barnabasaid
barnabasfund.org NOVEMBER/ DECEMBER 2019
BARNABAS FUND - AID AGENCY FOR THE PERSECUTED CHURCH - BRINGING HOPE TO SUFFERING CHRISTIANS
ERITREA
Christians imprisoned for their faith tell their stories
AFRICA: WESTERN SAHEL Upsurge of Islamist violence sweeps the Sahel
THAILAND
Christian refugees despised in “Land of Smiles”
thank you for bringing joy and
encouragement
to Christians in need
What helps make Barnabas Fund distinctive from other Christian organisations that deal with persecution?
The Barnabas Fund Distinctive We work by: ● Directing our aid only to Christians, although its benefits may not be exclusive to them (“As we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” Galatians 6:10, emphasis added) ● Channelling money from Christians through Christians to Christians (we do not send people, we only send money) ● Channelling money through existing structures in the countries where funds are sent (e.g. local churches or Christian organisations) ● Using the money to fund projects which have been developed by local Christians in their own communities, countries or regions ● Considering any request, however small ● Acting as equal partners with the persecuted Church, whose leaders often help shape our overall direction
How to find us International Headquarters The Old Rectory, River Street, Pewsey, Wiltshire SN9 5DB, UK Telephone 01672 564938 Fax 01672 565030 From outside UK: Telephone +44 1672 564938 Fax +44 1672 565030 Email info@barnabasfund.org 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 04029536 For a list of all trustees, please contact Barnabas Fund UK at the Coventry address above.
barnabasaid the magazine of Barnabas Fund Published by Barnabas Aid 1934 Old Gallows Road Suite 350 Vienna, VA 22182 Email info@barnabasfund.org © Barnabas Aid 2020 For permission to reproduce articles from this magazine, please contact the International Headquarters address above.
● Acting on behalf of the persecuted Church, to be their voice - making their needs known to Christians around the world and the injustice of their persecution known to governments and international bodies
We seek to: ● meet both practical and spiritual needs ● encourage, strengthen and enable the existing local Church and Christian communities - so they can maintain their presence and witness rather than setting up our own structures or sending out missionaries ● tackle persecution at its root by making known the aspects of other religions and 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 other religions and ideologies to Church, society and mission in their own countries
● facilitate global intercession for the persecuted Church by providing comprehensive prayer material ● safeguard and protect our volunteers, staff, partners and beneficiaries ● keep our overheads low
We believe: ● we are called to address both religious and secular ideologies that deny full religious liberty to Christian minorities - while continuing to show God’s love to all people ● in the clear Biblical teaching that Christians should treat all people of all faiths with love and compassion, even those who seek to persecute them ● in the power of prayer to change people’s lives and situations, either through grace to endure or through deliverance from suffering “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:40)
You may contact Barnabas Fund at the following addresses Australia PO Box 3527, Loganholme, QLD 4129 Telephone (07) 3806 1076 or 1300 365 799 Fax (07) 3806 4076 Email bfaustralia@barnabasfund.org
USA 80 Abbeyville Road, Lancaster PA 17603 Telephone (703) 288-1681 or toll-free 1-866-936-2525 Email usa@barnabasaid.org
Germany German supporters may send gifts for Barnabas Fund via Hilfe für Brüder who will provide you with a tax-deductible receipt. Please mention that the donation is for “SPC 20 Barnabas Fund”. If you would like your donation to go to a specific project of Barnabas Fund, please inform the Barnabas Fund office in Pewsey, UK. Account holder: Hilfe für Brüder International e.V. Account number: 415 600 Bank: Evang Kreditgenossenschaft Stuttgart IBAN: DE89520604100000415600 BIC: GENODEF1EK1
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 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. Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations are taken from the New International Version®.
New Zealand PO Box 276018, Manukau City, Auckland 2241 Telephone (09) 280 4385 or 0800 008 805 Email office@barnabasfund.org.nz Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland Office 113, Russell Business Centre, 40-42 Lisburn Road, Belfast BT9 6AA Please send post to our UK office address. Telephone 07875 539003 Email ireland@barnabasfund.org South Africa Office 301, 3rd Floor, Eikestad Mall, 43 Andringa Street, Stellenbosch 7599 Telephone +27 21 808 1668 Email bfsa@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). Front Cover: Christian in Niger collects food aid sent by Barnabas The paper used in this publication comes from sustainable forests and can be 100% recycled. The paper used is produced using wood fibre at a mill that has been awarded the ISO14001 certificate for environmental management. The poly film plastic used to wrap this magazine for mailing is recyclable.
Editorial
Contents
The Son of Encouragement
4 Compassion in Action
Oxen and ploughs bring hope to Christian farmers returning to South Sudan
A
4 6
Standing Firm
9
Persecution Exposed
Christians imprisoned, tortured and starved in Eritrea tell their stories
Hard-pressed Christian refugees despised in idyllic Kingdom of Thailand
10
In Brief
Islamist militants kidnap more than 200 in Democratic Republic of Congo
Pull-out
ccording to tradition, in 61 AD, in the city of Salamis in Cyprus, Barnabas was dragged out of a synagogue where he was preaching the Gospel by Jews who were infuriated by the success of his ministry and was stoned to death. He had preached with Paul in the same synagogue at the beginning of their first missionary journey together (Acts 13:2-5). Barnabas’ death reflects what the Lord Jesus said would happen to His followers, “They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God.” (John 16:2). Barnabas was a nickname given to him by the apostles. It was a nickname that reflected his character and that essential goodness and integrity that shaped it. His real name was Joseph, in itself symbolic of the man he was. As Joseph in the Old Testament suffered much and became a leader of his people by virtue of his character, so too Joseph the Levite from Cyprus became Barnabas, meaning “Son of Encouragement”. We know few details of the personal life of Barnabas but we know much of his character and his good works. Barnabas served the Lord as prophet and teacher (Acts 13:1), one through whom God worked miracles (Acts 15:12) and is even called an apostle in Acts 14:14 (chosen by Jesus to be one of the Seventy, according to early Church tradition). A beautiful summary tells us that Barnabas was “a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith” (Acts 11:24). To this we can add many more specific details. The first thing we hear of him is that he sold a field and brought the money to the apostles (Acts 4:36-37). There is no indication of a large and pressing financial need in the early Church at this point. Rather, Barnabas’ action “sparkles with spontaneity and joy”. It shows generosity and at the same time humility, as he acknowledges the apostles’ authority and submits to it, giving his gift without strings attached for them to use as they think best. It is little wonder that, later, when someone was needed to carry a financial gift from the Church in Antioch to the famine-afflicted believers in Jerusalem, Barnabas was one of those considered trustworthy (Acts 11:27-30). We are also told he earned his living, so as not to be a financial burden to the congregations he was serving (1 Corinthians 9:6). Barnabas retained the humility he showed in those early days, even when years later he was acclaimed by adoring crowds, passionately urging them to worship God instead (Acts 14:12-18). He had the wonderful gift of always thinking the best of others, and seeing the best in them. He had the kind of love described in 1 Corinthians 13:5-7 and no doubt this is how he earned his nickname. He was the first in Jerusalem to believe that Saul the persecutor was truly converted (Acts 9:26-27). And he acted on that belief, taking Saul to the apostles and commending him to them as his sponsor or guarantor. Later Barnabas sought out Saul and brought him to Antioch to minister alongside him amongst the new Christians there. He saw the potential of John Mark and championed him, determined to give him another opportunity after he failed (Acts 15:35-41). His reputation as encourager and bridge-builder is also seen when the Jewish Church in Jerusalem chose him to go to Antioch to minister to the believers there, who included not only Jews but also Gentiles. This might have caused some Jewish Christians to hold back, but not Barnabas. “When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.” (Acts 11:19-23). It was not just Antioch where the Son of Encouragement cared tenderly for new believers. We see his pastoral heart, his desire to protect and strengthen, in many other places, for example Derbe (Acts 14:20-23). He was bold and brave, repeatedly enduring hardship and persecution for the sake of the Gospel (for example, Acts 13:50-51). He went on when John Mark gave up (Acts 13:13-14). He spoke up for what he believed was right. His determination to restore John Mark was so great that he even fell out with Paul about it (Acts 15:39-40). He also confronted fellow Christians on the issue of Gentile believers (Acts 15:1-12). This Christmas, as we remember our suffering brothers and sisters who lack either fundamental freedoms or material provision, could we be Barnabases to them – sons and daughters of encouragement to bring them hope, aid, comfort and joy?
