barnabasaid BARNABAS FUND - AID AGENCY FOR THE PERSECUTED CHURCH Timeline
The Armenian and Assyrian Genocide as it unfolded
Boko Haram
Origins and objectives
barnabasfund.org
May/June 2015
Church partners
A partner from New Zealand encourages others to take on the role
Hear their cry
What helps make Barnabas Fund distinctive from other Christian organisations that deal with persecution?
The Barnabas Fund Distinctive We work by:
●● directing our aid only to Christians, although its
benefits may not be exclusive to them (“As we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” Galatians 6:10, emphasis added)
●● aiming the majority of our aid at Christians living in Muslim environments
●● channelling money from Christians through Christians to Christians
●● channelling money through existing structures in the countries where funds are sent (e.g. local churches or Christian organisations)
●● using the money to fund projects that have
been developed by local Christians in their own communities, countries or regions
●● considering any request, however small ●● acting as equal partners with the persecuted Church, whose leaders often help shape our overall direction
How to find us Australia PO BOX 3527, LOGANHOLME, QLD 4129 Telephone (07) 3806 1076 or 1300 365 799 Fax (07) 3806 4076 Email bfaustralia@barnabasfund.org UK 9 Priory Row, Coventry CV1 5EX Telephone 024 7623 1923 Fax 024 7683 4718 From outside the UK Telephone +44 24 7623 1923 Fax +44 24 7683 4718 Email info@barnabasfund.org Registered charity number 1092935 Company registered in England number 4029536 For a list of all trustees, please contact Barnabas Fund UK at the Coventry address above.
barnabasaid the magazine of Barnabas Fund Published by Barnabas Fund The Old Rectory, River Street, Pewsey, Wiltshire SN9 5DB, UK Telephone 01672 564938 Fax 01672 565030 From outside UK: Telephone +44 1672 564938 Fax +44 1672 565030 Email info@barnabasfund.org
●● acting on behalf of the persecuted Church, to
be their voice – making their needs known to Christians around the world and the injustice of their persecution known to governments and international bodies
We seek to:
●● meet both practical and spiritual needs ●● encourage, strengthen and enable the existing local Church and Christian communities – so they can maintain their presence and witness rather than setting up our own structures or sending out missionaries
●● facilitate global intercession for
the persecuted Church by providing comprehensive prayer materials
We believe:
●●we are called to address both religious and secular ideologies that deny full religious liberty to Christian minorities – while continuing to show God’s love to all people
●● in the clear Biblical teaching that Christians
should treat all people of all faiths with love and compassion, even those who seek to persecute them
●● tackle persecution at its root by making
●● in the power of prayer to change people’s lives
●● inform and enable Christians in the West
“Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”
known the aspects of the Islamic faith and other ideologies that result in injustice and oppression of non-believers 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 USA 6731 Curran St, McLean, VA 22101 Telephone (703) 288-1681 or toll-free 1-866-936-2525 Fax (703) 288-1682 Email usa@barnabasaid.org New Zealand PO Box 27 6018, Manukau City, Auckland, 2241 Telephone (09) 280 4385 or 0800 008 805 Email office@barnabasfund.org.nz Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland PO Box 354, Bangor, BT20 9EQ Telephone 028 91 455 246 or 07875 539003 Email ireland@barnabasfund.org
To guard the safety of Christians in hostile environments, names may have been changed or omitted. Thank you for your understanding. Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and obtain permission for stories and images used in this publication. Barnabas Fund apologises for any errors or omissions and will be grateful for any further information regarding copyright. © Barnabas Fund 2015
Germany German supporters may send gifts for Barnabas Fund via Hilfe für Brüder who will provide you with a tax-deductible receipt. Please mention that the donation is for “SPC 20 Barnabas Fund”. If you would like your donation to go to a specific project of Barnabas Fund, please inform the Barnabas Fund office in Pewsey, UK. Account holder: Hilfe für Brüder International e.V. Account number: 415 600 Bank: Evang Kreditgenossenschaft Stuttgart IBAN: DE89520604100000415600 BIC: GENODEF1EK1
Singapore Cheques in Singapore dollars payable to “Barnabas Fund” may be sent to: Kay Poh Road Baptist Church, 7 Kay Poh Road, Singapore 248963 International Headquarters The Old Rectory, River Street, Pewsey, Wiltshire SN9 5DB, UK Telephone 01672 564938 Fax 01672 565030 From outside UK: Telephone +44 1672 564938 Fax +44 1672 565030 Email info@barnabasfund.org
To donate by credit card please visit the website or phone BFA office on 1300 365 799 Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations are taken from the New International Version®.
100% recycled. The paper used is produced using wood fibre at a mill that has been awarded the ISO14001 certificate for environmental management.
Front cover: Displaced Iraqi Christians © Barnabas Fund 2015. For permission to reproduce articles from this magazine, please contact the International Headquarters address above. The paper used in this publication comes from sustainable forests and can be
Editorial
Contents
Hear the cry of our brothers and sisters in need “Thy Kingdom, O Christ, is an everlasting Kingdom, and Thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.”
8
Timeline
Three decades of Christian massacres in the Middle East
Albrecht Hauser
from Germany, is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Barnabas Aid International
Do we really hear the cry of our brothers and sisters in need, or are we constantly preoccupied by our own wellbeing?
10
Experts in the Art of Dying
Personal stories from the genocide
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Trusting God amid death threats in Indonesia
5
Albrecht Hauser Chairman of Barnabas Aid International
his Greek inscription from Psalm 145 on the central lintel of a closed, walled-in gate of the present day Umayyad Mosque in Damascus reminds us that, during the Byzantine period, this building was the Christian St John’s Cathedral. For some time, the entrance may have served both Christians and Muslims; at the beginning of the Islamic conquest of Syria in the 7th century the church building was used by both, before the Christians were expelled from it. This inscription also reminds us of the decline of Eastern Christianity under Islam. There have been many waves of persecution and a long trail of martyrdom, with the destruction of churches and the periodic disruption, suppression and exodus of Christians from the heartland and cradle of Christianity. The Genocide of Armenian and Assyrian Christians a hundred years ago is well documented, yet still denied and belittled by the authorities in Turkey. It is therefore especially painful for all Christians in the Middle East that their right to exist in their ancient homeland is questioned and challenged afresh by the forces of an Islamic jihad ideology. When talking about the persecution of Christians throughout history we hear often the third century words of Tertullian, often quoted as : “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church”. But is this really the experience of the Church under Islam? We are surely witnessing afresh the historical persecution, with suppression, destruction, displacement and expulsion all taking place with renewed vigour. History is repeated as historic Christianity is in danger of extermination in the region where its roots go back to the beginning of the Church. As Christians we are called to stand with Christ’s Church. We must hear and understand afresh that when one member suffers, all share in that suffering (1 Corinthians 12:26). What do we hear? Do we really hear the cry of our brothers and sisters in need, or are we constantly preoccupied by our own wellbeing? We see and hear the voice of chaos, destruction, religious strife and hate. We are perplexed at events and at the tragedy of dehumanisation. Yes, change and decay we see all around us. May we also hear the voice of Jesus: “Take up your cross and follow me”, and know that as we stand with Christ in His suffering we share in His glory to come.
4 Compassion in Action
Dawa
Conversion and Islamisation through violence
11
Barnabas Church Partners
12
Advocacy
A partner from New Zealand describes a rewarding role
Last chance to return Christians in the Middle East petitions
12 15
Newsdesk - Behind the headlines
16
Grace upon Grace
18
In Touch
Boko Haram
Stories of God’s mercies amidst persecution
Barnabas supporters in their own words
how barnabas is helping Busy prison ministry The prison ministry work supported by Barnabas Fund in Sudan has never been as busy as it is now. They are helping an unprecedented number of imprisoned Christian women, mainly arrested for breaking Islamic sharia law. The number has risen to 1,100 Christian women, as well as 135 children who are imprisoned alongside their mothers. Many of the women are converts from Islam, a group that the Sudanese Islamist government has started targeting more intensively in recent years. The workers, who risk imprisonment themselves for their work, provide the women with medicines, blankets, clothes and Bibles and help chaplain volunteers provide Sunday services and Bible studies.
