suffering Christians in the Middle East

11 12

Project Update

14

Grace upon Grace

16

Biblical Reflection

18

In Touch

How your gifts have helped Peshawar bomb victims in Pakistan

Giving thanks for God’s faithfulness to the persecuted Church

Learning from the suffering of Job

Apple party and harvest supper for Barnabas

how barnabas is helping Affordable, loving school The Christian parents of over 100 youngsters in Pakistan are overjoyed with the Christian school that Barnabas Fund built, and continues to sponsor, in the Hindu-majority local community where they live.

Before, only 10% of their children were receiving an education, because the majority of parents were unable to pay the fees levied by the local Hindu establishments. The few children who could attend local Hindu schools experienced discrimination. And Zaki, who went to an Islamic school, was forced to learn Naat, Islamic poetry that praises Muhammad.

Now, 80% of children from the Christian community are going to school. Zaki’s father, who is impoverished and unable to pay for school fees, is thankful that as the Christian school charges only minimal fees. This means he does not have to take out loans to pay for his children’s education.

New church amid persecution A Barnabas-funded church-planting couple in Kazakhstan have started a small but resilient congregation in the city they moved to.

After just one year, 25 converts from Islam come together for weekly Sunday worship.

As an unregistered church, they face many problems. The government had warned the public against Christian house groups in televised campaigns in the previous year, providing a designated phone number for reporting suspected Christian activities.

The congregation was previously able to worship in a registered congregation’s building. But after a police raid, they were banned from meeting there any longer.

Thanks to their pastor’s patient discipling, all this oppression has not deterred the church members from witnessing to non-believers.

Converts enriched by training Sixty converts from Islam in Burundi found hearing each other’s testimonies during Barnabas-funded workshops especially encouraging.

Sharing their experiences helped them know that as converts they can stand strong, even when facing violence and rejection from their Muslim families and communities.

The five-day training sessions, held last year in three north-western provinces of Burundi, provided them with the opportunity to build up friendships and explore the Scriptures further.

Barnabas Fund paid for 50% of the couple’s living costs for nine months.

Barnabas Fund pays for the teachers’ salaries as well as the school’s books and equipment

NZ$38,167 for construction of Christian school NZ$2,534 for school’s yearly costs Project reference 41-893

The new converts enjoy meeting together on Sunday

NZ$5,980 for pastor support Project reference 00-478

The participants enjoyed getting to know each other

NZ$8,166 for training new converts Project reference: 67-682

Compassion in Action

Barnabas Aid January/February 2015 5

Growing up in safety Lifted up out of financial mire Timely food revives youngsters While waiting for the food truck to arrive at their church in faminestricken western Kenya, some of the children were lying on the ground because of their weakness and hunger.

But the youngsters already looked more revived after drinking the milk packets handed out to them during the distribution. And the 16kg of maize, 3.3kg of beans, cooking oil and table salt that each of the 2,000 Christian families received from Barnabas Fund helped them survive the drought.

Our partner said, “The Christians were very happy, giving glory to God”.

Barnabas Fund has greatly alleviated the financial struggles of 100 Christian widows in Sri Lanka by providing them with training and tools to start up small businesses.

Now their children have enough to eat and are going back to school.

The widows lost their husbands in the violent civil war, during which many of their children were also forced to drop out of school. After the war ended in 2009, the families were left in great financial distress. Sadly, many times village leaders and government officers rejected them from getting assistance because of their faith.

The training in bookkeeping, advertising and other small-business skills has helped the widows to start successful businesses producing and selling chilli powder, rearing livestock, sewing, and other areas.

“I feel safe and love to sing songs to Jesus,” said San Da Weh about her life at a Barnabas-funded Christian children’s home.

“When I lived in Burma, my mother stepped on a landmine [and died],” San Da recalls. “I remember that day so well, because the Burmese soldiers came, and we needed to run. We all panicked and fled into different directions.”

At the home, San Da and many of the other 104 children from the abused Christian-majority Karen people are experiencing God’s healing from past horrific events in Burma (Myanmar) during daily Bible studies and worship times.

The fresh and abundant food and loving care from the five members of staff, all paid for by Barnabas Fund, are also immensely improving their lives.

Christian children drink milk provided by Barnabas Fund

This widow in Sri Lanka now runs a grocery shop

A visiting partner was struck by how healthy and alert the children looked

NZ$91,963 for famine relief

NZ$48,168 for small businesses

NZ$10,702 for children’s home

Project reference 25-608

Project reference 85-1063

Project reference 75-821

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Work in progress on a church building for a needy Bangladeshi congregation

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A displaced Iraqi Christian boy holds a pack of hygiene articles

The congregation in Bangladesh feels a new sense of unity now that they can all worship together in their church building

Compassion in Action

Barnabas Aid January/February 2015 7

bringing hope, transforming lives God no stranger to suffering

1

A Christian grandmother in Syria, who is receiving regular aid from Barnabas Fund, told her pastor what is helping her deal with the enormous loss she has endured: she is comforted knowing that her God is no stranger to suffering.

Just five months earlier her three young grandchildren were still living safely with their parents Bassam and Noha in Mhardeh, one of Syria’s last unviolated Christian towns. The civil war was causing the family to struggle financially, but they were just managing to make ends meet.

But then jihadist groups attacked the town with mortar bombs and killed Bassam, the children’s father.

Overcome with grief and in need of help to provide for the family, his wife Noha turned to her church. Through the church, her family started receiving regular support from Barnabas Fund.

Tragically, the family’s suffering did not end there. In August last year, fighters from the al-Nusra Front, which is linked to al-Qaeda, launched a full-blown attack on Mhardeh, bombing it with artillery. At the time of writing, the Christian town is still under siege.

displaced by IS, providing over NZ$2.7 million in aid from June to December 2014. And these past months, we provided them with warm clothes, heaters and fuel to help them survive the winter cold. We are also providing a fully equipped and insulated tented village. Grants sent to Syria between 1 January and 1 October 2014 totalled over NZ$3.3 million .

NZ$3,284,560 for Christians in Syria NZ$2,664,487 for Christians in Iraq Project reference: 00-1032 Syria, 20-246 Iraq basic needs, 20-1200 Iraq tented village

Camp transforms families

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and even Muslim families – about godly family relationships.

Barnabas Fund also paid for camps for three other groups of Christians: teenagers, mothers-in-law and single mothers.