A History of Christian Persecution
Part 12: The Twentieth Century
11 12
Africa on red alert
18
From hopeless newborn to child of hope
Violence and persecution intensifies across western Sahel region of Africa
Kenyan boy Victor survived and thrived thanks to Barnabas’ supporters
19
In Touch
Great-grandmother celebrates 100th birthday by helping persecuted Christians
how barnabas is helping Plea for help answered for Christians fleeing Islamic extremists in Burkina Faso “Desperate and starving” is how a pastor in Burkina Faso described to Barnabas Fund the plight of hundreds of displaced Fulani and other Christians who fled for their lives from Islamic militants. Barnabas responded rapidly to their need as they sought refuge in the city of Kaya by sending millet, rice, sorghum, beans, cooking oil, and milk to feed 130 Christian families. Barnabas also supplied 200 families with seed for sowing crops to enable them to become self-sufficient. Medical care was also provided for 975 children and 300 women across northern Burkina Faso. Clothing, shoes, soap and mosquito nets were given to 350 Christians and counselling to 20 traumatised women and children. Islamic extremists have openly declared their intention to kill all Christians in the north-east region of Burkina Faso, but with their basic needs met, these displaced Christians can begin to rebuild their lives in their new location.
A Christian woman in Burkina Faso collecting essential food supplies sent by Barnabas
£11,934 ($14,895; €13,517) Project reference: PR1491 (Victims of Violence in Burkina Faso)
Oxen bring hope to Christian refugees returning to South Sudan Barnabas has funded 20 oxen, ten ox-ploughs and five days of agricultural training to enable returning Christian refugees in Wau province, South Sudan to begin rebuilding their shattered lives. Christians, forced to flee during the bitter civil war, are returning to their land with nothing. The oxen and ox-ploughs have provided them with the essential tools they need to re-establish their farmlands and once again produce food. Ten Christian families from ten villages were chosen for the project. Once their land is productive, they will be able to hire out the oxen and ploughs and pass on skills to other village farmers. In this way, more Christians living in this devastated area can become self-sufficient. It is heart-warming to help these persecuted Christians escape the yoke of poverty. As one young man said: “The ox-ploughs will not only help us to get food only but it will also help us to educate our children.”
Bringing hope and healing to Syria’s traumatised war widows Christians in Syria have suffered not only the horror of the civil war but also much persecution because of their faith, leaving many bereft as young widows with fatherless children. As part of Barnabas’ continuing multifaceted support for Christian widows and orphans in Syria, six meetings, including a psychological support conference, were held to help the women and children find emotional healing through God’s Word. Three certified tailoring and sewing courses provided these vulnerable women with future earning potential and two certified first aid courses provided the 39 women who took part with vital, life-saving skills. The meetings were attended by 99 widows and their 198 children. Each one focused on a specific Biblical topic followed by a small discussion group. Special sessions were held for the children. A medical talk widened the women’s knowledge of relevant diseases.
Group discussions for war widows are focused on emotional healing through Scripture Returning refugees ploughing the field once more in South Sudan
£6,969 ($8,705; €7,911) Project reference: PR1478
£36,750 ($45,700; €41,300) renewed support to widows and orphans for one year Project reference 49-1307
Compassion in action
Strengthened and encouraged. This is what we often hear from Christians who have received support from Barnabas Fund. Thank you for making this possible. Here are just a few examples of the many ways we have recently helped persecuted and pressurised Christians.
Bibles reach grateful Papuan Christians after flash floods On 17 March, devastating flash floods and landslides occurred in the Indonesian province of Papua. In addition to sending medicines, water filters and new school uniforms for the Christian flood victims, Barnabas purchased 3,000 Indonesian Bibles to replace those which had been damaged in the floods. The raging waters displaced thousands from their flooded homes and took more than 70 lives. Churches lost their contents, including precious Bibles, and were unable to fund the cost of replacing them. The Bibles supplied by Barnabas, at a cost of just over £3 ($4; €3.50) each, were distributed to 31 churches in 18 villages in the areas affected. Papua is a poor part of Indonesia, suffering from economic inequality and lack of development. Traditionally Christian, it is now under a growing Islamic threat due to government action which has deliberately increased the Muslim population. Christians need continued access to God’s Word.
Emergency food relief for Christian flood victims in Bangladesh Torrential rains during the monsoon season caused 400 landslides in the Chittagong Hills Tract area of Bangladesh resulting in widespread damage to homes, crops and livestock. This suffering was compounded when the swollen Brahmaputra River’s embankments gave way in July. Barnabas responded to the urgent needs of 527 vulnerable and impoverished Christian families, including 125 Christian hostel students, living in several of the badly flood-affected districts. Each family received emergency food supplies of rice, bread or potatoes, oil, sugar, salt, lentils and tea bags. There is great poverty amongst the Christian community of Bangladesh, and Christians are normally discriminated against when aid is distributed in this Muslim-majority country. The emergency supplies brought a ray of light back into their lives and were gratefully received. Soresh, one of the flood victims, told a local Barnabas contact, “I am thankful to my God and those who supported our church’s poor families.”
Papuan Christians were delighted to have a Bible again
Flood victim Soresh (pictured right) thanked God for Barnabas’ help
£9,120 ($11,446; €10,353)
£6,324 ($7,895; €7,166)
Project reference: 00-362 (Bibles and Scriptures Fund)
Project reference: 00-634 (Disaster Relief Fund)
Barnabas Aid November/December 2019 5
School dreams come true for brick-kiln children in Pakistan Without an education, Farah, a brick-kiln worker’s daughter, had little hope of breaking free from the cycle of illiteracy and poverty that trapped her family. Since 2015, Barnabas has changed that through supporting five primary schools, specifically for Christian brick-kiln children. “I could not go to school, but God maybe heard the voice of my heart,” said Farah. Many Christians in Pakistan are desperately poor, often due to discrimination, and cannot send their children to school. Barnabas’ ongoing support makes it possible for 558 children of Christian brick-kiln workers, aged from four to 14 years, to access a life-changing education. Barnabas is supporting 15 teachers’ salaries and training, classroom resources, extracurricular activities, general running costs, rickshaw transport for pupils in outlying areas, as well as a schoolbag, pencil, eraser and books for each pupil. In September 2019, we began supporting another 14 new brick-kiln schools as well. With a good education Christian children like Farah now have hope of a better future.
“God maybe heard the voice of my heart” were the grateful words of Class 3 pupil Farah when her dream of going to school came true
£5,678 ($7,093; €6,445) for ongoing support for five schools for six months Project reference 41-1236
6 November/December 2019 Barnabas Aid
STANDING FIRM Christians imprisoned, tortured and starved in Eritrea tell their stories
ON
the brink of starvation after long months in prison, his body racked with pain from enforced hard labour, “Gabriel” was tied to a chair and beaten over the head with a stick “like an animal, like a donkey”, he told Barnabas Fund. His punishment continued for an hour and was inflicted personally by the colonel in charge of the jail. The beating was carefully staged, and took place in front of 230 other prisoners to “make them afraid”. In the eyes of the Eritrean authorities Gabriel is a “criminal” because he is a Christian – and doubly so because he is a pastor. The relentless blows caused Gabriel to cry out, but still he remained steadfast in his faith. “I praise the Lord because everything was under His control,” he said. “One point I want to stress, the Lord was working.”
Second worst country in the world for persecution
Eritrea remains the second worst country in the world for Christian persecution, after North Korea. Between 600 and 650 of our brothers and sisters are detained today in the north-east African country’s notorious jails. Torture and abuse of prisoners is widespread. Many Christians are held indefinitely, sometimes without trial, not knowing when they will be released, and often jail terms can stretch for decades or more. This year has seen a new series of arbitrary arrests with 332 Christians rounded up between May and August. On 10 May alone, 141 Christians – including 104 women and 14 children – were detained as they gathered at a house church meeting in the capital, Asmara. In another raid, on 23 June, pregnant women were among 70 Christians rounded up at an unregistered church in the city of Keren. Some have since been released, but many are still being
Operation Safe Havens
Barnabas Aid November/December 2019 7
“WHATEVER YOU LIKE YOU CAN DO [TO US], FOR NOW WE ARE BORN-AGAIN CHRISTIANS,” THEY SAID. EVENTUALLY THE GUARDS GAVE UP THEIR TORTURE CAMPAIGN AND RELEASED THEM SAYING, “WE CANNOT STOP THIS CHRISTIAN THING.”
Over the past decade, thousands of Christian prisoners in Eritrea have been locked up in metal shipping containers, where they endure freezing temperatures at night, and baking heat during the day (image for illustration purposes) held, including a church leader and his daughter and a mother of nine children.
Barnabas is helping Eritrean Christians to reach safe havens
Barnabas Fund is helping Eritrean Christians escape the brutality of their homeland through our Operation Safe Havens programme which will enable them to re-settle in safe countries such as Australia. Barnabas is helping Eritrean Christians in other ways, too. In the Holy Land, where thousands of Eritrean Christians have fled, we have recently been supporting safe, good-quality children’s nurseries and afterschool projects that care for the babies and young children of Eritrean asylum seekers, who often work long hours in poorly-paid cleaning jobs. We have also provided Bibles in Tigrinya, the language of Eritrea.
