Barnabas aid November December 2015

barnabasaid BARNABAS FUND - AID AGENCY FOR THE PERSECUTED CHURCH Refugees

An age old problem reaches crisis point

Flee to the Mountains Our home is not in this world

“Arise, and take the young

Child and His Mother and flee” Matthew 2:13

barnabasfund.org

November/december 2015 Dangerous journeys

Christians in the Calais “Jungle”

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 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.

Australia PO BOX 3527, LOGANHOLME, QLD 4129 Telephone (07) 3806 1076 or 1300 365 799 Fax (07) 3806 4076 Email bfaustralia@barnabasfund.org

barnabasaid the magazine of Barnabas Fund Published by Barnabas Fund The Old Rectory, River Street, Pewsey, Wiltshire SN9 5DB, UK Telephone 01672 564938 Fax 01672 565030 From outside UK: Telephone +44 1672 564938 Fax +44 1672 565030 Email info@barnabasfund.org

●● acting on behalf of the persecuted Church, to

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

We seek to:

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

●● facilitate global intercession for

the persecuted Church by providing comprehensive prayer materials

We believe:

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

●● in the clear Biblical teaching that Christians

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

●● tackle persecution at its root by making

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

●● inform and enable Christians in the West

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

known the aspects of the Islamic faith and other ideologies that result in injustice and oppression of non-believers

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

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

(Matthew 25:40)

You may contact Barnabas Fund at the following addresses 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 USA 6731 Curran St, McLean, VA 22101 Telephone (703) 288-1681 or toll-free 1-866-936-2525 Fax (703) 288-1682 Email usa@barnabasaid.org

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

Thank you for your understanding.

Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and obtain permission for stories and images used in this publication. Barnabas Fund apologises for any errors or omissions and will be grateful for any further information regarding copyright. © Barnabas Fund 2015

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

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

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

Headquarters address above.

The paper used in this publication comes from sustainable forests and can be 100% recycled. The paper used is produced

Front cover: An Iraqi Christian mother and baby who fled from Islamic State and are living in a temporary camp for displaced Christians in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan © Barnabas Fund 2015. For permission to reproduce articles from this magazine, please contact the International

using wood fibre at a mill that has been awarded the ISO14001 certificate for environmental management.

Editorial

Contents

Not refugees but living martyrs

4 Compassion in Action

300 new homes in India’s Odisha State

8

Newsdesk

Christians in the Calais “Jungle”

Dr Patrick Sookhdeo International Director

Patrick Sookhdeo

is the International Director of Barnabas Fund. Dr Sookhdeo is a spokesman for persecuted Christian minorities around the world. He is an advocate for human rights and freedom of religion.

they had fled their homes and lost all they owned, because they would not deny Christ

10 Pull-out

S

peaking at a church in Amman, Jordan, which (with help from Barnabas) shelters Iraqi Christians who have fled their homeland, I used the word “refugees”. Afterwards a Jordanian man gently rebuked me. “They are not refugees. They are living martyrs,” he said, explaining that it was because they were faithful to Christ that they had been forced to flee.

A few days later I was in Ankawa, a Christian neighbourhood of Erbil, in Iraqi Kurdistan. I visited a church where money (mostly from Barnabas Fund) was being distributed to Christians who had fled from Mosul when Islamic State (IS) seized control last year. One told me about his elderly mother-in-law who had stayed behind in Mosul when everyone else fled, because she was too frail to face the rigours of travel. Three months later, IS militants told her she must convert to Islam. When she refused, they said they would come back again in the morning and kill her.

For over ten years, Mosul Christians had lived in a society of lawlessness, kidnapping and death, a society without security or effective authority. First it was Al-Qaeda who threatened and persecuted them, then Islamic State.

Finally they had fled their homes and lost all they owned, because they would not deny Christ. Those we term “refugees” or “asylum seekers” who are trying desperately to get to Europe, include many of our own brothers and sisters, whose lives are marked by faithfulness to the Lord.

Our Lord Jesus Himself was a refugee, escaping death at a very early age, though sadly many other baby boys were massacred by King Herod in his murderous rage, leaving their mothers weeping and unable to be comforted (Matthew 2:13-18). Imagine the arduous journey that Mary and Joseph undertook with their little son, crossing hundreds of miles of territory, mainly desert, enduring the heat of the day and the cold of the night, and then making their home in a foreign country.

Jesus began His life not as a respectable citizen but as an alien, a refugee, an asylum-seeker, who had fled the killing fields of Bethlehem. Who better to understand the plight of His people who have experienced the same tragedy?

Jesus said, “I was a stranger and you welcomed me” (Matthew 25:35). The writer to the Hebrews exhorts us to show hospitality to strangers for we might be entertaining angels unawares (Hebrews 13:2). The Greek word for hospitality, philoxenos, means literally “love of strangers or foreigners”. To welcome strangers, our brothers and sisters, the living martyrs, is to welcome Jesus, who came into this world as a stranger (John 1:9-10), whose birth we celebrate this Christmas.

Dawa

Islamisation and its methods

11

Grace upon Grace

12

Biblical Reflection

14

Refugees

17

Campaign

Stories of God’s mercies amidst persecution

Flee to the mountains

An age old problem reaches crisis point

Save Middle Eastern Christians: Write to your elected representative

18 18

In Touch

A Mad Hatter’s Tea Party

how barnabas is helping God never abandons His children “I am one of the first converts to Christianity in the region, since 1972.

I believe that God never abandons His children. He touched the hearts of brothers in the UK to come to our rescue.” – Alfa from Senegal Alfa is 92 and lives in a Christianmajority village in Senegal. Earlier this year, fire swept through the community. A woman and two children died; 70 homes and a church building were destroyed along with valuable livestock, stores of grain and other food. Families were left grieving and destitute.

Neighbouring Muslim communities mocked the Christians, and refused to help. Musu, a mother of four, was told that this was punishment on her and her children for leaving Islam.

Some Christians were promised food if they renounced Christ and became Muslims, but they stood firm.

Churches in the district contacted Barnabas Fund for support. We sent a grant enabling immediate relief aid to be provided: each family received basic foodstuff, sleeping mats and blankets.

Families could begin to rebuild their homes and their livelihoods.

Alfa, 92, a survivor of the tragic fire

£8,054 to assist victims of village fire (US$12,500; €11,100) Project reference 00-634 (Disaster Relief Fund)

Joy at aid for gunmen’s victims “All villagers welcomed [the trucks] with singing and dancing at the church where the items were shared.”

– village pastor Christian villages are targeted regularly in vicious raids by ethnic Fulani gunmen in the Middle Belt of Nigeria.

When Barnabas came to the aid of the 280 families worst affected by attacks in the area of Kafanchan, it was at a time of acute food shortage and the aid was necessary to enable subsistence farmers (95% of the beneficiaries) to remain working the land. Everywhere the arrival of trucks carrying the food – rice, beans, cooking oil and stock cubes – was greeted with joy.

In one village, the chief and village elders invited the senior church leader in charge of the project to visit their village so they could show their gratitude. “As usual, there was singing and dancing in appreciation,” he told Barnabas in his report, adding that the food aid was very timely because it enabled the people to stay and cultivate their farms, instead of having to leave the area because they had nothing to eat.

Distributing aid to victims of Fulani gunmen

£29,624 for victims of Fulani gunmen (US$45,800; €41,000) Project reference 39-772

New Church makes an impact “The help from Barnabas Fund is a total miracle from God. Who are we to receive such favour?” – project partner in Uganda Flooded streams often kept older folk and children from one particular village in Yumbe District, Uganda, away from worship services. A new church building in a better location was begun, but work halted in 2010 for lack of funds. The worshippers prayed for its completion.

Unusually for Uganda the local population in Yumbe District is mainly Muslim, and they despised the Christians who didn’t even have a building for their meetings.

When Barnabas Fund provided finances to complete the church building, the delighted congregation thanked God for the answer to prayer which they compared to His intervention when He saved the Israelites from oppression in Egypt.

The church is a talking-point in the community

£6,107 to complete the Apokia church building (US$9,400; €8,400) Project reference 00-637 (Church Building Fund)

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.

