Barnabas Prayer May-June 2012

THE AID AGENCY FOR THE PERSECUTED CHURCH www.barnabasfund.org

prayer TO HELP YOU PRAY FOR THE PERSECUTED CHURCH

MAY/JUNE 2012

MAY 1 - 4 Thank you for your prayers for our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ, which make such a difference to them. We sometimes have to change or omit their names for security reasons, and we have only limited space to share their stories.

But the Lord knows the people and places we are praying about. Thank you for your understanding.

the capital, Abuja, on Sunday 19 February. Pray for protection for the Christian community in Jos; prior to this attack, a list of potential Boko Haram targets, which included the COCIN headquarters, had reportedly been found.

May Tuesday 1 On 4 March, militant Islamist group Boko Haram declared “war” on Christians in Nigeria. A spokesman said that that they were planning coordinated attacks to “eradicate Christians from certain parts of the country”. Two days later, they followed this up with a threat to kidnap Christian women. Boko Haram, which has been fighting to establish an Islamic state in Northern Nigeria since 2009, has committed numerous attacks against Christians and the security forces; these have intensified this year after the group issued a three-day deadline on New Year’s Day for Christians to leave the North.

Pray that the authorities will be able to restrain Boko Haram’s violent menace, and that Christians will be protected from further attacks.

Wednesday 2 At 7.20am on Sunday 26 February, a suicide bomber forced his way into the grounds of the Church of Christ (COCIN) headquarters in Jos, Nigeria. Two women and an 18-month-old child were killed and around 50 people were injured as the vehicle sped past a security checkpoint and exploded three metres from the church building. Pray for the families of those who died in this attack, that they will find comfort in the Lord. Ask that He will also grant healing to those who were injured in this bombing, and in a similar attack at a church in Suleja, near 2

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Four people were killed in a bomb attack on the Church of Christ headquarters in Jos, Nigeria (Source: Stefanos Foundation)

Thursday 3 “Pray without ceasing” for Christians in Nigeria as “…a palpable terror is being unleashed in Christians so that Sunday is transformed from a day of worship in to a day of fear”. These were the words of a church leader in Jos following a second church bombing in the space of two weeks. The attack happened ten minutes into a Sunday service on 11 March; seven people died in the blast. Later that same day, gunmen ambushed Christians in Chungwi village, killing three people. Nigerian Christians are under constant threat as Boko Haram seeks to eradicate Christians from the North (see 1 May). Pray for grace for our brothers and sisters, and that even in the face of such violence they will respond in love and not retaliate.

Friday 4 Sustained violence by Boko Haram against Christians in Northern Nigeria is driving them out of the Muslim-majority region. Nearly 95 per cent of the Christians have left Yobe State, where 20 churches have been torched and many lives have been lost. Some are heading to the mainly Christian South, while others are

MAY 5 - 8 crossing the border into Cameroon. The mass migration is precipitating a major humanitarian crisis : Northern Christians who have been forced to leave behind their homes and jobs are in great need. Moreover, as the Christian presence diminishes the Church is being wiped off the map in the North. Pray that the Lord will give wisdom to Northern Christians about what to do and that He will meet all their needs whether they stay or go.

has been beset by a series of kidnappings. The rebels demand large ransoms for the return of the captives, but in at least two cases the ransom money was paid but the kidnap victims were killed anyway.

Pray that the Lord will comfort all those who have lost loved ones amid the Syrian unrest.

Saturday 5 Christians in Syria have been suffering grievously in the conflict between President Assad’s troops and anti-government forces. On 18 March a violent explosion rocked the Christian quarter of Aleppo, killing three people, and Christians there believe they may be being targeted deliberately. Another bomb was detonated in the Christian area of Damascus.

At the height of the fighting in Homs, Barnabas Fund received reports of Christians being used as “human shields” by anti-government forces.

Around 70 homes belonging to Christians in Homs were invaded and pillaged by the opposition forces; they also occupied an evangelical school and home for the elderly, which were then shelled by the army. Christians in Homs have also suffered kidnappings and gruesome murders. Almost the entire Christian population of the city, some 60,000 people, have fled and are now homeless and jobless. Pray that Christians in Syria will know the Lord’s peace at this turbulent time.

Monday 7 The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah, declared on 12 March that it is “necessary to destroy all churches” in the Arabian Peninsula. His ruling is in accordance with sharia; it is based on a tradition in which Muhammad declared that there should not be two religions there. (There were churches in the Arabian Peninsula before the coming of Islam.) Churches have always been banned in Saudi Arabia itself, but some do exist in other Arabian countries, such as Kuwait, although they are subject to severe restrictions. There are also some sizeable expatriate Christian communities in the region, and a very small number of converts from Islam, who practise their faith mainly in secret. Pray for their protection in light of the mufti’s statement, and for greater religious freedom in these countries.