The number of Christian women imprisoned for their faith in Sudan has increased
AU$13,025 for prison ministry Project reference 48-575
“Jesus has never ignored me” “I really can never regret my accepting Jesus as a personal Saviour, because of how much he has done for me,” said “Margaret”, a Ugandan convert from Islam, whose education Barnabas is funding. “Coming from a Muslim family, my parents were really not happy when they learned of it and indeed they ignored me.” “But I’m so happy Jesus has never ignored me. I have always seen Him making a way where there seems to be no way.” For three years, Barnabas Fund is paying the accommodation and educational fees of Margaret and two other young women disowned and persecuted by their families for converting from Islam, so that they can complete their education even though their parents have stopped paying their fees.
Margaret's Muslim father cut off all educational support after she became a Christian
AU$1,171 for education and accommodation of three convert women Project reference 00-113
“I can pay my rent” Bira, who now has her own sewing business in Uganda thanks to Barnabas Fund, recalls the difficult place she was in after leaving Islam and turning to Christ. “I was harassed by my family... I had no place to stay,” she remembers. “The church… picked me up and took me to vocational skills training in tailoring, supported by Barnabas Fund.” “Because of the sewing machine [Barnabas Fund] gave me, I can pay my rent, get food to eat and clothes to wear.” Besides Bira, another 299 converts from Islam in Uganda are now selfsufficient thanks to Barnabas Fund. All received vocational training for one year and tools to start a trade.
These converts from Islam can now provide for themselves again
AU$38,597 for 300 small businesses Project reference 56-934
Strengthened and encouraged. This is what we often hear from Christians who have received support from Barnabas Fund. Thank you for making this possible. The following pages are just a few examples of the many ways we have recently helped persecuted and pressurised Christians
Barnabas Aid May/June 2015 5
Armenian winter survival
Saved by books
Sawra Village: shelter for displaced
“Roben’s” life was turned around after reading several Christian books purchased locally in Bangladesh thanks to Barnabas Fund.
Up to 1,000 displaced Iraqi Christians will soon find a comfortable, temporary home in Sawra Village, well-equipped, tented accommodation in Iraqi Kurdistan.
The books led the young man to dedicate his life to Jesus Christ, a bold decision in a country where violence against Christians has increased and the family and friends of Christian converts will often put much pressure on converts to give up their faith.
In their new abode, the displaced families will have bathrooms, laundry rooms and access to electricity that will provide heating and air conditioning against summer temperatures which can soar to the upper 40°s Celsius.
Since then, Roben has not kept silent. He has shared his faith with many and as a result 32 families have been baptised.
The village will be a major help for these families, who fled to Iraqi Kurdistan last year when Islamic State (IS) seized their towns and villages. They have been homeless ever since, living in church halls and unfinished buildings.
Last year, with help from Barnabas Fund, the ministry that Roben bought the books from made available over 450,000 Christian books and tracts in Bangladesh.
One hundred years after the worst year of the Armenian Genocide (see pages 8-10), Armenia is a free and independent country and feels honoured that it has remained a Christian nation down the centuries. Although surrounded on three sides by Muslim-majority countries, it continues to provide a safe and free homeland for Armenians who have suffered greatly for their Christian faith in times past. At the same time, the country remains desperately poor. Last winter, Barnabas Fund provided 400 Christian families in the north with monthly food baskets for four months. And, to warm themselves against arctic temperatures of minus 10° to 35° Celsius, 200 families received a four-month supply of wood, coal or gas. Barnabas Fund also continued to help 500 Christian refugee families from Syria. Through the latest grant, they received aid for basic needs for four months.
Christian refugees from Syria in Armenia with food parcels from Barnabas Fund Last year, Barnabas Fund made over 450,000 Christian books and tracts available in Bangladesh
AU$13,912 for Christian books and tracts Project reference 04-653
Sawra Village (land in front) will have a Christian village (back) as its neighbour
AU$968,317 for Sawra Village Project reference 20-1200
AU$168,394 for winter needs (Ref. 79-719) AU$140,442 for Syrian Christian refugees in Armenia (Ref. 00-1032) Project references 79-719 and 00-1032
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The flood-damaged home of this family in Sri Lanka was repaired with help from Barnabas Fund
2
This seminar in Central Asia helped convert leaders to realise how their lifestyle had to change to become more Biblical, in the midst of an Islamic culture
3
Rudiman, a church planter, and his family live in complete reliance on God
Compassion in Action
Barnabas Aid May/June 2015 7
bringing hope, transforming lives Flood disaster: Jesus in control
1
Malani will not easily forget the moment her house in Sri Lanka was ripped apart by torrential monsoon rain last year, nor the moment of realisation soon after that God would take care of her – care that He used Barnabas Fund to provide. Incessant rain and strong winds brought havoc to large areas of western and central Sri Lanka last June. They lashed against the little house where she and her five children lived, uprooting trees around it. Suddenly their roof collapsed. Rain water gushed into the home and submerged the family’s few possessions.
Malani was faced with a grave situation. Having no husband, she needed to find a safe place for her children. And as Christians living in a remote area where Hinduism and Buddhism are strongly represented, the family had already experienced discrimination and marginalisation for their faith. She also knew it was unlikely they would receive government aid. But soon her worries and fear subsided: she remembered the Person she had come to know when she converted to Christianity, Jesus Christ. Even during these difficulties, she could trust Him. With help from Barnabas Fund Malani’s roof was repaired. In total Barnabas repaired twelve flooddamaged churches and the homes of 208 Christian families in Sri Lanka last year.
AU$30,885 for house and church repairs after floods Project reference 00-634 (Church and house repairs for victims of monsoon floods in Sri Lanka)
Challenged to change
2
“Amir”, a Christian from a Muslim background, was not the only participant to express astonishment at what he learnt last November at a Barnabas-funded seminar in Central Asia on Islam. “I was very surprised so many things in our culture are from Islam. It was a big challenge for me and for many others,” he said. Together with 53 other pastors and ministry leaders, Amir learnt that, because their society is so strongly influenced by Islamic culture, many converts to Christianity unwittingly continue to lead a Muslim lifestyle. “We are Christians but we live in families as Muslims. It must be changed urgently!” exclaimed “Nasim”, another participant. “This seminar has opened our eyes to the reality of our lives.” The participants of the four-day conference were encouraged to focus completely on the truth in the Bible. Amir said, “Today I understand it and can explain it to other believers from a Muslim background.” When inviting people to the seminar, the organisers had intended to invite more. But they soon realised that e-mailing or phoning some converts with details about the teaching would put them into too much danger, as the government is known to tap believers’ phone lines.
AU$1,975 for seminar in Central Asia Project reference 00-430
Trusting God amid death threats
3
“I think that if I had ever tried to do this ministry in my own strength, I would have given up long ago. But the Lord is my joy and strength,” confided Rudiman, a Barnabas-supported church planter in Indonesia. Rudiman and another 39 Barnabassupported pastors felt led by God to plant new churches in an impoverished Muslim-majority area of Indonesia. Their work does not come without opposition or danger – but also provides opportunities to learn to rely on God. One such opportunity arose when Rudiman received death threats. His little congregation became very fearful at the thought of their pastor being killed. They begged him to hide in his house to avoid any risks. But Rudiman encouraged his congregation to trust God. He told them, “Pray, and leave this to the Lord.” Over time it became clear that Rudiman was right, and this built up the faith of his members. What he teaches his flock, is how he leads his own life. He said, “I strongly believe that I should trust in His promises, build on Him and live in full surrender. That will never be in vain.” Barnabas Fund will help these 40 church planters with approximately AU$53 each every month for four years as they build up their churches and become self-sufficient. They are now in their second year.
