Barnabas aid January February 2016

barnabasaid

barnabasfund.org

BARNABAS FUND - AID AGENCY FOR THE PERSECUTED CHURCH

January/February 2016

ISLAM IN AFRICA

HALAL

Islamists - a rising force

KENYA

The challenges of al-Shabaab militants

Implications for all

Living under

threat and standing strong

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 Australia PO BOX 3527, LOGANHOLME, QLD 4129 Telephone (07) 3806 1076 or 1300 365 799 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 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

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

to respond to the growing challenge of Islam to Church, society and mission in their own countries

(Matthew 25:40)

You may contact Barnabas Fund at the following addresses 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 New Zealand PO Box 27 6018, Manukau City, Auckland, 2241 Telephone (09) 280 4385 or 0800 008 805 Email office@barnabasfund.org.nz Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland PO Box 354, Bangor, BT20 9EQ Telephone 028 91 455 246 or 07875 539003 Email ireland@barnabasfund.org

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

Thank you for your understanding.

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 International e.V. Account number: 415 600 Bank: Evang Kreditgenossenschaft Stuttgart IBAN: DE89520604100000415600 BIC: GENODEF1EK1

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

To donate by credit card please visit the website or phone BFA office on 1300 365 799 Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations are taken from the New International Version®.

Front cover: Christians in Niger

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 2016

Singapore Cheques in Singapore dollars payable to “Barnabas Fund” may be sent to: The Old Rectory, River Street, Pewsey, Wiltshire SN9 5DB, UK

© Barnabas Fund 2016. For permission to reproduce articles from this magazine, please contact the International Headquarters address above.

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

Editorial

Contents

4 Compassion in Action

A hope and a future for 100 Sri Lankan war widows

A smouldering wick He will not snuff out

J

esus said, “I am the light of the world.” (John 8:12) and, as John tells us, the darkness has not overcome that light (John 1:5).

In the darkness, a light is shining and this is joined by another and another, until there is a full blaze of light and the darkness is dispelled (Isaiah 60:1-3).

The light shines, it flickers, it is gone. Darkness.

The Gospel brings light and life. There are times and places where it burns bright, others where it flickers, and others where it is put out. But still it shines.

In the history of the Church, the Gospel advance saw whole areas conquered for Christ. Yet sometimes, for example Africa in the centuries after the advent of Islam, Christianity was reduced in places to a flickering flame and elsewhere completely extinguished.

At the start of a new year, in a global situation full of threat and menace, the light continues to shine. There are more converts from Islam to Christianity than ever before. But the widespread persecution of the Church, particularly in the Middle East, has left its light flickering and on the verge of being extinguished.

When we contemplate what is happening today, it is easy to be filled with despair. But when we look back in history and we see how God has kept His Church despite intense persecution and death, we can have hope. For the Church is like a bird. When her nest is threatened or destroyed, she flies to another branch and there establishes herself again. Today our nest in the West is safe and secure from storm and wind, but tomorrow – what?

In this new year we put our faith and hope in God, knowing that He is the light which no one can extinguish and we are the birds nestling in the hollow of His hand. Through faith, we are kept by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time (1 Peter 1:5).

There are more converts from Islam to Christianity than ever before.

Islam in Africa

The rise of Islam in subSaharan Africa

8 Pull-out

(Isaiah 42:3)

8

Dawa

Islamisation in various contexts

11

Newsdesk

The halal food industry – profitability, but at what cost?

11 14

Interview Francis Omondi

16

Grace upon Grace

Kenyan Christians suffer because al-Shabaab champions Muslim grievances

Stories of God’s mercies amidst persecution

18 18

In Touch

Australia’s financial summary for year ended 30 June 2015

how barnabas is helping Fellowship for Albanian pastors “Before coming to the pastoral care retreat I felt lonely, but now I have friends.” - Pastor Ergest Biti Albanian church leaders and their families work in the context of a 60% Muslim-majority nation, often isolated from each other. Leading a church and working in a full-time job to make ends meet can take its toll on pastors.

With finance from Barnabas Fund, short retreats were organised at various locations to enable 81 Albanian pastors and their families to meet together to encourage each other, pray for one another, and relax away from the normal daily pressures of church ministry and full-time work. Pastors returned to their communities refreshed and reenvisioned, with a new sense of being supported and cared for .

Training “tentmakers” in Senegal Wherever the apostle Paul travelled, he earned his keep as a tentmaker so as not to be a burden on the communities of believers he founded or visited. So “tentmaking” is a term often applied to missionaries today who hold down a job to earn their keep in the place where they are called to go and share the Gospel.

Supported by Barnabas Fund with contributions from local churches, six Christian couples underwent nine months’ intensive training for tentmakers to plant churches and open up new mission fields in their homeland, Senegal. The course was followed by three months in the mission field. Each husband already has a trade which enables an income to be generated as they settle in their new communities.

Pastors and their families relax on a Pastoral Care Retreat

The couples’ graduation day

$127 per place on Albanian Pastoral Care Retreat

$9,560 for Senegalese Church Planters

Project reference 63-1211

Project reference 45-862

Swahili New Testaments for new believers in Tanzania Barnabas Fund supports the establishing and strengthening of churches by providing Bibles and other Christian literature in many countries and to persecuted Christians around the world, translated into believers’ own language. There is excitement in Tanzania that many new churches are being planted in the Mount Kilimanjaro area, and together with project partners we have provided for 100,000 New Testaments to be printed in Swahili for distribution to new believers so they can have the Scriptures available to them in their own tongue.

The Lord’s Prayer in Swahili

$333,000 for 100,000 Swahili New Testaments Project reference 51-1241

Strengthened and encouraged. This is what we often hear from Christians who have received support from Barnabas Fund. Thank you for making this possible. The following pages are just a few examples of the many ways we have recently helped persecuted and pressurised Christians.

Support for martyrs’ dependants When the beheading of 21 Christians

by IS on a beach in Libya in February 2015 was publicised via social media and the world’s news agencies, Barnabas Fund supporters were moved to help those left behind. The men had been resident in Libya as contract workers, supporting their families in Egypt who were then left not only grieving for their loved ones, but also facing a future deprived of the financial support they depended on.

Supporters contacted Barnabas and made donations intended to help the men’s dependants. Barnabas is now providing monthly help to the widows of the 13 married men and the elderly parents of the other eight.

