Barnabas aid July August 2017

barnabasaid

barnabasfund.org JULY/AUGUST 2017

BARNABAS FOR THETHE PERSECUTED CHURCH - BRINGING HOPE TO SUFFERING CHRISTIANS BARNABASFUND FUND- AID - AIDAGENCY AGENCY FOR PERSECUTED CHURCH

SCHOOLS

Transforming young Christian lives

PROJECT JOSEPH

Over 150,000 saved from Africa’s famine

A

hope and a

future

THAILAND

Pakistani Christians - victims of a forgotten persecution

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 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

barnabasaid the magazine of Barnabas Fund Published by Barnabas Aid Inc. 6731 Curran St, McLean, Virginia 22101, USA Email info@barnabasfund.org

●● acting on behalf of the persecuted Church, to

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

We seek to:

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

●● facilitate global intercession for

the persecuted Church by providing comprehensive prayer materials

We believe:

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

●● in the clear Biblical teaching that Christians

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

●● tackle persecution at its root by making

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

●● inform and enable Christians in the West

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

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

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

(Matthew 25:40)

You may contact Barnabas Fund at the following addresses 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 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

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.

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.

International Headquarters The Old Rectory, River Street, Pewsey, Wiltshire SN9 5DB, UK Telephone 01672 564938 Fax 01672 565030 From outside UK: Telephone +44 1672 564938 Fax +44 1672 565030 Email info@barnabasfund.org

Singapore Cheques in Singapore dollars payable to “Olive Aid Trust” may be sent to: Olives Aid Sdn Bhd, P.O. Box 03124 Subang Jaya, 47507 Selangor, MALAYSIA Singaporean supporters may send gifts for Barnabas Fund online via Olive Aid Trust: Beneficiary: OLIVE AID TRUST Bank Name: United Overseas Bank (Malaysia) Berhad Swift Code: UOVBMYKL Location: KUALA LUMPUR Account Number: 140-901-654-0

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®.

The paper used in this publication

Front Cover: Brick kiln Christians in Pakistan. See page 6.

a mill that has been awarded the ISO14001

© Barnabas Aid Inc. 2017. For permission to reproduce articles from this magazine, please contact the International Headquarters address above.

comes from sustainable forests and can be 100% recycled. The paper used is produced using wood fibre at certificate for environmental management.

Contents

“Those who love God must love their brothers and sisters” (1 John 4:21)

In

Charles Dickens’ famous book Bleak House, there is a memorable character called Mrs Jellyby, who badly neglects her many children.

Mrs Jellyby is a committed Christian and feels a great burden for missions in Africa. All her time, attention and money are focused on Africa, leaving her husband, children and needy neighbours uncared for. She feels no responsibility for those close to her but focuses primarily on the needs of those far, far away with whom she had no previous connection.

Today the Christian Church is under great pressure. According to the Pew Foundation, Christians are now persecuted in more countries than any other religion on the face of the earth. In some parts of the world, a further tragedy is unfolding. For alongside persecution there is now growing famine and deprivation caused either by climate change or by man-made conflicts.

The Christians in these areas cry out for help, but all too often their cries go unheeded. Most Christian relief agencies and mission agencies in the West say their calling is to help everyone, irrespective of their religion. In fact, one major evangelical agency commissioned a report last year on Christians in the Middle East which concluded that they were in no greater need than Muslims. Apparently they did not recognise the attempted genocide of Christians by the Islamic State group and the anti-Christian hostility, threats and violence that have become commonplace in recent years. Others argue that it is unfair to discriminate in favour of Christians.

Others again hold that it is a good witness for Christians to help non-Christians, in obedience to the Biblical command to love your neighbour as yourself. One way or another, Christians find themselves at the back of the queue.

What all of this illustrates is that modern Western Christianity has no concept of what it means to be a Christian family, where our giving should start. It has come to be a religion devoid of brotherly or sisterly responsibility. We love the world but we cannot stand our own. In Islam there is the concept of the umma, meaning the worldwide community or nation of Muslims. The Arabic word umma may be derived from the word for “mother”; certainly there is a very strong intrinsic identity with and concern for fellow Muslims, as if all come from one womb. The compulsory alms-giving, called zakat, which is one of the five duties of Islam, is only used to help fellow Muslims.

Christianity rightly teaches (succinctly summarised in Galatians 6:10) that we are to do good to all but especially to the household of faith, i.e. the worldwide community of Christians, the Body of Christ. After our loyalty to God, our next loyalty must be to our Christian family. When we read passages like Matthew 25:31-46 about the sheep and the goats, we may want to stretch the interpretation of Jesus’ parable to make it an affirmation of those who help the whole world. But close analysis and reference to other Bible passages show that Jesus is commending those who help their fellow Christians.

Jesus’ last commandment to His disciples was that they should love one another as He had loved them. This love for our Christian family would be a witness to the world (John 13:34-35). His disciple John reminds us of the commandment in these words, “Those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.” (1 John 4:21) (NRSV). And this must be a love that is shown in practical ways. “How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?” (1 John 3:17 NRSV)

After our loyalty to God, our next loyalty must be to our Christian family

4 A hope and a future

Christian schooling for 9,772 children in 12 countries

7 10

Pakistani Christians in Thailand

Brutal treatment for desperate believers

Pull-out

Editorial

A History of Christian Persecution

part 2: Hated by the World

11

In Brief

12

Project Joseph

Palm Sunday persecution in Asia and Middle East

Life-saving food aid in East Africa

12 14

Compassion in Action

16

Operation Safe Havens

17

Advocacy

Healing Syria’s unseen war wounds

Award for Barnabas Fund Australia

Last chance to sign “The Right to Choose” petition

18

In Touch

Oceania supporters’ conference

Schools feature

4 July/August 2017 Barnabas Aid

A hope and a future

Transforming young lives through Christian schools

“Train up a child in the way they should go, and when they are old they will not depart from it” Proverbs 22v6

“School has changed my life”

F

or Christian children living in contexts of persecution, school can be a place of danger instead of learning, somewhere they feel insecure rather than inspired. They can face pressure to convert to the majority religion from teachers and classmates, the prospect of being failed in their exams because they are Christians, and even violence.

For others it is poverty, rather than persecution, which is their greatest barrier: many poor Christian children may never even have the opportunity to set foot inside a classroom.

But the work of Barnabas Fund has altered that reality for hundreds of thousands of children, bringing hope and future prospects that many could only previously have dreamed of, and life-changing benefits for their whole families.

“My family is very poor … When I used to see other kids going to school, I also think that maybe one day I will also go to some school. Someone told to my parents of this school and how school is helping poor families … school has changed my life … I love my school very much because students are very nice and teachers are hard working. The best thing I like of my school is we study Bible.”