NZ$8,405 for four Christian camps Project reference: 00-113 (Convert Care Fund)

Worshipping with heart and soul

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A new church building in rural Bangladesh, erected with help from Barnabas Fund, has brought the congregation a precious place of worship ­­and has improved many relationships.

Ten Christian couples, all converts from Islam, acquired a fresh understanding of Christian family life at a Barnabas-funded camp in Central Asia last year. Three days at the camp revolutionised their home situations.

Our local partner wrote that the 85 Christians living in the village – all members of the church – feel that they are now communicating better with one another and that there is a sense of unity.

Although they had accepted Jesus, many participants had unwittingly continued in their Muslim customs and mind-sets, which created tension in the families.

Besides using the church for a host of Christian activities – such as family and women’s prayer meetings, Sunday school and worship sessions – the congregation also hosts community activities in the building such as pre-school classes, vaccination programmes and government schemes. This has improved relations with the community.

A few weeks into the blockade, while Noha was out buying bread for the family, a rocket landed near her. A piece of metal hit her head, wounding her gravely. She was rushed to the hospital, but after 18 hours in intensive care, she passed away.

As unregistered home churches are forbidden to gather together openly, it is always a struggle for leaders to find opportunities to foster a better understanding. So the retreat in the countryside – far away from the eyes of the police – provided a unique and precious time for teaching.

The grandmother is now taking care of the orphaned children, the oldest of whom is six years old. She asked the pastor to send a message of gratitude to all who are alleviating the suffering of her fellow Christians in Syria.

The ten couples, who had gathered together from home churches all over the country, learnt about God’s plan for families, the value of marriage, the roles of husbands and wives, budgeting and conflict resolution.

Barnabas Fund continues to help tens of thousands of Christians in Syria and Iraq. We are helping Iraqi Christians

Afterwards, they felt so empowered by what they had learnt that they started teaching other Christian families –

Before the construction, the Christians, who are mainly impoverished fishermen, met together in front of each other’s houses. And in the rainy season they could not meet.

The partner added, “People are very happy and they are worshipping with their heart and soul.”

NZ$6,755 for church building Project reference: 00-637 (Church Building Fund)

Newsdesk

Barnabas Aid January/February 2015 8

Meriam Ibrahim’s lawyers to challenge Sudanese apostasy law Sudan

Lawyers in Sudan representing Meriam Ibrahim, the Christian mother whose death sentence for apostasy was overturned in June 2014, intend to take her case to the country’s Constitutional Court.

Meriam’s lawyers will challenge the constitutionality of convictions for apostasy (leaving Islam), a crime that originates from the country’s main source of legislation, Islamic sharia law. Criminalising apostasy contradicts Article 38 of Sudan’s constitution, which states that “no person shall be coerced to adopt such faith, that he/she does not believe in.”

If the Constitutional Court were to decide that penalising apostasy is unconstitutional, this could possibly open the way to full freedom of religion for Sudanese Muslims who wish to change their religion.

If the Constitutional Court were to decide that penalising apostasy is unconstitutional, this could possibly open the way to full freedom of religion Since taking Meriam’s case, lawyer Mohaned Mustafa and his colleagues have been threatened by Muslim extremists and intimidated

by Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Services.

Meriam Ibrahim received the death sentence for apostasy in May 2014 after she refused to renounce her Christian faith. Despite having always been a practising Christian, under sharia law Meriam is viewed as having been born a Muslim because her estranged father was a Muslim. She is now living in the United States and is launching a campaign against religious persecution with the aim of supporting others imprisoned for their faith.

Many Christians have been displaced by violence wreaked by Boko Haram in Cameroon and Nigeria

Twenty-six Christians die in Boko Haram attacks Cameroon

At least 26 Christians were killed by the Islamist group Boko Haram in several raids in northern Cameroon in September.

Seventeen believers were killed in assaults that took place on Tourou and Ladamang villages, near the Nigerian border, on 21 September.

A Christian worker, the son of a pastor and 15 other Christians were among 40 civilians who died. Eight churches have been unable to re-open for worship at the time of writing, and displaced believers who escaped the attack have been sheltering in Mayo Moskota district, where conditions are difficult and resources insufficient.

At least nine Christians, among other civilians, were killed in an earlier attack in mid-September on Tourou village and the surrounding

area. One church building was burned down, two others were looted and five believers’ homes were set on fire.

Boko Haram has increasingly been attacking north Cameroonian villages as well as towns and villages in Nigeria, where the group is predominantly based. It is estimated that the militants have abducted over 2,000 people, including boys and girls, and since January 2014 have killed more than 5,100 people.

Attacks on villages occur almost every day; 300 villages have been burned in Taraba State alone. In the summer of 2014, the terrorist group declared a caliphate (Islamic state under sharia law) covering around 25 towns in north-east Nigeria, which has resulted in the severe persecution of believers.

Pastor attacked by masked men Sri Lanka

A Christian pastor has suffered repeated persecution by Buddhist extremists. On 7 September, a mob of approximately 80 people surrounded the pastor’s church in Batticaloa District during a Sunday worship service. The assailants threatened to beat up the pastor unless he stopped the service immediately.

This attack followed an earlier incident on 31 August in which eight

masked men assaulted the pastor, his family and another Christian with nail-studded wooden clubs, cricket stumps and iron rods as they returned home from visiting a Christian neighbour. The pastor’s 15 year-old son was able to break away from the attackers and inform police. The attackers fled when police arrived; they have not been brought to justice.

In Brief

Barnabas Aid January/February 2015 9

IS destroy Armenian Genocide memorial church Syria

Prime Minister makes freedom of religion pledge Nepal

On 6 October the Prime Minister of Nepal, Sushil Koirala, pledged to uphold religious freedom in the country’s long-awaited constitution. He made the assurance when addressing Muslims in the Hindu-majority country. This is a particularly welcome move for Christians as the new constitution, which is currently under discussion, contains a proposed “anticonversion” clause that could limit their freedom to evangelise.

Holy Martyrs Church before it was destroyed by IS militants last year (Ashnag, Wikimedia Commons) After seizing the city of Deir al-Zour in mid-September, IS (Islamic State) militants laid mines around Holy Martyrs Church and blasted the important site. The church, which opened in 1991, marks the trek made by hundreds of thousands of Armenians and Assyrians to the city after they were expelled from their homes under the Ottoman Empire a century ago. The remains of many victims of the genocide were buried in the church compound.

