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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2013
IN THIS ISSUE
Syria
Middle East
Unpicking the tangled web
Convert
UR
G O D IS
FAITHF U
L
5. 00
My Devotional Journal
Patrick Sookhdeo
My Devotional Journal
is an inspiring collection of short testimonies, poems and prayers from Christians around the world, as well as uplifting Bible verses and pages for you to record your own thoughts and reflections throughout the year. ISBN: 978-0-9825218-2-3 No. of pages: 96 Cover: Hardback P&P: 2.00 | RRP: 7.99
9.49
Heroes of Our Faith
vo My De
rice half p
Patrick Sookhdeo
This outstanding devotional book contains 366 stories of brave Christians who gave up their lives for their Lord. Their stories inspire us to live wholeheartedly for Christ. Spend a year with these great heroes of faith and allow God to touch your life. ISBN: 978-0-9825218-9-2 No. of pages: 386 pages Cover: Hardback P&P: 2.50 | RRP 11.99
Free E-Cards
You can spread the message about the work of Barnabas Fund as you bless your friends and family with Christmas greetings. We have created Christmas eCards that can be emailed for free to your loved ones, along with a personalised message. There are different Christmas designs to choose from, and the cards include a brief message about our work along with a Bible verse. To send the Christmas eCards to your family and friends, simply visit our website at www.barnabasfund.org/christmas-cards and fill in your details, choose the design you would like and supply the email address of the recipient. This is a quick and easy way to spread the word about supporting the persecuted Church, while remembering your loved ones this Christmas time.
To order these books, please contact Barnabas Fund, 9-10 Priory Row, Coventry, CV1 5EX or call 02476 231923. Cheques should be made payable to Barnabas Books. Or visit barnabasfund.org/shop.
The paper used in this publication comes from sustainable forests and can be 100% recycled
Front cover: A Christian girl in Syria whose family recieves emergency aid from Barnabas Fund 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 2013
As
I write this editorial, the news has been coming in of two suicide bombers blowing themselves up at All Saints Church, Peshawar, Pakistan. The death toll has now risen to 85. This is a church that I know well, having visited it on various occasions. The Christian community in Peshawar are desperately poor and vulnerable, many of them doing the most despised jobs, such as sweeping the streets or cleaning the sewers. They have been bruised and broken. There is a saying in Judaism that the Jew is like the olive, meant to be crushed. In Jewish history the olive tree, as well as the olive fruit, has great significance. The tree represents hope and peace, based on its ability to regenerate from a stump and the fact that Noahs dove brought him back an olive leaf to show that the flood waters were receding (Genesis 8:11). The fruit when crushed gives oil for light and sustenance, an oil that also has healing properties and was used to anoint kings and priests (see e.g. Exodus 35:28; Isaiah 1:6; 1 Samuel 10:1). The olive oil was very hard to extract. First the olives would be ground with a millstone until they cracked. The cracked olives were put into bags, piled up and pressed under a huge stone until the oil dripped out. The Aramaic word for an olive press was gethsemane. It was in the Garden of Gethsemane that our Lord Jesus was almost crushed under the weight of the burden that His Father had placed on Him and the pressure of the knowledge of what would soon befall Him, when He would have to carry the sins of the world on the cross.
This sense of being crushed is also being felt very deeply by the Christians of Syria, where, in the space of just over two and a half years, they have seen their society broken down, their way of life shattered and their communities scattered, caught in the midst of war and mayhem, with terror increasingly being used against them. They are bruised and broken. But, as Jewish history teaches, Jews would recognise that when they were crushed it was not to bring them to destruction and despair, but so that good could come out of it. There is a goodness that can flow from being bruised and broken. Writing to the Corinthian Christians, Paul speaks of his own experience and that of his colleagues, in which they were hard pressed but not totally crushed, perplexed but not driven to despair (2 Corinthians 4:8). Twice he affirms, We do not lose heart (2 Corinthians 4:1, 16), using the remarkable Greek words ouk egkakoumen. So we do not give up. We do not lose heart. We do not ultimately despair. Paul recognises the transcendent hope we have that though our bodies are wasting away, there is an eternal weight of glory that has been prepared for us, and we have within us an inestimable treasure in our weak and fragile clay pots (2 Corinthians 4: 17, 7). My prayer is that our grieving brothers and sisters in Pakistan and Syria may be given a crown of beauty instead of ashes, and the oil of gladness instead of mourning (Isaiah 61:3).