AU$26,249 for 40 new church planters in Indonesia for one year Project reference 22-828
Armenian Genocide
Barnabas Aid May/June 2015 8
Forgotten genocide: as it unfolded 1878
●● The second Baltic War ends; Turkey and Russia sign the Berlin Treaty, which requires Russia to withdraw from Western Armenia leaving it under the control of the Turkish Sultan
1891
●● The Turkish Sultan establishes a Kurdish cavalry called Hamidie with the goal of orchestrating massacres of Armenians across the Ottoman Empire
1894-1896
●● The Turkish military massacres approximately 300,000 Armenians; 100,000 are forcibly converted and expelled from their homeland
Victims of a massacre in Erzerum gathered for burial. Image Source: W. L. Sachtleben, Wikimedia
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the worst year of the Armenian and Assyrian Genocide. Over a 30year period, a series of premeditated deportations and massacres resulted in the deaths of up to 3.75 million Christians at the hands of the Ottoman Turks. On 24 April 1915 Armenian intellectuals and leaders were murdered, which is why Armenians commemorate it as the day their “head was cut off”. Overall, in that year alone some 800,000 Armenians were killed. But the killing had started over two decades earlier. And besides 1.5 million Armenians, a further 750,000 Assyrians and 1.5 million Ottoman Greeks were murdered before the genocide came to an end.
1915 January ●● Young Turks leader, Talaat: “no room for Christians in Turkey” (Reported by New York Times) ●● Under the guise of military stratagem, Turkish authorities begin a violent relocation of Greek Christian communities located around the Black Sea
1914
●● Turkish boycott of Armenian businesses declared. Police collect names and biographies of leading Armenians. Mass executions of Armenian soldiers in Turkish army in public squares ●● Turkish authorities begin a violent, systematic approach to removing the Greek Christians of western Anatolia as all Pontic Greeks ages 21-45 are mobilised, rounded up and displaced during the summer months ●● Talaat Pasha ordered the deportation of Assyrians living along the border of Turkey and Persia (Iran)
Two of the Young Turks Leaders. Image Source: Library of Congress, Wikimedia
1915 March ●● Deportation of Armenians from Zeitun begins ●● Turkey disarms Armenian men serving in Ottoman army
1911
1915 April ●● Deportation of Armenians from Zeitun ends (total 25,000) ●● Armenian intelligentsia deported and later killed ●● Staff of a leading Armenian newspaper arrested and later killed
1909
1915 May ●● Ezerum Province: mass deportations begin; 200 Armenian leaders arrested ●● Assyrians declare war on Turkey ●● The Allies (England, France, and Russia) issue a joint official declaration holding the Ottoman
●● The Young Turks hold a secret session called the Salonika conference and adopt an official genocidal policy to Turkify all non-Turkish nations in the empire – including Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks
1908
●● A Turkish, nationalist movement called “Young Turks” overthrows the Sultan, yet continues to carry out massacres in order to create a pure Turkish state
1915 February ●● Young Turks leaders Talaat, Enver and Jemal create the “Executive Committee of Three” who were responsible for the organisation and implementation of the deportation and massacre of all Armenians in the Ottoman Empire
●● An anti-Christian mob murders approximately 20,000 Christians including 1,272 Assyrians
Armenian Genocide
Barnabas Aid May/June 2015 9
You can view a more detailed version of this timeline at: www.barnabasfund.org/armenian-timeline or scan this with your device
1915 August ●● 1,000 Armenians burned alive in Bitlis ●● Deportation of Armenians from Adabazar, Mersin, Izmir, Bursa 1915 July ●● 2,000 Armenian soldiers in Turkish army massacred ●● Deportations from Trebizond, Sivas (48,000), Aintab, Kilis and Adiaman. Many slaughtered en route to the Syrian desert
1915 October ●● Turkey blocks exit of Armenians to US 1915 November ●● Turkey blocks attempted relief effort by US organisation 1915 December ●● Deportations of Armenians from Constantinople
1939
●● Hitler gives instructions to: ‘kill without pity or mercy all men, women and children of Polish race or language” asking, “who still talks nowadays of the extermination of the Armenians?”
1923
●● Republic of Turkey declared ●● New law prevents Armenians from returning to Turkey
1916
Armenians being deported. Image Source: narek781, Wikimedia
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●●
●● ●● ●●
1915 June Coordinated attack to drive Assyrians out of Turkey into Persia and Armenians told to leave within five days Turks massacre Assyrian settlements in the Bohtan region leading to the death of the Assyrian scholar, Addai Sher Armenians from Erzinjan deported to Syrian desert Massacre of 25,000 Armenians from Erzerum province Armenian notables of Trebizond thrown, tightly bound, into Black Sea
Empire responsible for the massacre of the Armenians ●● Massacre of Armenians from Khnus region of Erzerum province ●● The Allies officially warn Turkey to stop the anti-Armenian massacres ●● 2000 Armenians deported from Marash
●● Further deportations of the Armenian population; many massacred along the way, others die from starvation/dehydration ●● Greeks evacuated from the Black Sea and other areas ●● July – September, 70,000 troops massacred in Sivas ●● Massacre of at least 260,000 deportees ●● 3,000 elderly women and children are sent on a white march ●● Total deaths around 750,000
Armenian refugee children near Athens after population exchange between Greece and Turkey. Image Source: Quoth, Wikimedia
1922
1917
●● Abolition of Ottoman Sultanate ●● 10,000 Armenians massacred. More Armenian deportations ●● 100,000 Greeks massacred. Mass deportations
1918
●● Greeks again forced to relocate
●● 12,000 Armenians murdered ●● Greeks displaced and 100 villages burnt
●● Turkey accepts WW1 defeat, making provisions for return of Armenians which is never enforced ●● Armistice allows Greek Christians to return to Western Anatolia ●● Republic of Armenia established ●● More than 30,000 massacred in Turkey
1921
1920
●● Sultan in control of the Ottoman Empire, supported by the British ●● 14,500 Armenians killed in the course of unrest because of political changes ●● Turkish military captures Armenian city of Alexandropol ●● Armenia annexed by Soviet Union
1919
Armenians orphans. Image Source: Trustees of Anatolia College, Wikimedia
●● Turkish nationalists led by Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) split from Young Turks and aim to establish a Turkish State, engaging in the Turkish War of Independence against WW1 allies as represented in the region
Armenian Genocide
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“Experts in the art of dying”
Christ-like conduct during the Armenian Genocide
Armenians marched by Turkish soldiers, Image Source: Project SAVE, Wikimedia
How did Armenian Christians respond to the atrocities they underwent? Seven years into the worst period of the Armenian Genocide, Sisag Manoogian set down his thoughts and recollections. He tells how some Christians remained firm in their faith and Christ-like towards their enemies. “Not less than one million Armenians have perished during these last seven years. Some, by the grace of God, were experts in the art of dying, and these saved the name of Christianity in the presence of their enemies. Some ferocious gendarmes marvelled when seeing men and women, even children, instead of trembling in the presence of death, show calm and dignity, and instead of cursing, pray for the forgiveness of their murderers. In their defencelessness they tried to defend the weaker ones; in their hunger they shared their last piece of bread with the poorest. The pastor of the Syrian church in Ourfa saw thousands of women and children, who were exhausted with the journey, and so had to spend one night on the ground there, and march on next morning. He said nearly all were hungry, thirsty, and literally naked. Some of them found pieces of charcoal and wrote on the rocks: ‘As Jesus did not deny us, do not deny Him’; ‘We have not denied Him, follow us’. These women were asked to repeat a short sentence after the Turkish teacher, or lift up their testimonial
finger to show that they were willing to accept Islam, which meant they could stay free in their homes, but they refused, choosing rather to suffer and die in the desert. The victorious Turks… will acknowledge that the Armenians gave up everything precious, but clung to their Bibles; how they thanked God first before they drank water after five days’ hot journey in the desert without anything to quench thirst; how innocent victims showed wonderful peace and offered earnest prayers for the salvation of Turks and Turkey, before the rope was around their necks to hang them. It is not, of course, intended by this account to give the impression that all Armenians show the Spirit of Christ under persecution. This would be far from the truth; but the role of true martyrs, whether living or dying, is a noble and long one.”
