barnabasaid
barnabasaid.org NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2018
BARNABAS AID - AID AGENCY FOR THE PERSECUTED CHURCH - BRINGING HOPE TO SUFFERING CHRISTIANS
BARNABAS AID AT 25
A quarter century of serving the persecuted Church
IRAN
The perilous plight of Christian converts
YOUR LEGACY One gift can last a lifetime
For He has done
marvelous things!
25 years serving the global persecuted Church through the generosity of our supporters
The Barnabas Aid 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) ● Channeling money from Christians through Christians to Christians (we do not send people, we only send money) ● Channeling money through existing structures in the countries where funds are sent (e.g. local churches or Christian organizations) ● Using the money to fund projects which have been developed by local Christians in their own communities, countries or regions ● Considering any request, however small ● Acting as equal partners with the persecuted Church, whose leaders often help shape our overall direction
What helps make Barnabas Aid distinct from other Christian organizations that deal with persecution?
● Acting on behalf of the persecuted Church, to be their voice - making their needs known to Christians around the world and the injustice of their persecution known to governments and international bodies
We seek to:
● meet both practical and spiritual needs ● encourage, strengthen and enable the existing local Church and Christian communities - so they can maintain their presence and witness rather than setting up our own structures or sending out missionaries ● tackle persecution at its root by making known the aspects of the Islamic faith and other ideologies that result in injustice and oppression of Christians and others ● inform and enable Christians in the West to respond to the growing challenge of Islam and other ideologies to Church, society and mission in their own countries
● facilitate global intercession for the persecuted Church by providing comprehensive prayer material ● safeguard and protect our volunteers, staff, partners and beneficiaries ● keep our overheads low
We believe:
● we are called to address both religious and secular ideologies that deny full religious liberty to Christian minorities - while continuing to show God’s love to all people ● in the clear Biblical teaching that Christians should treat all people of all faiths with love and compassion, even those who seek to persecute them ● in the power of prayer to change people’s lives and situations, either through grace to endure or through deliverance from suffering
“Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:40)
How to find us
You may contact Barnabas Aid 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
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
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 New Zealand PO Box 276018, Manukau City, Auckland, 2241 Telephone (09) 280 4385 or 0800 008 805 Email office@barnabasfund.org.nz
South Africa Office 301, 3rd Floor, Eikestad mall, 43 Andringa Street, Stellenbosch 7599 Telephone +27 21 808 1668 Email bfsa@barnabasfund.org 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. Published by Barnabas Aid Inc. 6731 Curran St, McLean, Virginia 22101, USA Email usa@barnabasaid.org © Barnabas Aid Inc. 2018. For permission to reproduce articles from this magazine, please contact the International Headquarters address above.
Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and obtain permission for stories and images used in this publication. Barnabas Aid apologizes for any errors or omissions and will be grateful for any further information regarding copyright.
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 Australia PO BOX 3527, LOGANHOLME, QLD 4129 Telephone (07) 3806 1076 or 1300 365 799 Fax (07) 3806 4076 Email bfaustralia@barnabasfund.org
Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations are taken from the New International Version®. Front Cover: On our 25th anniversary Barnabas Fund is thankful to God and our supporters “For He has done marvelous things!” (Psalm 98:1, ESV).
Singapore Cheques in Singapore dollars payable to “Olive Aid Trust” may be sent to: Olives Aid Sdn Bhd, P.O. Box 03124 Subang Jaya, 47507 Selangor, MALAYSIA Singaporean supporters may send gifts for Barnabas Fund online via Olive Aid Trust: Beneficiary: OLIVE AID TRUST Bank Name: United Overseas Bank (Malaysia) Berhad Swift Code: UOVBMYKL Location: KUALA LUMPUR Account Number: 140-901-654-0
To donate by credit/debit card, please visit the website www.barnabasaid.org or phone 703 288 1681 or toll free 1 866 936 2525
Contents
The God who is despised and rejected
In
the catastrophic August floods which devastated Kerala, south India, among those who suffered most were Christian Dalits. Dalits are at the bottom of the Indian caste system, so lowly that they are not even a caste; hence the old name “outcaste.” They are utterly despised, “untouchable,” the poorest of the poor. When the Kerala floods struck, they lost their homes and their meager possessions, and were left destitute with only the clothes on their backs.* Christian Dalits are doubly despised, firstly as Dalits, secondly as Christians. In Philippians 2:6-8, Paul writes of the incarnation, of God entering human history, born as a man – taking the form, attributes and very essence of a servant. The Greek word for “servant” can also be translated “slave” or “bond-servant,” that is, one who has no freedom, one who is owned by another, one who is despised and rejected. In Pakistan, the equivalent of the bond-servant is the bonded laborer, bound to their master by perpetual and unavoidable debt, yearning to be free from servitude and bondage.* Jesus identified with the marginalized, weak, and vulnerable. He Himself was despised and rejected (Isaiah 53:3). North Korea has been much in the news this year. Some 60 years ago, the concept of songbun was established, grading citizens according to the perceived loyalty of their ancestors and themselves. Where you live and study, your job and even your food depend on your songbun. Christians are automatically put into the lowest songbun group and must live with the greatest burden of disadvantages.* They are in effect the outcastes of the songbun “caste system.” While some Christians are outcastes in a socially stratified society, others are outcasts in the sense that they have been thrown out, rejected. Such is often the experience of converts from other religions who decide to follow Christ.
God not only cares for the outcastes and the outcasts but also sent His Son to experience the same scorn and rejection
4 Compassion in Action
Emergency relief for Christian refugees from the DRC
6
For He has done marvelous things!
Barnabas Aid’s 25 years serving the global persecuted Church
6 11 Pull-out
Editorial
One gift can last a lifetime Make your legacy live on
A History of Christian Persecution
Part 8: North-West Europe in the first millennium
12
The perils facing Iranian Christian converts
The past, present and future of Iran’s convert Church
“To the outcast on her knees, You were the God who really sees, And by Your might, You set your children free” These lines in the worship song El Shaddai** refer to Hagar, whom God loved and cared for when she was sent away by her family to die in the desert (Genesis 21). Likewise the Lord promised to heal the wounds of outcast Zion (Jeremiah 30:17). As Mary said, rejoicing in God her Savior, who had been mindful of her humble state, “He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble” (Luke 1:46-48; 52). The Bible is full of passages about God’s care and concern for the outcast and the unloved. In the incarnation, the incomprehensible occurred – the Almighty God became man, when He “who wast rich beyond all splendor, all for Love’s sake becamest poor.” God not only cares for the outcastes and the outcasts but also sent His Son to experience the same scorn and rejection. As we rejoice in the coming of Jesus, with hearty meals and exchanging Christmas presents in lands where Christianity is respected and where freedom lies, let us remember our brothers and sisters where they are, like Jesus, despised, and rejected. *We thank God for the generosity of Barnabas Aid supporters whose gifts have enabled us to provide relief for Christians, especially Christian Dalits, affected by the Kerala floods, who have set free 387 families of Christian bonded laborers in Pakistan, and continue to donate to our projects to help North Korean Christians. **By Michael Card and John Thompson
12 16
In Brief
18
In Touch
Chinese Church leaders take brave stand for religious freedom
How can your church bless suffering Christians this Christmas?
how barnabas is helping Emergency relief for Christian refugees in the DRC Destitute and malnourished Christian refugee families fleeing violence received vital food, medicines, and basic hygiene necessities. “For the last six months since we ran from Congo because of war, we have been suffering with hunger. We have been taking a cup of porridge as our lunch and supper.” Provision of posho, beans, rice, and cooking oil means Arioni’s family now eat three times a day. “I pray that God pour His blessings to Barnabas Aid for the help,” she says. Keeping clean and healthy is next to impossible for refugees who have lost everything. Malaria and cholera are common. “Since my husband died when he was cut in pieces by the rebels in Congo, last year, life became very difficult for me. We have been cutting old jerry cans and use them as basins to wash our clothes and for bathing.” Ithungu (48) recounts her struggle and praises God for the two simple plastic bowls she now has. Barnabas also supplied blankets, mosquito nets, soap, and medical supplies.
A simple plastic bowl helps restore health for destitute Christian refugees and blankets protect from the cold at night
$16,733 to support 97 households with food (averaging $87 each), nonfood items and $2,882 to provide 3 blankets per family Project reference: 00-1313 (Project Joseph: feeding hungry Christians in Africa)
God’s Word for persecuted Christians in SouthEast Asia “These Bibles are the most precious gifts for us. Now my Sunday School children will see the Bible with their own eyes. PRAISE THE LORD,” said Sunday School teacher “Rachel.” Until Barnabas Aid helped supply 23,930 Bibles with hymnals to Christians from an isolated, persecuted group in South-East Asia, some had never seen a Bible. A few villages had a single, treasured copy of the Scriptures in their mother tongue while other Christians only had verses they had learned by heart. The group has experienced years of persecution from military and government authorities, who have been known to confiscate and burn Bibles. One recipient told Barnabas, “Since the year 2000, Christians began praying regularly for Bibles ... Now after 17 years of praying, God has answered our peoples’ prayers through all of you.”