Food for Sudanese refugees in Egypt Burial ground for Keshobpur “God has blessed our church and for that reason we like to give thanks to God with our open hearts.”–Pastor Das, Keshobpur, Bangladesh The issues for Christians who are in a minority in a country cut across all areas of life – and death. Bangladesh’s public burial grounds provide for Muslims and Buddhists but not for Christians. Hindus cremate their dead and do not need burial grounds.

Christian believers in Keshobpur had to bury their dead far away, which caused great emotional distress as well as practical problems in a hot climate.

The community of believers prayed for God to provide them with a place to bury their dead and now their prayers have been answered.

With a grant from Barnabas Fund they have bought suitable land and built a protective boundary wall and security guard room around the new graveyard, which will serve 26 churches in the area.

Opening ceremony for the burial ground in Keshobpur

£7,861 for the church graveyard at Keshobpur (US$12,100; €10,900) Project reference 00-637 (Church Building Fund)

“Every time we eat this bread we remember the great effort that you did and we pray that God fill you with His grace and mercy, as God said, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” – Sudanese Christian refugee in Egypt Every Sunday, a small church in Cairo hosts a service for Christian refugees from the Moro people group who have fled from government persecution in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan. The building is meant for 200 believers but the worshippers regularly number 600! About half of the refugee congregation is under 16 years of age.

A big feature of the refugees’ Sunday is the hot meal served to everyone who comes, after their two-hours journey to church. Some will only have been able to afford a cup of tea for breakfast. “We have some aged and single people who can barely have someone even prepare this morning tea, so it’s very comforting to provide this meal for them, as Jesus fed 5,000 after the sermon. The meal is also significant because the shared time together gives an opportunity for fellowship which enriches their lives.

“This is a great social help”, says the pastor who leads the service.

This small church in Cairo hosts up to 600 Sudanese refugees on a Sunday

£4,242 to feed Sundanese refugees in Egypt this year (US$6,600; €5,900) Project reference 48-1138

Barnabas Aid November/December 2015 5

Rebuilding lives in Nepal For three days after the first earthquake struck Nepal back in April, Krishna’s family slept under the open sky, their house badly damaged and unsafe. Then help arrived for his family and thousands of other Christians too, made possible by the swift response of Barnabas Fund supporters.

They now had some food to eat and a tarpaulin for shelter from the rain and heat, which was shared with other families. For ten days Krishna sought work but found nothing, no school for his teenage son and daughter, and the only habitable houses left standing were in such demand that rents had become unaffordable.

Then, says Krishna (a convert from Hinduism to Christianity), God answered his prayers. He found land to rent, and the support of Barnabas enabled aid workers to help him build a temporary home which will give better protection from the elements.

Krishna held a meeting for prayer and thanksgiving in his new home.

Barnabas also provided medical supplies, utensils and toiletries. Basic tarpaulin shelters are now being replaced with temporary homes that will withstand monsoon winds and rain. We are also supporting the repair and rebuilding of churches in our continuing aid to the area.

Prayer meeting in Krishna’s new home

£30,000 to help earthquake victims in Nepal (US$46,400; €41,500) Project reference 00-634 (Disaster Relief Fund)

1

Girls tucking into a hearty meal!

3

Abraham and some of his family outside their new home

2

A happy family outside their new home

Compassion in Action

ABBA HOME for Christian Girls

1

Beenish is 11 years old. When she was four, her mother was seriously ill and her father deserted the family. Soon after, her mother died and there was only her frail grandmother to look after her. Abba Home orphanage staff visited her in 2009 and, seeing her vulnerability, agreed to take her in.

Seven years later, Beenish is thriving.

She has overcome her challenges to become a well-balanced little girl who enjoys participating in the activities of the Home in Lahore (Pakistan). She is reaching her full potential.

Beenish is just one of the 30 young orphan girls looked after by nine professionally trained Christians giving the girls loving care, tending to their emotional and spiritual needs and preparing them for adult life.

The girls eat healthily and the older girls are taught to cook nutritionally.

Coaching in personal and domestic hygiene is also given high priority.

This keeps the girls healthy in a context where impoverished Christians, without much opportunity for education are often unaware about basic hygiene and other health care issues. This training will also enable the girls to take good care of their families when they grow up and marry.

The holistic approach to the girls’ development is carried through into the classroom environment, which is bright and cheerful. Every school day starts with Assembly, focused on the Bible. Christians are despised by the majority community in Pakistan, which can result in children growing up lacking in self-esteem. The home provides a range of activities designed to bolster the girls’ confidence. Every girl passed her end-of-year exams this year, which was a cause for celebration in the Home!

£5,051 for ongoing support for Abba Home orphanage (US$7,800; €7,000) Project reference 41-1095

Barnabas Aid November/December 2015 7

Help for Sri Lanka’s flood victims

2

“In the village of B-----, some [families] were of Hindu backgrounds and have been penalised by the village leaders, as they are now Christians. They have been neglected and no relief given, in whatever form.”

– Sri Lankan pastor When floods afflicted the Eastern and North Central provinces of Sri Lanka, Barnabas Fund provided aid to 135 impoverished Christian families who were hit hardest by the natural disaster. As well as converts from Hinduism who were discriminated against, priority was given to womenheaded families and those with disabilities, who were not receiving support from other sources.

People’s needs varied from village to village. Many needed food and basic supplies. Some needed help to buy seeds to replace their ruined crops such as rice, maize, chillis and ground nuts, and others needed building materials for homes that had been damaged or swept away by the flood waters.

Twenty-two families had their homes repaired or rebuilt. Once the building materials were purchased, the labour for the construction was provided by the home-owners themselves as well as others in the local community. This giving of their time by friends and neighbours was particularly generous because their own livelihoods (such as selling firewood and lagoon fishing) were very precarious – in short that means if they don’t work, they don’t eat.

“These persons, who were helpless and frustrated, now live in hope, and our help has encouraged them to help themselves, as they contributed labour and resources to build better

£66,038 for flood relief in Sri Lanka (US$102,200; €91,400) Project reference 00-634 (Disaster Relief Fund)

living spaces. This project has also brought them self-confidence and dignity,” said our Sri Lankan project partner on the ground.

Homes for victims of violence in India

3

“I could not ask for help from the Hindu neighbours due to the fear of them luring us to convert to other faith … returning to my village was out of question as life threats against us still continued … we were left without shelter and had to suffer starvation.”– Abraham, whose family of seven lost everything in anti-Christian rioting Testimonies of people who endured the riots in the Indian state of Orissa (now called Odisha) give a context to the project to build new homes for Christians displaced by the destruction of their property in large-scale violence

by Hindu extremists in 2007-8. An estimated 60,000 Christians were made homeless and even now, seven years later, some are still without proper, weather-proof accommodation.

Things changed when Barnabas Fund became involved with building houses for the homeless victims. In 2015 we built a further 176 houses, bringing the total to 1,442. Initiatives such as a solar-powered electricity supply and Self-Help Groups are improving life further for those who have suffered so much in the name of Christ.

Abraham thanks God. He speaks of the opportunity to leave the camp where he hand his family were living, have a new home for his family and provide for his family’s education, physical and spiritual needs as a “rescue”. Prafu, who lost his livelihood, home and all his possessions in the riots, simply states, “Now I can start to dream about the future.”

£138,556 for building a further 176 houses in Orissa/ Odisha in 2015 (US$214,000; €191,700) Project reference 21-723

Newsdesk

Barnabas Aid November/December 2015 8

Islamic State militants issue dhimma contract for captured Christians Syria

Christian husband of convert killed in brutal honour attack Pakistan

Barnabas is helping Middle East Christians escape the killing fields Islamic State (IS) militants released a photograph on 3 September showing kidnapped Christians in the seized Syrian town of Qaryatain signing a dhimma contract. Classical Islam teaches that conquered non-Muslims must agree to a series of humiliating rules and pay a special poll tax called jiyza, in return for “protection” by the Muslims i.e. for being permitted follow their own faith without being killed. The next day, 15 Christians who had signed the contract and paid the mandatory jizya were released.

