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JANUARY 2016
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Nigeria Hanging by a Thread
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Your Dollar$ at Work Sandals for Kids Victimized by Boko Haram Kids Care
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or the past six years, Boko Haram has devastated majority Christian communities in northern Nigeria, murdering, kidnapping and using young girls as suicide bombers. Their work has displaced millions, including 1,000,000 children. In August 2015, ICC staff visited a camp in Jos, Nigeria, where nearly 600 people are packed in a small schoolyard, including 300 Christian kids who run around barefoot. ICC stepped in to provide 300 pairs of sandals, enough for every child in the camp.
Strengthening Churches Underground Pastors
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he growth of house churches in China presents a wonderful opportunity to train and mentor new believers. In the 21st century, it is important to provide those in need with tools to grow in their personal faith while also strengthening the broader church body. Unfortunately, as many churches are rising up in China, church leaders do not have adequate training or material to be the shepherd each congregation requires. Direct training methods are not the best approach in China as Christian leaders are routinely targeted by the Communist Party and often imprisoned if their involvement in the house church movement is discovered. Alternative methods to aid leaders and members of these home churches are required, so ICC is distributing nearly 1,000 DVD sets including a multi-dialect Jesus film, worship songs, Bible studies and a training on how to avoid secular influences in China to meet the needs of their growing Christian population.
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JANUARY 2016
Pastor Support Educating Kids Kids Care
Underground Pastors
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ate last year, Pastor Z, a pastor ICC supports through its Underground Pastors Fund, was attacked by a mob of Muslims in Bangladesh. The Muslims broke into Pastor Z’s home, destroyed most of his belongings, beat him, and told Pastor Z they would kill him and his family unless they left the area immediately. Pastor Z’s crime? Spreading the Gospel among his Muslim neighbors. ICC provided Pastor Z food and rent assistance.
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wice a year, every child in Egypt takes governmental exams that they must pass to move on to the next grade. These ultimately determine their potential for future education. Christians are often discriminated against in education and even abused by teachers. With your help, ICC is helping more than 70 kids in Egypt to get educational support from a Christian leader who ensures they are learning and prepared for the exams and for the future.
Providing Medical Care Hand of Hope
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he levels of medical care and services in Egypt are very poor in the rural areas. In some of these villages, people can die due to very minor medical conditions that go untreated. For this reason, we are partnering with Christian medical professionals to care for those in need and to share the love of Christ. We are partnering to send medical outreaches that go into villages and show the love of Christ to those in need and provide care for Christians in difficult places. On these trips, we perform medical screenings, test for hepatitis C, liver enzymes and blood tests, as well as provide the basic care and medicine that these people desperately need. These efforts that meet practical needs are connected with local churches to ensure that spiritual needs are met, as well.
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Bibles to Pakistani Christians
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Bibles to the Persecuted
ue to widespread discrimination and abuse, Christians in Pakistan predominately exist on Pakistan’s lowest social and economic rungs. In many cases, Christians are unable to afford a copy of the Bible, limiting their potential spiritual growth. In October 2015, ICC helped 100 Christians in Pakistan’s Kasur District by giving them a free copy of the Bible in their native language. Many of
these Christians work in brick kilns and are considered less than human by their Muslim “superiors.” In many cases, these Christians are treated like slaves. Javead Masih, one of the Christians who received a Bible, said, “I am very happy and excited to have my own Bible. Before, I was not able to have a Bible. Now, I will keep my Bible close to me and read the Scripture every day.”
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Your Dollar$ at Work
Rebuilding With Music
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Underground Pastors
hristianity in Indonesia has experienced a tumultuous time in recent years as radical Islamists have increased their attacks on Christian communities. Mobs of violent Muslims storm local churches, prompting members to flee or face death by fire as their church buildings are set ablaze. Regardless of their actions, local authorities typically allow these acts to occur and, on occasion, take part in closing the church buildings. In December 2014, a group of radicals supported by local police raided the GPDI Jatinangor Church, destroying their sound system and musical instruments. While the government has allowed the church to reopen, these items needed replaced. As part of its mission to serve the persecuted church in Indonesia, ICC provided the GPDI Jatinangor Church with a new sound system and the various musical instruments they needed to start the rebuilding process.
