Barnabas Aid March April 2014

THE AID AGENCY FOR THE PERSECUTED CHURCH

www.barnabasfund.org

MARCH/APRIL 2014

“Our loss is nothing compared to His sacrifice”

IN THIS ISSUE

Survivors

Tanzania

Transformation

Moving testimonies from Pakistan church bombing

Confident Islam fuels growing tensions

Ugandan converts find new life and hope

Faith, Power and Territory y Patrick Sookhdeo Islam is a religion that seeks to be a polittical and territoria orial powe po w r. This book hass been writte tenn to proovide d ann easy-to-use to s ressou ourc r e to under e stan andd Issla lam m in Bririta tainn tod odayy, the way in whi hich ch it is devvel elop opinng, its infl nfluuen encce c on th thee cooun untrtryy andd whhet an e he herr as assi simi mila latition on is po posssibblee. ItI ask as s penetrating ques qu estition onss ab abou outt th thee wa wayy th that at Mus uslilm co com m unities in the UK mmun mm coul co uldd de deve velo l p inn the fut uture, and nd how Brittish authorities and innst stititut utio ions ns app ppea earr to be yi yiel eldi d ng to a proocess of o Islam a isation.

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Global Jihad Patr Pa tric ickk So Sook okhd hdeo eo This book is a remarka kabl ble in-depth analysis of per e ha haps the he grea eate t st threat fa faci cing ng the world todayy. It examines what lies behind the resurrge g nce of militant Islami m st fundamentalissm. m Itt also speaks abouut the opponent’s strategy, its attraction and force. This is an invaluable resource for those who seekk to understand nd Islamist violence in the world today.

ISBN: 9780978714123 | Cover: Hardback | No. of pages: 669 | RRP: £15.99 | P & P: £4.50

To order these books, visit: barnabasfund.org/shop. Alternatively, please contact your nearest Barnabas Fund office (addresses on back cover). Cheques for the UK should be made payable to “Barnabas Books”.

The front cover of the January/February 2014 magazine showed a Christian boy protesting against the killing of Christians in Pakistan. After the suicide bomb attack on All Saints Church, Peshawar, Pakistan, on Sunday 22 September, in which around 100 Christians were killed, many demonstrations were organised by churches and Christian organisations. The photo was taken during one such demonstration by a Pakistani Christian, who then sent it to Barnabas Fund. We published it to help voiceless Pakistani Christians to get their message heard internationally.

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

Front cover: A Christian survivor of the September 2013 bombing of All Saints Church in Peshawar, Pakistan, in which over 100 people were killed To guard the safety of Christians in hostile environments, names may have been changed or omitted. Thank you for your understanding.

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

Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and obtain permission for stories and images used in this publication. Barnabas Fund apologises for any errors or omissions and will be grateful for any further information regarding copyright. © Barnabas Fund 2014

Between cross and resurrection diplomatic report dated March 1896 described the massacres of Armenian Christians in the Ottoman Empire in 1895-96 with the following statistics: “88,000 Armenians killed; 568 churches destroyed; 328 churches turned into mosques; 2,400 villages looted; 646 villages forcefully islamized.”1 A footnote in the same book adds the personal detail to the bare figures of the terrible events of those years.

Translated into English, it runs, “The cry of distress from Armenia: Presently everywhere Armenians are sitting around hopeless and distressed, freezing in the midst of their burned down homes, most of them have lost family members and relatives. They are themselves now waiting that they too may encounter their murderers… Thousands of homeless men, women and children encounter this hardship without enough food and the terror of an Asiatic winter. It is stunning and even unbearable that Christendom may continue to watch helplessly and in a dull mood this horrendous drama and debacle” (Ernst Lohmann, in an appeal to help Armenians after the 1895-96 terror).

The numbers are staggering. The appalling detail is clear. The reader cries out to know why, if European politicians of 1896 had been alerted to what was happening so near at hand, they did not act. The persecution of the Armenians continued for nearly 30 more years, peaking in 1915, and creating a total death toll estimated at over 1.5 million Armenian and Assyrian Christians. Yet during the First World War the German government even asked the German Oriental Mission to keep silent about the genocide to avoid disrupting the German-Turkish alliance. Its leader, Johannes Lepsius, refused, resigned his position and went into exile.

Today the same question could have been asked at any point in the last two decades about the lack of political action by the West on behalf of persecuted Christians in many countries around the globe. But perhaps change is now beginning. Canada and Germany have set an honourable precedent in their official concern for persecuted Christians.

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And at the end of last year, there were a number of significant indications that British politicians and leaders are waking up to the plight of persecuted Christians.

For example, Baroness Warsi, a Muslim who holds the government post of Minister for Faith, made a speech at Georgetown University in Washington DC on 16 November 2013 in which she said that the persecution of Christians “has become a global crisis” that requires an international response.

She described it as “the biggest challenge we face in this young century”. This was soon followed by debates on the subject of persecuted Christian minorities in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords. On 17 December, Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, made a courageous and remarkable speech on the increasing threat posed by Islamist extremists to Christian communities in the Middle East.

Here lies the big difference between 1896 and 2014. At last there is a realisation of the gravity of the situation amongst those who have the power and influence to change the course of events. We must pray for real change in how governments approach Christians in the Middle East. Western governments must no longer automatically support radical Islamists on the principle that “my enemy’s enemy is my friend”. They must consider whether their stance could inadvertently facilitate the extinction of the Church in the Middle East.

As we approach Easter, and reflect on the horrors of our Lord’s agony at Calvary on Good Friday, we must also remember the Resurrection on Sunday. Today the Church in the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere is living in the twilight of Saturday. Caught between the death and sufferings of the Friday and the resurrection hope of the Sunday, they live with the reality that somehow with God’s grace they must survive, accept their sufferings, and yet hold before themselves a vision of the life to come.

1

Andreas Baumann, Der Orient für Christus: Johannes Lepsius, Biographie und Missiologie. Gießen: Brunnen-Verlag, 2007, p. 42, referring to Richard Schäfer, Geschichte der Deutschen OrientMission. Potsdam: Lepsius, Fleischmann and Grauer, 1932.

Dr Patrick Sookhdeo International Director

Contents

4 Compassion in Action Feeding families and strengthening faith in South Asia Country Profile Tanzania: Islamism and violence fuel rising tensions Living in Babylon Shaped by the sufferings of Christ

WELCOME FROM THE DIRECTOR

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Project Update Barnabas trains and builds up Ugandan converts from Islam

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Learning from the persecuted Church Survivors of Peshawar bombing stand firm in Christ

PULLOUT

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12 Newsdesk Murderous attacks against Christians in Egypt and Nigeria In Touch Cakes and donkeys raise funds for suffering Christians

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COMPASSION IN ACTION

ho ba how b barnabas arn a rna ab ba as a s £19,228 to support Cana Girls’ Rescue Home for one year (US$31,356; €22,783) £3,471 to support the family of martyred convert Abdoulaye Daoud (US$5,558; €4,087)

Kenya: Rescue home blesses girls and community

£899 for training conference on Islam in Burundi (US$1,446; €1,065)

Cameroon: Showing Christ’s love to a grieving family

Burundi: Equipping Christian students to stand strong

Young women from the Cana Girls’ Rescue Home visit an elderly neighbour

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After convert from Islam Abdoulaye Daoud was martyred in Cameroon, his bereaved family were not left to struggle alone. Thanks to help from Barnabas, Abdoulaye’s widow and the couple’s twelve children are now living in a secure home.

BARNABAS AID MARCH/APRIL 2014

The family have all been encouraged in their faith by the help they have received. Abdoulaye’s mother also became a Christian after witnessing the love shown to her son’s family.

Abdoulaye and another convert, Abakachi, were killed by Islamist gunmen in February 2013.

Project reference 00-345

Barnabas Fund built an extra room onto the vulnerable family’s previously inadequate house, along with a wall and a gate to help keep them safe. We also provided financial support to Abdoulaye’s widow.

Project reference 25-663

When an impoverished 84-yearold church member became house-bound, the girls visited her to “demonstrate love, sharing and caring” (as our project partner wrote). They brought the woman food, water and firewood, and prayed with her.

“I want to tell my brothers and sisters that the salvation, the real rest and success are in Jesus Christ.”

A speaker at a two-day training conference on Islam in Burundi spoke of how he had become a Muslim after being promised money to start a small business, but did not find true peace until he later became a Christian.

Since attending the Barnabasfunded conference, 60 students from local secondary schools have a better understanding of the key doctrines of Islam and of Islamic mission strategies in their area. The cost of the training was just £15 per person including accommodation.

Now, the students will be better equipped to stand firm and to share the Gospel during conversations with their Muslim neighbours.

They are also sharing their new understanding with other students at their schools.

(This project is now complete, but similar projects can be supported with a gift to our Leadership Training Fund.)

