barnabasaid BARNABAS FUND - AID AGENCY FOR THE PERSECUTED CHURCH FORMER SOVIET UNION
Equipping the Church for growth
KENYA
Helping Christians in the world’s biggest refugee camp
July/August 2016
ADVOCACY
Keeping genocide on the political agenda
I am with you
Always Clinging to Christ in the Former Soviet Union
barnabasfund.org
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. 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
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
Singapore Cheques in Singapore dollars payable to “Barnabas Fund” may be sent to: The Old Rectory, River Street, Pewsey, Wiltshire SN9 5DB, UK 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: Young Christians in a restrictive Central Asian country at a conference funded by Barnabas. It gave them the rare opportunity to meet together in larger numbers than usual for teaching, encouragement and fellowship. © 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
Never alone
4
Compassion in Action
Christians in Dadaab, the world’s biggest refugee camp
T
he disciples were despondent. They were anxious. They faced an uncertain future. The Jesus who had walked with them and talked with them had died and in His risen life He had continued to walk and talk with them. But now He was to leave them, and they faced the prospect of life without Jesus. They would be alone, appallingly alone, bereft of His presence. Jesus, understanding this, assured them, “I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20) He had also promised them His Spirit, the Counsellor and Comforter, “to be with you forever” (John 14:16). Some years ago I knew two Christian sisters who had survived the tragedy of Rwandan genocide and had managed to make their way to the UK. The girls, aged 17 and 18, had lost their parents, siblings and all the rest of their relatives. The question which they often asked was, “Whom shall we marry and who will be with us? For we are all alone in the world.” The parents of Nigeria’s Chibok school girls still wait and weep for their daughters to come home. Two of the 200+ teenagers were rescued in May, but what of all the others and their grieving families? In Erbil, northern Iraq, a story that causes much distress whenever it is recalled is that of Miriam, a mother whose blind husband was killed by Islamic State and their three-year-old daughter abducted to sell as a slave. Miriam, left bereft, could do nothing but weep and murmur her daughter’s name over and over. With a past she cannot contemplate and a lonely uncertain future, she continues to weep. The tragedy facing many today, particularly in conflict zones, is the loss of loved ones, by death, kidnapping or separation across the oceans as some flee and others remain. They face the appalling prospect of being alone. And yet it was in this context that a Middle Eastern Christian leader affirmed, “Though they take everything from us, they cannot take Jesus out of our hearts.” Jesus is the air that they breathe and the life that they live. They are encompassed in His eternal everlasting arms, and there they rest, knowing that they are not alone. For those who love football, the terrible disaster at the Hillsborough stadium in Sheffield in 1989 can never be forgotten. On that day 96 Liverpool fans died in the crush. At a commemoration service they sang a song which has made Liverpool famous, a song which, though a secular song written for a musical, is full of Christian content and meaning. The song speaks of walking through a dark storm, tossed and blown by the wind and rain, but “Walk on, walk on, with hope in your heart, and you’ll never walk alone.” The Christian does not walk alone. And the Christian lives with hope, a hope that is centred on Jesus and His coming again, on the fact that He is with us, that He holds us and so we will never, never be alone. It is difficult to fathom the anguish of those who have suffered so much and lost so much and who are now alone in the world, yet we can be sure, that the Lord is with them. It is the Lord who walks with them and it is the Lord who will instil His hope in their hearts and who will bind Himself to them with cords of hope.
“Though they take everything from us, they cannot take Jesus out of our hearts.”
5 8 Focus 1
Hope and aid for growing churches in the Former Soviet Union
11
Overview
Christians, tsars and communists: a historical survey of Russia, the USSR, and today’s FSU
15 Focus 2
Strengthening leaders under pressure
16
Testimony
18
Newsdesk
A Christian child growing up in the Soviet Union
The cruel bombardment of Aleppo’s Christians
20
Advocacy
22
In Touch
Operation Safe Havens update
Operation Safe Havens petition presented
22
how barnabas is helping Turkish Christian discs snapped up “All materials were received as warm bread by the Turkish churches,” wrote Fardin, a church leader active in the Turkish-speaking Muslim communities in Romania and Bulgaria. With support from Barnabas Fund, a thousand CDs and DVDs were produced containing worship music, the Jesus movie and the New Testament in mp3, all in the Turkish language. “These materials are extraordinary for those who cannot read,” another church leader added. “They can listen using a CD player, a tool that is common in our community.” The church members, all converts from Islam, seldom have access to Christian recordings like this. They began using the discs upon receiving them in February to witness among the Muslim community and for their personal Christian growth. Each CD or DVD cost $2.20
Clean water, healthy children A newly-dug well is making an enormous difference to the lives of a village in South Sudan. “If it was not for your support ... our community would not be having clean safe drinking water,” a contact wrote. Barnabas Fund forwarded a gift to cover the costs of the drilling of the well last year. A third of children in South Sudan under the age of five suffer from diarrhoea, and in Western Equatoria State, where the village is situated, more than 60% of people do not have access to safe water supplies. “We have noticed in our community a reduction of illness related to unclean drinking water, especially from our children. Thank you so much and God bless you all.”
Church members in Romania inspect the rare Turkish-language Christian materials
Villagers send a wave of thanks as the church leader blesses the new borehole
$2,200 for Turkish-language Christian CDs and DVDs in Romania and Bulgaria
$9,300 for borehole in South Sudan
Project reference 68-1264
Project reference 00-634 Disaster Relief Fund
Space to grow in faith In North Caucasus, a strongly Islamic region, Barnabas Fund has helped construct a space where Muslimbackground Christians can gather and grow in their faith. Last year, a grant from Barnabas Fund enabled a 50-strong congregation to extend the church leader’s house to create a large room for their gatherings and a separate room for children and other church ministries. The building now encompasses the needs of the growing congregation and provides a private place where the converts’ faith can be nurtured and encouraged. Several years ago, Barnabas Fund also helped with the initial house purchase.
The extension allows the congregation to meet together as one
$17,000 for church extension in North Caucasus Project reference 43-1275
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.
Barnabas Aid July/August 2016 5
Saved from torture Winter warmers Progress for Christian women in rural Pakistan “I am no longer illiterate,” Nasreen, a Christian woman in Pakistan, told our contact joyfully. Nasreen, like many downtrodden Christians in this Muslim-majority country, never had the opportunity to go to school as a child. Last year, a six-month adult literacy course finally gave her access to education. “I can [now] read Urdu and do a little mathematics in my every day household accounts,” she said. Thanks to support from Barnabas Fund last year, the Christian agency that helped Nasreen strengthened the lives of hundreds of other Christian girls and women in remote villages of Punjab province through, among others, Christian fellowship and literacy, small business and first aid training.