Progress made to overturn ban on non-Hindu evangelists India

In a positive move for believers, the Bilaspur High Court in India has been persuaded by Christian organisations to oppose a ban that prevents non-Hindu missionaries from entering villages in Bastar district. Christians in Bastar, Chhattisgarh state, are currently prohibited from taking part in nonHindu religious activities following a resolution passed in May 2014.

Displaced Christians return home to find homes looted

Police raid homes in search of religious literature UZBEKISTAN

MALI

Believers have begun returning to their communities in northern Mali after they were driven from their homes in 2012 when Islamists took over the region. Many churches have been looted and desecrated, and the cities of Timbuktu and Gao were left with no churches intact. Properties and vehicles belonging to Christians were also damaged.

French troops liberated Mali’s north in February 2013 , and civilian rule was re-established. This has enabled the displaced Christians, many of whom had been living in difficult conditions in Bamako, to make the journey home.

Six Christians released following arrest after worship service Laos

It can be costly to own religious literature in Uzbekistan Christians in Uzbekistan have been subject to numerous raids by police, incurring extortionate fines if they are found to be keeping religious literature at home. On 5 September, Artur Alpayev was fined 50 times the minimum monthly wage in Uzbekistan for storing religious literature at his home in Navoi.

Christian literature, including Bibles, is banned from being stored anywhere apart from licensed church buildings and is liable to confiscation by the authorities.

Six Christians detained after a worship meeting, including a threeyear-old girl, were freed on 3 October.

It was reported that Pastor Sompong Supatto, who was arrested with them, remained in custody, handcuffed and held in leg stocks.

The believers had been held in custody since 28 September, when the Boukham village chief, security officials and police officers arrived at Pastor Sompong’s home and arrested the Christians, who were having lunch following a worship service. A week before the arrests, officials in Boukham, which is in Savannakhet province, had announced that Christians were no longer allowed to meet for worship.

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Barnabas Aid January/February 2015 10

Behind the Headlines

Image Source: creationc, freeimages

Court confirms death sentence

for Christian blasphemy victim Aasia Bibi

Pakistan

T

he f ut ure of Christian mother Aasia Bibi hangs in the balance after the Lahore High Court rejected her appeal against the death sentence for “blasphemy” on 16 October 2014. Aasia was given 30 days to appeal the ruling; her lawyers said they would take her case to Pakistan’s Supreme Court.

Aasia has been languishing on death row, waiting for her original appeal to be heard, since she was convicted in November 2010 of making derogatory remarks about Muhammad. The appeal hearing was postponed five times before it finally took place.

Christian lawyers present at the proceedings reported that the court appeared to be under pressure from Islamic extremists who attended the

two prominent Pakistani politicians who spoke out on her behalf were murdered hearing. Islamists have long been calling for the death penalty to be immediately carried out; one Islamic leader has put a price on Aasia’s head, and two prominent Pakistani politicians who spoke out on her behalf were murdered in 2011.

Aasia, a farm worker from Punjab, was falsely accused of blasphemy in 2009. The accusation apparently arose after a heated discussion with Muslim women in her village who attacked her Christian beliefs.

Analysiss

Digging deeper on Pakistan’s “blasphemy” laws Aasia was convicted under section 295-C of Pakistan’s penal code, which prescribes the death penalty (now treated as mandatory) for insulting Muhammad. This law and section 295-B, which carries a sentence of life imprisonment for desecrating the Quran, have caused much suffering for innocent, falsely-accused Christians and others in Muslim-majority Pakistan.

Before the 1980s, blasphemy carried only a two-year sentence, and only a handful of cases were brought. But since 1986, when section 295-C was introduced, at least 1335 people have been accused of blasphemy, 187 of them Christians. Seventeen are currently on death row, including five Christians.

The “blasphemy laws” have created an atmosphere of extreme vulnerability among Christians. Although members of all communities are vulnerable to false accusations made to settle personal scores, as members of a despised minority Christians are particularly at risk.

Although no-one accused of blasphemy has been executed, 53 accused people have been extra-judicially murdered since 1997. Even though blasphemy is not a hudud crime (those that Muslims believe have punishments laid down

by Allah himself), and the Hanafi school of sharia law dominant in Pakistan prescribes no punishment for a non-Muslim who blasphemes, some extremist Muslims see it as their duty to kill those who are accused of blasphemy, even if the courts have cleared them.

Therefore, an accusation of blasphemy can effectively mean a death sentence, or at best a life-long state of vulnerability, even for those found innocent.

Enraged, violent Muslim mobs may also force whole Christian communities to flee their homes following an accusation against a believer.

There seems little earthly hope that the blasphemy laws will be made more lenient in the near future . A 2004 procedural reform stating that no police officer with a rank lower than superintendent can investigate 295-C cases is often ignored. Those who oppose the laws in Pakistan are at risk of being threatened or murdered. And in a disturbing move towards greater severity, the Federal Shariat Court (FSC) in early 2014 demanded the option of life imprisonment for those convicted under section 295-C be formally removed.

Although it remains enshrined in law, the option of life imprisonment has not been implemented since the FSC first demanded its removal in 1991.

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DAWA The Islamic Strategy for Reshaping the Modern World

1 an Introduction to Dawa Patrick Sookhdeo Over 5,000 Britons are converting to Islam every year. But the impact of Islam in the early 21st century goes far beyond numbers, for it is visibly permeating societies across the globe, even those where Muslims are few. It is affecting the attitudes, behaviour, beliefs and even the vocabulary of non-Muslims as well as the structures of society. Why and how is this happening?

In a series of pull-out supplements based on his latest book, Dawa: The Islamic Strategy for Reshaping the Modern World, Dr Patrick Sookhdeo explains how Islam’s original missionary outreach strategy, dawa, is being applied today across the globe, the Islamist theology and ideology that undergird it, and the process of worldwide Islamisation.

This first, introductory instalment looks at some features of dawa, its role during the history of Islam and how it is organised today.

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Barnabas Aid January/February 2015 ii

Some features of dawa

Dawa based on Quran, hadith and what Muhammad did

Islam is a missionary religion, and its followers are required to spread their faith to non-Muslims and persuade them to convert to Islam. Islamic theology teaches that all Muslims must engage in Islamic outreach or mission, known as dawa. The Arabic term dawa, meaning a call or invitation (to Islam), is used more than a dozen times in the Quran and is understood by Muslims as a divine command.