Farming Aids for Parents of Chibok Girls
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Hand of Hope
here is Naomi? Is she alive? That’s what her parents wonder every day ever since she was abducted by Boko Haram in Chibok, Nigeria, in April 2014. Her family is devastated and struggling with depression. Her mother has trouble finding the energy to work on the farm. Despite worldwide attention on the “Chibok Girls,” Yaga Lawan and his wife have to live each day with crushing uncertainty about whether Naomi is alive. When you look into Yaga’s eyes, he glares with a semi-hollow stare. The only life in his eyes shows when he catches a glimmer of hope that he may one day see Naomi again. Anything we could do to help would fail to bring Naomi back, but ICC is still trying to encourage Yaga with fertilizer and new farming tools as he struggles to persevere through this trial.
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JANUARY 2016
Your Dollar$ at Work
Radio Broadcasts Seeing Results
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Broadcast
he rise of ISIS has driven hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Christians and other religious minorities out of their homes, with more than 3 million people living in refugee camps or other temporary shelters. There is also growing violence between Muslims, as Sunni and Shi’a groups are attacking each other. In the midst of this, many are thinking about their faith, seeing the violence in Islam, and
searching for something new. ICC’s partner radio ministry broadcasts Christian programs across the country and is seeing a huge response from those who are finding peace and love in Christianity. With ICC’s help, our partners are launching broadcasts in a new city, reaching another 1.2 million people who can now hear the message of the love of Jesus.
Suffering Wives & Children
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n March 15, 2015, suicide bombers from the Pakistani Taliban attacked two churches in Lahore’s predominately Christian neighborhood of Youhanabad. As a result of the attack, 19 were killed and over 70 others were wounded. Soon after the bombings, an ICC team was on the ground in Pakistan to connect with the most impacted Christian families. After an initial survey, 28 Christian families whose breadwinner was either killed or handicapped in the bomb blasts were specially selected for a small business assistance plan. ICC invited these families to propose various small businesses which they could support themselves, but were just short on funds to start these businesses. The results have been amazing! ICC has helped launch 20 successful small businesses with these Christian families and is in the process of developing the final eight. From livestock to grocery shops to autorickshaws, ICC has empowered these persecuted Christian families and allowed them to develop and manage their own businesses. Nothing will replace those they lost on March 15, but at least these projects have allowed Christian families to live empowered and dignified lives.
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Pastors’ Families Need Support
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Underground Pastors
n some parts of China, it is a typical church day when local police interrupt the service and tell the church that they are there to remove the cross from their steeple because of an ordinance banning religious symbols on public display. Frustration ensues as the brave pastor calls for a public prayer vigil in protest. Unfortunately, the pastor’s leadership almost
inevitably leads to his arrest and imprisonment for “disturbing social order.” Tragically, when pastors like this are imprisoned, their families are left devastated. These families are the families ICC feels God’s call to support. Through the generous donations given to ICC by donors, we are able to serve these brave brothers and sisters in Christ.
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GUARDING THE SHEEP FROM BOKO HARAM “I am alive because of the love of God. Only God can keep us safe.” By Todd Daniels
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f you have been paying attention to world news lately, you likely know that West Africa has become the hot spot for Islamist extremism over the past few years. Outrage from the Charlie Hebdo depiction of Muhammad and attempts by Muslims to cleanse the land of Christians have left their toll on the Christian population in both Niger and Nigeria. For the past six years, the Islamic terror group Boko Haram has been ravaging northern Nigeria and southeast Niger in an effort to rid all presence of Christianity from the land. Yet in spite of this heavy persecution, God is still building His church and using fearless men and women to accomplish the task. One of those men is Pastor Samuel Dali. Pastor Samuel is the President of the Brethren Church in Nigeria (EYN). He says that there are around one million members within the church. In a recent trip to Nigeria, staff from International Christian Concern (ICC) were able to meet with Pastor Samuel and get the inside story on persecution in Nigeria. According to Pastor Samuel, the Brethren church felt called to center their mis-
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sions work in Borno State. Not long after, Boko Haram decided to make its headquarters there as well, and began to bring down heavy persecution on the church. ICC’s Regional Manager for Africa, Troy Augustine, says that “the Brethren church is a perfect picture of what Boko Haram has done to the [Nigerian] church in general.” According to Pastor Samuel, the entire congregation of one million members became displaced. In order to save his church from extermination, Pastor Samuel moved the Brethren headquarters to Jos, which is one of the first safe cities for displaced Nigerians as they head south to escape Boko Haram in the north. When we met with Pastor Samuel in Jos, he had recently returned from a trip to Germany, where he met with an official from the United Nations (U.N.) to plead for help. According to Pastor Samuel, the U.N. told him his church does not represent even two percent of the population of Nigeria, thus, they are unable to offer any help. When Pastor Samuel heard this, the only thing he could do was weep. Boko Haram’s barbarous reach has also touched south-
ern Niger. ICC staff met with Pastor Andrew*, who ministers among the Fulani people in the Diffa region of Niger. Pastor Andrew was raised in a Muslim home, but miraculously came to faith in Christ when he heard the Gospel preached. He told us that one time, in the middle of Ramadan, a missionary came to his village teaching John 3:16, and Pastor Andrew said that it changed his life. For the first time, he realized that there was a God who loved him, which was a foreign concept in Islam. This new revelation brought him hope that awakened an emotion he had never felt before. Full of this newfound hope, Pastor Andrew decided to go to Bible college, where he learned everything he could about the love of God. Upon graduating, Pastor Andrew was sent to a small village on the border between Nigeria and Niger. One night, gun shots began to ring out in the darkness. Pastor Andrew quickly gathered his family, and they fled into the wilderness. That night, Boko Haram fighters completely destroyed his village and murdered more than 100 people. Unforgettably, Pastor Andrew remembers the grisly image of one of his church members being beheaded by
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Pastor Samuel Dali’s fearlessness in the face of Boko Haram has allowed him to establish long-lasting churches in the region.