Pastor’s six-month jail term stretched on for years
Gabriel, now resettled in Australia, told Barnabas how faith sustained him during years of cruel incarceration. He was first imprisoned in 1998 when he was rounded up with his church congregation and detained for a month. His next jail term was supposed to last six months but went on for three agonising years, because he was a pastor. Prisoners were given only small amounts of food every 18 hours, yet they were all forced to do backbreaking manual work collecting stones for building materials. “Sometimes you break the stones with a
heavy hammer. You hear a sound here, in your back, because everyone has malnutrition,” he said. The guards discriminated against Christians, refusing them medical treatment if they fell sick. Like thousands of other Christian prisoners in Eritrea, Gabriel was held in a metal shipping container by the authorities. He described the stress of two weeks he spent locked in the container in solitary confinement. With temperatures baking hot during the day and freezing cold at night his health suffered. He begged the guards to allow him some painkillers but they refused.
Despite the pain, Gabriel refused to deny the Lord Jesus
He recalled how a sympathetic prison nurse who treated his wounds urged him to renounce his Christian faith in order to stop the beatings, and resume it again when he was released. But Gabriel refused to deny the Lord Jesus who had laid down His life for him. Other Christians received similar treatment, he told us. Two who made the decision to follow Christ while they were in jail were beaten for three days and tortured by having cold water poured on them each night in punishment, but they stood firm in their faith. “Whatever you like you can do [to us], for now we are born-again Christians,” they said. Eventually the guards gave up their torture campaign and released them saying, “We cannot stop this Christian thing.” Bibles were forbidden in prison and the discovery of any Scripture resulted in severe punishment. Gabriel recalls how the Christian prisoners divided up a Bible and hid it underneath their bedding. He was sustained by the book of Revelation, which he taught to other prisoners.
“Sometimes you dispute with God, why you let me go through this hardship? ...”
At times Gabriel struggled with his faith. He said, “Sometimes you dispute with God, why you let me go through this hardship? … But when you start reading the Bible, when you pray devotion daily, automatically your mind clicks, you are in the main way – the way you are supposed to go.” A few years after his release, Gabriel became aware that there were plans to arrest him yet again, and he fled Eritrea for Kenya, before he eventually resettled in Australia.
8 November/December 2019 Barnabas Aid
Operation Safe Havens
Children as young as five at a Bible class rounded up by police
Sophia was just eight years old when she was arrested by police because of her Christian faith. Until that moment, she had been aware that some fellow Christians were jailed for believing and proclaiming their faith in Christ, but she had never thought that she herself was in danger. She was at a Saturday Bible class held at her church in the Eritrean capital, Asmara, when she saw a pick-up truck arrive with uniformed police. Her teacher remained calm and carried on teaching, but before long two officers approached Sophia’s class and ordered them into the truck, which was already full of sobbing children, some as young as five. They were taken to a police station where they were ordered to sit on the floor in a big hall. An older child in Sophia’s group told them to start praying, which they did. Other children started to sing: “Exile or death, Stress or hardship may come but I am not afraid. Who can separate me from Jesus, Who showed me His love on the cross.”
An officer stormed in and kicked and slapped the children
Sophia joined in the singing. “For a moment, there was hope and I felt like a hero, partaking the suffering for the sake of the One I believe in,” she said. But then a police officer stormed into the room, and began to kick and slap the children in the front row. The praying and singing ceased and the children fell silent as he rebuked them, telling them to remember they were at a police station, not in church. The children remained in the hall in silence for hours until police returned and took their details and addresses. The police released all those aged under twelve, including Sophia. The older children were kept in detention. “That was the last day I went to church in my country,” recalled Sophia. “The remaining years, we lived in a constant fear with my family as many arrests continued from the church including the main leaders who are in prison until today.”
Eritrean Christians yearn for the day they can worship freely
Sophia is now living in Australia, where she attends university and serves as a Sunday school teacher at her church. She describes herself as a “witness to the constant threat that Christian believers face in Eritrea”. She added, “Going to a church is one of the basic rights in many countries, but so many Eritreans yearn for the day to come that they gather to worship freely. I pray to see the day that I will visit my country one day and visit the church I grew up in. Glory be to God.”
Sophia prays that one day she will visit her homeland again and Eritrean Christians will be able to worship in freedom
Even legally-permitted religions experience repression
Eritrea’s Marxist government, in power since 1993, ordered the closure of all evangelical and Pentecostal churches in 2002. At the same time, it introduced strict religious registration policies that legally permit only three Christian denominations – Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Lutheran – as well as Sunni Islam. This is despite Eritrea being a party to the right to freedom of religion enshrined in article 18 of the United Nations’ International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. But even being a member of a registered church does not guarantee safety from arbitrary arrest. The head of the Eritrean Orthodox Church, Patriarch Abune Antonios, has been held under house arrest since he was deposed by the authorities in 2006 and, now aged 92, his health is failing. The authorities shut down at least 21 health centres run by a registered church denomination in June 2019 and, in September, ordered the closure of seven religious schools, citing legislation that limits the activities of religious institutions.
Our families are in deep suffering
Hundreds of Christians have taken the decision to leave their homeland and cross the border to Ethiopia or Sudan illegally. Latest figures put the total number of Christian families sheltering in camps in Ethiopia, Sudan and Uganda at 2,750, and this does not include children. Among them is Naomi, who has heard nothing about the whereabouts of her husband since he was arrested for his faith in 2000. As a Christian, she too endured life behind bars in Eritrea on a number of occasions. Now she lives with her 20-year-old son in a refugee camp in Ethiopia. A Christian man in Eritrea said of his homeland, “The country is becoming worse and worse. Many people I know have left in the past twelve months and many are thinking of leaving. Our families are in deep suffering.”
posed x e n o cuti Perse
Barnabas Aid November/December 2019 9
Persecution exposed: Thailand
Suffering Christians in the “Land of Smiles”
T
hailand is often called the “Land of Smiles”, but pull aside the veil of fun and frivolity of this famous tourist destination and a darker side to the country is revealed. When Christians Ijaz, his wife, Shaida, and their two children, Joel and Angel, arrived in Thailand from Pakistan on a tourist visa, they visited the UN Refugee Agency in Bangkok. But after their tourist visas ran out Ijaz was arrested and locked up in the notorious Immigration Detention Centre, which is basically a filthy, overcrowded prison. He died there from a heart condition, having been put in a punishment room because he could not pay his hospital bills. Barnabas sends support for Joel and Angel to be educated. Ijaz was part of an influx of Pakistani Christians to Thailand that began around 2013. They were fleeing the discrimination, violence and persecution that Christians face in Pakistan, but discovered that in Thailand they were treated as criminals, discriminated against, and had little if any hope of getting an adequate job. One 30-year-old Christian fled Pakistan with his brother after being accused of “blasphemy” (a charge which can result in a death sentence from the Pakistani courts) and receiving death threats. He said the two of them were locked up with about 100 other men in a cell not much bigger than a family living room.
Christian ministries have joined together to help struggling Pakistani Christians in Thailand, with support from Barnabas Initially whole families were taken into the Detention Centre and held in cramped, unhygienic cells. Even children as young as three were forced to wear prison-style uniforms. Christian groups urged the Thai, then military, government to stop detaining mothers and children and, mercifully, children have been released into foster programmes. Barnabas Fund is helping to provide food, medical care and education for such children. Another group of suffering Christians in Thailand have fled from ethnic and religious persecution in Myanmar. As of March 2019, there were 96,802 refugees from Myanmar living in nine refugee camps in Thailand. Many of these are Christians of the Karen ethnic group. The living conditions in these camps, hidden away far from any tourist near the Myanmar border, are extremely poor.
Isolation and antagonism
Thailand is more than 90% Buddhist, with Christians estimated to make up less than 1% of the population. Islam
is strong in the south, and radical Islamists are active there. Buddhism is seen as an essential part of Thai identity. Churches and evangelists can operate freely, but converts from Buddhism to Christianity are often viewed as “freaks” embracing a foreign religion. Therefore Christians may be marginalised by society and seen as disrupting family unity if they refuse to participate in Buddhist ceremonies or rituals that are considered an intrinsic part of being Thai. However, many Thai citizens who are Christians are not Thai by ethnicity, being either Chinese or from ethnic minorities in the northern tribal regions.
A total of 145,000 copies of the Thai Easy to Read Version of the New Testament were distributed, with the support of Barnabas, in Thailand. The normal Thai translation of the Bible is very hard for the average person to read, with only the highly educated able to grasp most of it
In brief
10 November/December Barnabas Aid
Christian woman who refused to renounce faith starts jail sentence in Iran
Buddhist monks viciously beat Bible college student in Sri Lanka SRI LANKA
China orders churches to replace Ten Commandments with presidential quotes CHINA
IRAN
Fatemeh Bakhteri, a convert from Islam, has started a one-year prison sentence in Iran after her Christian activities led to her being convicted of “propaganda” against the government (Image credit: Article 18) A Christian woman started a prison sentence in Iran on 31 August for “propaganda” against the government after earlier refusing pressure from judges to renounce her faith. Fatemeh Bakhteri was told she would serve one year in prison in September 2018 after her Christian activities led to her being convicted. In an initial appeal hearing in January 2019, Fatemeh was pressured by the two judges to renounce her faith, but she refused. In May 2019, her appeal was rejected. She was finally summoned on 31 August to start her jail term at Evin Prison, notorious for its abusive treatment of inmates. She was also banned for two years from engaging in any social activity with more than two people. Also in court was a fellow Christian convert from Islam, Saheb Fadaie, who was convicted of “acting against national security” and sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment and two years in exile. Saheb, who also refused to renounce his faith, is already serving a ten-year prison sentence for Christian activities. The appeals against prison sentences of three Assyrian Christians, Pastor Victor Bet Tamraz, his wife, Shamiram, and their son, Ramiel, imposed for “acting against national security”, were postponed on 3 September after the judge failed to turn up.