Leaders equipped for challenges facing the Church in Chad “I praise God for this seminar. God is so good, I have learned many things and my eyes are opened on several issues. At the end I feel compassion for these people who perish without knowing Jesus Christ. I am engaged to share the Gospel with Muslims.” – Mrs. Yaya. The Church in Chad is facing difficult challenges. The north of the country is mostly Muslim while the south is largely Christian and there are increasing efforts to shift the socioeconomic balance of power towards the Muslim majority. Boko Haram terrorists from neighboring Nigeria have mounted attacks in the country and the number and influence of foreign-funded Islamic schools is spreading. Barnabas covered the majority of the costs of a three-day conference for 57 church leaders in Chad to equip them to help their congregations engage with Islam and witness to their Muslim neighbors. Church leaders received training along with resources to help them understand Islam.
“Sarah” copied out verses from the pastor’s Bible before teaching Sunday School. Now, she says, “they know how to find the Scriptures and are able to read very well”, although they still learn verses by heart.
$7,800 to help cover the transportation costs of 23,930 Bibles with hymnals to Christians in South-East Asia Project reference: XX-1042
Church leaders left the conference equipped and inspired to engage with Muslims
$8,558 to train church leaders in Chad Project reference: 08-1370
Strengthened and encouraged. This is what we often hear from Christians who have received support from Barnabas Aid. Thank you for making this possible. Here are just a few examples of the many ways we have recently helped persecuted and oppressed Christians.
Egyptian Christian youth inspired and encouraged Egyptian Christian youth faced a summer without spiritual input or the chance to meet other young believers in 2017, after a terrorist attack on a bus carrying Christians led authorities to suspend all large Christian gatherings. A planned annual Christian youth conference was canceled two weeks before the event. Youth leaders quickly organized 28 smaller, regional meetings with funding support from Barnabas. The next generation of Egyptian Christians face many challenges: not just the threat of Islamist terrorism, but a lack of prospects due to the poor economy, pressure from social media and atheist and humanist ideology. The 28 meetings were a great encouragement and had a hugely positive impact. “The youth received more focused attention,” explained Barnabas Aid’s project partner. “Not only were the youth served spiritually, but they were assured of the care and commitment of their leaders. In several of the locations, it was the first ever regional meeting to be held.”
Meetings had one or two speakers and a singer. Between 100–200 young people attended each event. Barnabas also supported meetings over the summer of 2018
$13,044 to support youth discipleship in Egypt Project reference: 11-1217
Safe drinking water for Christians in Pakistan Christian communities in five villages in Sindh region, Pakistan now have easy access to clean drinking water. Women no longer walk long distances to fetch water, risking kidnap or abuse. Elderly and disabled Christians especially benefit from nearby access to safe water. Sheevan, a 55-year old widow, thanked God, “It was a dream come true for me to have clean and safe drinking water at my home. After my husband passed away we were having a tough time and now ... I am not able to fetch water from a far distance. Now I have a filter at home and a hand pump a few steps away. God has heard our prayers and sent these people to support us.” The robust hand pumps are built to a local design with copper components. Communities are trained in maintenance, given repair tools and educated on the importance of clean water for health.
Barnabas Aid November/December 2018 5
Health and wellbeing for impoverished Pakistani Christian women Training provided by Barnabas Aid through local Christians is equipping women facing serious health challenges to live healthier lives in Pakistan’s Punjab region. Barnabas enabled the training of 13 women who learned about common blood disorders and nutrition for young mothers and girls, so they could share their knowledge. “Our women used to wear tattered and unclean clothes,” recalls one, “but now my church women have become smart and wear clean clothes and look healthy.” Many of the Christian women in isolated villages are poor and illiterate. Most work as laborers on Muslim-owned land and face discrimination for their gender and religion. There is significant social stigma around reproductive health. Barnabas also funded ten seminars in village churches on women’s health, which reached around 730 Christian women. Each seminar began with a Bible devotion to help them understand the spiritual context of being healthy. Pregnant women also received guidance on pre and postnatal health.
Vani (7) said the filtered water is, “very clear and tastes sweet”. Her mother used to have to travel to fetch water but it tasted salty
Barnabas Aid has been providing training and seminars for over a decade
$5,154 for five village hand pumps ($190 each) and 100 bio-sand water filters ($21 per household)
$6,520 for women’s health training and practical help for Christians in Punjab for one year
Project reference: 41-1160
Project reference: 41-697
25th Anniversary ...
6 November/December 2018 Barnabas Aid
Barnabas Aid reports: 25 years serving the global persecuted Church
The first offi ce was a dere lict Victorian c hurch in London
This is our very first magazine from 1998!
Years
25th Anniversary
The Lord has sustained Barnabas Aid’s work to make a global impact by supporting and sending practical help to our suffering brothers and sisters across the world for 25 years. Barnabas’ origins: a U.K. inner-city mission with international influence
In the early 1970’s Barnabas Aid’s founders, Patrick Sookhdeo and his wife Rosemary ran large evangelistic campaigns in the U.K.’s inner city areas. From this grew a ground-breaking ministry, with a special focus on reaching Britain’s Muslim communities, which began to invite evangelists and missionaries from outside the U.K. to do church planting and mission work. Thus Contact Ministries was founded in 1975 – later called Servants Fellowship International (SFI) – which went on to establish a training center, bookshop and other ministries. During the 1980’s Patrick assisted mission movements across the world. A large international network, particularly with Christian leaders in Muslim-majority countries, was formed out of the mission movement involvement and SFI’s own ministry.
Emerging from the shadows: Christian persecution in Muslim contexts brought to light
As the International Coordinator for Islam for the Lausanne Movement and the World Evangelical Alliance, Patrick looked closely at how the Church and Christian organizations could be assisted within Islamic contexts. And in 1989, at the request of Christian leaders in Muslim-majority countries, he convened a conference to discuss the then little-known subject of contemporary Christian persecution under Islam. Participants from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East told previously unheard stories of shocking discrimination and persecution in their countries. They asked if their plight could be shared with Christians in the West so that they could be aware and pray. They asked, too, if there was a possibility of practical relief and assistance. This impetus led to Patrick and Rosemary forming two organizations in the U.K. Soon after the 1989 Cyprus conference the International Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity (IISIC), a research body, began to take shape. IISIC’s focus was persecution in majority Islamic environments and compiling accurate information on not just its effects but also its causes.
Barnabas Aid November/December 2018 7
Salvaging a church in Banda Aceh. In this strongly Islamic part of Indonesia, Christians were excluded from normal relief distribution. Barnabas Aid came to the aid of thousands of Christians caught up in the devastation that followed the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, sending help to Christians in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and the Andaman Islands
Church buildings
Disaster relief 2004-5 Almost 14 years ago a 9.2 magnitude earthquake to the west of Indonesia created a devastating tsunami that hit 14 countries in South and South-East Asia. Within a couple of days Barnabas Aid had sent our first grant to help Christian minorities in the affected region, where they were often discriminated against when relief from other sources was distributed. Many further grants followed, first providing emergency relief and then funds to help restore Christian lives and communities including rebuilding 235 homes and 38 churches, funding 1,714 income generation projects, providing 17,212 Bibles and hymn books and supporting 5,325 children, including those orphaned.
2006 Those who want to put pressure on Christians know how important it is for us to meet together to worship, pray, learn, have fellowship or other ministry and community events. Buildings can be a vital resource to strengthen Christian communities, especially those who live in very poor housing or in contexts where it is illegal to gather for prayer in a private home. Our church building projects have provided hundreds of new buildings, sometimes when the old one was destroyed by persecution. We have also helped to renovate, extend or equip existing buildings. For example, in Africa we have given many church roofs to congregations who have built the walls themselves but cannot afford the tin, wood and nails to finish off their building.
After a congregation in Kano State, northern Nigeria, were thrown out of the public building in which they worshipped in 2006, Barnabas enabled them to construct a new church building on land they had raised funds to purchase
Schools and education
2008
Barnabas enables poor Christian children to get an education in a loving, Christian environment. Children growing up in countries where Christians are in the minority are often victimized in government-run schools. Helping the next generation to be strong both spiritually and economically is a vital part of Barnabas Aid’s relief to persecuted Christian communities. Angel is one of around 43,718 children at schools assisted in the past five years by Barnabas Aid. She attends Philadelphia school in Faisalabad, Pakistan, a country where Christians live as a despised minority. Many Christian parents are impoverished – often trapped in low-paid menial jobs because of their faith – and cannot afford to send their children to school. Angel’s education is paid for by a Barnabas Aid sponsor.