Sunday 6 Basilios Nassar, a Syrian church leader, was shot dead by antigovernment forces on 25 January as he rushed to the aid of a Christian wounded amid heavy fighting in Hama. More than 200 Christians have been killed in the fighting between President Assad’s troops and the Free Syrian Army, and the community

Tuesday 8 A group of 35 Ethiopian Christians had gathered to pray at a house in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on 15 December 2011 when police burst in and detained them. The 29 women were taken to prison, where they were strip-searched and sexually abused. The men were held at a police station for two days before also being transferred to prison; officers kicked and beat them and called them “unbelievers”. The group also endured inadequate medical care and unsanitary conditions in the prison. They were all charged with “illicit mingling” of unmarried people of the opposite sex (despite there being no law BARNABAS PRAYER MAY/JUNE 2012

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MAY 9 - 13 that defines this offence), and they now face deportation. Pray that they will emerge safely from their ordeal and be sustained by the Lord in their suffering.

Wednesday 9 Tunisia’s new draft constitution makes Islam and its sharia law “the principal source of legislation”. The largest political party, Ennahda, claims that this principle will guarantee freedom, justice and equality, but the tenets of sharia are incompatible with non-Muslim understanding of these concepts. For example, non-Muslims do not have equal rights with Muslims and converts from Islam are liable to the death sentence. Women also suffer severe discrimination under sharia. Pray that the draft constitution may be modified to protect the freedoms of Christians and other minorities.

Thursday 10 “Women without a veil deserve to burn in hell.” With these words, the head of the Centrist Association for Awareness and Reform in Tunisia gave a vivid and startling indication of how individual freedoms in the country may soon be curtailed. The Association was formed by Salafists after the 2011 revolution as an Islamic religious police, which took upon itself to see that Islamic virtues were upheld in public life. Earlier this year it was given legal status by the Ministry of Interior.

There have been reports of Salafists verbally and physically attacking women whose clothing they judge to be insufficiently modest. Pray that sharia will not be imposed in Tunisia, which was previously one of the most secular of Muslimmajority countries, where the hijab was banned in government offices and universities. Pray too for the country’s Christians, whose precarious position is jeopardised further by the rise of radical Islamism.

Friday 11 Pray for Makram Diab, an Egyptian Christian, who was sentenced in March to six 4

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years in prison for “insulting” Muhammad. This is double the maximum sentence permitted for the offence of Defamation of Religion, and the judge has been accused of appeasing the angry 2,500-strong Muslim mob that had gathered outside the court in Assuit. A large crowd of Muslim lawyers also filled the court and denied access to the defence, a scene repeated at Makram’s first appeal hearing on 15 March. He was accused following a heated discussion with a Muslim colleague at the school where they both worked; the person who accused him was not even present during the discussion. Pray that he may receive justice from the court, and that the authorities in Egypt will protect the legal rights of Christians and resist intimidation by Islamists.

Saturday 12 Islamists are increasingly imprinting their image on the government of Egypt. On 28 February an Islamist was elected as speaker of the upper house of parliament, which strengthens the grip of the Muslim Brotherhood on the country’s legislation. The Brotherhood holds 47% of the seats in the lower house, with the radical Salafist party al-Nur holding 23%; in the upper house they hold 59% and 25% of the elected seats respectively. Education reform has been put in the hands of a Salafist MP; al-Nur’s policies include eradicating material that supposedly violates Islam and providing separate curricula for boys and girls. A strongly Islamist regime is likely to worsen the desperate plight of the country’s Christians, who already suffer routine discrimination and incidents of brutal violence. Pray for positive political change that will benefit them and all the people of Egypt.

Sunday 13 Give thanks that the charge of religious defamation against Egyptian Christian businessman and liberal political leader Naguib Sawaris has been

MAY 14 - 17 thrown out of court. Mr Sawaris was charged with “blasphemy and insulting Islam” for an image he tweeted in June 2011 depicting the cartoon characters Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse in Islamic guise, with a long beard and face veil respectively. Both lawsuits filed against him were rejected, one on 28 February, the other on 3 March. The tweet sparked a Muslim backlash against Mr Sawaris, with groups calling for a boycott of his companies. Pray that this will not happen and that freedom of speech will be upheld in the new Egyptian order.

Naguib Sawiris, a Christian businessman, has been cleared of blasphemy in Egypt (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Monday 14 Pray for Greater Grace Church in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, which is facing closure at the hands of the authorities.

The State Committee for Work with Religious Organisations has moved against the church for its failure to obtain the re-registration required by the harsh Religion Law of 2009. This is thought to be the first attempt to use the new law to force a church to close, and if successful will

create a legal precedent that may threaten other churches. Several congregations that have tried to re-register have recently been informed that their applications have been refused. Pray for an easing of the tight limitations and severe penalties imposed by the law, and for the churches as they seek to serve Christ under great pressure.