Kinza Asif, grade 5, Lahore, Pakistan Many Pakistani Christians are effectively trapped in poorly paid, low-status jobs such as cleaning streets and sewers. They live with discrimination and sometimes violence from the majority Muslim community because of their faith.

Barnabas Fund has provided buildings, equipment, school books, staff salaries and training so thousands of children from Christian families can obtain an education. It is not unusual for these children to be the first in their family to go to school. Between April 2016 and March 2017 alone, Barnabas Fund sent more than $3.1 million to assist the education of 9,772 children and young adults in 12 countries.

Sundus, age 12, attends a Christian school in Pakistan supported by Barnabas Fund. “I love my school very much. My teachers are very kind and encouraging. Whenever I feel I cannot understand or learn a question they take time out and explain very patiently. We have a music class once in a week. I love music and I look forward to my class the whole week.

When I grow up I want to be a teacher. My favourite verse is John 3:16. We learn verses by heart; we also sing gospel songs and sing them in our music class. I am glad I could come to this school.”

Kinza

Sundus

Schools feature

before

after One of the classrooms in the Democratic Republic of Co ngo, before and after the constr uction work funded by Barnabas

2011, when South Sudan was created in an after the Sud m fro d the country secede impose to d A total of 26 pte em att nt Arab governme ch ristian Ch ntly p ina rovides a fr ildren are enrolled in th dom pre the on sharia law e provided school buildings c e Christian education is pre-school, which on south. Barnabas Fund has – including South-East structed in an impoveri one of 22 pre-school buildings for 1,600 children, A s ia n c o ool u sch n try since 20 shed part of this long of Barnabas 13 with the those pictured here at Merko Fund assistance

The building blocks of an education In places where schools do exist, buildings can often be unfit for purpose. Barnabas Fund enabled the construction of replacement classrooms for a primary and secondary school in a conflict-ridden region of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Although building works had to be suspended when fighting broke out nearby, the classrooms have now been completed, allowing more than 393 children to learn without getting rained on.

Barnabas has also funded the construction of a Christian school in Myanmar. None of the 105 pupils had ever been to school before. In another remote village, we have built two other Christian schools where communities are isolated and school buildings are often rudimentary, even unsafe. Wellbuilt and well-designed classrooms can revolutionise children’s learning, as with three schools in Ethiopia.

Our partner writes: “We have been able to replace traditional temporary structures made of mud and timber with good quality, permanent classroom buildings … even at [one site] so rural it is a 30 minute walk away from the nearest road.” Barnabas Fund is supporting the schools’ running costs.

One preschool in south-east Asia, built with the help of Barnabas Fund, serves four nearby villages.

The pastor who is superintendent of the school said: “We are very grateful to Barnabas Fund for their support and we now can be proud that we have a

building of our own. Now the children can be taught the Scriptures and learn how to pray.”

Since Boko Haram began its brutal wave of antiChristian violence in 2009, Christian schools have become targets; the 276 girls infamously kidnapped from Chibok by Boko Haram in April 2014, who were mainly Christians, were taken from a secondary school where they were sitting their end-of-year exams. Barnabas Fund has helped finance the construction of boarding hostels for both boys and girls in several schools, to save the children from the dangers of travelling to school in territory controlled

by Boko Haram.

St Aphrem’s Christian School in Bethlehem is so popular that there is waiting list of 60 at entry level.

Established with funding from Barnabas in 2003, the latest development is the construction of a brand new secondary school (high school) building to provide much-needed classrooms for older students.

When a cyclone tore through north-east Bangladesh in 2012, one of the buildings left destroyed in its wake was a church in Kusot. As well as a meeting place for believers, the building had also served as a school. Barnabas funded the reconstruction, meaning that 120 children could go back to school.

At the time of writing, Barnabas Fund has helped to construct at least 84 Christian schools in 15 countries.

These have provided 15,500 school places and already enabled many tens of thousands of children to have an education, with more to come in the future.

The reconstructed church /school building in Kusot, Banglade sh

The new secondary school building opened in February 2017, to the joy of the older students who have atte nded St Aphrem’s since kindergarten .

Barnabas Fund has supported the school’s running costs since it ope ned, so that children from poor Christia n families only need to pay minima l fees

ooms and provided classr ents at this school nd Fu s ba na Bar ud r around 220 st itories laboratories fo tion to girls’ and boys’ dorm di ad in , ia in Niger

er in a brick kiln orks as a labour Riaz’s mother w an, back-breaking work that kist e has made the near Lahore, Pa continues until sh the next day’s d an m 5a at ts for star prepared the clay family as Riaz’s day’s quota and e th of nt re pa e sole bricks. She is th years ago. This would have been ral ve se ed di many other father ’s life, like that of az Ri ld -o ar ye n, generations of seve kistani Christians impoverished Pa as bonded labourers at brick ked and simple whom have wor attends a small he d, ea st in t Bu kilns. rnabas Fund. , supported by Ba still has to go ol ho sc n tia ris Ch az ily are so poor, Ri Because the fam r mechanic’s after school, but he ca His dream is to out to work at a r a better future. fo pe ho t as le can at n he grows up. be a pastor whe sic sums will , write and do ba at of his family ad re to ng ni ar Le th ly Riaz’s life, but s transform not on easily cheat brick kiln labourer n ca to s le er ab oy g pl in too. Em ithout be gre wages, as w out of their mea le to check the records of their ab make sure read, they are un t the bricks and un co w no n ca work. Riaz earned. id what she has his mother is pa s

ic cost h covers the bas nt o m a 5 .4 3 $ Just ion. of Riaz’s educat

Riaz

Barnabas Aid July/August 2017 7

In a safe, welco min Christian childre g environment, where they do n not face discrim school supporte can flourish. Pictured are a cl ass praying durin ination because of their faith, d by Barnabas Fund in Bangla g morning asse desh mbly at a Chris tian

all-round provides an ll as high quality m e h le th e sic as we chool in B t.

Christian S ma and mu environmen St Aphrem’s ich includes sport, dra nd strongly Christian ool can h a ch education w dies, all in a nurturing h running costs, the s it tu s w ic lp s e m h ie e il d ’s a d m fa ac un Barnabas F or Christian Because of r minimal fees to po s fo offer place

Barnabas Fund provided laboratories at this church school in Nigeria. The region is under threat from Boko Haram militants, who began violent attacks agai nst Christians and “Western education” – including educating girls – in 2009

The recently completed Eyon Misr (Egypt Eyes) School, which will open for students in September 2017

Schools feature

W we he he re lp

8 July/August 2017 Barnabas Aid

Learning in a safe environment

In Christian schools , ch and belittled, and als ildren can learn without being bullied o grow in their Chris tian faith

ble to ladesh are a g n a B in l o this scho ment n children in ving environ The Christia their faith in a safe, lo learn and live

Even though they are children, young Christians can still experience hatred and violence because of their faith, especially if they go to a government school dominated by another religion.

