International Christian Concern
PERSECUTION m a r c h 2012
How Our Donors Help the Persecuted: Children, Martyrs’ Wives, Communities, & Pastors
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PERSECU ION
I N T E R N AT IONAL CHRIS TIAN CONCERN
your bridge to the persecuted church
ICC’s giving options allow you to designate your gifts toward a fund of your choice. Our March newsletter highlights ICC’s work serving the persecuted through four of our funds. We’re featuring stories of community rebuilding, supporting suffering wives, enabling underground pastors, and kids care.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE March 2012
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Community Rebuilding In a recent project, ICC helped to dramatically improve the lives of hundreds of Burmese villagers by digging deep and permanent ground wells. Each well provides fresh and potable water regularly to hundreds of villagers.
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Suffering Wives ICC is providing financial help for Northern Nigeria’s Christian widows who lost their husbands due to persecution. In Eritrea, ICC helps families of fifteen imprisoned and martyred Christians—families who are in desperate need of assistance.
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Underground Pastors An update on our underground pastors in India. ICC provides 15 Burmese pastors with bicycles to double their outreach to remote villages.
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Kids Care ICC-sponsored orphanages support Burmese and India children who have lost one or both parents to persecution. We also show you our children’s holistic care program in Egypt.
From the President’s Desk Most people think of persecution as the imprisonment or murder of overseas Christians. One of my challenges is to get people to see how all-encompassing and broad persecution is. Once this is understood, ICC’s response to the problem becomes more coherent (but more complicated). Let me give you an example. In many Muslim countries, Christians are treated as third class citizens. One practical outworking of this is that Christians are unable to receive education. This is due to one of two factors: they are either blatantly denied education, or are unable to afford education fees because of their imposed, crushing poverty. This educational deficiency reverberates for generations and, together with job discrimination, leads to a Christian populace that suffers severe under/unemployment. Young Christian men in these cultures often need to raise a dowry to marry, but due to the above, cannot do so. Therefore, although Christian women want to marry Christian men, they are often enticed away from the faith and marry Muslim suitors as they age and don’t see Christian men with the means to support a family. This is only one example to illustrate the complexity of ministry to persecuted Christians and helps explain why we invest in education and schools. The practical needs of the persecuted are many, but their spiritual example to us is singular. They are our examples as they live under crushing loads (often for centuries) and yet endure and even thrive in their devotion to Jesus. Please join me in serving them, in bandaging their wounds, in helping to build up their children, and to care for their widows. However you help, we will use your sacrificial gifts ethically, efficiently, and prayerfully. I promise!
Jeff King President, International Christian Concern www.persecution.org You can help today! www.persecution.org | From all of us, thank you!
Christians are often denied the use of village wells and are forced to either walk long distances to rivers or to use less than sanitary sources of water. A well in these places is an obvious need, but we also use wells to multiply the efforts of Church planters in persecuted areas. Where there has been intense persecution, the culture has been told to hate Christians. Religious leaders or governments have demonized Christians and the culture has responded with hate in various practical forms. In this case, we get excited about taking Jesus’ words literally… “Now finally, all of you should…be compassionate and humble, not paying back evil for evil or insult for insult but, on the contrary, giving a blessing… Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse” (1 Peter 3:9 & Romans 12:14, CSB). Have you ever hated anybody and they responded with kindness? It is incredibly disarming. The hater responds with shame and repentance because love in contrast with hate is so powerful. When we take Jesus at His word, amazing things happen. We build wells to disarm populations that perpetuate hate. The wells are delivered by church planters who bravely go into dangerous areas where Christians are targeted. They bring the gospel and a practical blessing, thereby greatly increasing their effectiveness and subsequently reducing persecution.
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You can help today! 800-ICC-5441 | 5
Small businesses
for wives of Nigerian martyrs
There is a war going on in Northern Nigeria. Since the introduction of Sharia law a decade ago, approximately 13,000 people have died, with the majority being Christian. Since Christmas alone, more than 80 Christians have been killed. The attacks are typically reported as “sectarian violence” and framed as “tit for tat” attacks, but that does not describe what is going on. Northern Nigeria is mostly Muslim, and the South is mostly Christian. The violence in Nigeria is almost all in the Muslim North where Muslims constantly attack Christians, and Christians fight back because they receive little protection from the State governments. In the Christian South, there has been no appreciable violence directed at Muslims from Christians. ICC is providing financial help for Northern Nigeria’s Christian widows who lost their husbands due to persecution. We are presently helping 20 wives via micro-finance projects. We provide them with seed money for a small business, initial training, and ongoing business coaching. The end result is a wife who will be financially self-sustaining and able to care for her children. She and her children will rise above the tragedy they have faced and even thrive financially. We are currently training 20 wives and plan to help 100 overall. 6 | You can help today! www.persecution.org
Salome Tupkup “My husband died during the religious violence that took place in Plateau State in 2001. Since his death, life has not been easy. I have experienced lots of challenges. I have been struggling to provide food for my 4 children. I am really amazed with the support from ICC. I don’t have words to express my gratitude. I have been provided with the money and the training I need in order to start my Salome graduates from her small business training and business. I will be able to supreceives ICC funding for her small business. port my family through the small business. I do appreciate ICC. It is my prayer that God will bless everyone at ICC, and may God continue to expand the work of ICC.”