Tuesday 15 The new president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, has promised to make the protection of repressed Christians in foreign countries one of his foreign policy priorities.

During the presidential election he met with a group of church leaders in Moscow on 8 February, who told him that Christians were suffering persecution all over the world, with one Christian dying for his or her faith every five minutes. When they asked him to give attention to this problem, he replied, “This is how it will be, have no doubt.”

Give thanks for this undertaking, and pray that the president will honour it.

Wednesday 16 “The activity of small religious groups in the territory of Kazakhstan is now banned since there is no such form of religious association of citizens.” A senior religious affairs official in Kazakhstan bluntly declared that under the new Religion Law that came into force in October 2011, religious associations with fewer than 50 members must either re-register with more than 50 people or stop their activities. A number of churches from a range of Christian denominations have already been stripped of their registration, and no rules have yet been drawn up to enable them to re-register, even if they have enough members to do so. Pray that this repressive new law will be enforced less strictly and will eventually be repealed.

Thursday 17 Unregistered churches in Kazakhstan can face intense harassment from the authorities. On 8 February Aleksei Asetov, a BARNABAS PRAYER MAY/JUNE 2012

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MAY 18 - 22 father of ten, was given a fine equivalent to about 18 months earnings of an average wage for leading a small unregistered church that meets in his home in Ekibastuz in Pavlodar Region. His property was raided and Christian literature seized, and he was convicted of carrying out banned religious activity. He is the fourth Christian known to have been fined since the new Religion Law came into force. Pray that Christians will stand firm in their faith and show the love of Christ to those who persecute them.

Friday 18 Threats, beatings, arrests and fines: these are all penalties suffered by Cuban pastors in a recent crackdown by the authorities.

One church leader, from Moa, sustained brain damage in a brutal assault on 6 February; it is thought he was targeted because he challenged the confiscation of a vehicle owned by the church. In another incident, on 25 February, four leaders were detained in Bayamo while sharing the Gospel at the local bus station. One of them was so badly beaten that he required hospital treatment. In Havana a pastor has been repeatedly fined huge sums because his church is not registered, while another has faced threats of violence because of his congregation’s outreach to people on the margins of society. Pray for these leaders as they recover from their ordeal, and for an end to the official harassment.

Saturday 19 The Cuban authorities have also been clamping down hard on Christian human rights activists. On 4 March, Caridad Caballero Batista and her husband Esteban Sade Suarez were detained on their way to church, mistreated and held in a poorly ventilated, mosquito-infested cell for three hours. Since the start of the year they have been blocked, and sometimes violently prevented, from attending Christian activities.

Other Christian activists have also been arrested or prevented from attending worship services.

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Give thanks that the churches in Cuba are growing, and pray that they may be strong in the Lord (Ephesians 6:10).

Sunday 20 “We are thankful that God has been keeping us, building us up, and protecting our relationships with each other in this special circumstance, so that we can still face people around us calmly even we are under such a pressure.”

These words come from the weekly report from Shouwang Church in Beijing, China, on their outdoor worship service. At the time of writing the congregation has been meeting in the open air for nearly a year after they were evicted from their previous meeting-place by the government, and many of their members have been detained by the authorities.

Give thanks to the Lord for their courage and perseverance and pray that the authorities will allow them a place to worship.

Monday 21 Give thanks for some good news from China! Pastor Shi Enhao, the leader of an unregistered church (“house church”) and vicepresident of the Chinese House Church Alliance, was unexpectedly released from a labour camp in January. He had been given a two-year sentence in July 2011. Praise the Lord for answered prayer for Pastor Shi, and ask that he will now be left in peace to resume his ministry. Pray too for the many other Christian leaders still detained by the Chinese authorities (Acts 12:5).

Tuesday 22 Please continue to pray for our beleaguered brothers and sisters in China.

ChinaAid’s annual report on government persecution of Christians and churches showed

MAY 23 - 26 an increase for the sixth consecutive year. The report compares the total numbers of cases in 2011, as well as the numbers of individuals detained, sentenced and abused, and the aggregate shows a rise of 42.5% over 2010.

ChinaAid believes that the authorities are focusing their attention on prominent believers and congregations, with the aim of reducing the influence of Christianity on Chinese society. Pray that the pressure on Chinese Christians will be relieved, and that the government will grant them freedom to practise their faith.

Wednesday 23 Pray for a church leader in Vietnam who was beaten unconscious with iron bars by a gang of thugs on 23 February.