Libya’s coastline was the scene of the 21 beheadings Photo: joepyrek / CC BY-SA 2.0

$1,770 a month for Egyptian martyrs’ dependants Project reference 11-1240

North Korean bakers beat the floods Remarkably, production at a bakery supported by Barnabas Fund in North Korea was maintained despite equipment being damaged by flood waters. Barnabas has sent additional funding to replace or repair equipment when the flood has receded.

The 16 bakery workers produce bread rolls to feed 2,500 schoolchildren every day.

The heavy rains in August 2015 - 250mm (9.5 inches) fell over a weekend - caused floods in the northeast of the country and forced 11,000 people from their homes. Many farms were flooded, which will increase the hardships endured both by farmers and the general population in a country which already struggles desperately to feed its people.

Houses in North Korea destroyed in floods

$4,160 for repairs to North Korean bakery Project reference 86-642

Barnabas Aid January/February 2016 5

Education for the marginalised Marwari Seven-year-old Raj is an example to his community. His parents say he loves singing worship songs and enjoys telling Bible stories to his Hindu neighbours. His proud father hopes that he will one day become a pastor and preach to his tribe, the Marwari, who live in the Punjab and Sindh provinces of Pakistan.

Raj attends Bethel Primary School, which Barnabas Fund supports.

Education in this community can be problematic because tribal life is traditionally nomadic and the need to travel long distances for work means that schooling can be sporadic.

The school currently provides basic education and spiritual development for 65 boys and 27 girls, mainly from the poverty-stricken Marwari.

Raj is one of the 92 Christian Marwari children getting an education thanks to Barnabas Fund

$2,290 a year to support Bethel School Project reference 41-893

1

Volunteers help Eritrean women in using computers

3

Business start-up kits being distributed following graduation

2

�Mary� with her cow and calf

Compassion in Action

Barnabas Aid January/February 2016 7

bringing hope, transforming lives Practical help for Eritrean women refugees

1

Barnabas helps Eritrean Christians fleeing to Israel. Eritrea features among the worst places on earth for Christians to live. As many as 3,000 people, mainly Christians, are imprisoned in Eritrea on religious grounds. Eritrean Christians fleeing oppression and persecution in their homeland often endure abuse and violence at the hands of human traffickers and bandits, and the risks of drowning at sea or perishing on land.

Their escape route is often through Sudan, then Libya or Egypt and on to their destination in Israel or Europe.

In Tel Aviv, we support a centre for Christian Eritrean women that offers health services, employment advice, educational opportunities, assistance with applications for refugee status and the chance to learn basic vocational skills and languages.

Christian women find hope for the future as well as healing for the past.

One of the most successful pieces of training that the centre delivers is computer literacy. In the past year, 40 women have taken either basic or advanced computing courses.

The basic course enables women who have never used a computer before to navigate the web and use programmes such as Skype.

Women can use social media to keep in touch with family and friends who may have been scattered around the world.

For this reason, the centre offers open computer access on some evenings, with volunteers being available to help with using the computers.

$16,500 for a year’s rent for Eritrean Women’s Centre in Israel Project reference 12-954 (Eritrean Christian Refugees)

A “hope and a future” for this war widow

2

“There was no future for me, I thought ... ” - “Mary”, a Sri Lankan war widow.

The civil war in Sri Lanka lasted for 25 years, and took a terrible toll on the population. “Mary” lost her husband and daughter as they fled the fighting near their village in the north of the country. Her daughter‘s husband lost a leg, as did her grandson; years in a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) were very tough for this bereft family, “My sadness continued,” she states, simply. Similar hardships were endured by many after the decadeslong civil war came to an end.

Eventually, the family was resettled in the district of Mullaitivu. When the local church she attended was collecting the names of war widows, her name was added to the list. All told, Barnabas is currently supporting business training for 100 Christian war widows, bringing the total to 231.

When the opportunity arose for Barnabas-funded training in business planning and income generation, Mary decided to take it up. It has changed her outlook on life. In her own words: “It has been six months now since I got this great opportunity. The cows are healthy and I have been able to look after them well. I am able to collect milk, enough for my family, as well as to sell to others. The average profit I earn for the month is 6,000 rupees (about $58). The cows, looking after them, tending to them, involving in this activity have helped me gain a sense of normalcy in my life.”

$44,700 for training 100 Christian war widows in Sri Lanka Project reference 85-1063

Starting a new life with new skills

3

In western Uganda, Barnabas Fund financed the vocational training of 300 Christian believers from Muslim backgrounds. They learned new skills in tailoring, knitting, hairdressing and beauty. Additionally, 60 were trained in livestock management and bee-keeping.

On completion of their training, some of these men and women received “start-up kits” that provided them with the means to establish their own businesses in their chosen vocation.

This training has completely turned lives around. Safina, a mother of five, tells us, “I got [a] chance to be trained in vocational skills and [when I] graduated I was given [a] tailoring machine which I used and from the profits also started a shop.” Safina’s business really took off, which has enabled her to pay school fees for her children. Also, she says happily, “My husband has returned home.”

After conversion, many Muslim-background believers find themselves economically disadvantaged through discrimination, often being dismissed by Muslim employers and therefore unable to support themselves. In addition to this, converts are likely to be rejected by their Muslim relatives. By providing these men and women with such skills and resources, they have become self-sufficient and able to support themselves and their children in difficult circumstances.

$2,900 to train new Ugandan believers in business skills Project reference 56-934

Is l am in Africa

Islam and the slave trade

I

slam spread swiftly and violently into Africa soon after Muhammad’s death in 632 AD. Egypt was first to be conquered, with the rest of North Africa falling to Islam soon after. By the thirteenth century Islam had spread across the whole of North Africa and most of West and much of East Africa, especially along the coastlines.

Muslim population in Africa

Today, about half of Africa’s one billion population is Muslim. One in every three Muslims in the world is African. Twenty-two countries out of 54 African countries have majority Muslim populations while only 14 African countries have Islamic populations of less than 15%. Muslim-majority countries are mainly in the northern and western regions of Africa while Christian-majority countries occupy the south, centre and east. But Islam is spreading into these Christian areas at a worrying rate.

Fastest growing religion in the world

A 2011 Pew Research Center study found that Islam is the fastest growing religion on earth, expected to grow by 73%, from 1.6 billion to almost 2.8 billion by 2050. The largest anticipated growth is in sub-Saharan Africa.

