Barnabas aid July August 2018

barnabasaid

barnabasfund.org JULY/AUGUST 2018

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

EGYPT

Uplift for a suffering Christian community

PAKISTAN

”Leading us out from slavery” in the brick-kilns

Threatened remnant The uncertain future of Christian communities in the Middle East

PULL-OUT

Further Christian Responses to 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) ●● Channelling money from Christians through Christians to Christians (we do not send people, we only send money) ●● 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 which 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 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 Australia PO BOX 3527, LOGANHOLME, QLD 4129 Telephone (07) 3806 1076 or 1300 365 799 Fax (07) 3806 4076 Email bfaustralia@barnabasfund.org New Zealand PO Box 276018, Manukau City, Auckland, 2241 Telephone (09) 280 4385 or 0800 008 805 Email office@barnabasfund.org.nz

barnabasaid the magazine of Barnabas Fund Published by Barnabas Aid Inc. 6731 Curran St, McLean, Virginia 22101, USA Email info@barnabasfund.org © Barnabas Aid Inc. 2018. For permission to reproduce articles from this magazine, please contact the International Headquarters address above.

●● 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 ●● tackle persecution at its root by making known the aspects of the Islamic faith and other ideologies that result in injustice and oppression of Christians and others ●● inform and enable Christians in the West to respond to the growing challenge of Islam and other ideologies to Church, society and mission in their own countries

●● facilitate global intercession for the persecuted Church by providing comprehensive prayer material ●● safeguard and protect our volunteers, staff, partners and beneficiaries ●● keep our overheads low

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 ●● in the power of prayer to change people’s lives and situations, either through grace to endure or through deliverance from suffering “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”

(Matthew 25:40)

You may contact Barnabas Fund at the following addresses 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.

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.

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Barnabas Fund apologises for any errors or omissions and will be grateful for any further information regarding copyright.

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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 Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland PO Box 354, Bangor, BT20 9EQ Telephone 028 91 455 246 or 07875 539003 Email ireland@barnabasfund.org

Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations are taken from the New International Version®.

Front Cover: Iraqi Christian refugees in Jordan

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To donate by credit/debit card, please visit the website www.barnabasfund.org or phone 0800 587 4006 (from outside the UK phone +44 24 7623 1923).

Contents

The broken cup restoring a shattered Church T

he British preacher CH Spurgeon often said that before God could use someone He had to first break that person into pieces. Jeremiah knew the truth of this. From his youth (Jeremiah 1:6), he was called to do an impossible task that involved grief, suffering, abuse and rejection. He is known as “the weeping prophet” speaking to his deep empathy, personal grief and the “fountain of tears” he said he could weep for the slain among his people Israel (Jeremiah 9:1). Some rabbis saw Jeremiah as the Suffering Servant of Isaiah. Jeremiah prefigures Jesus Christ, who was also a “man of sorrows” (Isaiah 53:3), knowing great pain and rejection.

The Lord reminded Jeremiah, as he watched the potter at work, that it was the Lord’s sovereign choice to destroy and remake His people, as the potter reworked the soft clay from one shape into another (Jeremiah 18:6). The Lord also used the image of a pot, shattered to pieces and impossible to repair, as a warning to the people of Jerusalem in their iniquity (Jeremiah 19). And yet, God did restore His repentant people and, in the end, brought them back to Jerusalem out of their Babylonian captivity. God took the broken fragments and restored them into something useful.

So, brokenness does not have to be the end. It can be the prelude to glory. God can restore even the broken cup and use it for His purposes.

In Psalm 31, regarded by many as a messianic psalm, we read of the broken, shattered vessel, but here it carries the psalmist’s sense of feeling utterly useless and worthless, even despairing. The Lord Jesus on the cross experienced that same feeling of abandonment and deep despair: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46).

Today the Church is being broken afresh. In some places, such as Iraq, she lies shattered. Can she be remade and restored?

With this brokenness comes the cry of despair. There are estimated to be a million converts to Christianity in Iran. They are caught between the mullahs on one side, who govern the country absolutely and with considerable tyranny, and President Trump on the other side, who has threatened action against Iran, describing the regime’s nuclear ambitions as “playing with fire”.

In Syria, after seven long years of war and so much suffering, Christians are caught between Islamic State on one side and, on the other, the West who are determined to bring down the Christians’ protector, President Assad. Under the Baathist regime, Syrian Christians were treated with equality and respect. In the words of a Christian mother from Damascus: “Our government was not perfect, but given our context of living in the Middle East (and compared to the Gulf states) we really had a lot to be thankful for.” Today, the Christian community has been decimated by war, years of targeted kidnappings, murders and bombings by terror groups.

In Iraq, where tragedy has followed tragedy, the scattered and shattered Christian community feel that they have little future.

The vessel is broken that God may fulfil His divine purposes. For us this seems incomprehensible: how can we understand such devastation? But yet we must, for Jeremiah saw a glorious future when Israel would be restored. From the agony of Gethsemane and the pain of Calvary, Jesus Christ rose from the dead and brought us, a hopelessly fallen people, new life and salvation. We look to God who is our ever-loving Father and holds the future of all His people in His hands, to restore His Church in the Middle East and across the world.

brokenness does not have to be the end.

It can be the prelude to glory.

Turn to pages 14-17 for more information on the Church in the Middle East.

4 Compassion in Action

Self-sufficiency for rural pastors in Sierra Leone

6

Egypt

In their hour of need: Lifting up Egypt’s suffering Christians

7 8

Pakistan

When freedom comes to Christian brick-kiln workers …

Pull-out

Editorial

A History of Christian Persecution

Part 7: Christian Responses to Persecution (cont.)

11

South-East Asia

Hymn books arrive after patient prayer

12

In Brief

Trapped Kachin Christians reach safety in dramatic elephant escape

12 14

Middle East

The uncertain future of Christian communities in the Middle East

18

In Touch

Our Religious Freedom Campaign

18

how barnabas is helping Siberian church helps Tatar converts meet safely Tatar Muslims are turning to Christ across Omsk, Siberia, facilitated by their own worship and mission centre, which Barnabas helped to equip. For three years, a congregation of Russian and Tatar Christians in Omsk had to meet in cafes. They were evicted four times from premises they hired. The church was started in 2014 by “Timur”, who had a vision of bringing the Gospel to his fellow Tatars, a mainly Muslim people from the Crimea who were exiled to Siberia

by Stalin in the 1930s.

Eventually the church purchased an empty building in need of renovation and Barnabas contributed towards electrics, heating, sanitation, flooring, doors and windows.

Christians can now meet for worship, hold ministries for children and the disabled, and have their own cultural centre, decorated in traditional Tatar style, as well as training space for missionaries, who reach up to 10,000 people. Now that the believers have their own church building, Timur says, they find the authorities trust them and do not look on them as a dangerous sect.

Healing new believers in Uganda “A muscular Muslim on a motorbike attacked me, brandishing a heavy hammer and other weapons in a kind of movie-style and hit me on the head.” These are the words of “Joseph”, a Ugandan Christian helped by counselling, rehabilitation, discipleship and job training after he was attacked for daring to leave Islam and follow Jesus.

He is one of many helped by Pastor Umar Mulinde, who runs a ministry for Muslim converts. With support from Barnabas, 60 adults receive help for physical and mental scars, discipleship to strengthen their faith, and vocational skills so they can earn a living (converts are often thrown out of their jobs). The new believers learn farming, tailoring, brick-making, baking and other skills, and receive small loans to set up their own enterprises.

“Barnabas Fund has helped me survive up to now,” says Joseph Tatars and Russians worship together in the renovated church building

$37,900 to renovate a building for Siberian Tatars ministry Project reference: 43-1310

$38,035 for discipleship, counselling and vocational skills for Christian converts and schooling for their children Project reference: 56-1091

New enterprises help Nigerian widows Perfume and soaps, tie dyed fabrics, akara and moimoi bean cakes are some of the goods sold by enterprising Christian widows.

Barnabas funded workshops for 100 widows in Zonkwa, a region hit by severe poverty as well as murderous attacks by Fulani herdsmen and Boko Haram jihadis. Women without husbands were struggling to survive by subsistence farming, and could not feed their children.

The widows learned crafts, sweet and cake-making, hair-braiding, goat and chicken rearing, and how to run small shops, plus business and money-management skills, and were given interest-free loans of $123 each to purchase start-up materials. With mentoring for two years, the women are doing so well that 20 have already repaid their loans, meaning the money can now be used again to help others.