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“If I could meet that man who threatened us, I would tell him … Jesus loves Him,” says Pastor Andrew.
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Naomi’s parents are so devastated by her abduction that they can hardly perform their daily tasks. ICC assisted them with farming materials to help them sustain their farm and income. *Names have been changed to protect the security of believers.
Boko Haram in the streets. He said it was the first time he had ever seen a dead body. Since the attack, Pastor Andrew has been fearlessly bringing the Gospel to the Fulani in Diffa. However, where the church grows, persecution is never far away. Recently, Pastor Andrew was preaching to some men in the village center when a few Boko Haram soldiers were nearby and overheard him talking. The men approached Pastor Andrew and declared they were going to kill him, as well as all the pastors in Diffa. When we asked him why the soldiers didn’t kill him there, he said, “I am alive because of the love of God. Only God can keep us safe.” When asked what he would say if he could meet the man who threatened him, Pastor Andrew smiled and said, “If I could meet that man who threatened us, I would tell him I am praying for him, and that Jesus loves him.” JANUARY 2016
#BRINGBACKOURNAOMI The afternoon of April 14, 2014, was a typical one for the Lawan family. Before heading back to her school dormitory, Naomi helped her father with collecting water for the family. She then returned to the dormitory of the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Nigeria. That night, around 9:00, more than 100 armed Boko Haram militants stormed the school, abducting 276 girls. After shooting their way past the school guards and setting some of the buildings ablaze, the militants forced the girls into trucks and drove them into the forest. Naomi Lawan was one of those girls. “She was a very obedient and hardworking girl,” her father, Yaga, told us as we talked with him nearly 18 months after the abduction. She aspired to be a nurse. Church was central to her life. Like nearly 200 of the other girls abducted, she was a member of the Nigerian Church of the Brethren (EYN), where she sang in the choir and loved to dance. News of the kidnapping quickly spread. The families tried to mobilize a search party, but to no avail. Boko Haram is a well-armed and well-funded insurgency. Since 2009, they have been fighting the Nigerian military and have terrorized communities in northern Nigeria with murders, suicide bombings, kidnapping and rape. But the abduction of the Chibok girls soon went viral. In an April 23, 2015 speech, Nigeria’s former Education Minister Oby Ezekwesili said, “Bring Back Our Girls,” which launched the #BringBackOurGirls hashtag that was quickly retweeted more than a million times in the first two weeks. It became the model of “hashtag activism.” The awareness brought by social media pushed governments and political actors to pledge their support to try to rescue the girls, yet the efforts have largely been unsuccessful. While social media feeds have moved on to the next fad, the heartbreak for the Lawan family has not passed. “I have become very discouraged,” Yaga said. “I can hardly work. My wife has been unable to carry the hoe to the farm. She is almost empty.” There are rumors that trickle out that the girls are alive, still held in Nigeria’s Sambisa Forest, but the likelihood of Naomi’s return is slim. “I would rather know that she was dead than to live with this uncertainty and to imagine what she is going through,” Yaga said. “If my daughter was dead ... people die, but I pray every day that God will bring back my daughter. I pray that God Himself will mourn for me and bring back my daughter.” These words spoken from the broken heart of a father have also given witness to the faith that has sustained him. His final message? “I am still very grateful to God.”
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You Can Help Today!
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SEND DONATIONS TO: ICC PO BOX 8056 SILVER SPRING, MD 20907 OR ONLINE AT WWW.PERSECUTION.ORG OR BY PHONE 800-ICC-5441
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