Militants had given the town’s captured Christians an ultimatum:

48 hours to decide whether they would convert to Islam, pay the jizya tax, or leave. But payment of the jizya symbolises much more than the exchange of money: it is a recognition by the Christians that they are dhimmi, that is, subjugated non-Muslim people, living with second-class status, in conquered territory.

An estimated 260 Christians were kidnapped on 6 August as jihadists captured the town and hunted out its Christian population. Dozens of the Christians were later taken to Raqqa, the so-called capital of IS territory.

Christian couple shot dead by paramilitary

Rural Pakistan Flickr, mrehan

In April 2014, Nadia Din a convert to Christianity from Islam, married a Christian man, Aleem Masih. Once married, the couple fled their home city of Lahore, in northern Pakistan, fearing attacks from Nadia’s family who were greatly angered by her decision to convert.

But on a return visit to Lahore in late July, as Nadia and Aleem waited in a rickshaw, Nadia’s father and brother forced themselves inside and, at gunpoint, made the driver take them to a farm.

India

A Christian couple were shot dead in India’s notorious Kandhamal district in Odisha (formerly Orissa) state by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), accused of being Maoists.

Dhubaleswar and his wife, Bhubudi Nayak, had gone up to the top of a hill in Pangalpadar village on 26 July to make their weekly phonecall to their children who worked in Kerala state. But as their son was talking to his parents that Sunday, the call was interrupted.

“I could hear my mother shrieking and protesting as if somebody was trying to [rape] her,” said Rahul.

“My father was also shouting.

Then I heard gunshots and the last words of my father: ‘I am dying’.

Afterwards, there was no response from the phone and soon it was switched off. It was a murder.”

When the couple failed to return home, villagers went to look for them but found only bloodstains, a man’s vest and two pairs of slippers. Police eventually handed over the bodies, but Bhubudi’s hair had been cut to make her look like a Maoist. The Indian military are targeting Naxalite-Maoists in remote tribal areas, and Christians are often “caught in the crossfire”, this time almost literally.

“I jumped in front of Aleem to save him and they fired at me too.”

“They took us to a big field in Khaliq Nagar where they beat us and then fired the gun at Aleem,” said Nadia. “I jumped in front of Aleem to save him and they fired at me too.”

Triumphant, the attackers returned to their village proclaiming the honour they had restored to Muslims by the murders. Police later discovered Aleem’s body; Nadia had survived the attack despite a gunshot to the abdomen.

In Brief

Barnabas Aid November/December 2015 9

Pastor ordered to stop all Christian activity Sri Lanka

A mob of around 50 villagers surrounded a church building in Padukka, in Sri Lanka’s Colombo district, while the Sunday worship service was in progress on 5 July. At a police inquiry into the incident the next day, a senior Buddhist monk, the police officer in charge and the Grama Sevaka (area village officer) told the pastor to stop all Christian worship activities. “This is a Buddhist village,” they told him.

Christian mother of three kidnapped and forced to convert Pakistan

Fouzia's family work as bonded labourers for Muhammad Nazir Fouzia Sadiq, a young married Christian mother of three, was abducted by her Muslim employer, forced to convert to Islam and forcibly married to her kidnapper on 23 July in Pattoki, in Pakistan’s Punjab province.

The entire family work as bonded labourers for Muhammad Nazir Ahmad, and when they went to request her return, Nazir told them that Fouzia was now his property and warned them not to report it to anyone.

South Sudanese pastors released and church gains legal victory Sudan

Barnabas helps train Sudanese Christian leaders A court in Khartoum has released two South Sudanese Pastors who were facing eight charges and a possible death sentence. At the hearing on 5 August, the judge convicted the pastors of various crimes but said the nearly eight months they had spent in jail was enough to cover the sentences. After further official delays, the pastors reached Juba, capital of South Sudan, on 19 August.

In more great news, on 31 August, a Court in Khartoum restored powers to the rightful church committee responsible for land and buildings, bringing new hope to the Khartoum church visited by the South Sudanese pastors.

Boko Haram fighters slaughter Christians in simultaneous attacks Nigeria

Boko Haram militants, armed with AK-47 rifles and petrol bombs, raided two Christian villages in Nigeria’s north-eastern Borno state on 27 July.

They fired indiscriminately at villagers and torched homes, killing at least 29 people in the village of Dille.

The same day, Boko Haram fighters slit the throats of 16 Chadian Christian fishermen in villages on the Nigerian coast of Lake Chad. Some 17,000 people have been killed in Boko Haram attacks since 2009.

Supreme Court agrees to hear Aasia Bibi’s appeal Pakistan

The Pakistan Supreme Court agreed on 22 July to hear an appeal by Aasia Bibi, and stayed her execution. Ashiq Masih, Aasia’s husband, told Barnabas that they “can see new hope for justice.”

The Christian mother of five has been languishing on death row since 2010 when she was convicted of insulting the name of Muhammad, a crime that has a mandatory death sentence according to Pakistan’s blasphemy laws.

Christians arrested in house church raid Iran

Gohardasht Prison in Karaj, northern Iran When armed officials stormed a house church on 7 August in the city of Karaj, in northern Iran, they arrested at least eight believers. Plain-clothed security officers confiscated books and satellite dishes and took the Christians to prison in a van, after insulting them and beating them. The homes of some of those arrested were also searched, and their personal items seized.

To view our most current news scan this with your device

Barnabas Aid November/December 2015 10

Behind the Headlines

Christians in the Calais “Jungle” France

F

The makeshift church in the Jungle.

Photo: Max Serjeant

Tents are made from anything the refugees can find Photo: Max Serjeant

*The persecution of Christians in Syria and Eritrea can be very extreme

or many years people have been making their way to Calais on the northern French coast, in an attempt to cross from mainland Europe into the UK, but the number using this route has increased dramatically in 2015. In September there were an estimated 3,500 people living in the “Jungle” camp on the edge of the town. It arose after the Red Cross Sangatte camp was closed in 2002 due to overcrowding. People come from all over Asia and Africa, but the most common nationalities are Eritreans, Syrians, Afghans and Sudanese.

Conditions in the camp are terrible and in September they had been made worse by flooding caused by recent rains. Police stand guard on the edge but, along with the ambulance service, refuse to enter the camp .

There are many Christians living in the Jungle. In the first week of September these included six Syrian Christians* who made the journey together. They had travelled across Lebanon, Turkey, Greece, Serbia, Hungary, Germany and Belgium before reaching France. Much of this journey was made on foot and it took them four months. Smugglers put them in a “death boat” at Bodrum in Turkey to get them to Greece - one much the same as that which little Aylan Kurdi was travelling on when he drowned. One of the Christians, Bahir, said, “I would like to say to the British church community we have to find a solution to this mess, I have seen people die on this route.”

Abrahaley is an Eritrean* who arrived at the camp in late August along with his wife. After leaving

Eritrea, he spent eight days crossing the Sahara. The people smugglers carried him along with 26 others in one Toyota Land Cruiser and dropped him in Libya - a country in the midst of its own civil war. Afterwards he paid US$1,000 to cross the Mediterranean in a packed boat to reach Italy. He arrived at the camp with nothing, and although there are charities trying to distribute tents, clothes and food, they are understaffed and struggling to distribute these things to those who need them most. A group of Darfurians provided Abrahaley and his wife with a tent and blanket.

Abrahaley thanks God for his survival. “I would like to thank my Lord because he saved me from the Sahara, from the Mediterranean sea, and from the Libyans. I pray every day that He will be here helping me.”

There is a church in the Jungle, built from the same wood and tarpaulin sheets as much of the camp.

Simbala, an Eritrean, has become the de facto leader of the church as he has a degree in theology, although formal services are not held currently because the Christian leader who set it up managed to reach the UK. The church here is a powerful symbol of the strength that belief in God can provide, and has become a gathering point for the Christians of the camp. It has helped many to strengthen their faith despite the dangers they have escaped from or faced on their journey, the distressingly squalid situation they now find themselves in, and the uncertainty of the future.

For longer versions of the stories of the Christians in the Jungle go to www.barnabasfund.org/jungle or scan this with your device

Pull-out

DAWA The Islamic Strategy for Reshaping the Modern World

5 Islamisation and its methods Patrick Sookhdeo

...