One of the widows, Monica Ezra, fries akara, a type of bean cake, for her food stall

$16,825 over two years to train, mentor, and provide loans to 100 widows to run small businesses Project reference: 39-1284

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.

Self-sufficiency for rural pastors in Sierra Leone Another 120 pastors in rural Sierra Leone can now grow food to sustain their families, and have bicycles so they can minister to their congregations and share the Gospel.

Life is tough in villages still recovering from the devastating effects of Ebola, when fields went untended and businesses closed.

Meanwhile parts of the country are becoming increasingly Islamicised, and some churches have been attacked. Pastors struggled to work across large, mainly Muslim, geographical areas, ministering to persecuted Christians who are too poor to support them fully.

Barnabas is funding training in farming skills for the pastors as well as tools and seeds for rice, groundnut and vegetables, so they can grow their own food, at a cost of $263 per pastor.

The pastors also receive bicycles, costing $121 each. This is the second group of 120 pastors which Barnabas Fund has helped in this way.

Enabling pastors in rural areas to become self-sufficient is empowering their ministry

$46,270 over three years to provide self-sufficiency and bicycles for 120 pastors in rural Sierra Leone Project reference: 46-851

Aid for Christian converts after Bangladesh floods “We prayed every day for God’s provision and miraculously He answered our prayers," said Jonota Roy, a Christian convert from Hinduism, whose family received emergency aid from Barnabas after devastating flooding in Bangladesh.

Jonota fled the floodwater with her husband and child and eventually found shelter in a school compound, but, as converts to Christianity, the family were overlooked for aid from other sources. They were among 1,284 Christian converts, of Hindu and Muslim background, helped by Barnabas after extra-severe monsoon flooding killed hundreds of people, made thousands homeless, and destroyed miles of farmland.

The converts received food parcels, containing rice, oil, flour, salt and lentils, as well as vitamins and medicines to prevent disease due to floodwaters and mosquitos. “God rescued us from the danger and at the right time He supplied our need,” said Jonota.

God answered the prayers of Jonota and her family through Barnabas Fund’s provision of food

$16,190 to help 321 Christian convert families with emergency food and medicine; averaging $50 per family Project reference: 00-634 (Disaster Relief Fund)

Barnabas Aid July/August 2018 5

Food parcels help Pakistani families save Buta Bhero and his family were able to buy a goat, thanks to a Barnabas feeding programme which helps to uplift poor Christians. Struggling to survive on Buta’s labourer’s income of around $1.75 a day, the family was living in great poverty, with no means to improve their situation. They are among 1,350 Pakistani Christian families (about 7,250 people) that Barnabas Fund helps with monthly food parcels. Buta's family receives essentials like flour, rice, sugar, lentils, tea, cooking oil, chilli, salt, soap and toothpaste. Covering about 50% of their food needs, the parcels allow families to save up for household items and become more self-reliant.

Buta’s family hope to breed from their goat, providing a future income.

Other families installed water pumps, paid for house repairs or medical treatment. Vitally, the families can now send their children to school.

Monthly food parcels enabled Buta’s family to save up and buy this goat

$45,130 to feed 200 families in Pakistan for six months; that is $35 per family per month Project reference: 41-331

Egypt

6 July/August 2018 Barnabas Aid

In their hour of need Lifting up Egypt’s suffering Christians

E

gypt has become a new front line in the campaign of Islamic State against Christians, with a series of terror strikes devastating many lives. Last year at least 128 Christians were killed and 162 were injured in five separate Islamist attacks, including the horrific Palm Sunday bombings of two churches which killed 49 people, and the Minya bus attack which killed 29.

Barnabas Fund is helping the victims of atrocities, including widows struggling to feed their families after the murder of a breadwinner, and parents and children needing medical care for serious injuries. Hundreds of families are also being helped after becoming homeless following death threats against all Christians in El Arish in February 2017, which forced the community to flee. At least two Christians who dared to return were killed, and Islamic State’s affiliate in Sinai has since threatened Christians across the country, claiming both adults and children are valid targets for bloodshed.

But the threat to Christians comes not only from terrorists. Families regularly suffer hostility and discrimination by the Muslim majority, meaning the status of Egypt’s eight to twelve million Christians is among the lowest in society. The community has been virtually drained of its middle-class, as wealthier Christians emigrated in a steady stream since the 1960s, escaping harassment and discrimination. Now, millions of Christians live in extreme poverty and face daily deprivation, and the possibility of Islamist violence, while young Christian women face the threat of kidnap, rape and forced conversion to Islam.

Victims of terror

In 2017, Barnabas helped around 1,900 Egyptian Christians affected by Islamist violence. After the Palm Sunday bombings, Barnabas supported 53 families with

payments for medical care for injured family members, plus food, household bills and education costs if the main breadwinner was unable to work. Barnabas also provided payments to 41 families who lost a loved one in the attacks and needed help with funeral costs and living expenses for the grieving spouses and children.

The widows and families of 21 Christians who were beheaded by Islamic State fighters while working in Libya in 2015 received monthly payments for food, medical needs, clothing, and school costs including transportation and daily lunches.

Barnabas also helped 243 families who fled El Arish to resettle in Ismailia or Cairo by renting and furnishing apartments, enrolling children in new schools, and providing monthly allowances until parents could find jobs.

With Egypt's Christians at risk in so many ways, Barnabas Fund is supporting families in all spheres of their lives – in their homes, work and education, their health and wellbeing, spiritual needs, and providing medical care and emotional support to victims of atrocities.

Home life

Besides living in fear of attack, Christians also face daily discrimination from the Muslim majority making it difficult to find work and leaving families trapped in poverty. In 2017, Barnabas supported around 18,619 of the poorest Christians, made up of 1,658 families and 8,671 individuals, covering basic needs like food, living costs, household bills, medical expenses, and schooling for the children.

Egypt Working life

When they can find employment, Christians often face harassment in the workplace and are paid less than Muslim colleagues. In 2017, Barnabas Fund helped 439 men, women, and young people receive vital training or equipment to support sustainable livelihoods, thereby assisting their families of around 2,604 people. This includes 100 women employed by a church-run sewing workshop, which received a new embroidery machine, enabling them to increase profits which were reinvested to help two local families set up shops, and three youths become auto rickshaw (tuktuk) drivers. It also includes 183 men and women who were trained in trades as diverse as hairdressing, plumbing, and mobile phone maintenance, and 75 individuals who received loans to start their own small enterprises.

“Mariam” from Upper Egypt says: “I learned the sewing vocation and I bought a used sewing machine by instalments. I put an announcement in the church to advertise my work. I really came to know the depth of God’s love for me.”

Education

Government schools in Egypt rarely give a good education, and Christian pupils can suffer discrimination in marking, hostility, and sometimes even violence. Barnabas Fund has recently helped to build four Christian schools, and has also funded a new children’s education centre in one of the poorest areas of Cairo. Here, children will receive help with homework to boost their grades at their government school, and get experience of activities like art and music. Teaching in government schools is of a lower standard than many countries, and Muslim parents normally pay for afterschool tuition for their children. However, Christian parents often cannot afford to do this and may not have the educational skills to help their children themselves.

With this out-of-school support, Christian pupils will be able to get better jobs in future.

Education is particularly important for teenage girls in Egypt, where scores of young women are abducted, raped and forced to marry Muslims every year. Girls as young as nine are groomed by older Muslim boys and men, or are snatched in the street, or tricked into signing conversion documents they cannot read. Receiving a good education makes the girls less vulnerable and can give them confidence to stand up to potential abductors.

Barnabas Aid July/August 2018 7

Health and wellbeing

In 2017, Barnabas Fund helped fund the construction of a new Christian hospital, south of Beni Suef. The building has now been completed with six floors including a basement. Barnabas also supported a “life school” for 80 vulnerable Christian women in Minya who learned a vocation, received health care, emotional support and learned life skills such as reading, writing, cooking on a budget, and Women’s Rights so they can protect themselves and become role models for their daughters. Barnabas has been supporting the wellbeing of Egyptian families, funding water and electricity connections to poor villages in Egypt, and providing health awareness. Barnabas has also funded the “Centre for Love” in one of Cairo’s “garbage cities”, providing an education, medical care, and vocational skills for disabled and chronically ill children and young people.

"Kristina" says: “I learnt many things which made a difference in my life. In my house I have changed my way of cooking food in order to keep my family safe…

I felt that it was unfair that my parents deprived me of my right to be educated, but I thank God because He compensated me with the life school.”