Bishop Asiri Perera appealed for all Buddhists to “be kind” to their Christian neighbours Three Buddhist monks viciously beat up a Christian Bible college student in Sri Lanka on 4 August, according to Bishop Asiri Perera, the president of the country’s Methodist Church. The attack took place after a Sunday worship service held at a home in the town of Mahiyanganaya, in central Sri Lanka, and left the victim in need of hospital treatment. Perera said the monks belonged to “a notorious extremist group that promotes religious disharmony and conflict”. “I assure all Buddhists of Sri Lanka that we Christians will remain calm and peaceful in the midst of the persecution we face today in Sri Lanka. I humbly appeal to you to be kind towards the Christians who live with you,” Perera said on Facebook. He raised concerns about police inaction following the attack, saying that Christians are not being treated as equal citizens in their own country. Sri Lanka has a history of extremist Buddhists targeting Christians. Christian leaders also condemned attacks by extremist Buddhists on Muslims that followed the Easter Sunday bombings by Islamic State in Sri Lanka, on 21 April 2019.
The Ten Commandments, God’s moral law given to Moses (Exodus 34:28), are fundamental to the beliefs of Judaism and Christianity Churches in China’s central province of Henan have been forced by the authorities to take down the Ten Commandments and replace them with quotes of President Xi Jinping, according to a Bitter Winter report. Every state-registered “three-self” church and meeting venue in one county received an order to remove the Ten Biblical Commandments from display as part of the authorities’ ongoing campaign to “sinicise” (make Chinese) Christianity. Some churches that refused to obey have been shut and other congregations have been told their members will be “blacklisted”, meaning that travel, education and employment options of Christians will be restricted. In a separate move, authorities removed the words Bible, God and Christ from classic children’s stories, including Robinson Crusoe and The Little Match Girl, which feature in a new Chinese school textbook. For example, author Daniel Defoe’s description of how castaway Robinson Crusoe recovers three Bibles from the remains of his shipwreck now reads that Crusoe saved “a few books”.
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A History of
Christian Persecution Demolition of a church in Moscow, USSR, on 5 December 1931
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The Twentieth Century
T
he twentieth century was a century of global persecution of Christians. It included the latter years of a terrible anti-Christian genocide organised by the Ottoman authorities, in which, it is estimated, 1.5 million Armenians, up to 1.5 million Greeks and up to 750,000 Assyrians (including 250,000 Syriac Orthodox) died over three decades. The worst single year was 1915.
What changed and what stayed the same
Since 1900, Christians have made up about a third of the world’s population, church growth roughly keeping pace with global population increase. When the twentieth century began, the West was the stronghold of Christianity and its missionaries were bringing the Gospel worldwide. The Church was still a significant presence numerically in its birthplace, the Middle East, although Christians had become used to living submissively as a minority under Islamic rule. By 2000, Western Christianity was reeling under the onslaught of secular humanism, and Christian numbers in the Middle East had fallen dramatically. But in places such as Uganda, India, China and Iran, there had been tremendous church growth; by 2000, there were indigenous Christian believers in every country of the world.
Causes of persecution
Seven key ideologies were the main (but not the only) drivers of anti-Christian persecution in the twentieth century. It is important to remember that ordinary citizens or ordinary followers of a religion do not necessarily accept the ideologies of those who rule them, or not to any extreme degree. It was not a coincidence that many new ideologies came to the fore in a short period of the twentieth century. As Reynolds argues,1 the collapse of many European monarchies during World War One led to mass movements of “guided democracy” which supported communism, voted in fascism and, many decades later, voted in Islamism. Another reason for some of the new ideologies lay in the previous century. The nineteenth century had seen Western colonialist powers conquering vast swathes of the world, accompanied by Western missionaries.
Therefore, to many people, Western civilisation and political, military and economic power were inextricably linked with Christianity. This threatened and humiliated the pre-existing religions, hence a reaction to reinvigorate the historic religions and eliminate Christianity. During the twentieth century, most colonies gained independence. Some of the new nation states, rejecting the capitalism of their former colonial masters, experimented with socialism. But economic failure and continued Western domination by other methods caused many to turn from socialism to religion. The result was often the creation of a link between religion, ethnicity and land i.e. religious territoriality, which produced a quest for a new national identity in the new nation states. Christian minorities were not considered part of this new national identity, but seen as linked to their former colonial masters.
1. Communism
In 1917 Lenin and his Bolshevik party took control of the Russian state. For the next seven decades their communist ideology dominated, in which militant atheism played a key part. Religion was considered by Karl Marx, author of the Communist Manifesto, as like opium for the oppressed masses. By this he meant it gave them pleasant illusions, which prevented them from rising up in revolution to demand the things that would, in his view, bring them true happiness. But Lenin viewed religion as an illness to be cured – an infectious illness that believers could pass to others. Soviet law strove to remove any possible influence of religious people on society and gradually their rights were whittled away and discrimination against them increased. There was an emphasis on preventing children from being “infected” with their parents’ religion. Church leaders were a special target, and efforts were made to intimidate or compromise them. Congregations often had infiltrators and informers. Disinformation and rumours were circulated. Unofficial congregations faced more direct persecution: their meetings were broken up by police, and worshippers were beaten, fined and sometimes jailed.
2. Maoism
Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung) was the dominant figure of Chinese communism for much of the twentieth century.
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He developed a type of communism that did not focus on economics or politics but was primarily spiritual. Maoism seeks a total change of individual hearts and minds, aiming to change society’s external conditions by changing individuals’ inward beliefs, with an emphasis on selfless love (or at least cooperation and friendship). After the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 huge efforts went into the spiritual transformation of every Chinese citizen. The aim was to instil correct thinking (szu-hsiang) in every mind. The result was to be a people completely dedicated to serving others, laying aside their personal desires for the sake of the collective. “Fight self: serve the people” was the message. In Chinese understanding, “thought” determines all actions. The thought of Mao Zedong was therefore considered a force to make real the principles of Marxism and Leninism. So Mao’s szu-hsiang resembles the Bible’s logos (John 1:1-14). Maoism saw a moral struggle between the forces of good and evil in the life of every individual and also on a global scale. It was missionary, messianic and eschatological. Soon Maoism had effectively made a god of Mao himself. By the early 1960s, his image was in every home, school, office and factory. Hymn-like songs described him as the great saviour and guide. The emphasis on inner spiritual transformation did not rule out the use of violence. The physical cost of Mao’s spiritual transformation was the loss of millions of lives. Nevertheless, Mao was worshipped and loved. Chinese families would gather in the home three times a day before a table piled with Mao’s books, his portrait hanging above, to seek his guidance and thank him for his kindness. Huge public rallies were held, and also smaller local meetings with readings, songs, sermon and benediction. Mao wanted to be remembered as the “Teacher”, that is, Marxist word made flesh. Inevitably Maoism saw Christianity as its great rival for the hearts and minds of the Chinese population, especially the unofficial churches (“house churches”) which were the only part of Chinese society that the Communist Party did not control. Hence the persecution of the Chinese Church since 1949.
3. Fascism
Fascism has been defined as “a form of political practice distinctive to the 20th century that arouses popular enthusiasm by sophisticated propaganda techniques for an anti-liberal, anti-socialist, violently exclusionary, expansionist nationalist agenda”.2 Fascism exalts nation above the individual and seeks centralised government, with a dictatorial leader, suppressing all opposition. Masculinity, youth and violence are admired. Before long, fascism had added to its aims a racist goal of empowering the supposedly superior people and ridding society of the supposedly inferior ones.
Italy
Fascism began in Italy in the late nineteenth century. By the early 1920s an ideology known as clerical fascism emerged, which combined fascism with religion (Roman Catholicism in the case of Italy). Under Mussolini’s rule, the relationship of the Italian state to the Roman Catholic Church swung up and down, but in 1935 there began two decades of persecution of Pentecostal Christians and the Salvation Army. Mussolini never adopted Hitler’s genocidal policies towards Jews.