Barnabas provided support to Abdoulaye’s family in the wake of his murder

One of the girls, Irene, is doing very well in her studies and hopes to become a doctor so that she can help the disadvantaged. She writes, “I would also like to build a big home for all needy children … to show my gratitude to God.” The home, which protects and provides for Christian girls at risk of abuse associated with traditional African religions, is not only providing for the girls’ education but is also encouraging them in their witness. The girls have been sharing God’s blessings by reaching out to the needy in their community.

Christian education and training are crucial to strengthening the Church in Burundi

Project reference: 00-430 (Leadership Training Fund)

The education that the Christian young women living at the Cana Girls’ Rescue Home are receiving is opening up opportunities and inspiring them to aim high.

Central Asia: Sharing the Gospel despite opposition

Warm through the winter in Syria

Song booklets touch hearts in Sudan

“Firuza” (centre) regularly travels to a village 70km away to witness for Christ

These winter clothes were given to displaced Christians in Aleppo

These song booklets are helping Sudanese Christians to spread the Gospel

An intrepid evangelist is sharing the Gospel and supporting vulnerable believers in a restrictive, Muslimmajority Central Asian country.

Receiving warm winter clothing made all the difference to 2,055 needy Christians in Aleppo. The beleaguered Christians, who had already endured months of heavy fighting and scarce supplies, were very vulnerable as winter set in.

December 2013 brought snow and temperatures as low as -7-10˚C, and many impoverished believers have no means of heating their homes.

A Barnabas-funded project to provide booklets of local Christian songs in Sudan is helping to spread the Gospel and is encouraging the Sudanese Church.

Project reference 00-360 (Christian Literature Fund)

For many years, Sudanese Christians have been singing worship songs from Egypt or from South Sudan, which do not touch the hearts of their non-Christian neighbours.

But now, local Christian songs have been gathered together in a printed booklet, and 4,000 copies are being distributed to local churches.

The song booklets, which cost only around £1.50 each to print, are helping the Church in its witness.

For example, one non-Christian man was walking by a church building when he heard a beautiful voice singing one of the songs in the booklet. Touched by the song, he was moved to enter the church and later gave his life to Christ.

£509 to support an evangelist in a Central Asian country for six months (US$830; €603)

The warm clothing, funded by Barnabas, was given to needy children and to the displaced.

Some Christian families had been forced to flee heavy fighting in their neighbourhood with only what they were wearing at the time, so they had nothing to protect them from the bitter cold.

These displaced Christians each received a coat, a pair of trousers, a jumper and a shirt. One recipient said, “In helping us, you showed us that Jesus, our Lord, has not abandoned us.”

“Firuza” lost her job following visits from the secret service. But now that Barnabas funds her living and travel costs, she is able to run home groups and women’s ministries in her home city. She also regularly makes 140km round trips to witness to villagers in another area.

Project reference 00-1032 (Middle East Fund to help Christians in Syria)

£6,240 to help produce books of Christian songs in Sudan (US$5,088; €3,697)

£59,877 for winter clothes and other humanitarian needs in Aleppo, Syria (US$98,427; €72,370)

Whether we are providing comfort to the families of martyrs, support to Christian workers or simply warm clothes to the needy, none of Barnabas Fund’s work would be possible without our supporters. Thank you so much for remembering our persecuted brothers and sisters in your prayers and for reaching out to them with practical help. The following pages contain the stories of persecuted Christians whose lives have been transformed by recent grants from Barnabas Fund.

Please pray for these brothers and sisters in Christ.

Initially, she met with hostility; some villagers even tried to stone her. But she persevered in sharing Christ’s love, and three families and more than 20 individuals have come to faith.

Firuza’s support is all the more important because it is common for the Christians in her small groups to be spied on by the authorities.

One man was fined heavily after a state spy pretended to be a fellow believer in order to investigate his Christian activities.

Project reference 00-113 (Convert Fund)

is help helpin helping he pin

COMPASSION IN ACTION

BARNABAS AID MARCH/APRIL 2014

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COMPASSION IN ACTION

bringing hope,

Feeding families, strengthening faith Supporting needy Christian families in Bangladesh “I never realised that someone would think of my family! That God provided this for us is unbelievable. I praise God for His wonderful provision. Thanks be to the Lord!”

Porikhit Roy, a Christian father in Bangladesh, was filled with joy and praise as he spoke of how a Barnabas-funded feeding programme has changed his life.

Porikhit’s family is one of 113 needy Christian families in Bangladesh who have been receiving regular monthly food parcels from Barnabas Fund for over a year. Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries in the world, and the families live in Muslim-majority areas where they are subject to discrimination. As a result, their need is very great.

The food parcels contain rice, daal (lentils), milk powder, oil, flour, sugar and salt and cost just £18 each per month. Now, the impoverished Christian families no longer go hungry; they can also use what they would have spent on food to improve their lives in other ways, such as paying school fees.

The programme is also strengthening the Christians in their faith. Dulal Roy, who has a disabled son, said, “I am very happy and will never forget this blessing. Now we as a family are attending regular church services and are praising God and singing songs about God’s goodness.”

One of the 113 needy Christian families who are receiving the life-changing food support

£12,204 to feed needy Christian families in Bangladesh for six months (US$19,904; €14,469)

Project reference: 04-1090

Meeting the needs of Afghan Christian refugees Barnabas Fund is providing regular food support to nine Afghan Christian refugee families, who have fled to another Asian country to escape severe persecution in their homeland.

The families were forced to leave all their possessions in Afghanistan, and because they have not been granted legal status in their country of refuge, they are not even allowed to work to support themselves. But now that they know where their next meal is coming from, they can focus on rebuilding their lives, and building up the Afghan Church, in their new location.

The project provides food and basics, including rice, oil, beans, pasta, sugar, tea and toiletries, at a cost of around £23 per family per month.

Barnabas is also funding school fees for

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BARNABAS AID MARCH/APRIL 2014

58 children from this extremely vulnerable community.

One family of nine were forced to flee Afghanistan after they were targeted by the Taliban. The father of the family said, “In this kind of situation, when you are helped it is a great blessing that you will never forget. The food materials that are given to us through this project are very helpful, and it solves many of our problems. I ask our Heavenly Father to bless those who help us.”

Even in their new location, the Christians are not left in peace. They regularly experience hostility from Muslim Afghans living nearby and must meet to worship very discreetly.

As well as feeding Afghan Christian refugees, Barnabas funds school fees for their children

Barnabas forwarded a gift of £2,430 to help feed Afghan Christian refugees for one year (US$3,995; €2,937) Project reference: 01-901 (Needy and persecuted Afghan Christians)

COMPASSION IN ACTION

transforming lives Sri Lanka: Bible camp brings peace for persecuted Christians the midst of mounting persecution in Sri Lanka, a Barnabas-funded weekend Bible camp brought peace, encouragement and the joy of fellowship to Christians from five churches that had been the targets of attacks or threats.

In

eagerness. But for many, the camp also proved a time of great spiritual renewal, beyond anything they could have expected. A pastor who attended the camp said, “Jesus Christ performed tremendous miracles in all our lives through this Shalom camp.”

For the Shalom Camp’s 157 participants, being able simply to meet to worship God without fear of attack was a blessing, and the Christians arrived full of enthusiasm and

The weekend’s activities included worship, teaching on the Biblical basis for persecution, group discussions on responding to opposition, and family counselling. Children and young

“Jesus Christ performed tremendous miracles in all our lives through this Shalom camp”

people took part in their own sessions, and time was set aside for prayer and rest. At the end of the weekend, the believers, many of whom are converts from Buddhism, took communion together and listened to a final message of encouragement.

Christians in some parts of the country suffer occasional violence by Hindu and Muslim extremists, but it is militant Buddhists who present the most severe threat to our brothers and sisters in Sri Lanka. Some of the camp’s attendees were from a church that was attacked by a mob of Buddhist extremists, led by monks, in June 2013. During the attack, the assailants beat church members and destroyed church property. Afterwards, the congregation felt that they could not even leave their homes safely. It was at this time that they were invited to come to the camp. One church member said: “As we shared our situations and circumstances with each other, it took away most of the burden that we were carrying.

During these three days we were able to worship God with all our hearts and to learn a lot from the sessions. It was very encouraging for each and every one of us… we thank God for this blessed opportunity.”

A teenage convert from Buddhism, from the same church, endured rejection from friends and harassment by teachers following the attack. After attending the camp, the young Christian said, “I thank God for this opportunity to learn about Him and worship Him. This programme helped bring peace into my troubled heart.”

£11,918 for weekend Bible camp for persecuted Christians in Sri Lanka (US$19,434; €14,129) (This project is now complete, but similar projects can be supported with a gift to our Victims of Violence Fund.)

Children at the Shalom Camp were encouraged by sessions for young people

Project reference: 00-345 (Victims of Violence Fund)

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COUNTRY PROFILE

Christians in Tanzania Living under an emerging threat?