There has been a steady increase there since 1990 when the growth rate passed the non-Muslim rate for the first time. Currently the Muslim population in sub-Saharan Africa is about 15.5% of the world’s Muslim population and is expected to rise to 24.3% by 2050. Numerically this is an increase from about 250 million to 670 million – a rise of 170% in subSaharan Muslims.

High fertility rates

The Pew Study states, “this significant projected growth is largely due to the young age and high fertility rate of Muslims relative to other religious groups”. The fertility rates of all sub-Saharan Africans is relatively high as against the global average of 2.5 children per woman, for example, Christians have on average 4.5 children. But the rate for Muslims is higher. Muslim women in sub-Saharan Africa have an average of 5.6 children. In some sub-Saharan countries the rates are even higher: Niger 6.9; Nigeria 6.5, Mali 6.1, Rwanda 6.0 and Malawi 6.0.

Increase in persecution and violence

There is a real and urgent need to strengthen the Church in this region and to increase efforts to reach out to Muslims and share the Christian faith with them. But the Church must be prepared for increased persecution and violence where fundamentalist Islam advances and expands in the continent.

A female Bantu slave in Mogadishu in 1882 Slavery is accepted in the Quran, hadith and sharia. Some historians estimate that well over 10 million Africans have been captured by Muslim slave traders during the past 14 centuries. Some were sold to European slave traders while many others were used to serve the Muslim armies. More than two-thirds of these were women and were used as sex slaves for Muslim soldiers. Even after the slave trade was outlawed

by Britain in 1807 another two million Africans were enslaved by Muslim traders. A report released by the Saudi Information Agency in 2003 stated “slavery is part of Islam” and those who oppose it are “ignorant, not scholars”.

Although slavery is illegal almost everywhere today the Muslim slave trade in Africa continues.

There are still hundreds of thousands of African slaves in Mauritania, Sudan and the Arabian Peninsula.

The Organisation for Islamic Cooperation

Islam is more than a religion; it is a socio-political way of life. The Organisation for Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the second largest international organisation in the world after the United Nations consisting of 57 states, is both a religious and political body. It was established in 1969 as the Organisation of the Islamic Conference in reaction to an attack on the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.

It is “the collective voice of the Muslim world and ensuring to safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of peace and harmony among various people of the world”.

The OIC states that it represents the umma (the worldwide Muslim community), about 1.5 billion Muslims. It is represented at both the United Nations and the European Union.

African member states of the OIC

Twenty seven of the 57 OIC member countries are African and most of these are sub-Saharan. Another five sub-Saharan African states have attempted to join the OIC or have applications pending. Some member countries such as Uganda (12%); Gabon (5%) and Togo (14%) have small Muslim populations. The Central African Republic, with a Muslim population of just 10%, is an observer country. Member states are considered to be Islamic countries by the organisation, even if they have minority Muslim populations. It seems strange that a country such as South Africa, with a Muslim population of about 1.5%, would apply to be part of the OIC. However, it is extremely beneficial for countries to be members because they enjoy trade concessions and access to developmental aid and grants. In exchange for these benefits they are expected to be sympathetic to advancing Islamic causes and agendas internationally.

There is a real and urgent need to strengthen the church in this region and to increase efforts to reach out to Muslims The OIC and dawa in Africa

The OIC makes no secret that one of its key functions is dawa, seeing it as “a fundamental pillar in the field of joint Islamic action”. There is a dedicated missions department called the Committee for the Coordination of Joint Islamic Action in the Field of Dawa, responsible for the spread of Islam and Islamic interests across the world. OIC relief and humanitarian undertakings are also coordinated by the dawa department.

Many of these dawa activities have occurred within sub-Saharan Africa, especially as part of socio, economic and relief efforts.

The OIC is directly involved in many seemingly humanitarian activities and even offers to manage relief and economic development initiatives on behalf of states and international organisations across Africa. This is part of a very intentional dawa effort to spread Islam through the building of mosques and other missionary efforts. This is aligned with the 2008 ten-year OIC dawa strategy which promotes the setting up “small projects made up of mosque + school + clinic – in some remote villages and isolated clusters especially in Africa”. And so relief is not without its cost. This is a clear warning to Christians in countries across the world to be aware of alliances, memberships and agreements their governments are involved in.

Projected change in global population Number of people, 2010-2050, in billions

2.92

Christians

2.76 Muslims

2.17

1.6

% of global population, 2010-2050

31.4% Christians 31.4%

29.7% Muslims 23.2%

OIC Member States

Member States Observing Members

Islam in Africa

African land and global food shortages

As world population increases, the World Bank estimates that the in the next few decades the world must increase its food production by 50%. Africa has about 25% of the world’s arable land yet less than 10% is cultivated and much of that is poorly farmed, making Africa attractive to non-African countries aiming to improve cultivation and yields across the continent.

Around 50 million hectares of land has been acquired in sub-Saharan Africa in the last few years, much of it by Muslim countries or groups. Agricultural concessions are an alternative to land purchase and both transactions are usually in exchange for infrastructure development, oil or aid.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Abu Dhabi, are the biggest buyers. The Saudi government earmarked $5 billion to provide loans at preferential rates to Saudi companies who wanted to invest in countries with strong agricultural potential land to grow biofuel crops. These companies have acquired millions of hectares in Africa and their acquisitions have had catastrophic consequences on local populations. For example, Qatar bought 40,000 hectares of land along the Kenyan coast, displacing approximately 150,000 small-scale farmers.

Barnabas Aid January/February 2016 10

How Barnabas Fund is helping The global Christian community must stand in solidarity with the African Church to strengthen it, encourage it and in some cases preserve it. Barnabas helps with a wide range of projects to support African Christians spiritually and materially. They include: • • • • • • • • •

famine relief infrastructure church building discipleship training leadership training medical clinics and drug supplies support for converts education support for victims of violence

Africa has about 25% of the world’s arable land yet less than 10% is cultivated and much of that is poorly farmed According to the Dubai Chamber of commerce, Gulf states have funded about 10% of Africa’s development projects in the past decade, mostly in the form of grants, loans and investments from the UAE and Saudi Arabia. This rate is not far from the investments of the US or China.