These excerpts are taken from “Armenian Experts in the Art of Dying” by Rev. Sisag Manoogian, (2014). Our sincere thanks to his descendants, who have kindly allowed us to use the quotations.
“The Turks packed and tied poor young widows in the Oriental oxen carts and drove them through the crowded main markets, while the victims were screaming and pulling their hair in agony. In those helpless, hopeless days, the writer, his wife and his old mother repeatedly knelt down to pray for the forgiveness of such a matchless sin.” Rev. Sisag Manoogian
“On one occasion Elmas saw a line of Armenian children being systematically beheaded by Turkish soldiers. Terrible thunder and lightning broke out, which the Turks relished as showing the approval of Allah for the killing of the Christian children. But when a bolt of lightning killed some of those doing the beheading, the rest of the soldiers were terrified, stopped the beheadings, and sent the remaining children away.” AC and LC
“After been threatened, from Cilicia region in South-west Turkey, [my grandparents] fled in mid-April 1915 from Hajen city, leaving behind all their belongings, documents, and other things. They took the Der El-Zor route and after few months they reached Baghdad as a safe haven. During those days, they used to collect animal dung and take the seeds and grains from it to feed their children.” Dr Jany Haddad “The Turkish authorities … rounded up [the elderly, the women and the children] and told them they were going to walk to a Der El-Zor, near Aleppo, where they could settle and live. All of them, even the pregnant women, were forced along the route in the heat of the summer of 1915. Eventually they realised that their promised destination was an empty desert region, with no settlements, no food and no water.” AC and LC “The Armenian men were told by their captors, ‘Convert to Islam and you will be safe.’ The Armenians shouted, ‘We are Christians!’ In response the Turkish soldiers doused the church building [where the men were imprisoned] with flammable liquid and set it on fire.” AC and LC
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DAWA The Islamic Strategy for Reshaping the Modern World
3 Dawa and Islamisation through violence and jihad
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Barnabas Aid May/June 2015 ii
Dawa linked to jihad
Dawa is linked to jihad, as both have the same aim: to spread Islam and its dominion. The concept of jihad has been part of Islam since its beginning. The Arabic word means “striving” and Muslims interpret this as: (1) personal spiritual struggle for moral purity; (2) trying to correct wrong and support right by voice and actions; (3) military war against non-Muslims. The early Islamic state imposed Islam by persuasion if possible, by force if not. Likewise, all forces hindering the spread of Islam and its dominion had to be fought and eradicated. After a Muslim victory, the non-Muslims brought under Islamic rule could be converted more easily with the help of the Islamic state and its institutions. This doctrine of early Islam remains a guiding principle of 21st century Islamists¹ for whom one of the purposes of jihad is to “to eliminate all elements that are acting as obstacles for the rest of the people converting to Islam”.² In this view jihad is dawa by force. While dawa can be propagated by peaceful persuasion, jihad enables it to function freely to its fullest extent. Dawa is most effective when the state enforces sharia and uses all its resources to support dawa. Islamist movements see themselves as committed to both dawa and jihad, or rather, see both as different stages of the same enterprise.
method for keeping society in check as well as for the expansion of Islam. Even moderate Muslims seem to accept the need for violence against infidels, apostates, those who criticise Muhammad, and perceived enemies of Islam. In the West violent Muslim riots are sometimes organised to try to force non-Muslim governments to accept Islamic demands. Such protests occurred in many countries following the Rushdie affair in Britain in 1989, Pope Benedict’s Regensburg speech in 2006, and the Danish cartoons of Muhammad in 20052006. Governments usually respond by conceding to radical Islamic demands. The fear of Islamist violence creates an atmosphere of excessive political correctness and self-censorship by nonMuslims in the West. As a result Islam gains a privileged position in Western society in which it is never criticised.
Even moderate Muslims seem to accept the need for violence against infidels, apostates, those who criticise Muhammad, and perceived enemies of Islam
Violence in Islam
There has always been a strand of radicalism and violence in Islam’s traditional theology. This is based on passages in the Islamic source texts, on Muhammad’s example, and on early Muslim history. Because the Quran and hadith (traditions) contain many passages encouraging violence, they have provided a strong justification for those Muslims seeking to further the power of Islam by aggression and violence. Numerous verses in the Quran command or commend fighting against non-Muslims, especially in the parts of the Quran “revealed” to Muhammad in Medina towards the end of his life. Peaceable Quran verses, dated earlier than the belligerent ones, are considered by most Islamic scholars abrogated (cancelled out) by the later belligerent verses. A favourite verse of Islamists is the “Sword Verse”: But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them… (Q 9:5) It is said to have abrogated all peaceful verses and to be the basis for militant jihad. Through the centuries, Muslim societies have tended to view the use of violence as an effective
Military jihad
The principle of military jihad is based on the example of Muhammad’s life and of the first caliphs who expanded the Islamic empire. Later, during the Abbasid caliphate this strategy was codified as the sharia doctrine of jihad. Military jihad was practised up to the time of the Ottoman and Mughal Empires and their jihads into Europe and India respectively. Islamic history also shows repeated cycles of puritanical revivals, such as those of the Almoravids (1054-1147) and the Almohads (1121-1269) in North Africa, the Wahhabis in Arabia (since the mid-18th century), Usman dan Fodio (1754-1817) in West Africa and the Mahdi (1844-1885) in Sudan. These all practised aggressive jihad as part of their programmes of reinstating original Islam and expanding its territorial base. Only under severe constraints, when non-Islamic power was overwhelming, could the jihad imperative be put on hold for a while. This concession derived from sharia principles of darura and maslaha which permit the breaking of sharia principles when Muslims are weak and Islam is in danger. Such suspension of jihad was always temporary, and jihad could be reactivated at any time if Muslims considered their strength sufficient to change the balance of power and reassert Islamic dominance. Violent jihad is an important aspect of the resurgence of Islam since the 1970s and is fuelled by the growing dominance of Islamism across the Muslim world.
Violent Islamists: jihadists
Violent radical Islamist groups wage a constant campaign of terror against a variety of targets: the regimes in their own Muslim-majority states; Western states, especially the US and their interests
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worldwide; progressive and liberal Muslims labelled heretics and apostates; and Israel and Jews. Some focus on what Islam calls the “near enemy”: Muslim rulers and regimes. Others focus on the “far enemy” such as the US, the UK, Israel, and other non-Muslim regimes. Using a process called takfir, some condemn their more moderate fellow-Muslims as infidels or apostates. As sharia decrees a death penalty for adult male apostates and for all infidels (pagans), those classified as infidels or apostates can then be lawfully killed, at least in the view of the takfiris who have condemned them. This process is applied to liberal and progressive Muslims, to more secular Muslim governments and even to whole Muslim societies that the radicals consider to be insufficiently devout. This kind of reasoning allows violent jihadists to legitimise the horrors of the indiscriminate killing of Muslim innocents, as in the Algerian civil war and in Iraq post-2003. The extent of activity by violent Islamists across the world, especially that involving suicide operations, is phenomenal. The range stretches from Pakistan and Afghanistan through Iraq, Syria and Yemen to Somalia, Nigeria, Algeria and Kenya. The terror they unleash is evident in daily news bulletins that recount suicide bombings, assassinations and shootings across the globe. The call for jihad has a powerful emotive attraction that constantly brings in new recruits from all over the Muslim world, replenishing the many fighters killed.