“I am grateful to God because at this moment this blanket is very much needed,” Doya, a widow in Bangladesh, told our partner in January. Last winter Doya could not afford to buy warm clothes for herself and her nine-year-old son. Because of her disabilities, Doya struggles to find work as a daily labourer. And as part of Bangladesh’s tiny Christian minority, she is also likely to be discriminated against by the Muslim majority. Winter in mountainous northern Bangladesh, where Doya and 409 other Christian families received a blanket from Barnabas Fund, can be surprisingly cold, with temperatures dropping to freezing. “May the Lord bless those who supported me,” Doya added. The cost per blanket is $10
“If we had not received this help [from Barnabas Fund], we would have [continued to be] tortured physically and mentally by the police and these fanatic groups.” A church leader in India spoke these words after support from Barnabas Fund paid for a lawyer’s costs to release him and two other imprisoned church leaders after one night in jail. The three church leaders, who work among a Hindu group in the city of Nagpur, Maharashtra state, were imprisoned for the part they played in converting Hindus to Christianity. They were also brutally beaten by both police and fellow prisoners. Since then, Barnabas Fund has continued to pay for legal fees as a local Hindu extremist judge tries to impede the church leaders’ work and stop them from pleading their case at a High Court. The leaders’ congregation is greatly encouraged by Barnabas Fund’s help. It has helped them to witness boldly, saying they are not alone but that God is with them and that He sends an organisation like Barnabas Fund to help them.
Learning first aid techniques
The blanket Doya received from Barnabas Fund helped her stay warm last winter
Barnabas Fund supported a religious freedom seminar for church leaders in Nagpur
$10,000 for Christian women’s agency in Pakistan
$4,550 for blankets in Bangladesh
$1,250 for legal fees in India
Project reference 41-697
Project reference 04-854
Project reference 00-345 Victims of Violence Fund
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Christian refugees at Dadaab queue for food aid provided by Barnabas Fund
Food distribution for neediest in Zimbabwe
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Khalil receiving a food parcel; this aid is essential to him and his frail mother
Compassion in Action
Barnabas Aid July/August 2016 7
Food for the hungry: widows, refugees and the neediest Prayers of Dadaab Camp refugees answered
Famine in Zimbabwe leaves millions starving
Bringing food and hope to the Valley of the Christians
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With only a tiny amount of sorghum grain left to last over a week, and no money even to get it ground into flour, one Christian woman prayed that Jesus would save her, as God saved the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:12-16). “So yesterday I boiled that last fraction … gave it to my family and waited to see what the Lord would do.” News came that the next day food would be distributed through the local church. “I jumped up and cried out, Lord you are faithful!” she said, joyfully, “Bless the hands that have given! Jesus answered my prayer though this distribution.” Dadaab, in north-east Kenya, is the largest refugee camp complex in the world. Over 300,000 refugees, mainly Somali Muslims, are housed in five camps. Life is very hard there, especially for Christians, who are not helped by the Muslim aid agencies unless they are willing to convert to Islam. They could, however, get some food from the World Food Programme (WFP), but remained in need. Barnabas Fund has therefore been assisting them. In October 2015, a cut in funding for the WFP operation in Dadaab meant less food for the refugees. Barnabas Fund again stepped in to help. The story of one Christian helped is told above. Another said, “Our only hope had been UNHCR through WFP whose ration is by far insufficient for our families. We thank God that finally our prayers and cries came before the Lord in heaven and He sent you to stand with us as His children.”
$126,100 for the relief of 1,000 Christian refugee families in the Dadaab Camp Project reference 25-359
“My name is Elizabeth. I am an old lady aged 73. I am writing this note, thanking you for help you give us with your donations of mealie meal, sugar beans, cooking oil etc. that we get through our pastor. Your help is very much appreciated and we thank you so much for helping us. May the good Lord bless you all.” Elizabeth is one of more than 9,000 famine-stricken people in Zimbabwe whom Barnabas Fund has been helping to feed, working through local churches in villages and towns, as well as five different orphanages and care homes for the elderly. For years now Zimbabwe, once celebrated as the “breadbasket of Africa”, has struggled to feed its population under the regime of Robert Mugabe and Zanu-PF. Church leaders have also faced great challenges and have been victimised, beaten, imprisoned, tortured and kidnapped when they have stood up against injustice and wrongdoing in the country. The hardships faced by all the people of Zimbabwe, after 15 years of low productivity, have been made much worse in recent months because El Niño has caused a fierce drought that led to widespread crop failures in the region, the death of valuable livestock and a famine that is affecting 2.4 million people in a country where 70% of people survive off the crops they produce themselves. This is the worst drought Zimbabwe has faced in living memory.
$100,100 for Christian famine victims in Zimbabwe Project reference 91-721
Barnabas distributed the equivalent of 150,000 food parcels last year to Christians in Syria (Syrians and Iraqi refugees). The Valley of the Christians (Wadi al-Nasara) is in western Syria, close to the border with Lebanon. A great influx of Christians from elsewhere in Syria have moved to the Valley, seeking safety in numbers, but leaving behind their homes, jobs and income. Barnabas helps the poorest of the poor living in the villages of the Valley. Volunteers distributing aid from Barnabas were shocked to find Elias, his wife and two teenage children living in a single room, where one corner served as a bathroom and another as the kitchen. Elias has not had regular work for six months, since the local factory closed down. “I do any work I can get, to put food on the table,” he said. Adeeb, committed to looking after his wife - gravely sick with cancer - and their three young children, cannot make ends meet. “We lost everything we had,” he said, “I had to sell my house’s furniture to be able to feed my kids and treat my wife.” His wife is deeply grateful for the food parcels that the family receives. “Thank you for helping us,” she said through her tears, “Please pray for me, my kids need me.” Khalil lives with his disabled mother, who is frail and cannot be left alone. His aunt used to care for her while Khalil worked, but she fled the country for safety and he can no longer go out to work.
$220,200 for Feeding Programme in Wadi alNasara, Syria Project reference 00-1032
Barnabas Aid July/August 2016 8
How Barnabas is helping Christians in the Former Soviet Union The Church is growing fast in Muslim regions of the Former Soviet Union (FSU), and in our generation we are seeing convert churches develop amongst Muslim people-groups where there were no believers before. Barnabas is there to strengthen these new churches, both practically and spiritually. With your help, Barnabas is able to provide support for believers in many countries of the FSU. In the last year we have supported 37 projects in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Dagestan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, North Ossetia, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. In past years, we have also funded projects in Adygea, Chechnya, Kabardino-Balkaria, Russia and Turkmenistan.