Hannatu Benjamin Timothy “My husband died on January 17, 2010, leaving me with a child and barely able to survive for lack of support. I thank God for business training and funding that ICC provided. Through the funds sent by ICC, I am going to start a small business where I sell fish. My prayer for ICC is that God will bless them for this kind gesture and in whatsoever they venture to do.”
Hannatu is on the bottom row, far right
You can help today! 800-ICC-5441 | 7
Eritrea ICC is supporting the wives and families of imprisoned believers in Eritrea.
Messages of Gratitude From Families of Martyrs and Imprisoned Christians ICC supports fifteen families of martyrs and imprisoned Christians in a country where thousands of Christians have been arrested for practicing their faith. Here are some messages from recipients of ICC aid: A wife of an imprisoned Christian said, “I am thanking once again both God and you brethren for the assistance I get continuously. May God bless you richly for the kind heart and opened hands.” A Christian mother was imprisoned for her faith, leaving behind two of her daughters. ICC now helps her daughters. In the daughters’ own words, “Though we are in great trials and persecution, we are living well just because of God’s grace and His care through your ministry. Glory be to the Almighty.” A family of a martyred Christian said, “May the peace of God be with you. Thanks for the help, and we are very grateful about it. God bless you abundantly.” 8 | You can help today! www.persecution.org
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CC-supported pastors and missionaries typically work in the areas of intense persecution and danger. This month we will look at our pastors in India and Burma. Gajrup, a pastor who is supported by ICC in India, recently shared his testimony and said that, in spite of suffering, all Christians must persevere and boldly proclaim the Truth rather than withhold it out of concern for their personal safety. Before coming to Christ, Gajrup had been fatally ill. “I called out to the gods of Hinduism, but there was no answer. Then I prayed, ‘If there is a true God, please help me and I will believe.’” Later, he saw a vision of Christ crucified and said, “I felt a power enter my body and remove my weakness.” After he found Christ, he was completely healed. Soon after, Gajrup enrolled in Bible college so he could work full time for Christ. His family completely abandoned him. Gajrup resolved to go to
India the most dangerous area of India to tell them about Jesus. As he went door to door, he was told, “We will kill you for preaching Christ.” On several occasions, he had been physically abused, but nothing could prepare him for the mass violence against Christians in India in August 2008. Gajrup hid for weeks on end and relied on the goodwill and protection of a Hindu friend after receiving death threats in the outbreak of extreme persecution. When he first arrived in India in 1997, very few had heard the Gospel. Today, Gajrup says the church is seeing incredible growth. Some estimate that Christians make up twenty percent of the region’s population. ICC is supporting 20 pastors in India alone. Please pray for these pastors who face daily persecution and have learned what Jesus meant when He said, “take up your cross and follow Me” (Luke 9:23).
Gajrup with fellow pastor Raghav
You can help today! 800-ICC-5441 | 9
Bicycles for Burmese pastors The difficulty that an ICC church planter faces in Buddhist Burma is only partially due to an openly hostile government and strict controls on religious freedom. Often, ICC church planters must also travel great distances by foot, since thousands of Burmese villages remain unconnected to roads. In October, ICC donors greatly increased the effective range and productivity of fifteen church planters by purchasing the most practical alternative to walking in Burma: bicycles. Just a few months later, ICC church planters reported that the bicycles had in some cases doubled or even tripled the amount of work they were able to accomplish. In fact, one church planter in Northern Burma reported that he was now able to visit ten different families in a week, when before he was only able to visit three. The bicycles are only expected to last between two to three years, due to rough road conditions. Nevertheless, the impact of reaching so many more with the gospel of Christ will no doubt be eternal.
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hildren are often the unseen victims of persecution. Every year, children are orphaned or left with barely enough provision to survive when their parents are imprisoned or martyred. In Egypt, children live as second class citizens and lack educational opportunities and even enough daily food. The lack of education dooms them and their descendants to lives as garbage pickers. Our Kids Care fund meets the various needs of these little ones.