The OIC also has a strategy of land acquisition, which it claims is aimed at confronting the food crisis. Saudi corporation Foras International Investment Company, which is acquiring land at a furious rate, released the following statement about a project to acquire 700,000 hectares of land in West Africa for growing rice. “This is among targets set by the Organisation of the Islamic Conference and the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry to confront the food shortage crisis, increase agricultural output and improve rice productivity.” This added investment and food production does little to improve the lives and food security of Africans; most food and fuel produce is exported out of the county.

e relief sent famin ater s a h s a b er. Barna e clean w dren in Nig cted wells to provid il h c n a ti s Chri nstru er and co aid to Nig

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DAWA The Islamic Strategy for Reshaping the Modern World

6 Islamisation in various contexts

...

Pull-out Islamisation in Muslimminority contexts Drive to Islamise host societies

Islam finds it difficult to function as a minority as it has an inherent theological drive for expansion and domination. Proponents of Islamisation argue that Muslim minorities should become a majority first in their enclaves, then in the entire nation, leading to Islam dominating the host state.

Islamisation is achieved by the gradual introduction of Islamic concepts and practices in all spheres. This includes a stream of demands for more rights, special privileges and exceptions. As a result, non-Muslim states are gradually being transformed into societies in which Islam takes a privileged place not granted to other faith communities.

Problem of political correctness and multiculturalism

Politically correct multiculturalism threatens to dissolve the glue that has bound society together in Western states. It belittles the majority’s norms based on the Judeo-Christian tradition while accepting all other cultures and values as equally good and true, so that none can be criticised.

Western politicians, welfare agencies and police fear being labelled Islamophobic if they interfere to protect individuals against abuse by Muslims. In the UK, women who suffer abuse within a Muslim family often fail to obtain help from police and welfare agencies. In Rotherham decades of rampant child abuse by Muslim men of Pakistani background were ignored by local authorities, police and social workers because of fears of being termed Islamophobic.

The Islamisation of knowledge

This new Islamist concept involves the transformation of all academic disciplines by integrating all human knowledge into one Islamic system based on Quran and sunna. This is seen as a “new dawa” for replacing the West as the dominant force in the world.

Proponents of the new project assert that Western knowledge is controlled by secular concepts opposed to Islam, based on a rejection of God and revelation.

It must, they believe, be Islamised and placed under submission to tawhid (divine unity), the core doctrine of Islam. This sees the universe as a unified, harmonious whole, in which Allah’s rule is imposed on nature, society and knowledge. Humans must submit to this model of reality.

Islamisation of knowledge scholars argue that postmodern secular Western civilisation is in a deep crisis of meaninglessness and despair caused by its moral relativism, excessive individualism and rejection of God. The West is thus ripe for an Islamic transformation.

The project includes funding of academic chairs and of Muslim academics as lecturers at universities in non-Muslim states, so as to Islamise academia and influence students. It also includes a massive publication programme and the establishment of Islamic universities, research institutions and thinktanks in non-Muslim states.

Barnabas Aid January/February 2016 ii

Sanitising Islam

In their dawa efforts Islamists aim at presenting Islam to non-Muslims in the best possible light by sanitising and rewriting texts dealing with Islam.

They try to influence schools and university curricula and gain input into the process of rewriting textbooks.

Islam is presented as a religion of peace, ignoring its incessant wars of expansion over many centuries and atrocities committed in its name. The new textbooks are also silent about the inferior position of women and non-Muslims in sharia-ruled Islamic societies. Critics are discredited as Islamophobes and Orientalists, effectively silencing any protests.

Control of educational systems

Islamists aim to control educational systems at all levels. In primary schools in the UK they have requested changes that include the wearing of hijab (head covering) and jilbab (whole body covering); prayer rooms for Muslim pupils and the exemption of Muslim pupils from dance, drama and other expressive arts. Similar demands are now widespread in various other non-Muslim majority states, and authorities have accepted many of them.

In 2014 allegations surfaced in Birmingham about the takeover of governing bodies of secular statefunded schools by Islamists. Tactics included the harassment of non-Muslim heads, bullying of female staff and the segregation of boys and girls in lessons.

A growing proportion of senior staff positions in Western academic departments of Islamic and Middle Eastern studies are being filled by Islamist lecturers from Muslim states, funded by oil-rich Muslim-majority countries. A 2009 report revealed that the largest amount of foreign funding to British universities came from Arab and Islamic sources.

Evidence shows that this funding has led to unofficial censorship in UK universities, as staff appear reluctant to criticise donors. Increasingly, attitudes and curricula are shaped by the wishes of the funders rather than by academic factors. These processes are replicated in Europe, the US and other countries.

Western universities have also become centres of Islamist student radicalism. Islamic student societies are dominated by Islamists who radicalise Muslim students, teach separation from non-Muslims and encourage female students to wear the hijab and the jilbab. A 2005 British report revealed that many Muslim students have imbibed terrorist ideas while at university. Several were involved in the 7 July 2005 London bombings and later terrorist attempts.

Individuals in positions of power and influence

In many non-Muslim-majority states, Islamists are gradually gaining influential positions in state and society. They appoint fellow Islamists to high positions, accelerating the process of Islamisation.

In the West, Islamists have been appointed as special advisors on Islam to senior politicians, thus exerting undue influence on policy. In several subSaharan African countries, Islamists have gained political office by mobilising the Muslim community

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Barnabas Aid January/February 2016 iii

to vote them into powerful posts. Many African countries have disproportionately high numbers of Muslims in senior positions in government, judiciary, education and the military.

Economic power aids Islamisation

Oil-rich Muslim-majority states view economic aid as an effective form of dawa extending the frontiers of Islam. Impoverished non-Muslim majority countries are inviting Islamic aid and investment on a massive scale. In sub-Saharan Africa, rich Muslims are investing heavily in property, land and businesses while Islamic states are buying vast amounts of crop-growing land and developing trade routes and infrastructure. Economic aid from rich Islamic states furthers Islamisation.

Several poorer Caribbean nations have accepted economic aid from Islamic states. Suriname in South America (14% Muslim) joined the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in 1996 and Guyana (8% Muslim) in 1998. The governments saw membership of the OIC as an opportunity for economic development and did not understand the OIC’s strategic agenda.¹ Both countries have been required to make changes benefitting only their Muslim minorities.

Mosque building

Mosques are important as focal points of dawa.

Mosque building in non-Muslim-majority states is an important tool of Islamisation. In the West it is a sign of the growing confidence of Muslim minorities.