Ten-year-old Angel loves singing and is a member of the school Music Club, but her favorite subject is science. Her favorite Bible verse is Matthew 5:4, “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Barnabas Aid has been supporting Christian schools in Pakistan since 2008
25th Anniversary
8 November/December 2018 Barnabas Aid
Water
2010
Christians living in environments where they are a despised minority can be denied access to water as a form of persecution. Christian women, who still fetch water in many cultures, also face potential harassment or violence while walking long distances to get water. By providing safe water sources, Barnabas is also providing long-term security for entire Christian communities.
Christian Leadership training
Christian villagers gather around a new well provided by Barnabas Aid in Myanmar (Burma) in 2010
2011
Barnabas Aid helps to provide training to church leaders so they are equipped to help their congregations stand firm as they face pressure and persecution. Some 90,116 individuals have received training in 50 countries in the past five years alone. Prabha was one of 1,079 new students enrolled on theology courses for Nepali Christians funded by Barnabas. The believers received training in small, local groups, “Many Nepali Christians taking an exam, times because of lack of knowledge as part of a theology training course we believers do things that we funded by Barnabas since 2011 shouldn’t … I have realized that is it absolutely essential to know the teachings of the Bible. Also I was greatly encouraged when studying sufferings of Christ in the Life of Christ course because many times I have received direct and indirect persecution from my relatives. I realized that, compared with the sufferings that Jesus bore for us, the suffering that we bear is actually nothing. Actually we discover that by suffering in his name we become strong inside.”
2012 s, program Through regular feeding Barnabas Aid supports some of the world’s most impoverished Christians. They live in contexts where Christians are despised and discriminated against in education and employment, leading to poverty. In the recent Syrian civil war, Christians found themselves targeted by Islamist rebels in addition to the terrors of war which all Syrians endured. Huge numbers were displaced, leaving behind not only their homes but also their jobs and means of support. When savings were exhausted they turned to the churches for help, who were able to feed thousands of Christians with support from Barnabas Aid.
Food
Barnabas Aid has been providing regular food parcels for Christians who have lost their livelihoods due to war and persecution in Syria from 2012 until now
IISIC’s research was able to show that there was an ideological strand in Islam which resulted in persecution of non-Muslims, but this led to a barrage of criticism against IISIC from government and also from Christian ministries and leaders when it began to publish this information. There were many Christians and secular organizations alike who simply could not accept that this was happening in Muslim countries or that Islam discriminated against Christians in this way. Despite scepticism and hostility from all quarters, gradually IISIC spearheaded a sea change in opinion. Persecution research findings were disseminated through bimonthly updates and prayer points. Throughout the 1980’s and into the 1990’s, most Christians interested in the persecuted Church thought only of the Communist world. Barnabas Aid, including the foundational work of the IISIC, was the first to focus on the persecution of Christians in the Muslim world.
Stepping into the relief gap for the persecuted Church
Existing U.K. mission and Christian relief agencies were approached by Patrick and asked to take on the work of bringing practical support to persecuted Christians in Islamic contexts. The response was minimal. With no alternative, it was out of a sense of desperation and with some reluctance that he started to request donations to assist persecuted Christians. Barnabas Aid was launched in 1993 and became the aid agency for the persecuted Church. Our name Barnabas also emerged from a suggestion made at the conference in Cyprus, which is the island Barnabas came from (Acts 4:36). Barnabas, meaning “son of encouragement,” sold land and generously gave of his resources to meet the needs of other Christians in the early Church. His example inspires our commitment to encouraging and helping Christians who suffer because of their faith and strengthening them to endure their trials. We provide a channel for other Christians to meet the practical needs of their suffering brothers and sisters. Barnabas was also a vital support to Saul soon after his conversion (Acts 9:26-31) and vouched for him in Jerusalem, before the suspicious apostles. We too stand up for converts to Christianity in today’s world who face discrimination and pressure, helping them to integrate with churches and flourish in their faith. In 1996 Barnabas Charitable Trust was formed in New Zealand. Other offices and local organizations followed. Today, Barnabas has a
25th Anniversary presence in Australia, Brazil, Britain, Malaysia, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Russia, South Africa, and the USA. During its first ten years, Barnabas Aid’s relief was mainly focused on helping Christians under duress from Islam. By 2004, the scope had widened to support persecuted Christians outside of majority Islamic environments, including in Vietnam, Sri Lanka, North Korea, Myanmar (Burma) and India. Today, we continue to help Christians around the globe under duress from any religion or ideology, with the majority of our projects still in Islamic situations.
Barnabas Aid’s founders reflect on their 25year journey serving the persecuted Church
Barnabas Aid November/December 2018 9
Small businesses
2014
because “I had no hope of daily survival. I was living in economic trouble ea becam I se my previous taxi bike was taken back by Muslims becau Jean. said Christian. Now my hope of life is restored. Alleluia!” he When Muslim neighbors in Burundi seized Jean’s bicycle after a of gift converted to Christianity, he lost his livelihood. The simple on running his replacement bicycle from Barnabas Aid enabled Jean to carry cycles taxi-bi taxi bike business. Eleven other converts were also given of e becaus Many Christians struggle to support their families is discrimination in the workplace – no one will give them a job. This be may who s, especially a problem for converts from other religion as has dismissed from their jobs when they decide to follow Christ. Barnab t fficien self-su helped thousands of Christians to become economically grant f one-of small and able to support themselves and their families. A need to can provide training in vocational skills or the start-up items they establish their own small business.
“I often think back to a conference in Cyprus in 1989 where church leaders from the Muslim world pleaded for help to make their plight known, to encourage prayer and if possible to send some practical help. In my mind, this was the true beginning of “Barnabas Aid,” even though it did not officially start until 1993. Since then the global situation has deteriorated, and Christians have become increasingly vulnerable, even in the West. But the Lord Jesus has kept and guided the work of Barnabas Aid in a wonderful way.”
DR. PATRICK SOOKHDEO International Director
“When Patrick and I started Barnabas Aid, we never dreamed of how the work would grow from such small beginnings. We have been overwhelmed by the generosity of Christian believers around the world who have given so sacrificially and prayed so fervently for persecuted Christians. Please join with us in thanking the Lord and asking for His continued guidance and protection.”
ROSEMARY SOOKHDEO
International Director of Finance “It has been an enormous privilege and joy to be part of Barnabas Aid for the last 25 years. I have learned so much to help me in my own Christian walk from our brothers and sisters living in places of pressure and persecution. I am amazed, humbled, and thankful to the Lord for allowing me to be part of the chain of help going ‘from Christians, through Christians, to Christians.”
CAROLINE KERSLAKE
International Director of Projects
2016 Converts Helping converts from other religions has been one of Barnabas Aid’s priorities for the last 25 years, whether it is discipleship, caring for their practical needs, or a safe refuge from violent attack. Sometimes, we simply have to fill the place of the family who has rejected them. “I was born a Muslim and both my parents are Muslims,” explains “Emmanuel.” “I made decision of joining Christianity, but when my parents heard about it, they chased me and denied me everything including [school] fees, clothing and food. This was the tough times for me but God being on my side … [a church leader] came for my rescue.” Thanks to Barnabas, in 2016, Emmanuel received a piglet and started making enough money to pay for his school fees. The young Ugandan convert was “Emmanuel” a young Ugandan then able to attend a Christian high convert from Islam was helped by school (secondary). Barnabas after his family rejected him
25th Anniversary
10 November/December 2018 Barnabas Aid
What He has done to help the persecuted Church over the past 25 years is truly marvelous. Through the generosity of our supporters, Barnabas has sent funds to help projects in 108 countries.
Meeting their needs great and small
From meeting simple every-day practical and spiritual needs to providing critical relief in largescale national disasters, Barnabas Aid’s projects mission has delivered life-changing relief to the global persecuted Church since 1993. Barnabas’ distinctive mission delivers relief from Christians, uniquely through Christians, and to Christians. The Barnabas model serves suffering and disadvantaged Christians, answering the apostle Paul’s call in Galatians 6:10 to do good especially to the family of believers. Always working with the persecuted Church as equal partners, whose leaders also guide our direction, we listen to their ideas rather than impose our own. Unlike many other charities, we do not send people but work through local Christian agencies, churches and ministries on the ground to channel funds to projects that they have developed in their own communities and regions. Barnabas maintains very low overhead of just 12%, which includes our advocacy, prayer encouragement and awareness-raising work, as well as all administrative costs. This means that 88% of every $1 donated goes directly to help the beneficiaries. For donations to specific projects, 100% of the sum donated is used for that project and its costs: nothing is deducted.