Pastors, Church-planters and Evangelists Where congregations are very poor, they struggle to support full-time Christian workers. Barnabas helps with the basic living costs of these faithful servants of the Lord, who persevere in ministry often facing great hardship and opposition. Mirbek, a church leader in Kyrgyzstan, converted from Islam in 1994. He is currently the only Christian leader in his local region. He works as a carpenter when he can,
In another project supported by Barnabas, “Hamid”, an evangelist in Kyrgyzstan, was able to purchase key-cutting equipment (to his left in photo) to expand his shoe-making business; the additional income is enabling him to cover more of his family’s everyday needs
How Barnabas is helping Christians in FSU but this does not provide a regular income. Barnabas is supporting Mirbek for two years, including not only his family’s living costs but also his ministry expenses. Barnabas also funds specialist training for Christian leaders in the FSU, tailored to their particular needs. (Turn to page 15 to read more.)
Church buildings In some regions, it is very difficult for Christians to meet for worship, teaching and fellowship. In some Central Asian countries, it is illegal for Christians to pray together in private homes. Convert churches often find that people will not rent premises to them because of the stigma of having left Islam. Barnabas therefore assists with many projects to provide, extend, repair or equip meeting places for Christians so that they can be strengthened in their faith. Buildings which have managed to get official registration as churches are a very valuable asset in countries where Christians can be prosecuted for meeting in unregistered premises. In May, Barnabas sent funds to the only registered church in one Central Asian city to replace some of its windows and doors to conform to the local authority’s construction guidelines. It was work the church could not afford to cover, and failure to complete it could have led to the church losing its registration. The building is used by many different congregations in the area. Not only do church buildings
Barnabas Aid July/August 2016 9
provide opportunities for Christians to meet but also they enable churches to widen their ministry. This includes hosting regional conferences, publishing, and housing Christians forced to flee their homes because of persecution. Already in 2016, Barnabas Fund has sent grants towards church building projects in Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Georgia and elsewhere.
warm when the Christians met together. The new purchases have also been used to warm the houses of the pastors.
Self-sufficiency
The bitterly cold winters of the Former Soviet Union (FSU) pose a particular challenge to poor and needy congregations. In one central Asian country, where temperatures can reach as low as -35C (-31°F), electricity is very expensive and frequently cut off. With financial assistance from Barnabas Fund, two churches bought a generator each and 18 tons of coal last winter. This kept the buildings
Many Christians in this region are very poor, especially if they have converted from Islam to follow Christ and therefore face rejection by the local community. In these situations, Barnabas helps Christians to become self-sufficient economically through small business start-ups, such as biscuit making, car repairs or farming. For 13 years a church in one central Asian country had been praying for a communal piece of land so that some of their church members, all from Muslim backgrounds, could generate a stable source of income. It was a pressing need. A number of
The two pastors with the new generators, which Barnabas Fund helped finance
The provison of land has made an enormous difference to the lives of 70 Christians
Heating projects
Expanding a radio ministry in the Caucasus What is pleasing us most is the fact that we are now getting feedback from people living in Muslim countries where Islam is the official religion … All this was enabled through your prayers and financial support. Thank you so much, dear friends! Valerij Lunichkin, CEO of Radio MCC in North Ossetia, a republic of Russia, after Barnabas Fund sent a grant to enable the station to broadcast its programmes via the internet and a new app. This is enabling the station to reach North Caucasian people not just in the region itself but the whole world.
Radio MCC began broadcasting their shows via the internet in October 2015. Barnabas has supported their ministry for many years
How Barnabas is helping Christians in FSU families had had to sell their land to pay fines imposed on them because of Christian-related “offences”. Other families were forced to separate as the men went to neighbouring countries to search for work. Alongside local contributions, a grant from Barnabas Fund helped finance the purchase of 32 acres land so that 15 families (about 70 people) can now generate a stable income. The land is used to grow fruit trees, vegetables, melons, gourds and pomegranates. The project has given the families renewed assurance of God’s love and provision for the future. Also, the believers can freely sit together in the fields during breaks and talk about the Bible, without fear of harassment by intruders.
Literature Where Christians live with daily pressure and persecution, it is vital that they are strong in the Lord. Literature and other resources, in local languages, help to build them up in their faith. The production and distribution of literature in some parts
Ajan gets so much joy from reading Sharapat and shares what he learns with his classmates
of the FSU is tightly controlled and monitored, making Barnabas Fund’s support of literature projects vital. Last year we supported the provision of Bibles and other Christian literature in over 30
Barnabas Aid July/August 2016 10
languages (e.g. Ukrainian, Uzbek and Chechen) for an Open Library (accessible via internet). Other projects in 2015 included the purchase of 3,000 Bibles in Russian for believers in Kyrgyzstan and the printing of four different Christian books in Kazakh, including John Bunyan’s Pilgrims Progress, each with a print-run of 3,000. For many years Barnabas has also supported a bimonthly Christian children’s magazine produced in several languages. Ajan is twelve years old and lives in Kazakhstan. After reading the magazine Sharapat (meaning “lamp” in the Kazakh language) he wrote a letter of thanks to the editor, saying that it is helping him grow in his faith. He said that learning about the Ten Commandments has been especially helpful. He shares what he reads in the magazine with unbelieving classmates. In Kyrgyzstan the magazine is called Nariste (meaning “little child” in Krygyz). Barnabas Fund helps finance the printing, compilation of material, artwork and distribution of the magazines.
Wells in Ukraine Thank you heartily for this financial assistance that we have received from you. We have drilled the well and we can use it for God’s glory. Today we are with water – water is life and we thank the Lord and you for this. Let God fill all your needs. That you made for us you made for the Lord and in the name of the Lord Jesus. The grateful words of a believer in the Ukraine who is benefiting from one of the five wells dug for five churches in the region of Lugansk. The project meets an acute need for local people after the conflict in the country left sections of the region’s water supply system either partially or completely destroyed. Barnabas is involved with other humanitarian aid projects in the Ukraine, including the distribution of 4,440 food packages for Christian families living in conflictaffected areas and the provision of coal during the winter months.