Christians comprise only 1% of Bangladesh’s population, a country which is 90% Muslim and where Islam is the state religion. Barnabas has supported four schools so that believers’ children can receive a Christian education.

When 13-year-old Faryal, a Pakistani Christian girl, accidentally misspelled an Islamic religious word in class, her teacher said she had deliberately insulted Muhammad. Faryal was beaten and expelled from the school. She and her family were forced to flee.

During a Home Economics exam in another state school, the examiner refused to touch the food the Christian girls in the class had cooked, saying it would make her unclean. She threw their food away, and the Christian girls failed the exam Ayman, a 17-year-old Egyptian Christian, was beaten to death by his Muslim classmates in 2011, incited by their teacher, after he refused to hide his cross. Although this level of violence is comparatively rare, Egyptian Christian children are vulnerable in state schools. Many school text books in Muslim-majority countries airbrush out the history of Christian minorities, make false claims about Christianity and often portray Christians as untrustworthy and despicable. Text books for compulsory religious education in Turkish state schools, for example, teach children about Jesus only from a Muslim perspective and claim that Christians force or trick people into converting.

Schools feature

Barnabas Aid July/August 2017 9

in South Sudan, ced to flee their home Despite having been for ain ag es smiles on their fac the children now have

Enabling refugee children to go back to school Barnabas Fund is also helping Christian children fleeing violence to maintain their education. We support refugee children from Sudan and South Sudan at a specialist education centre in another country, staffed by teachers who are themselves refugees.

The centre teaches both primary and secondary school curricula and is inspiring a new generation of young believers.

“My name is Amira … I am 14 years old … I love my school because I really improved a lot. I love English lessons and I can speak good English now.

When I grow up, I want to be a lawyer in order to defend those who are oppressed.”

Barnabas also funded two primary schools in Malaysia for ethnic minority Chin and Dai Christian refugee children from Myanmar (Burma). Founded and run by refugees, the schools have regular times of praise and worship, prayer and Bible reading.

We are also helping with school fees for Afghan children whose families have fled from persecution in Afghanistan to another Asian country. One 18-yearold boy writes: “without your help and support we couldn’t go to school. By your help today I am in class 11 and still studying.”

This girl was one of 20 0 Bu school kit containing wr rundian refugee children who received a iting paper, pencils and cra continue to learn, even though she lives in a ref yons, so she can ugee camp

Changing lives By enabling Christian children to go to school and to study together in a safe environment, even if their families could not afford it, Barnabas Fund’s schools work has dramatically altered tens of thousands of young lives. Instead of facing discrimination, abuse and even violence, the children can enjoy their learning, be equipped for the future and grow in their faith. The vicious cycle of poverty, marginalisation and lack of education can be broken and children’s prospects transformed.

Project reference 00-794 Christian Schooling for Christian Children

School-place sponsorship

g the life and You can play a part in transformin text where prospects of a Christian child in a con dvantaged Christians are an oppressed or disa regularly minority. Supporters who can give details of a will be sent a card with a photo and pray for.

Christian schoolchild whom they can newsletter You will also receive a twice-yearly ht from about the schools projects, which mig child. For time to time include news of “your” and to security reasons, to save overheads gifts to be enable as much as possible of your sonal sent overseas, we do not arrange per r” child. communication between you and “you The average amount needed per child is $31 a month, but it does not matter how great or small your regular gifts are - you can still be part of the SchoolPlace Sponsorship Programme.

Project reference 00-514

10 July/August 2017 Barnabas Aid

Pakistani Christians in Thailand

H

anooq’s family used to own a successful department store in a Muslim community in Lahore, until Muslim extremists discovered it was run by Christians. They repeatedly threatened the family and attacked Hanooq’s brother, breaking his leg. The whole family fled their homes and business to seek safety in Thailand. At the time of writing, 29-year-old Hanooq has been arrested by Thai police who are demanding a payment of $2,000 to release him. As a Pakistani Christian refugee, he is, as far as the Thai government is concerned, an illegal immigrant. Hanooq’s wife and one-year-old son have been told that without payment he will be sent to one of the Thai government’s brutally harsh immigration detention centres, where asylum-seekers are crammed into cells so crowded that they have to take it in turns to lie down.

As many as 5,000 Pakistani Christians are currently in Thailand seeking refuge from persecution in Pakistan, but once they attempt to claim asylum they are treated like common criminals. Whole families are held in detention centres in cramped, unhygienic cells – access to bathroom facilities can be denied

to those deemed to be “faking illness”, while it is forbidden for visitors to take in medication. People have died while in detention. Even young children between the ages of three and seven are given a prisonstyle uniform. For those detained, their only prospect of release is the conclusion of their claim for asylum – a process which can take years – or securing release through paying a “bail” of more than $1,350.

These Christians are the victims of a forgotten persecution.

Barnabas Fund is intervening to come to the aid of Pakistani Christians in Thailand. We are providing food parcels for 40 families, as well as for 42 individuals in detention. As access to healthcare is almost non-existent for refugees, we are also helping with critical medical cases, including a sevenyear-old boy; a Christian who fell ill while imprisoned in a detention centre; and a woman needing urgent breast cancer surgery. In addition, Barnabas Fund is helping families by funding English lessons. We are also providing salaries for teachers and supplying home-schooling materials for Pakistani Christian refugee children.

Project reference: 82-1276

THE THAI GOVERNMENT’S HISTORY OF INDIFFERENCE Thailand is not a signatory to the 1951 U.N. Refugee Convention and even though many Pakistani Christians are officially registered as seeking asylum with the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), they have no access to work and little access to healthcare. Thai immigration police carry out arbitrary mass arrests, claimed to be focused on “nationals seen as possible criminals or terrorists”, even raiding places of worship to seek those without valid visas. So these Christians live in daily fear.

The UNHCR is processing asylum claims at the request of the Thai government.

However, the significant backlog means that securing even an initial decision can take up to five years. Refusal of a claim means forced deportation, with acceptance resulting in resettlement in another country; Thailand does not officially re-home anyone seeking asylum.

The number of desperate Pakistani Christians seeking safety in Thailand is decreasing, as news of their brutal treatment filters back home, but those already there face an uncertain future. Their plight is largely unknown or ignored.

Pull-Out

A History of

Christian Persecution 2

AD 33 – 312 Hated by the World Jesus said, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.”

John 15:18 The fires of popular hatred were ever smouldering, liable at any moment to break into sudden flame … [the early Christians] lived under the shadow of a great hate.