Christian literature, Bibles and Scriptures
2015
Barnabas has helped to provide over 1.3 million pieces of Christain literature, including Bibles and Scriptures, in 48 languages in 30 countries. Many pastors and evangelists in the persecuted church have never had the opportunity for Bible or theological training or training Pastor Khi from a minority people group for ministry. In some countries, such in South-East Asia pastored churches as in Central Asia, authorities impose for many years but never owned a restrictions on the printing and importing Bible. After praying for “65 years and three months” he received a bible in his of Christian literature. 24, ber Decem on Christ mother tongue, thanks to Barnabas Aid “I accepted to prayed always I time 1949. From that red my prayer on have a Bible … I started praying in January 1, 1950. But God answe I started reading 2015, March 29, 2015 … As soon as I received the Bible on March 29, Revelation four times, it. Now [October 2016] I have finished reading from Genesis to h.” and now I have reached the book of Job for my fifth read throug
Pastors and evangelists
Barnabas supports full-time Christian workers – pastors, churchplanters and evangelists ministering in their own countries or people group, often facing hardship and hostility. Many congregations are too poor to pay a pastor full-time, meaning that pastors have to find other employment to cover their daily needs. Barnabas steps in to assist with a portion of their living and ministry expenses, enabling workers to focus fully on their congregations. Freed from the burden of having to earn a living, pastors and evangelists have more time to devote to ministry.
Barnabas Aid has been supporting this pastor and his family who work amongst Muslims in a country in the former Soviet Union. 2017
Victims of violence and injustice
On November 6, 2016 police in riot gear marched into the desperately poor community of Santal people in Gaibandah District, Bangladesh, to evict them from their homes. Then, helped by local Muslims, the police set fire to the wooden shacks in which the Christians lived. By morning at least 5,500 Christians were homeless and three were dead. Dijen was shot in the chest but miraculously survived. However, on return from hospital he had nothing – no land and no home. Dijen and his family have been rehoused with the help of Barnabas in a solid, brick-built, onebedroom home. “I saw a small light that is from Jesus Christ that I will get a place to live,” said Dijen, adding gratefully, “I don’t know where this money came from, but I bless them who helped me and my children.” 2018
Dijen now has a safe, solid brick home. The building program supported by Barnabas has already provided 50 new homes. A further 50 homes are being constructed, with more planned, to help rebuild the shattered Santal community
A History of
Christian Persecution 8
This stone cross at Krosshaug in Norway is thought to be nearly 1,000 years old. The hill on which it stands may have been a meeting place for the first Norwegian Christians
North-West Europe in the first millennium
Pagan kings converted by Christian queens. Missionaries criss-crossing land and sea with the Gospel. Tribes whose names reverberate to this day, but whose distinctive ethnicity (if any) is now unknown. Dramatic mass conversions. Glorious martyrdoms. Battles and bloodshed. The themes of our story are clear, but the details are few and the terminology can be confusing, not to mention the spelling. The Roman names “Britannia” and “Germania” are approximately the Britain and Germany of today. But many other names of places, people and people-groups are hard to recognise. Contemporary sources are scarce. Much of the information comes from traditions, reverently recorded by believers in later centuries, which give scholars plenty of scope to quibble. Let us seek to be inspired by the cloud of witnesses, rather than confused by the mists of time.
The
Roman Empire’s “Wild West” was north-west Europe. For some centuries, this corner of the Empire reached as far north as Hadrian’s Wall and as far east as the river Rhine. Beyond these frontiers lived barbarians i.e. people who did not speak Latin or Greek. The Roman army was kept busy fighting off repeated raids by barbarians trying to get into Roman territory.
Persecution by pagan Romans
Within the Empire lay Gaul (approximately modern France and Belgium) and the southern half of Britain. Undoubtedly, early Christians would have been present in both provinces – perhaps traders or soldiers from elsewhere in the Empire and local converts. But they had to keep their heads down, as Christians in the Roman Empire were persecuted to a greater or lesser extent until the fourth century. The first recorded mention of Christianity in Gaul was a great persecution in Lyon and nearby Vienne in 177 AD. Christians had already been forbidden to appear in the marketplace, forum, baths or any public place. If they did so, they were liable to be beaten and robbed by the populace. They were not safe at home either, for their houses were broken into and vandalised. Eventually the authorities rounded up 48 of the most zealous Christians, and gathered false accusations against them, such as cannibalism and incest. They tortured and killed the Christians in a variety of ways, which included the
use of red hot metal and wild beasts. The 48 martyrs – men, women and a boy of about 15 – came from every stratum of society, including an aristocrat, a doctor, a bishop (aged more than 90), a deacon and two slaves.
Blandina, a Christian slave in Gaul (France), was the last of 48 believers who were martyred in 177 by the Roman authorities. After torture, she was hung on a stake in the amphitheatre for wild animals to eat but they would not touch her. Her death came at last when she was wrapped in a net and thrown in front of a bull The earliest tales of Christianity in Britain also concern martyrs: Julius, Aaron, and Alban. Julius and Aaron were executed, probably in the third century at Caerleon (near modern Newport, Wales). The much more famous Alban, who perhaps lived a little later, hid in his home a Christian priest who was fleeing during a time of “cruel persecution” to use the words of Bede, the eighth-century monk and scholar.¹ The faith of the priest so impressed Alban over a period of days that he himself believed too. When soldiers came to search the house, Alban put on the priest’s cloak and let himself be arrested in place of his guest. Refusing to save himself from punishment by engaging in pagan rites, Alban declared, “I worship and adore the true and living God who created all things.” He was severely whipped and then beheaded. The Roman town of Verulamium, where this happened, is now called St Albans. During the fourth century, the status of Christianity in the Roman Empire moved from prohibited to permitted
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to compulsory. It is therefore little surprise that in this century Christians became more visible in both Britain and Gaul.
Persecution by pagan barbarians
So persecution and martyrdom at the hands of the Roman authorities came to an end, but the Christians of northwest Europe still faced opposition from pagans. For scarcely had Christianity established its dominance throughout the Roman Empire than the Empire itself began to totter and fail. The Germanic tribes east of the Rhine, who had been pressing on the frontier for some time, started to actually break through and move into Roman territory. These tribes had traditionally worshipped many gods, for example Woden and Thor. But the eastern Germanic tribes, such as the Goths and Vandals, became Christians in the fourth century, embracing the heretical Arian form of Christianity, rather than Biblical Trinitarian beliefs. Meanwhile the western Germanic tribes – the Franks, Angles and Saxons – retained their pagan religion (until they later became Trinitarian Christians).
The eastern Germanic tribes
The eastern tribes are not really part of our story, because they lived too far to the east to impinge much on northwest Europe. When they moved out of Germania, it was to eastern and southern Europe that they mainly went. In 410 the unthinkable happened and Rome itself fell to the army of Alaric the Goth. The Christian heresy of Arianism thrived amongst these tribes during the fifth century and there were many violent clashes between them and the Trinitarian Christians.²
In 410 the phased withdrawal of Roman troops from Britain was completed, as Rome found it could no longer defend the whole of its Empire. Once the Roman garrison had gone, there was nothing to stop the repeated raids on Britain, not only by Germanic tribes (Angles and Saxons) attacking from the south-east, but also by Irish from the west and Picts from the north. All the invading tribes were pagans. Gaul was invaded by a succession of Germanic tribes including Vandals, Goths, Burgundians and finally the pagan Franks, whose young king Clovis led them to victory against a Roman army in 486. He chose Paris as his capital, from which he built up a strong kingdom. Later Clovis became a Christian, partly through the influence of his Trinitarian Christian wife, Clotilda. Thus the Franks as a whole became Trinitarian Christians and later did much to facilitate Christian mission within their territories. Meanwhile, in Britain, the newly arrived Angles and Saxons were eliminating the Christian presence and witness as they drove out the pre-existing population, the Celts. From about 450 onwards, Saxons settled in the south, eventually establishing three kingdoms: Essex, Sussex and Wessex. The Angles ventured much further and established three more kingdoms: Mercia (in the midlands), East Anglia and Northumbria. A seventh kingdom existed in Kent.
It looked for a while as if Germanic paganism might completely vanquish Christian faith in Britain. But Celtic Christianity clung on in the westernmost parts of Britain, where the invading tribes did not reach. Indeed, Christianity not only survived but also spread through deliberate missionary work.