The UK, Germany and France now have over 2,000 mosques each, an increase manifest in many other non-Muslim-majority states. Often dwarfing Christian churches, the imposing design of many mosques hints at a plan to dominate visible public space and attest to the superiority of Islam.

In sub-Saharan Africa, mosques are being built at intervals of a few kilometres along main roads and railways. In a purely Christian area of Burundi there are dozens of new mosques built within sight of each other along one particular stretch of road.

Islamisation in Muslimmajority contexts Islamists aim at replacing secular regimes with Islamic states under sharia. Some seek to further this goal by democratic means, while others engage in violence to hurry the process along.

Many Muslim-majority states had secular constitutions when they became independent in the mid-20th century, but under pressure from Islamists have shifted to a gradual process of Islamisation.

Most have declared Islam to be their state religion, and many have declared sharia to be the primary source of their legislative system.

Islamisation from below

Many Islamists realise that they cannot capture the state by force, and therefore attempt to subvert it by infiltration; aiming to change society and state from the bottom up. Islamists secretly establish themselves in

government, professional and civil society institutions at all levels. They also establish networks of charitable welfare organisations supported by donations from oil-rich states. They offer help which is usually better than anything the government provides and are less corrupt, making them popular. As a result, Islamists gain considerable power in civil society and in state institutions, accelerating the Islamisation process as the prelude to the capture of the state itself.

To protect its legitimacy, the non-Islamist government must prove it is more Islamic than the Islamists, a competition it cannot win. Changes introduced by governments in this competition move states to ever greater Islamisation.

Egypt

Egypt serves as a classic example of the process of Islamisation from below. Under Nasser’s presidency (1956-1970) it was a secular Arab socialist republic committed to limiting the power of Islam in the state. Sadat (1970-1981), manipulated Islam to gain legitimacy. He unshackled the Muslim Brotherhood² and accepted sharia as the main source of the legal system.

Under Mubarak (1981-2011), Islamists were blocked from full political participation but given freedom to act in civil society. Islamic values permeated all sectors of Egyptian society and Islamists gradually took control of Egypt’s schools, universities, the media, courtrooms, hospitals, clinics and trade unions. Islamists penetrated the public and state sectors and gained footholds in army, police and government ministries. Egyptian society was successfully Islamised in one generation. ●● Islamist charities Providing welfare was a vital part of the Islamisation process. The Muslim Brotherhood used its network of charitable organisations to create an alternative society that propagated its ideology. Its welfare provision included Islamic schools, Islamic clinics, economic institutions, social insurance and monthly payments to the poor. The Brotherhood’s slogan “Islam is the solution” certainly appealed to the impoverished beneficiaries. ●● Students’ associations Beginning in the mid-1970s, Islamist student associations began to dominate student unions on Egyptian campuses. As university infrastructure and services deteriorated, Islamist associations provided students with photocopied textbooks, low-cost lecture notes and aid with housing.

Islamists offered minibuses for transporting female students wearing Islamic dress. These services were thus manipulated to further the process of Islamisation. ●● Professional syndicates and unions By the early 1990s, the Muslim Brotherhood had gained control of most professional bodies in Egypt. These included the syndicates representing doctors, engineers, scientists, pharmacists and lawyers. They provided members with a variety of services and expanded the scope of Islamisation.

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Barnabas Aid January/February 2016 iv

●● Success of the Islamisation process The Islamisation from below process was so successful that long before the 2011 “Arab Spring” some observers argued that Egypt was more Islamised than Iran.

Islamisation from above

Governments, either under the influence of Islamists or to compete with them, can accelerate the Islamisation of state and society by changing the constitution and legal system to comply with sharia.

Here are some examples.

Pakistan

General Zia ul-Haq (1977-1988) initiated a systematic process of radical Islamisation. He introduced extensive reforms to constitution and law, making Islamist interpretations of Sunni Islam the state ideology and sharia the basis of its legal system.

Commissions were formed to Islamise the economy and education, and interest-free banking was introduced. The process of Islamisation was continued under President Nawaz Sharif, who passed the Enforcement of Shari‘ah Act in 1991.

Zia had added severe amendments to Pakistan’s Penal Code. Desecration of the Quran became punishable by life imprisonment, while defiling the name of Muhammad became punishable by death or life imprisonment. Non-Muslims are particularly vulnerable to false accusations under this law as there is a tendency for Muslim judges to give greater weight to the word of Muslim accusers, as laid down by sharia.

The state encouraged Islamist jihadi groups to fight in Kashmir and Afghanistan. Leaders of these groups gained virtual immunity from the law. Islamist militants have become increasingly powerful and are not content with a secondary role in national affairs. They have infiltrated state and army institutions and influenced a younger generation of military officers with Islamist and jihadi ideology.

Internal jihadi terrorism expanded as well.

Malaysia

Muslims comprise only 61% of Malaysia’s population but Malay Muslims are given a superior status as the original indigenous people of Malaysia (bumiputra, sons of the soil) thus enhancing the authority of Islam.

Islamist revivalist movements (known as dakwah,

i.e. dawa) emerged in the 1970s committed to the full Islamisation of Malaysia. The opposition Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) adopted the establishment of sharia as its official goal. The ruling party, United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), responded by trying to present itself as more Islamic and took steps to Islamise society through the creation of new institutions for Islamic studies and dawa and through the introduction of Islamic banking.

Sharia courts have jurisdiction over the personal lives of Muslims and operate alongside the civil system.

Two Malaysian states, Kelantan and Terengganu, have passed hudud³ laws, which impose sharia penalties such as amputation for theft or flogging for drinking alcohol. Both states have introduced the death penalty for apostasy from Islam, but cannot implement it because of federal law.

It is against the law in most states of Malaysia to write, speak or preach against Islam. It is almost impossible for non-Muslim religious groups to obtain land for places of worship, schools and cemeteries, and there are limits on the publication and distribution of Christian literature. Censorship is widespread and since 1971, some 1,517 books and other publications have been added to Malaysia’s banned list, including many Christian publications.

The Federal Territories Islamic Affairs Department (JAWI) acts as an Islamic religious police, imposing censorship and ensuring that Muslims comply with Islamic moral and dress codes in public and fast during Ramadan. Malaysia is in an advanced stage of transformation into an Islamic state.

1 The OIC is a coalition of 57 member states, both Muslimmajority and those where Muslims are in the minority. It sees itself as “the collective voice of the Muslim world”. It emphasises the need to strengthen and systematise the work of dawa in the world.