Spiritual life

Many Egyptian Christians have difficulty gathering for worship, teaching or fellowship, as for many generations there has been a severe lack of licensed church buildings. Those meeting in other venues have often faced attack by Islamist mobs or other kinds of harassment. In 2017, Barnabas helped to build up the faith of Egyptian believers in many ways, including a youth evangelism and discipleship programme for around 4,400 young people, a children’s Bible magazine which reaches around 4,500 7 to 15-year olds, Bible story presentations for hundreds more children, and supporting 25 Christian workers who serve hundreds of Christians in Upper Egypt.

“During the summer, there is not much to do for poor youth. Therefore, the churches arrange many activities, festivals, competitions and studies, all centred on the Bible … it fills their time, while filling many of their deepest needs,” said an organiser for a youth project supported by Barnabas Fund

8 July/August 2018 Barnabas Aid

Brick-kilns ...

“You are like Moses,

leading us out from slavery!�

These are the words of a Christian brick-kiln worker, set free from bonded labour when Barnabas Fund paid off his debt. He is one of around 1,384 Christians in 292 families who have already been set free, thanks to the generosity of Barnabas Fund supporters. But thousands more still need to be freed.

Brick-kilns

H

eart-warming messages from the families testify to their thankfulness to God for their freedom.

Unable to cover their basic needs, unable to get another job, and burdened with the shame of being “bonded labourers”, they had never imagined they could be free.

They are also very thankful to their fellowChristians around the world who have given the money that set them free. Typical debts were in the range $1,755 to $3,500.

What is bonded labour?

Brick-kiln workers in Pakistan are low paid. If someone falls sick or another kind of family crisis occurs, they have to take a loan from their employer, the Muslim owner of the brick-kiln. After this, money is deducted from their weekly wages to pay the interest on the loan, and this can go on for years, even for generations. As long as the debt remains, the family is “bonded” to their brick-kiln. They cannot leave to get another job and have to try to subsist on the reduced wages: it is almost like slavery.

What is to stop the families getting into debt again?

Debts can be incurred so easily when a family is living just at survival level. If someone falls sick, the family must take a loan for medicine or surgery. And brick-making is a seasonal job: when the monsoon comes, brick-making must stop, so the family income stops too.

But, Barnabas Fund gives monthly food parcels to every family that has been set free. This means their expenses are lower and their income is higher (no more deductions from their wages). The family can now cover their basic needs and even put aside a little money each week to call on at a time of extra need. Simple training in budgeting, saving and managing their money is given to all the freed families.

Barnabas Aid July/August 2018 9

What Pakistani church leaders say

It is a blessing that the Barnabas Fund is supporting many projects in Pakistan. The project with the brick kiln workers appears to be a jewel in the crown … These projects have restored their human dignity, improved their spiritual life and made them proud of being Christians.

Bishop Humphrey Sarfaraz Peters, Moderator/ President Bishop, Church of Pakistan and Bishop of Peshawar (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Tribal areas)

Barnabas Fund are superbly continuing Jesus’ mission of liberation for the poor among Christian brick-kiln workers in Pakistan. It is deeply gratifying to see illiterate but hardworking people released from unjust debts … I wholeheartedly appeal for support for this Barnabas Fund initiative to bring liberty to poor and oppressed brothers and sisters in Pakistan.

Dr Liaquat Qaiser, Full Gospel Assemblies Bible College and President, Pakistan Bible Society

“It was very encouraging to see the Lord’s hand upon these needy people released from the curse of debt to blessings of freedom. Through Barnabas Fund they are transforming their lives…”

Prof. Tahir Javaid, Chairman, Fellowship of Brethren Churches of Pakistan Trust

And in the long term…

The ultimate solution to enable a family to move into a stable economic position is to equip them with skills that they can use to get better paid work. Barnabas Fund supports 16 schools, five adult literacy classes and a sewing centre, all of them specifically for Christian brick-kiln families.

Most of the parents are illiterate, and most of their children could never previously go to school, but these learning opportunities will transform their situation.

Don’t the employers get angry at losing their bonded labourers?

No. Our local Christian project partners have worked hard to develop good relationships with the Muslim brick-kiln owners.

They have also encouraged the freed families to continue at their brick-making jobs for a while, so the brick-kiln owner does not suddenly lose his experienced workforce. Most of the Christians are happy to continue with the work, hard and heavy though it is, because they now get their full wages and are respected as skilled workers, not despised as bonded labourers.

Barnabas funded this simple church building for a Christian brick-kiln community that did not have a place to meet

Brick-kilns

10 July/August 2018 Barnabas Aid

What Barnabas Fund is doing to help Christian brick-kiln workers in Pakistan

230

Barnabas pays back the loans that brick-kiln labourers took from their employers at times of extra hardship or family crisis, thus setting them free. We have already freed 230 families, that is, around 1,384 people.

(Project ref. 41-1356)

375

Barnabas gives monthly food parcels to 375 brick-kiln families (approx. 1,800 people), providing about 50% of their food needs.

(Project ref. 41-331)

16

Barnabas provides the running costs of 16 schools, specifically for 871 children of Christian brick-kiln families.

(Project ref. 41-1236)

5

Barnabas supports five adult literacy classes for Christian brick-kiln communities. All who complete this year’s course will be given a Bible.

(Project ref. 41-1315)

30

Barnabas is funding 30 women from Christian brick-kiln communities to learn tailoring skills. Each will be given a sewing machine when she completes the six-months course.

(Project ref. PR1391)

Ripples of kindness spreading out

Inspired by the way they see Christians caring for each other, the Muslim brick-kiln owners are responding with generosity too.

One provides free transport for the Christian children to take them to and from the school they now attend each day. Another contacted our partners to bring to their attention two or three Christian families who were in especially great need. “Please pay their debts,” he said. One was so moved by the pitiful state of a Christian widow with five young children that, when she came with Barnabas Fund’s money to pay her debt, he set her free without taking the money. Seven brick-kiln owners have each provided a room for their workers to use for church services.

One Muslim brick-kiln owner was so moved by the pitiful state of a Christian widow with five young children that he set her free without taking the money to pay her debt “Adult” literacy for all ages!

Adult literacy classes, held in the late afternoon after the day’s brick-making is over, are attended not just by adults but also by many children. These are children who cannot go to school because they must do their share of brick-making with their parents.

Some of the girls who studied last year were so enthused that, no sooner had they completed the literacy course, than they volunteered to be teaching assistants when the classes re-started with a new intake.

Loving to read the Word of God

The literacy workbook is full of Christian teaching, so the Christians are built up in their faith at the same time as learning reading, writing and arithmetic. One boy commented that, having done the literacy course, he can now understand his pastor’s preaching better.

Two or three girls, aged about twelve, have – of their own accord – started daily devotions with their families. The girls cannot yet read well enough to read the Bible itself, so each reads to her parents, brothers and sisters from her literacy workbook, which is full of Bible stories in simple language.

There is such a desire to read the Bible that the 2018 literacy classes are going to be extended from nine to twelve months.

The extra time should mean that final reading skills are enough to read the Bible. Each student will be given their own Urdu Bible at the end of the course.

Added blessing

Local pastors have always come weekly to lead worship and teach the Christians, even though some brick-kilns did not have a church building i.e. a room in which the Christians could gather. We praise God that the practical help has also brought spiritual uplift to the brick-kiln communities. We have also given funds to build a simple church for one brick-kiln.

“All the projects that I visited have not only restored their dignity but have also changed their spiritual life. Now the Sunday services are totally packed and during each week they have two to three prayer meetings,” said Bishop Humphrey Peters, Moderator of the Church of Pakistan, who visited the Barnabas brick-kiln projects in April.

Pull-Out

William Tyndale was strangled and burnt at the stake in 1536 for his desire that everyone in England should be able to read the Bible for themselves

A History of

Christian Persecution 7

Christian Responses to Persecution (continued)

In

Barnabas Aid May/June 2018 we considered (I) whether religious liberty is a Biblical concept and (II) the various ways in which the Church, in a range of times and places, has responded to persecution. In this issue, we narrow the focus to look at (III) how individual believers have responded to persecution in the Bible and in Church history and (IV) responses to the growing pressure on the Church in the West in 2018.

III.

HOW SHOULD INDIVIDUAL CHRISTIANS RESPOND TO PERSECUTION?