Ireland and Irish missionaries
One of the most famous of such missionaries was Maewyn Succat, the rebellious and impious son of a church deacon who farmed somewhere on the west coast of Britain. When he was 16, pagan Irish pirates kidnapped Maewyn and others, carrying them back to Ireland as slaves. His sufferings there drew the young man back to God. After, six years he escaped and managed to get home again, but felt called by dreams and visions to share the Gospel with the Irish. Maewyn thoroughly prepared and trained himself for this task and then in 432 returned to Ireland as a missionary bishop with the name Patrick. For almost three decades he labored in Ireland, sometimes imprisoned by pagan chiefs, sometimes in danger of his life, dying there at the age of about 75. The Irish church, planted by Patrick in the face of persecution, became “the brightest spot culturally in northern Europe between 590 and 800.”³ Not only was it a center of learning, but also a center of mission, as Christians went out from Ireland to evangelize Switzerland, France, Italy, Scotland, and northern England (to use the modern place-names).
England and English missionaries
Meanwhile, the paganism of southern England was being tackled by Christians coming from the European mainland. In 597 Augustine landed in Kent with a band of 40 reluctant monks, sent by the mission-minded Pope Gregory. Ethelbert, the king of Kent, was a pagan, but his wife Bertha, was a Christian. Bertha shared her faith with Ethelbert, worshipped in a little stone church, and facilitated the mission of Augustine. Within months, many thousands had become Christians, including King Ethelbert. Almost the same thing happened in northern England, where Bertha’s daughter, Ethelburga, married the pagan king Edwin of Northumbria and led him to Christ. Thousands of people became Christians and were discipled and baptized by Paulinus, from Augustine’s team. But Edwin was killed in battle against the pagan king of Mercia in 633 and Ethelburga fled back to Kent. The pagan invaders began to establish themselves and their religion but were driven out again in 635 by Oswald, who had become a Christian while in self-imposed exile among the Scots. Having got rid of the pagans, King Oswald sent to Iona, where he himself had been baptized, for a missionary to teach Christianity to his people. The man who came was Aidan, who, from his base on the island of Lindisfarne, worked tirelessly to restore Christianity to Northumbria. Re-evangelized England was soon sending out missionaries elsewhere. Willibrord went to the Netherlands in 690. Boniface went to work among the German pagans in 718. He died a martyr in 754 while on a missionary preaching tour. Armed men descended on his camp, and
Pull-Out Boniface (aged almost 80) held up the book he had been reading to try to protect his head from a sword-wielding attacker. This blood-stained book, with deep cuts into its parchment pages, still exists. It contains two essays by Ambrose, one on the Holy Spirit and the other called How Good it is to Die.
With this book the elderly Boniface, an English missionary who had served for years among the German pagans, tried to protect himself from a fatal sword blow in 754 Image source: Hessian State Archives, Darmstadt, Germany
Persecution by pagan Vikings
The Scandinavian nations retained their paganism considerably longer than Germany. The much-dreaded Vikings (also called Norsemen or Northmen) began their raids on Britain in 789 and on Ireland in 795. They focused especially on plundering the churches and monasteries, which were easy targets because they were undefended in Christian lands whose inhabitants would have never dreamed of stealing from such sacred places. Scholars debate whether the pagan Vikings picked these Christian targets for religious reasons or simply for financial gain. Whatever their motive, the damage and destruction caused to these centers of Christian ministry and outreach was enormous. The thriving Irish Church became seriously weakened by Viking invasions.
Norway
In 994 one of the pagan Vikings, Olaf Trygveson, sailed to Britain for the usual robbery, arson and killing. But in the Scilly Isles he met a Christian hermit who prophesied that Olaf would become king of Norway and lead many to Christian faith. He also foretold that Olaf would first be severely wounded in battle, recover after seven days, and be baptised. All of this came to pass, and the following year Olaf became Norway’s first Christian king, ruling also over Iceland and Greenland. He made it a priority to convert his subjects to Christianity but, sad to say, his own conversion did not seem to have much impact on his violent lifestyle. On the one hand he brought over English missionaries, but on the other hand he sought to advance the Christian faith by torturing and killing pagans.
Denmark
Danish Vikings seem to have waited until well into the ninth century before starting to raid Britain. But through these raids they encountered Christians, some of whom were probably brought back to Denmark as slaves or wives. Many Danish Vikings settled in the Christian lands of England or Normandy.
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There were Frankish Christian missionaries at work in Denmark from the early ninth century. An exiled Danish king was baptized in 826 but, without political power, he could do little to help the missionaries. His rival, King Horik I, who held the throne from 827 to 854, was strongly antiChristian, no doubt at least in part because it was the faith of his enemies, the Frankish Empire. He not only rejected Christianity but also sought to hinder the work of the Frankish missionary Ansgar. A powerful preacher, but also a very humble and self-effacing man who cared for the poor and sick, Ansgar much later managed to establish good relations with King Horik who then gave him permission to build some churches in Denmark, where there was by that time a small Christian community. In 845 Horik’s fleet attacked and sacked Hamburg and destroyed the treasures and books of the churches, leaving the diocese in ruins. Missionaries to Denmark could also face opposition from other strata in society. Leofdag, a missionary bishop sent from Hamburg to evangelise the Danes, was martyred within months of his arrival in 948 when one of his own bodyguard speared him as he was fording a river. Eventually, in about 960, another Danish king converted to Christianity. This was Harald Bluetooth, who energetically spread his new faith to his people. Fifteen years later he set up a large stone at Jelling, carved with runes stating (among other achievements) that he had “made the Danes Christian.” However, there was considerable syncretism among the first Danish Christians. Their pagan religion did not involve the worship of idols (as did the Germanic pagans) but focused on sacred springs, hilltops and groves of trees. Christian missionaries had much work to do in teaching and discipling these “Christians” in the following generations and this resulted in more martyrs.
Sweden
The first known missionaries to Sweden went at the invitation of the Swedish king Björn in about 829-30. The Swedes had already encountered Christianity through their Viking raids on Christian populations, and probably through trade. One of the missionaries who went was Ansgar, who was finding the mission field in Denmark very hard because of hostility from King Horik I and the local people. King Björn made them welcome in the city-on-an-island Birka, and a prominent courtier called Hergeir built the first Christian chapel in Sweden. After two fruitful years, Ansgar was sent to Hamburg where he was appointed bishop of the newly formed missionary diocese, created to bring the Gospel to the north. His particular assignment was the evangeliszation of Norway, Denmark and Sweden. He sent out other missionaries to continue the Swedish work, including Gautbert and Nithard. Gautbert also labored with great success and built a church in Birka. But here, as in Denmark, the success of the Christian mission created jealousy and hatred amongst the pagans and eventually in 845 an angry mob broke into Gautbert’s house, plundered it, killed Nithard and burned the church. Gautbert either fled or was expelled from Sweden. When news of this persecution reached Ansgar, he was himself fleeing from the furious Danish pagans who had attacked Hamburg, and could do nothing to help. Hergeir,
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however, managed for some years to keep the congregation at Birka together and to protect them from pagan attack. After Hergeir’s death, the Swedish Christians were left defenceless. Around 850 Ansgar traveled to Sweden again, and reached out to the then king, Olof I. The missionaries were allowed back to Sweden to share the Gospel without hindrance. Ansgar spent another two years in Sweden, rebuilt the church in Birka, and afterwards other missionaries continued the work, at least two of whom were Danish. Although persecution had ceased in Sweden, the Christian faith did not take a strong hold. Many who believed later relapsed back into paganism. It was not until the early eleventh century that the Gospel began to make progress again in Sweden, after the arrival of English missionaries. One of them, Sigfrid, baptized the Swedish royal family in 1008, making King Olof Skötkonung the first Christian king of Sweden. Another, called Ulfrid, was martyred in 1028 in Uppsala, which was a major centre of pagan worship. Using an axe, he hacked to pieces an idol of Thor, and was killed on the spot by the outraged pagans. Sigfrid’s three nephews, who had accompanied him on his mission, were beheaded at Växjö by pagans who also ransacked the church there. Christianity became an officially recognized religion in Sweden, alongside paganism. In the following decades paganism gradually faded from most of the south, but it lived on for longer in the wild and inaccessible north.