Eliya Meshack, a youth leader in the Ilemela district of Mwanza province on the Tanzanian mainland, was leading an overnight prayer session on 22 October 2013 when his life was brutally cut short in a deadly machete attack. Although it is not known for sure who Eliya’s killers were, Islamic extremists from a Zanzibar separatist group are suspected. The youth leader and his wife had been receiving threats for more than six months and had reported them, but the police did nothing to protect the family. trocities such as this were until recently never seen in Tanzania. But the past two years have seen heightened tensions, and the president has said that for the first time the country is facing the prospect of civil strife along religious lines. Some church leaders in Tanzania believe that underpinning the increased friction between communities is an alarming drive to make Tanzania’s public institutions more Islamic. And in the semi-autonomous, Muslim-majority archipelago of Zanzibar, a growing separatist, extremist movement is greatly threatening the islands’ Christian minority.

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Tanzania was formed when the mainland, then called Tanganyika, and Zanzibar were joined in 1964, following independence from the UK. Because the vast majority of Tanzanians live on the mainland, this article first discusses the issues Christians face there before devoting a separate section to Zanzibar.

Pockets of extremism threaten prevailing peace It is impossible to know whether Christians or Muslims form the majority in mainland Tanzania, because the census no longer includes questions about religion. Estimates vary quite widely; most religious leaders estimate that mainland Tanzania is 50% Muslim and 50% Christian, while an independent 2010 survey recorded 60% of the population as Christians, 36% as Muslims and 4% as followers of other religions.

The bereaved family of Pastor Mathayo Kachila, who was murdered when tensions over meat slaughter escalated 8

BARNABAS AID MARCH/APRIL 2014

Since Tanzania became independent in 1961, this diverse population has dealt with difficult economic conditions, caused by a failed post-independence socialist experiment and compounded by natural disasters and conflicts in the wider region. But despite ongoing, widespread poverty, Muslims and Christians have, on the whole, lived together in peace. Indeed, in the vast majority of areas Muslims and Christians still live and work peacefully side by side.

COUNTRY PROFILE But this is no longer the case in some locations.

In the first major anti-Christian attack of recent years, three churches were burned down and others attacked when Muslims rioted in the suburbs of Dar es Salaam in October 2012.

The riots were apparently prompted by an incident involving a Christian boy and a Muslim boy, in which the Christian was drawn into committing an act considered by Muslims to be desecration of the Quran. Churches in Arusha, Kigoma and Mwanza were also targeted around this time.

Then, in other areas, tensions over meat slaughter began to escalate. Pastor Mathayo Kachila was murdered in February 2013 by a group of youths who attacked a butchers’ shop in Buseresere in the Geita region. Muslims in the area had been demanding the closure of Christian-owned butcheries because the meat they sold was not halal. Soon afterwards two more Christians were killed when further tensions broke out in Tunduma in April.

Since these attacks, anti-Christian incidents have continued sporadically, with church leaders targeted in particular. A Barnabas partner reported that extremists kept a “hit list” of pastors who are converts from Islam ministering to Muslims. Machete attacks have been carried out on church ministers at their homes. And at least five people were killed, and at least 60 wounded, when the inaugural service of a church in Arusha was bombed in May. Churches in Dar es Salaam and Kijitonyama have also been targeted; in total, at least 56 churches have been burned in Tanzania. (Responsibility for some of these attacks is still unclear.)

Attacks such as these are carried out by only a small minority of Muslims. A minor Zanzibarbased extremist movement originally attracted Muslims who felt disenfranchised in the 1990s

by Tanzania’s previous one-party system. It appears, however, that international Islamic terror groups are encouraging more Muslims in the country to become radicalised. Senior Christian leaders have reported that radical camps in the country are teaching young Muslims that Christians must be killed or live as second-class citizens. Children who attend the camps are told to attend only Islamic schools. A training camp for al-Shabaab, an Islamist terrorist group active in Somalia and Kenya, was broken up by police in the Tanga region in October 2013. CDs and DVDs have also been played at some mosques urging the killing of Christians and specifically encouraging Tanzanian Muslims to join Islamists fighting in Somalia.

Are Tanzania’s institutions being Islamised?

has been moved from the Christian-headed Prime Minister’s office to the control of the Muslim Vice-President. Christians are also not well represented in the most senior leadership positions in security and defence, which may be contributing to the difficulties some believers have experienced in obtaining protection and justice.

The effects of some senior political appointments on the Christian community can already be seen.

For example, it is reported that the Muslimheaded department of Communication, Science and Technology generally grants permission for new Islamic media outlets, whereas church-based outlets find it impossible to gain authorisation.

One Christian radio station has been waiting a number of years for an answer to its request for authorisation. Responding to a recent survey, 83% of Tanzanians said that they get their news and information from the radio; in this context, equal access to the airwaves is crucial.

Some Christian leaders believe that increasing Islamic extremism is being accompanied by a gradual political and intellectual reshaping of the secular state in favour of Islam. Under radical influences, some mosques are urging Muslims not to vote for any non-Muslim politicians, so that Tanzania’s leadership will become entirely Islamic.

Also, although Muslim regional governors have been appointed both to Muslim-majority areas and Christian-majority areas, no Christian regional governors have been appointed to Muslim-majority regions. And the University of Dodoma, a secular, publicly-funded institution set up for students of all religions in 2007, has since become openly Islamic in character.

Although Christians are well-represented amongst cabinet ministers, the President, himself a Muslim, has appointed Muslims to numerous positions of strategic importance in the government. In the case of the department of Union Affairs, which oversees the sensitive relations between the mainland and Zanzibar, not only has a Muslim been appointed as its minister, but the department

These moves come at a time when it is particularly important that no one religion is unfairly favoured in Tanzania’s public life.

The country is in the process of rewriting its constitution, and the role of sharia law in the state is under discussion. Muslims are prominent at the highest levels of Tanzania’s judiciary, who are likely to be consulted over the issue of whether

Rwanda

Kenya

Burundi

Tanzania • Tabora

DRC Morogoro •

Ilemela Zanzibar Dar es Salaam Arusha Kigoma Mwanza Buseresere Tunduma Tanga Dodoma

Zambia Christians at worship in Tanzania. Some believers have faced harassment by the authorities

Mozambique Locations of anti-Christian incidents mentioned in this article

BARNABAS AID MARCH/APRIL 2014

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COUNTRY PROFILE to introduce Islamic Kadhi courts. Provision for Kadhii courts was not removed from neighbouring Kenya’s constitution when this was revised in 2010, against the protests of some church leaders who feared the courts could contribute to Islamisation of the Christian-majority country.

The Tanzanian authorities are already taking some actions that are more typically seen in Islamic states. A total of 52 false cases have recently been brought against pastors; for example, one pastor was accused of making derogatory remarks about Islam and Muhammad following the conversion of two Muslims to Christianity. A teenage convert from Islam was jailed for two years in 2012 after being falsely accused of desecrating a Quran.

Zanzibar: Persecution in paradise Today, Zanzibar is around 98% Muslim. Although the islands are a popular tourist destination, Christians, and particularly church leaders, in this “paradise” are under a more intense threat than their brothers and sisters on the mainland are. Separatists have been pushing for greater autonomy from the mainland and for sharia law to be applied to all the islands’ legislation.

Political pressure turned violent in May 2012, when a number of churches were torched by rioters from separatist group the Association for Islamic Mobilisation and Propagations (Uamsho), who clashed with police. Later the group circulated leaflets threatening church leaders.

These were not empty threats. On Christmas Day in 2012, the Rev. Ambrose Mkenda was shot in the face and shoulder by two attackers on a motorcycle as he returned to his home.

Uamsho members were suspected of carrying out the attack, which the church leader thankfully survived. Then, in February 2013, Pastor Evarist Mushi died after being shot twice in the head by two young men as he tried to enter his church. A third church leader, Joseph Anselmo Mwagambwa, suffered severe burns to his face and arms when acid was thrown over him as he left an internet café in September. Fifteen people

On Christmas Day in 2012, the Rev. Ambrose Mkenda was shot in the face and shoulder by two attackers on a motorcycle as he returned to his home were arrested in connection with this and other acid attacks, including one in August 2013 on two British teenage girls who were volunteering at a school connected with a local church. A police commissioner said that some of those arrested have links with al-Qaeda and al-Shabaab, although this statement has been contested.

It has been reported that at least six Christian girls were raped by Islamic extremists in Zanzibar

last year. Reports are also circulating alleging that dozens of pregnant Christian women have been refused medical care by Muslim healthcare professionals in Zanzibar and that at least one unborn baby died as a result of this.

The Christian community is a target for violence by separatist militants, but the reasons for this are complex. The desire for independence and the atrocities carried out in pursuit of it are partly fuelled by dissatisfaction over decades of economic decline and poverty during the islands’ union with the mainland. Uamsho has been gaining support ever since Zanzibar’s main opposition Civic United Front party formed a government of national unity with the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party, leaving some Muslims feeling unrepresented. But targeted attacks on Christian leaders and calls for sharia to have a more prominent place in public life, along with the incursions made in Tanzania by international Islamic terrorist groups, suggest that the demands of radical Islam are also playing a part.