He was making his way home after taking a funeral service when three people set upon him. He came off his motorbike and was beaten until he passed out, suffering multiple injuries; the attackers damaged the vehicle and threw his watch into a lake nearby. They had recently been released from prison and appear to have connections with the local authorities, who are

Pastor Shi Enhao was released after six months in a Chinese labour camp (Source: www.chinaaid.org)

trying to prevent pastors from taking services; the government has declared the area a “no religion zone”. Pray for the pastor’s recovery, and for all

Christians in Vietnam as they face harassment and intimidation from the authorities.

Thursday 24 Three churches in the Iranian capital, Tehran, have recently been ordered to stop holding Friday services in Farsi, the Iranian national language. One church was told that if the order was ignored, the building would be bombed “as happens in Iraq every day”. It is easier for people to attend a church service on a Friday, the main weekend day, than on Sunday, which is a working day. The Iranian authorities are concerned at the number of Muslims turning to Christ, and these restrictions seem designed to make it harder for Muslims to hear the Gospel.

Pray that the government’s plan will not succeed, and that the churches in Iran will continue to grow.

Friday 25 Fatimeh Nouri, a Christian convert from Islam in Iran, was convicted in late 2011 of “attending a house church, insulting sacred figures and activities against national security”.

Fatimeh is an art student at a university in Tehran, and the Revolutionary Court sentenced her to one year’s “deprivation of education”. This is the first time that such a penalty has been imposed on a Christian convert; it is against international law to deprive anyone of education on religious grounds.

Pray for Fatimeh, that she will soon be free to continue her studies and will persevere in her Christian faith. Give thanks too for the spread of the Gospel among university students in Iran, and pray that new Christians will not be discouraged by this case.

Saturday 26 The Iranian authorities are rounding up Christians across the country in a wave of arrests. Both leaders and ordinary church members are being targeted. In one particularly distressing incident on 22 February, a 78-yearold woman, Giti Hakimpour, was arrested in a raid on her home and held for three days; some BARNABAS PRAYER MAY/JUNE 2012

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MAY 27 - 31 of her belongings were also confiscated. She was not in good health, and her doctor had said she should not be subjected to stress. In some raids entire congregations have been detained, and Christians have been seized from their homes and workplaces. Pray for our brothers and sisters in Iran as they seek to worship and serve the Lord in the midst of such insecurity and harassment. Pray that the government will relieve the relentless pressure upon them.

Sunday 27 The small nation of Qatar punches far above its weight on the international scene. It has exerted a strong influence over the Arab uprisings of the last 18 months, giving active support to the revolutions in Libya and Syria and encouraging Islamist groups throughout the region. It is seeking to promote its strict form of Islam not only in the Middle East but also in some Western countries. Its activities are also contributing to the pressures and attacks experienced

by Christians in the region. Pray that the Lord will protect His people in the Middle East from the destructive forces unleashed against them.

Pray especially for Christians in Qatar: expatriates are allowed to practise their faith, but evangelism is forbidden, and conversion from Islam officially carries the death penalty.

Monday 28 Pray for a group of Christian converts from Islam in northern Cameroon. In January a handwritten letter was delivered to the church leader’s house, which called on them to return to Islam or “face Allah’s wrath”. It was from a group identifying itself as “Boko Haram”, the militant Islamist group that has been causing 8

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chaos in neighbouring Nigeria. The following week two turbaned men arrived by motorcycle at night at the leader’s house while he was away.

One made the man’s wife and children lie face down, searched the house and left a message saying that they would get him no matter where he was hiding. The convert family fled the village, and the other converts went into hiding. Praise God that no-one was hurt, but pray for protection for these converts as they face threats and intimidation.

Tuesday 29 “Absent from the body, present with the Lord; it is a great gain.” With these moving words, quoted from the Apostle Paul (2 Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:21), a church leader in Kenya reported the murder of his colleague Titus. On 29 January they were leading a seminar for Christians in Garissa when a group of Muslims attacked the meeting. The church was destroyed by fire, and four Christians were hospitalised; Titus later died from his injuries. Pray for his wife Catherine and their three children in their grief.

Pray too for safety for Christians in Muslimmajority areas of Kenya, especially for converts from Islam.

Wednesday 30 Ugandan pastor Umar Mulinde is in hospital with severe burns after an acid attack. Last Christmas a man flung the biting liquid on his neck and face, severely damaging his right eye, and ran away shouting “Allah Akbar” (“god is great”). Umar thinks that the attack was prompted by his outspoken warnings against the introduction of sharia to Uganda. Pray for complete healing of his burnt skin and that his right eye, through which he is at last starting to see some light and shade, can be saved.

Barnabas is assisting with his medical costs.