Iceland
Iceland is generally thought to have been unpopulated until the Norsemen settled there in the 870s. But an ancient Icelandic source, the Íslendingabók (Book of the Icelanders), written between 1122 and 1133, records that the Norseman discovered “Christian men” already living in Iceland. There is also some archaeological evidence to indicate human habitation decades before the Norsemen arrived. An intriguing theory is that Celtic Christians, probably monks from Ireland, had selected this remote and lonely place to live out their calling to be hermits. They apparently left when the pagans from Norway arrived. Christianity was reintroduced into Iceland in a more conventional way from 980 onwards, i.e. by missionaries. The first was Thorvald Konradsson, an Icelander who had traveled abroad, become a Christian and been baptized by a German bishop called Friedrich. The two traveled to Iceland together but the Icelanders did not respond to the Christian message. In 986 Thorvald was banished after he killed two men.
Another missionary was sent by King Olaf Trygveson when he himself had become a Christian. According to the Íslendingabók the Icelanders were again largely unmoved. But in the year 1000, the leading members of society assembled together to decide what to do about this religion that the Norwegian king was pressing on them. Iceland was not a monarchy but an oligarchy, ruled by a group of chieftains called the Althing. By a majority vote the Althing decided to adopt Christianity in Iceland, but to permit sacrifices to the pagan gods on condition they were done in private.
Conclusion
Our story has reached the end of the first millennium.⁴ It was a turbulent time in north-west Europe, religiously and in many other ways as well. Christianity and paganism vied with each other and some pagan areas were evangelized, re-paganized and then re-evangelized. We may deplore the violence and apparently political motives of certain new “converts” but we must also recognise the unrecorded multitude of true believers. We can rejoice in the great faith of the missionaries, who dedicated their lives to bringing salvation to those who had never heard the Gospel. Missionary work in those times was both dangerous and very sacrificial. Patrick, who spent almost 30 years in Ireland, described his yearning for what he had left behind: “How I would have loved to go to my country [Britain] and my parents, and also to Gaul [where he had studied] in order to visit the brethren and to see the face of the saints of my Lord! God knows it! that I much desired it; but I am bound by the Spirit.” Many believers bravely laid down their lives for Christ. Some have been remembered down the centuries; others are all but forgotten. There must be thousands more whose deaths were never recorded at all on earth, but are honoured in heaven with a martyr’s crown. 1 His book An Ecclesiastical History of the English People was finished in 731, when Bede was about 59. Bede spent most of his life in Jarrow, Northumbria (north-east England). 2 See “A History of Christian Persecution: Part 5 When Christians became the persecutors” in Barnabas Aid (March-April 2018) p.ii–iii. 3 Earle E. Cairns, Christianity Through the Centuries, 3rd edition, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Zondervan, 1996, p.171. 4 To tie up some loose ends: in the eleventh century the Gospel reached Finland, and in the twelfth century Christianity at last became fully established in Sweden.
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Published by Barnabas Aid Inc. 6731 Curran St, McLean, Virginia 22101, USA © Barnabas Aid Inc. 2018
Legacy giving
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Pakistani Christian Emmanuel was in debt to the brick-kiln owner, a debt which kept on rising even though his wages were cut to make repayments. His family is one of 387 freed so far by Barnabas Aid. “It feels as if we have come out of a great burden,” says Emmanuel. “The day our debt was paid we went to the church to thank God”
One gift can last beyond a lifetime make your legacy live on
After your earthly pilgrimage has ended, you can continue to be a blessing to persecuted Christian brothers and sisters around the world by leaving a legacy than can live on for generations.
Once your loved ones have been taken care of, what will be your legacy? Your will is a testament to what you believe in
By remembering Barnabas Aid in your will, you can transform the lives of Christians who face persecution, poverty and discrimination, even after you have gone to glory. You can save Christians from hardship, hunger and violence, inspire persecuted believers to stand firm through the gift of God’s word, or change the future for a Christian child by supporting their schooling. “God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.” (Hebrews 6:10)
the family onto a regular food assistance program, enabling their children to get an education, Kashif was overwhelmed: “Praise God for He takes our burdens on Him. It is beyond our imagination that people across seas and hundreds of miles away can send us help but we also know that anything is possible with God.”
Give hope and strength in Christ’s name
Ugandan convert “Joseph” was attacked with a hammer for leaving Islam to follow Jesus. He was taken in by a ministry
Make the impossible possible
Pakistani Christians Kashif and his wife work hard, but could not afford to feed their children and also pay for them to attend school. When Barnabas enrolled
“Barnabas Aid has helped me survive up to now,” says Joseph
Emergency relief through Project Joseph saved countless Christians from the threat of starvation in East Africa. Our project partner said assistance in Marsabit, Kenya (pictured) gave “life to those who have lost hope” which provides practical help, training and discipleship to Muslim converts. Remembering Barnabas in your will is remembering Christian brothers and sisters like Joseph, who have nowhere else to turn when they face discrimination and violence because of their faith. “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ … If one part suffers, every part suffers with it” (1 Corinthians 12:26). The future for many Christian communities who face persecution, poverty and marginalization is uncertain. But you can still stand with them and support them for generations to come. Please prayerfully consider a legacy for Barnabas Aid. If you would like more information about how to leave a gift to Barnabas Aid through your will, please contact: usa@barnabasaid.org or phone 703 288 1681 or write to: 6731 Curran St. McLean, VA 22101
Iran’s Christian converts
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The perilous plight of
Iran’s Christian converts An Iranian convert from Islam being baptized
I
ran’s Christians face persecution, prison and potential execution for choosing to follow Christ. The country’s hard-line Islamic leadership, in power since the 1979 revolution, has engaged in a systematic effort to repress, control and harass the convert Church. Nevertheless, the Church has grown wonderfully as Iranian Muslims turn to Christ, through the brave witness of ordinary Iranian Christians and through God’s sovereign and miraculous work. Now, there is a looming threat of potential humanitarian catastrophe in Iran, as new economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. come into force. Iranian Christians, viewed by their government as probable agents of the supposedly “Christian” West, are likely to come under even greater pressure.
The Shia superpower
The Islamic Republic of Iran is the de facto leader of the world’s Shia Muslims. As such, it works to defend the interests of Shias around the world, most of whom live as minorities under Sunni Islamic domination. In many places Shia Muslims (about 1020% of Muslims worldwide) are severely persecuted by Sunni Muslims, who view them as heretics. Iran therefore finds itself in constant opposition to Saudi Arabia, the leader of the world’s Sunni Muslims. While Saudi Arabia persecutes Shias around the world, Iran protects them. But there are other key differences between the two Islamic superpowers. Saudi Arabia has crushed its Christian population so effectively that Christianity is invisible, even among expatriates, and the Saudi convert church is no more than
Iran’s Christian converts isolated believers always in danger of death. Historical Christian communities were wiped out long ago – the last evidence of Christians’ historical presence in what is today Saudi Arabia had disappeared by around 680 AD (see Barnabas Aid magazine, Jan-Feb 2018, center pullout, p.iv). The Saudis seek nothing less than the complete eradication of Christianity in the Arabian Peninsula. By contrast, Iran has a historic Christian presence, which could number as many as 200,000. They have seats in Parliament, live openly as Christians and worship freely in their churches. In addition there is a recent convert church estimated to number at least 350,000, who also meet together for worship, although illegally. True, they are harassed and persecuted by the authorities, but they are not eliminated. It is interesting to note that Christians in the Middle East generally prefer to live under Shia Muslims than under Sunni Muslims. In Syria, church buildings which were destroyed by radical Sunni Islamist groups during the recent war are being rebuilt by Iran and damaged ones repaired and cleaned by Hezbollah, a Shia militant group based in Lebanon, to make them ready for the Christians’ return.
Persia and Pentecost: the history of Christianity in Iran
Iran, once the historical kingdom of Persia, has an ancient history of Christianity. The second chapter of Acts records that there were Iranians – Parthians, Medes and Elamites (Acts 2:9) – among the crowds gathered in Jerusalem at Pentecost, three thousand of whom became Christians after hearing the Apostle Peter’s message. These first believers took their newfound faith home with them. The early Christians in Iran faced persecution at the hands of the officially Zoroastrian state (see Barnabas Aid magazine, Nov-Dec 2017, pull-out section, p.iii). But despite this, thousands of Zoroastrians from all ranks of society converted to Christianity during the period of Sassanid rule (224-651 AD). The Muslim conquest of Persia brought about the end of the Sassanid Empire. Christians were required to pay jizya (the traditional tax imposed on subjugated Jews and Christians by an
The New Testament book of Acts records that there were Iranians among the pilgrims gathered in Jerusalem at Pentecost who responded to Peter’s sermon about the crucified and risen Christ
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The Islamic state) and experienced sporadic persecution. Treatment of Christians deteriorated and in the fourteenth century the ruler of the Mongol Empire, which had absorbed Iran, converted to Islam and ordered the destruction of all churches. A contemporary chronicler recorded how “Christians were disgraced, and slapped, and beaten, and mocked.” Christians fled, some taking refuge in the remote north-west of Iran. In the 1500’s, the shah (king) decreed Shia Islam as the state religion and Iran has been majority Shia Muslim ever since. Although an Assyrian and Armenian speaking remnant of the historic Orthodox and Catholic communities survives to this day. Since the founding of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979, Christianity has seen remarkable growth among Farsi-speaking Muslims who form the majority of the population.