But whatever the underlying causes of the violence, the effect on Zanzibar’s Christians is much the same; they are unwelcome, and often unsafe, in their own towns and villages. If Zanzibar were to become independent, and if its laws were therefore detached from Tanzania’s constitution and its provision for religious freedom, their plight would be likely only to intensify.

Beneath present divisions, a painful history

Several churches in Zanzibar have been torched by Islamist separatist rioters

The desire of some of their Muslim neighbours to Islamise Zanzibar is particularly painful for the islands’ Christians because of the archipelago’s history of slavery. Islam was brought to Zanzibar by Arab traders in the 8th century, and the archipelago was once the hub of the Arab slave trade as well as the centre of a large Islamic domain in East Africa. Before and after the abolition of the slave trade in 1897, Christian mission to the islands flourished; many former slaves became Christians, and Zanzibar’s Anglican Cathedral was built on the site of the former slave-market. The Islamisation of the islands could be seen by local Christians as reversing this process of liberation.

Please pray ● That tensions between Christians and Muslims both in parts of mainland Tanzania and in Zanzibar will subside, and that the peaceful relations that the majority of believers enjoy with their Muslim neighbours will prevail throughout the nation.

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● For protection for church leaders and converts from Islam, who may be particularly vulnerable at times of tension. ● For the tiny Christian minority in Zanzibar; that even as their safety is threatened and they face an uncertain future, they may be joyful in hope, patient in affliction and faithful in prayer (Romans 12:12).

LIVING IN BABYLON

Living in Babylon Remaining faithful to Christ in a hostile world

this series of pull-out supplements, we are considering how the first letter of Peter in the New Testament inspires and directs Christians to persevere in the face of persecution. Its message relates not only to the intense sufferings experienced by around 10% of the global Christian population, but also to the more subtle social pressure endured by believers in the West. Indeed, the letter is addressed to a scenario that corresponds more closely in some ways to the latter than to the former.

1 Peter is written from a place called “Babylon” (5:13). This is probably a symbolic reference to Rome, intended to identify the Roman Empire as the place of exile for God’s people. The readers are exiles and foreigners in a land that is not their own, and as a result they are regarded with contempt and rejected by wider society because their values and customs are different. This hostility and pressure is intended to bully and shame them into abandoning their Christian beliefs and lifestyle and returning to their old ways. Much anti-Christian antagonism today has the same character.

So 1 Peter is written to sustain its readers’ faith and discipleship in the crucible of persecution and to guide us in how to live in such a challenging context.

In The sufferings of Christ In addressing these subjects in the context of the readers’ persecutions and sufferings, this chapter provides the letter’s most extended treatment of the sufferings of Christ (vv. 2124). These are one of the most important themes in 1 Peter; they are mentioned explicitly seven times and referred to indirectly in several other places.

Although the letter affirms in passing the uniqueness of Christ’s sufferings, it refers to them primarily as an example for the readers to follow. This idea is stated in 2:21 and is implied by some of the other references (3:18; 4:1, 13). Just as for Christ the path to heavenly glory led through suffering, so also it does for His followers. They must therefore adopt the same attitude to their afflictions as Christ did to His and respond to them in the same way. Some readers see this principle underlying parts of the letter (such as 2:1-10) where Christ’s sufferings are not specifically mentioned.

1 Peter 2

The first ten verses of chapter 2 continue the call in 1:13-25 to a lifestyle that fits with our status as God’s people and our hope of salvation in Christ. The last 15 verses then begin another section that brings this appeal down to earth in practical guidance for living in our Babylonian exile and facing its persecutions. The first part of this section (which runs into chapter 3) relates to proper conduct in relation to the institutions of society: as subjects towards the state, as slaves towards masters, and as spouses towards each other.

Longing for God’s Word (2:1-3) If Christians are to love one another, then we must cut out of our lives all the evil attitudes and practices that are opposed to that love and that we might slip into because of the pressure of persecution: wickedness, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and evil-speaking.

Suffering should produce endurance and character (cp. Romans 5:3-4), not vices such as these. Having rejected them, we are also to desire to receive God’s Word, through which we have already been begotten again. The purpose of this longing is that we may grow up towards the salvation that will be revealed in the last time; as the Word of God raises us up to maturity, it prepares us to receive our promised inheritance. Our past experience of the Lord’s goodness gives us good reason to desire the nourishment that He provides.

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LIVING IN BABYLON Many of those who suffer most severely for the sake of Christ long passionately to feed on God’s Word, especially if the Scriptures are not widely available to them. They know how much they need it, so that they can become mature Christians and stand firm in the face of persecution. In the West, where Bibles and Christian teaching are readily accessible, we may easily take them for granted and forget how vital they are. But for us too the Word is essential to our growth towards salvation and our faithfulness under pressure.

The Message of 1 Peter

The people of God (2:4-10) These verses draw together the argument of the letter so far and introduce the practical teaching that begins at 2:11. Verses 4-5 announce their key themes, which are then expanded in the following verses, mainly by the use of Biblical texts.

Christ is presented using the symbol of a living stone, the cornerstone of God’s new temple created by the Spirit. This stone was rejected by humans but is chosen by God and precious to Him. In coming to Christ we also become living stones, who are being built into that Spirit-house to become a holy priesthood; we are set apart for God to offer sacrifices of worship to Him by the Spirit, sacrifices that are acceptable to Him through Christ.

Those who believe in Christ will never be put to shame; on the contrary, in Him we are hugely honoured. We inherit the privileges of Israel in the Old Testament; we become nothing less than God’s chosen people, priests to the King, dedicated to Him, His own precious possession. The sacrifices we offer by the Spirit involve our proclaiming God’s mighty deeds: that He has called us to a new Exodus, from darkness into His own wondrous light, and to a new covenant, where by His mercy He makes us His people.

Any pressure that is brought to bear upon Christians to compromise or abandon our faith will be effective only if it convinces us that going back to our old way of life will be preferable to persevering in our beliefs and discipleship. To counteract such deceitful persuasion, these verses sum up for us the blessings that we have in Christ, focusing in this case on our present experience rather than our future hope. They are intended to motivate us to endure suffering for His sake, knowing that the privileges we enjoy through coming to Him far outweigh our current distress. And since they assume our unity in the one people of God, they also encourage us to maintain that unity in the face of persecutions that might fracture it.

In contrast to the honour given to those who believe in God’s living stone, Jesus Christ, there is only shame for those who do not. The One whom they have rejected has been exalted by God, and so He becomes for them a stumbling-stone. In despising Him they disobey the Gospel; such disobedience is the destiny of those who are hostile to God and to His chosen servant, and it results in their downfall.

As those who have come to a “stone” who was rejected, Christians should expect to suffer a similar rejection from others, in the form of anti-Christian persecution. But this does not mean we have made a mistake in putting our faith in Christ. Quite the reverse: just as His rejection by the ungodly was evidence of His status as God’s chosen and precious stone, so our persecutions reveal that we share in that exalted standing. And not only do the privileges that we have in Him encourage us to persevere in our faith; the destined downfall of those who do not believe is a stark warning against falling away.

Good conduct among unbelievers (2:11-12) These verses introduce the next main section of the letter. The opening greeting identified its recipients as exiles or foreigners, and this description is restated here: as Christians we are exiles and aliens, living in a land that is not our own. In this context we are bound to be vulnerable to pressure from the surrounding culture to line up with its values and customs once again, and our natural and sinful impulses prompt us to yield to that pressure. But those impulses are in arms against our very life; they put us in danger on the coming day when Jesus Christ is revealed. So we are to abstain from following them.

More positively, we are to persevere in good conduct, and specifically in behaviour that is recognised as fitting even in non-Christian society. There are certain virtues that are widely approved, not only within the Church but also outside it. Our opponents may start by referring to us as evildoers, but if we practise these virtues and they see that we are model members of society, they may be won over and even join us in giving praise to God on the day of His coming. Such good conduct will give others no excuse to abuse us, and their better opinion of us will reduce persecution and make it easier to endure.

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Craving pure spiritual milk Bibles are immensely precious to Christians in Burma (Myanmar), who often respond with great joy when they receive their own copies.

Many have fled their villages to escape kidnapping, torture or even death at the hands of the Burmese army and are living in displaced people’s camps. In this hostile and threatening context, God’s Word provides them with huge encouragement and strength.

A young Kachin Christian who received a Bible said, “I am getting peace from God through reading the Bible and by living a life devoted to God.”

Understanding our sufferings When a Christian girl in Kyrgyzstan wanted to hand out a pack of Christian children’s magazines at her school, her teacher stopped her. She scolded the girl and even threw a copy of the magazine in her face. At first the girl was frightened, but when she got home from school she realised that what had happened to her was part of life as a Christian. She had suffered for Jesus’ sake, and knowing this filled her with faith and joy.

LIVING IN BABYLON

Unbelievers won over When Pastor Raj, a church leader in India, was unjustly imprisoned, his fellow-prisoners forced him to sleep near the toilet, where he was plagued by mosquitoes, and humiliated him by making him clean the toilets and bathrooms.