Thursday 31 Studying at university level is an unheard-of achievement for many young,

JUNE 1 - 3 talented Christians around the world. Many families are too poor, because of discrimination, to pay the fees. Sometimes Christian applicants are unjustly blocked from higher education because of their faith. This is why Barnabas Fund helps Christians living in contexts of persecution to attend university; by helping some of them (such

Ambrose has been able to train as a doctor in Pakistan through help from Barnabas Fund

as Ambrose, a Christian medical student from Pakistan) to obtain professional skills we can strengthen an entire Christian community. In 2011, we supported 142 students to study subjects such as engineering, accountancy, business and medicine. Pray that God will give these Christian students wisdom and strength as they study for their exams and that He will use them for His purposes when they graduate.

June Friday 1 Pray for GKI Yasmin Church in Bogor, Indonesia, which has suffered intense persecution from the city mayor and militant Muslims. Its half-constructed building has been illegally sealed off since 2008, forcing the congregation to hold services on the street. Radical Islamists and public officials have tried repeatedly to stop the church from gathering publicly. In January the

congregation went to plead their case outside the presidential palace in the capital, Jakarta. A spokesman said, “We came here so that the top leader of the country may help solve this problem, for love of the rule of law and the defence of diversity in Indonesia.” Pray that the government will act firmly against anti-Christian discrimination and hostility and maintain the freedom of Christians to worship.

Saturday 2 Thank the Lord that a group of Indonesian Christians have won a lengthy legal battle over the ownership of their village. Horale, in Maluku province, was almost razed to the ground in a brutal attack by a Muslim mob from the neighbouring village of Saleman on 2 May 2008; four Christians were killed and 56 injured.

Then a week later Muslims from Saleman brought a legal challenge over the ownership of Horale, claiming that the land was part of their territory.

The Supreme Court has now ruled that the land rightfully belongs to the Christians. Barnabas helped the Horale Christians with the legal costs and also with the reconstruction of the village.

Pray for them as they continue to rebuild their lives and community.

Sunday 3 Give thanks for the release of Laotian Pastor Bounchan Kanthavong, who was set free on 2 February after being locked up for nearly 13 years. Bounchan’s witness at his clothing shop in Vanghai village, Udomsai province, led to around 70 people accepting Christ. His actions were perceived as a threat to national security, and in June 1999 he was arrested and sentenced to twelve years in jail for “treason and sedition”. Following his detention, his wife, Sengkham, took over the leadership of their Christian BARNABAS PRAYER MAY/JUNE 2012

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JUNE 4 - 7 community, which has grown to more than 3,000 believers. Praise God for this huge growth, and give thanks that Bounchan can return to his wife and children. Pray that they will be able to continue their ministry of outreach.

Monday 4 Lift up to the Lord Christian families from two villages in the Luangprabang province of Laos who have been ordered to renounce their faith or face expulsion. One of the groups is made up of ten families (around 65 people), eight of whom became Christians barely three months before the expulsion order was issued on 18 February. The other group of 14 Christian families (over 80 individuals) were given the verbal order in mid-January. They have stood firm in their faith, and at the time of writing the authorities had not carried out their expulsion threat. Pray that the Lord will continue to give strength and courage to these families, and that they will not be evicted.

Tuesday 5 There are 30 church buildings in the Saybuli district of Laos, but local officials recognise only seven of them; the other 23 are therefore considered illegal. A 50-year-old building in Nadaeng village was seized by the authorities in January. Local Christians had been told to stop using the building for all religious activities from 5 December 2011, but they had defied the order. This building and another have now been confiscated. Pray that none of the other churches will lose their building, and that they will be allowed to meet and worship in peace.

Wednesday 6 Give thanks that Nadia Naira, a Christian woman in Pakistan who was kidnapped, forcibly converted to Islam and married to her Muslim abductor, has escaped after nearly eleven years in captivity. She was just 15 years

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old when she was seized at gunpoint on 11 February 2001. Her “husband”, who already had a wife and ten children, became violent towards her and was a drug addict. Nadia gave birth to five of his children. Following her escape on 30 November 2011, the family sought help from a Pakistani Christian legal organisation supported

Nadia Naira escaped her Muslim abductor after more than a decade in captivity

by Barnabas Fund, which immediately provided shelter for Nadia. They also filed a criminal case against her husband and his accomplices. Pray that the offenders will be brought to justice and that Nadia will receive help and support to recover from her ordeal and rebuild her life.

Thursday 7 Three buildings, including a place of worship, that were being restored at an Armenian Christian cemetery in Malatya Municipality, Turkey, were demolished by the authorities on 2 February following complaints by local residents. Officials said that the place of worship was being built without official permission, but both the mayor and government of Malatya had given consent for the restoration work. Give thanks that Malatya Mayor Ahmer Çakir has apologised for the demolition and has said that officials will provide compensation. Pray for the Armenian Christian community in Turkey,

JUNE 8 - 12 and pray that they will soon be able to rebuild the place of worship.