One such verse proclaims: Invite [all] to the way of thy Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching; and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious: for thy Lord knoweth best who have strayed from His Path and who receive guidance. (Q 16:125) Dawa is also based on references in Islam’s second most important written source, the hadith, as well as on the example of Muhammad, which is normative for Muslims, and on early Islamic history. Although not traditionally listed amongst the “pillars” of Islam (its five compulsory duties), many Muslim scholars stress that all Muslims must engage in dawa.

The scope of dawa

One aspect of dawa aims externally at non-Muslims who are invited to accept Islam as the true and final religion. A non-Muslim is converted when he/she recites the Islamic creed (shahada): “There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.” The other aspect of dawa is internal, targeting Muslims in order to strengthen and revive their faith and commitment.

While Islamic missionary methods bear some resemblance to Christian mission, there is an important difference. Most Christians are happy to see mission as a two-way process, with each faith having the freedom to propagate its message.

Muslims, however, see dawa as a one-way street; only Islam has the right to propagate itself. They reject Christian mission endeavours and seek to suppress them and smear them as aggressive, deceitful and evil.

But dawa is more than just the call to an individual to accept Islam. It includes the Quranic principle of “commanding of good and forbidding of wrong”, both in Islamic societies and in nonMuslim-majority contexts, as expressed in the verse:

Let there arise out of you a band of people inviting to all that is good, enjoining what is right, and forbidding what is wrong; they are the ones to attain felicity. (Q 3:104) This key Quranic verse is interpreted as meaning that the scope of dawa includes not only preaching the Islamic message but also establishing the rule of Islam and its law, sharia, thus changing the structures of society. This duty includes the domination of nonMuslim communities and nations so as to bring them under command of “the good”, which is Islam.

The crucial importance of sharia

An important goal of dawa is the subjugation of individuals and societies to the rule of sharia. Most Muslims see sharia as the divine law code that defines their faith and is their ultimate point of reference. In Islam there is no separation between state and religion. Sharia is therefore intended to govern every aspect of life including personal prayer, family, politics, economics, crime and punishment, slavery and war.

Under sharia the individual is subordinated to the community, non-Muslim communities are subordinated to the Islamic community and women are subordinated to men. The concept of individual rights is subordinated to the concept of duty within the sharia framework. Human rights, religious freedom, pluralism and tolerance are all limited by sharia.

In a 2003 case, the European Court of Human Rights stated that sharia law is incompatible with the fundamental principles of democracy as set forth in the European Convention on Human Rights. Many aspects of sharia also contradict the principles of human rights laid down in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The UDHR specifies that all humans are equal before the law while sharia discriminates against women, non-Muslims and Muslims accused of heresy. Sharia is designed to safeguard Islam, Muhammad and the Quran from any criticism, a principle that effectively stifles freedom of speech.

The history of dawa

Dawa under Muhammad

Muhammad saw Islam as the true religion and mission of all earlier prophets. He believed that their call had been limited to their own people but that his was universal. His mission as the final prophet was to repeat to the whole world this call and invitation

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Barnabas Aid January/February 2015 iii

(dawa) to Allah’s true religion of Islam. Muhammad wrote to various non-Muslim rulers inviting them to convert. The Byzantine Emperor Heraclius and the Persian Sassanid Emperor Chosroes were said to have refused his invitation, which, from a Muslim point of view, explains why Muslim forces invaded their lands after Muhammad’s death.

When Muhammad began his rule over the first Islamic state in Medina, new converts to Islam were incorporated into the umma (the Islamic nation; the whole body of Muslims worldwide). Those who refused to convert were treated in different ways according to their religion.

Jews and Christians who submitted to Islamic rule but did not convert to Islam were treated as conquered peoples (dhimmis) and allowed to follow their own religions, but under strict and humiliating conditions. Pagans, however, were fought and killed, their wives and children enslaved and their property taken by the Muslims.

Islamic expansion into sub-Saharan Africa was enabled by both war and trade. Islam was spread from North Africa southward to West Africa by Berber Muslim conquerors and traders moving along the Sahara caravan routes. Muslim Arab traders and conquerors arrived by sea from Yemen, Oman and the Hadramaut on the coasts of East Africa and spread Islam westwards.

India endured successive waves of Muslim invasion and conquest over many centuries.

Turco-Afghan Mongol slave soldier groups displaced from Central Asia consolidated Muslim rule in North India in intermittent invasions over a long period. The first largescale invasion was under the Arab Umayyads in the 7th and 8th centuries. The second wave of Muslim invasion occurred in the 11th century when Mahmud of Ghazni (997-1030) conducted 17 raids in northern India over the course of his 33-year reign. The Ghaznavids captured Lahore in 1030 and plundered north India. The third invasion was by Muhammad Ghuri (died 1206), who led his first expedition (to Multan and Gujarat) in 1175.

The Ghurids began a systematic conquest of India, taking Delhi where they founded the Delhi Sultanate (1206-1526). The fourth wave of Islamic invasion was by the Turkic-Mongol ruler Timurlane (1336-1405), who crossed the Indus River in 1398 and marched toward Delhi, ravaging the country as he went and massacring many of its Hindu inhabitants. The fifth wave of Islamic invasion was led by Babur, founder of the Mughal Empire, and continued under his successors. Some Hindus were forcibly converted to Islam following the main battles, while others gradually converted to Islam through the efforts of the mystical Sufi orders.

The Islamic state would issue a call (dawa) to its nonMuslim neighbours to submit to Islam

Dawa in early Islamic history

The rashidun caliphs (the first four rulers of the Muslims after Muhammad) followed Muhammad’s example and teaching. The Islamic state would issue a call (dawa) to its non-Muslim neighbours to submit to Islam, either by converting to Islam or (if they were of an eligible religion) by accepting humiliating dhimmi status. If they refused both options, war (jihad) was waged against them. Successful jihad then created the conditions in which conversion to Islam could easily take place, supported by newly created Islamic state institutions and unopposed by enemy forces. This practice was continued under the Umayyad caliphate (661-750) and the Abbasid caliphate (750-1258).

Dawa in later centuries

Following the great early military conquests that had opened up huge areas to Islamic dawa, the dissemination of Islam was often carried forward by Muslim traders and Sufis (followers of mystical Islam).

In Central Asia, Sufis were influential in converting Turkic tribes to Islam. The conversion of the Mongol conquerors to Islam in the Central Asian steppes (the Golden Horde) served as a catalyst for further conversions, as did the Ottoman conquests of Byzantium in Anatolia and the Balkans. Jihad and dawa thus continued hand in hand.