Religious “cleansing”
Islamist violence and threats of violence are causing whole populations of non-Muslims to flee their homelands. In some cases this policy appears to be deliberate; the Islamists intentionally seek to “cleanse” a country of its non-Muslim population in the religious equivalent of ethnic cleansing. Examples include:
Iraq
Following the downfall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, Islamist militant groups, both Sunni and Shia, targeted indigenous Christians in a programme of sustained violence that included kidnapping, assassination and bombing of churches. This resulted in the displacement of about half the country’s Christian population. Many Christians received threats by letter, phone call or SMS (text message), telling them to convert to Islam, leave or be killed. The Islamic State group (IS) renewed this drive with great vigour in 2014 as it expanded the area of Iraq and Syria under its control causing a new displacement of hundreds of thousands of Christians and other minorities.
Syria
As the “Arab Spring” unfolded in Syria from 2011 onwards, the rebels became increasingly dominated by radical Islamist jihadi groups. These factions attacked Christians, accusing them of supporting
the Assad regime, and used violence to intimidate them and cause them to flee. Christians were threatened, kidnapped and killed. Church buildings and clergy were especially targeted. Many thousands of Christians left their homes, some seeking refuge in Lebanon or further afield. Ironically, many of the Christians who fled the anti-Christian violence in Iraq a few years earlier had found safety in Assad’s Syria; they then had to face religious cleansing once more, this time in their country of refuge.
Nigeria
The resurgence of Islam has radicalised many Nigerian Muslims. Modern Islamism fits well with the traditional Northern Nigeria model of revival, creation of an Islamic state under sharia and jihad as exemplified by Usman dan Fodio (1754-1817) when he established the Sokoto Caliphate. Following the imposition of sharia in twelve northern states (19992001), radical Islamists have been demanding the Islamisation of all Nigeria, including the south of the country, which is predominantly Christian. The militant Islamist group Boko Haram, now linked to IS, has been responsible for countless violent attacks on Christian churches, villages and individuals, resulting in thousands of deaths and in the displacement of huge numbers of Christians in the north. Boko Haram has stated that it is engaged in a war on Christians in Nigeria, and Nigerian Christians believe that the group is coordinating attacks with the aim of eradicating Christians from those parts of the country where Boko Haram is trying to establish an Islamic state.
Islamic liberation movements
Many Muslim states and organisations such as the powerful OIC (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) support Muslim-minority demands for independence or autonomy as well as outright rebellions against non-Muslim central governments. This is evident in Kashmir, the Philippines, southern Thailand, Xinjiang Province in China, Chechnya and elsewhere. The theological basis for such rebellions is that Muslims believe they should never live under non-Muslim rule and must always work to expand the territory under Muslim political rule. Insurgency and terrorism to support such causes are accepted as legitimate jihad, and funds, arms and fighters are provided by wealthy Muslim states and organisations. Resistance to non-Muslim rule is considered a sacred duty in Islam and Western leftists often accept this view of Islamist activities as a valid liberation struggle.
Destabilisation of states
Destabilisation is currently occurring in Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Kenya, the Philippines, India and elsewhere. Muslim minorities are urged to increase their power in the state and its institutions and to defy secular constitutions. They demand the implementation of
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sharia in Muslim-majority regions of the country as a prelude to imposing sharia on all the population. At the same time Islamist jihadists destabilise the status quo by violent and indiscriminate attacks on civilians. The population becomes polarised as the state increases its defensive measures and focuses on possible sources of terrorism in the Muslim population.
Seizing power by military force
Violent Islamists of the Seleka rebel group overwhelmed the armed forces of the Central African Republic in March 2013 and seized political power. This happened despite the fact that Muslims are only 15% of the country’s population.
Preventing individuals from leaving Islam
Apostasy from Islam is viewed in sharia as a very serious crime, equivalent to treason against the umma (Islamic nation). Adult male apostates are to be punished by death, and most schools of sharia decree the same penalty for adult female apostates. A few Muslim-majority states include in their legal systems the death sentence for a Muslim who changes religion (Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Qatar, among others). However, in most Islamic contexts no specific state law exists for execution of an apostate. Nevertheless, authorities may find the convert guilty of another offence linked to a perceived threat to the public order. Sharia sets out a wide range of punishments for apostasy in addition to the death sentence. These include dissolution of the convert’s marriage, loss of custody of children and loss of inheritance rights. The authorities often discourage conversion from Islam simply by refraining from punishing Muslims who harass or even kill the convert.
Persecution of liberal Muslims
Heresy in Islam is almost as serious a charge as apostasy. Sometimes state authorities condemn as heretics liberal Muslims who have wandered too far from the “true faith”. Once they are classified as heretics, they can be punished and silenced. Dr Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd in Egypt is a good example. Abu Zayd was a liberal academic who extended his linguistic research to the study of Islamic
source texts, including the Quran. This enraged some Islamists who declared he had blasphemed against Islam and called for his death. In 1993, seven Muslim lawyers brought a case of apostasy against him. He was found guilty of apostasy by the Cairo Appeals Court on 14 June 1995 and ordered to separate from his wife. This ruling was based on the Islamic principle of hisba, which permits any Muslim to defend Islamic morals and behaviour. The landmark ruling against Abu Zayd, the first of its kind in modern Egypt, emboldened Islamists to file hisba lawsuits against other liberal and secularist Muslim intellectuals. It was an effective way of silencing them.
Persecution of Christian minorities
In the post-communist era, Islam has emerged as the main persecutor of Christians. This is partly due to the rise of Islamism and its doctrines of hostility and contempt for non-Muslims. In Muslim-majority countries, Christianity is often presented as the religion of the hated Western colonial powers. When Muslims seek to retaliate against Western air strikes that accidentally kill Muslim civilians, the local Christians – unarmed and few in number – are easy targets. Christians in Muslim-majority contexts are thus bearing the brunt of the West’s “war on terror”. In the grand plan of Islamisation, the persecution of Christian minorities serves to encourage their conversion to Islam or is intended to cleanse a country of all Christians. Anti-Christian violence is sweeping across the Muslim-majority world. If the trend is not reversed, this generation will witness the eradication of the Christian presence in many nations. Everywhere, Christians are now living in fear of further attacks, with no one to protect them. 1 Islamisation is a form of dawa that aims to convert whole societies and their structures. It can be defined as a process by which not only individuals but also groups, societies and cultures become more and more Islamic. The process of Islamisation will be considered in later instalments of this series of “Dawa” pull-out supplements. 2 Muhammad Qasim, “Destroying the Country Idol”, published in the Taliban’s magazine Azan, Issue 3, 24 August 2013
Barnabas fund hope and aid for the persecuted church Australia PO Box 3527 Loganholme QLD 4129 Telephone (07) 3806 1076 or 1300 365799 Fax (07) 3806 4076 Email bfaustralia@barnabasfund.org New Zealand PO Box 27 6018, Manukau City, Auckland, 2241 Telephone (09) 280 4385 or 0800 008 805 Email office@barnabasfund.org.nz
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Interview
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r neve e r a You ng u o y too Cameron Blair
was 28 years old when he became a Barnabas church partner at his church in Invercargill, New Zealand. In an interview he advocates that being a Barnabas speaker or church partner can keep a young person on fire for God.
“I started receiving Barnabas Aid and Barnabas Prayer when I was 18 years old. Last year one of the magazine issues had a call for church partners throughout New Zealand. I thought, “I can make a difference here.” I think there’s great potential in younger ages. Young people can be on fire for God, especially in the late teen years, early twenties. The question is, how can you keep that fire alive? Being a Barnabas Fund speaker or church partner is a great way. Doing this work has helped me grow. I mean, you can pray for your friends, you can pray for your family. You can pray for church members. But that’s only good enough for so long. Eventually you’re going to start asking for more. It’s about putting yourself in the mission of God for the benefit of the Church. You can make a difference in people’s lives, both in the country that you live in and also in other countries. It’s about knowing the work that you’re doing is helping to sew the Church together.