Pull-out

Barnabas Aid November/December 2015 ii

Migration and demographics

For Islamists, Muhammad’s migration from Mecca to Medina in 622 AD (the hijra) is a model to be followed

by Muslims throughout history. It is an example of fleeing from a region of persecution to a safe haven that is thus infiltrated and eventually won for Islam, then becoming a launch pad for its further Islamic expansion. Migration thus forms an important part of the Islamist strategy for dawa and Islamisation.

The massive growth in the number of Muslims migrating to non-Muslim states is seen by many Islamists as Allah moving to tilt the global demographic balance in favour of Islam. Islamist leaders see it as a great opportunity for dawa to convert non-Muslims and establish Islam in nonMuslim-majority lands.

Their high birth rates means that Muslim minorities might in time become majorities. Bernard Lewis, the distinguished scholar of Islam, predicted in 2006 that Muslims would form a majority in Europe by the end of the 21st century. Europeans have surrendered to this process in an atmosphere of political correctness and multiculturalism.

Transmigration

Some Muslim governments have deliberately increased the Muslim population in areas populated predominantly by non-Muslims by planning and subsidising the migration and resettlement of Muslims to these localities. This policy is supported by Islamist groups keen to transform non-Muslim-majority regions into Muslim-majority ones. Non-Muslims are swamped by a flood of Muslim settlers, altering the cultural environment and changing the voting patterns in these regions. A tipping point is reached once the Muslims become a majority and can vote in Muslim candidates to all important posts in local government.

In Indonesia the 19841989 Five Year Plan called for the movement of five million people from highly concentrated Muslim regions to places with local Christian majorities. In the Malukus and in Central Sulawesi, religious cleansing of Christian communities by jihadi groups in the 1990s and 2000s reinforced the policy of transmigration. More than 6,000 Christians were killed and 750,000 forced to flee their homes. The Malukus, previously a majority Christian population region, is now 60% Muslim.

to be disbelieving Muslims or infidels and placing it in the hands of true Muslims (i.e. Islamists). In Western states many Muslim organisations have been taken over by Islamists, yet are presented as independent and moderate. They compete with secular Muslim organisations for influence and power within Muslim communities and endeavour to speak on behalf of all Muslims to governments and the public. They then demand legal changes to protect Islam and give it a privileged position in state and society.

The democratic process

Some Islamist movements set up political parties and join the democratic process, seeking to Islamise the population and the legislative system and achieve power in the state through elections. They practise patience (sabr) to achieve this, as the leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party in Bangladesh, Motiur Rahman Nizami, stated when his party joined the ruling coalition in 2001: But we are not in a hurry. We don’t expect anything to happen overnight but pursue a slow but steady policy towards total Islamisation of the country.

The spread of sharia

In non-Muslim-majority states the desire for sharia is expressed in Muslim requests for halal food in schools, hospitals and prisons, for time off for employees to attend Friday midday prayers, for Muslim check-out staff in supermarkets not to handle alcohol, for schoolgirls to wear the hijab, for gender segregation in school sports, and for Islamic financial products. Good-natured agreement to adapt to these Muslim requests results in the gradual establishing of many aspects of sharia in Western nations, especially in areas where Muslims are concentrated demographically.

In for ma l volu nt a r y sharia courts now operate in many Muslim-minority communities, of fer ing mediation, reconciliation and adjudication services on the basis of sharia. There is a consistent drive to have these courts classed as arbitration courts and for the secular legal system to accept and enforce their verdicts.

Dawa is furthered by non-Muslims using Islamic financial products

The proliferation of Islamist organisations

Islamists see organisation as a religious obligation and a key to the survival of minority Muslim communities. Organisation is also useful for the wresting of power in society from those they consider

The spread of Islamic finance

Islamic finance is a new phenomenon initiated by 20th century Islamists, who claim that Western financial products do not comply with sharia. All Muslims agree that the Quran bans riba, but there is disagreement about what the word riba means.

Traditional Muslims hold that it means very high

...Pull-out

Barnabas Aid November/December 2015 iii

exploitative interest. Islamists argue that it means any kind of interest and they are rapidly winning this argument, using sharia finance as another tool to Islamise all aspects of society.

In the last two decades there has been spectacular growth in Islamic finance with its products in 2010 reaching 1 trillion US dollars. The significance for dawa is that Islamic finance helps strengthen the Islamic identity of Muslims, and helps to isolate Muslim-minority communities from the majority. Dawa is furthered by non-Muslims using Islamic financial products, as anything that makes non-Muslims live by sharia is a step forward in the Islamisation process.

Western media have encouraged the introduction of Islamic financial institutions and products, which is often placed in the category of “ethical investments”.

Wester n gover nment s support the introduction of Islamic finance in the hope of attracting investment from the huge pool of oil money in the Middle East. As a result of British government efforts, by 2007 London had become the main Western centre for Islamic finance. Sharia finance is growing in other European countries and in the United States as well.

The vision is to export this model using appropriate networks around the world.

Large Western food manufacturers, distributors and caterers are waking up to the size of the halal food market, estimated at $685 billion. Many have started to introduce halal products into their ranges.

Large multinationals like McDonald’s, Nestlé and Tesco are now targeting halal as a major global market. Some have gone over to marketing only halal products to simplify their processes and cut costs.

In Africa some countries with a tiny Muslim minority, such as Botswana and Zimbabwe, have a meat trade that is almost 100% halal.

In some non-Muslimmajority countries such as Australia (where the Muslim population is only 2.2%), food products are increasingly being labelled as halal. This raises the visibility of Islam in everyday life as every consumer is subtly reminded of it. In other countries such as the UK much of the meat on sale is halal but is not labelled as such, so nonMuslims may be eating halal meat unawares. For many this is not a problem, but the Sikh religion forbids the consumption of halal meat, and some Christians want to avoid consuming food that has had an Islamic prayer offered over it.

The cost of halal certification is eventually passed on to the customer, meaning that shoppers are unknowingly funding Islamic organisations. In at least some cases the same organisations are active in propagating Islam worldwide. Thus non-Muslims are funding Islamic dawa.

The Muslim World League has given great attention to modern media and how to propogate Islam

The halal industry

Halal food laws in Islam are part of the much wider set of sharia regulations about what is permitted (halal) and what is forbidden (haram). These cover goods and services, entertainment, finance and commerce, tourism and lifestyles as well as food. With over 1.4 billion Muslims in the world, halal consumer power is a great force capable of significant commercial and political influence that will further Islamisation. Dr Mustafa Ceric, the Grand Mufti of Bosnia has urged the world Muslim community to use the halal movement to take control of the global economy.

Some Islamist scholars assert that it is the duty of Muslims to spread sharia’s halal-haram rules to nonMuslim societies in obedience to God’s will and for the good of non-Muslims. Halal food thus becomes part of the Islamisation agenda to increase Islam’s sphere of influence amongst non-Muslims. Halal food is often presented as the ethical alternative for all, and that it is “pure and hygienic”. In Africa there is a growing perception, even amongst Christians, that halal food is safer to eat than non-halal food; in fact, halal slaughter in Africa is often very unhygienic.

Malaysia is positioning itself to become a world hub of the global halal industry. The state has effectively certified, standardised and bureaucratised Malaysian halal production, trade and consumption.

Use of the law

Muslim minorities persistently complain about “Islamophobia” and demand laws to protect Islam from criticism. The result is a move towards silencing negative comments about Islam or Muslims, no matter how factual the remarks may be. Laws protecting religions from incitement to hatred and violence have been passed in many non-Muslimmajority states. While phrased in general terms as protecting all religions, the real driving force behind these laws is Muslims seeking to give Islam a privileged and protected place in all societies, a position not granted to other religions.

In a process that began in 1999, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and its 57 member states are putting pressure on the United Nations and its various bodies to pass resolutions forbidding “religious defamation” but mentioning only Islam by name. Banning speech critical of radical Islam and Islamist terrorism would be a step towards legitimising violence committed in the name of Islam. However this process stalled in 2011 when

...

Pull-out

Barnabas Aid November/December 2015 iv

the resolution was worded to protect people instead of religions, and since then no defamation resolution has been passed.