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Burmese Orphans
n 2009, UNICEF estimated that there were 1.6 million orphans in the nation of Burma. Of those, thousands are from Christian ethnic groups that have been at war with Burma’s military government for over 60 years. For these orphans, being left behind in Burma could mean anything from life as a child soldier being a human minesweeper. Through its donors, ICC supports two orphanages in Thailand that provide shelter, food, care, and medication, as well as a Christian atmosphere to children who need it most.
Majee & Mangue, 12 Majee and Mangue are twins who came to ICC’s orphanage about a year ago. Their mother passed away when they were babies, and their father died three years ago. Recently, during a worship time, they began to cry for the first time. They soon opened up about losing their father. The orphanage staff was able to minister to them. Thanks in part to ICC donors, girls like Majee and Mangue have access to shelter, food, and a safe environment where they can grow not only physically, but spiritually as well. You can help today! 800-ICC-5441 | 11
kids care
Orphans: Orissa, India
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hile Gracie, Ashalatha, Pritam, and other Christian children were sound asleep in their beds, a raging mob of Hindu zealots descended upon their village with machetes and torches. Jerked from tranquil rest into their parents’ arms, the children’s eyelids drifted in and out of sleep, unable to comprehend the affliction that had befallen them. The children caught glimpses of towering flames rising into the midnight sky and heard the screams of neighbors pleading for mercy under burning thatched roofs. For the children, dreams and reality seemed interchangeable. As the flames enclosed them, they and their families
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ran for the teak forests. The clear, starry night faded to black amidst clouds of rising smoke. By dawn, smoking heaps of mud and concrete shells were the meager remains of where Christian homes and churches once stood. Charred corpses of those burned alive lay buried in rubble. In village after village, Christian property was reduced to ash while Hindu homes stood unscathed. Fifty thousand Christians fled as violence spread. Many of the children hid in the teak forests for days on end before daring to venture out of hiding.
Orissa, India
The August 2008 attacks in Orissa ignited after years of untouchables coming to Christ and leaving Hinduism. Hindu radicals threatened by this growth erupted in hate, and some 400 churches and 4,000 Christian homes were destroyed. At least 38 Christians were killed, and hundreds more were pressured to re-convert to Hinduism. “We saw 14 to 15 families being forced to drink cow urine as part of the reconversion ceremony to purify their sins, and they had to sign a letter saying that they had become Hindus and would obey orders to attack Christians,” Vinod Nayak, a Christian in Orissa, told CBN. Gracie, Ashalatha, Pritam, and eleven other children were not simply eyewitnesses to perhaps the worst attacks on Christians in India’s history, but were subjugated to the suffering and horrors that followed. They saw the bodies burning, and witnessed their parents hacked down by Hindu radicals with machetes. Such trauma takes years to overcome, and in the lives of children, is reflected in their ability to learn and mature. However, the needs of these children— including food, shelter, a private Christian education, tutoring, and mentorship—are fully met by your generous donations at an orphanage fully funded by ICC. Because of your support, the violence that stole their families away will not also rob them of their future hopes and dreams. An ICC representative recently visited the orphans so we could report back to our donors the tremendous work God is accomplishing in the lives of the children. You can help today! 800-ICC-5441 | 13
kids care
Gracie, 11
Gracie’s village was destroyed on August 28, 2008. The horrifying images from that night still return to haunt Gracie. “We were running,” she recalls, “but we weren’t fast enough.” The Hindu zealots overtook Gracie’s father and beat him severely. He died weeks later in a clinic bed. Gracie remembers it like it was yesterday. Gracie came to the ICC orphanage two months later, when her mother could no longer provide for her. As the oldest child at the orphanage, Gracie is too far behind educationally to attend grade school. ICC is providing Gracie with special tutoring that will prepare her for future employment.
Ashalatha, 10
When the radicals stormed into her village with torches and machetes, Ashalatha and her family ran to the forest for refuge. They hid for days and ate what was available in the forest, and later received food from a kind Hindu family. Tragically, Ashalatha’s father was stricken with severe illness and died within a month. Ashalatha’s illiterate mother was unable to provide for all her children, and gave up Ashalatha.
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Orissa, India
Pritam, 7
Although he is young, Pritam vividly remembers the horror that took his father and everything he knew away from him. He stood with his five siblings and his father, Kabi, watching flames engulf his home. Hindu radicals beat Kabi to unconsciousness. “We pleaded for them not to kill our father, but they kept beating him,” one of Pritam’s siblings recalls. A week later, Kabi died in a hospital. Pritam’s mother Rasmita was left with six children and could no longer feed them all, so she made the very tough decision to place Pritam in the care of ICC’s orphanage.
Snehalata, 9
Snehalata’s father Asanta was among the first to be killed when Hindu zealots raided their village. As tears streamed down Snehalata’s face following her father’s murder, she and her mother Sugata ran as fast as their legs would carry them to the only shelter they knew, the forest. They hid until the bloody riots calmed. Sugata had neither the money nor the will to care for Snehalata, so she left Snehalata with her grandparents. Snehalata never saw her mother again. Because Snehalata’s grandparents were too old to care for her, she was soon brought to the ICC orphanage.