Contents
Compassion in Action Supporting and training leaders for mission Country Profile The end of the Church in Syria?
4 4 8
Testimony A former Islamist militant finds life in Christ Advocacy Sign our petition for Syrias stricken Christians
9 11 12
Newsdesk Egyptian Christians killed; Afghan converts threatened In Touch Ways to pray for the persecuted Church
17 14 18
COMPASSION IN ACTION
how barnabas
7,228 for income generation for converts in Senegal (US$11,602; 8,584) 7,228 for emergency aid to Christian victims of violence in Guinea (US$11,602; 8,584)
2,265 to provide a well for Christians in a Central Asian village (US$3,590; 2,706)
When Muslims become Christians, they are often rejected by their families and communities and left without financial support. But an income-generation project supported by Barnabas in Senegal has restored security and dignity to twelve new Christians and their families. Barnabas provided 90% of the capital for each convert to establish a small business; the converts themselves contributed the other 10%. They were trained in business management and are repaying their loans in instalments. Their projects include baking, dressmaking, hairdressing and a shoe shop. The converts now feel useful to their families, congregations and society. They can contribute to the development of their churches through giving and by training young Christians. They also use their workplaces as a mission field. (This project is now complete, but similar projects can be supported with a gift to our Small Business Start-up Fund.)
Project reference 00-356 (Small Business Start-up Fund)
Barnabas Fund is providing aid to 75 Christians who lost everything they owned in the attacks. We have given food, comprising rice, cooking oil and salt; kitchen utensils, including plates, cups and cooking pots; clothing for men, women and children; bedclothes, mats and mosquito nets; childrens school materials; and medical assistance for a pastor whose leg was broken by a gunshot.
The Muslim neighbours were surprised that the Christians allowed them to use the water from their well for free. Our partner wrote, Now they see that Christians are not enemies. So they change their mind about Christians. The village elders and local authorities now have a more positive attitude to the church, and persecution has decreased.
On Monday 16 and Tuesday 17 June, Muslims attacked Christian property in the Nzerekore region of Guinea, where Christians are a small minority. Within 24 hours, eleven church buildings in three towns had been destroyed and many Christian homes torched and looted. Many of the Christians were scattered in the forest.
The new well has improved the lives of the Christian villagers
The 63 Christians in a Central Asian village were forbidden by their hostile Muslim neighbours from using the communal wells. But with a grant from Barnabas Fund they were able to build their own well, to provide water for drinking and for their crops and animals. The well is filled by rain and melted snow and holds one or two months supply of water.
Project reference 17-1152
is helping
313 to help a pastor in India injured in an attack (US$502; 371)
COMPASSION IN ACTION
Thank you for your compassion and care for persecuted Christians. Your prayers and gifts make a great and positive difference to the lives of many brothers and sisters who suffer severely for their faith in Christ. Below and on the following pages you can read about just a small selection of the projects we support and the Christians who have benefited from them. Please pray as you read their stories.
36,606 for staff salaries for one year at three Christian schools in South Sudan (US$58,765; 43,478)
2,428 for six months support for 17 pastors in Pakistan (US$3,849; 2,901)
South Sudan was wrecked in its long civil war with the former North Sudan, and an entire generation in the mainly Christian country missed out on education. But three Christian schools supported by Barnabas are providing Christian children with knowledge and skills they can use when they grow up to rebuild their churches and communities. The schools are located in rural areas where parents are very poor and cannot afford to pay school fees. Children who pass through the schools emerge equipped to make a financial contribution to their families and improve their quality of life. Our partner writes, Local communities have understood the importance of sending their children to school with the hope that they will be the leaders of the next generations.
Pastor Joshua has recovered from the attack and is continuing his ministry
Funds from Barnabas paid for the pastors medical care, the repair of his motorcycle and legal assistance in his fight for justice. His hand has healed, and he is continuing his ministry with joy and enthusiasm.
Our grant covered six months support at an average cost of 23 per pastor per month.