People often respect genuineness and sincerity and a love for Christ, for the Gospel and for the church, more than they do a good speaker You don’t have to think, “Oh, can I do this? Oh, I am too young and so-and-so is probably a better speaker than I am.” You don’t have to be the best person. People often respect genuineness and sincerity and a love
for Christ, for the Gospel and for the church, more than they do a good speaker. It’s about recognising in your heart that this is a passion and part in which God could play through you. That’s something which is critical for me: helping others to see that there’s more to life than just what is in New Zealand. What I like about a lot of the information from Barnabas Fund that I’m sharing is that it is eye-opening. You get to see what different people go through in different countries. The testimonies of Christians undergoing persecution are inspiring and, at times, sad. But they show an awful lot of God. There’s a lot of humility in there and a raw working of God in their hearts.”
We need more Church Partners! Hundreds of Christians volunteer for Barnabas Fund in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and the United States. Would you like to know more about becoming a church partner? Have a look at: www.barnabasfund.org/get-involved/partnership. You could also scan this code with your device.
Campaigns
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UPDATE:
Save the Christians of the Middle East petition Barnabas Fund would like to thank everyone who supported our persecuted brothers and sisters in the Middle East by signing our Save the Christians of the Middle East petition. So far we have received over 28,864 signatures worldwide. This Barnabas-led campaign urges our governments and the United Nations to save the Christians in the Middle East who are facing severe persecution at a level not seen for generations.
We have called upon our government and the United Nations to: ●● Intervene actively to protect Christians and other minorities in the Middle East, especially Iraq and Syria, from genocide, persecution and terror; ●● Allow Christian refugees into our countries and to take active steps to promote humanitarian asylum and a positive welcome; ●● Support and give humanitarian aid to Christians in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East, and to provide assistance to those fleeing as refugees. We closed off the petition on 31 December and are currently in the process of collating all the signatures. The signatures will soon be given to a Federal Member for Petrie (Brisbane), Mr Luke Howarth, who has agreed to present this to Parliament soon. Although the petition has officially closed, you can still support persecuted Christians in the Middle East by writing a letter to your elected representative. A letter sent by post will be more effective than an email, but any letter sent by any method will help.
Why act?
In June 2014 Islamic State (IS) militants shocked the world when they seized vast amounts of territory in northern Iraq and in Syria. Hundreds of thousands of Christians were forced to flee as IS confronted them with the choice of converting to Islam, paying the jizya tax as a sign of subjugation or being killed. Many women and girls were seized and sold as slaves. But for those Christians who have escaped, predominantly to Iraqi Kurdistan, a humanitarian crisis has been unfolding. Nearly one year on from IS’s major offensive, their situation is still desperate.
Displaced Christian children living in empty offices Dohuk, Kurdistan - a long way from home
In our emergency we Christians looked for help everywhere, but they didn’t help us… I plead to the international community, to churches, to human rights organisations, to the UN, to all who promote peaceful living together, to help us! Iraqi Christian woman (speaking to Ishtar, an Assyrian TV channel)
Correction
In the example letter provided in Barnabas Aid March/April 2015 it was incorrectly stated that “An estimated 800,000 Armenians were killed in 2015 alone”. This sentence should read: “An estimated 800,000 Armenians were killed in 1915 alone.”
A familiar story?
One hundred years ago Christians were massacred at the hands of the Ottoman Empire. In 1900 about 32% of Ottoman Turkey’s population was Christian. Just 27 years later, the Armenian and Assyrian Genocide, which peaked in April 1915, reduced the Christian population to 1.8%. Numerous Christians were forced to leave their homes with nothing but the clothes on their backs and walk hundreds of miles across the desert to concentration camps. Huge numbers died of hardship and deprivation on their journey and many others were deliberately murdered in organised killings. Their plight was largely ignored by the international community. Thankfully, today you can make a difference by contacting policymakers and signing this petition. If you have not yet sent in your petition form, please send it to your nearest Barnabas Office by 30 April. (Addresses on inside front cover.)
AUS readers can find their local MP’s details at the following website: www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Members
Newsdesk
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Kazakh courts sentence Christians for illegal religious activities Kazakhstan
A court order has fined a Christianrun drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre and closed it down for three months after police seized religious books and materials, and accused the Centre of illegal activity (religious worship without authorisation). On 19 January the court order was upheld meaning that the Centre, in the Pavlodar Region, had to pay a fine of 185,200 tenge (£660; €880; US$1,000; AU$1,300; NZ$1,360). The Centre’s director was also fined. In November 2014, another case accusing the same Centre of inciting religious hatred was dropped after police admitted to finding no evidence. Furthermore, in separate incidents, two Christians have
received heavy fines for exercising their right to freedom of religion without state permission but have refused to pay, making them subject to further punishment. In Uralsk, West Kazakhstan, Nikolai Novikov was fined three times between 2013 and 2014 for meeting to worship without state permission. He described the fines as “illegal” – indeed, they violate legally binding international agreements. Maksim Volikov was fined on 19 December for talking to people on the street about his faith whilst giving out religious literature in North Kazakhstan. He was also issued a three month “ban on his activity”, but he intends to appeal the fine and seizure of his materials.
Around 280 Christians taken captive in Syria Syria
Displaced elderly Christian among the many who have fled their homes along the Khabur River Islamic State (IS) fighters in the north-eastern region of Hassake raided numerous villages along the Khabur River in the early hours of 23 February, abducting those who did not manage to flee. Men, women and children, including the entire population of the village of Tel Shamiram, were captured. Local residents overheard the militants confirm on wireless devices that they were holding the “crusaders”, who were alive but the men had been separated from the women and children.
Four churches were burned during the raids and a car bomb and mortars were heard going off in subsequent days. At least 1,200 families have been displaced. At the time of writing, 23 of the hostages have been released, 19 arriving safely in the city of Hassake on Sunday 1 March and another four on 3 March. According to the Assyrian Human Rights Network, a sharia court ordered the release of the captives after paying the humiliating jizya tax.
Islamic State in Libya behead 21 Christians Libya
Twenty-one Christians executed on the Libyan coast On 15 February a video was released depicting the co-ordinated beheading of 21 Christians by Islamic State militants. Twenty were Egyptians working in Lybia, most of whom had been abducted from the Libyan city of Sirte on 4 January. The twenty-first man was an African also working in Libya. His nominal Christian faith had been re-kindled by the Egyptians, so that when IS came looking for Christians he refused to save his life by embracing Islam, but instead embraced martyrdom.
“All crusaders: safety for you will be only wishes, especially if you are fighting us all together. Therefore we will fight you all together” The five-minute long video footage shows the hostages being led, handcuffed, in single-file before being made to lie face down. The Christians were then executed simultaneously. One jihadist, speaking in NorthAmerican accented English, declared “All crusaders: safety for you will be only wishes, especially if you are fighting us all together. Therefore we will fight you all together… We will conquer Rome, by Allah’s permission .” (See Grace upon Grace, p. 16)
In Brief
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Rise of antiTaliban suicide Christian violence bomb church in Tanzania’s attacks coastal areas
Pakistan
Tanzania
The church in Kisota Gamboni, in Mafia, has been closed since November On 20 January at around 2.00 a.m., a church building in Mashewa, in the Muheza district of Tanga Region, was set on fire. The church’s pastor had been threatened repeatedly by local Muslims. On 2 November in Zirai, Muheza district, a Christian woman who converted from Islam was beaten and burned by her parents after choosing to marry a Christian man. In a separate incident, on Mafia island, part of the Muslim-majority Pwani (coast) Region, a pastor who had converted from Islam was ordered by the local area leader to close the church.