Islam was introduced into south-east Asia mainly by traders and Sufis who engaged in dawa.

In contrast to other regions, where Muslim states were founded by invading Muslim military elites, in south-east Asia existing dynasties converted to Islam, gradually converting the vast majority of the population to Islam.

The organisation of dawa

A personal or communal duty?

Muslim scholars over the centuries have argued about whether dawa is a communal duty (fard kifaya) or a personal duty (fard ayn). Some traditional Quran expositors saw dawa as a communal obligation, meaning that either the Islamic state or a selected group of scholarly Muslims undertook to do dawa on behalf of all Muslims. The late Sheikh Abdul Azeez ibn Abdullah ibn Baaz, who was Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, argued that the obligation of dawa is both a collective duty of the Muslim community

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Barnabas Aid January/February 2015 iv

and a personal duty of each individual Muslim.

Most contemporary dawa activists stress that it is a personal duty incumbent on every Muslim.

According to Rashid Rida (1865-1935), the command to perform dawa implies establishing a special association of Muslims chosen to be professional missionaries. These must be suitable individuals possessing special skills and knowledge including knowledge of the Quran and sunna. They must also know the culture, history, geography and psychology as well as the political and social affairs, religion and legal system of the non-Muslim people they aim at converting. Utilising their profound knowledge of the habits and territory of non-Muslims, he argued, was the method the early Muslims had used to conquer other nations.

Institutionalisation

In the early 1970s many conferences were held and many new organisations created to encourage dawa.

Particularly significant was a conference held in Mecca in 1975 by the Muslim World League (MWL), which proposed a total reorganisation of international dawa activities. As a result, many more institutions and organisations specialising in dawa were founded.

All over the world there is now an extensive network of dawa organisations drawn from all streams of Islam, which is seeking to win converts and to make societies and states more Islamic. Dawa organisations join forces to create larger cooperative alliances, supported by various governments and intergovernmental Islamic bodies. Funding generally comes from the oil-rich Arab world and is therefore plentiful.

Especially influential among these organisations are Saudi-based and Saudi-funded international umbrella groups such as the Muslim World League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC, formerly the Organisation of the Islamic Conference). Some of the dawa organisations have studied the methods of Christian missionaries and replicated all that seemed effective while adding their own methods.

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)

The OIC is a coalition of 57 member states that sees itself as “the collective voice of the Muslim world”. It is very influential in the United Nations and in world politics.

In its summit meetings, the OIC has emphasised the need to strengthen and systematise the work of dawa in the world. Amongst its recommendations has been the establishment of educational and cultural centres to propagate the Arabic language and Islamic culture, as part of intensive dawa efforts that use all modern methods of propagating Islam, appropriately contextualised for various societies. Another recommendation was the creation of institutes to train da‘ees (Islamic missionaries) who would be sent to all corners of the globe. The OIC has overseen the setting up of structures that coordinate the many institutions working in the field of dawa.

National governments

The Islamic concept of non-separation between religion and state means that governments of Muslimmajority nations see dawa as part of their foreign policy and are willing to create and finance dawa organisations and institutions on a large scale, using their considerable resources and influence. Dawa is thus part of the way Muslim-majority states relate to non-Muslim states in their efforts to Islamise the world. Saudi Arabia for example has spent tens of billions of dollars on global dawa, funding Islamic outreach activities, the building of mosques and Islamic centres, and the distribution of millions of Qurans and other Muslim literature in many languages. It also maintains special outreach centres in Saudi Arabia that work to convert non-Muslim residents (mainly expatriate workers) to Islam.

Dawa education and training

Many academic dawa institutions have been founded, as dawa has now become an academic subject. In addition to formal and institutional training, many self-help handbooks for the training of da‘ees have been published. These stress the moral characteristics necessary for the missionary and provide instruction on the practical and contextual skills needed for reaching out to non-Muslims.

To order this book, visit www.barnabasfund.org/shop.

Alternatively, please contact your nearest Barnabas Fund office (addresses below).

Barnabas fund hope and aid for the persecuted church New Zealand PO Box 27 6018, Manukau City, Auckland, 2241 Telephone (09) 280 4385 or 0800 008 805 Email office@barnabasfund.org.nz Australia PO Box 3527 Loganholme QLD 4129 Telephone (07) 3806 1076 or 1300 365799 Fax (07) 3806 4076 Email bfaustralia@barnabasfund.org

UK 9 Priory Row, Coventry CV1 5EX Telephone 024 7623 1923 Fax 024 7683 4718 From outside the UK Telephone +44 24 7623 1923 Fax +44 24 7683 4718 Email info@barnabasfund.org Registered Charity Number 1092935 Company Registered in England Number 4029536

Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland PO Box 354, Bangor, BT20 9EQ Telephone 028 91 455 246 or 07867 854604 Email ireland@barnabasfund.org USA 6731 Curran St, McLean, VA 22101 Telephone (703) 288-1681 or toll-free 1-866-936-2525 Fax (703) 288-1682 Email usa@barnabasaid.org

International Headquarters 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 Scotland Barnabas Fund Scotland, PO Box 2084, Livingston, EH54 0EZ Telephone 07722 484 742 Email scotland@barnabasfund.org

Advocacy

Barnabas Aid January/February 2015 11

Letter-writing campaign for persecuted Christians in the Middle East What do I say?

Here is a model for you to use as a guide. Your letter will be most effective, however, if you express your concern for Christians in the Middle East in your own words.

Dear [your elected representative’s name here], I am writing to you concerning the situation of persecuted Christians and other minorities in northern Iraq and in Syria. As Islamists seize territory and target members of religious minorities, these Christian communities are facing extinction. I am asking you to advocate on their behalf.

In New Zealand, you can write to your MP at: Parliament Office Private Bag 18888 Parliament Buildings Wellington 6160

Please bring this concern before the appropriate department, and encourage the government to: ●● intervene actively to protect Christians and other minorities in Iraq from ethnic-religious cleansing, persecution and terror;

Writing to your elected representative

●● allow Christian refugees into our country and take active steps to promote humanitarian asylum and a positive welcome; ●● support and give humanitarian aid to Christians in the Middle East and to provide assistance to those fleeing as refugees.

T

he future of the Church in Iraq is greatly under threat.

Up to 200,000 Christians were displaced last summer by the Islamist group Islamic State (IS), which has seized swathes of territory in northern Iraq. Forced to flee from IS militants, many Christians left with nothing but the clothes on their backs; others were robbed of their possessions at IS checkpoints.