One of the wells being installed in the grounds of a church in Antratsyt, Ukraine
And more … There are many other ways in which Barnabas helps Christians in the FSU. We pay for legal representation of those charged with breaking the law. We cover medical expenses for those who have suffered violent injury. In the worst situations, where Christians have to flee their homeland, we help them settle in safer parts of the FSU. Thank you for the part that you play, under God, in making these things possible.
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Early Christianity in the Region
A brief history of the Former Soviet Union The Soviet Union was vast, covering a sixth of the earth’s land mass. To the outside world, the closed and secretive Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) behind the so-called Iron Curtain seemed monolithic with a uniform communist culture. In reality the region was very diverse, as became apparent after the collapse of the USSR in 1991 and the formation of newlyindependent states. Although government in the Soviet Union was mostly centralised, each republic had its own administration and, apart from Russia itself, its own branch of the Communist Party and also their own flags and anthems. According to its constitution, any of the republics could leave the USSR at any time if they wished. This article gives a brief overview of the history of this huge territory.
The history of this huge area has been heavily influenced by religious and ethnic ties. Christianity became important as early as the 4th century. Islam has also played its part. Regional clashes between Christian and Islamic civilisations have underpinned the formation of some nations. Other world religions have had far less impact. In recent times, under Soviet rule, militant atheism has brought much violence and suffering, directed at adherents of any religion. Christianity spread quickly to the Caucasus (see map) through the region’s links with the Middle East. It is known that by 317 AD the Kingdom of Iberia (centred on present-day Georgia) had officially adopted Christianity; the region has suffered many conquests since that time, including some at the hands of Islamic armies. Many ethnic groups and tribes in the region were Christian before turning later to Islam – for example, the largest ethnic group in Dagestan (still in the Russian Federation) converted to Islam after conquest and today Dagestan is considered one of the most strongly Islamic parts of Russia. Many Byzantine Christian missionaries evangelised in EastCentral Europe – most notably Cyril and Methodius, brothers who lived in the 9th century. They became known as “the apostles to the Slavs”. They developed the Cyrillic alphabet used in Russia and many other Slavic countries today. It was Vladimir the Great (980-1015) who, after his own baptism, decreed that all the inhabitants of Kiev (capital of modern-day Ukraine) and beyond must follow Christianity. Since that time, the successive Slavic kingdoms in the region - roughly speaking Ukraine, Belarus and western Russia - have all had Orthodox Christianity as their official religion.
The growth of Islam in Central Asia
Although there was a Christian presence in Central Asia, parts of the region became Muslim during the early years of Islam’s growth through conquests. By the middle of the 8th century the ancient Silk Road cities of Samarkand and Bukhara in modernday Uzbekistan were key centres of Islam. In the 13th century, the Mongols invaded and later converted to Islam.
A brief history of the Former Soviet Union About a century later, Tamerlane led a conquering army to take power. He was brutal to his enemies, and his hatred of Christianity led him to eradicate any trace of it in Central Asia and Persia. He is believed to have been responsible for killing, enslaving, or forcibly converting to Islam many thousands of Christians. His thorough destruction of the Church left almost no record of martyrs from this period. Beyond Central Asia, much of what is now Russia came under Muslim rule through the Golden Horde, an offshoot of the Mongol Empire which combined with Turkic tribes. In raids, slaves were captured and sold to the Ottoman Empire. In the middle of the 15th century, the Golden Horde was wrecked by a civil war and separated into eight Khanates. By that time, Islam was firmly established throughout Central Asia and in many of the cultures in the region Islam became part of tribal (and later, national) identity.
Tsarist Russia – the Rise of an Empire
The fall of the Golden Horde enabled Russian rulers to resist Muslim dominance. Tsar Ivan III (1440-1505) freed Russia from Muslim rule and his successor Ivan IV (“Ivan the Terrible”, Grand Prince of Moscow) conquered the Slavic tribes to the East and the Muslim Khanates to the south. Under his rule in the mid-16th century, the Russian
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Empire became a vast, multi-ethnic and multi-faith empire. The following centuries saw Russia becoming an important European power. In 1702, Tsar Peter the Great founded St Petersburg, later to become the new capital of Russia, and he also instigated a period of rapid modernisation. In the late 18th century, Tsarina Catherine the Great strengthened Russia’s links to European learning and culture and this gave access to Protestant missionaries and settlers, particularly from Germany. Protestant Christian communities started to appear in Russia. By the mid-19th century, Russian tsars had conquered the Muslimmajority kingdoms of Central Asia and made them vassal states of the Empire. Russia competed with Britain for dominance in Central Asia and with Ottoman Turkey for power over South-East Europe. However, by the end of the 19th century, the Russian Empire was facing increasingly difficult challenges. A corrupt and incompetent bureaucracy oversaw a society that remained largely feudal. Government was often brutal and authoritarian. Revolutionary forces rose, seeking to overthrow the regime. Russia’s entry into the First World War proved the final straw and the monarchy collapsed in 1917. Two revolutions and a vicious civil war between 1917 and 1922 (the “Red” Bolsheviks against their “white”
Russia was the central cultural, political and economic power in the USSR. Other federated republics included: the EastCentral European republics such as Ukraine and Belarus; the Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania; republics in the Caucasus region such as Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia; and the Muslimmajority republics of Central Asia – Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
Russian 40 rouble postage stamp depicting Cyril and Methodius with the Cyrillic alphabet, issued in 2013 to mark the 1150th anniversary of the mission of Cyril and Methodius to the Slavic countries
Siberia
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Estonia Latvia
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Lithuania Belarus Ukraine
Kazakhstan
Moldova Uzbekistan Kyrgyzstan Russian Federation
Turkmenistan Chechnya
North Ossetia
Dagestan Georgia Armenia
Azerbaijan
Turkey Iran
Central Asia Southern Caucasus Northern Caucasus East-Central Europe Baltic States
A brief history of the Former Soviet Union
Barnabas Aid July/August 2016 13
opponents) left millions dead, mainly civilians, as the Bolsheviks consolidated their power.