Germany
The most famous twentieth-century fascism was that of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nazi Party). The special characteristic of Nazi fascism was its racism, and the special characteristics of Nazi racism were a virulent antiSemitism, a quest to find a scientific basis for racism, and a programme of eugenics to put the theories into practice. Nazis believed in a racial hierarchy, with what they called Aryans3 at the top, as the “master race”. The Nazis aimed to create a racially pure society of Aryans, not only in German territory but also elsewhere. Under the leadership of Hitler, “undesirable” people were dealt with by draconian restrictions, imprisonment and sometimes murder. The “undesirables” included Jews, Roma (Gypsies), black people, homosexuals and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Six million Jews were murdered in a deliberate genocidal attempt at complete extermination, often called the Holocaust. Hitler had also planned the destruction of the Polish people. He reminded his generals that no one spoke of the millions that Genghis Khan had slaughtered or the annihilation of the Armenians by the Ottomans.4 The German Church responded to Nazi fascism in a variety of ways. Some Protestants supported Hitler and his ideology; this group called themselves “German Christians” (Deutsche Christen) and created the “Reich Church” to showcase a Christianity that conformed with state (Nazi) policies. It rejected Jewish-background Christians and the Old Testament. The Confessing Church (Bekennende Kirche) was a Protestant group which aimed to resist the “Nazification” of the Church. Their founding document, the Barmen Declaration (1934), set out basic Biblical Christian doctrines and stated that the head of the Church was Christ (i.e. not Hitler). Pastors who spoke out against the Nazi regime, especially its anti-Semitism, were targeted – imprisoned, banned from preaching, or conscripted into the army and sent to serve in the most dangerous places. Roman Catholics had become suspicious of Nazi ideology long before the Protestants did. In 1933, while negotiating a concordat with the Catholics confirming their right to exist and have organisations, the Nazis began a campaign of intimidating Catholics, shutting down their publications, breaking up meetings of a Catholic political party, and putting some in concentration camps. They went on to close Catholic schools and youth groups, and many priests were accused of corruption, prostitution, homosexuality and paedophilia, and given show trials; some were then sent to concentration camps.
4. Hindutva
Another ideology that emerged in the 1920s was Hindutva, meaning “Hindu-ness”. Like Nazism, it aimed to create a pure nation and had an aggressively expansionist foreign policy, although in this case the nation was to be Greater India, not Greater Germany, and the goal was religious purity, not racial purity. While Nazi ideology emphasised Germany as the fatherland, Hindutva ideology emphasised India as the fatherland (pitrubhumi), motherland (matrubhumi) and holy land (punyabhumi). Another difference was that while Nazism had its time of political power in the 1930s and 1940s, Hindutva only began to be influential in Indian politics in the 1980s and did not gain full power in India until 2014. Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (1883-1966), who coined the term “Hindutva”, admired fascism and Nazism. He saw Germany’s Jewish minority as akin to India’s Muslim minority. Hindutva interpreted Hindu scriptures as teaching
... Pull-Out a “warrior morality” and a “warrior religion” and sought to return India to the golden age of Hindu culture, and to cleanse it of other cultural influences. A network of Hindutva organisations – some violent, some political – developed during the twentieth century from the original paramilitary organisation founded in 1925, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Chief amongst the political is the Bharatiya Janata Party, which swept to power in the 2014 general election. Under the influence of various Hindutva organisations, persecution against Muslims and Christians has grown, including violence, false accusations and discrimination. There are also many forced conversions of Christians to Hinduism.
5. Buddhist nationalism
Buddhism, the traditional and dominant religion in large parts of East Asia, South Asia and South-East Asia, has played a crucial role in arousing nationalist feelings against occupying colonial powers, just as Hinduism did in India. If the colonising power was Western, as in Sri Lanka and Burma (now Myanmar), this immediately set Buddhists against Christians, because Christianity was identified with the West. In uncolonised Thailand, Buddhism became an important part of the state’s official nationalism in the late nineteenth century and remains so today. The twentieth century saw Buddhists in both China and Japan look to their religion to counteract Western cultural influence. In the post-colonial period, Buddhism continued to be a source of national identity in several Asian countries, and minorities such as Christians, Muslims and Hindus were perceived as threats to the nation state.
Sri Lanka
Theravada Buddhism is closely combined with Sinhalese culture and ethnicity to create a political ideology that can be called Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism. It came into being in the late nineteenth century, primarily as a reaction to British colonisation, but became increasingly assertive after Sri Lanka gained independence in 1948. The British were seen as “barbaric vandals” who had brought Christianity and paganism to beautiful and refined Sri Lanka, thus introducing “stealing, prostitution, licentiousness, lying and drunkenness”. 5 This attitude put religion centre stage in the struggle for independence and in the Sri Lankan identity. It is hardly surprising that Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism continues to be hostile to Sri Lankan Christians.
Myanmar (Burma)
Myanmar is about 88% Theravada Buddhist and this religion has long been an important part of national identity, especially amongst the Burman (Bama) ethnic majority. “To be a Burman is to be a Buddhist” runs a popular saying.6 Many of the minority ethnic groups had never converted to Buddhism but continued with the animism and ancestor worship of pre-Buddhist times; it was amongst these groups that Christian missionaries made the most converts. Under the military regime established by a coup in 1962, a secular ideology called the “Burmese Way to Socialism” was introduced, which remained the government ideology until 1988. Theravada Buddhism is now effectively a political as well as a spiritual institution. The Buddhist monastic communities (sanghas) have an important role in the state. During the nineteenth century, three wars were fought between Britain and Burma, giving Britain control of more
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and more Burmese territory. At the same time, Western missionaries were at work. The Buddhist monk Ledi Sayadaw (1846-1923) feared that the British colonial presence would eliminate Buddhism in Burma and therefore started to popularise meditation amongst lay people. But since the 1960s the main method of maintaining the dominance of Buddhism in the country has not been meditation but violent attacks by the armed forces on non-Buddhists, i.e. Christians and Muslims. It is interesting to consider how different things might have been if the British had exerted themselves to ensure that the 1947 Panglong Agreement was implemented. This agreement, made less than a year before independence, promised “full autonomy in administration” to the areas where the minorities lived, most of whom were Christians. But it was never implemented.
6. Islamism
Islamism is an ideology with a multitude of names,7 which embraces a multitude of movements that see Islam as a political ideology, a total system and way of life, not separating sacred from secular. Based on classical Islam and the early Islamic sources, it sees Islamic states ruled by Islamic law (sharia) as a viable and desirable method of governance. It seeks political dominance for Islam across the whole globe, sees the state as the best tool for implementing sharia, and believes peace is only possible under Islamic rule. It is not content with a society composed of Muslim people but requires society to be Islamic in its basic structures. Like the equivalent movements in Hinduism and Buddhism, this ideology began largely as a reaction against colonial rule. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Islam was experiencing chronic decline. By 1920 almost the whole Muslim world was under Western colonial rule. In 1924 the last vestige of the old Islamic political powers vanished when the Ottoman Caliphate was abolished. This kind of situation was, in a sense, more humiliating for Muslims than for any other people because their religion taught that they should rule and not be ruled. The perceived weakness of the Muslim world created a longing for a return to the golden age of Islam, when it had been politically and militarily dominant.
Three key Islamists of the twentieth century
Three Sunni8 Muslims were key in establishing Islamism. Hassan al-Banna (1906-1949) founded the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in 1928, the first grassroots Islamist movement in modern times. Its aim was to create an Islamic state under sharia in Egypt and then in the rest of the world. The main ideologue of the Muslim Brotherhood was Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966), who was greatly influenced by Abul Ala Mawdudi (1903-1979) in the Indian subcontinent. Mawdudi was inspired by al-Banna’s example to found the Jamaat-i-Islami organisation in 1941. Its goal was the complete transformation of individuals, societies and politics in line with Islamist ideology. Islamists looked to Islamic scholars of the past, such as Abd al-Wahhab in eighteenth-century Arabia, founder of the rigid and “puritanical” form of Islam known as Wahhabism or Salafism, which predominates in Saudi Arabia today. Funded by oil money and working from the grassroots, Saudi Arabia is very active in spreading Wahhabism, radicalising Muslims around the world, and has financially supported Al Qaeda and Islamic State, who share its ideology. Saudi Arabia’s tiny but immensely rich and influential neighbour Qatar is doing exactly the same thing but on behalf of the Muslim Brotherhood and working through
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political processes. Together Saudi Arabia and Qatar have been very successful in promoting Islamist ideology amongst Sunnis worldwide. One result is a greatly increased hostility towards Christians.
A key twentieth-century date for Islamists
A key date for Islamists was 20 November 1979 AD. In the Islamic calendar it was 1 Muharram 1400, the first day of the Islamic fifteenth century. Many Islamists believed a prophecy that Islam would rise for 700 years, then decline for 700 years, then start to rise again. So there was great expectation that Islam would begin to regain its former power and glory. The Islamic revolution in Iran occurred in 1979, and since then Iran has moved into the position of leader and defender of Shia Muslims worldwide. It has also become a major persecutor of Christians, especially Iranian converts from Islam. However, the Iranian Church has grown extraordinarily rapidly since the Iranian Revolution, as many hundreds of thousands of Muslims have turned to Christ. Since 1979 Islamist violence has steadily increased around the world. The shifting networks of Islamist organisations have grown ever more complex, as groups merge and splinter. A few have become household names – the Taliban, Al Qaeda and Islamic State (IS, often called ISIL, ISIS or Daesh). Though less well known in the West, many other Islamist organisations are notorious in their own parts of the world. Boko Haram (in West Africa),9 Al Shabaab (in Somalia), Seleka (in the Central African Republic) and the Allied Democratic Forces (in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo) all target Christians.