H.B. Workman, Persecution in the Early Church (1906), p.107 So to the wild wolf Hate were sacrificed The panting, huddled flock, whose crime

was Christ.

Sir William Watson (1858-1905)

T

he agony of Gethsemane, the mental anguish of a rigged trial, the physical torture preceding the crucifixion, and finally the nailing of Jesus to the cross and the appalling pain were followed by that ultimate suffering for Jesus when He cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” So, it seemed, ended a life that had shown so much promise. For many the death of Jesus was a hope devastated and a calamitous defeat.

But three days later Jesus rose triumphantly from the grave. He met with His disciples and they encountered Him in His bodily resurrection. Then this timid band of cowards and betrayers became invigorated and, as they experienced the reality of

the Holy Spirit in the Upper Room in Jerusalem, so they were transformed. From lambs they became lions. Those who had lost all hope were filled with a passion and a vision of what Jesus wanted of them and what the world could become. And so, following His ascension, His disciples went out into the world to make disciples of all nations.

There were many positives in their mission, which focused firstly on the Jews, for Jesus was a Jew and they themselves were Jews so it was the natural starting place. Commencing with Jerusalem, they took the Gospel to the Jewish diaspora who had been scattered around the then known world, preaching first in the synagogues and then, when rejected, moving into the streets, public places and homes. They also entered the Roman world which, like the Jewish world, had seemingly been prepared for the coming of the Messiah.

Sheep among wolves

They saw the remarkable work of the Holy Spirit as many became followers of Jesus Christ. “I am sending you out as sheep among wolves,” the Lord had said to them earlier (Matthew 10:16). The words Jesus had spoken in His days on earth soon become a reality for them in their lives. Jesus had said that, because of Him, a family would turn against each other. Their ultimate faith and loyalty in Jesus Christ would bring conflict and division between close relatives (Matthew 10:34-35). Communities would be divided over Jesus. For Paul, the former zealous Pharisee, considered that everything was “rubbish” compared with “gaining Christ” and that rubbish included his heritage as a Jew (Philippians 3:4-9).

Those who had asserted the Jewishness of their faith

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ii July/August 2017 Barnabas Aid

and their loyalty to the Jewish nation would have now let their loyalty to Jesus take precedence. Then there was the choice between Caesar and Christ (Matthew 22:21; Acts 4:19): while certain duties were owed to the state, ultimate loyalty must be to Christ.

The disciples were to learn that in triumph there would be pain. They would discover that now they had not only to embrace the cross but also to carry the marks of the cross in their bodies as a new community, the ekklesia of God (those called out of the world).

As the Body of Christ, they would now share in the sufferings of Christ. And they would conquer the world, not with the sword but with the cross of shame and suffering. Jesus had rightly told them that if they were to be His disciples they had to deny themselves, take up their cross and follow Him, that to lose their life was to find it (Matthew 16:24-25). There was now no way back. This new expression of early Christianity was inextricably linked to suffering and persecution.

They would be the hated minority, the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world (1 Corinthians 4:13).

Weak and vulnerable, they succeeded against all the odds. But at a tremendous cost. For Christ’s followers knew alienation and each of the apostles followed Him in martyrdom.

GROWTH OF THE EARLY CHURCH The conditions that, humanly speaking, encouraged Christianity and facilitated its rapid spread were: 1. Pax Romana The Roman Empire, which covered the known civilised world, was unified and at peace.

Communications and travel were easier than for many centuries before and after.

2. Greek language Greek was the trade language used throughout the Roman Empire. The Greek interest in philosophy meant that religious and philosophical subjects were commonly discussed.

3. Jewish diaspora Jews had settled all across the empire, bringing with them monotheism, morality and a simple style of worship.

4. Hungry souls There seems to have been a great spiritual hunger at this time, as mystery religions came flooding in from the east.

And so the Church grew. But this growth was met with rejection and hostility. Ordinary Christians were mostly not harassed; it was the leaders and the most active believers who were the focus of persecution.

Jewish reaction

This was an implacable hostility. The four main stumbling blocks were: 1. The cross, for a crucified Messiah was nonsensical to Jews waiting for a victorious political leader.

2. The resurrection, which they could not accept as a fact, particularly because Sadducees did not believe in any kind of afterlife.

3. The inclusion of the Gentiles in the Church on equal terms with Jews. This was a serious hindrance.

4. Jesus the Son of God, a concept that was hard to accept for followers of a faith whose main distinctive had always been its monotheism.

The Jews circulated false accusations against Christians, encouraged anti-Christian mob violence, and made sure that the Roman bureaucracy penalised Christians. They could inflict serious economic consequences on Christians from a Jewish background, who would also be cursed during synagogue prayers. There were even occasions when, according to Justin Martyr (died c. 165), “the Jews treat us as open enemies, putting us to death and torturing us”.

Roman reaction

Religion was considered a state matter, and everyone in the empire was required to participate in the rituals of the Roman state religion. This religion was gradually evolving from worship of the traditional Roman gods to include worship of the living Roman emperor. Following other religions was allowed, so long as people also observed the state religion. Those who refused to sacrifice to the emperor were guilty of the serious crime of majestas.1 At first Christianity was tolerated by the authorities as it was considered to be a Jewish sect. Although hated by the general population, Jews were favoured by the ruling classes, who gave them privileges including exemption from making the mandatory sacrifices to the emperor.

But soon Christianity began to be viewed as a definite threat to the Roman state religion. For a start, Christian evangelists declared that all other religions were false. Worse still, they refused to worship the emperor. The apocalyptic hope that Christians spoke of as they longed for the return of Christ was interpreted by others as plotting a coup.

The way in which some Christians embraced poverty was completely baffling to onlookers, who called the Christians anarchists.

Christians reacted to being considered traitors by withdrawing into what appeared to non-Christians to be anti-social and highly suspect secret societies. No one knew what went on at the Christians’ meetings, but it was rumoured to involve consuming human flesh and babies’ blood. The “holy kiss” that Paul mentions was assumed to be very far from holy, and the fact that Christians called their meetings agapes [loves] suggested that they were wild nights of lust.

The Christian attitude to family life drew criticism too: they refused to marry non-Christians, some of them did not marry at all, and Jesus had spoken about setting members of a family against each other (Matthew 10:34-35).

Christians were also seen as a threat to society

Pull-Out because of their attitude to slaves. They treated them well and gave them leadership roles in the Church. Roman governors, conscious of the vast slave populations, dreaded a slave uprising.

To sum up, Christians were “hated for their abominations”, as the historian Tacitus wrote in approximately AD 116.

Thus the Christians found themselves hated by the Gentile population at large, by the Roman authorities, and by the Jews.

Christians were very vulnerable to being accused and brought to court by delators [denouncers].