Homeless, helpless and starving, Christians in Iraq are facing potential extinction.

Christians in Syria are also the targets of violence by Islamist militants.

Church leaders and church buildings have been particularly targeted, and many Christians have been displaced from their homes. For example, IS controls Hassake, once a main centre of Christianity in northern Syria. The group is imposing sharia law and is committed to extinguishing the Christian presence in the area.

The UN and many national governments have condemned what they describe as the “systematic persecution” of Christians. As a part of our Save the Christians of the Middle East campaign, Barnabas Fund is asking supporters to write to their elected representatives to urge them to intervene on behalf of our suffering brothers and sisters.

Here are a few tips for writing to your elected representative:

A displaced Christian family in northern Iraq

Please respond to this letter letting me know what you have done to promote measures to support persecuted Christians in the Middle East. Thank you for your time. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours sincerely, [Your name here] You can find your local MP’s details at the following website: www.parliament.nz/en-nz/mpp/mps/current

●● Be polite, brief and clear. ●● Letters are much more effective than emails. ●● Urge your representative to advocate on behalf of suffering Christians in Iraq and Syria. ●● Ask them to bring your concerns before the appropriate governmental department and to reply to you telling you what he or she has done.

Please let us know their response.

Please remember to submit your Save the Christians of the Middle East petition forms by 30 April 2015. Forms can be ordered from your nearest Barnabas office or downloaded from www.barnabasfund.org/MEpetition.

Peshawar church bombing survivors...

This is the floor where one of the bombers detonated his bomb

Tragedy struck the congregation of All Saints Church in Peshawar, Pakistan, on 22 September 2013, when Pakistani Taliban suicide bombers blew themselves up in the church’s courtyard, killing at least 96 Christians and injuring hundreds more.

Soon after, Barnabas Fund began helping 50 to 60 affected Christian families. How are they now, 16 months later?

Project Update

“I can continue my education”

“[Before the bombing] I had no worries about my daily expenses because my parents were doing everything for me,” said Adrees, who lost both parents that day.

“After their martyrdom, I was worried, but God blessed me through Barnabas Fund, which made a big difference in my life.”

“Barnabas Fund established a grocery store for me. The business is running very well,” the teenager added. He now lives with his aunt and has continued his education.

“He knows my pain and He answers my prayers”

“I have a strong faith in Jesus, because He said, ‘I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you (John 14:18),’” explained Christina.

“This verse encouraged me that the Lord is always with me.”

Christina’s husband was martyred and her four-year-old daughter Mehak injured on 22 September. Barnabas Fund paid for Mehak’s school fees and for tailoring items, which are providing an income for Christina and her three young children.

Barnabas Aid January/February 2015 13

“You are like angels who helped Peshawar victims a lot”

“[In the months after] when there was no job and I was bed-bound, it was difficult to pay my children’s school fees,” remembered Jonathan, who was severely injured. “The help from Barnabas Fund was a blessing to continue my children’s education.

They are getting over the loss they experienced last year.”

“Psalm 91 encouraged me in all my difficulties,” Jonathan said. “I am back on my job now.

We are doing well.”

“We are meeting our daily needs”

“Psalm 23 encouraged me”

“We are doing well. I am not working because my wife Khalida is still bedridden,” said Sajad. At the time of the attack his wife was eight months pregnant. Tragically, the ball bearings that the bombs were packed with hit Khalida and killed her unborn baby boy. Soon after, Sajad lost his job because he had to stay at home to take care of his wife. An operation on Khalida’s legs in July 2014 has made a difference, although more treatment is needed.

Sajad said that during the family’s trials, he has been encouraged by the words of Psalm 23. “Thank you for the help,” he added. Barnabas Fund paid for his daughter’s school fees, uniform, books and bag.

“God never lets His people down”

“Thanks to God and the help of Barnabas Fund, I could start a beauty parlour and earn my daily bread,” said 19-year-old Mehvish, who lost her mother. As their father had died years earlier, Mehvish and her four siblings were orphaned. She added, “It was very sad and we felt that everything from our lives was gone.”

“But now after a year with the help and prayers of believers we are living a normal life. I am doing good business. I can also pay the school fees of my younger brother and sister. They are doing well in their classes.”

“Even if our worldly provider is no longer with us, our spiritual Provider is always with us,” said Shakeela. Besides losing her husband, Shakeela was injured by ball bearings from the bombs that lodged into her legs, leaving her unable to work.

Barnabas Fund paid for her four children’s college and school fees that year and included the family in its feeding programme.

Shakeela added, “Our faith was strengthened because tests are a part of life, and God never lets His people down.”

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Grace upon Grace

The Lord is doing amazing things in the lives of persecuted Christians, despite the difficulties they face. Here are just a few of the ways in which He has blessed our brothers and sisters recently.

An amazing outpouring of support for Iraqi Christians

Thanks to our supporters, Barnabas can make sure Iraqi Christians are not left out in the cold In June last year, Barnabas Fund reported that Christians were being forced to flee Mosul, Iraq,

by Islamic State militants who had seized the city. As the plight of our displaced brothers and sisters in Iraq intensified, we stepped in to provide them with urgent practical support.

In order to make this possible we reached out to you, our supporters, for the funds we needed.

By the grace of God, your generous response enabled us to send over NZ$2,664,218 between June and December 2014 to help Christians in Iraq.

Thank you so much to all who have given for reaching out to our brothers and sisters at their time of desperate need. Barnabas has used your donations to provide thousands of Iraqi Christians with food parcels, water, hygiene kits, blankets, mattresses, warm clothes and heaters.

You made it possible for us to commit confidently to looking after 20,000 needy Iraqi Christians between November and February, the four coldest months of winter.

Thanks to your open-hearted giving, we are also purchasing a camp of state of-the-art British army tents that were no longer required in Afghanistan. They are being transported to Dohuk, in Iraqi Kurdistan, to create a village where approximately 1,000 displaced Christians will be sheltered in safety, warmth and comfort. It will be called Sawra village, from the

Assyrian word for “hope”.

One Iraqi Christian man, who underwent a terrifying flight with his family from their home in Mosul, said: “We were in a very hard condition when we arrived with children, elderly and women… The aid we received from Barnabas Fund was a great help and support to us to meet our basic needs.”

And Araas Yaqoub, another displaced Iraqi Christian, told a Barnabas partner organisation in Iraq, “The help we received had a great impact to ease our suffering after we left our house in the Nineveh plain.”