2 The Muslim Brotherhood is the first modern Islamist grassroots movement, founded in Egypt in 1928. It has been banned at various times and in 2013 was declared a terrorist organisation.

3 The Quran specifies six hudud offences and their punishments: theft (amputation of the hand), illicit sexual relations (death by stoning or one hundred lashes), making unproven accusations of illicit sex (eighty lashes), drinking intoxicants (eighty lashes), apostasy (death for men, death or imprisonment for women, but is not a hudud crime in all schools of sharia) , and highway robbery (death).

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

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Barnabas Aid January/February 2016 11

Behind the Headlines

The halal food industry profitability increases, but at what cost?

hALAL

H

alal food laws make up just one part of the system of sharia laws regarding what is halal (permitted) or haram (forbidden.) These designations encompass the whole of Islamic life, and include, for example, food products, finance and pharmaceuticals.

The term halal is most commonly heard in the context the Islamic methods of animal slaughter by slitting the throat, then letting the blood drain, whilst an Islamic prayer is spoken.

The halal market is estimated to be worth about $632 billion per year, 17% of the global food industry and issues around halal products arise in non-Muslim majority countries throughout the world.

For UK customers, the labelling of halal produce is not consistent. Whilst some supermarket chains label any meat that has been slaughtered using the Islamic process, lamb from New Zealand is mostly halal, yet is not labelled as such. The Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand (FIANZ) claims to supply 90% of meat exports as halal. It provides grants for dawa activities and in 2006 coordinated a lecture tour

by Dr Bilal Philips, who has since been banned from entering the UK. In restaurants too there is an inconsistent approach to making the consumer aware whether the meat they are eating is halal.

Some food outlets adopt the approach that by making all meat halal, they sidestep the more costly alternative of providing both halal and non-halal forms of meat, which complicates the food processing system. Halal food must be certified as such by an appropriate Islamic body, and the certification must be paid for by the wholesaler, who passes the cost to the retailer, who passes it on to the customer. So customers are unwittingly contributing to the work of Islamic organisations. These organisations may make donations to charities and others who may use it to fund dawa activities. Some may pass funds to Islamist groups. With this inconsistent approach to sourcing and labelling, non-Muslim consumers may be concerned that they are unwittingly buying halal products and thus funding militant Islamist organisations.

In South Africa the Muslim population is estimated to be 1.5%, with the majority, around 80%, being Christian, so there is only a small requirement for halal products. Despite this there has been a growth of the halal industry in recent years. The drive to please Muslim consumers and to avoid the necessity of producing two versions of the same product has caused conflict. In a bizarre example, in March 2012 the South African retailers Woolworths were forced to remove the halal certified symbol of a crescent from the packaging of some of its hot cross buns, on sale at Easter. Numerous complaints were received and an online campaign was organised by Christians to boycott the supermarket chain. It was reported that in future the store would carry two separate lines of the baked goods with and without the halal symbols.

Retailers are paying Islamic suppliers who may use Islamic banks and pass on donations to charities and others who may use it to fund dawa activities.

Some suppliers may pass funds to Islamist groups.

Whilst some Christians regard eating halal meat as a non-issue, noting that Paul’s teaching, amongst others, states “about food sacrificed to idols… food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.” (1 Corinthians 8:4-8), others may feel strongly that there are Biblical grounds for avoiding it. Without sufficient labelling people are unable to follow their consciences and do what they believe to be right. Amongst other non-Christian religions, Sikhs, for example are not allowed to eat halal food. But there is also a need to pause for thought and consider the wider impact of buying halal goods – whether it be food or other products. There is a need for informative labelling and availability of non-halal products so people are able to make a choice about what they buy.

Newsdesk

Barnabas Aid January/February 2016 12

Anti-Christian violence in Central African Republic creates carnage Central African Republic

Authorities tear down churches at the demand of Muslim hardliners Indonesia

Barnabas has provided aid for displaced Christians in CAR

Up to 200 people have been killed and their bodies thrown into wells after violent clashes in Bangui, capital of Central African Republic (CAR), a local Christian leader told Barnabas. The clashes erupted on 26 September when Muslim groups armed with automatic guns, grenades and machetes attacked a mainly Christian neighbourhood of the city, going from house to house, looting and burning buildings, and shooting and beheading innocent believers in an horrific display of violence.

Radical Muslims set fire to three churches in Aceh

The attacks were prompted by the discovery of a murdered Muslim motorcycle-taxi driver. Despite the fact that the killer and their motive are both unknown, local Muslims responded angrily, targeting the Christian population. The situation, said a Barnabas contact, is one of “total carnage” and “chaos”. “The scenes are surreal,” he said. Around 20,000 Christians fled their homes in terror and are living in camps for displaced people around the capital city.

Islamic State militants torture and execute Syria’s Christians Syria

In a video released by Islamic State (IS) in early October, three Christians who had been held hostage since February 2015 in north-eastern Syria, are shown kneeling and dressed in orange jumpsuits. The men state their names to the camera and declare, “I am a Nazarene [a Christian]”, before they are shot in the back of the head.

These men were among 253 Christians captured when IS raided their villages.

In the same video, IS threatens to kill the remaining hostages if their ransom demands are not met. Some of the

elderly hostages have been released at various points. A group of 37 (aged 50-80) were freed on 7 November and are being cared for by Barnabas Fund.

Approximately 38 Christians from Aleppo, Syria’s second city, are currently being held hostage, though several have been taken to Raqqa, “capital” of IS. Around 250 Christians were captured in the town of Qaryatain on 6 August, and in October IS also released a video showing the brutal beheading of a Christian man from South Sudan.

Authorities in Indonesia’s Aceh province tore down twelve churches in late October after Muslim hardliners protested against the area’s churches, arguing that they did not have the required permits and must be destroyed. Bowing to their demands, local authorities met with church leaders on 18 October and forced them to sign agreements to demolish ten church buildings, but before they could implement the order a mob, armed with axes, sticks and machetes, burned three churches to the ground on 13 October.

local authorities met with church leaders on 18 October and forced them to sign agreements to demolish ten church buildings Despite the initial statement capping the number at ten, authorities demolished twelve churches in all. A 2006 decree has made it extremely difficult for churches to gain permission to build, and authorities often cave in to pressure from Muslim extremists.