7. Secular humanism10
The very twentieth-century ideology of secular humanism has roots going back more than 3,000 years and developed especially since the Renaissance. But it was the mass killing by so-called Christian nations in two world wars and the gross inhumanity against Jews in the Holocaust that boosted secular humanism to become a dominant force in the twentieth century. People began to question the validity of a religion whose followers could do such horrendous things. Humanists define their ideology as follows: Humanism is a democratic and ethical life stance, which affirms that human beings have the right and responsibility to give meaning and shape to their own lives. It stands for the building of a more humane society through an ethic based on human and other natural values in the spirit of reason and free inquiry through human capabilities. It is not theistic, and it does not accept supernatural views of reality.11 International Headquarters The Old Rectory, River Street, Pewsey, Wiltshire SN9 5DB, UK Telephone 01672 564938 Fax 01672 565030 From outside UK: Telephone +44 1672 564938 Fax +44 1672 565030 Email info@barnabasfund.org Published by Barnabas Aid 1934 Old Gallows Road Suite 350 Vienna, VA 22182
With humankind set up in place of God, there are no absolute rights or wrongs. Each person can choose their own morality. Soon truth becomes negotiable too. Humanist efforts to spread humanism and atheism are well planned. One method has four stages: tolerance, equality, reversal of norms, aggressive action. In the first three stages a humanist value or behaviour that used to be contrary to society’s cultural norms gradually becomes the norm, by skilful use of education, media and popular culture. In the fourth stage, the previous norms (which may have been Christian values) are made illegal. Such laws could also criminalise people who follow other religions, but at present the main target seems to be Christians. Another kind of humanist persecution of Christians is beginning to occur at the level of nations. Countries with laws in line with traditional Christian beliefs are coming under international economic pressure, for example, cruise ships boycotting Caribbean islands. This article is a brief summary of information given in Patrick’s Sookhdeo’s latest book Hated Without a Reason, McLean, Virginia, Isaac Publishing, 2019, chapter 13.
1 David Reynolds, The Long Shadow: The Great War and the Twentieth Century, London, Simon & Schuster Ltd, 2013. 2 Robert Paxton’s definition. 3 The Nazi use of the term “Aryan” for a non-Jewish Caucasian, preferably with blonde hair and blue eyes, was a completely new meaning of the word. 4 22 August 1939, speech to generals at Obersalzberg. 5 Dharmapala, “History of an Ancient Civilization: Ceylon under British Rule”, Los Angeles, 1902, in Ananda Guruge (ed.) Return to Righteousness: A Collection of Speeches, Essays and Letters of Anagarika Dharmapala, Colombo, The Government Press, 1965, p.482. 6 Donald E. Smith, Religion and Politics in Burma, New Jersey, Princeton University Press, 1965, p.83. 7 E.g. political Islam, radical Islam, Islamic fundamentalism. 8 Sunnis are followers of the main branch of Islam, comprising at least 80% of all Muslims worldwide. 9 See pages 12-17. 10 For more details, see Patrick Sookhdeo, The New Civic Religion: Humanism and the Future of Christianity, 2nd edition, McLean, Virginia, Isaac Publishing, September 2016. 11 Bylaw 5.1 of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, an umbrella organisation for the global humanist movement with 116 member organisations from over 50 countries.
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In brief
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Church closures continue in Algeria as police seal sixth building ALGERIA
Algerian authorities persisted in their campaign of church closures on 2 September when police sealed the Church of the Prince of Peace in Ighzer Amokrane. Only days earlier, on 28 August, Christians had prevented an attempt to shut the church, located 85 miles east of Algiers, by occupying the building and refusing to leave. It brings to at least six the total number of churches closed since
the beginning of 2018. Committees of officials started regularly visiting churches in late 2017, with the declared aim of checking safety, but they also asked about permits to operate as churches, obtained from the National Commission for Non-Muslim Worship. However, despite numerous requests from some churches, it has been reported that the commission has never issued a permit.
Islamist militants kidnap 200-plus and loot church hospital in DR Congo DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
Crowds gathered in the street in the aftermath of the raid on Boga, Democratic Republic of Congo, in which more than 200 people were abducted More than 200 people including women and children have been abducted and a church mission hospital looted by Islamist extremists during a raid on Boga, Democratic Republic (DR) of Congo, a majorityChristian country. The Bishop of Boga Diocese, Rt Rev. William Bahemuka, said the Muslim militant group ADF (Allied Democratic Forces) attacked the town in Ituri province on 23 August.
“The situation is terrible. People are terrified.” During the three-hour assault, government troops based in Boga were overrun by the militants. There are conflicting reports about the role of the army in resisting the attack as no casualties were reported. Bishop Bahemuka said, “The situation is terrible. People are terrified.”
Elderly Nigerian imam given award for saving 262 Christians from Muslim extremists NIGERIA
Abubakar Abdullahi risked his own life to save fleeing Christian neighbours, remembering how Christians had allowed Muslims to build the mosque in Nghar 40 years earlier An elderly Muslim leader who saved the lives of hundreds of Christians fleeing a murderous attack by Muslim Fulani militants in Nigeria, received an award recognising his courage on 17 July. Imam Abubakar Abdullahi was given the US International Religious Freedom Award for selflessly risking his own life on 23 June 2018 to “save members of another religious community” when the militants attacked at least ten villages in the Barkin Ladi Local Government Area in Plateau State, killing scores of Christians and burning homes in a two-day rampage. The 83-year-old imam sheltered 262 fleeing Christians in Nghar village, hiding women and children in his home and the men in the mosque. Abdullahi then confronted the gunmen and refused them access, insisting everyone inside was Muslim. He said later that he wanted to help because, 40 years previously, Christians in the area had allowed Muslims to build the mosque.
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Africa on red alert
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Africa on red alert
“And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 10:22, NKJV)
A Christian Nigerian woman surveys the remains of Kajuru village attacked in March 2019 by Fulani herdsman
The western Sahel region contains a number of extremist groups who share a common desire: to wipe Christianity from the map
Pastor J had been troubled by a vision in which he felt he was in “imminent danger”, but the father-ofseven made his way to Sunday worship as usual at the small church in Silgadji in Burkina Faso, West Africa, where he was due to preach to his faithful congregation. Some miles away, a dozen men mounted motorcycles, revved them up, and sped off. They were heading to the church in Silgadji too. When they arrived these motorcyclists, waving guns, rounded up the congregation and ordered them to stand under a tree. The strangers demanded that the Christians deny their faith and convert to Islam. The Christians refused. The gunmen then took one of the worshippers behind the church building. A shot rang out. Another was led away and a shot rang out again. This happened six times over as Pastor J, his son and brother-in-law, a primary school teacher and two others were murdered in cold blood.
The attackers then set fire to the pulpit and two motorcycles before they made off with the pastor’s sheep and a bag of rice and fled north towards Mali. Local Christians and Muslims gathered together to mourn and bury the victims.
Barnabas Fund is providing food, healthcare and trauma counselling for Christians who fled attacks in Burkina Faso earlier this year
Africa on red alert
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Reported fatalities rose to at least 5,000 in early 2019
From November 2018 to March 2019 there were approximately 5,000 fatalities reported in the Sahel countries1, including Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, and Chad, according to the conflict monitoring group Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED)2. Over 2,000 of those killed were civilians, among these many were Christians, murdered by Islamist extremists. The deadly spike in violence represents an increase overall of 46%. The most extreme escalation in civilian fatalities linked to violent attacks was seen in Burkina Faso which rose a startling 7,028%, compared to the same period last year. Some of the most distressing data emerged from Pastor J’s homeland, Burkina Faso, where 499 people were killed in 124 incidents between November 2018 and March 2019, according to the ACLED. In Niger the death toll was 500% higher, and in Mali 300% higher, than the previous year. Burkina Faso has a Christian minority of about 20%, or around four million people. It is one of the poorest nations in Africa and very vulnerable to exploitation. Extremist violence began to develop in the country with sporadic incidents beginning from 2015. In 2019, terrorists declared that Christians were the principal target of attacks.
UN warns of an unfolding humanitarian crisis
Christians under increasing pressure as Islamist violence intensifies
The massacre in Silgadji is not an isolated incident. Just as the onslaught of Islamic State in the Middle East has been receding, thousands of miles away in West Africa, simmering Islamist extremism is reaching boiling point as attacks intensify across the region. Islamist insurgencies in the western Sahel, between the Sahara Desert to the north and the tropical savannah in the south, have rapidly spread since late 2018, throwing into chaos the lives of tens of millions of people. Some are concerned that another Islamic State-type caliphate may rise from this tumult, placing the millions of already persecuted Christians living in the region under even greater pressure. A chief tactic of the Islamist groups, the most notorious being Boko Haram, but also others with allegiances to the Islamic State and Al Qaeda, is to target defenceless Christian communities whose inhabitants have to run, convert to Islam or die.