With your continued help and God’s help, we will continue to assist our Iraqi brothers and sisters with their ongoing needs in 2105.

We are providing accommodation for displaced Christians in state-of-theart tents

Grace

Barnabas Aid January/February 2015 15

Abducted, forcibly married and converted to Islam – but clinging to the cross Zeba Masih’s story is one of unshakeable faith in the face of intense pressure. Zeba, a 15-year-old Pakistani Christian, was abducted two years ago from outside her school by radical Muslim men from her village.

Like hundreds of other non-Muslim girls in Pakistan each year, she was

She bravely took them to court and made a public stand for her faith forcibly converted to Islam and married to her captor against her will.

By the grace of God, Zeba was able to escape from her captors. Even as her abductors threatened Zeba and her family, she bravely took them to court and made a public stand for her faith.

“I didn’t want to be a Muslim,” Zeba told the BBC. “I like my religion.

But I didn’t know if I could still

Christian women and girls in Pakistan are at risk of abduction, forced conversion to Islam and forced marriage be a Christian. My uncle told me that if I said in court that I had not converted willingly, then I could stay a Christian.” And so, even though it can be very difficult for Christians in Pakistan to obtain justice, Zeba stood up for her faith in court.

This was a very brave stand to take. The captured daughters of non-Muslim families in Pakistan are often forced to say that they converted willingly, out of fear for their safety and that of their families.

Life has not been easy for Zeba since her court appearance. Because of the threats against her family, she has been forced to go into hiding in her sister’s village. There is no school there, so her days are filled with chores instead.

But despite all she has gone through, Zeba finds comfort in reading her Bible. Her steadfast faith and God-given strength in the face of a horrifying ordeal are truly inspirational.

Blessings making headlines We’re giving thanks that… ●● Four of the around 270 mainly Christian schoolgirls kidnapped in Chibok, Nigeria by Islamist militants managed to escape a Boko Haram camp in Cameroon. The girls, who were helped to escape by a fellow prisoner, walked west for three weeks before finally arriving – exhausted and traumatised but safe – in a village in Nigeria. ●● At least seven Christian villages in Iraq were freed from Islamic State militants in September.

The villages, which are located north-east of the city of Mosul, were liberated following a push by Iraqi and Kurdish forces.

●● Indonesia’s new president is a political outsider known for his tolerance. Joko Widodo, who was inaugurated in October 2014, has previously appointed and worked with Christian politicians. His election has been welcomed by the country’s believers.

●● The Prime Minister of Nepal has promised that religious freedom will be protected in the country’s long-debated new constitution.

Sushil Koirala made the assurance during a speech in October 2014, helping to assuage fears that a proposed “anti-conversion” clause could lead to increased oppression.

The kidnapping of around 270 schoolgirls in Nigeria caused an international outcry

Suffering and its Blessings J “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15)

Rev. Ian McNaughton Chairman of the Board of Barnabas Fund UK

ob was a godly man with a godly way of life; he “feared God and shunned evil” (1:8b) and like Noah, he had found grace in the eyes of the Lord (Gen. 6:8), and through the process of his trials he was helped with the doctrine of God and the difficult problem of human suffering.

Life is hard for everyone, but God’s people need always to remember that they live in a fallen world and that suffering is part of the fallen order in the universe. It is a reality just as much as are love and joy. It was not so in the Garden of Eden, but it is so now and will continue to be so until this present order is ended and the new order begun (Rom. 8:20-23).

Biblical Reflection ...

God’s plan

Suffering is intended to bring us to God through Jesus Christ and to connect us through repentance and faith into a prayer life with God. Perhaps this is why so many of Christ Jesus’ greatest saints have suffered more than most. This is not cruel, as some would contend, but mercy and grace calculated to deal with the problems of indwelling sin, i.e. pride, stubbornness, foolishness, hardness of heart, etc.

Through his trials and pains, Job found what the renewed inner man longs for: a clearer view of God and deeper fellowship with Him. Believers often ask God to draw them closer to Him, or to humble them (not recommended), or to take them deeper in the Christian life, only to complain when He does so! Job now knows what he could not have known except in the furnace of sufferings, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:5-6). Job’s religious experience reminds the people of God that God intends them to “move on with Him” and not remain as babes in Christ (Eph. 4:15). The finite minds of men are not able to understand all the ways of God. However, believing in the greatness and goodness of God led to a greater spiritual awareness for Job. This was a major solution to Job’s anger and lack of inner peace, and it continued the work of sanctification in his life.

It is only the Christian who can really know what is going on through suffering. Suffering is not useless, but rather it is the indication of the love of Christ to us (Heb. 12:5-6).

The sufferings of Christ

Was Job experiencing the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings?

This is a truth spoken about in the New Testament; “For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ” (2 Cor.1:5). This suffering is ordained because of the believer’s mystical union with Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:3, 4, 6). To suffer on behalf of Christ is to share in reproach, rejection, hostility, hatred, martyrdom for His sake. Christians can and do suffer reproach today, simply because they are “in Christ.” Thus believers are to look to Christ for sanctification as well as for justification. Suffering is part of God’s plan for His people, and their mystical union with Christ makes it inevitable.

Suffering for God’s glory

Suffering is something God’s people are to be happy about!

This is counter-intuitive; however, Peter makes this plain: “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you… but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy” (1 Peter 4:12-13).

All that the people of God go through, put up with and endure on earth comes to them in fellowship with their Saviour and is to be a matter of joyfulness. C. H. Spurgeon says, “Trials do not come by chance (1 Peter 1:6-7). Trials are sent because God judges them necessary (James 1:2). Trials are weighed out with discretion and are given by cautious wisdom. “Trials” is a beautiful name for affliction.”¹ These fiery trials work for our good, “being much more precious than gold”, and through them God is refining and perfecting His people in order that they will bring Him “praise, honour, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:7).

Barnabas Aid January/February 2015 17

Suffering and comfort

Christian suffering never comes alone, as it is always accompanied by the comforts of Christ (2 Cor. 1:3-5). Our Lord Jesus Christ’s suffering preceded His glorification, and so it will be in the life of the children of God. The servant is not greater than his Master. Burdens are made lighter when God’s children accept His help, co-operate in their sanctification and let the peace of God fill their souls. The children of God are called to trust in the living God no matter what they go

The children of God are called to trust in the living God no matter what they go through or why they suffer through or why they suffer. “Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.” (Ps. 62:8). This has always been the best advice. Trusting God sometimes is common; trusting him most times is often achieved; but trusting God at all times is the victory that can be ours through Jesus.