Friday 8 Sharia is continuing to extend its reach in Western countries. In the UK thousands of Muslims are using sharia councils to settle their civil disputes each year, and several of these bodies have reported a large increase in their case load. Under sharia law a woman’s testimony is worth only half that of a man’s and women suffer discrimination in divorce, inheritance and compensation. The councils have no authority over criminal or family law, but in practice they carry great authority in the Muslim community.

Pray that the Islamisation of Western societies will be checked and that the principle of equality under the law will be maintained.

Saturday 9 The UK government intends to oppose a case brought by two Christian women at the European Court of Human Rights to establish their right to wear a cross openly in the workplace. The women were barred from wearing a cross and claim that this breached their human rights. Ministers argue that because wearing a cross is not a “requirement” of the Christian faith, employers can ban employees from doing so and dismiss them if they insist. Pray that Christian symbols will not be banished from public life and that the freedom of Christians to express their faith openly will be upheld.

Sunday 10 “Khanna and his associates have been found guilty of spreading communal disaffection and were involved in immoral activities. They are ordered to be expelled from the state.” These are the words of a fatwa issued on 19 January against a Christian pastor and four other church leaders by a sharia court in the Indian

state of Jammu and Kashmir. The Rev. Chander Mani Khanna had previously been convicted by the court of attracting Muslim youth to Christianity by monetary allurements, even though all the baptisms he had conducted were undertaken voluntarily. Mr Khanna was arrested by the police after the initial hearing.

Pray that he will be able to continue his ministry unmolested, and for bold witness in the Kashmir Valley in the face of an anti-Christian campaign.

Monday 11 On 23 January a pastor, Chandrakanth Kalappa Chavan, was beaten, stripped and paraded naked through an Indian village in Karnataka, a state that has become notorious for its anti-Christian violence. A group of around 20 Hindu extremists burst into a prayer meeting, abused the Christians and attacked Chandrakanth. As often happens to victims of anti-Christian violence in India, it was he rather than the offenders who was arrested by the police. This was the first of three similar attacks on church leaders in India in the space of nine days.

Pray for courage and perseverance for pastors and evangelists there as they face pressure from Hindu radicals.

Tuesday 12 Hindu extremists forced their way into a prayer meeting in Bangalore, Karnataka State, India, at 11pm on 3 March and ordered the two ladies conducting the meeting, Parimala and Padmavathi, to stop it immediately. The invaders started verbally abusing the Christians, accusing them of forcible conversions, and filed a police complaint against them. The women were forced to put down in writing that they would not visit houses and distribute Christian literature, nor would they conduct night prayer meetings in future. Pray for our sisters, that they will know the BARNABAS PRAYER MAY/JUNE 2012

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JUNE 13 - 17 peace of the Lord and will continue to witness to His love.

Wednesday 13 Pray for a church pastor in Sri Lanka who was beaten up and ordered to either leave the village or face death, in an attack

by Buddhist monks. Three monks came to the pastor’s door in Ambalangoda, Galle District, on 20 February. He invited them in, and within minutes a group of around 30 monks entered the property. One of them spoke against the pastor’s Christian activities and warned him not to convert Buddhists, before hitting him repeatedly. After issuing the ultimatum, the monks warned that the pastor’s house would be bombed or set on fire.

He has been serving the church in the village for over ten years; pray that he will be left in peace to continue his ministry.

Thursday 14 Pray for Shamim Bibi, a young Christian mother who has been charged with blasphemy in Pakistan. She was arrested on 28 February and charged under section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code, which prescribes a mandatory death sentence for “defiling the name of Muhammad”. She was accused by neighbours just three days after some of her relatives converted to Islam and tried to pressure her into doing the same. When she refused, her sister-inlaw then told some local Muslims that Shamim had insulted Muhammad. Her family believe she has been framed: at least one of the named witnesses was not even present at the scene of the alleged offence. Pray for the case against Shamim to be dismissed, and pray too for Aasia Bibi, a Christian mother on death row in Pakistan after being convicted under the same law.

Friday 15 On 10 January 2012 the authorities bulldozed a Christian welfare centre in Lahore, including a church and homes of Christians. It had been used for various purposes, including as a 12 12

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home for the elderly and a girls’ school. Hundreds of local Christians gathered at the site to protest against the demolition, and Christian leaders said that the Punjab government had acted illegally.

Pray that the Pakistani authorities will recognise the injustice of this land seizure and transfer the property back to the Christians. Pray also that the authorities will treat Christians on equal terms with Muslims. Illegal seizure of land is one of the many injustices that Christians in Pakistan have to suffer.