But he reached out to them in love and humility, sharing his soap and other personal items with them. Moved by his witness, his cellmates listened to the Gospel and apologised for ill-treating him. One of them, who was in prison for smuggling, became a Christian.

So these verses exhort us both to stand apart from the sinful practices of nonChristian society and to maintain its best qualities. The former safeguards us in light of the coming judgment; the latter eases the pressure on us and helps us to stand. Of course, living a good life among non-Christians does not deflect all persecution, as the letter will later make clear. But it is the best way of winning the approval of those who oppose us and of minimising the hostility we face from our society. The letter goes on to explain what it means in the context of specific social relationships.

Submitting to the civil authorities (2:13-17)

The Message of 1 Peter

The first relationship where we are to persevere in good conduct is with the civil authorities.

We are told to be subordinate for the Lord’s sake to “every human being”, in this context specifically to everyone in political authority. These include the emperor, who was the supreme ruler in 1st-century Asia Minor, and the governors whom he sends.

The role of these authorities is to punish evildoers and to praise those who do good, and the author appears to assume that under normal circumstances they will do this. So if they – and we – do what is good, we will usually be rewarded by those in authority, and it is God’s will that by living in this way we should silence the foolishness of those who slander us as evildoers.

As Christians we are free people, redeemed by Christ from the slavery of our former futile and worldly way of life. But we are not to use this freedom as an excuse for misconduct, scorning the best practices of wider society and rejecting civil authority. On the contrary, by living well we are to give due honour to all, which generally includes subordination to the supreme (and other) political authorities of our own time. This is the best way to deflect hostility and persecution from ourselves.

The generally positive view of Roman government implied by these verses suggests that loyalty to God and loyalty to the government will normally not conflict. But other NT books (notably Revelation) make clear that sometimes the civil authorities make demands of Christians that we ought not to obey, and in such cases our loyalty to Christ may bring suffering upon us. Subordination to our political masters is the rule, but disobedience to their ungodly requirements is a necessary exception, whatever the cost to us may be.

That exception may be implied even in these verses. The commands to love the family of believers and to fear God suggest that our commitment to one another within the people of God, and to God himself, limits our obligation to civil authority. And the designation of the emperor as (literally) a “human creature” may be intended to warn against regarding him as more than human and participating in emperor-worship. Christians must be prepared to say no to the state when our higher and exclusive loyalty to God requires it, even when doing so incites persecution against us.

Slaves and masters (2:18-25) In 1st-century Roman society, slaves were vulnerable and defenceless. They had a very low legal status and could be cruelly and brutally abused by their owners. Although some slaves had kind masters or enjoyed good economic and social standing, the hostility and mistreatment suffered by others was sufficient to provoke them to flight or violence.

The condition of slaves was typical of the difficulties faced by all Christians as exiles and aliens in the Roman Empire. It is likely that the instructions given to them in these verses are actually intended for all the readers; many of the phrases used here are applied to all Christians elsewhere in the letter. So slaves stand here for the whole Christian community; possibly the author wants to avoid speculating openly about the possibility of anti-Christian harassment or violence, which might attract charges of subversion.

The letter urges slaves to subordinate themselves to their masters, to the harsh as well as the good and gentle, and to bear their unjust suffering as part of their commitment to God. To endure a beating as a result of their own sin does not benefit them at all, but if they do good and endure suffering for that, then they are commended

by God. In other words, they should live well in the eyes of their masters to avoid unnecessary suffering at their hands, but also accept the persecution that the masters unfairly inflict upon them.

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The Message of 1 Peter

LIVING IN BABYLON The endurance of slaves when they suffer for doing good is part of their Christian calling and is based on Christ’s suffering for them, which is an example for them to follow. Christ’s persecutions were undeserved (He did not practise sin or deceit), and He did not retaliate (He declined to abuse or threaten His persecutors); rather He trusted in the righteous judgment of God to vindicate Him. The purpose of His sin-bearing death is that we might live in the same way, separating ourselves from sin and living righteously; such a life is possible through the healing that His death has brought us. Having once gone astray, we have returned to Him as our shepherd and overseer, so we should now follow in His way.

The life of the Christian slave described in these verses is a model for all Christians in our own powerlessness and helplessness before a hostile society. It urges us, as an essential part of our Christian calling, to be Christlike in responding to persecution.

Whatever we suffer at the hands of society should be undeserved, not a punishment for defying its conventional authorities and disregarding the best of its customs. But if when we do what is good and then still suffer, we will know God’s favour, provided we trust in Him for vindication instead of hitting back. Such a response is obedient to both the call of God and the example of Christ.

Conclusion

We have seen that 1 Peter is written to help Christians to live in “Babylon”, the place of exile, where we face hostility and pressure because of our different values and customs.

The second chapter, like the first, does this in two different ways.

First, 1 Peter 2 continues to encourage us to embrace the kind of life that reflects our hope of salvation and our standing as God’s people. We are called to reject evil attitudes and practices and to grow up towards salvation through God’s Word, and this call is supported by a rich description of our wonderful privileges in the present, as well as by a warning against the consequences of falling into unbelief.

Secondly, the chapter applies this general appeal to specific social relationships: to citizens in relation to the civil authorities and to slaves in relation to masters. In these contexts we are to submit ourselves to established authority and to conform to the best norms of the surrounding culture, thus deflecting hostility from ourselves as far as possible. But when we do good and are still persecuted, we are to endure the suffering, without retaliating but trusting in God, according to the example of Christ.

As God’s persecuted people, this is how we receive His commendation.

Living good lives A Barnabas project partner in Sri Lanka has created the following guidelines for how Christians should live and minister in their hostile environment in order to avoid inviting unnecessary antagonism and persecution.

With some adaptation, they are readily transferable to other contexts, including the West.

• Being sensitive to the sound levels during meetings • Being integrated to the village without alienating the community • Being culturally sensitive to the surrounding community in one’s conduct, especially the youth • Avoiding high-publicity programmes on special religious holidays • Not using relief or social programmes as “bait” for evangelism (but for relationship and opportunity) • Adopting a simple lifestyle consistent with the village • Maintaining unity among Christian leaders in the area • Gathering in small congregations if hostility persists • Avoiding promoting foreigners/outsiders to a prominent role in the village • Avoiding disrespectful comments about other religions at all times

BARNABAS FUND HOPE AND AID FOR THE PERSECUTED CHURCH UK 9 Priory Row, Coventry CV1 5EX Telephone 024 7623 1923 Fax 024 7683 4718 From outside the UK Telephone +44 24 7623 1923 Fax +44 24 7683 4718 Email info@barnabasfund.org Registered Charity Number 1092935 Company Registered in England Number 4029536

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New Zealand PO Box 27 6018, Manukau City, Auckland, 2241 Telephone (09) 280 4385 or 0800 008 805 Email office@barnabasfund.org.nz Australia PO Box 3527 Loganholme QLD 4129 Telephone (07) 3806 1076 or 1300 365799 Fax (07) 3806 4076 Email bfaustralia@barnabasfund.org

Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland PO Box 354, Bangor, BT20 9EQ Telephone 028 91 455 246 or 07867 854604 Email krisb@barnabasfund.org USA 6731 Curran St, McLean, VA 22101 Telephone (703) 288-1681 or toll-free 1-866-936-2525 Fax (703) 288-1682 Email usa@barnabasaid.org

International Headquarters The Old Rectory, River Street, Pewsey, Wiltshire SN9 5DB, UK Telephone 01672 564938 Fax 01672 565030 From outside UK Telephone +44 1672 564938 Fax +44 1672 565030 Email info@barnabasfund.org Scotland Barnabas Fund Scotland, PO Box 2084, Livingston, EH54 0EZ Email scotland@barnabasfund.org

www.barnabasfund.org

PROJECT UPDATE

Christian converts from Islam in Uganda receiving vocational training

Self-sufficiency for persecuted Ugandan converts

God has richly blessed the evangelistic work of a Barnabas partner in Uganda, and 2,000 Muslims have believed in the Lord Jesus. But this great harvest presents the Church in the district with a further and major task. any of the converts are thrown out of their homes and disowned by their families and communities. They may find themselves with nowhere to live and are left without any means of financial, material or medical support. With such large numbers of converts to care for, local Christians struggle to provide them with even the essentials of life, and because they live far apart and some in remote places, it is also difficult to offer them proper pastoral care. Access to private transport, as well as to computers and the internet, is limited.

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Transformation through training But we give thanks to the Lord that with support from Barnabas our partner has risen to this challenge and is transforming the lives of many converts from Islam. The centrepiece of their work is a vocational programme that trains new believers in tailoring, hairdressing and weaving. At the end of the course, the converts are presented with equipment so that they can put their new skills to use and earn money for themselves and their families.

While learning their trade, the converts are also given discipleship training to enable them to become mature believers who can share their faith with others. With assistance from local Christians, some of them can be provided with food, medical care and accommodation during

the course, and Barnabas Fund has provided Bibles for them to use.