One church leader who watched the demolition of his church from afar said that he had applied for the required permit numerous times, but had been refused on every occasion.

In Brief

Barnabas Aid January/February 2016 13

Police demolish church after reneging on promise to protect Sudan

Sudanese authorities bulldozed a church building in Omdurman, Sudan’s largest city, on 21 October, claiming the land on which it was built had been allocated for development, despite the fact that the day before the church was demolished the State Governor had assured church leaders it would not be destroyed. Church leaders insist the authorities’ claims about the redevelopment of the land cannot be true because a mosque that was beside the church was left standing.

Churches attacked after assembly rejects Hindu nation proposal Nepal

Hindu radicals outside the constituent assembly building, calling for Nepal to be called a Hindu nation in the new constitution Members of the Hindu nationalist group Hindu Morcha Nepal are suspected to have been behind attacks against churches in Nepal’s easternmost Jhapa district on 14 September. Bombs exploded in two church buildings just hours after the country’s constituent assembly overwhelmingly rejected proposals to declare Nepal as a Hindu state in the new constitution. More bombs were planted in two other churches; one failed to explode and the other exploded at a police station to which it had been removed, seriously injuring three people.

Christians forced from their village because they would not renounce Christ

Seven churches burned to the ground Tanzania

India

Indian Christians face increasing violence, but Barnabas is providing practical aid Villagers in Sagarkatta, in India’s Jharkhand state, were ordered not to allow the village’s seven Christian families to use water from the village well or graze their animals on village pastures. According to the Evangelical Fellowship of India, “this decision was conveyed to the Christians at a village meeting called on August 28, 2015 by one Gomiya Biruwa”. The properties of the Christian families were then to be destroyed or seized, and their tribal certificates (which allow them benefits to help access to education and work) would be annulled, because they refused to renounce their Christian faith. Similar threats were repeated to Christian families in other villages in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh states.

Pastor stabbed and killed in family home Laos

Pastor Singkeaw Wongkongpheng was stabbed to death after five men broke into his home in Na-ang village, Luang Prabang province, in northern Laos, on 8 September. He asked the attackers if they were looking for money, but one of them responded saying he was a member of the secret police and had come only to kill the pastor. He shouted for help, but they stabbed him three times in the back, then fled.

Tanzanian church torched Three churches were torched on 22 September in Tanzania’s northwestern Kagera region, and four more were burned down the following week. A Tanazanian Christian leader told Barnabas how the local Muslim community had ordered the congregation of one of the churches to evacuate the building because they were disturbed by their singing. It was the third time the church had been attacked in the past two years, but police were reluctant to bring charges.

Pastor survives knife attack in his home Bangladesh

Three men pretending they wanted to learn about Christianity attacked 52-year-old Pastor Luke Sarker with a knife and attempted to slit his throat when they visited him in his home on 5 October in Bangladesh’s north-western Pabna district. The pastor’s wife and neighbours came to his rescue at the sound of his shouts, and the men fled the scene. Police believe the attackers are members of a Muslim extremist group.

To view our most current news scan this with your device

Interview Canon Francis Omondi

explains that Christians in Kenya are suffering because of an increase in radical Islam as al-Shabaab champions the grievances of Muslims against the government

Q: What religions are represented in Kenya?

A: Kenya has 80% Christians and about 20% Muslim.

Sometimes Muslims tell us that they are 30%. The challenge has been that the 80% have not been very active - many are nominal Christians. There are also some Hindus and some who say they are atheists or agnostics.

Q: I believe that relations between Christians and Muslims used to be good in Kenya. Has that changed?

A: Relationships between Christians and Muslims had not been that bad, but the emergence of the teachings of Salafi¹ put a wedge between Muslims and other people.

Many who had peaceful relations with others are now being considered as not true Muslims. So, wanting to be stronger Muslims, many have been building hostility 1 A fundamentalist form of Islam

towards the other, non-Islamic, communities.

With the emergence of terrorism people have been saying, “We didn’t know that Islam could be this violent.”

Q: Do ordinary Muslims and Christians still generally get on, or have Muslims been affected by the al-Shabaab ideology?

A: When al-Shabaab started operating, Muslims felt that their issues were now articulated. It was not violent at first. It came as a saviour wanting to champion the needs of Muslims. A number of Muslim scholars viewed this as dawa –propagating Islam and bringing more people to Islamic faith. Now that it has turned out that the agenda is violent many Muslims have begun to wonder, “Is this all there is in Islam?”

Today many who are converting to Islam are joining this fundamentalist, radical form, but I’ve seen many

Interview Sheikhs condemn it. Many of the religious leaders are distancing themselves from it and so are some Muslim people. But as long as al-Shabaab champions the needs of individual Muslims or the grievances of Muslim society many want to side with them.

Q: Are there any areas that are safer than others?

We thought Nairobi would be the safest, but that’s where al-Shabaab visited more attacks than anywhere else. They have attacked there to gain international publicity. They have also attacked areas where Muslims are a majority in

We thought Nairobi would be the safest, but that’s where al-Shabaab visited more attacks than anywhere else the coastal region, and the northern region, where Somalis are the majority. They have used the attacks to try to make the point that this is a Muslim area and Christians should not be there. This is in support of Muslims who feel they have been badly treated. For example, many Muslim people along the coast had suffered exploitation by successive governments and they have turned to alShabaab for support to force the government to take note of their plight.

Q: How frequent are attacks? We hear about some, such as the Westgate Shopping Centre and Garissa University, but are Christians subject to more low level attacks?

A: Al-Shabaab’s attacks have always been designed to grab news. They see low profile attacks as a waste because they don’t get so much publicity, but there have been some low profile ones on security people, and even Christian pastors.

There had been several attacks which culminated in the Garissa University attack in April (2015): the Mandera attack where they killed 37 quarry workers who were mainly Christians and in November the previous year al-Shabaab killed 28 teachers on a bus after letting the Muslims go. From 2011 until the Garissa attack there had been an attack almost every other month.

After Garissa, some Christians reacted positively, and I was spearheading that peaceful response to it: one of forgiveness and one of identifying those who want to stand with us. We called on Muslim leaders to condemn what was happening, challenging people to revisit their Islamic doctrine and telling them that this does not reflect their faith.

The challenge is now on the government to strengthen its security machineries because they have a duty to protect all Kenyans and to make sure that everybody is free to practise their religion as they wish.