Pastor R.D. Joshua was leading a service in a village in Uttar Pradesh when about ten people tied him to a tree and beat him viciously, leaving him with severe bruising and a broken hand. His motorcycle was also damaged. The assailants complained to the police that the pastor is a huge threat to their community. Officers took him to the police station to make enquiries; although he was later released, they refused to register a case against his attackers.
Christians in Pakistan are mainly very poor as a result of acute discrimination, and they also suffer injustice and violence because of their faith. Their churches need strong and energetic leadership to enable them to stand firm and to grow in numbers and maturity. Barnabas Fund supports over a hundred pastors to strengthen and empower the Church across the country. One of the pastors helped by our latest grant is Munir Shahid from Narang Mandi. He planted a church in 2007, and this year 25 people have been baptised, while the construction of a new church building has been completed. Pastor Munir manages a Christian school in Narang Mandi, which is making good progress, and he also ministers to four other congregations in the area.
COMPASSION IN ACTION
bringing hope,
One of the Indonesian church planters supported by Barnabas with his family
13,420 for a years support for 38 church planters in Indonesia (US$21,532; 15,941)
1,401 for accommodation, food and training materials for student leadership training in Nepal (US$2,221; 1,673)
(This project is now complete, but similar projects can be supported with a gift to our Leadership Training Fund.)
transforming lives
On the edge of the abyss Supporting endangered Syrian Christians
COMPASSION IN ACTION
Tanks supplied by one of the wells provided by Barnabas for Christians in Aleppo
ince the brutal civil war began in Syria in 2011, Barnabas Fund has been at the forefront of humanitarian work among the Christian community there. We have provided practical aid to about 139,000 Christians, who number some 10% of those still remaining in the country. (Around 600,000 of our brothers and sisters have now sought refuge abroad or been killed in the violence.) Most of the Christians we are helping have had to flee their homes. They are in desperate need: they have left behind almost everything they owned, and their hardship is increased by shortages and the soaring prices of essentials. Many struggle to afford rent payments on even the most basic and cramped housing. Without adequate food or accommodation, they are especially vulnerable to cold and sickness. Attacks on infrastructure threaten water supplies, as in Aleppo, where the main pump has been damaged in the fighting.
Aid from Barnabas to Syria is channelled through a committee of senior Christian leaders from across the denominations. These leaders know the needs of their communities better than anyone, so we can be confident that our help is reaching those who need it most. Local churches have also worked together to take the aid to suffering Christians; leaders and ministry workers risk their lives to visit Christian families in war-torn areas and supply what they need. Turn to pages 6-8 to read more about the plight of Syrias beleaguered Christians and our child sponsorship programme to provide food and basic needs for suffering Christian children.
1,643,593 to help displaced and suffering Christians in Syria (January to August 2013) (US$2,606,333; 1,963,282)
COUNTRY PROFILE
The history of Christianity in Syria extends back almost 2,000 years. But now, the very existence of the Church in Syria is under threat.
This young Christian man was amongst those killed in Wadi al-Nasara
ntil 2011, Syria was one of the easiest places to be a Christian in the Middle East. Christians made up a sizeable minority, around 10% of the population, and were allowed to live out their faith without much hostility from the Muslims around them and with little interference from the authorities. But this all changed with the Arab Spring. As clashes between government forces and opposition fighters escalated into a brutal civil war that would tear the country apart, Christians emerged as particular targets for rebels who assumed our brothers and sisters were government supporters. And as Islamist bands became the most prominent groups amongst the rebel fighters, Christians began increasingly to be targeted simply for their faith. Now, around 600,000 Christians have fled the country or have been killed; it is estimated that of this number around 600 were martyred for their faith. The future for those who remain appears bleak.