In the latest phase of the project, 300 converts from Islam are acquiring vocational skills and will receive start-up tools. Another 30 are being trained in farming and will be supplied with pigs, chickens or bees. With numbers growing beyond the capacity of existing venues, our partner plans to open three more training centres.

who thought that attaining a tertiary education was impossible for them.

Our partner hopes to expand the ministry further by establishing a new discipleship programme at a local theological college and providing training in various other skills. They write, “It is a pleasure to let you know that your support has made our Gospel increasingly bear fruit (Colossians 1:6).

We continue praying for the future that we hold on to the discipleship programmes of helping these converts to know their Lord.”

Relief from despair Affordable education for their children is another major concern for Christian converts. More than 100 children are being taught by our partner at a rented house, and a plot of land has been purchased for the construction of a primary school.

Barnabas has also paid the school fees for some of the older children.

Tedy writes, “I would like to thank Barnabas Fund for the sewing machine you gave me. I had no hope when I converted from Islam to Christianity after being denied by my family, but now I am very happy with my machine and we are praying for you. May God bless you.”

New life and hope With the skills and equipment they have received, converts have become self-sufficient and are able to provide for their families. As a result they are less vulnerable to the hostility of their Muslim communities. But remarkably, some of the Muslim families who rejected their children when they became Christians have now got back in touch, are showing interest in the Church and are even passing on the Gospel to other Muslims! One young convert has recently begun a university course and has become a role model for others Project reference: 56-934 BARNABAS AID MARCH/APRIL 2014

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LEARNING FROM THE PERSECUTED CHURCH

Inspiring testimonies of Peshawar church bombing survivors he deadliest-ever attack on Pakistan’s Christian community struck All Saints Church in Peshawar on 22 September 2013. A double suicide bomb blast claimed the lives of over 100 men, women and children, devastating a community that was already extremely vulnerable. Some of our brothers and sisters lost their entire families in the atrocity.

Others suffered terrible, crippling injuries. Needy families who were reliant on single breadwinners have lost their only means of support, and the bereaved cannot even turn to their friends

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and neighbours because they too are in need.

Some children have been forced to give up their education to care for their relatives or because the family’s source of income has been lost; these children have therefore been robbed of their chance of a brighter future.

But this community has something no bomb blast could take away from them: faith in Jesus Christ.

Although the Christians are suffering, grieving, traumatised and desperately in need of support, they are not broken. Amazingly, the Holy Spirit is

Full of praise

enabling them to continue to praise, thank and trust God despite the terrible trauma they have endured. They are faithful, forgiving and fearless.

Their response is an inspiration.

In the wake of the bombing, Barnabas Fund staff travelled to Peshawar to visit the families whose lives it tore apart and pray with them. Barnabas Fund has been assisting the victims. Here are the testimonies of some of the victims. Please pray for these families as you read their stories.

“Jesus is with me”

Aqeel Arif

Simran Anwar

Aqeel suffered terrible injuries, and the right side of his body is now paralysed. Yet he remains full of praise for the God he loves. As visiting Barnabas Fund staff members prayed by Aqeel’s hospital bed, he kept repeating the words “Hallelujah, praise the Lord”. Aqeel is his family’s only breadwinner and has two young children, both of whom were also injured.

Simran’s older sister, Suman, was killed in the bombing, and she herself was injured. Despite the trauma Simran has suffered, she has shown great courage and faith. She said that no person or bomb blast can stop her from going back to church because “Jesus is with me”.

Simran is just eight years old.

A martyr’s father Thankful to God Khalida Sajid Hanif Masih Hanif’s son, Sharoon, died trying to stop the second bomber from detonating his deadly bomb. Sharoon, who had been a church warden at All Saints for ten years, was known to all as “Sharoo”, which means “lion”.

Speaking of his son, Hanif said, “He died like a lion; he wasn’t afraid. He is a martyr and he is in a good place and I am a proud father.”

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Khalida was 7-8 months pregnant at the time of the attack. The bombs had been cruelly packed with ball bearings to cause maximum devastation; tragically, some of these ball bearings hit Khalida and killed her unborn baby.

She has been left bedridden. Khalida’s brother-in-law, who was with her at the time, lost his right eye. But even as they mourn and face an uncertain future, Khalida and her family are thankful to God for preserving their lives.

LEARNING FROM THE PERSECUTED CHURCH

Shaloom Naeem

“Although my entire re m not family is dead, I am rch” afraid to go to church”

Teenage Christian Shaloom went to church on the morning of the attack with his entire immediate family and returned with no-one. His father, mother and sister were all killed. But Shaloom’s faith remains strong, and he is encouraging his fellow Christians to continue to attend church. He said, “Although my entire family is dead, I am not afraid to go to the church.

We should thank God for His great love.” Shaloom’s father wanted his son to become a university professor one day. Shaloom hopes to fulfil his father’s dream.

Damage caused to the church building by the he ball bearings packed inside the bombs

Faith and forgiveness Trust in dark days Mr and Mrs Samuel

Mr and Mrs Gohar

Munaza, Mr and Mrs Samuel’s young daughter, was killed in the attack.

Mr Samuel said that in the months before the bombing, Munaza had spent much time in prayer. His Christian faith has enabled him to forgive the bombers who took his daughter from him. Mr Samuel said, “My daughter is a martyr; I am proud of her and I forgive the culprits since this is the message of my faith. Jesus on the cross said, ‘Father, forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.’” Mrs Samuel, pictured here, also suffered multiple fractures to her hand and leg.

This grieving couple lost their daughter, Naiher (8), and their son, Eshan (11). Mrs Gohar suffered multiple injuries; she spent two weeks in intensive care and is now recovering at home. The couple miss their children intensely but are trusting in God despite their pain. Echoing the words of the psalmist, Mr Gohar bravely said, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust” (Psalm 91:2).

Rejoicing in new life

Comfort in Christ Mr and Mrs Prem

Honey Patras

Mr and Mrs Prem lost three of their grandchildren, two boys and one girl, in the attack. Mrs Prem was badly injured. Despite their devastating loss, the couple are praising God and said, “Hallelujah, to the Most High, His Son died for our sins; our loss is nothing compared to His sacrifice.”

Honey was severely injured in the bombing; one of his legs was fractured. But he is thanking God for saving his life and giving him a new life. He said that when he is healed, he will go to church and praise God for the love and kindness that God has showered on him.

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NEWSDESK

CHRISTIAN BOY TORTURED AND MURDERED threat I received was earlier this month, before my son was killed.”

Harish said that he had given the names of those who had threatened his family to the police, but they had not appeared to take any notice.

Harish, formerly a Hindu, became a Christian in 2003 after his brother was miraculously healed; 45 other people also came to faith as a result of this event. Harish’s

Those opposed to the spread of the Gospel in the area have been persecuting the Christian community, which has been devastated by the horrific murder Anmol Gemethi’s body was found floating in a pond

INDIA – A seven-year-old boy was brutally tortured and murdered in India in an attack apparently provoked by his family’s Christian faith.

Anugrag Gemethi, nicknamed Anmol, went missing on 17 November 2013 after setting off for Sunday school. When he did not

return to his home in Gamidi village, Dungerpur district, Rajasthan, his parents became concerned and notified the police. The child’s body was later found floating in a nearby pond with his mouth gagged, his neck cut and his toes broken. There were burns to various parts of his

body. An autopsy concluded that the final cause of death was drowning.

Anmol’s father, Harish Gemethi, told Morning Star News, “For the ten years I have been a Christian, some local Hindu extremists have threatened to kill me and harm my family countless times – the last

Christian witness subsequently led many others to the Lord. But those opposed to the spread of the Gospel in the area have been persecuting the Christian community, which has been devastated by the horrific murder.

Around 200 believers attended Anmol’s funeral on 19 November.

MORE FREEDOM FOR CHRISTIANS UNDER NEW CONSTITUTION EGYPT – A draft of the new Egyptian constitution has been unveiled, revealing a decisive move away from the previous Islamistsponsored code and granting remarkable rights to Christians.

Crucially, the preamble states that the charter “continues to build a democratic, modern country with a civilian [considered to mean non-religious and non-military] government”. Political activity or the establishment of political parties based on religion is prohibited; the Islamist parties are effectively

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outlawed in their current form. While retaining Article 2, which says that the “principles” of Islamic law are the basis for legislation, the draft omits the more precise definition of “principles” introduced by the Islamists that paved the way for an Islamic state.

The text says that freedom of belief is “absolute”, rather than “preserved” as previously, and it grants freedom to practise religion and establish places of worship to followers of Islam, Christianity and Judaism. It also includes an article

that requires the new parliament to issue a law aimed at changing the regulations about the construction and restoration of churches to ensure that Christians can worship freely. The draft includes various further attempts to right wrongs against Christians and other disadvantaged groups.