The big “why?”

When it comes to suffering there are some things we just do not understand, so perhaps to ask the question, “Why me?” is the most common response. Surely, it would be better to ask, “What now?” Perhaps things have changed, and we must take stock. To ask, “What now?” breaks the cycle of anger, depression and self-pity that Job felt. “What now?” ushers in new hope and shifts our focus from ourselves to God and what He is up to in our lives. This approach to our sufferings will help God’s people persevere to the end and not turn back (Lam. 3:22-23).

¹Beside Still Waters, ed. R.H. Clarke, (Thomas Nelson, 1999), p.337.

Scripture references taken from the New King James Version.

Ian McNaughton’s new book Opening Up Job looks in more detail at Job’s spiritual journey through tragic bereavement and illness. It helps us to find answers to the questions he wrestled with and the questions many of us wrestle with today: Why do bad things happen to good people? Why me? Can suffering serve any good purpose?

For more details, turn to the back cover of this magazine.

...

In Touch

Barnabas Aid January/February 2015 18

Running the good race: An encouraging letter from a Barnabas Fund supporter

Fun in the Son with Barnabas Fund!

Hi,

For all of you who are attending either of this year’s New Wine summer camps, don’t forget to stop by the Barnabas Fund resource table.

Our very own Stephanie Dole will be at both the Warkwork camp from 7-11 January and the Kapiti Coast camp from 15-19 January.

Although we know that you will be busy with all of the exciting activities planned for this year’s camps, Stephanie would love to connect with you, so if you have some free time or if you need a moment to catch your breath, feel free to pop over and say hello.

My name is Vivvy Devonshire. Back in the Septe mber/ October issue of Barnabas Aid, I had stated that I was going to do a 5 kilometre walk for Barnabas Fund to support the suffering Church.

I have a disability which requires me to use a walke r. I did this walk along with Stephanie Dole of Barnabas Fund who lovingly came along to support me. On 29 October I walked 5.5 kilometres, which took me around 2.5 hours. I was able to raise a total of $1.285.00, which will be used to help displaced Iraqi Christians who are living in makeshift tents during the cold winter months due to Islam ic State violence.

While I was raising funds, I was extremely blesse d by the children of my church, St David’s in the Field, as they managed to raise a total of $50 by tithing their pocket money. I feel so honored to belong to a church where young children are giving their pocket money to suppo rt those who suffer for the name of the Lord Jesus.

I would like to thank everyone who has encouraged me through their prayers and support, as I underwent this

Changing circumstances?

task.

if you are moving There is certainly a lot to do your name. But house, retiring or changing , please do keep if your circumstances change details have al us in the loop. If your person r hea from you. changed, we would love to

In Christ, Vivvy Devonshire

Vivvy wit h the chil dren from St David’s walk Vivvy on her 5 km

in the Fie ld

nie Dole A selfie with Stepha

YES, I WOULD LIKE TO HELP THE PERSECUTED CHURCH Title................ Full Name.................................................................................................

www.barnabasfund.org/nz

Address............................................................................................................................. ...........................................................................................................................................

Postcode........................... Telephone..............................................................................

Email..............................................................................

MAG 01/15

I would like to give a gift of $....................................................... * I enclose cash or a cheque payable to “Barnabas Fund”.

Please debit my Card No. Expiry date

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Name on card ............................................................................................

Please use my gift: Tax deductible

For NZ Office NON tax deductible For wherever the need is greatest (General Fund) For Overseas Project No.....................................................................

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I would like to give regularly through my bank. Please send me an Automatic Payment bank form.

I will donate through internet banking (Barnabas Fund Account 02 0562 0046270 97)

ALTERNATIVE GIFT CARD If you would like to make a donation as an alternative gift for a friend or relative, we can supply you with an attractive “Thank you” card, which you can send to the person for whom you have made the donation. Please fill in the details as you would like them to appear on the card.

Please send me information about being a Barnabas Fund church representative.

Please add me to your email news service.

“Dear ...................................................... A gift of $............................. has been received on your behalf

A

from..............................................................................................................

This gift will assist Christians who are persecuted for their faith. With many thanks on behalf of the persecuted Church”

B

Tick here if you do not want the amount to be stated on the card

Please return form to Barnabas Fund

Tick here if you do wish details about the project to be included on the card Please state your preferred card choice (see right): .......... If you would like to have

the card sent directly to the recipient, or if you would prefer to receive blank cards and fill them out yourself, please contact your national office (address details on back cover).

If you would like more cards, please photocopy the form or attach a separate piece of paper with the details for extra cards and send it with your donation. You can also call your nearest Barnabas Fund office with the details and pay by credit/debit card over the phone.

Barnabas Fund is a Company registered in England Number 4029536. NZ Charities Commission Reg. No CC37773 *We reserve the right to use designated gifts for another project if the one identified is sufficiently funded.

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NZ, P.O. Box 27 6018, Manukau City, Auckland, 2241 Phone 09 280 4385 or visit our website at www.barnabasfund.org/nz

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Barnabas Fund will not give your address or email to anyone else.

The Essential Guide for Helping Refugees Includes Status Determination, Training and Advocacy Edited by Patrick Sookhdeo

$15

(P&P not in clu

ded)

Many Christians are forced by persecution to become refugees, and they face immense challenges. This manual is designed to help churches to provide support and guidance for them during the application process, by outlining the processes and providing recommendations for action. It can be used as both a reference tool and a training resource.

ISBN: 978-0-9916145-2-3 | No. of pages: 128 | Paperback | RRP: $20

Gifts to bless each day through 2015

$5

(includes

P&P)

My Devotional Journal

Heroes of Our Faith

Patrick Sookhdeo

Patrick Sookhdeo

My Devotional Journal will encourage your own spiritual walk, while journeying with Christians, suffering for their faith in Jesus Christ and yet experiencing the joy of remaining faithful to Him.

Begin the new year spending time each day in the company of these great heroes of our faith and allow God to touch your life, as He touched and transformed theirs for His glory.

ISBN: 9780982521823 No. of pages: 96 Hardback RRP: $16.95

ISBN: 9780982521892 No. of pages: 386 Hardback RRP: $22

To order these books, visit www.barnabasfund.org/shop. Alternatively, please contact your nearest Barnabas Fund office (addresses on inside front cover).

barnabasfund.org

$20 (includes

P&P)