Soviet Era – State-Sponsored Atheism, a Challenge to Faith
The Bolsheviks set out to undermine religion. Lenin ordered the forced seizure of church property and banned religious education in schools. Many clergy of all denominations suffered violent deaths. Anti-Christian propaganda was prioritised, and atheist journals attacking Christianity were quickly published. When Christian leaders called for freedom of religion in 1921, a reign of terror ensued with yet more clergy killed and others subdued. Many - perhaps as many as 8,000 - were executed in the Solovki Camp, a former monastery pressed into service as a prison for opponents of the regime. The Bolshevik seizure of power ended most Protestant missionary work and severed the ties between Russian and European churches. Christians were forced underground, often sharing handwritten texts and meeting in secret. The Soviets consolidated their power by terrorising the population through mass executions and imprisonment. Millions of people were systematically starved to death, especially in Ukraine. Entire ethnic groups were moved thousands of miles from their homelands. Christian leaders were targeted: altogether an estimated 200,000 were martyred between 1917 and 1990, and a further 500,000 were imprisoned. The Second World War forced Stalin to change his attitude towards “Ideology – that is what gives evildoing its longsought justification and gives the evildoer the necessary steadfastness and determination. That is the social theory which helps to make his acts seem good instead of bad in his own and others' eyes ..." — Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn The Gulag Archipelago (1973) chapter 4, p. 173
The Kremlin in Moscow, seat of Russian power for centuries the Orthodox Church in the USSR. He gave more freedom to the Church and employed traditional Orthodox symbolism to draw support for the war effort. After Stalin’s death in 1953, the Soviet authorities generally adopted less brutal methods while still attempting to maintain an iron grip on the population. While Christians were less likely to suffer execution, they still experienced constant harassment from the KGB, the secret police. The government introduced a system of official registration for churches, spying on congregations and making life difficult for those taking part in forbidden religious activities. In Central Asia, religion was controlled by the Spiritual Directorate of Central Asia and Kazakhstan, established under Stalin in 1943. It allowed only a limited public expression of religion. The authorities sought to monitor, intimidate and punish those running and attending religious meetings. The focus was intended to be on suppressing Islam, but Christians were also often caught up in the anti-religious policy.
Post-Soviet Russia and the Republics – New Identities, New Freedoms, New Challenges
The nominal independence of the Soviet Republics proved a double-
edged sword in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Across much of the Soviet Union, opposition gravitated towards nationalist movements and almost all of the republics had their own movement arguing for independence. In some, particularly in the Caucasus and Central Asia, tensions were exacerbated by historical boundaries that had deliberately split ethnic groups between two or more republics. Examples of conflicts include the territorial dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh, and the riots of 1990 which took place in the city of Osh, in Kyrgyzstan. Perhaps the struggle that comes to mind for most of us is the fight for control over Chechnya, located in the North Caucasus, which resulted in two bitter, protracted wars between 1994 and 2009. The first resulted in de facto independence for Chechnya; the second restored Russian federal control. Since then, systematic reconstruction and rebuilding has taken place although a low-level insurgency still continues. On the next page is a short penportrait of the major Republics in the region, some now independent and some still within the Russian Soviet Federal Republic, giving a snapshot of how religious freedom is honoured or restricted in each country.
FSU Profiles
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Profiles of some former Soviet countries Russian Federation The Russian government under Vladimir Putin has focused on nationalist ideology, keen to reassert itself as a global power. The country remains the dominant political, military, cultural and economic force in the Former Soviet Union. In general, religious liberty is tolerated, though some Christian denominations can face obstructions at a local level.
Caucasus Armenia is recorded as having officially adopted Christianity in 301 AD and retains its Christian identity despite centuries of Islamic domination. Armenians in the Ottoman Empire were brutally persecuted during the Armenian and Assyrian genocide that peaked in 1915. Azerbaijan is a Muslim-majority country, but in general its population does not have a particularly strong Islamic identity. The country is in a territorial dispute with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh and there are fears that this may become all-out war. Christians can sometimes suffer low-level persecution from the government and security services. Georgia has had Christianity as its official religion from the early centuries AD. Since independence, Georgia has experienced internal and external conflicts, especially with Russia. Religious freedom is generally observed in the country, though evangelical Christians can occasionally experience some problems.
Muslim-majority areas in Russia: the North Caucasus, controlled by Russia, includes the strongly Islamic and semiautonomous republics Chechnya and Dagestan. They have often sought to resist Russian control, and recently Chechen separatists fought Russia in two brutal wars. The area is constantly destabilised by Islamic extremists.
Central Asia Kazakhstan is a huge country with a significant (about 23%) ethnic Russian minority. Ethnic Kazakhs, who form the majority of the population, are Muslim but not very strongly religious. There has been growth in the numbers of Kazakh Christians since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Kyrgyzstan: the ethnic Kyrgyz have a weaker Islamic identity than other people-groups of Central Asia. In 2010 there was serious ethnic unrest between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in the country. In post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan, Christian mission was very fruitful. One estimate by Christians is that the number of Kyrgyz Christians grew from just 20 in 1990 to over 3,200 by 2000. In recent years the government has restricted religious freedom. Tajikistan’s internal, ideologicallybased civil war between the Russian-backed regime and Islamist rebels from 1992 to 1997 killed thousands. Despite restrictive laws, Christians have reported that they are not usually troubled if they are not seen as a threat to the political establishment.
Turkmenistan’s post-Soviet identity was shaped by former authoritarian president, Saparmurat Niyazov, who styled himself “Father of the Turkmen”. Since his death in 2006, the government remains strongly authoritarian. Uzbekistan: Uzbeks have returned to their Islamic identity since independence. In 1998, Uzbekistan introduced legislation to ban unauthorised religious activity, and Christians are often fined or imprisoned. This type of restrictive legislation set a trend which was followed by the rest of Central Asia.
East-Central European Countries Belarus: President Alexander Lukashenko, known as “Europe’s last dictator”, has maintained many Soviet-era policies and his government is sometimes restrictive of religious freedom in the country. There has been a Muslim presence since the 14th century and a special Belarusian Arabic script was developed with a large volume of Muslim literature written. The Muslim population now is only about 0.3%. Ukraine has for years endured an ongoing battle for control of the country. Western Ukraine sees itself as being ethnically and culturally Ukrainian and leans towards Europe. Eastern Ukraine is closer to Russia; pro-Russian, self-declared republics there have indicated that they will limit religious freedom for “non-traditional” religions, including Protestant Christians.