Despite this encouraging development, the Chr istian community in Egypt is continuing to suffer persecution from Islamist supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi. It is reported

that more than 35 churches were attacked, damaged or destroyed during protests and violence in December 2013. There has been a sharp increase in kidnappings; Christians are taken for ransom and are often subjected to abuse, threats and violence. More Christian girls are being abducted and then forcibly converted to Islam and married to Muslim men. Many Christian children are afraid to play outside now because of the fear of being kidnapped, which keeps them like prisoners in their homes.

NEWSDESK

YOUTH LEADER HACKED TO DEATH CONVERTS FROM TANZANIA – Christian leaders an Islamic separatist group that is al-Shabaab, a militant Islamist group in Tanzania are in mounting danger. pushing for the semi-autonomous based in Somalia, are being shown ISLAM Eliya Meshack, a youth worker and archipelago of Zanzibar to become in some of the country’s mosques. father of two, was killed in a brutal independent. The group has been One features prominent sheikhs AT RISK machete attack while leading an responsible for numerous church urging Muslims to kill the leaders of overnight prayer session in the Ilemela district of Mwanza province on 22 October 2013. He died on the spot, while two other Christians were seriously injured. Eliya’s wife Marry said that they had been receiving threats for more than six months, which they reported to the police, but no action was taken.

It is not known who carried out the attack, but church leaders suspect the involvement of Uamsho,

Christians are under mounting threat in Tanzania as Islamism grows in strength attacks, and a number of church leaders were killed or injured in 2013.

Christians are under mounting threat in Tanzania as Islamism grows in strength. Recruitment videos for

“kafiris” (infidels).

As well as the upsurge in violence, Christian leaders are also being subjected to harassment by the authorities. One leader has faced repeat accusations of making derogatory remarks about Islam and Muhammad; he was targeted after two Muslims converted to Christianity. Another pastor has been jailed on the false charge of having baptised an underage convert.

CHRISTIANS CAPTURED BY ISLAMIST REBELS SYRIA – Thirteen nuns were kidnapped in December 2013 by alQaeda-linked rebels who captured the historic Christian village of Maaloula for the second time. The Islamists demanded the release of a

thousand Syrian women held by the regime in exchange for the nuns and three civilians seized with them.

The rebels recaptured Maaloula after having been driven out by government troops following an

offensive in September. Most of the residents fled at that time; the nuns were among the very few who remained. Christians held a service in Damascus to protest against the kidnapping.

CHRISTIANS TARGETED IN CHRISTMAS BOMBINGS IRAQ – Three bombs targeting Iraqi Christians in Baghdad on Christmas Day claimed the lives of 37 people. Two devices were detonated in a marketplace in the Christian district of al-Athorien, killing 11 people and wounding 21. Shortly afterwards, a car bomb went off outside a church in Dora as worshippers were leaving a Christmas Day service, killing at least 26 people and injuring 38.

The incidents happened despite a major security effort by the Iraqi authorities to protect churches and Christians over Christmas.

The extra security was just one of a number of positive gestures made by the government towards Christians, which included the making of Christmas a national holiday in Iraq for the first time. At a Christmas Eve service at a Baghdad church a leading Shia Muslim politician spoke of his solidarity with Christians against al-Qaeda militants: “We are partners as targets. We are partners in this challenge. And we will remain partners in confronting extremism, violence and terrorism.” His speech was met with applause by worshippers.

Christian minorities are often targeted at Christmas. In other incidents in 2013, two churches in Kenya were attacked on Christmas Day; Christians in Vietnam were blocked from delivering gifts to orphans and their leader was beaten and tortured; two Christian villages in Nigeria were attacked and twelve people were killed; five Christian converts in Iran were arrested; and churches and homes belonging to Christian converts in Nepal were set alight.

BRUNEI – In October 2013 the sultan of Brunei announced that the country will be ruled according to sharia law, which will be introduced in phases from April 2014. Apostasy from Islam is expected to become a punishable offence. Sharia prescribes the death penalty for an adult male apostate.

Penalties for hudud crimes (those that Muslims believe have penalties laid down by Allah himself) will be in line with the teachings of the Quran and Sunnah (the deeds and sayings of Muhammad). Hudud crimes include theft, for which sharia requires the amputation of limbs, adultery, which is punished by stoning, and apostasy, which carries the death penalty.

The new penal code is said to be applicable only to Muslims, but it clearly poses a danger to Christian converts from Islam and to Christians who share their faith with Muslims. Sharia law can be extended to non-Muslims if they are involved in aiding an offence committed by a Muslim.

Brunei is around 70% Muslim and only about 10% Christian. Its government has long promoted the Shafii school of Sunni Islam and discouraged the practice of other religions. Evangelism by non-Muslims is illegal, and nonMuslim public religious gatherings are restricted. All organisations are required to register, and those who take part in the activities of unregistered groups may be fined, arrested and imprisoned. All businesses, including those belonging to non-Muslims, are required to close for Friday prayers.

Those who fail to comply risk losing their licence to operate.

BARNABAS AID MARCH/APRIL 2014

15

NEWSDESK

CHRISTIANS KILLED AS VIOLENCE INTENSIFIES CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC – A pastor and his two young sons were among at least 400 people killed in the worst outbreak of violence to rock the Central African Republic (CAR) since a coup by Islamist rebels in March 2013. Fighting broke out in the capital, Bangui, in early December 2013 between the Muslim Seleka and fighters loyal to the ousted president, Francois Bozize.

A pastor in CAR said Christians had been hanged, stabbed or beaten to death by their Muslim neighbours and Christian shops pillaged and looted. The bodies of many killed in the massacre were left abandoned in

the streets. An open grave was also discovered near to a Seleka base, where bodies had been dumped.

As the carnage continued, thousands of Christian civilians fled their homes. A church where many had taken refuge was attacked by Muslim groups. Other Christians spent Christmas behind locked doors as gunfire rocked the city and militias patrolled the streets.

The violence has claimed at least 1,000 lives and displaced nearly a million people from their homes. Some are dying of hunger, exposure and disease in the bush, while others are living in dire conditions in overcrowded, makeshift camps.

PEOPLE CAUGHT WITH BIBLES PUBLICLY EXECUTED NORTH KOREA – People caught in possession of a Bible were among 80 killed in public executions in seven North Korean cities on 3 November 2013. Witnesses of one of the executions, in Wonsan, said that eight people were tied to stakes at a local stadium, had their heads covered with sacks and were then killed by machine-gun fire. Around 10,000 people, including children, were forced to watch.

Those executed were accused of “offences” such as watching or illegally trafficking South Korean films, prostitution or pornography.

“Accomplices” or relatives who were

implicated in the “crimes” were sent to prison camps.

It is illegal to be a Christian in North Korea, which is often placed at the top of the list of persecuting

Around 10,000 people, including children, were forced to watch countries. Around 70,000 Christians are estimated to be languishing in prison camps, where they are brutally treated, tortured and worked to death.

HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES OF CHRISTIANS CONTINUE IRAN – Four Christians have been sentenced to 80 lashes each for drinking communion wine. They were convicted by a court in Rasht on 6 October 2013 on charges of drinking alcohol, which under sharia is a hudud crime (see Brunei article) punishable by lashing, and of possessing a receiver and satellite antenna. Two of them had previously been detained by the authorities in a crackdown on house churches.

Meanwhile, six Christians have failed to get their prison sentences overturned on appeal, and the ruling is now final. They were each sentenced to three years and eight months in prison following their conviction in June 2013 for attending a house church, spreading Christianity, having contact with foreign ministries, propaganda against the regime and disrupting national security.

The treatment of these Christians underlines the points made in a new human rights report on Iran

16 BARNABAS AID MARCH/APRIL 2014

by a UN rapporteur. This said that much more needed to be done to remedy a long list of human rights violations, including continued restrictions on and harassment of Christians, especially converts from Islam involved in the house church movement.

convert, as well as propagating against the Islamic regime through promoting Evangelical Christianity”.

Meanwhile, Iranian-American pastor Saeed Abedini is suffering grievously in Rajai Shahr Prison, which is one of the deadliest in the world. He is in a ward with violent

prisoners and has been robbed at knifepoint; he has also awoken to find men standing over him with knives.

His health is suffering severely; he is covered in lice and has also lost weight from lack of proper nutrition.

Saeed is serving an eight-year jail term for planting house churches.

Much more needs to be done to remedy a long list of human rights violations In some better news, Pastor Farhad Sabokrouh and Naser Zamen Dezfuli were freed on 4 December, two weeks before the end of their one-year jail term. Another leader arrested with them, Davoud Alijani, was released on 13 January, 20 days before the end of his term.

They were found guilty of “converting to Christianity, inviting Muslims to

Pastor Farhad Sabokrouh has been freed from jail

NEWSDESK

PERSECUTED CHURCH DISCUSSED IN PARLIAMENT

Rehman Chishti MP called for the repeal of Pakistan’s blasphemy law

UK – The persecution of Christians around the world was the subject of an impassioned debate in the House of Commons in December 2013. Barnabas Fund was able to provide MPs with material to inform their contributions.