The Bible and Christian experience show us a variety of ways that believers respond to persecution, and Church history is made glorious by the faithful men and women of God who served Him unswervingly and often paid the price in martyrdom. Praise God for their witness and example! Let us pray that the Lord will guide each one of us how to respond according to His will, when times of persecution come.

State protection?

Ezra and Nehemiah faced similar problems from enemies hostile to the exiled Israelites returning to Jerusalem, but each of them reacted differently.

Ezra refrained from asking King Artaxerxes for a military escort when the large group of returnees began their journey from Babylon to Jerusalem.

Instead, he relied on fasting and prayer for safety on the road (Ezra 8:21-23). By contrast, Nehemiah accepted the army officers and Cavalry that the king sent with him for the journey (Nehemiah 2:9).

Like Ezra, Nehemiah organised the people to pray, but unlike Ezra, he also “posted a guard day and night” (Nehemiah 4:9). As threats increased and intelligence reports repeatedly warned of likely attacks, Nehemiah stepped up his military preparedness and had armed men standing ready to defend those who were re-building the wall of Jerusalem. Indeed, even the builders carried weapons (Nehemiah 4:11-23).

Centuries later, and in the context of a very different empire, the apostle Paul appealed to the state justice system for help against his religious enemies (Acts 25:7-12).

Escaping and avoiding?

Paul experienced repeated persecution, but responded in a variety of ways. On one occasion he escaped and fled (Acts 9:23-25). Another time he used his status as a Roman citizen to avoid a flogging (Acts 22:24-30).

Accepting and enduring?

Before this, there were many times when Paul faithfully endured terrible and violent persecution (2 Corinthians 11:23-24). Once, when an earthquake broke his prison chains and opened the prison doors, Paul chose not to escape. By contrast, when Peter’s chains miraculously fell off and the gates miraculously opened for him, he followed the angel out of prison and made his way to freedom (Acts 12:6-10).

Later, we see Paul setting off to Jerusalem ready, not only to be imprisoned, but even to die there for Christ’s sake (Acts 21:10-14).

Denying Christ?

Some converts from other religions choose to keep their Christian faith secret to avoid persecution.

Some might even be killed if their families discovered their decision to follow Christ. It may mean they have to continue certain practices of their old religion, so as to avoid suspicion. This contrasts with converts who choose to proclaim their love for the Lord and take the risk of suffering for Christ.

Naaman, a Syrian army commander who had been miraculously healed of leprosy by following the instructions of the Israelite prophet Elisha, decided he would never again offer sacrifices to any god except Yahweh, who had healed him.

But Naaman’s job required him to accompany his master to a pagan temple and there bow down alongside his master to the god Rimmon.

Naaman could not envisage doing anything else, despite his new faith in Yahweh. He asked for forgiveness in advance and Elisha assured him on this point (2 Kings 5:17-19).

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Amidst all the possible responses to persecution, it might seem that the red line that can never be crossed is to reject Christ outright. Many Christians have been gloriously martyred for refusing to deny Him. But what if the threatened suffering is going to fall on others, not on yourself? Around the turn of this present century, a group of Indonesian Christians, who had gone away together for a youth event, were confronted by armed Islamist militants. The militants said they would spare the young people if the church elders stepped forward. The pastor and elders made themselves known, no doubt expecting to be killed on the spot. But, having identified the spiritual leadership of the church, the militants then said those leaders must convert to Islam or the young people would be killed.

A similar dreadful dilemma has been forced on church leaders in other contexts, for example, Communist Czechoslovakia in the twentieth century, or Japan in the seventeenth century. To deny Christ would save others from physical torture or death, but what of your eternal destiny? And what of their eternal destiny? What spiritual damage might it do to those others to see their leaders rejecting the faith? Would they understand your motive, or might they follow your example? Is it more loving to let them suffer in their bodies, sure that their souls are saved, or to save them from short-term physical suffering and possibly imperil them in eternity? In these circumstances, if some commit apostasy with their lips but continue to love the Lord in their hearts, is that right or wrong?

Only God knows.

The early Church suffered repeated bouts of persecution under various Roman emperors. Many Christians apostatised, especially in the 250s under the persecution of Emperors Decius and Valerian, but when the persecution eased off some wanted to resume their Christian faith. There was strong disagreement amongst those who had remained faithful about what should be done with these cases: should they be accepted back into the church or not?¹ No doubt some cited the example of the apostle Peter who denied Christ three times but repented and was reinstated by the Lord (John 18:15-27; 21:1219). Others may have recalled strong warnings in Scripture, such as Hebrews 6:4-6, about those who fall away, or may have had practical concerns about whether these individuals would betray other church members if persecution re-started.

Seek the Lord’s will in each situation

There are a wide variety of possible responses to persecution, and each person must do as the Lord leads them. The one response that seems to have no justification at all is to seize power and kill the persecutor.

The annals of church history have shown us that in the times of greatest peril, pain and persecution Christians have willingly embraced death. So great was the grace of God that they did not fear the fire, the lion or the sword. In the Egyptian church, martyrdom is seen as the greatest blessing that God can bestow upon His child. And so they willingly embrace death for Christ. But for some others, to be a “living martyr”, by continuing to confess Christ as Lord, can be a greater burden to bear than to die for Christ.

IV.

WHAT SHOULD WESTERN CHRISTIANS DO IN 2018?

In Australia a university student called “Andrew” was suspended and disciplined for allegedly making a classmate “C” feel unsafe. What had Andrew done?

First Andrew, who is a Christian, had listened while C shared their anxieties with him; then he had offered to pray for C. C agreed. In a later conversation, where C was present, someone asked Andrew, “What would you do if your friend was gay?” Andrew said he would show love to the friend even though he would not necessarily agree with what the friend was doing.

For this he was punished, until, with legal help, he persuaded the university to reverse its decision.

The Student Union (SU) at the University of Sydney tried for three years to ban the Evangelical Union, founded in the 1930s, from meeting on campus. The SU’s stated objection was that the Evangelical Union required its members to sign a statement affirming their belief in Jesus Christ, which the SU said discriminated against non-Evangelicals. Other faith societies at the university rallied to the support of the Evangelical Union and eventually, in 2016, when the issue gained major coverage in the Australian press, the SU backed down.

In New Zealand independent marriage celebrants are now required to agree to perform same-sex marriages. Almost 50 people who applied for a licence to officiate at weddings were refused in the two and a half years to April 2018, because they did not want to do so for same-sex couples. Pastors in official church structures are exempt from this requirement, but ordinary Christians applying to be independent marriage celebrants are not. New Zealand Christians are challenging this situation, which contradicts assurances made by Louisa Wall MP when she introduced the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill to Parliament on 29 August 2012: “What my bill does not do is require any person or Church to carry out a marriage if it does not fit with the beliefs of the celebrant or the religious interpretation a Church has.”² In Scotland two midwives at the Southern General Hospital, Glasgow, were ordered in 2008 to supervise and support colleagues who were carrying out abortions. As committed Christians, Mary Doogan and Connie Wood had years earlier registered their conscientious objection to participating in performing an abortion, as permitted by the 1967 Abortion Act. They felt that obeying the new order would be

Magna Carta

In 1215, the leading barons of England forced King John to sign a document that has become famous across the world. Written in Latin, the document’s full name was Magna Carta Libertatum (Great Charter of Liberties), and its aim was to guarantee the rights of individuals. Magna Carta, as it is usually known, had 63 clauses, the first of which includes the statement: “The English Church shall be free.”

This is one of only four clauses that remains part of English law today.

... Pull-Out tantamount to participating in the abortion procedure themselves, but hospital managers refused to bend.

From an informal grievance procedure, the case moved to the law courts and eventually, in 2014, to the Supreme Court, which ruled against Mary and Connie. The midwives had to give up their jobs.

In England a Crown Prosecution Service lawyer told Bristol Magistrates Court in February 2017 that publicly quoting from the King James Bible “in the context of modern British society, must be considered to be abusive and is a criminal matter”. He was speaking at the trial of two men arrested in 2016 for preaching in a Bristol shopping area, because of the content of their preaching. They were found guilty of a religiously aggravated offence under the 1998 Crime and Disorder Act. Yet everything the preachers had said was expressed respectfully and consistent with Biblical Christianity down the ages. Furthermore, freedom to read the Bible in public was established in England by a royal decree in 1537.

The preachers were later acquitted on appeal, but their freedom of speech, their freedom to preach and try to convince others of their beliefs, and their freedom to read the Bible in public should never have been challenged.