In non-Muslim-majority states, some Islamic organisations pursue a “litigation jihad” against anyone perceived to be critical of Muslims or of Islam.

One of the most active is the Council on AmericanIslamic Relations (CAIR) in Washington DC. Religious hate legislation helps such organisations intimidate those who write critically on Islam, thus stifling free speech. They also skilfully use libel laws and human rights and equality legislation to silence any criticism of Islam.

Media

Islamists have been effectively using modern media to disseminate the message of Islam around the world.

They realise that the mass media offer the best means for dawa, as a sophisticated communication network already exists. Some call for all Muslims working in the media to unite in a strategy for the most effective utilisation of the mass media for dawa purposes. They believe that skilled Islamic scholars and professionals should advise on the best products for dawa, and these should be made available in many languages.

Sheikh ibn Baaz of Saudi Arabia argued that the most successful contemporary means for dawa is the modern mass media, saying that Muslim rulers must support and participate in this effort so it can reach the whole world in all languages. Following ibn Baaz, even the strictest Wahhabi scholars, usually against technological advances, have legitimised the internet and launched personal websites. They have grasped the enormous potential of the internet in the fight for the minds of the younger generation and for spreading Islam.

Websites run by Muslim scholars and organisations now play an important role in promoting Islam. Some of these sites reserve significant space for reports on Christians who have converted to Islam. These narratives reassure Muslims that Islam is the true religion and educate them in the tactics of persuading non-Muslims to convert to Islam.

With massive oil-money funding, Islamists have come to dominate the main Arabic media channels: Aljazeera TV, funded by the Qatar royal family; and al-Arabiyya TV, funded by the Saudi royal family.

While seemingly offering professional journalism, in

their Arabic programmes especially they are airing Islamist viewpoints and supporting Islamist causes.

Analysts supportive of the Muslim Brotherhood are often invited to comment, while other points of view are ignored.

The Muslim World League (MWL) has given great attention to modern media and how to use them in propagating Islam. It is striving to develop networking among Muslim media institutions around the world and modernise the discourse of Islamic media.

Islamic and Islamist organisations and charities using media for dawa have sprung up all over the West. Islam Channel, for example, is a television channel based in London that seeks to offer a quality media alternative for Muslims, and to present Islamic perspectives and values to non-Muslim audiences.

Another London-based charity, “The Dawah Project” aims to “utilise Media: the most powerful tool in the 21st Century to spread the message of Islam on an International scale”. In the US, the Islamic Media Foundation (IMF) with its broadcasting arm, Islamic Broadcasting Network (IBN), was set up in Sterling, Virginia, as a national non-profit dawa organisation.

Its main mission is to “share the guidance of Allah with mankind, through broadcast media and the Internet, to enjoin what is right and condemn what is wrong, and to provide the North American Muslim community with Islamic programming that will cater to their needs”.

1 The Muslim Brotherhood is the first modern Islamist grassroots movement, founded in Egypt in 1928.

2 A strongly influential organisation founded in Saudi Arabia in 1962 with a strongly Islamist and Wahhabi agenda

This article is based on Dr Patrick Sookhdeo’s book Dawa: The Islamic Strategy for Reshaping the Modern World (Isaac Publishing, 2014). To order the book, visit www.barnabasfund.org/shop Alternatively, please contact your nearest Barnabas Fund office (addresses below). Cheques for the UK should be made payable to “Barnabas Books”.

Barnabas fund hope and aid for the persecuted church 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

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

Australia PO Box 3527 Loganholme QLD 4129 Telephone (07) 3806 1076 or 1300 365799 Fax (07) 3806 4076 Email bfaustralia@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

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 © Barnabas Fund 2015

Barnabas Aid November/December 2015 11

Grace upon Grace

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

Muslim neighbours rescue elderly Christian woman in Mosul

Refugees in the Middle East In June 2014 Islamic State (IS) seized the city of Mosul and gave Christians there an ultimatum: convert to Islam, pay the humiliating jizya tax, or leave. Everyone who could, left, emptying the city of Christians. But some of the frail elderly stayed behind, as they felt unable to travel.

Many Christians were horrified by the way in which their Muslim neighbours, who had formerly been friendly, turned hostile to them in the presence of the IS conquerors. They say that even if IS left the city now, it would be many years before they felt able to go back and live there again because of the changed

relationship with their neighbours.

But there are some heart-warming exceptions. One Christian woman of 81 was still living in her home when IS visited her in September 2014 and told her she must convert to Islam. She refused to do so. “We will come back in the morning and kill you if you don’t,” they said.

When the woman’s Muslim neighbours heard what had happened they rescued her and helped her to escape secretly.

Thank God for these kind-hearted and courageous Muslims who risked their own lives to save an elderly Christian.

Kurdish government gives land and cathedral to displaced Iraqi Christians The Kurdistan Regional Government has promised to build a new cathedral in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. This act of great generosity is all the more marked because Muslim-majority governments often place severe restrictions on church buildings. The Kurdish authorities have not only undertaken to build the cathedral, they have also donated a piece of land for it.

Situated in an excellent location, the valuable piece of land is within the Christian neighbourhood of Ankawa, where there are huge numbers of displaced Christians who have fled from Islamic State (IS) territory in and around nearby Mosul. There are currently estimated to be 20,000 Christians living in

Ankawa, comprising 8,000 local people and 12,000 displaced people.

The piece of land is large enough to accommodate not only the cathedral but also another substantial building, which will be built with funds from Barnabas to provide accommodation for up to 100 displaced Christian families.

Erbil is situated around 52 miles (85km) south-east of Mosul and outside IS controlled territory.

When the current crisis in the Middle East is over, the building will be converted into a ministry centre and the architect has designed it specially with this change of use in mind.

Flee to the

Mountains Dr Patrick Sookhdeo

International Director, Barnabas Fund

View from St Matthew's Monastery, northern Iraq, looking across the Nineveh Plains towards Mosul and other territory held by the Islamic State (IS) group.

St Matthew's has been a centre of Christian worship and witness since the fourth century. The Nineveh Plains were the traditional heartland of Christianity in Iraq, but most of the Christians have now fled for their lives

Biblical reflection

W

hen the Lord Jesus described the horrors that will unfold at the End of the Age, he said, “Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the roof of his house go down or enter the house to take anything out.

Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak” (Mark 13:14-16).

This call by Jesus recognises that there are times when Christians may have to leave their homes and possessions to escape danger, persecution or even death, as He did in his infancy, so that God can continue to work through them to fulfil His purposes.

The early Church was scattered because of violent persecution and took the Gospel everywhere they went (Acts 8:1, 4). Saul escaped a plot to kill him in Damascus by being lowered in a basket from the city walls and went on to become Paul, the great apostle, preacher and church planter (Acts 9:23-25).

Christianity is unique amongst world religions in that it does not need land to exist (although some Christians have mistakenly made it so at various times and places). In the New Testament tradition, the people (laos) of God are no longer an ethnic group like the Israelites, but they are drawn from every tribe and nation across the world. The Church does not need land, such as the physical land of Israel, for its land is the commonwealth of heaven. It does not need a physical temple, because we are the temple, the inner sanctuary (naos), of God, and His Spirit dwells within us.

The New Testament writers speak of the Christian community as aliens and pilgrims (1 Peter 1:1). Whilst we are in this world, we do not belong to it. We are like refugees or asylum-seekers, merely passing through. Here we have no continuing city (Hebrews 13:14) for our home is in heaven. Here on earth we are amongst the marginalised, the alienated, the discriminated, the persecuted. We are bereft of earthly power or force of arms. Our hope is in God, our dependence is on Him, for He is our shield, our fortress and our protector.

God’s people have always been on the move.

Abram obeyed God’s call to leave his country, his relatives, and his home in the city of Ur (in modern-day Iraq) and make a journey to an unknown destination (Genesis 12:1). In Psalm 137, the exiled Israelites sang of their grief and longing for their homeland. “By the rivers of Babylon we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion” (Psalm 137:1).