At least 16 people were killed and over 70 injured when suicide bombers belonging to Jamaatul Ahrar, a splinter group from the Pakistani Taliban, attacked two Lahore churches in one of the largest Christian communities in Pakistan on Sunday 15 March. The attacks occurred during morning services in the predominantly Christian neighbourhood of Youhanabad in Lahore, capital of the Punjab province. Stopped at the church gates by church members acting as volunteer security guards, both bombers were unable to enter and blew themselves up at the entrances. Two of the guards died in the explosions and their brave actions prevented many more deaths.
Indian Prime Minister speaks out for religious minorities
Christian Montagnards flee Vietnam and take refuge in Cambodia Vietnam
The Montagnard Christians of Vietnam are fleeing their homes in the Central Highlands of Vietnam due to persecution from the authorities. Four different groups fled to Cambodia in January alone. Hiding in the jungle in the north-eastern Ratanakiri province of Cambodia, these groups were afraid of being arrested and forcibly deported to Vietnam. On 1 February a Montagnard family of five who had crossed into Cambodia’s jungle were arrested and taken to a secret location by the police.
Nepalese Christians forced to convert to Buddhism Nepal
India
Kenyan church leader shot dead in Mombasa city Kenya
On Sunday 11 January church official, George Karidhimba Muriki, was gunned down by unidentified assailants on a motorbike. George Karidhimba Muriki was standing inside the entrance gate of his church, located in the Majengo neighbourhood of Mombasa City when the attack occured. It was reported that police stopped the gunmen from getting inside the church, preventing greater carnage. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but many suspect Somali Islamists Al-Shabaab to be behind the incident.
Narendra Modi breaks his silence on religious violence Global Panorama / CC BY-SA 2.0
On 17 February, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a speech condemning religious violence stating, “We consider the freedom to have, to retain, and to adopt, a religion or belief, is a personal choice of a citizen.” This is a welcome message from the Hindu nationalist leader of the BJP. The speech followed arrests at a large-scale protest in New Delhi on 5 February when hundreds of Christians gathered to protest the recent spate of attacks against Christian buildings. There have been six such attacks since December. Some 200 Christians were reported to have been arrested during the protest.
Commissioned by a leader of the RPP, a Nepalese nationalist party, a Buddhist monk was sent to convert the Christian community in Borang village in Napal’s Dhading district. The Christian villagers were detained and forced to accept Buddhist teachings. Church leaders who did not comply were attacked. A pastor was captured, beaten for three days and forced to sign a document agreeing not to report the incident, not to leave the village and to close the church. On 1 February a group of assailants attempted to set the church building ablaze. They also attacked the pastor's home, cutting off the electricity and phone lines. Unable to leave or contact authorities, the pastor is still in Borang and local Christians are concerned about his health. To view our most current news scan this with your device
Barnabas Aid May/June 2015 15
Behind the Headlines
Image Source: brian.ch, Flickr
Boko Haram violence spreads into Niger and Chad For the first time Nigerian-based jihadi group Boko Haram have launched attacks in neighbouring Niger and Chad. Niger and Chad
On
Analysiss
Saturday 21 Febr uar y Boko Haram militants attacked an island on Boko Haram was founded in 2002 by Nigerian Islamist cleric Mohammed Niger’s side of Lake Chad, but were Yusuf. The popular name, which is in the local Hausa language, is usually repelled by the Nigerien army. translated as “Western education is forbidden” but they themselves want to Preceding this, the border town Diffa be known by the Arabic name Jama'atu ahlis sunna lidda'awati wal-jihad saw a wave of raids by the militants, means “People committed to the propagation of the prophet’s teaching and and on 9 February five people were jihad”. The group developed out of African post-colonial dissatisfaction. killed in a car bomb. Newly-formed governments attempted to oversee largely destitute peoples Boko Haram’s first fatal attack in whose primary identity was a mixture of religious, ethnic and tribal. These Chad took place in Ngouboua, a village government territories did not reflect cultural, ethnic or religious divisions. near Lake Chad, on 13 February. A In Nigeria, the Muslim-majority north is more impoverished than the spokesperson for Chad’s armed forces Christian-majority south. The north had previously been said five people died in the NIGER Lake Chad CHAD subject to sharia law, but a settlement in 1960 reduced raid: a local chief, a police Bosso Ngouboua sharia law’s influence in favour of state-run systems. officer and three civilians. Fotokol Kano In the next two decades as Islamic fundamentalism Dozens of militants arrived Potiskum Kolofata Biu became prominent in the Middle East, so it emerged by motorised canoe, burning Jos in discontented northern Nigeria, culminating in riots houses, and then attacked a NIGERIA against the Nigerian government in the 1980s. police station. Yusuf was a Salafi (Wahhabi) Muslim and came Boko Haram, which has CAMEROON BENIN from the Kanuri ethnic group (as do most members of also continued to wreak Boko Haram violence spreads to Boko Haram). He rejected the “infidel” secular state and violence in Nigeria and strove for a purer Islamic one. He wanted to re-establish Cameroon, is believed to be Niger and Chad a caliphate in lands that had belonged to the successful, expanding its movements and later Islamic, Kanem-Borno Empire: predominantly northern Nigeria, in response to the formation of the Cameroon, Chad and Niger. This explains the group’s opposition to any kind Multinational Joint Task Force, a of education that is nor purely Islamic, and their violence towards Christians regional force made up of soldiers (whom classical Islam says should be fought until they submit to Islamic from Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Niger rule), to governmental security forces who try to hinder their agenda, and to and Benin, numbering around 8,700. moderate Muslims who do not share their vision for a pure Islamic state. The force’s formation was backed by In 2009 Boko Haram further radicalised after escalating violence African Union countries to combat between it and the Nigerian police resulted in the killing of around 700 Boko Haram on 30 January and has militants and the execution of Yusuf. His successor, Abubakar Shekau, successfully reclaimed some land increased the group’s insurgency, drawing many fighters from poorly captured by the Islamists, most notably educated, disadvantaged backgrounds. Baga town in which up to 2,000 Boko Haram originally had a mostly local focus for its jihad (holy war) residents were killed on 3 January. mainly in north-east Nigeria and more recently across the borders into The militant group hold around neighbouring states. But it is thought to have had guidance and help from 20,000 square miles (approximately Al-Qaeda or one of its affiliates. However, in early March 2015 Boko Haram 50,000 square km ) of territory (the pledged its allegiance to Islamic State (IS); this may mean that Boko Haram size of Belgium) in north-east Nigeria will be able to develop a more sophisticated propaganda and information and have established an Islamic strategy. It may also lead to Boko Haram striking more at Western targets. Caliphate (state under sharia law).
The origins of Boko Haram
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Grace upon Grace
The Lord is doing amazing things in the lives of persecuted Christians, despite the difficulties they face. Here are just a few of the ways in which He has blessed our brothers and sisters recently.