The rising tide

The above cases are just a sample of the many assaults on freedom of religion that are now taking place in Western countries – countries which had been at the forefront of advancing the very rights which are now being attacked. More examples can be found in Barnabas Fund’s 2018 booklet Turn the Tide.³ A number of these cases have ended with the religious liberty of the Christians being affirmed, after a long, emotionally gruelling (and often expensive) struggle.

Some have argued that this proves the laws we have at present are sufficient to protect freedom of religion.

But other cases have ended in a defeat for religious liberty.

Still other stories have not yet come to an end, for example, the New Zealand marriage celebrants.

The main point is that none of these cases should ever have been cases at all. Police should not arrest peaceful street preachers. Universities should not punish students who peacefully express their religious beliefs. Medical staff who have a conscientious objection to abortions should not be required to facilitate abortions in any way.

The waves breaking on a seashore sometimes reach higher, sometimes lower. If you watch for five minutes there seems to be no pattern. But if you watch for five hours, you realise that the tide is coming in. Both high and low waves are wetting the beach further up than before, and the sand that was gently lapped with froth and bubbles is now half a metre underwater.

This is the situation for freedom of religion in the West, as the laws, constitutions and international agreements designed to protect religious liberty are being put to the test. Some cases are lost, some are won but, overall, secular humanism is gaining ground while the freedoms of followers of all religions, and especially Christianity, are gradually washed away.

Who would have expected the British government’s

Barnabas Aid July/August 2018 iii

response when Lord Pearson asked in the House of Lords in December 2017: …will the Government therefore confirm unequivocally that a Christian who says that Jesus is the only Son of the one true God cannot be arrested for hate crime or any other offence, however much it may offend a Muslim or anyone of any other religion?

The government whip refused to comment.

What must we do?

It is time for a new generation to rise up and reclaim this great heritage of religious freedom, for us and for all, before it is lost forever. The way to do this depends on the existing laws and practices in each country.

UK Religious liberty in the UK was established mainly by the gradual repeal of laws that had hindered it. Neither the 1998 Human Rights Act, nor the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), nor the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1976) cover all the seven foundational freedoms of religion – not even when they are all combined together!

In the UK the need is for a new Act of Parliament to specifically and positively affirm all seven foundational aspects of freedom of religion.

Australia The Australian federal constitution,

which came into force on 1 January 1901, guarantees the freedom of everyone to practise their own religion. It bans any established religion and any forced religious observance. It also guarantees that no one should be excluded from holding a public office or public trust because of their religious beliefs.⁴ This is an excellent basis, but there are three weaknesses: 1. It only applies to the actions of the federal government, not to the various state governments. None of the state constitutions say anything about freedom of religion.

2. It does not provide any direct way for individuals to seek redress if their rights are violated.

3. Those who drafted the constitution in the last years of the nineteenth century did not foresee a time when the threat to religious freedom would come from attempts to impose non-religious belief systems on Christians and followers of other religions. So, the constitution is framed in terms of protecting people from pressure by other religions, and is not very effective in protecting against the secular humanist ideology that is now driving much of the anti-Christian agenda in the West.

In Australia the need is for full, permanent and adequate protections, whether constitutional or legal, to guarantee all seven of the foundational aspects of religious freedom for followers of all religions and none.

New Zealand New Zealand’s 1999 Bill of

Rights Act offers good protection for the rights of individuals, particularly minorities. However,

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although Christians are now a minority in New Zealand their need for protection is often not recognised, and the Tribunal established by the 1993 Human Rights Act has increasingly allowed the erosion of the rights of Christians.

In New Zealand the need is for a formal government review of how well the seven foundational aspects of freedom of religion are being protected in New Zealand today and whether any group, for example Christians, may be “falling through the cracks” and their rights being neglected, sidelined or undermined.

Our Religious Freedom campaign

Barnabas Fund is organising petitions in each of these three countries, asking for these actions to be taken.

Turn to page 18 for an update on Barnabas Fund’s Our Religious Freedom campaign and to see how you can be involved.

These petitions are not seeking special advantages, protections or privileges for Christians. Nor are they seeking disadvantages or persecution for nonChristians. They are seeking justice and freedom for all, reflecting – if we may humbly make the claim – God’s own governance of the world. The actions we are asking for will benefit followers of all religions and none.

I have signed the petition, what next?

In the context of growing Christianophobia in many Western societies, some important issues arise, which Christians in the West have not had to grapple with for many centuries.

How should Christian citizens behave when their governments are promoting secular humanism?

Naturally, we should be good citizens of the nation where God has placed us (Jeremiah 29:7), but can we be enthusiastic if our governments are veering increasingly away from God’s model of governance?

Is it Biblical to support “my country right or wrong” (nationalism)? Or can we be loyal to our country while crying out to God and speaking about its moral failings? Where do we draw the line between a healthy patriotism and the type of intolerant nationalism that can never be acceptable?

What about state churches, established churches, and churches who ally themselves closely to their state or government? Is such a status or position still viable if the governments of those states become anti-Christian?

Or are such churches irretrievably compromised?

Of course, neither individuals, nor churches, nor

Seven aspects of religious freedom

• Freedom to worship • Freedom to read Scriptures in public • Freedom to interpret Scriptures without government interference • Freedom to choose or change your religion or belief • Freedom to preach and try to convince others of the truth of your beliefs • Freedom to establish places of worship • Freedom from being required to affirm a particular worldview or set of beliefs in order to attend university; work in professions such as teaching, healthcare and law; hold a public sector job (except where there is a genuine occupational requirement such as chaplaincy posts); stand for election; or give parental care to a child. denominations must yield to pressure to incorporate other beliefs into the Christian Gospel. We must always put Christ before our nation and its political order. What does this mean in practice? Certain kinds of sacrifice and suffering may be necessary that Western Christians have not had to make for many generations. Some of our brothers and sisters have already lost their jobs because of their Christian beliefs. Others have lost the possibility of study and gaining valuable qualifications. What more is to come?

The cloud of witnesses

Earlier generations of believers established the seven foundational religious freedoms by their determination, commitment and refusal to compromise. Some went to prison. Some were executed. At the time, many people considered them bigots, fanatics or worse. But they won freedom for us all, Christian and non-Christian alike.

We must not let the tide of secular humanism wash those freedoms away.

1 See “A History of Christian Persecution: Part 2 AD 33-312 Hated by the World” in Barnabas Aid (July-August 2017) pp.iii-iv.

2 https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/doc ument/50HansD_20120829_00000032/marriage-definition-ofmarriage-amendment-bill-first (viewed 10 May 2018) 3 Available online at barnabasfund.org or OurReligiousFreedom.org or from the UK, Australian and New Zealand offices listed on page iv.

4 Section 116 of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act, which became law on 9 July 1900 and entered into force on 1 January 1901.

BARNABAS FUND HOPE AND AID FOR THE PERSECUTED CHURCH 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 Published by Barnabas Aid Inc. 6731 Curran St, McLean, Virginia 22101, USA © Barnabas Aid Inc. 2018

Australia PO Box 3527 Loganholme QLD 4129 Telephone (07) 3806 1076 or 1300 365799 Fax (07) 3806 4076 Email bfaustralia@barnabasfund.org New Zealand PO Box 276018, Manukau City, Auckland, 2241 Telephone (09) 280 4385 or 0800 008 805 Email office@barnabasfund.org.nz

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Registered Charity Number 1092935 Company Registered in England Number 4029536

From outside the UK Telephone +44 24 7623 1923 Fax +44 24 7683 4718 Email info@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

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Hymn books South-East Asia

Barnabas Aid July/August 2018 11

Patient prayer answered hymn books arrive in oppressed region of South-East Asia

O

ver 60,000 believers in a remote region of South-East Asia no longer share a solitary smuggled hymn book in their native language.

Pastor “Paul” kept the hymn book he managed to bring into the region safe. But when attempts were made to share copies, or even just pages, they were confiscated or destroyed by the authorities. Paul’s hymn book was finally shared with Christians in his remote region of South-East Asia last year, when Barnabas Fund enabled 10,000 hymn books to be printed and distributed, scanned from Paul’s precious original copy.

The hymn books were distributed via a network of truck and boat transport to a minority people group in the region who are enduring longterm government repression. Many local pastors journeyed on foot for several days, from remote villages, to collect their hymn books. ●● Pastor “John” loves to sing hymns.