UN aid agencies and NGOs warned in a report on 27 June that an unprecedented humanitarian emergency is on the horizon for the Sahel. The report said more than seven million people are struggling with some level of food insecurity, and five million children are at risk of malnutrition. Children’s education is also suffering, with more than 4,000 schools shut down and 900,000 children affected. About one million people fled their homes in the twelve months up until June, bringing the total number of people displaced across the Sahel to 4.2 million. Displacement has increased five-fold in Burkina Faso, and its eastern neighbour Niger.
Reports of one atrocity after another in troubled Mali
Barnabas Fund contacts have inundated us with reports of violence in the western Sahel in 2019. In one of the worst single incidents, almost the entire population of Sobame Da, a mainly Christian village in central Mali, were killed by heavilyarmed Islamist extremists on 10 June. Mali, where the population is around 3% Christian, has been plagued by Islamist extremism and jihadi violence for over a decade. In 2012, there was a rebellion by the Tuareg ethnic group in the north of Mali, which was assisted by the militant Islamist groups Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), and Ansar al-Dine.
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After government troops were pushed out of the north, the Islamic jihadi groups made an alliance and turned on the Taureg rebels, seizing control of the region for themselves and implementing a harsh form of sharia law. French and other African militaries eventually helped to defeat the extremists in January 2013, but in the aftermath groups emerged that continue to terrorise the region. These include Jama’ah Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), which was formed by a merger of four extremist organisations including Ansar al-Dine. One of the world’s most dangerous peacekeeping missions is still underway in Mali; more than 170 UN personnel have been killed there since 2013 and large sections of the country remain outside government control.
Christian village repeatedly targeted in Cameroon
The mainly Christian village of Grossi in northern Cameroon was attacked at least twice in the first half of this year. On 11 May, Boko Haram militants ransacked the village, leaving two church buildings burnt out, 67 houses and two shops damaged, livestock butchered, motorbikes stolen and grain stores damaged. In an earlier Boko Haram attack on Grossi on 25 January, 190 houses were burnt. Boko Haram militias are attempting to establish an Islamic caliphate from north-eastern Nigeria all the way to northern Cameroon, which is predominantly Christian. The UN estimates that more than 170,000 Cameroonians, mainly Christians, have been forced to flee their homes by Boko Haram.
Christian women at a church service in Niger
A complex web of Islamist terrorism and insurgency
The Islamist groups active in the Sahel include Islamic State offshoots, Al Qaeda affiliates as well as home-grown movements such as Boko Haram. Their methods of recruiting and operation pose unique challenges for the leaders of weak and unstable governments in the region. Such governments are primarily city-focused and neglect vast rural territories that are then left exposed to exploitation by extremists. Rural areas are also more difficult for security forces to navigate, especially in the rainy season, and porous borders provide easy escape routes for the militants. Many Islamist militant groups receive money and resources from religious extremists in the Middle East and Europe. Mali’s former Prime Minister Soumeylou Boubèye Maïga said that he feared that as Islamic State weakens in the Middle East, it “could lead to a transfer of jihadists to the Sahel region”.
The Sahel The Sahel is a region about 600 miles long and 3,350 miles wide, stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea. It is a zone of transition between desert and savannah and also of population migration and political upheaval. Much of it has become a zone of extreme danger for Christians who are targeted and often murdered by predatory groups of Islamist extremists that roam the region and raid settlements. The vast majority of jihadist violence against Christians takes place in the western Sahel nations of Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad.
S A H A R A
Mali
D E S E R T
Niger
Burkina Faso Nigeria
Chad
SAHEL
Lake Chad Cameroon
More Christian Less Christian Colour indicates the approximate percentage of Christians in the population of each country, ranging from Cameroon (about 70% Christian) to Niger (about 0.3% Christian). Nigeria is roughly half Christian and half Muslim but Christians are concentrated in the south and Muslims in the north
Barnabas Aid November/December 2019 15
Barnabas Fund is helping the victims in Kajuru village, Nigeria to repair their homes
Boko Haram: highly mobile, stealthy and difficult to defeat
For Christians, the area surrounding Lake Chad is one of the most dangerous places in the world. It is home to many Christian farming communities, but it is also becoming the “killing field” of Boko Haram. In this area, the battle against Boko Haram is being waged by soldiers, usually underequipped, from different nations speaking different languages and answering to different chains of command. The rough terrain, especially in the rainy season, severely hampers the movement of the security forces, as they are generally road-bound. Boko Haram, on the other hand, operating in small highly-mobile groups, can launch sudden, deadly attacks, that seem to come out of nowhere and then vanish again. There has also been a “jihadisation of banditry”3 where Islamist militants make inroads into new areas by co-opting existing criminal networks. The Islamists provide the bandits with money and better weapons, and also give them a “moral” justification to plunder and pillage as part of the “greater cause” of jihad. Boko Haram is widely believed to have sympathisers among some Muslim leaders, officials, the military, police and other security services in the region. Tribal loyalties and conflicts make matters even more complex.
Northern Nigeria in crisis
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, is facing huge challenges in the north of the country that the government seems unable to tackle. Nigeria’s population is around half Christian and half Muslim. The majority of Christians are in the south, while a minority live in northern Nigeria. Security forces are trying to neutralise Boko Haram in the north-east, banditry is rife in the
Houses in Karamai, Kaduna State, Nigeria, that were burnt out in a Fulani attack in February 2019, when 300 gunmen engulfed the village chanting "Allahu Akbar!" north-west and bloody clashes between armed Fulani herdsmen and the mainly Christian farming communities are a plague of Plateau and other central states. The cattle herders and settled farmers growing crops both need land and there is a long-standing tension between these ethnic groups. However, Islamist extremists have exploited the situation by radicalising Muslim herdsmen from the Fulani ethnic group, or simply influencing them and encouraging them to carry out violent attacks, often on mainly Christian villages of settled farmers. Fulani militant groups are typically well armed with automatic rifles. In the last two years, Fulani militants have murdered more than 6,000, according to church estimates. They also destroy church buildings and homes in their attacks, which deliberately target Christian farming communities. Since 2001, at least 500 church buildings have been damaged or destroyed in arson attacks in Plateau State alone. Church leaders in Nigeria have repeatedly called on President Buhari, who is himself a Fulani Muslim, to take decisive action against these militant Fulani herdsmen, but nothing changes.
16 November/December 2019 Barnabas Aid
Africa on red alert
What is Boko Haram? Boko Haram has probably killed more Christians than any other Islamist group in the world in recent years, and is the most infamous Islamist terrorist organisation active in the western Sahel region. The Boko Haram insurgency began in north-east Nigeria and has ravaged the Lake Chad region since the group embraced systematic terrorist violence in 2009. Boko Haram is mainly active in Nigeria, Chad, Niger and predominantly-Christian northern Cameroon. The group was founded in 2002 and became more violent after its founder was killed in 2009 and the elusive Abubakar Shekau took over. In 2015, the group aligned itself with Islamic State. Boko Haram can be translated as “Western education is forbidden”. One of its most infamous raids was on 14 April 2014, when Boko Haram terrorists kidnapped 276 mainly Christian schoolgirls from a government secondary school in Chibok, north-east Nigeria. The terrorists have reportedly kidnapped entire villages, replenishing their
Southwards migration into Chad ends in land grabs
In Muslim-majority Chad, which is 34% Christian, Muslims from the Muslim-dominated north of Chad have been migrating south, where most of the Christians live. As the Sahara desert spreads gradually southwards, their quest for better quality land has led them to move deeper into the Sahel, which has created societal divisions and outbreaks of violence between herdsmen (nomadic Arab peoples and Fulani) and settled farmers, many of whom are Christian.
Terror spreads in Niger: “You have three days to go or you will be killed”
Boko Haram demonstrated its intent to spread terror on 11 June when the terrorists released a kidnapped Christian woman and gave her this terrifying message to pass on to Christians in south-eastern Niger: “You have three days to go or you will be killed!” Rural Christian families subsequently fled to the city of Diffa. Niger is around 97% Muslim and Christians are a tiny minority of just 0.5%. The country was spared terrorist violence until 2015, when it pledged support to France after the attack on the Charlie Hebdo magazine office. The Nigerien government has been striving to maintain a tolerant form of Islam, including
The three women pictured each had one of their ears cut off by Boko Haram Islamist militants who raided the mainly Christian town of Gagalari, Cameroon, on 29 July 2019 [Source: cameroon-info.net] military ranks and collecting new wives, children, farmers and fishermen to sustain their campaigns of violence. Boko Haram are the main reason why the Lake Chad area has become the epicentre of one of the world’s most complex humanitarian disasters.
adopting a Worship Bill in June 2019 with the intention of preventing Islamic extremism and violence, but Islamist militias have killed dozens of civilians and displaced thousands during a spike in violence in the Diffa region in 2019, according to UN officials. There are an estimated 200,000 displaced people in Niger, a mixture of those displaced from within Niger itself and many who have fled to Niger to escape Boko Haram’s violence in neighbouring Nigeria. On 2 June 2019, the governor of the Diffa region ordered churches to close due to the threat of terrorist attack.
A bleak future for the Sahel countries?