FSU Leadership Training
Barnabas Aid July/August 2016 15
Equipping for Ministry in Persecution Contexts how Barnabas Fund helps strengthen church leaders in the Former Soviet Union
T
he churches of the Former Soviet Union are growing, and many people from Muslim backgrounds are coming to know the Lord. Some of them are the first Christians ever from their people-group or language. Whole new churches are coming into being. But who teaches, pastors and leads them? Who takes on the vital task of strengthening the faith of ordinary Christians facing daily hostility and discrimination, not just Muslim converts but Christians from any background? Who helps them to stand firm under pressure? Of course, it is the local believers themselves, answering God’s call to serve as pastors, evangelists or church planters, despite the dangers and hardships they will face. Barnabas helps train these leaders, so that they are equipped for ministry in their specific contexts. Sometimes this means funding seminaries and Bible schools in countries as diverse as Moldova, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. But often we fund one-off short courses, tailored for a specific need and context. These are very costeffective, and bring encouragement,
skills and confidence to large numbers of courageous Christians. In some parts of Central Asia, prominent Christian leaders are liable to be arrested and imprisoned. What does a congregation do if its main pastor is suddenly taken from it? Who will care for the Christians, just when they may be most filled
Now I understand that suffering is an important part of Christian life and I need to face it with joy and gratitude. with fears and doubts? Barnabas supported a Bible school which trained junior leaders with the skills they would need if the senior leaders were arrested. We also supported a training course on how to plant churches in hostile contexts, where sharing the Gospel meets strong opposition, even violence. Sixty church leaders, all converts from Islam, met for two
Junior church leaders in Central Asia learning skills they will need if senior leaders are arrested
days of training every three months for two years to learn how to resist pressure from the Muslim majority keen to stop their outreach ministry. Laws restricting Christians are getting increasingly tough in Kyrgyzstan. During a two-day training 61 church leaders and church administrators were given an overview of current and draft laws on religious freedom and human rights in their country. This equipped them to stand against illegal harassment and claim their legal rights, for example if they were wrongfully arrested. “I can see now that I didn’t know elementary laws about human rights,” said a pastor afterwards. “Now I know them and will teach them to my church members.” Another course in Kyrgyzstan trained 65 local pastors on a Biblical understanding of persecution. Many had never had Bible training before. One commented afterwards: “I have changed my point of view on sufferings and I start to think more about mercy of God. I never thanked God for suffering before. I shared with people about my problems with resentment in my heart. Now I understand that suffering is an important part of Christian life and I need to face it with joy and gratitude. Praise God for everything!”
Testimony
Against the system Memories of a Christian childhood in the USSR
Perestroika [political and economic reformation] was slowly bringing positive change to 1980s Russia. But as a pastor’s daughter, “Natalia” remembers growing up with mockery, pressure and intimidation for her faith. Family members had endured imprisonment and even death. “My parents told me it was a privilege to suffer and be persecuted for Jesus’ sake. That helped me have a strong identity of belonging to God’s family,” Natalia said. Now in her thirties, Natalia finds recalling her life as a young girl during the communist era a painful experience. Some memories had been stashed far away, difficult to bring up. “Living in communist USSR was not an easy experience,” she started. “At school they would teach us compulsory Marxism, Leninism and Darwinism as fact. They rejected the existence of God. They would ask children to affirm in the presence of their classmates that God did not exist.”
The communist system was so ingrained in every stage of life that those who resisted immediately stood out. At age seven, Natalia was expected to join the communist children’s group, Octobrists. “It was a gradual enrolment. The best pupils entered first, then the others, with the worst pupils entering last. If you did not enrol at all, you were considered an outcast.” Entire schooldays were filled with Octobrist activities. On those days Natalia simply did not turn up to school. “Children in my class started asking why I didn’t attend the Octobrist days. When they realised I was not going to join at all, they became hostile towards me. Eventually they started bullying me, chanting, ‘You’re not an Octobrist’ and ‘You’re not normal.’” Natalia’s faith sustained her through this. “I had a strong peace that God is mighty to deliver us from any bad situation. Already there was a hope inside of me, perhaps even a prophetic knowledge that all this
was going to end. I knew that they were in darkness and I was walking in the light.” Some of the teachers would try to stir up trouble through petty means. Natalia remembers that one teacher placed her in front of the class and asked her why she was wearing dark-blue tights rather than green-brown ones, calling Natalia’s a non-communist colour. Her mother, unimpressed by these bullying tactics, went to the teacher and talked to her about God. She gave her a Bible to read. Her parents and other family members had already risked and sacrificed much for their faith in the decades before Natalia was born, undergoing interrogations, nightly house raids and earning tiny wages for refusing to deny Christ. Two of her uncles spent five years in prison and others died under unusual circumstances. “Looking back it seems like my parents had no concept of fearing humans. They seemed only to feel
Barnabas Aid July/August 2016 17
“If you do not report to us about your church members, your children will answer for you!" Natalia’s father received threats like these from the KGB
accountable towards God. It almost seemed like the persecution stirred them up to preach more, like Paul. They were survivors.” At age ten, all Natalia’s classmates joined the Pioneers, the communist youth group. The Pioneers went on parades and were encouraged to set up an atheist’s corner at home with anti-religious pictures, poems and sayings in contrast to the traditional Russian Christian corners. “It was challenging to refuse to enter the communist system children’s groups. I felt real pressure for not being accepted as ‘normal’ in their system.” A culture of surveillance was part of Natalia’s family’s daily life. While going to the shops with her mother when Natalia was around eight years old, her mother pointed out to her that they were being followed. “This felt very matter-of-fact and normal to me. The man was actually trying to make himself obvious in order to make us fearful and intimidate us.”
KGB agents also visited her father’s church regularly. They tried to control her father in how to lead the church, telling him that children were not allowed to attend and that baptism was forbidden. While queueing for bread with Natalia, her father once addressed a KGB agent and asked him why he was following them. Natalia remembers that the man responded with a threat, “If you do not report to
us about your church members, your children will answer for you!” Despite all that Natalia and her family went through, she is at peace about what happened. “These sufferings are now in the past. I continue to bless my country and pray for my government.” “I am glad God put me in that place at that time. It meant that we could be a light for people there. This is what God calls us to be.”
Meeting in secret, Christians shared hand written Bibles as printed copies were destroyed
Newsdesk
Barnabas Aid July/August 2016 18
Muslims burn Christians’ homes and force Christian woman to walk naked in the street Egypt
A crowd of around 300 Egyptian Muslims attacked, ransacked and set on fire the homes of seven Christian families near Abu Qurqas, Minya province, on 20 May. An elderly Christian woman was dragged from her home, stripped of her clothes by the mob and made to walk naked in the streets while they chanted “Allahu Akbar [God is great].” The incident was provoked by rumours that her son had been involved in an affair with a Muslim woman. “They burnt the house and went in and dragged me out, threw me in front of the house and ripped my clothes,” the woman (aged 70) afterwards recalled. “I was just as my mother gave birth to me and was screaming and crying.” Egypt’s President al-Sisi later released a statement calling the attacks “regrettable” and said none of those responsible will “escape without justice”. He also ordered the Egyptian military to repair the homes within a month and at no cost to the owners.