Together with several Christian friends, he fasted and prayed to God for seven days for a hymn book in his own language. After seven years the hymn books arrived; he gave thanks saying, “God answered our prayer through God’s chosen people from another country.” ●● Pastor “Samuel” struggled with addiction since childhood before he

came to accept Christ as his saviour.

Now he has a flock of over 250 to minister to. “After I had accepted Christ, my life totally changed. I never used drugs [again], stopped smoking, stopped drinking, I went to church every service and totally submitted my life to God.” He went on to study at Bible College and dedicated his life to serving the Lord. “Receiving hymnals is God hearing our prayers. I have been praying for a hymnal since 2003.” The hymn books follow on from Barnabas Fund’s help in providing 10,000 Bibles to poor and persecuted believers in the same country last year1.

“God answered our prayer through God’s chosen people from another country.” ●● Pastor “Peter” grew up in an animist family. He told us, “All my brothers and sisters were sacrificed to the demon one by one … My father himself sacrificed his children to this idol. When it was my turn, their idol did not accept me and this is why I am still alive today.”

His father threw him out of his home when he was just eleven and he was taken in by a Christian

In this rural region of South-East Asia transport is by boat and road, when possible. Many pastors journeyed on foot for several days, from remote villages, to collect hymn books family. Pastor Peter has planted 13 churches and was overjoyed to receive the hymn books for his congregations. “It was very difficult to reach out to our young people, who are really interested in singing songs. Worship services have been very quiet and boring because there was no singing. This is the first time our people see and own a hymnal.

PRAISE THE LORD!” Many pastors were excited to tell us of a surge in new conversions after receiving the Bibles last year. Their growing congregations are very much encouraged to be able to sing praise to the Lord in their own language during worship. Pastor “Jacob” said, “Praise the Lord! One of our biggest struggles as Christians has been the lack of hymnals [in our language]. We people love singing, but we do not have hymnals. We have been praying for hymnals a lot. God never forgot our prayers and answered in His time.”

1. Barnabas Aid, May / June 2017, p10

Barnabas Fund enabled 10,000 hymn books to be given to Christians in a country of SouthEast Asia, covering printing and distribution costs. This was enough for at least one hymn book per family in every congregation, at a cost of $3.50 each.

Project reference XX-1042

In brief

12 July/August 2018 Barnabas Aid

Crosses torn down from churches as Henan authorities escalate crackdown on Christians CHINA

Authorities have forcibly removed crosses from churches, as well as destroying church buildings in several Chinese provinces in the last year Authorities in Henan province, central China, have escalated their crackdown on Christians, tearing down crosses and forcing churches to close. In May, local government officials were also reported to be revoking elderly church members’ pensions and stopping children going to school in an effort to force Christians to renounce their faith. They also threatened to fire Christian civil servants and interfere with Christian-run family businesses.

Police raided several other churches, and confiscated Bibles and literature and erected a sign stating “minors are not allowed in churches” Officials tore down crosses from churches in Jiaozuo, Shangqiu and Anyang and in mid-April forcibly demolished a church in Gongyi.

Police raided several other churches, and confiscated Bibles and literature and erected a sign stating “minors are not allowed in churches”. Earlier in April, Anyang authorities ordered all Christians attending stateregistered churches to register and give details of their conversion, as well as the religious background of their family members.

16 Christians murdered in brutal dawn attack on Nigerian church NIGERIA

Fulani herdsmen attacked a church in Gwer, Benue State, on 23 April, leaving 16 Christians dead. A spokesperson for the State Governor told news sources that the attackers then went on to set 50 houses on fire.

The attack came just four days after the murder of ten Christian famers

by Muslim Fulani herdsmen in the Guma Local Government Area, also in Benue State. Research released in November 2017 found that over half a million people from the Christianmajority state were displaced as a result of ethnic Fulani Muslim attacks on Christian communities between 2013 and 2016 alone.

Relatives of martyrs honour their sacrifice EGYPT

Churches across Egypt marked the arrival of the bodies of the 20 Egyptian Christians martyred by Islamic State in Libya at Cairo airport on 14 May. One church minister, related to four of those killed, said, “This is a great and living testimony … they raised the name of our Lord and their faith.”

The mother of one martyr, Abanoub, said, “They’re Christ’s beloved …We are happy and proud of them … We were greatly pained but God comforted us.

They left Egypt and no one knew them but now they are returning and the whole world are watching them.”

Thirteen of the Christians, who had gone to Libya to find work, came from the same village. They were beheaded on a beach near Sirte in 2015, along with a Ghanaian Christian. All refused to convert to Islam and deny Christ, which would have saved their lives. Their bodies were only recently recovered and identified, after the territory around Sirte was reclaimed from Islamic State.

Trapped Kachin Christians reach safety in dramatic elephant escape MYANMAR (BURMA)

An elderly woman was amongst those fleeing an attack in the Kachin region.

Her grandson bravely carried her to safety on his back. “I told my family to leave me alone in my home because I cannot walk”, she said. “But my grandson insisted on carrying me. I have been a refugee three or four times in my life, but this is the worst it has ever been” Two thousand Kachin Christians who had been trapped by the Myanmar (Burmese) Army in April and May, travelled on foot and by elephant to reach safety after weeks in the jungle.

Attacks by the army, which began in April, trapped around 2,000 Kachin Christian civilians in the jungle of northern Myanmar, with the total number of Kachin displaced estimated to be as high as 10,000.

Many were injured as they fled in the panic and chaos that ensued after the sudden and heavy airstrikes on villages and IDP camps in the region. Several are reported to have been hurt by landmines.

Many of those who eventually reached safety sought sanctuary in churches.

Local elephant owners came to the Kachins’ aid. “Thank you Jesus for these elephants,” writes Barnabas Fund’s contact

In brief

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Three churches targeted in family suicide bombing INDONESIA

Suicide bombers from the same family targeted early-morning services at three churches of different denominations in Surabaya, on the island of Java, on Sunday 13 May, killing 13 and leaving more than 40 people injured.

Two young men on motorcycles bombed the first church at around 7:30 a.m. Around five minutes later, their father exploded a car bomb in the grounds of the second church and their mother blew herself up, along

with her nine and twelve-year-old daughters, at a third. Islamic State later claimed responsibility for the attacks. Java police subsequently stated that the family had recently returned to Indonesia from Syria.

The church bombings were the deadliest since Christmas Eve 2000, when 19 people were killed and more than 100 injured in a series of coordinated attacks on different churches across Indonesia.

Children top targets of Cuban government’s anti-Christian discrimination CUBA

Christian children are particularly being targeted by authorities in Communist Cuba, according to the latest report from the independent United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. Researchers found “community officials discriminate against Christians in employment and schools, including denying some Christian children food in schools”.

In 2017, Cuban authorities prosecuted a church pastor and his wife for seeking to home school

their children so they could receive a Christian education. The pastor was charged with “acting contrary to the normal development of a minor” and sentenced to one year of correctional labour, which was reduced to six months of house arrest on condition his children attended a government school. The pastor was also banned from leading his church, and ordered to take up a low-paid government job checking the local water supply for disease.

Jihadi attacks forcing out Quetta Christians PAKISTAN

Christians are leaving the southern Pakistani city of Quetta following a wave of targeted attacks by jihadists.

Two Christians were killed and four seriously injured when gunmen on motorcycles opened fire on worshippers exiting a church service on 15 April 2018, while four Christians were killed in a drive-by shooting on Easter Monday (2 April 2018). In December 2017, a suicide bombing at Bethel Memorial Methodist Church left nine dead and over 50 injured.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for all three attacks.

Two Christians were killed and four seriously injured when gunmen on motorcycles opened fire on worshippers The pastor of Bethel Memorial Methodist Church told Barnabas Fund, "We are under threat of further attacks and the local police have provided us with some protection at the church.

I have faith in Jesus Christ, with His angels to protect us. Some people are leaving, but He is with us and makes us brave in heart to stay in Quetta."

CAR church attack leaves 16 dead, including church minister CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

A church minister and at least 15 people were killed in an attack on a church service and Christian-majority neighbourhood in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, on Tuesday 1 May. A local church leader told Barnabas Fund, “We were holding our church leaders' retreat. Unfortunately, from ten until three in the afternoon, there was constant gunfire by armed groups … Apparently well informed of a programme taking place at the church … they surrounded the building and went in while a service was being held, throwing grenades and firing at the participants. They killed the minister on the spot along with five others.” … they surrounded the building and went in while a service was being held The attackers then rampaged through the Christian-majority neighbourhood, “looting shops and killing one of our church members in front of his house”.