complained that their rebellion has been hijacked by Islamists who, far from being pro-democracy, are instead fighting for a strict Islamic state. Islamist fighters from overseas make up a significant proportion of the opposition. The leader of the al-Nusra Front, a prominent rebel band, declared allegiance to al-Qaeda frontman Ayman al-Zahiri in April. The British government has made membership of the al-Nusra Front illegal. With Islamists growing in power, anti-Christian violence is being seen on a larger scale. Rebel fighters massacred almost 40 residents of the Christian village of Dweir, on the outskirts of Homs, on 27 May. Women and children were among those killed. A Barnabas Fund partner in Syria told us that two of his relatives, who were among the victims, were tortured before they were murdered. On 4 September, the historic Christian village of Maaloula, which is one of the few places in the world where Aramaic (the language of Jesus) is still spoken, was attacked by al-Qaeda-linked rebels. After a suicide bomber blew himself up at a government checkpoint, the attackers seized control of the village. They went into every Christian home and destroyed
evidence of the inhabitants faith. At least seven Christians were killed and most of the villages residents were forced to flee; Christians who fled to Damascus said at the funeral of three of the murdered Christians, Let history record that Maaloula is crying today. Another growing, shocking trend is the use of rape as a weapon. In early 2013 Yasir al-Ajlawni, a Salafi sheikh, issued a fatwa via YouTube calling for the rape of women who are not Sunni Muslims. He said that it is legitimate for Muslims who are fighting for an Islamic state in Syria to capture and have sex with them, and applied to them the term melk al-yamin, a Quranic term for non-Muslim sex slaves. This followed a similar announcement by a Saudi cleric a few months previously. Not long after the fatwa was issued, there was a tragic example of this horrendous ill-treatment. Mariam, a Christian girl from al-Qusair, was raped by 15 different Islamist men who one by one married her and then repudiated her. (Temporary marriages are lawful in Islam.) Mariam was then killed by her abductors. She was just 15 years old.
What began as a peoples revolution has developed into a bloody Islamist campaign. Even the revolutions original activists have
COUNTRY PROFILE
Christians who fled to Damascus said at the funeral of three of the murdered Christians, Let history record that Maaloula is crying today.
Islamists have also continued to drive Christians out of areas that they have taken over. For example, after rebel fighters invaded al-Thawrah in February 2013, they seized the Christians homes, confiscated their possessions and threatened them with death if they did not comply with sharia law. Church buildings are also targets. In January, attacks on churches by rebels were condemned as war crimes by international human rights organisation Human Rights Watch. Hundreds of thousands of Christians are displaced within Syria. Around 90,000 fled to the predominantly Christian area of Wadi al-Nasara (Valley of the Christians) when their home towns in other parts of Syria became unsafe. But on 17 August, even this safe haven became a place of bloodshed. Around 15 Christians were killed when Islamist gunmen went on a killing spree at a hotel where the Christians were holding a celebration. A Barnabas Fund partner on the ground said, Wadi al-Nasara was in deep deep sorrow to lose so many people in one day I cried a lot seeing the photos of the innocent who were killed in cold blood. Thousands of Christians were able to return to al-Qusair after the town was recaptured by government forces. But many came back to find their homes and churches destroyed. The walls of one church building had been defaced with anti-Christian graffiti. The kidnapping and killing of Christian leaders in Syria is also threatening the future of the Church. Not only does this deplorable tactic deprive specific communities of the support of their pastors; it also creates a heightened sense of defencelessness within the Church as a whole. The kidnapping in April of two archbishops, Yohanna Ibrahim and Boutros Yazigi, caused great distress amongst Christians, who felt very helpless after the targeting of two such highprofile figures. At the time of writing, the two bishops were still missing. With even their once-safe areas becoming targets, their leaders under intense threat, their homes reduced to rubble and the possibility of an Islamist government looming, Christians may have no choice but to abandon Syria. This could be where the 2,000-year history of Christianity in Syria ends.
The intense Islamist threat, along with the mounting humanitarian crisis facing all Syrians (see page 14), is leaving many of our brothers and sisters with no choice but to flee the country, if they can. It appears that Islamists aim not only to kill our brothers and sisters but to do so in the most horrific ways in order to create terror amongst all Christians in Syria. And if Islamist rebel groups were to emerge victorious from the civil conflict, the plight of Christians would be likely to intensify. The number of Christians in Syria is already estimated to have fallen from 2 million to 1.4 million, and they are running out of safe places inside Syria to which they can flee.