Barnabas Aid January/February 2016 15

Q: How do you see the future for Kenya and its Christian population?

I’m afraid the violence may increase. Our government’s reaction to terror has been to isolate certain tribes, like Somalis. They are all seen as terrorists. For example, over 60 people in Garissa have disappeared and the local community is blaming the government. If this continues then the government’s problems with the Muslim community will always be visited on Christians; for al-Shabaab they have been the easy target. During attacks, the Christians are always asked, “Let your government know that we want them to withdraw from Somalia.” During the Garissa University attack, one of the militias was saying, “When your government learns not to invade our land, we will stop killing you.” We need your prayers that the government will act wisely.

Q: What can Barnabas supporters do to help?

We are praying that you could talk to your governments who are supplying arms in all this region. Ask that they will stop supplying them. If this supply was reduced, maybe things would be very different for us.

The plight of refugees must also always be publicised.

We pray that when attacks happen people will come alongside us in supporting, either financially or through resources like food and supplies.

We need your prayers that the government will act wisely Through Barnabas we have done a lot. Initially we helped the refugees, and during the university attack the support from Barnabas Fund helped provide counselling care for those who survived. Barnabas Fund took care of medical bills for many who were injured and also provided some funding for burial services. We are very grateful that you have played a role in supporting us in a time of crisis.

Pray that things don’t happen – but when they do happen we thank you for being there with us.

Rev. Francis Omondi

a canon in the Anglican Church of Kenya, has been in ministry for 27 years. He is the founder and leader of Sheepfold Ministries, a Kenyan missionary organisation, and chairs the Africa board of the Church Missionary Society. He has assisted Barnabas Fund for many years, as a Projects Coordinator and Adviser.

To see a video with a longer version of this interview scan this with your device or go to: www.barnabasfund.org/fo-interview

Barnabas Aid January/February 2016 16

Grace upon Grace

The Lord is doing amazing things in the context of pressure, suffering and persecution

Baghdad Church damaged by Islamists restored

Iraqi Christians meet together to worship In a celebratory service in early November 2015, the Assyrian church of St George in Dora, Baghdad was reopened for believers once again to meet and worship there.

In one attack in May 2007, the church was firebombed after its cross was forcibly removed the previous month. On another occasion militants overran St George Church and warned the minister that he had only a few minutes to leave or he would be killed. The church was abandoned and in disrepair until the restoration work was undertaken.

The Iraqi government met the cost of the repairs, our local project partner has confirmed.

The celebration of the resumption of worship in the church was attended by religious and secular leaders, including the Syriac Catholic Patriarch, leaders of the Armenian, Yazidi and Muslim communities and also government officials. Among the dignitaries present was Iraq’s Deputy Minister responsible for construction, housing and public utilities. He said that his agency intends to continue

The re-opening of the church of St George demonstrates Christians’ determination to stand firm and start rebuilding life to work on a set of measures for the reconstruction of destroyed churches in Iraq, and in particular Baghdad.

Dora had been a genteel, mainly Christian neighbourhood, home to some 20,000 Christians. Today only a few hundred Christians remain there. However, the re-opening of the church of St George demonstrates their determination to stand firm and start rebuilding life with the support of the authorities.

Grace

Barnabas Aid January/February 2016 17

Wells in Aleppo improve water supplies for Christians A total of 23 wells in the Syrian city of Aleppo had been brought back into use or dug afresh in the grounds of churches and Christian institutions by the end of 2015, thanks to the generosity of Barnabas supporters. They will provide water for up to 200,000 people. The siting of the wells is important, so they can be managed by Christians and are protected from being poisoned or otherwise compromised.

Wells are vital, as mains water supplies - piped from Lake Assad are often disrupted by bomb damage in the conflict that has ravaged the city, and some areas of Aleppo only receive mains water for a few hours, twice a month.

Wells are vital, as mains water supplies - piped from Lake Assad are often disrupted by bomb damage in the conflict that has ravaged the city

A Syrian child collects water

Siting wells in church grounds protects the water supply “In this context of violence, privation, desolation, suffering and despair, we continue, as Christian humanitarian committees in Aleppo and all over Syria, through our presence, our resistance, our support, our aid and our solidarity to be there for the people, a glimmer of hope in the darkness that surrounds us.”

– Barnabas Christian partner in Aleppo

Iranian Christian released early from jail In November 2015, the family of Suroush Saraie announced his early release from prison in Iran, where he had been serving a two-and-a-half year term. Arrested originally with six other Christians in October 2012 during a raid on a prayer meeting, he was found guilty of charges of “action against the national security” and “propaganda against the order of the system”.

In July 2013 he was convicted and sentenced, a decision later upheld on appeal, and in July 2014 he was arrested and summoned to Adel Abad Prison in Shiraz to begin his jail term. The authorities released him from prison fourteen months early, and now Suroush and his family are praying that those arrested alongside him, who at the time of writing were still serving various sentences ranging from one to six years, would be released soon.

Many Iranian Christians are charged with security crimes as a pretext for detaining and punishing them.

In Touch

Barnabas Aid January/February 2016 18

Barnabas Fund Australia Review of Financial Performance

What you gave this year The Directors of Barnabas Fund Australia express their gratitude and sincere thanks to all supporters for a tremendous result for the year ending 30 June 2015. Our project income of $5.2m was well ahead of 2014 by some $1.3m (+32%), with the key reasons being:

Project Revenue $5.2m

• General donations increased by 21% (+$0.4M); • Specific project donations increased by 42% (+$0.8m)with Syria, the Middle East, Iraq and Camp Sawra being extremely well supported.

• There was an additional $0.3m received from several bequests.

General Fund 48%

$2,520,090

Syria Fund 5.6%

$294,404

Other Special Projects 19.9%

$1,041,698

Feeding Fund 2.4%

$126,361

Middle East Fund 6.9%

$362,724

Camp Sawra 3.4%

$181,046

Iraq Fund 13.8%

$722,909

TOTAL INCOME $5,249,232

Expenditure

Where it went Over 83% of expenditure was transferred to Barnabas Aid International, where funds were distributed to various projects administered by the International Projects team. The balance of 17% of expenditure was directed to office costs, the magazine and other marketing costs.

Project Funds 83.2% Employment 6.5% Other 6.5% Education/Prayer 3.8%

Image Source: Ben Hosking (Flickr)

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