The same church had been attacked in 2014, when gunmen armed with grenades killed another church minister and several worshippers.

Despite the government agreeing a ceasefire with Islamist rebel groups in 2017, the Christian-majority Central African Republic continues to be wracked by violence, which began in 2013, when the Seleka Islamist group briefly overthrew the government.

UN peacekeepers and government security personnel have been attacked

by Muslim armed groups in Bangui, while reprisal attacks have also been perpetrated by so-called Christian “anti-balaka” militia groups, although their actions have been condemned by church leaders.

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14 July/August 2018 Barnabas Aid

THE THREATENED REMNANT The uncertain future of Christian communities in the Middle East

The countries of Iraq, Syria and Lebanon were the cradle of Christianity. But today, Christian communities that have existed since the days of the Early Church face the threat of extinction because of persecution, conflict and genocide.

Islamic State deliberately destroyed churches and Christian homes in towns such as Qaraqosh in northern Iraq

VANISHING CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES Iraq

Iraq is a country divided. The Shialed government is distrusted by many of the minority Sunni population and is in open conflict with the autonomous Kurdish administration in the north. Iraq’s Christians have endured a genocidal campaign of elimination at the hands of Islamic State (IS) militants, but the liberation of historically Christian towns in northern Iraq and

the official defeat of IS in Iraq has brought neither security nor justice for genocide survivors.

The tiny number of Iraqi Christians who have returned to their towns have been confronted not only with devastated homes and churches (many deliberately destroyed, vandalised, or sold off) but also with a new threat.

Iran-backed Shia militia now run Bartella. Before the arrival of IS in 2014 most of the town’s 40,000 residents were Christians. Now, there are multiple Islamic schools, and public buildings and streets are covered in Muslim graffiti. Shia militia are reported to have opened Islamic schools within church buildings, in

what is being described as a systematic effort “to change the Christian demography” of northern Iraq.

Years of anti-Christian violence in the capital Baghdad have led to the closure of multiple churches, as congregation members have fled.

Christians in the city have been the targets of kidnappings and killings, while some Christian shopkeepers have been forced to pay “protection money” to militias.

But Christians were targeted long before the rise of IS. A surge of anti-Christian violence began following the 1990-1991 Gulf War and intensified after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003. More than

Middle East

Barnabas Aid July/August 2018 15

Syria

Barnabas has helped Iraqi Christian refugee families in Jordan get through cold winters by supplying heaters and blankets (pictured) 75% of Iraq’s Christian population, which numbered around 1.5 million believers in 1990, have now left the country. A senior church leader from the traditionally moderate southern city of Basra stated in December 2017, “We are afraid of another wave of persecution that will be the end of Christians [in Iraq].”

Many internally displaced believers live in poverty. One 80-year-old former resident of the Christian town of Qaraqosh, now in a Christian displaced persons camp in Erbil, said, “How can we possibly live somewhere we don’t feel welcome or safe?”

The Syrian war has now entered its eighth year and more than half the population have either fled the country or been internally displaced. Damascus and most major population centres are under the control of Bashar al-Assad’s government. Aleppo suffered a long and terrible siege and years of bombardment, especially of Christian neighbourhoods. At the time of writing, rebel groups hold territory in the northern province of Idlib and other isolated pockets, while much of the north-east of the country is effectively an autonomous Kurdish region. Although IS has lost almost all the territory once claimed as its caliphate, many IS fighters are still at large.

Several of the most prominent rebel groups are stridently Islamist and have deliberately targeted Christians: Hay’at Tahrir al Sham (formerly known as Al Nusra Front) was at one point openly aligned with Al Qaeda. When the group captured the predominantly Christian town of Maaloula in September 2013, Christians who had been unable to flee were given the choice of conversion to Islam or being beheaded. Jaish al-Islam (the “Army of Islam”), which until recently was one of the groups controlling the rebel-held enclave of East Ghouta near Damascus, has openly called for Syria to be governed by sharia law. Since 2014, the

A woman and child at a Christian refugee camp in Erbil

group has been running a network of sharia courts in the areas it controls.

Christians in Kurdish-controlled regions of northern Syria face discrimination and persecution. In 2018, Christian properties have been marked for confiscation by Kurdish militia, while young people from Christian communities have been kidnapped to serve as conscripts in Kurdish armed groups fighting against the Turkish army (Turkey has long opposed Kurdish independence).

One Christian said, “They are treating us like second-class citizens … employing various tactics to frighten and subject our people with the aim of taking possession of our final remaining properties and lands, thereby transforming our ancestral homeland into an autonomous Kurdish region.”

Turkish armed forces and Syrian rebels – many of them militant jihadists – are fighting to seize the Kurdish-controlled region of Afrin in northern Syria. As they have advanced, they have “cleared” villages of Christians and other religious minorities. When they captured the city of Afrin in March 2018, Christians who had not fled went into hiding, while activists reported “war crimes and ethnic cleansing” were taking place. Turkish warplanes providing air support for the attack bombed and destroyed one of the world’s oldest churches in the UNESCO world heritage site of Brad, nine miles south of the city.

Six-year-old Nicole was one of 100 Syrian Christian children who Barnabas Fund provided with sight tests and glasses – many Christian families, displaced and therefore jobless because of the war, could not provide for this need, which became a growing problem as the years of war passed and the children’s eyesight deteriorated. Nicole says, “I cannot wait to wear my glasses. I chose them myself, and they are very nice.”

Middle East

16 July/August 2018 Barnabas Aid

Barnabas Fund has provided food aid to displaced Christians in Iraq (pictured) and Syria, as well as Iraqi and Syrian Christian refugees in other countries

Before the war, Christians comprised around 10% of Syria’s population and were treated with respect and as equals. Now, hundreds of thousands of Syrian Christians have fled the country, and even the historical evidence of a Christian presence is being erased.

Three children at an Armenian Christian school in Damascus were killed on 6 March 2018 after rockets fired from East Ghouta hit the school. Weeks of rocket attacks from the rebel-held enclave led many Christian families to leave Damascus to take shelter in villages outside the city

Lebanon’s Christian community has been established for centuries, but Christians are now a minority. In the last 100 years, the Christian percentage of the population has dropped from around 78% to 34%

Lebanon

Lebanon endured its own bitter civil war between 1975 and 1990, but a fragile peace has been maintained for nearly three decades.

Lebanon is the only Arab state that is not officially Muslim and has the highest proportion of Christians of any country in the Middle East.

It is politically segmented, but the constitution attempts to distribute power equally. By convention, the president is a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim, and the speaker of parliament a Shia Muslim. The country has been deeply affected by the Syrian conflict and Syrian refugees now comprise a quarter of Lebanon’s population.

Some of Lebanon’s Christians can trace their origins as far back as the 5th century, when believers fleeing persecution founded a small community in the mountains of northern Lebanon. For centuries, Christians have had a strong presence in the country, but the huge influx of refugees fleeing the war in Syria (the vast majority of whom are Sunni Muslims) is threatening the delicate political balance. In the 1970s, Christians were narrowly in the majority, but many left during the civil war. Now, Lebanon’s Christians are a minority.

With the arrival of refugees has come renewed violence. Eight suicide bombers launched coordinated attacks on the predominantly Christian town of Al Qaa, on the Syrian border in June 2016. One of the attackers, thought to be an IS jihadist, blew himself up outside a church. In an example of the complex political dynamic within the country, the Shia militant Islamist group Hezbollah, which also has strong political representation, has provided protection for Christian communities on the Lebanese border, fighting to hold back Sunni jihadi groups, including Hay’at Tahrir al Sham. Lebanese Christians are divided between opponents and supporters of Hezbollah.

Because of the impact of regional conflicts, the Christian community in Lebanon is now more vulnerable than at any time in recent history.

COMING TO THE AID OF CHRISTIANS Christians across the region are in desperate need. Even when war is over, its legacy of destruction, bereavement and broken lives lingers. Many who are internally displaced, or who live in former conflict zones, endure poverty and great hardship. Muslim attitudes toward Christians have been moulded by the years of sectarian

Middle East violence. When the Iraqi government announced last year a grand post-war reconstruction plan, a spokesman for the Iraqi Prime Minister’s office admitted that money would not solve the new animosity towards minorities, stating it would be necessary to “instil the concept of coexistence.”