And beyond the pages of the Bible we see it too. In 1620 the Pilgrim Fathers sailed from England to start a new life in America where they could freely practise their Puritan form of

Barnabas Aid November/December 2015 13

Christianity. In 1685 a ruthless persecution of Huguenots (French Protestants) began, leading some 200,000 to flee France and seek safety in other countries of northern Europe. An estimated 50,000 of these crossed the English Channel to England, and it was then that the word “refugee” first entered the English language.

There are times when in our movement and displacement, the memories of the past overwhelm us, as we remember the security and stability we once enjoyed, and the lives we used to live. Maybe we too sit down and weep as the Israelites of old did beside the Euphrates.

Today, the Syrian Christians displaced from their homes in Homs and Aleppo weep. The Iraqi Christians of Mosul and Qaraqosh weep in their refugee camps in Ankawa. The Eritreans and Pakistanis, the Karen and Chin of Burma (Myanmar), weep for their homelands.

Christians form a substantial part of the global refugee movement that is taking place today. And, as they move from place to place, they carry in themselves the seeds of new life.

In the terrible aftermath of the Armenian and Assyrian Genocide, which peaked 100 years ago, Armenian refugees, who had seen their families slaughtered or die of want, established new lives in many parts of the world. They saw the Gospel rooted and planted in new environments, where

Whilst we are in this world, we do not belong to it. We are like refugees or asylum-seekers, merely passing through. it has flourished and brought forth new life. Out of death came life. Out of despair came hope.

With His family Jesus fled the killing fields of Bethlehem to the safety of Egypt. The One who calls His people to flee again and again is the One who will come and take His people to their home, their true home. And if He does not come now, He awaits them with open arms, ready to embrace His people to Himself.

Christians believe that all things work together for good to those who love God (Romans 8:28).

So in the modern tragedies of our age, where the Church suffers so many afflictions, from war to natural disaster, from persecution to genocide, she lifts up her eyes, looks beyond the physical and sees the spiritual, beyond the temporal and sees the eternal. For her destiny is assured, and so she cries “Maranatha! Even so, come Lord Jesus” (1 Corinthians 16:22; Revelation 22:20).

An age old problem

reaches crisis point According to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), references to granting asylum have been found in texts written more than 3,000 years ago, during the empires of the ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, Hittites and Assyrians.

Many Bible figures became refugees: the pregnant Hagar fled from Sarai; Joseph had his whole family move to Egypt when famine ravaged Canaan; Elimelek and Naomi fled famine in Bethlehem and went to Moab; David and his men escaped to Philistia when Saul sought his life; Mary and Joseph fled with Jesus to Egypt when King Herod was seeking to kill all the baby boys born in Bethlehem; and the early Church saw believers scatter to many countries to escape persecution.

“Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed travelled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch”. (Acts 11:19)

oday our Christian brothers and sisters around the world are facing increasing anti-Christian persecution and violence. In North Korea and Eritrea the conditions of life are so harsh under the totalitarian regimes that thousands risk their lives each year in an attempt to escape. Violence in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan, Burma and northern Nigeria has produced millions of refugees and displaced persons, including many Christians escaping persecution because of their faith.

In other countries it is much more local anti-Christian persecution that leads believers to flee. Christians in Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Mali, Egypt, Iran, Vietnam and other countries can suffer at the hands of extremists, officials, the police, discriminatory laws, the media, nonChristian religious leaders, the local population and neighbours. Many flee to seek refuge in another place.

Whether fleeing famine, persecution or war, they go to other parts of their own country, or to another country. In Syria and Iraq, hundreds of thousands have left their homelands and communities, abandoning their roots in 2,000 years of Christian presence and witness in the region. They abandon homes and possessions, and flee into the unknown.

Some sell their possessions to pay for passage, often arranged by people smugglers, but risk death or kidnapping en route. Those who have brought possessions with them often have them stolen during the journey.

Yet when refugees arrive in a new country, they often find that they face hostility and rejection. Few can quickly obtain papers to allow a legal existence in a welcoming country. Some experience a refugee camp as their first “home”, sometimes for years. They may find that other inmates of the camp are hostile to them. This is a problem for Middle Eastern Christians, in particular, who look for shelter in private homes and churches.

Unfortunately refugees are not always supportive of each other. On 15 April 2015 Italian police arrested 15 Muslim migrants off a boat in Palermo, Sicily and charged them with “multiple aggravated murder Continued on page 16

Niger Food, sleeping mats, mosquito nets, clothes for Nigeriens who fled Boko Haram

Sudan and South Sudan Project Exodus provided travel costs for nearly 8,000 Southerners who were refugees in (north) Sudan to return home to South Sudan

Lebanon Accommodation and humanitarian aid for Syrian refugees

Barnabas Aid November/December 2015 15

How Barnabas Helps refugees For two decades Barnabas Fund has been assisting Christians who have had to flee from persecution, going as displaced persons to other areas of their country or else going abroad as refugees. Here are some examples.

Sawra Tented Village,

Iraqi Kurdistan

We are very thankful for the generous donations from Barnabas supporters which funded the purchase of ex-British Army tents from Helmand Province in Afghanistan and transported them to Dohuk in Iraqi Kurdistan to create Sawra (Hope) Village. The tents provide good, well-insulated accommodation, with heating and air conditioning for the extreme temperatures of Iraq, together with cooking and washing facilities.

Each tent has a small garden for growing vegetables. The Village houses displaced Iraqi Christians who were forced to flee from their historic homelands in and around Mosul, when Islamic State invaded.

The next phase of this project is to provide accommodation for displaced Christians in Erbil, the other large city of Iraqi Kurdistan.

Safe house for refugees from South Asia

Running costs for Karen orphans

How many more Christmases will there be in the Middle East? Islamic State (IS) seems intent on destroying the Church.

A Christian presence 2,000 years old is disappearing before our eyes, as Christians try to escape, making dangerous journeys and paying people traffickers to travel in overcrowded, flimsy boats. These journeys often end in disaster.

Our Operation Safe Havens project is rescuing Christians from Syria and Iraq, transporting them to safe countries in other regions, and supporting them while they settle and re-establish their lives with the help of local Christians.

In Phase One, 163 Syrian Christians were rescued by Barnabas Fund and taken to Poland, where they are being cared for by local church congregations. The Polish government has granted visas, and Barnabas Fund covered the cost of the chartered plane as well as sustaining each family for a year in Poland. This gives the families time to find work and become self-sufficient.

“When the war started in Syria, we had patience. Year by year we thought it would end. But as it got worse, my wife and I talked and we realised we had to move.

When we came here [to Poland] we had seen lots of things – lots of disasters.

But from the moment we stepped off the plane into the airport we felt safe.”— Syrian Christian father on arrival in Poland.

Our aim is to rescue many more, but we need to persuade Western governments to welcome in the vulnerable Christians from Iraq and Syria.

Sri Lanka

Burma (Myanmar)

Operation Safe Havens

Standing in their former accommodation, a curtained off section of a church hall, these displaced Iraqi Christians are now living in a state-ofthe-art tent in Sawra Village

You can help by writing to your elected representative (see page 17), by signing the Safe Havens petition (see page 16), or by giving a donation to Operation Safe Havens (project reference 00-1199).

Jordan ●● Accommodation for Iraqi refugees in a converted church basement ●● Food, medicines and rent for Iraqi refugee families

Christian families have moved to Sawra Village from church halls

A Syrian Christian Family arriving in Poland

motivated by religious hate”. Twelve Christians were feared dead after being thrown off the boat in the middle of the Mediterranean by the aggressors after the Muslims objected to a Nigerian Christian praying.

And in Sweden in July two Christian families were persecuted in their asylum hostel by “fundamentalist Islamists”, forbidden to wear crosses and excluded from communal areas when Muslims were using them.

Refugees will often be afraid for other members of their family that they have left behind in their home country.

The initial challenge for all refugees, asylum seekers or displaced persons, is basic survival in a new place. Those who arrive in a wealthy country or in a camp run under UNHCR control may receive sufficient support to ensure survival and possibly more (education for children, medical care and psychological support). Practical conditions may be as bad, or worse than the countries they have escaped from: a hand-to-mouth existence, often going to bed hungry at night, with adults sacrificing their own food for their children, worrying about health issues or their children’s missing education.

Obtaining refugee status can be a complicated and daunting process.