Hindu extremists viciously attack evangelist in India India
An Indian in Bihar state was brutally tortured on 5 April, by Hindu extremists who seized him as he was on his way to a village to share the Gospel. Deepak was chained and beaten for five hours until he lost consciousness. After reviving him, his assailants then made him strip naked, gave him electric shocks and threatened to throw him on a railway track unless he insulted Jesus. Deepak refused, saying: “Kill me, but I will not abuse the name of Jesus.”
Aleppo’s Christians victims of sustained bombardment on anniversary of Armenian Genocide Syria
On the weekend of the 101st anniversary of the Armenian Genocide (22-24 April), an intense bombardment of mortars, gas cylinders and missiles began raining down on parts of the Syrian city of Aleppo. By 3 May, 197 people in the government area of the city alone, populated mostly by Christians, had been killed, with hundreds more injured. Just before the bombardment, the rebel forces had issued a direct threat against Aleppo’s large community of Armenian Christians, whose forebears had fled the Armenian Genocide and found safety in Aleppo:
“We have been ordered not to leave any Armenians in the area.” “Today it was a taste of Hell as has been written in the Bible”, wrote a Baptist church leader in Aleppo who organises food distribution for Barnabas Fund. “Fires everywhere. Explosions. Mothers missing their children. Families shuttered. No one is asking for food or support, but [instead] where they can hide themselves and their children?” Fighting continued during a truce between the rebels and government forces, lasting from 5-11 May, resulting in yet more deaths and injuries.
At least 74 killed in Easter day suicide bombing in Lahore Pakistan
The funeral of two Christian girls killed by the Easter Day blast At least 74 people were killed and more than 370 injured when a suicide bomber targeted families in a park in Lahore, Pakistan, on Easter Day (27 March). Some of the victims were Christians, including children and young people, who were out celebrating the Easter holiday. The attack at Gulshan Iqbal Park was claimed by Jamaatul Ahrar, a splinter group who broke away from the Pakistani Taliban. They stated
that they would be continuing to attack Christians and other specific target groups. Christians are living in fear, not knowing where or when the next attack will come. “Fear is a fact of life for us here,” said Parvaiz Masih, who was injured in the attack. “From morning ’til night, we feel fear not only of violent attacks but of all the smaller humiliations that go with being part of a minority community.”
In Brief
Barnabas Aid July/August 2016 19
Genocide of Christians and other religious minorities by Islamic State (IS) continues with yet more brutal attacks Syria
Christians and other religious minorities in Syria continue to be the target of brutal attacks by the Sunni Muslim fighters of Islamic State (IS), further highlighting the genocide facing them in the Middle East. On 12-13 May a group from IS entered the town of Al-Zara, near Hama in Syria, populated by Christians and Alawites (a minority Shia Muslim group). Approximately 120 men, women and children were killed. Some of the bodies were sawn into pieces.
Christians hacked to death in attack in eastern DR Congo DR Congo
A night-time assault on a village in Christian-majority eastern DR Congo on 3 May left at least 16 people dead after being slashed with axes and machetes. Others died later of their wounds. At least nine more were killed in a second attack in the same region on 6 May. It is suspected that the attacks were carried out by Ugandan Islamist group, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), also called Muslim Defence International (MDI). According to the United Nations, the ADF is responsible for the deaths of more than 500 people in the region since 2014. Analysts believe it has links with Somalia’s Al-Shabaab, Nigeria’s Boko Haram, and even Al-Qaeda.
Australia receives Middle Eastern Malaysian convert Christian families to Christianity through Operation allowed to change Safe Havens ID card Australia
Malaysia
An important legal precedent has been set in Malaysia. Roneey Anak Rebit (aged 41) from Sarawak (the only Christian–majority state in Malaysia) was born to Christian parents who converted to Islam when he was eight, which meant that in law he was considered to have converted too. But in 1999 he was baptised and began a legal battle to be registered as a Christian. In March this year the High Court in Sarawak’s capital, Kuching, ruled that the word “Islam” could be removed from Roneey’s identity card. In April the Sarawak National Registration Department appealed against the court ruling, but in May they withdrew their appeal, allowing the decision in favour of Roneey to stand.
It is with joy that we can report that between April and June, Australia welcomed 15 Christian families into their country (two Iraqi, 13 Syrian), becoming the fourth country (alongside Poland, the Czech Republic and Canada) to receive specifically Christian refugees from the Middle East through Barnabas Fund’s Operation Safe Havens. Barnabas Fund covered the airfares of each family settling in Australia. In further good news, the Australian House of Representatives passed unopposed a motion calling the actions of Islamic State (IS) against the Assyrian people “genocide”. The majority of Christians in Iraq and Syria are ethnic Assyrians, the indigenous people of the region, who lived there for many centuries before the arrival of the Muslim Arabs.
Bangladeshi convert to Christianity killed in knife attack Bangladesh
Hossain Ali, a 68-year-old Christian convert from Islam, was killed on 22 March when three men riding motorcycles attacked him in Valacopa, in the Kurrigram District of northern Bangladesh, hacking him to death with a knife. Mr Ali had left Islam to become a Christian in 1999 and later led two other Muslim background families to faith in Christ through his witness. Two years ago he established a small church in his home. Local Islamists were angered by this and several times they had threatened him and pressurised him to return to Islam.
Third church in four months burnt down in north-west Tanzania Tanzania
On 2 May, yet another church was burnt down in north-west Tanzania. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. It is the third arson attack on a church in the Kagera region since January. Since 2013, there have been over 13 such attacks on churches in the area and no-one has yet been held accountable for them. Following this latest attack, the church has refused to stop meeting. Its minister, Fortunatus Bijura, said, “Those who think that destroying our church means we won’t pray, they are wrong … We have a big tree near the church and will continue meeting there for prayers.”