As we move towards 2020, disorder across the Sahel – in the form of communal violence and Islamist insurgency – looks set to spread. Public discontent will also likely grow due to weak or inept government responses to the violence, especially in Nigeria. As pressure mounts, governments may succumb to the growing influence of political Islam. All of this plays into the hands of the extremists as they strive to wipe out Christians at every opportunity. While we pray that our Christian family will be protected and that violence will abate, there is a real prospect of more and more Christian martyrs, like Pastor J and the others murdered with him.
Africa on red alert
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How Barnabas Fund has helped Christians in the western Sahel this year Our aid for persecuted Christians and our help to strengthen the Church has included: Burkina Faso ● Food aid, clothes, mosquito nets and seeds for planting to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) fleeing violence Cameroon ● Food aid for victims of violence including IDP families ● Water cisterns for marginalised Christians ● Livelihood projects for victims of violence ● Theological library and theological training for student pastors Chad ● Religious freedom conference Mali ● Food and other relief aid for victims of violence and IDPs Niger ● Replacing furniture destroyed in a church arson attack ● Vocational and business training plus start-up costs for small businesses Northern Nigeria ● Literacy programme for converts ● Food, medical aid and roofing sheets for victims of violence ● Education for IDP orphans ● Repair/reconstruction of homes destroyed by antiChristian violence
Nigerian Christians, who are survivors of Fulani militant violence, receiving trauma counselling funded by Barnabas in a church in Plateau State, Nigeria
Survivors helped to overcome trauma
Christian survivors have witnessed terrible scenes of violence, been injured or fled for their lives. Many children have been orphaned or separated from a surviving parent in the chaos of displacement. Barnabas has a long history of funding traumahealing programmes for victims of violence in Africa, including recently in Burkina Faso and Nigeria. The programmes bring peace and emotional healing and also help participants to forgive their attackers. The programmes train up new counselling leaders who, in turn, can lead small groups to help other survivors in their communities. Paul Pogu Lalai, father of two of the 276 mainly Christian Chibok girls snatched by Boko Haram in 2014, explained how such counselling had helped him. “Anytime I have food placed before me as a father, a question will come to mind, ‘Does Mary and Lydia have something to eat in the bush?’ Then tears will flow from my eyes and I will just leave the food. But your counsel and advice has given confidence to trust God for their needs.”
Boko Haram extremists attacked a village near Chibok, Nigeria, on the fifth anniversary of the kidnapping of 276 mainly Christian schoolgirls. The girls were forced to dress as Muslims by their captors
1 Sahel countries in ACLED analysis: Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, and Sudan. 2 “Political Violence Skyrockets in the Sahel According to Latest ACLED Data”, ACLED, 28 March 2019: www.acleddata.com/2019/03/28/press-release-political-violence-skyrockets-in-the-sahel-according-to-latest-acled-data/ 3 “Insecurity in southwestern Burkina Faso in the context of an expanding insurgency”, ACLED, 17 January 2019: www.acleddata.com/2019/01/17/insecurity-in-southwestern-burkina-faso-in-the-context-of-an-expanding-insurgency/
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Victor when he was still in an emaciated condition, b u t on the road to reco very thank s to emergency the supplies of powdered milk provid ed by Barn abas
Victor graduating to Standard 1 in 2012
Victor’s life was sav ed as a baby through a Barnabassupported feeding programme. Today, by the grace of God, he is a thriving schoolchild
From hopeless newborn to child of hope Victor was saved through Barnabas
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)
As
an emaciated and naked newborn abandoned by his starving mother immediately after birth because she was unable to feed him, Victor had little hope of surviving, let alone having a bright future. But God had a different plan for his life. Today, thanks to the help of Barnabas supporters, Victor has a promising future ahead. North-east Kenya in January 2006, at the time of Victor’s birth, was a desperate landscape of suffering, with acute food shortages plaguing the countries of the Horn of Africa. The famine followed on from a severe drought which had caused crop failures, sharp price increases and the disastrous death of the livestock on which many
nomadic tribes depended for their livelihood. Stricken Christians were starving and dying. Barnabas responded rapidly to the urgent plea for aid to feed famished Christian families living in the East Pokot area. Emergency food supplies, including powdered milk for babies whose malnourished mothers could not provide breast milk, was given to 700 Christians to help them survive. A relative found Victor soon after his birth and quickly took him to a local church where he was given emergency powdered milk to feed him. Afterwards, through Barnabas’ support, his relative was provided with enough powdered milk to continue feeding Victor. This vital sustenance saved Victor’s life and a glimmer of hope returned for the newborn. Victor remained part of a local
church feeding programme and grew into a strong and healthy toddler. He attended the local nursery school and later went on to graduate to the primary phase of schooling (Standard 1) in 2012. Victor is now a thriving teenager and continuing well with his education.
Continuing to make a difference to lives
Barnabas is continuing to support Christians in the East Pokot area, which remains vulnerable to the devastating effects of recurrent drought. It was wonderful for us to receive news of Victor. He is living proof of the life-changing difference that our supporters are making to vulnerable, suffering believers. As the pastor who wrote to us says, “This is true testimony of the impact of support in terms of relief food, provided by Barnabas Fund to Victor and the other residents of East Pokot who were almost dying of hunger.”
In Touch
ember 2019 19 November/Dec Barnabas Aid
r How could you church bless tians suffering Chris ? this Christmas
Great-grandmother reaches out to suffering Christians on her 100th birthday
Remember Barnabas Fund on Giving Tuesday 3 Dec ember
Marion, from Leyland, Lancashire, UK, asked for donations for Christian charities instead of gifts on her special day and raised an amazing £1,000, half of which she gave to Barnabas Fund to help believers persecuted around the world. She said, “When you get to my age presents such as handkerchiefs and cardigans are no good to me as they would only end up in a drawer so it would be good to support causes close to my heart.”
special group take up a or ch ur ch ur e to the lives of Could yo make a differenc to g in er off as need our help? Christm ian family who st ri Ch ed ut ec our pers
Barnabas USA wins award for work helping persecuted Christians around the world Barnabas Aid USA has been named winner of the 2019 Best of McLean Award in the Religious Organisation category for our work helping Christians persecuted for their faith around the world. Jeremy Frith, CEO of Barnabas Aid USA, said he was delighted and encouraged to receive the accolade, announced on 28 August. He said, “We have worked hard to highlight the plight of our persecuted brothers and sisters, and to raise awareness across the US of the many needs and threats faced by Christians globally. To have these efforts formally recognised by the McLean Award programme gives us a significant boost.” Barnabas Aid maintains very low overheads of just 12% globally, which covers the cost of education, raising awareness, prayer materials and advocacy, as well as general administrative and running costs. It means that 88p in every £1 that supporters donate goes directly to help persecuted Christians. “We feel that this is one of the reasons why we have been recognised as the best,” said Jeremy. The McLean Award programme recognises exceptional organisations or businesses that help make the McLean area of Virginia a great place to live, work and play.
Barnabas Fund supporters from across the world sent congratulations to great-grandmother Marion Needham after hearing of her generosity towards suffering Christians as she celebrated her 100th birthday.
Barnabas supporters from as far afield as Nigeria, the Middle East, Canada and Australia responded to Marion’s generosity when we shared news of her donation on Facebook. “A blessed birthday Marion. His beautiful blessings and joy,” said a message from Australia. Another from an Iranian in Canada read, “Happy birthday to you and may Lord Jesus Christ bless you.” Marion, a mother-of-three with seven grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren, is “always doing something for somebody else”, said her son, Andrew. She celebrated her birthday with a family meal, a big party at Leyland Pentecostal Church and a lunch hosted by Chorley Evangelical Free Church, where she regularly plays the piano at their services. She has been playing the piano and organ at church services for 61 years. Marion also received a letter from the Queen.
The 2019 Best of McLean Award recognises Barnabas Aid as the best in the religious organisation category
Marion Needham cuts a birthday cake prepared in her honour by church friends to mark her 100th birthday
Suffering Church Action and Awareness Week
SUNDAY 27 OCTOBER – SUNDAY 3 NOVEMBER
GET YOUR CHURCH INVOLVED ...
Be a part of Suffering Church Action and Awareness Week as we remember the One in Ten Christians living with pressure and persecution
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... by holding an event at your church or group, Sunday service, small group, Sunday school or other event. Contact your local Barnabas office today to register for a One in Ten inspirational resource pack with everything you need including an A3 poster to advertise your event, an eight-day devotional booklet, the new Suffering Church Action and Awareness Week (SCAAW) bookmark for 2019, Barnabas’ Praying for the Persecuted Church booklet, an extra copy of the special SCAAW edition of Barnabas Aid magazine and a money box useful for taking offerings for the persecuted Church at home or in small group meetings. Keep up to date with the latest news on SCAAW 2019 at: barnabasfund.org/scaaw
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ISBN: 978-1-7321952-2-6 Number of Pages: 152 Cover: Paperback RRP: £9.99
To order, please contact your nearest Barnabas Fund office (addresses on inside front cover). Cheques for the UK should be made payable to “Barnabas Books”. sales@barnabasbooks.org
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