These individuals were something like an informer and something like a private prosecutor. “I am a Christian” was confession of a crime for which there could be no extenuating circumstances and no forgiveness. Judges did not call witnesses in such cases. They simply passed sentence.

SPORADIC PERSECUTION (UNTIL AD 250) The emperor’s whim

The first century was characterised by fitful bursts of persecution. Although short, these periods of persecution could be very intense, and occurred chiefly on the instructions of two emperors: Nero (AD 54-68) and Domitian (AD 81-96).

Nero began his reign well, but later became a deranged sadist. He blamed the Christians for Rome’s Great Fire in AD 64 and on this pretext had many Christians crucified, thrown to the wild beasts, or burned to death at night to illuminate his gardens.

Domitian was another ruthless tyrant. He was very active in religious persecution, including the persecution of Christians, focusing on those in the highest positions.

The emperor restrains persecution

Emperor Trajan (98-117) established some ground rules to restrain persecution initiated by others: ●● No hard and fast rule can be laid down about how to deal with alleged Christians. ●● The authorities should not proactively hunt down Christians; they should wait for an accusation to be made by a delator. ●● If charges of being a Christian are proved, then the Christian is to be punished. ●● If anyone denies he is a Christian and can prove it, he should be pardoned. This proof includes offering incense to the emperor’s statue and cursing Christ. ●● Accusations made in anonymous written notices should be ignored.

Hadrian (117-138) added further regulations: ●● If Christians are to be accused it should be done in a formal, legal way, not by baying mobs. ●● Accusations must relate to breaking a specific law.

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●● Delators who bring deliberate false accusations must be punished severely.

Antoninus Pius (138-161) was generally tolerant, although it was during his reign that the aged bishop Polycarp was martyred, during a bout of persecution at Smyrna.

The emperor permits persecution

Emperor Marcus Aurelius (161-180) ruled in a time of grave crisis in the empire. The year 166 was particularly afflicted by disasters. To superstitious Romans, it was natural to try to find a cause for the gods’ evident displeasure; the strange and obnoxious Christians, who would not worship the emperor or the other gods, seemed likely culprits.

Many Christians were martyred with the approval of Marcus Aurelius, who found them an obstacle to his desire to promote Stoic philosophy.

The next bout of persecution occurred under Emperor Septimius Severus (193-211), who was trying to promote religious harmony so as to hold the empire together, but it is unclear how much he was responsible for the persecution.

SYSTEMATIC PERSECUTION (AD 250 - 312) The emperor initiates persecution

Persecution began again, around the year 250, but with these differences: the Church was no longer small and weak, Christians were no longer universally hated, the persecution was initiated by the emperor and it aimed to destroy the Church.

The empire was beset with economic and social instability. The Persians and Goths threatened the frontiers. Christians were still viewed by some as a kind of treacherous fifth column, partly because of the cautious Christian attitude to war. At the same time there was a revival of the old Roman religion.

Emperor Decius (249-251) issued an edict in 250 that on certain days all men must sacrifice to the emperor and the other gods. Certificates were issued to those who complied; those who did not were in serious trouble. This posed a major problem for Christians. Some went into hiding.

Some bribed officials to get a certificate without actually sacrificing. Some tried to compromise by offering incense instead of a proper sacrifice. Some did sacrifice to the emperor. Many Church leaders were imprisoned, tortured or banished, and some were executed. But the pressure soon eased off, and when Decius died in 251 it ceased.

In 252 persecution re-started, under Emperor Gallus who was attempting to restore the faltering empire by purging it of all the newer religions. But Gallus was a less effective persecutor than Decius, while the Church, purified by its trials in 250-251, was stronger than before and Christians did not backslide as they had then.

But before long another anti-Christian edict

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was issued, this time by Emperor Valerian in 257. It banned Christians, on pain of death, from meeting together and from using their cemeteries.

It also directed that bishops and priests must be banished if they refused to sacrifice to the emperor.

Many Christians were killed, banished or sent to the mines.

Respite from persecution

After this, Christians had a long period of respite from persecution. Emperor Gallienus even issued an edict of toleration in 260, restoring to the Church its confiscated buildings, re-opening church cemeteries, and granting Christians freedom to gather for worship.

During this time the Church was afflicted with divisions, partly because of the different ways in which Christians had responded to the edicts of Decius and Valerian. Was it legitimate to have fled/hidden, or should all have boldly refused? In particular there was the issue of apostate Christians, who had avoided persecution by sacrificing to the emperor, wanting to return to the Christian faith now that this was no longer dangerous.

More persecution by edict

Emperor Diocletian (284-305) favoured Christians when he first came to power. But he was persuaded by his assistant emperor, Galerius, to clamp down on them.

Diocletian issued a series of edicts from February 303 until April 304, which ruthlessly suppressed Christianity. This period became known as “The Great Persecution”. ●● Edict 1 – This repealed Gallienus’ edict of toleration and re-enacted Valerian’s laws. All church buildings were to be destroyed, all Christian Scriptures burned, and Christian worship forbidden. Christian officials were to be deprived of civil rights, and lower ranking Christians demoted to be slaves. ●● Edict 2 - All Christian clergy to be imprisoned. ●● Edict 3 – Clergy to be released from prison if they would sacrifice to the emperor, but those who refused were to be tortured.

●● Edict 4 – All Christian believers to sacrifice to the emperor. The punishment for those who refused was death and the confiscation of their property.

These edicts were zealously enforced in the eastern part of the empire, but much less so in the western part. One Christian-majority town was completely wiped out. When Diocletian abdicated in 305, persecution ceased in the west. But in the east Galerius was still there to enforce the edicts, sometimes even more severely than under Diocletian. In 308 Galerius issued a fifth and even stricter edict, which included the command that everything on sale in markets should be sprinkled with offerings made to the gods, thus polluting it in the eyes of Christians.

In 311, on his deathbed, Galerius issued one more edict. This time it was an edict of toleration, reversing the earlier edicts and asking Christians to pray for his healing. He died a few days later.

But persecution had not quite finished in the east. Galerius was succeeded by Maximin, who had refused to sign Galerius’s edict of toleration. Under his rule, persecution and martyrdoms continued in some places, but in others Christians were released from mines and exile.

THE END OF STATE PERSECUTION (AD 313) In March 313, Constantine and Licinian, the two remaining emperors, issued a joint edict in Milan setting out a religious liberty policy for the whole empire.

This stated that the power of seeing to matters of belief must be left to the judgement and desire of each individual, according to the man’s own free will.

1 Crimen laesae majestatis (usually called majestas) was the crime of lèse-majesté, or treason against the emperor. This is the crime for which Jesus was executed. See “A History of Christian Persecution: Part 1 The Persecution of Jesus” in Barnabas Aid (May-June 2017) p.ii.