MEETING BASIC NEEDS For more than a decade, Barnabas Fund has worked to aid Christians in Iraq and Syria, helping to meet the basic needs of those affected or displaced by conflict.

Barnabas Fund is currently providing basic needs such as food, shelter and medical care to Syrian Christians in Aleppo, Damascus, Hassake, Homs and many other parts of Syria. This work additionally helps Iraqi Christian refugees in Syria. In the past three years, we have helped around 167,411 Syrian Christians, including Syrian refugees in Armenia and Lebanon, with monthly food aid.

Barnabas Aid July/August 2018 17

REPAIRING THE DAMAGE OF WAR Simple repairs, like replacing windows blown out by bomb blasts, make properties secure and therefore habitable. In Homs, Syria, Barnabas has repaired walls, windows and doors in 174 homes and 79 small businesses since January 2015, so that displaced Christian families can return to rebuild their lives. Work is currently underway on 30 more houses, with plans to repair 111 more. Barnabas has also funded the accommodation of various kinds for displaced Christians near Dohuk and in Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Although shattered houses can be fixed, the psychological wounds of war run deep. Christians have suffered violence and lived with the daily threat of death, while many have seen loved ones martyred for their faith. Barnabas has funded training courses to equip 71 Syrian church leaders in the skills they need for trauma counselling.

“In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the surviving remnant of his people from Assyria … from Babylonia, from Hamath [Syria]” Isaiah 11:11 There is a special programme to help war widows.

We have supplied extra aid during the bitter Syrian winters, including 2,087 winter coats, hats and scarves for 1,200 children, and more than 7,100 blankets.

In Iraq, over the past three years, we have helped around 38,874 Christians with food parcels, in addition to assisting 1,180 Iraqi Christian refugee families in Jordan with food parcels/ vouchers. We have also given extra help for the disabled and widows.

We are also aiding Christian refugees who have sought safety in Lebanon. Barnabas Fund has helped to build care homes for elderly Christians in Lebanon and provided other needs of the Christian community there, including generators and water heaters.

Barnabas has funded trauma counselling training workshops for Syrian church leaders, to help heal the psychological wounds of war and enable Christians to smile again. There was a special emphasis on learning how to help traumatised children and young people

SUPPORTING CHURCH LEADERS Because of economic hardship and potential danger, it can be very difficult for church leaders to continue to minister to needy believers, even in

places where fighting has now ended.

Barnabas is supporting 18 church leaders in the Nineveh Plains region, so they can continue to encourage and strengthen the Christians who remain in what was once the Christian heartland of Iraq. Barnabas has also helped with fuel, maintenance and security costs for church buildings in Baghdad and Basra.

ENABLING A FUTURE Infrastructure in the Syrian city of Aleppo was devastated by the war, but Barnabas funded 24 wells, collectively serving more than 250,000 city residents, and equipped 39 trucks for water ditribution.

In Erbil, Iraq, Barnabas Fund is helping to set up a church-run foodprocessing factory to help displaced Christian families, who often have limited cooking facilities. The factory will process chicken, meat, fish, potato and dough into easy-to-cook meals, in addition providing 65 jobs for local Christians and revenue for the church.

Through Operation Safe Havens, Barnabas enabled 2,550 Syrian and Iraqi Christians to resettle in Australia, Poland, Czech Republic, Canada and Brazil.

FACING THE FUTURE WITH FAITH The future of the imperilled, ancient Christian communities in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon is now more in doubt than it has been for centuries. But Christians deliberately targeted by jihadists continue to be faithful to the Lord, many unto death, and Barnabas Fund has heard multiple stories from believers of how suffering has strengthened their faith.

In the shadow of war and in the face of persecution, a threatened remnant of believers cling on in hope and faith.

Whether they have remained in their homes, relocated within their country, sought refuge in neighbouring nations, or re-settled far away, Barnabas Fund is standing alongside them.

Project references: 00-1032 Middle East fund to help Syrian Christians 20-227 Needy Iraqi Christians

18 July/Augu st 2018 Barn abas Aid

In Touch

Our Religious Freedom update

r of Australia 2018 began in The Our Religious Freedom tou Great Ocean Road. On our Victoria and continued along the remains of “Twelve Apostles”, journey, we passed the dramatic Only eight “Apostles” are left a collection of limestone stacks. e weathered to the point of collaps standing today, the ninth having s is ne of these natural monument a decade ago. Just as the limesto dom free us gio reli our s, the element gradually being eaten away by ttle, and year-by-year. y-li e-b littl , ded is also being ero

going downhill, but I didn’t realise “I sort of knew that Australia was nt. said a supporter after a tour eve we have already gone this far,”

Colin Johnston – Managing Director (left) and supporting Trevor Sobey (right) Victorian Representative Our Religious Freedom update

al towns in Victoria and The campaign tour visited region y 2018. Our aim was to raise Tasmania during April and Ma issues in Australia, answer awareness of religious freedom to sign the petition for a new law questions and encourage people everyone in Australia. to protect religious freedom for e to husiasm of supporters who cam We were encouraged by the ent ns stio que ask to ons tati sen after pre the tour events. Many stayed on supporter commented, “I had no and discuss their concerns. One was freedom – just thought it always idea of how we got our religious much more aware after tonight.” with us” and another said, “I am ion forum for regional churches The tour also opened a discuss history of religious freedom and and Christians to be aware of the . doms are currently being eroded explain how these precious free elop strategies for strengthening Fruitful discussion helped dev influence, policy-makers. We Christians to engage with, and ir to PR AY and ACT to protect the especially encouraged churches pens next will make all the religious freedom. What hap alia. religious freedom in Austr difference to the future of

, n, Our Religious Freedom Barnabas Fund's campaig equate ad d an t g for full, permanen includes a petition callin s om ed fre ndational religious protections of seven fou ion rat cla De l d Nations Universa consistent with the Unite Turn e fre r ou in ). More details are of Human Rights (UDHR ce in offi nd Fu s le from the Barnaba the Tide booklet, availab online.

Brisbane or downloadable

PLEASE PRAY, SIGN AND GET INV OLVED Thank you for your support and pray ers

for the campaign.

PLEASE GATHER SIGNATURES FOR THE PETITION Copies of the petition can be downloa ded at www.OurReligiousFreedom.org.au/ resources.html or contact our Queensland office (add ress inside front cover).

Or sign online at www.OurReligious Freedom.org.au

a session eaking at p s y e b o Trevor S

The Twelve Apostles is a collection of limestone stacks off the shore of the Port Campbell National Park, by the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia.

Suffering Church Action Week 2018 Suffering Church Action Week this year runs from Sunday 4 to Sunday 11 Novemb er.

The theme will be “Hated because of love ”, in a week to especially focus on our persecut ed brothers and sisters in thought, prayer and action. Barnabas Fund provides idea s, resources for worship, home groups, pray er groups and much more.

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Barnabas invites you to pledge a monthly gift to become part of an essential, continuous life-flow to needy Christians living with pressure and persecution across the world.

Join the

Sponsor a child throughout their school years and see them grow in the Lord

Sustain a family living in poverty with monthly food parcels

Support an evangelist or pastor in their ministry

Strengthen suffering Christians through the grace of God’s Word by investing in the gift of a Bible each month

Please see enclosed leaflet for more information on Barnabas Fund sustained giving opportunities.

Or go to barnabasfund.org/au/livingstreams

What will happen to your earthly treasures

after you have gone to glory?

Through your wise planning and investment you can continue to be a blessing to the persecuted Church long after you have gone on to glory. Once your loved ones have been taken care of, what will be your legacy?

Please remember Barnabas Fund in your will

Your gift could go a long way to bless other Christians. Barnabas Fund’s role as a channel of hope and aid from Christians, through Christians, to Christians means that your legacy will be used for the greatest impact on your wider Christian family, suffering for the Name of Christ.

Inspire them to hold firm in their faith in the midst of trial

You can bring restoration to believers who have suffered violence, feed Christians facing hunger and deprivation, give

shelter to displaced families, strengthen Christian brothers and sisters in Christ with Bibles, train young children up in their faith through Christian schooling, and bring transformation to the lives of impoverished believers.

Your legacy can live on for generations

Your gift can save future generations of Christians from poverty and hardship as your witness to Christ’s love continues after your pilgrimage on this earth has ended, affirming the connection of the Body of believers to one another.

“God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.” (Hebrews 6:10)

For more information on how to make a legacy donation to Barnabas Fund, please contact our Australia office (details inside front cover). barnabasfund.org