Can converts be executed?
Iranian authorities make a crucial distinction between Christians from ethnic minorities that have a historical presence in Iran and Farsi-speaking Iranian converts from Islam. Historical Christian communities are largely tolerated, while converts from Islam to Christianity potentially face the death penalty as apostates. There has only been one execution of a Christian for apostasy from Islam in modern times. This took place in 1990, when a 43-year-old pastor Hossein Soodmand was hanged. There is a mandatory death penalty for male apostates from Islam according to the school of sharia (Islamic law) followed in Iran. When he was arrested, police offered Hossein the chance to deny his faith and escape death. His daughter remembers, “He could not renounce his God. His belief in Christ was his life – it was his deepest conviction.” We have already noted that Iran’s Assyrian and Armenian minorities have representatives in the country’s parliament, the Majlis. However, in 2017 the head of Iran’s Guardian Council called for religious minorities, including Christians, to be barred from elections. The Council, an Islamic legal body with power to overrule parliament and bar candidates from standing
Hossein Soodmand converted to Christianity at the age of 13. He was executed on December 3, 1990
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Iran’s Christian converts
in elections, argued that, theoretically, it allowed a nonMuslim to govern Muslims and is therefore prohibited by sharia. Classical Islam teaches that non-Muslims should not be in authority over Muslims. Plans to amend voting laws for religious minorities were subsequently announced in the Iranian parliament.
Hassan Rouhani: Iran’s president
Iran’s current president, Hassan Rouhani, is widely referred to as a moderate, as he attended university in the West (Glasgow Caledonian University, Scotland), helped to negotiate the Iran nuclear deal and has promoted a more open and outward looking foreign policy to political rivals. Nevertheless, he is an establishment figure and was formerly secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. Since Rouhani came to power in 2013, the persecution of believers in Iran has intensified, although it is not clear where the responsibility lies.
Iran’s ancient Christian communities are not immune from persecution and there has been a steady effort to damage and desecrate historical evidence of their existence, including cemeteries. But it is Farsi-speaking Christians (i.e. converts from Islam and their children) who are particularly targeted. They are not allowed to meet openly and police often raid their house churches,
Evin prison, Tehran, where Christians have been tortured and held for long periods in solitary confinement
An Armenian cathedral in Tehran. Christians from Iran’s ancient Assyrian and Armenian minorities are the only Christian groups legally permitted to meet to worship confiscating Christian literature. In October 2016, three Iranian Christian converts were sentenced to 80 lashes for taking communion. Under Iranian law they are still considered Muslims and their partaking of communion wine breached laws which forbid Muslims from consuming alcohol. Christians are frequently detained on political charges, such as “propaganda against the state” or “acting against national security” and are at risk of maltreatment and potential torture while in jail. A number are known to have been held in solitary confinement at the notorious Evin prison in Tehran.
Iran, Christians and the West
Through the centuries, Iran has been caught up in conflicts between Western colonialist nations and the U.S. who were staking claims to the country’s natural resources and intervening to put in place or overthrow Iran’s rulers. After the Iranian government nationalized the country’s oil industry in 1951, ending years of British control over Iran’s oil supply, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency orchestrated a coup d'état at the suggestion of the British Foreign Office. The coup brought down Iran’s prime minister and reinstated the pro-Western Shah. The Shah was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which led to dramatic changes in the country. Mass demonstrations for freedom from Western “imperialism” that had triggered the revolution, which resulted in the overthrow of the Western-backed government in Iran. But in its place, was put a clique of Islamic leaders who established a strict Islamic state,
Iran’s Christian converts resulting in huge societal changes which curtailed individual and especially women’s freedoms. From the Islamic perspective, it seems natural that Iran’s Islamic leaders have harbored a long-standing hatred of the West. After the revolution Iran officially became an Islamic theocracy. Sharia law was imposed, secular schools were shut down and a committee was set up for the Islamization of university courses. All school students who wish to go to higher education, regardless of their religion, are now required to pass a course on Shia Islam. Although Iran has a parliament and holds elections, it is the country’s religious leaders who continue to exercise control. The 2009 elections witnessed mass protests against the government, which were brutally repressed. The Iranian authority’s historic animosity to the West extends to Christianity, which is viewed as a malign, foreign influence. In June 2018, twelve Iranian Christian converts from the city of Bushehr were each sentenced to one year in prison. The judge delivering the verdict stated they were guilty of “propaganda against the state” and of “inclination to the land of Christianity.” Payam Kharamam, one of the converts, described how his interrogators seemed to be looking for him to confess to communication abroad, specifically with America, Britain, and Israel.
Barnabas Aid November/December 2018 15
Shia-led government has in recent years maintained close ties with Iran and utilized Iranian-backed Shia militia groups in the fight against The Islamic State terrorists, while the Iranian government has given military assistance to President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria. The Assad family are Alawites, a sect of Shia Islam. Iran has also supplied sophisticated weapons to Shia Houthi rebels in Yemen. It is this projection of Iranian interests in the region, along with concern over a possible future Iranian nuclear and ballistic missile program, that has led to the condemnation of Iran by the Trump administration who also support Sunni Saudi Arabia. At the inaugural U.S.-led Ministerial Religious Freedom Summit held at the U.S. State Department in July 2018, the Iranian government was singled out for its abuses of religious freedom by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, but the summit did not highlight the extent of the much worse persecution of Christians occurring in a number of other Muslim-majority contexts. The Iranian Foreign Ministry decried the criticism as “interference in the internal affairs of Iran,” presenting the summit as part of a narrative of American bias against Iran. The Trump administration’s announcement in August 2018 of greatly increased economic sanctions against Iran had an immediate effect on food prices. One shopkeeper in a market in a middle-class neighborhood of Tehran told journalists, “Before, people who could not afford to eat meat were at least having bread and yogurt. But now even yogurt is becoming unaffordable.” In the longer term, sanctions are likely to mean severe hardship for the whole population, but also to lead to greater harassment of Christians. This is what happened in Iraq in the 1990s, when U.N. sanctions on Saddam Hussein’s regime led to Christians facing hostility from Muslims, who blamed the actions of Western governments on their Christian neighbors because of their faith.
Facing a perilous future
Although Payam was not arrested until 2015, he had been harassed for several years previously: “The pressure and harassment of the security forces on me began in early 2012, and I was repeatedly summoned [by police] … and interrogated about evangelism and communication with abroad”
Current events and their impact on Iranian Christians
Christ was clear that His Kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36). But the long-held perception of the historically Christian West as the enemy of Iran causes significant problems for Iranian Christians. Iran is actively involved in supporting Shia governments and groups across the Middle East. Iraq’s
Christianity has a 2,000 year history in Iran. Today, it has the fastest growing Church in the Muslim world. Iranians are turning to Christ in remarkable numbers both in Iran itself and in the Iranian diaspora. Now there is a potential humanitarian crisis mounting within the country, as tightened U.S. sanctions put a stranglehold on the already shattered economy. Iran’s Christians need our prayers and support, as does the whole population. In these times of deepening internal hostility and economic uncertainty, Christians may be first in the firing line if Iran’s Islamic leaders decide to strike back against the West.
Barnabas Aid supports many projects to help Iranian Christians, both in their homeland and in the diaspora. But we cannot normally publicize them for security reasons. With the deteriorating situation in Iran, we plan to increase our relief considerably. Can you help? (Iran General Fund, ref. 19-940)
In Brief
16 November/December 2018 Barnabas Aid
Nine killed in rebel shelling of Christian town
Church leaders take a brave stand for freedom of religion SYRIA
Nine civilians from the Christian-majority Syrian town of Mhardeh died on Friday September 7, when shells or rockets fired from a rebel-controlled region hit built up areas. According to local sources, a further 20 people were reportedly injured in the attack on the town, which is located around 14 miles north-west of the city of Hama. Throughout the conflict, Christian civilian areas in Syria have been deliberately targeted with rocket attacks and shelling by jihadist rebel groups, although these attacks have gone largely unreported by Western media.
CHINA
In response to rising persecution, 279 Chinese pastors issued a public declaration on September 12, 2018 calling for full religious freedom. Pressure on Christians has increased since February 2018 when new regulations on religion came into force and in September, further measures were announced to control online activity and ban the live streaming of church services. Officials also closed one of the largest unofficial churches in Beijing – such congregations are known as “house churches” – after church leaders refused to allow authorities to install CCTV cameras inside the building.