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kids care
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Holistic Care: Egypt
f not for Mickey Mouse painted on the outside wall, it would be difficult to distinguish ICC-supported schools in Cairo’s garbage slums from any other home. Outside the schoolyards, five- and six-year-olds work in the trash-infested streets, collecting garbage by night while their parents sort through it during the day. But behind the concrete walls, the school opens up into a spacious courtyard where children laugh and sing and play—an unfamiliar sight in the slums.
“The children never get to color at home,” a school administrator told ICC while children gathered around a table with crayons and paper to draw pictures for their donors. “In fact, it was a long process before the children understood how to color. At first, when we gave them paper, they 16 | You can help today! www.persecution.org
Egypt
would crumple it up and throw it on the floor. For them, paper was meant to be crumpled. The only paper they had ever seen was in the trash. They’ve come a long way.”
tunity to work in hospitals, businesses, or wherever else their dreams may carry them. Many young graduates from the program have returned to the schools as teachers.
Until recently, these children never had the chance to get an education. Without an understanding of the importance of education, parents often opposed it. For parents, a child in school meant that less trash would be collected, fewer recyclables found, and the family’s already meager income (roughly $2 a day) would be even less. Parents never had an opportunity for an education, and neither did their parents before them, propagating a cycle of poverty in the Christian garbage slums.
The schools are very concerned about the children’s spiritual growth. Students memorize verses each week and learn the same Bible story each day for a week until they know it by heart. Currently, they are going through the life of Jesus and memorizing passages from Luke and the Psalms.
Today there is a Christian kindergarten on nearly every block, where children learn Arabic and English, math and science, and other subjects to prepare them for public school outside the community. Now, they have the oppor-
Kindergarten teachers are aware that once the children attend public schools, they will be indoctrinated with Islamic teaching and required to memorize large segments of the Quran. The kindergartens build a Christian foundation in the children’s lives. “After kindergarten, these kids will go to a state school and be forced to memorize the Quran. We want them to have a personal relationship with Christ first,” the administrator explained. You can help today! 800-ICC-5441 | 17
kids care Partnering with the local church, ICC provides 100 children with a full Christian education at two separate schools in the community. The children also receive new clothes and shoes as needed, as well as school supplies. Children and their families receive monthly check-ups and special care at the school’s clinic. Parents also receive seminars about hygiene, the importance of education, and basic life skills. Entering an ICC-supported school last week, the first thing I noticed was staff washing the children’s arms and feet. “This is the only place children can wash,” a teacher told me. “Many diseases are spread through cuts in the feet when sorting through trash. We must keep them clean and treat their diseases. Christ tells us that the greatest leader must also be the greatest servant.”
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Sponsor a Child in Kids Care Now For only $39 per month, you can sponsor a child involved in ICC’s Kids Care program. Your monthly donation of $39 will provide for the care of a persecuted child either in one of our orphanages or in our holistic care program in Egypt’s “Garbage City.”
In Egypt, the kids receive a Christian education and spiritual discipleship, helping to end the centuries long cycle of poverty they face in Cairo’s slums as Christians in a Muslim majority culture. They also will receive routine medical and dental checkups as well as new clothes and shoes, and even a daily meal. If you become a monthly sponsor, you will receive a hand drawn picture and background story on your “adopted” child. Thereafter, twice a year, you will get an update on your child (either a drawing, a photo or an update from a teacher or caregiver). Please join us so that more children can have a home, grow up in Christ, attend school, and have a future. To “adopt” your child, either give us a call at 1-800-ICC-5441 (8:30-5:00 EST. Please have your credit card ready), or return the ICC funds brochure (pictured with the glass of water on the front) with the Kids Care gift amount filled in. Be sure to write in “monthly” next to your amount. You can help today! 800-ICC-5441 | 19
Giving to ICC via your Will Provide now for a future gift to ICC by including a bequest provision in your will or revocable trust. If you would like more information on giving to ICC in this way, please give us a call at 1-800-ICC-5441.
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Send donations to: ICC PO Box 8056 Silver Spring, MD 20907 or online at www.persecution.org ICC makes every effort to honor donor wishes in regards to their gifts. Occasionally, a situation will arise where a project is no longer viable. In that case, ICC will redirect those donated project funds to one of our other funds that is most similar to the donor’s original wishes. International Christian Concern is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) (all donations tax-deductible). Š Copyright 2012 ICC, Washington, D.C., USA. All rights reserved. Permission to reproduce all or part of this publication is granted provided attribution is given to ICC as the source.
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