The motion called on the Government “to do more both in its foreign policy and through its aid work to defend and support people of Christian faith”. Jim Shannon MP

outlined how “Christianity is the most persecuted religion globally” with “reports that one Christian is killed every eleven minutes somewhere on earth for their faith”. The motion attracted cross-party support, with numerous MPs speaking against the targeting of Christians for their faith.

Rehman Chishti MP comes from a Muslim background. He emphatically denounced the persecution of Christians that is taking place in

130 of the world’s 190 countries as “completely and utterly unacceptable”.

Focusing his speech on Pakistan, where he was born, he called for the repeal of the country’s controversial “blasphemy laws” and for the release of Aasia Bibi, a Christian mother who has been on death row for more than three years after being convicted under these laws.

Representatives of the Government and the opposition

attempted to broaden the issue beyond the persecution of Christians, concentrating on the right to freedom of religion or belief for all or on human rights in general. But backbench MPs criticised them for diverting attention from the subject of the motion and called for a more robust response.

A number of MPs called for the Government to use financial leverages against countries where Christians are persecuted by attaching conditions to its aid programme and trade agreements.

There were a number of other key debates and statements on the same topic in late 2013. On 16 November, Baroness Warsi, the UK’s first Minister for Faith, made the persecution of Christians the subject of a pivotal speech at Georgetown University in Washington DC, describing it as “a global crisis” that required an international response.

This was preceded by debates involving both MPs and Lords on the plight of Christians in the Middle East.

And Prince Charles has warned that Christianity is beginning to disappear in its birthplace because of organised persecution by Islamists.

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY VOTES FOR SHARIA LIBYA – Libya’s national assembly has voted to make sharia the source of all legislation in the country. The General National Congress (GNC) made the move on 4 December 2013 in what has been viewed as an effort to outflank extremists. One of the most prominent of the many militant groups, Ansar al-Sharia, had accused some legislators of being un-Islamic. A special committee will review existing laws to ensure that they comply with sharia.

Following the “Arab Spring”

uprising that toppled Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, a broadly liberal and secular coalition took the most seats in the first Libyan poll.

But since then, Islamists have grown

Islamist militias who control parts of the country.

Amid strengthening political Islam and Islamic militancy in Libya, Christians are extremely vulnerable.

Christians living in Libya were killed by a group of Muslims after they refused to convert to Islam in influence both in government and outside. The temporary government and nascent security forces have been struggling to contain

On 25 September, two Egyptian Christians living in Libya were killed by a group of Muslims after they refused to convert to Islam. Waleed Saad

Shaker (25) and Nash’at Shenouda Ishaq (27) were surrounded by the assailants on a rural road in Derna district. The Muslims robbed and beat them and demanded that the Christians recite the shahada, the Islamic confession of faith. When the pair refused, the attackers tied them up and shot them.

The Libyan Church is composed mostly of expatriates, although many thousands fled when the uprising against Gaddafi turned violent. The number of indigenous believers is very small.

BARNABAS AID MARCH/APRIL 2014

17

Poetic words of c omfort This beautiful and inspir

IN TOUCH

Barnabas UK seeks Speakers

If you also have persecuted Church? the for art he a ve ha u Do yo g), you could be just king (perhaps preachin ea sp c bli pu in e nc rie expe lunteer Speaker you for. As a Barnabas vo g kin loo are we n rso the pe king engagements undertake a few spea to d he ac pro ap be would ur local area, on Christian groups in yo or s he urc ch at ar ye each o initiate your own hedule. You could als sc ur yo th wi t fi t tha dates provided. ion material would be tat en es Pr . nts me ge arran basfund.org ail partnership@barna em e as ple u, yo like eakers are If this sounds further information. Sp for 23 19 23 76 4 02 on and across or telephone England, in north Lond st -ea rth no in ed ed particularly ne southern England.

2014 dates forr your diary 26 October – 2 November Suffering Church Action Week

1 November Barnabas Fund International Day of Prayer

Cake sale stir ti s up a sensation

The children at St James’ Church Sunday Club in Wokingham, UK, were so moved by what they heard in a session about suffering Christians that they wanted to do something to raise funds for Barnabas. Instead of bringing in cakes to sell, the youngsters took part in a group baking session, making everything from Victoria sponge to chocolate chilli cookies. The sale raised a fantastic £150.

Barnabas Fund’s thanks go out to the children for their compassion for their suffering Christian brothers and sisters and for their creative fundraising efforts.

was encourage The whole church family fundraising event 18 BARNABAS AID MARCH/APRIL 2014

ing poem was written for Suffering Church Action Week 2013 by Mr s Glynis Colquhoun, a Barnabas Fund supporter from Swanse a, UK. Our thanks go ou t to Glynis for using her talent for poetry in the service of the perse cu ted Church and for sharing this pie p ce with us.

To the persecuted Church When the Lord laid on Egypt a darkness so deep, Like a thick woven shroud through the streets it did seep . forget But His people He did not of his darkness He gave them all light, depth the In Their homes He made shine like the stars of the night; As He wrapped up the land in a black velvet cloak, Into their hearts words of comfort He spoke, “I am with you, I am with you always, I am here in your darkest of days.”

Today there are Christians in lands ruled by fear, But the Lord knows their pain and He counts every tear.

As He enters our hearts our Lord lights a light, Let us pray theirs will burn the brightest of bright – And all of their suffering, their anguish, their loss, Will be peacefully calmed as they look to the cross, For the light that shines through is our sweet risen Lord, His gentleness stronger than any man’s sword, He will shine through the terror, the darkness, the pain, He will blaze through their battles a pure holy flame – And we pray that His light will dazzle us all, So even the persecutors can hear this sweet call And bend to their knees when they hear Jesus say, “Fear not little flock I am with you always.”

Glynis R . Colquhoun

ke a a m s y e k n o d le t Lit big difference l donkeys created by artists n of life-size mode Inspired by an exhibitio UK decorated these pporters in Hersham, su of up gro a t, yp Eg in s were displayed at donkeys. Their creation e tur nia mi l rfu lou co 34 m Christian art, and n, alongside images fro itio hib ex g isin dra fun a nd’s work in Syria. d towards Barnabas Fu cte lle co re we ns tio na do 55, which will be so raised a tremendous £1 n itio hib ex e iqu un is Th ters. Barnabas Fund ffering brothers and sis su r ou by ted cia pre ap p ort. the artists for their supp wouuld like to thank all

d by the These 4-inch donkeys were decorated by supporters from several churches and the local community

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Mag 03/14

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Mag 03/14

Please return this form to Barnabas Fund at your national office or to the UK office. Addresses are on the back cover. Barnabas Fund will not give your address, telephone number or email to anyone else.

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Praying for the Persecuted Church The weeks before Easter offer a good opportunity to focus on the needs of persecuted Christians throughout the world and to bring them to the Lord in prayer.

We are pleased to include with this magazine a copy of our 2014 prayer booklet. We hope you will find this a useful tool to inspire and guide your prayers for our suffering brothers and sisters, not only at this time but throughout the year.

Further copies of the booklet are available to order from your nearest Barnabas office (addresses below) or from our website (www.barnabasfund.org/resources).

Please would you also consider asking your church to take up an Easter offering to provide spiritual hope and practical aid to the persecuted Church?

Thank you for your support for our Lord’s suffering family.

How to find us

You may contact Barnabas Fund at the following addresses:

UK 9 Priory Row, Coventry CV1 5EX Telephone 024 7623 1923 Fax 024 7683 4718 From outside the UK Telephone +44 24 7623 1923 Fax +44 24 7683 4718 Email info@barnabasfund.org Registered charity number 1092935 Company registered in England number 4029536 For a list of all trustees, please contact Barnabas Fund UK at the Coventry address above.

New Zealand PO Box 27 6018, Manukau City, Auckland, 2241 Telephone (09) 280 4385 or 0800 008 805 Email office@barnabasfund.org.nz Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland PO Box 354, Bangor, BT20 9EQ Telephone 028 91 455 246 or 07867 854604 Email krisb@barnabasfund.org

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

Scotland Barnabas Fund Scotland, PO Box 2084, Livingston, EH54 0EZ Email scotland@barnabasfund.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 e.V. Account number: 415 600 Bank: Evang Kreditgenossenschaft Stuttgart Bankcode (BLZ): 520 604 10

Singapore Cheques in Singapore dollars payable to “Barnabas Fund” may be sent to: Kay Poh Road Baptist Church, 7 Kay Poh Road, Singapore 248963

International Headquarters The Old Rectory, River Street, Pewsey, Wiltshire SN9 5DB, UK Telephone 01672 564938 Fax 01672 565030 From outside UK: Telephone +44 1672 564938 Fax +44 1672 565030 Email info@barnabasfund.org

barnabasaid the magazine of Barnabas Fund Managing Editor: Steve Carter Published by Barnabas Fund

The Old Rectory, River Street, Pewsey, Wiltshire SN9 5DB, UK Telephone 01672 564938 Fax 01672 565030 From outside UK: Telephone +44 1672 564938 Fax +44 1672 565030 Email info@barnabasfund.org

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