Officials who interview and interpreters may be hostile. There is always the risk that the authorities will deny your claim and send you back to your home country. For Christians this can be a death sentence, for example if a convert from Islam is sent back to Afghanistan, Somalia, Mauritania, Sudan or any of the other countries where apostates from Islam face capital punishment. Converts from Iran, Egypt, Libya, any many other countries would face potential jail, or else family or community hostility including the risk of physical attack.

Help for refugees, asylum seekers and displaced persons is vital.

The current Barnabas petition, Safe Havens for Christians, calls upon governments to assist displaced Christians within their own countries and to be more welcoming to those who come as asylum seekers seeking refugee status.

However there are roles for us to play here as well as just signing and promoting the petition. Christian asylum seekers and refugees are extremely vulnerable and in great need of support and guidance from people whom they can trust. Churches are increasingly meeting the needs of refugee applicants spiritually, physically, and also professionally. One way is by creating groups of lawyers and advisors from within congregations who are willing to provide assistance during various stages of the refugee application process. Another way is by assisting with practical measures; providing clothes, blankets, hygiene items, books, toys and other items that they could not normally obtain. Possibly the most important way to help is providing spiritual/ pastoral and fellowship support and help to learn the language of the new country. Barnabas Fund’s Operation Safe Havens has been established to rescue Christians in danger and help them settle in safe countries.

Refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced persons There can be some confusion over the terms “refugee”, “asylum seeker” and “displaced person”. Refugees are people who have fled their own country and are now in another country - for “refuge”. They have usually escaped conflict or are at risk of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, or political opinion. Strictly speaking, to be a refugee you must have received recognition of your status through Refugee Status Determination (RSD).

Recognition can come from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) or from the national government process of the country you are currently in.

An asylum seeker is someone who has not yet received RSD in the country where they have made their claim for refuge.

An Internally Displaced Person (IDP) is someone who has fled their home and moved to another part of the same country. They have usually escaped conflict or are at risk of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, or political opinion. To be able to escape to another part of the country, there usually needs to be some safer areas.

Safer areas might be peaceful zones, as in a civil war, or zones controlled by a faction that does not persecute you.

Barnabas Aid November/December 2015 16

December 2015

31

st

Deadline

Safe Havens Petition Have you signed?

Only two Months left to sign.

“Syrian and Iraqi Christians are now urgently fleeing the killing fields of Islamic State territory. We call upon our political leaders to welcome them and aid their escape from terror, torture and killing.”

To sign visit the website: www.barnabasfund.org/ save-the-christians-petition Sign electronically or download a paper version and encourage others to sign too.

Return your paper petition to your nearest Barnabas office

Write a Letter C and save lives

To: [Your representative’s name] [Your address here] [Date] Dear [ name ] I have been pleased to note that the issue of the rising level of persecution of Christians in the Middle East has been highlighted by various political leaders and the media. However, I am concerned that the plight of Christian refugees, who are often forced to flee their homelands by the very persecution that is under the spotlight, is not being addressed.

Christians in Syria are not only suffering in the general devastation caused by the civil conflict; they are also the deliberate targets of Islamist violence and Islamic State’s avowed policy of eradicating any Christian presence from their territory. Around 500,000 Syrian Christians have left their homes and fled abroad so far, while many more are displaced within the country. Iraqi Christians have been decimated since 2003, with the Christian population there falling from 1.5 million to an estimated 300,000 today.

Muslims may find safety in neighbouring Muslim countries, but Christians are a particularly vulnerable minority in the Middle East and have few safe havens in the region. You may have noted that this year 2015 marks the 100th anniversary of the height of the Armenian and Assyrian genocides .

The United Nations has suggested that members ble religious minorities may be prioritised vulnera of ment as well as other especially deserving resettle for er Christians do not appear to be Howev . groups included in any government policy or programme.

You may like to be aware of Barnabas Fund’s Operation Safe Havens which is assisting Syrian Christians to travel to places of safety (initially Poland), assisting them financially while they settle in, and liaising with groups in the host country to provide support and care.

ould you write to yo ur elected represen tative to urge them to take up the cause of Chris tian Syrian and Iraqi re fugees?

We have provided a sample letter wh you can download ich from: www.barnabasfund .org/letter or order from your nearest Barnabas office. Your letter w ill be most effective, however, if you express your concerns in your own words.

In the UK you ca n write to your MP at the House of Com mons, London SW 1A 0A contact them via th A or e Find Your MP se ction of the Parliamentary we bsite: www.parliament.uk/ mps-lords-and-offic es/mps For supporters in the Republic of Ir eland please contact Kris Bara niuk for further in formation: Barnabas Fund, PO Box 354, Bangor, BT 20 9EQ Telephone: 028 91 455 246 or 07867 85 4604 Email: ireland@barn abasfund.org

Please could you answer the following questions? ●● Are you aware that Syrian Christians are being targeted specifically for their faith, and that murder, violence, kidnappings, robbery and threats are forcing many more to flee their homes? ●● Are you aware that the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”? ●● What actions has your party taken to ensure that Syrian and Iraqi Christians, who are part of an especially vulnerable religious minority in their homelands, are regarded as particularly deserving of asylum or resettlement in our country, in the same way as members of other vulnerable minority groups like the Yazidi and Druze? ●● Are you aware that Christians and other minorities are often reluctant to go into refugee camps, because of the persecution they face from members of the majority faith group there? Consequently any UK refugee settlement policy focusing on refugee camps will automatically discriminate against the most targeted and most needy victims.

I urge you to take up the issue of Syrian and Iraqi Christian refugees with the government and in particular urge a proactive policy of assistance including provision of safe havens and a welcome in appropriate numbers for those from minority religious groups who need asylum. I would be grateful if you would inform me of their response to these urgent concerns.

Thank you for considering this letter. I look forward to hearing from you with the answers to my questions.

Yours sincerely, [Your name here]

...

In Touch

Christmas cake marathon me Godden in Last Christmas Es ristmas , UK, baked 62 Ch Northamptonshire acts nt ighbours and co cakes for friends, ne s ha is ht churches. Th across a group of eig r he d of a tradition an become something ll their ck each year and te customers come ba d. The an m the growing de friends, who add to ich wh s, l rich fruit cake cakes are traditiona ice en th n people ca ey th as te or decora m fro ds ee want. Proc 00 £2 d ise the sales ra to help persecuted Christians.

Barnabas Aid November/December 2015 18

Mad Hatter’s Tea Party Bob and Diana Higham of Berwick-upon-Twee d, England, held a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party themed celebration for their Golden Wedding Anniversa ry. They bought teapots and cups and saucers from char ity shops and each table had a teapot with a flower arran gement.

Everyone wore a hat! Gifts and the sale of the teapots raised £170, to help the persecuted Church.

Petts Image Source: Wikimedia,James

ut the work of the I write as one who not only knows abo worked in the reality Barnabas Fund (BF). I have lived and directed the clinic and presence of its ministry. I have t dangerous areas established by the BF in one of the mos literally saved and of Iraq and have seen people’s lives is about enabling the transformed by its ministry. The BF us situations. suffering Church in its most dangero about giving the Therefore partnering with the BF is is no hope. persecuted church hope when there

Canon Dr Andrew White D.D. September 2015

We understand the loa d which you bear with us, and we remember the case of the paralytic who complaine d to the Lord, saying, 'Sir I have no man, when the wa ter is troubled, to put me into the pool.' Through your support, we see that "we have a Man", Jesus Christ, wh o enlightens His students and follow ers, the members of the foundation Barnabas Fund, you ou r dearest Rev. Patrick an d your associates in helping tho se who are suffering.

A senior church leade r

in Gaza where Barnabas Fund has been providing food, medic ines, clothes and other basic needs, wrote to thank us earlier this year. He sees Barnabas through the lens of the sto ry of the man at the pool at Bethesda who had no one to put him into the poo l where he might receive hea ling (John 5:2-9)

Making the most of your gifts If you pay tax on inco me of any kind – fro m employment, pension s, or investments - Ba rnabas can increase your gif t by 25p for every £1 you give if you Gift Aid your donation. It is an ea sy way of giving more to the ch arity and doesn’t co st you a penny extra!