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

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Barnabas Fund Australia Limited is a Charitable Institution however gifts are not Tax Deductible ABN 70 005 572 485

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© Barnabas Aid Inc. 2017

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In Brief

Barnabas Aid July/August 2017 11

Christian governor jailed on politicallymotivated blasphemy charges INDONESIA

The Christian former governor of Jakarta, “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama, has been found guilty of blasphemy and sentenced to two years in prison by a panel of judges, even though prosecutors were no longer pursuing his conviction due to lack of evidence. The blasphemy charge – which was levelled against Ahok after he challenged Islamist claims that the Quran forbids Muslims to be governed by non-Muslims – has been widely credited as the reason Ahok lost his re-election bid to a Muslim candidate. The leader of Indonesia’s largest Islamic organisation stated the allegations were “all manipulation … for the purpose of the election”. Having spoken up for Indonesia’s historic philosophy of tolerance in defiance of Islamists, Ahok now faces two years in jail.

Christians unable to return to liberated homelands IRAQ

Qaraqosh was liberated from Islamic State (IS) militants in October 2016, but the believers who lived in what was once the largest Christian town in Iraq still feel they cannot return. “It was not just Daesh [IS] who destroyed our homes, it was also our neighbours, the ones we considered our friends,” explains an 80-year-old Christian now living in a Christian camp in Erbil. As the Christians fled from IS, Sunni Muslims from surrounding villages arrived on tractors and lorries and looted their houses. “Our neighbours betrayed us and the Iraqi army did nothing to stop Daesh. How can we possibly live somewhere we don’t feel welcome or safe?”

Palm Sunday sees Christians targeted in Asia and Middle East EGYPT, INDIA, PAKISTAN

Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for two deadly suicide bombings at churches in Tanta and Alexandria on Palm Sunday, 9 April, which left at least 46 people dead and more than 100 injured. In Tanta, around 60 miles north of Cairo, the bomber ran up the aisle of the church and blew himself up near the altar. The same day, Christians were targeted in five different states across India. In Madhya Pradesh and Haryana, police arrested church pastors after Hindu extremists alleged they had forced people to convert to Christianity. Local officials in Tamil Nadu invaded a private prayer meeting, falsely claiming that the believers required permission from the local authorities before gathering, and in Uttar Pradesh, a church pastor was beaten by a mob.

In Pakistan, security services foiled a planned suicide bombing in Lahore, arresting a woman who later admitted she was intending to blow herself up at a church over the Easter weekend.

Last year, a suicide bomber targeted Christians celebrating Easter in a park in the city, killing 74 people.

Buddhist mob force pastor and wife from home SRI LANKA

A pastor and his wife in Ingiriya, southwest Sri Lanka, have been forced to leave their home after being targeted by a Buddhist mob. Police supported false claims by Buddhist extremists that the church the pastor leads must be registered to meet and threated to charge the pastor with breaching the peace. After a mob vandalised the pastor’s vehicle, surrounded his house and threated to attack him, police requested that he and his wife leave their home for their own safety.

Muslim youths target Christian on Sydney train AUSTRALIA

A 30-year-old Christian man was attacked by five Muslim youths on a train in south-west Sydney in April.

“Mike”, who wears a cross given to him by his mother when he was a teenager, said “They ripped the cross off me, threw it to the ground, they said **** Jesus.”

The youths referred to Allah and then began to assault the Christian. “It’s not just an attack on me, it’s an attack on what I believe in and every Christian out there.” New South Wales police stated following the assault that they were investigating an “alleged religiouslymotivated” attack on a Sydney train.

Islamist Seleka militia continue violent attacks on Christians CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

Barnabas Fund has provided food and household essentials to needy Christians in the CAR who have been the victims of violence Despite the presence of a UN peacekeeping force, Christians in the Central African Republic continue to experience violent attacks from Islamist Seleka, who are refusing to accept the result of last year’s elections, which led to a Christian becoming president of this Christian-majority nation. At least 50 people were killed in April in separate attacks on three Christian communities in the central Bambari region.

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12 July/August 2017 Barnabas Aid

OVER 150,000 SAVED FROM STARVATION THROUGH PROJECT JOSEPH

Project Joseph When news of the drought and famine sweeping East Africa broke early in 2017, Barnabas Fund responded swiftly with food aid distributed through churches and Christian ministries, and has continued to supply hundreds of tonnes of maize, cooking oil, milk powder and salt, with aid being distributed to over 156,500 starving people (including refugees from South Sudan). Aid goes directly though churches and partner organisations in Kenya and Uganda.

Life-saving food aid for Christians in drought-stricken Kenya, made possible by Barnabas Fund supporters

Project Joseph

Because Barnabas Fund works directly through local churches and trusted Christian partners, needs are quickly made known; aid is promptly sourced, then efficiently distributed to exactly where it needs to go.

We

know only too well that there is still a deep crisis, and there is much more to do. But there is renewed hope and heartfelt joy brought by the swift, practical and timely aid which supporters’ generosity has made possible – as witnessed by the letters of thanks we have received. One grateful Kenyan Christian, Gladys, wrote, “People are now happy and rejoicing for your help. I don’t know how to express their happiness.” Matthias’ letter said, “When the food reached us, we were in the critical condition.”

Barnabas Aid July/August 2017 13

Martha too said how thankful Christians are, but reminded us that the need remains great when she added, “however, we prayed for more because drought still existing …”

Your help is saving thousands from starvation; until the seasonal rains resume and there is a fresh harvest, the threat of famine persists for these folk who live off what they grow and their own livestock. With their animals gone – dead from thirst or hunger, sold to buy food, or eaten for survival – aid is still needed until such time as they are once again self-sufficient for their food and livelihoods.

Through Project Joseph, enabled by supporters’ generosity, essential food aid is now reaching over 156,500 people: over 76,000 in Kenya, and more than 80,500 in Uganda, including around 79,000 refugees from South Sudan. However, across the region people remain in great peril. It is vital that we continue to get aid to where it is most urgently needed, with some communities still struggling to survive drought and famine. The situation remains precariously balanced for those who live directly off their crops or their livestock.

At the time of writing, the situation remains critical in the affected regions of Africa. Seeds for planting have been eaten; many animals that were not lost to the drought were either sold to buy food or slaughtered and eaten out of desperation. Even if the hoped-for rains arrive and there is a good harvest, it will take several seasons for normal life to resume.