Pastor and family burnt alive in Fulani attack NIGERIA
Nigerian pastor Adamu Jang, his wife and three children were burned alive when their house in Abonong village, Plateau State, was set on fire by Fulani on the night of August 28. The attackers, armed with machetes and AK-47 rifles, stormed several villages in Barkin Ladi county, killing at least eight people and setting churches and houses alight. A local politician stated that “many houses and churches were burnt to ashes.” The attackers, armed with machetes and AK-47 rifles, stormed several villages ... killing at least eight people Attacks by Fulani in Nigeria are often reported as a conflict between Muslim herdsmen and Christian farming communities, but Christian homes and churches are frequently deliberately targeted. The leadership and educated elite of the Fulani ethnic group, living in towns and cities, are Muslim, although many of the uneducated nomadic Fulani herdsmen follow traditional African religions.
German pastor and theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was one of the German church leaders who took a stand against Hitler's regime in 1934 The declaration, which appears in full on the Barnabas Aid website barnabasaid. org, concludes, “For the sake of the gospel, we are prepared to bear all losses – even the loss of our freedom and of our lives.” It is not the first time that Christian leaders have taken a stand like this. In 1934, a group of Evangelical church leaders in Germany issued the Barmen Declaration, rejecting state control of church activity and thus placing the German Evangelical Church on a collision course with Hitler’s Nazi regime. Among the declaration’s supporters was pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who later died in a concentration camp. Around 35 church leaders in Romania released a similar proclamation in 1989 against the attempts of Ceaușescu’s Communist regime to control the church and stop Christians worshiping freely or bringing children up in the faith.
Al Shabaab jihadists stop bus and murder Christians aboard
KENYA
Kenyan Christians have been repeatedly targeted by the Somali-based terror group Al Shabaab Al-Shabaab terrorists murdered two Kenyan Christians traveling on a bus on September 14 after they refused to recite the shahada Islamic creed. The terrorists flagged down a bus traveling to the north-eastern city of Garissa and ordered the passengers to produce their identity cards. They separated three “non-local” (assumed to be nonMuslim) passengers and asked them to recite verses from the Quran and say the shahada, recitation of which is considered conversion to Islam. Two passengers who refused, a boy called Joshua who assisted the bus driver and a laborer from the town of Masalani, 100 miles south of Garissa, were tied up and then murdered. In 2014, 28 Christians traveling on a bus in Mandera country, north-east Kenya, were singled out and killed by Al Shabaab jihadists. As in this recent attack, passengers were separated and those thought to be non-Muslim were ordered to recite the shahada. Kenya is around 80% Christian and 10% Muslim. Most of the country’s Muslim population, many of whom are ethnic Somalis, live in the north-east of the country. The Somali-based terror group Al Shabaab has repeatedly targeted Kenyan Christians.
In Brief
Barnabas Aid November/December 2018 17
Christian partially blinded in brutal attack on father and sons PAKISTAN
Pakistani Christian father, John Elvin, and his sons, Sunil and Vikram, were brutally beaten by Muslims on August 18 for refusing to move out of the neighborhood in which they live. A group of local Muslims threw stones at the windows and door of the family’s home before the assault. All three required hospital treatment after the assault. Vikram was permanently blinded in one eye.
The family had previously been told they would be killed if they did not leave the Mehmoodabad neighborhood in Karachi, which they had moved into ten months earlier. John and his wife, along with their three children, were understood to be already planning to leave, but were waiting for a yearlong tenancy agreement to expire. The attack took place after they sought help from police.
U.N. condemns treatment of Christian ethnic minorities as “crimes against humanity” committed with “persecutory intent” MYANMAR
Barnabas Aid is helping Kachin Christians displaced by the army's latest offensive, supplying food, clothing and shelter and enabling children to continue their school studies The United Nations has condemned the treatment of Christian ethnic minorities in Myanmar as “crimes against humanity” in a damning report. Although press attention focused on the report’s call for genocide prosecutions against leaders of the Myanmar Army for actions against Rohingya Muslims, it also highlighted the plight of Christians in Kachin and Shan states. The independent fact-finding mission reported, “Violations against ethnic and religious minorities
in northern Myanmar are often committed with persecutory intent, in a context of severe discrimination on ethnic or religious grounds. This manifests, for example, in the destruction or ransacking of churches and religious objects during military operations (and sometimes subsequent erecting of Buddhist pagodas).” The report concluded that “crimes against humanity” have been committed by the Myanmar military, which are “shocking for their horrifying nature and ubiquity.”
Authorities round up ethnic minority Christian refugees THAILAND
Barnabas Aid has come to the relief of Pakistani Christians who have fled persecution in their homeland, only to find themselves treated as criminals in Thailand Authorities in Bangkok rounded up and detained 181 refugees from ethnic minorities on August 28. The majority are ethnic minority Montagnards from Vietnam, many of whom are understood to be Christians. At least 50 are children. Most of those detained have official refugee status from the UNHCR, but now face potential deportation back to Vietnam. Vietnamese authorities often prevent Montagnard Christians, who are indigenous to the Central Highlands of Vietnam, from meeting to worship and they also face intimidation and arbitrary detention. Many have sought asylum in neighboring Thailand and Cambodia to escape persecution. Thai authorities have a track record of refusing to recognize the status of refugees. Pakistani Christian asylum seekers, fleeing anti-Christian persecution in Pakistan, have been detained in squalid conditions in immigration centers in Thailand. A number have died while in detention due to a lack of medical care.
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ple text! Text You can now give by a sim the amount by ed the word “Give” follow Give 100 to : ple am to (703) 810-7681 (ex nate $25). do to donate $100 or Give 25
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Christians the world over will soon be celebrating the birth of Christ. This year so many of our brothers and sisters are struggling to recover and rebuild their lives in the wake of conflict or following severe weather events. In Kerala, India, the businesses, homes and possessions of thousands of Christians were destroyed by the terrible monsoon floods that came in August, leaving 700,000 people sheltering in relief camps. Earlier in 2017, Kachin Christian communities suffered trauma and displacement as they fled yet again from military attacks on their villages in Myanmar (Burma). Around the world, often where they are a despised minority, Christians face daily discrimination, poverty and violence. Could your church or group take up a special Christmas offering to make a difference to the lives of our persecuted Christian family who need our help?
Suffering Church Action Week 2018 Suffering Church Action Week 2018 runs from November 4-11. It is still not too late to request a free SCAW information pack, which includes helpful tools to help your church or your small group in raising awareness about the persecution of Christians around the world. You can also find sermon outlines, suggested songs, hymns, devotions and prayers in the Barnabas Aid September-October 2018 magazine, which is also included in every SCAW pack – extra copies available from your nearest Barnabas office (details on inside front cover).
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The mission of Barnabas Aid is to support Christians where they are in a minority and suffer discrimination, oppression and persecution as a consequence of their faith. Our goal is to strengthen Christian individuals, churches and their communities by providing material and spiritual support in response to needs identified by local Christian leaders. We do this by making their needs known to Christians around the world, and encouraging prayer, advocacy and financial giving in support of these brothers and sisters in Christ, working with existing local Christian organizations. Barnabas Aid channels this flow from donors to the needy recipients with a minimum of overhead. All gifts are monitored to ensure they are used in line with the stated need. In accordance with biblical teaching, we believe that Christians should treat all people of all faiths with love and compassion, even those who persecute them.
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The Death of Western Christianity Drinking from the poisoned Wells of the Cultural Revolution The Death of Western Christianity surveys the current state of Christianity in the West, looking in particular at how Western culture has influenced and weakened the Church. It looks also at how Christianity is increasingly under attack in Western society, and becoming despised and marginalized. It points out how faithful Christians are being targeted by legal and other means and advises how they should prepare themselves for greater persecution to come. This is a timely, prophetic book.
ISBN: 978-0-9977033-4-4 Number of Pages: 224 Cover: Paperback RRP: $16.00 Postage & Packaging: $3.49
The New Civic Religion Humanism and the future of Christianity A new civic religion poses a serious challenge to the Church today. In this important new book Dr. Patrick Sookhdeo charts the rise of this aggressive secularism based on humanist beliefs. He outlines how Christians need to respond to this dogmatic and hedonistic religion with a properly informed ‘Christian mind’. This is ideal for group study.
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ISBN: 978-0-9977033-3-7 Number of Pages: 208 Cover: Paperback RRP: $15.00 Postage & Packaging: $2.99
To order these books, please contact your nearest Barnabas Aid office (addresses on inside front cover). usa@barnabasaid.org
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