You can Gift Aid do nations to charity pr oviding you pay tax. You don’t ha ve to be employed – if you pay tax on pensions or in vestments you hold, Barnabas can reclaim it. The on ly restriction is that you must pay at least as much UK tax as the amou nt that charities you have giv en to will reclaim in a tax year (April to April). For example, if you give £100 to charity in a year, yo u must pay at least £2 5 tax on your income or inve stments for the char ities to be allowed to claim.

Simply complete the Gift Aid declaration on the inside back cover of the mag azine, or choose to Gi ft Aid your donation when you m ake a gift through th e Barnabas website (www.barnab asfund.org/donate).

Barnabas will claim an extra 25 % from the governm ent on top of the gift you make.

YES, I WOULD LIKE TO HELP THE PERSECUTED CHURCH Title............... Full Name.............................................................................................

Address........................................................................................................................

barnabasfund.org

.....................................................................................................................................

If you would like to donate online please go to www.barnabasfund.org/donate or scan this code with your device

Postcode........................Telephone............................................................................

Email.......................................................................

PLEASE USE MY GIFT FOR Wherever the need is the greatest (General Fund) Other..........................................*(give reference number of project to be supported) HERE IS MY SINGLE GIFT OF £ .........................................................

I enclose a cheque/voucher payable to “Barnabas Fund” OR Visa

Please debit my

American Express

Mastercard Maestro

CAF card /other charity card

Card Number

MAG 11/15

I have made an internet transfer/bank deposit of £…………………… (amount) to the Barnabas Fund bank account (Sort Code : 20-26-46, Account Number: 50133299).

(With your transfer, please quote as the reference your postcode and house number. To receive an acknowledgment letter, please add the letters TY to the beginning of this reference number.)

I WOULD LIKE TO GIVE REGULARLY THROUGH MY UK BANK A direct debit can be set up either by completing the form below, by telephoning the number above or by going to our website. £..................... (amount in words) ......................................................

or issue date

Maestro issue number Expiry Date

0800 587 4006

/

/

Signature....................................................

I do not require an acknowledgement of this gift

Please start on 1st/3rd/7th/11th/15th/21st/28th (delete as applicable) of ........................................(month) and then every month/quarter/year until further notice. This Direct Debit is a new one/in addition to/replaces an earlier Standing Order/Direct Debit in favour of Barnabas Fund.

Instruction to your bank or building society to pay by Direct Debit Please fill in the whole form using a ball point pen and send it to: Barnabas Fund, 9 Priory Row, Coventry CV1 5EX Name and full postal address of your bank or building society

Service User Number

2 5 3 6 4 5

Reference (Barnabas Fund to complete) Instruction to your bank or building society: Please pay Barnabas Fund Direct Debits from the account detailed in this instruction subject to the safeguards assured to by the Direct Debit Guarantee. I understand that this instruction may remain with Barnabas Fund and, if so, details will be passed electronically to my bank/building society.

DD18

Name(s) of account holder(s) Bank/building society account number

Branch sort code

Signature(s) Date

GIFT AID DECLARATION

(Applicable to UK tax payers only)

Name of charity: Barnabas Fund Please treat as Gift Aid donations all qualifying gifts of money made: (Please tick all boxes you wish to apply) this gift and if applicable

in the past 4 years

ALTERNATIVE GIFT CARD If you would like to make a donation as an alternative gift for a friend or relative, we can supply you with an attractive “Thank you” card, which you can send to the person for whom you have made the donation. Please contact your local office to order one.

in the future

I confirm I have paid or will pay an amount of Income Tax and/or Capital Gains Tax for each tax year (6 April to 5 April) that is at least equal to the amount of tax that all the charities or Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASCs) that I donate to will reclaim on my gifts for that tax year. I understand that other taxes such as VAT and Council Tax do not qualify. I understand the charity will reclaim 25p of tax on every £1 that I give.

Signature.......................................................... Date ....................................

Please inform us if you want to cancel this declaration, change your name or home address or no longer pay sufficient tax on your income and/or capital gains. If you pay Income Tax at the higher or additional rate and want to receive the additional tax relief due to you, you must include all your Gift Aid donations on your Self-Assessment tax return or ask HM Revenue and Customs to adjust your tax code.

Please return this form to Barnabas Fund at your national office or to the UK office.

Addresses are on the inside front cover. Barnabas Fund will not give your address, telephone number or email to anyone else.

Supporters in Germany: please turn to inside front cover for how to send gifts to Barnabas Fund. Phone 0800 587 4006 or visit our website at www.barnabasfund.org to make a donation by Direct Debit, credit or debit card. From outside UK phone +44 24 7623 1923.

*If the project chosen is sufficiently funded, we reserve the right to use designated gifts either for another project of a similar type or for another project in the same country.

Registered Charity number 1092935 Company registered in England number 4029536

A

B

C

D

E

Fundraising Barnabas works hard to be ethical in the way we raise funds and in the ways we contact supporters.

We raise funds from: ●● appeals through our own literature such as the magazine, which is sent to people on our mailing list ●● appeals via emails sent to people on our email list ●● appeal leaflets in other Christian publications ●● appeals on our website and social media We never: ●● cold call people ●● have street collections ●● use external fundraising organisations If you ask us to stop mailing you we will take you off the mailing list as soon as we receive your request. Please note that you may still receive some printed material if the mailing list has been used by our printer to create a mailing shortly before we removed you from the list.

The Direct Debit Guarantee This Guarantee is offered by all Banks and Building Societies that accept instructions to pay Direct Debits. If there are any changes to the amount, date or frequency of your Direct Debit Barnabas Fund will notify you 10 working days in advance of your account being debited or as otherwise agreed. If you request Barnabas Fund to collect a payment, confirmation of the amount and date will be given to you at the time of the request. If an error is made in the payment of your Direct Debit by Barnabas Fund or your bank or building society, you are guaranteed a full and immediate refund of the amount paid from your bank or building society. If you receive a refund you are not entitled to, you must pay it back when Barnabas Fund asks you to. You can cancel a Direct Debit at any time by simply contacting your bank or building society. Written confirmation may be required. Please also notify us.

Unmasking Islamic State

Revealing their Motivation, Theology and End Time Predictions Patrick Sookhdeo

“Sookhdeo combines the knowledge and clear writing style of a Bernard Lewis with the deft treatment of political correctness of a George Orwell. Those who seek to keep us ignorant of Islamist totalitarianism’s insidious efforts at silencing its enemies by accusations of Islamophobia and the like have just taken a stunningly powerful intellectual uppercut.”

James Woolsey

Former Director of the CIA

£12 NEW

P&P Including

“There are few commentators around who understand the background to the Islamic State better than Patrick Sookhdeo, and his decomposition of its belief system, eschatology and ideology is conducted with great clarity … this analysis will be an invaluable read for the political and military audience trying to get to

grips with what they are engaging with, and for students/academics trying to better understand the ideological battle we are dealing with.”

Major General Tim Cross CBE

Former UK Army Divisional Commander “In this brilliant and concise monograph— packed with history, theology, philosophy, and practical analysis—Dr Sookhdeo focuses us on the equally mortal threat from Islamic State and the similar unity of its totalitarian ideology and terrorist practices. The West needs to use this handbook as a blueprint for action.”

Kenneth E. deGraffenreid

Former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, USA ISBN: 978-0-9967245-0-0 | Hardback RRP £12.99 | No. of pages: 200

To pre-order this book, visit www.barnabasfund.org/shop. Alternatively, please contact your nearest Barnabas Fund office (addresses on inside front cover).

1-8 November Suffering Church Action Week There is still time to order your Suffering Church Action Week pack: Visit the website www.barnabasfund.org/scaw Contact your local office: 9 Priory Row, Coventry, CV1 5EX Telephone: 024 7623 1923 (International calls: +44 24 7623 1923) Fax: 024 7683 4718 (International faxes: +44 24 7683 4718) Email: info@barnabasfund.org

Barnabas Fund International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church

Saturday 7 November Holding an open event during Suffering Church Action Week?

Register it at www.barnabasfund.org/scaw.

Visit the website to find an event near you