Saturday 16 “I deserved it and yet just because I am Christian, I have been put at a disadvantage.” Haroon Arif’s story is sadly all too typical of the discrimination suffered by Pakistani Christians. He missed out on a place at state medical school under a system that awards an extra 20 marks to Muslims who have memorised the Quran. Despite getting A grades, he was 0.0255% off the final mark required. Haroon argued that his knowledge of the Bible was equivalent to that of a Muslim who had memorised the Quran, and that he should therefore qualify for the extra 20 marks they receive, but his argument was not accepted.

Pray that the way will be opened for Haroon to train as a doctor, and that there will be equality for Christians and Muslims within Pakistan’s education system.

Sunday 17 Many Christians in Pakistan are working as virtual slaves in brick kilns. Their wages are so pitiful that they inevitably get into debt to their Muslim landlords and are bound to them until they have repaid their loans, a process that often takes years or even generations. Their harsh working days can span more than twelve hours, and children of kiln workers

JUNE 18 - 21 hardly ever go to school. Barnabas is providing some of these Christian families with monthly food packages, enabling them to save some money (usually over a period of several years) to repay their landlords and break free from bondage. Pray for endurance for all Christian families living in these cruel circumstances and that many more will find freedom and dignity through this project.

Barnabas Fund’s feeding programme helps Christian brick- workers in Pakistan escape from debt

Monday 18 Iranian Christian convert Yousef Fallah Ranjbar, who was forced to flee his homeland in December 2008, was beaten and scalded by his employer in Turkey, where he has been seeking asylum. The employer took exception to his Christian faith and, as a result, repeatedly denied him his pay. On one occasion, after Yousef had asked for his pay, the employer and several other workers attacked him, beating him and pouring hot water over his back. Pray that the Lord will heal Yousef’s physical wounds and for an end to anti-Christian persecution in Turkey, so that Christians can worship without fear of attacks.

Tuesday 19 “Jesus is dead” and “Death to Christianity” were two of the slogans spray-painted on two churches in Jerusalem in February. Christians in Jerusalem feel increasingly under assault at this time, especially those who live in Jewish neighbourhoods. Some church leaders report that they are spat on almost daily, and the mayor’s adviser on the Christian community admitted that one of the defaced churches feels “besieged”. Pray for protection for Christians and their property in Jerusalem and throughout the Holy Land, and for peace.

Wednesday 20 Three men have been convicted in relation to the siege at a Baghdad church in October 2010 and sentenced to the prescribed penalty for terrorism. In the bloodiest incident of anti-Christian violence in Iraq since 2003, armed militants took around 100 worshippers hostage during an evening service on 31 October 2010; over 50 hostages, police and terrorists were killed in the ensuing battle with the security forces. An al-Qaeda affiliated group claimed responsibility for the attack. Give thanks that the murderers have been brought to justice, and pray for Christians who are still recovering from injuries and trauma after that terrible day.

Pray too for an end to attacks on Christians in Iraq.

Thursday 21 Iraqi Christians are running out of havens in their homeland. Many took refuge in the north, in the autonomous region of Kurdistan, to escape a great surge in anti-Christian violence in the most dangerous parts of the country after the US-led invasion in 2003. But now attacks against Christians have broken out there too: recently some Christian shops were torched by Islamists, and a 29-year-old Christian man was kidnapped and held for three days before being rescued. Many of the displaced families are also struggling to make ends meet and cannot find BARNABAS PRAYER MAY/JUNE 2012

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JUNE 22 - 25 employment, housing or schools. Pray that these Christians may find the Lord to be a rock of refuge and a strong fortress to save them (Psalm 31:2), and that they may find safe places to live.

Friday 22 Barnabas Fund has helped twelve converts from Islam to start up a small translation agency in St Petersburg, Russia. Five of them are in Christian ministry. All of them have emigrated from Central Asian countries where the pressure on Christians, especially those from a Muslim background, can be severe. Using the languages of their homelands, they interpret legal documents. Pray that their business will be successful, so that they can support themselves and also use some of the profits to enable other Christian migrants in their church to set up a new business.

Saturday 23 An elderly Christian man was detained and questioned for six hours by police in Turkmenistan after he tried to print copies of a small book of his Christian poetry.

Begjan Shirmedov (77) was banned from travelling outside his home region while the case is investigated. Turkmenistan imposes strict censorship on religious literature, and the publishing of Christian books is almost impossible; the government has also blocked repeated attempts by the churches to form a Bible Society.

Pray that Begjan will not be punished and that the authorities will grant greater freedom to print and distribute Christian literature in Turkmenistan.