This truck took vital aid to villages in Uganda; Barnabas Fund supporters’ help is gratefully acknowledged

Sitting by their dead livestock, oblivious to the health dangers posed by the carcasses, this family did not know where to turn for help

Even camels, famed as the “ships of the desert”, became too weak to reach watering holes when the drought was at its fiercest

PROJECT

JOSEPH

Project Joseph, feeding hungry Christians in Africa (00-1313)

how barnabas is helping Healing the unseen war-wounds of Syria’s Christians In times of great suffering, Christians naturally look to their church leaders for help and comfort. Barnabas is equipping churches from war-torn Syria to be more effective in helping their members traumatised by war, deprivation and persecution.

Recently, 33 Syrian church leaders from different churches and backgrounds were trained in trauma counselling in neighbouring Lebanon.

This gives them skills to help other traumatised believers to cope with the horrors that they have experience or witnessed. This is the third such course which Barnabas has funded.

Areas of Syria are still being fought over as the civil war grinds on. As well as the toll of hundreds of thousands of dead and injured, ruined buildings and shattered infrastructure, there are deep psychological and spiritual wounds suffered by civilians caught up in the atrocities; Christians endure the additional suffering of being directly persecuted for their faith.

Trauma counselling training for Syrian church leaders

$35,200 to train Syrian church leaders in trauma counselling Project reference 00-1032 (Christians in Syria Fund)

Self-sufficiency for Zonkwa’s widows There is a growing number of needy Christian widows in Zonkwa, Kaduna State, in the Middle Belt of Nigeria, an area where Christians are often attacked by ethnic Fulani militants.

Barnabas Fund has covered the cost of scaling up the local churches’ interest-free revolving loan programme tenfold. The women are also given vocational training to equip them with the skills they need, as well as training in how to set up and run a small business. This programme is now enabling 100 widows each year to gain financial independence through their own small businesses.

The interest-free loans of just 20,000 naira ($92) each enable these widows to support themselves; without this help many would be reduced to begging. Loans are repaid at the rate of 2,000 naira a month, and the repayments fund further loans to help yet more widows.

The range of small businesses set up so far includes pig breeding, rearing chickens, selling produce such as vegetables and meat, and farming.

Pig breeding is just one of the small businesses started up by widows on this programme

$19,500 for self-sufficiency programme for Christian widows in Nigeria Project reference 39-1284

Medical assistance for poor rural Christians Impoverished Christians cannot afford medical treatment and in rural areas there is not much available anyway. Yet, pressures and persecution take their toll on the health of believers, especially of pastors and leaders who are the main targets for harassment by the authorities in this very restricted country. Sometimes Christian patients are discriminated against by local hospital staff. So a team of Christian health professionals, supported by Barnabas, visits different regions for a week at a time, enabling Christians to receive the treatment they need, free of charge.

Further funds from Barnabas help to finance medication and other treatments. In the past year the team has treated conditions such as Hepatitis B, kidney failure and gynaecological problems.

Skilled medical help enabled this pastor’s son to be free of his constant headaches and enabled him to sleep at night

$32,000 for medical assistance for persecuted Christians in a Central Asian country Project reference xx-1197

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

Support for Church Planters Medical needs after Palm Sunday bombings Barnabas Fund is helping with the ongoing medical treatment of 38 Christians who sustained injuries when suicide bombers targeted two Egyptian churches on Palm Sunday, 9 April. The blasts killed 45 people and left 126 injured, some of them seriously. A last-minute decision to have 300 children worship in another nearby church rather than at St George, Tanta, undoubtedly spared many young lives. Many of the dead and injured were men and the sole breadwinners for their families, so the church is also assisting their wives and children with living costs.

Barnabas Fund supports church planters ministering amongst Muslims in Indonesia; the grant of $40 a month covers part of their family needs and ministry costs, but the church-planters must also earn some money. When the new church is established and thriving, the members’ giving will mean that Barnabas no longer has to fund.

Church planter Nataniel writes that as well as buying medication and daily needs, “We used [your support] partly to purchase school uniforms for our daughter Eunike, replacing the old worn-out ones after five years.”

Another church planter, Johanes, has made a success of manufacturing bricks, and the money he makes from that goes into supporting his outreach activities.

Regular pastoral contact with all the church planters encourages them, ensuring that they feel part of the bigger picture and that financial support reaches them.

Mina, killed in the Palm Sunday attacks, and his son Kirollos, who is among the injured being helped by Barnabas Fund

$34,500 for medical care for victims of the Palm Sunday bombings in Alexandria and Tanta Project reference 00-345 (Victims of Violence Fund)

Johanes with his family; money he makes from brickmaking pays for his outreach activities

$19,000 to support to 40 church planters for a year Project reference 22-828

Barnabas Aid July/August 2017 15

New buildings for Children’s Ministry From its early origins rescuing babies who had been sacrificed to Hindu gods, Divya Shanthi in Bangalore, India, now provides residential care for about 63 children with over 500 more coming daily to school on site, as well as many other ministries.

The original simple and cheaply constructed buildings for the ministry have become increasingly unfit for purpose through monsoon damage, and so Barnabas Fund has stepped in to fund a new durable building which will include dormitories, a health centre, a special needs school and other facilities at an overall cost of $1.725 million.

The foundation stone was laid on 8 March, and Barnabas Fund was represented at the joyful ceremony marking this special step in the growth of Divya Shanthi, “God’s Peace”.

For details on sponsorship of children at Divya Shanthi, contact your local Barnabas Fund office (addresses on inside front cover).

Workmen pour concrete as the foundations for the new building for Divya Shanthi start to take shape

$1,725,000 to construct a new multipurpose building at Divya Shanthi Children’s Ministry Project reference: 21-1226

Operation Safe Havens

16 July/August 2017 Barnabas Aid

OPERATION

The reason

violence from Islamic State (IS) and other Islamist groups. Whether they are struggling to survive while internally displaced in their homeland, refugees in neighbouring countries, or wanting to leave the region altogether, Barnabas Fund is on the ground making a difference.

UPDATE

The progress

Australia, Brazil, Canada, the Czech Republic and Poland. Barnabas Fund helps them to get visas, pays their airfares and if necessary gives some financial support on arrival. Local Christians welcome them and help them settle in.

SAFE HAVENS

The sheer scale of inhuman atrocities occurring today in the Middle East has caused over a million Syrian Christians to flee their homes. As Christians they suffer not only from the conflict but also from specifically anti-Christian persecution and

Since the launch of Operation Safe Havens in July 2015, Barnabas Fund has rescued more than 1,600 Syrian and Iraqi Christians who felt they had no option but to flee their homeland.

They are now living safely in

The recognition

Barnabas Fund Australia was honoured to receive an award from the Assyrian Universal Alliance, presented by Hon. Luke Aquinas Foley MP, Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of New South Wales, on 1 April. “The Friend of Assyria” award was given in recognition of the many lives saved through Operation Safe Havens and in appreciation of our advocacy for internally displaced Christians in the Middle East. The thousandth Christian resettled in Australia through Operation Safe

The result

“The Friend of Assyria” award presented to Barnabas Fund by Hon. Luke Aquinas Foley MP Havens had arrived on 8 February.