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Advocacy
Barnabas Aid July/August 2016 20
Barnabas Fund supporters action on genocide in the Help stop the genocide
Please write to your MP
I
slamic State and other armed Islamist groups in Syria and Iraq are clearly and intentionally practising genocide as they seek to eliminate Christians, Yazidis and other minorities from the territories that they control. The European Parliamentary Assembly on 27 January 2016 adopted Resolution #2091 that condemns the actions of IS including “acts of genocide and other serious crimes”. The US State Department has also recognised that the actions of IS constitute genocide. MPs in the UK Parliament voted unanimously in April “That this House believes that Christians, Yazidis and other ethnic and religious minorities in Iraq and Syria are suffering Genocide at the hands of Daesh; and calls on the Government to make an immediate referral to the UN Security Council with a view to conferring jurisdiction upon the International Criminal Court so that perpetrators can be brought to justice.” The UK Government has only agreed to “look into” the evidence. Barnabas Fund believes that this is not good enough. There is a pressing need to maintain political impetus before it is too late for Syrian and Iraqi Christians.
Please write to your elected representative and highlight the importance of this issue concerning the elimination of religious minorities from wide swathes of the Middle East. You could ask them specifically to recognise what is happening to Iraqi and Syrian Christians as genocide, and urge them to take up this case at the highest levels. Your letter need not be long, but should be polite and to the point. We have provided a sample letter here, or you can find it at www.barnabasfund.org/genocide-letter. Your letter will be most effective if you use the sample letter simply as a guide, and express your concerns in your own words.
Barnabas Aid July/August 2016 21
supporters call for e Middle East Sample letter to MPs To: (your elected representative)
Petitions Update Operation Safe Havens petition – thank you for making a difference!
(your address here) (date)
Dear (name) Islamic State (IS), in their videos and publications, openly flaunt their genocidal actions and serious crimes against Christians, Yazidis and other religious minorities in the areas they control. These actions clearly amount to a process of genocide under Article 2 of the United Nations 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide where genocide is defined as “acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical racial or religious group”. There have been Christians in the Middle East for almost 2,000 years. Christians and other minorities are being wiped out; people are murdered, forcibly converted, enslaved, or driven from their homes. Women and girls have been taken into sexual slavery, with IS publishing price lists in their slave market. Hundreds of hostages have been taken, and those released have been told to leave IS territory and never to return to their homes, on pain of death. Churches, monasteries and historic cultural buildings are being demolished with high explosives and bulldozers. IS seeks to eradicate all those who do not follow its ideology, every trace of their religious and cultural heritage within its area of control. Please could you tell me what you and your party are doing to encourage the Government to recognise this clear genocide and refer it as a matter of urgency to the UN Security Council? Minority groups are at risk of disappearing. Failure to act rapidly risks seeing the same genocidal tragedies repeated that we saw in the last century: Armenians and Assyrians in 1915; Jews under the Nazi regime; Rwandans in 1994; and in the Balkans in 1995. I urge you to take up this issue with the Government and I would be grateful if you would inform me of their response to these urgent concerns. Yours sincerely (your name)
British Minister for Syrian Refugees Richard Harrington MP (right) receiving the petition from Dr Martin Parsons of Barnabas Fund At the end of February, Barnabas Fund met with UK Minister for Syrian Refugees, Richard Harrington MP, and the EU’s head of representation in London, Jacqueline Minor. At both meetings we delivered a copy of our Safe Havens petition which was signed by more than 43,500 people. The petition urged governments around the world to recognise the particular vulnerability of Christians in the Middle East, who need to know that there is a safe haven for them if, as a last resort, they have to flee their homeland. Thank you to everyone who added their names to the petition in many countries around the world. News of the Australian petition presentation is on page 22.
August 2016
31st Deadline
Deadline for Genocide Petition
More details overleaf.
In Touch
Barnabas Aid July/August 2016 22
Operation Safe Havens petitio n The Australian version of this pe tition was presented to Th e Federal Membe r for Makin (South Australia ) by Colin John ston, Managing Director, on Apr il 19. Here is a ph oto of Colin presenting the 7 volumes contai ning 6,698 signatures to To ny Zappia (on th e left). The petition w as subsequent ly presented to Parliament on th e night of 2 May by Tony. He had done an excelle nt job in resear ching persecutio generally and in n the Middle East. If you would like a copy of the H ansard speech, please send us email or contac an t us on 07 3806 1076.
Petition date extended ns and Genocide of Christia The deadline for “The ded to tition has been exten other minorities” pe 31st August, 2016. e can be petition sheets thes If you require extra website at downloaded off our petition nd.org/genocidewww.barnabasfu 5 799. r office on 1300 36 or you can contact ou
Australian tour by Paul Mursalin –Acting International Director During August, there will be a tour of the East Coast of Australia by Paul Mursalin. Pau l visited Australia during March/April 2014 and the respon se from supporters was excellent. Paul was born in Guyana, South America and was raised in a Muslim fam ily and converted to Christianity in his early adult yea rs. Paul’s understanding of Islam is exceptional and he heads up a large evangelical church in Guyana wh ich runs an outreach to assist Muslims who have conver ted to Christianity and are facing difficult challenges from family, friends, etc. Here is a brief summary of his schedule. Please contact the Barnabas Australia office clos er to the dates to confirm the venues. We will also email supporters with the final details. • 3/8 Sydney
• 16/8 Cairns
• 4/8 Wollongong
• 17/8 Townsville
• 5/8 Goulburn/Canberra
• 19/8 Mackay
• 6/8 Wagga Wagga/ Young • 7/8 Albury/Shepparton • 8/8 Bendigo/Ballarat
• 20/8 Rockhampton/ Gladstone • 21/8 Bundaberg • 22/8 Sunshine Coast
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hurch C g n i r 016 Suffe 2 k e e W Action
Don’t forget to mark the dates of this year’s Suffering Church Action Week on your church calendar. This year’s theme “War on the Saints” is based on Revelation 12:7-17 The Barnabas Fund International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church will be held on
Saturday 5 November.
Sunday 30 October to Sunday 6 November
The next issue of Barnabas Aid magazine will be packed with special resources to help you and your local church focus on our persecuted brothers and sisters in your Sunday service, midweek Bible studies, special prayer events and in other ways throughout the week.
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For the next two months you can purchase a copy of Heroes of our Faith and we will send you a free copy of Freedom to Believe. Total Price will be $30.00 including postage and handling. This offer is only available by contacting the Australian Barnabas Office on 1300 365 799 or by emailing bfaustralia@barnabasfund.org. This offer is not available via the website.
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Islam is a one-way street. NonMuslims can convert to Islam, but freedom to convert from Islam is denied to Muslims. All schools of Islamic Law specify the death penalty for an adult male Muslim who chooses to leave Islam. The law can also impose other penalties on apostates. Change is only possible if the apostasy law is repealed. This book discusses the Muslim teaching on apostasy from Islamic sources the debate amongst Muslims about the apostasy law the treatment of converts from Islam