Sunday 24 Give thanks to the Lord that the pastor of an unregistered church in Turkmenistan has been set free from a labour camp, in an amnesty for prisoners to mark the country’s Flag Day. His wife said, “His release was so unexpected… It is such a joy I can’t tell you.” Ilmurad 14

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Nurliev had been arrested in 2010 and given a four-year sentence with “forcible medical treatment” on a charge of swindling. His congregation insisted that the charge was trumped up to punish him for leading the church. In prison he was denied a Bible and was allowed only a quick look at messages from

Pastor Ilmurad Nurliev has been set free from prison in Turkmenistan

well-wishers. Barnabas Fund sent financial support for food, clothes and medicine for the pastor, who is diabetic, and also help with his legal costs. Ilmurad still has to report to the police every Saturday; pray that he will be left in peace to continue his ministry.

Monday 25 “Esther”, a 16-year-old Christian schoolgirl in Uzbekistan, daughter of a pastor, was grabbed by the hair by a police officer and had her head repeatedly smashed against a wall and on a car until she lost consciousness. She had tried to prevent him from planting drugs or other illegal material in the family car as a pretext

JUNE 26 - 30 for arresting her father. Despite a diagnosis of severe brain injury, two state hospitals turned her away after visits from the police and hearing that she was a Christian. Months of inadequate medical treatment in several private hospitals in Uzbekistan were followed by an operation in Russia that finally brought some relief to her. Pray for complete healing for this traumatised Christian girl, who is now slowly learning to walk again.

Barnabas is helping to pay the medical bills.

Tuesday 26 Praise God that an order by a Muslim-led tribunal that eight Christian families be evicted from an Egyptian village was overturned by a parliamentary commission on 16 February.

The families had been forcibly removed from Kobry-el-Sharbat in Alexandria in a humiliating agreement made on 1 February to placate local Muslims, who were enraged by a rumour that a Christian man had taken illicit images of a Muslim woman. Although there was apparently no evidence against him, the Muslims attacked and burned Christian property in the village.

Anti-Christian violence continues to rage in Egypt; pray for protection for our brothers and sisters, and that further mob attacks against them will be prevented.

Wednesday 27 Makarios Bolous, the minister of St George’s Church in the village of Elminarab, Aswan province, Egypt, has been sentenced to six months in prison and fined 300 Egyptian pounds for building his church too high. The century-old building had been under renovation, and permission for the work had been granted by the governor of Aswan, but local Muslims objected and turned violent. The church was torched by a Muslim mob on 30 September 2011, and when thousands of Christians took to the streets in Cairo on 9 October to protest, they came under brutal attack by the security forces, Islamists and thugs. Continue to pray for all those who were

injured or lost loved ones in the violence. Pray too that the minister’s conviction will be overturned and that he and his congregation will be allowed to worship in peace.

Thursday 28 Pray for the family of Moawad and his 26-year-old son Assad, who were shot dead in Egypt by a Muslim racketeer. Moawad, a building contractor, and Assad, an engineer, were murdered on 26 January when the offender went to Moawad’s home in Nag Hammadi to collect money he had demanded three days earlier. The racketeer has been kidnapping Christians for ransom; a senior Christian leader said that all the incidents had been reported and questioned why the man, who is well known to the police, had not been arrested. Pray that the Lord will grant peace to those who grieve for Moawad and Assad and protection for our Christian brothers and sisters in Egypt.

Friday 29 Since mid-2011, South Kordofan and Blue Nile in the border region between Sudan and South Sudan have been under sustained attack by the Sudan Armed Forces.

The Nuba Mountains area, which is around 30% Christian, has been one of the worst hit. It is the latest genocidal campaign by the Sudanese government, which wants a purely Arab and Islamic state. Thousands of people have been fleeing to the mainly Christian, mainly African, South Sudan, which is under severe strain; a major food shortage is expected in 2012, as drought has ruined crops. Pray that South Sudan will have the resources to cope with the influx of refugees, and that Sudan will stop bombing South Kordofan and Blue Nile.

Saturday 30 “Moving is not easy … people have children in school. They have homes…

It is almost impossible.” This was a senior

Church leader’s response to an ultimatum by BARNABAS PRAYER MAY/JUNE 2012

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JUNE 30 Sudan in February for people originating from South Sudan to either leave the northern country by 8 April or be treated as foreigners. It applies to an estimated 500,000-700,000 people, who are mainly Christians of Southern origin, and who were stripped of their citizenship rights when South Sudan became independent in July 2011.

Many of them fled north during the long civil war

and have been there for decades. An influx of hundreds of thousands of people to South Sudan is likely to trigger a humanitarian emergency. Pray for all those who have left or are in the process of leaving, that the Lord will meet their needs, and pray for the Christians who remain in Sudan, that they will be protected from harm.

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www.barnabasfund.org Barnabas Fund is a Company registered in England Number 4029536. Registered Charity Number 1092935 Cover: These Afghan Christian refugees are assisted in another country by Barnabas Fund Š Barnabas Fund 2012 16

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