Assyrians are the original ethnic group of Iraq, and have been Christians for nearly 2,000 years.

Because of their support we found our way in Australia, so a big thank you to them and God bless them.”

Karem and his family, from Iraq, were rescued by Operation Safe Havens

Ninos with his wife and son - One of the many families rescued through Operation Safe Havens

Your donations and prayerful support have made this possible.

To find out more and to support Operation safe Havens go to www.barnabasfund.org/osh Project reference 00-1199

Karem and his family, from Iraq “… We were displaced from our home city Qaraqosh … by the Islamic army (Daesh), we lost our property, our belongings, everything and we fled to Kurdistan region, then we left Iraq to Jordan and we got a humanitarian visa to Australia …

It was very hard for us to pay for our ticket to travel to Australia [which was eventually funded by Operation Safe Havens].

“We appreciate the support we got from Barnabas Fund and we are very grateful to the donors.

“We would like to acknowledge Barnabas Fund for their support in financing our relocation to Australia on humanitarian grounds. We experienced significant persecution in Syria due to our Christian beliefs and through the sheer grace of God we escaped the terrorists and were refugees in Lebanon for almost two years before being granted a Humanitarian Visa by Australia. Thank you kindly for all the assistance you’ve provided in securing our safety; we are eternally indebted.”

Ninos and his family were also rescued by Operation Safe Havens

Barnabas Aid July/August 2017 17

Make sure to join us wherever you are in the world on Saturday 4 November for the Barnabas Fund International Day of Prayer.

And don’t forget to get Suffering Church Action Week booked in to your church’s diary.

Phone or email your local Barnabas office to register for a free Inspiration Resource Pack to help you and your church focus your worship and activities on the persecuted Church. Contact details for your local office can be found on the inside front cover of this magazine. The Inspiration Resource Pack will include an A3 poster to advertise your event, prayer materials, a DVD with resources relating to our work, a sermon outline and Bible study, a money box for collecting donations and an original new song.

Our persecuted brothers and sisters need our prayers and support, and Suffering Church Action Week is the perfect time to raise awareness and reach out to them.

Don’t miss out on your chance to make a difference. For more details go to www.barnabasfund.org/scaw

2017

Sunday 29 October – Sunday 5 November Be a part of Suffering Church Action Week as we unite with persecuted Christians to say I am not ashamed.

18conscience Freedom of

SIGN OUR PETITION

November 30th is the closing date to sign our petition “The right to choose your religion” This petition is calling upon the Australian Government to do four things: We therefore ask the House: 1. to fulfil its obligations under article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) to protect the rights of all Australian residents who have converted from other religions including Islam

2. to promote and protect UDHR article 18 through Australia’s UN engagement and foreign aid policies, to ensure no one shall be subject to coercion which would impair their freedom of religion or belief

3. to give priority status to asylum applications from those at risk in their own countries because they have converted, and to fully recognise the complementary protection provisions and nonrefoulement obligations under international human rights law

If you need copies of this petition please contact the Australian office.

4. to give consideration to religiously persecuted minorities, especially converts from other religions whose lives are at risk due to their religious laws or local culture, and to grant protection visas under Australia’s Refugee and Humanitarian programme

18 July/Augu st 2017 Barn abas Aid

In Touch

Major supporters’ conference Twin Waters Resort, Sunshine Coast QLD Around 59 individuals from New Zealand, Australia, Vanuatu, Fiji, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea attended the conference from 6 – 8 June.

The founder of Barnabas Fund, Dr Patrick Sookhdeo, was the keynote speaker along with Caroline Kerslake, International Projects Director. International Finance Director, Mrs Rosemary Sookhdeo, and the Directors of Barnabas Fund Australia also participated.

The theme of the conference was to explore the crucial challenges to the Church across the world, including the Oceania region, and to see what Barnabas Fund is doing and can do in the future to enable the Church to stand firm. The conference looked at the impact on Christianity of other religions/ideologies and also the impact of secular humanism. The conference also sought to foster relationships and see how individuals and churches can work together in the future.

Dr Patrick Sookhdeo also presented a strategic picture of countries that will face more intense persecution over the next five years and the impact of this on the work of the Barnabas family.

The most significant outcome was the establishment of a “Think Tank” within Australia which will be chaired by Ian Clarkson, the current Chairman of Barnabas Australia.

ct activity from date on current proje up an d ar he es at Projects Deleg ernational Director of Int e, lak rs Ke e lin ro Ca

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RECEIPT

Fund Australia Ltd A/C # 0090 0025 $ ................................................... (amount in words)

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starting on (date).................................and then every month/ quarter/ six months/ year

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These instructions are new/in addition to/replace earlier automatic payment instructions in favour of Barnabas Fund (please circle).

WEBSITE - If you would like to donate online please go to

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PAYPAL - a secure method of online payment

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BECOME A BARNABAS FUND CHURCH PARTNER Please send me information on being a Barnabas Fund Church representative * We reserve the right to use designated gifts for another project if the one identified is sufficiently funded. Please return this form to Barnabas Fund Australia, PO Box 3527, Loganholme, QLD 4129.

Barnabas Fund Australia Limited is a Charitable Institution however gifts are not Tax Deductible ABN 70 005 572 485

Double Book

RRP $20.00 + $8.50 P&H

SURVIVING THE FORGOTTEN ARMENIAN GENOCIDE - A MOVING PERSONAL STORY

Smpat Chorbadjian. Edited by Patrick Sookhdeo A gripping eye witness account of the genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Turkish government against its Armenian subjects during World War 1.

Smpat Chorbadjian tells his story of the appalling hardships he suffered. It shows his courage, endurance and the will to survive and records, his healing and restoration, after years of extreme misery.

ISBN: 9780991614578 Number of Pages: 136 Cover: Paperback

$30

RRP $15.00 + $8.50 P&H

BREAKING THROUGH THE BARRIERS Rosemary Sookhdeo

How can we understand our Muslim friends and neighbours so that we can share the Gospel effectively with them. This book discusses their religion, culture and practices to find the points of contact that will help Muslims respond to the Christian Gospel. The author deals with the crucial differences between Islam and Christianity and answers important questions, such as: Is the God of the Bible the same as Allah. Is the Muslim Jesus or Isa, the same as the Jesus we know in the Gospels.

ISBN: 978-0-9825218-1-6 Number of Pages: 160 Cover: Paperback

This offer is only available by contacting the Australian Barnabas Office on 1300 365 799 / (07) 3806 1076 or by emailing bfaustralia@barnabasfund.org.

This offer is not available via the website.

barnabasfund.org

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