Faith and solidarity grow in the midst of persecution
A stretch of the Libyan coast. Twenty-one Egyptian Christian hostages were killed near here. When asked what he would say if he were asked to forgive Islamic State (IS) militants for killing his two younger brothers, Beshir Kamel gave this response: “My mother, an uneducated woman in her sixties, said she would ask [the executioner] to enter her house and ask God to open his eyes because he was the reason her son entered the Kingdom of Heaven.” Kamel, whose brothers, aged 23 and 25, were amongst 21 Christians beheaded by IS in Libya on 15 February, spoke bravely in an interview with a Christian television channel. He particularly thanked
"the Bible told us to love our enemies and bless those who curse us" IS for not editing out the last words of some killed; many had cried out “Lord Jesus Christ!” as they met their deaths. Their declarations, Kamel said, strengthened his own faith: “Since the Roman era, Christians have been martyred and have learned to handle everything that comes our way. This only makes us stronger in our faith because the Bible told us to love our enemies and bless those who curse us.” Further messages of forgiveness and prayers for the IS executioners
have been expressed across Egypt by Christians and their leaders, and by those bereaved by the Islamists. But many Muslims, too, have shared in their pain and condemnation of IS’s actions. A video created by a young Christian woman in May 2011, during the early days of the “Arab Spring”, was viewed by huge numbers on social media in February in response to the executions. Muslims and Christians alike shared the video, widely distributing its message of forgiveness, mercy and solidarity across Egypt as they did so. In the film, the woman reminds Christians to have hope and calls not for hateful retaliation, but recites Jesus’ own words from Luke 23:34: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” The video has now been watched over 680,000 times. Ramez Atallah, General Director of the Bible Society of Egypt, also spoke of unity in Egypt. Christians, he explained, have felt comforted following the “sympathetic and caring response of Muslims all over the nation… The execution shocked the country and has united Christians and Muslims as never before”. When invited to pray for his brothers’ murderers, Kamel spoke not of retribution or anger, rather he prayed: “Dear God, please open their eyes to be saved and to quit their ignorance and the wrong teachings they were taught.”
Grace
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Struck down but not destroyed: a Bangladesh congregation grows after their building was ruined
Pastor Sunil’s congregation in their new building In 2012 the shed that Pastor Sunil’s congregation used for church meetings in Kusot, Bangladesh, was destroyed by a cyclone. With a foundation of mud and a roof of tin, the building frequently flooded and in the end did not stand up to the violent winds. Later that year, Barnabas funded the construction of a brick building for the church. Since the completion of
calling him to ministry and started attending a Bible College. Sunil finished his training in 2008 and went on to plant the church in Kusot, Bangladesh. However, Pastor Sunil said that “the village leaders threatened to kill me and the new believers”, so he began to conduct church meetings in family homes secretly during the night.
Sunil has seen a rise in Sunday attendance and baptisms, as God continues to build His Kingdom one soul at a time this new church building, Sunil has seen a rise in Sunday attendance and baptisms, as God continues to build His Kingdom one soul at a time. Sunil was raised as a Hindu in Bangladesh – a country that is less than 1% Christian. Struggling with guilt, Sunil was driven to seek a god who could forgive his sins. One day, while studying both Hindu and Islamic religious texts, Sunil discovered a New Testament. Reading the words of Jesus, Sunil found the forgiveness he had always desired. Soon afterwards Sunil felt the Lord
Things have changed since the early days of Pastor Sunil’s ministry. By 2009 nine families had been baptised and joined Pastor Sunil’s church. As his congregation became more established within the community, they began meeting in a church building. Despite facing persecution daily, the church continues to grow with the support of Barnabas Fund, which not only financed their new building in 2012 and but also sponsors a feeding programme to help support the church members.
Christian child in Syria “can live and smile again” Amid all the tragic news from Syria about children’s lives blighted by war, comes a story of hope. "Milad", an eleven-year old Syrian Christian boy now considers a shelter built and funded by Barnabas as his home. He lives there with his family and eleven other Christian families. Milad describes it as a place where"we can hope and dream". “I love everything [about the shelter],” he said. “We have nice rooms and a big lobby, we have a huge kitchen and a big yard to play in, and of course I love it because it is so close to the church.” Milad and his family fled from their home in Homs in February 2011 after armed rebels took over their neighbourhood. He remembers, “I always wished that what was happening in my city is not real and that it is only a bad nightmare it will disappear when I wake up.” Last year, after hearing that their neighbourhood had been cleared from armed groups, they went to see what remained. “My house was ruined and my room was burned. I lost my books, toys. I only have memories now in my mind and heart,” he says. “Now this shelter is my house after we lost our house in Homs,” he says. “We are like a family. I have so much fun with all the children. Being here has made me believe that we still have a bright sight in the world we can live and smile again.”
In some areas of Syria Christian children like “Milad” can still grow up in safety
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In Touch 1st-8
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Barnabas Aid May/June 2015 18
k 2015 Suffering Church Action Wee
November 8 y da n Su – r be em ov N 1 y da Sun
Church Action Week This year’s theme for Suffering quered. Please join us will be Struck Down but Uncon Church and taking d in remembering the persecute Fund invites you to as action on their behalf. Barnab , or any other week ber em set aside the week of 1-8 Nov r, and start planning that suits your church calenda how you could get involved. thians 4: 8-10: The theme is from 2 Corin side, but not crushed; We are hard pressed on every secuted, but not per r; perplexed, but not in despai destroyed. not abandoned; struck down, but y the death of bod our We always carry around in o be revealed als y ma Jesus, so that the life of Jesus in our body.
istians to take time to Barnabas Fund is calling on Chr secuted brothers and learn about the needs of our per prayer. Could you and sisters and to remember them in ng Church Action your church get involved in Sufferi viding resources and Week? Barnabas Fund will be pro ticipate, including ideas for those who choose to par a sermon outline, a Bible materials for children’s ministry, the week. study and other suggestions for vember ●● Sunday 1 or Sunday 8 No ng Church Sunday feri Suf a for Suggested dates ser vice at your church ●● Saturday 7 November Day of Prayer for Barnabas Fund International the Persecuted Church
A feature presentation for Barnabas Fund
Young Adult Masquerade Ball Some of those who attended this year’s
Come on and do the twist… with Barnabas!
for ng Adult Masquerade Ball was held On Saturday 7 March, the annual You was hall The . mba woo Too in e School hall the second time at the Wilsonton Stat ple. peo ng you 161 of d crow event drew a decorated in a mask theme and the e from ans, there were young adults ther Although aimed mostly at Luther nds who frie from th mou of d nly from wor other denominations as well, mai it this nd atte to r nea and far came from have been to previous balls. People , mba woo Too i, ind ndiw Goo erg, Dalby, year – including Brisbane, Bundab elled prize for the farthest distance trav Warwick and areas in between. The ng man from Springsure. to attend the ball was won by a you the dancers used their feet to vote After being served a lovely dinner, er of the hall – Barnabas Fund won for one of four charities in each corn was would like to thank everyone who the vote and received $1,780. We who cke Doe ya Son and n especially Joh involved in this wonder ful event, organised the occasion.
Barnabas Fund received a very encouraging letter written on behalf of the members of Bribie Island Baptist Church. The congregation was able to raise $135 the Persecuted Church by having an “Old Time Movie Show”. One of the members of Bribie Island Baptist Church is a collector of old films, newsreels, cartoons and projectors, so they decided to set up the projector and have an afternoon matinee to raise funds for mission work. On Saturday 14 March the church showed the most famous Laurel and Hardy movie: “Way Out West”. Admission cost $5 and included icecream and drinks. Roughly 60 people attended the event and thoroughly enjoyed it. Barnabas Fund would like to thank everyone involved on behalf of our persecuted brothers and sisters; your time, donations and prayers are greatly appreciated.
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Struck Down but
Unconquered
eek: W n o i t c urch A h C g n i Suffer
v o N 1- 8
We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 2 Corinthians 4:8-12
Barnabas Fund International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Ch urch Saturday
2015
7 Nov 2015
Surviving the Armenian Genocide: a personal story Smpat Chorbadjian This book provides a compelling narrative of one man’s experience during the Armenian genocide in the period of World War 1. With frank simplicity the author reveals the appalling hardships suffered by a Christian living in a Muslim-majority society and caught up in a global conflict. The book challenges the reader to develop a thoughtful, prayerful approach to contemporary situations in which Christians face persecution. ISBN: 978-0-9916145-7-8 Paperback
Coming soon
To order these books, visit www.barnabasfund.org/shop. Alternatively, please contact your nearest Barnabas Fund office (addresses on inside front cover).
barnabasfund.org