Please pray
Pray that Christians in Syria will know, no matter how desperate their situation becomes, that God is their help; that the Lord is the one who sustains them (Psalm 54:4). Ask the Lord to meet all the practical and spiritual needs of Syrian Christians, and pray for a peaceful outcome to the conflict that will not further marginalise or endanger them.
There have been Christians in Syria since Biblical times. It was as he approached Damascus that Saul, who was going there with the intent of persecuting Christians, encountered Jesus Christ, and it was in that city that he was baptised and first proclaimed the Lords Name (Acts 9:1-6, 17-22). The Church survived the incursion of Islam in the 7th century, and Christian and Muslim forces vied for control of the country during the Crusades. After Syria was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century, Christians and some other minority religious groups were allowed to govern themselves under their own leadership, who were ultimately controlled by the Ottoman authorities. This system continued during the French occupation
between 1920 and 1946. Since current President Bashar al-Assads father came to power in 1971, Christians have been an accepted minority, well represented in political and administrative affairs, but this status is now under threat. The Church in Syria has been swelled in the past by influxes of Christians fleeing persecution in other parts of the Middle East; for example Armenians fleeing the genocide that peaked in 1915, and Iraqi Christians who fled Islamist violence in their homeland following the 2003 US-led invasion. Tragically, Iraqi Christian refugees are now seeing similar events to those that forced them to flee Iraq unfold in Syria.
COUNTRY PROFILE
SPONSOR A
have been bombed, used as military barracks or shelters for the displaced, or closed. Some children have not been to school since the conflict began, in some cases because the journey to and from school is too dangerous. Because of shortages, inflation and sky-rocketing prices, hundreds of thousands of Christian children are going without many of the basics we take for granted. Scarcity of food, water, baby milk, petrol and electricity is causing great hardship. As part of Barnabas Funds work to safeguard the future of the Church in Syria, we are looking for sponsors for 2,000 children like Hanaa and Georgio. Supporters who give regularly will receive a prayer card with the photograph of one Christian child and will receive a regular newsletter about the sponsorship programme. Please note that because of security concerns, direct contact between sponsors and children is not possible.
CHRISTIAN CHILD
Could you be a lifeline for one Christian child?
partner of the trauma his daughter has experienced. After their home in Homs was bombed, his family fled to another area of the city. But they were not welcome there. The whole family was subject to harassment from their new neighbours, but the worst treatment was reserved for Hanaa, the young daughter of the family. Fearing that she would be subject to sexual harassment, the family was forced to flee once more. This time they sought refuge in Wadi alNasara, along with many other Christian families. But finding safety came at a price. Hanaas father has not been able to find a job in the Wadi, and the family of six is now living in a small house that is in disrepair and is inadequate for their needs.
Wadi to escape the violence, in which their house was bombed, but they could not afford to rent a house. Instead they are now living in two rooms in an empty office. They have divided one of the rooms with a partition so that they can use part of it as a bathroom. Although Georgios father is working, he is unable to give his family the life he would want for them. Despite these deprived circumstances and the trauma he has experienced, Georgio has managed to stay in school and is a high achiever. His father reported that Georgio attained 300 marks out of a possible 310 in his examinations.
18
on average per month
provides one child with the basics they desperately need.
To begin sponsoring a Christian child in Syria, please use the gift form on p.19, indicating that you would like to give regularly and using project number 00-1147 as a reference. Alternatively you can set up a regular gift for a child in Syria by contacting your nearest Barnabas Fund office or by visiting www.barnabasfund.org/donate-online, selecting Direct Debit and choosing Sponsor a Persecuted Christian Child 00-1147 from the drop-down list.
Just
In
the last three years, Barnabas Aid has carried many news stories and articles about the Middle East. Many of these have focused on the brutal and destructive civil war that has been raging in Syria since 2011, or on the rapid and tumultuous political changes that have racked the nation of Egypt. Since both countries have large Christian minorities, who have been cruelly oppressed as a result of these events, they are of particular concern to Christians in the West. But the strife in Syria and Egypt is not purely internal. To be understood correctly, it has to be seen in the context of a wider and multi-faceted conflict across the entire region. A number of divisions run across the Middle East, creating political and social tensions of many kinds. The key regional players compete with one another to achieve outcomes that will best serve their own agendas. These divisions hugely complicate the unfolding dramas in Syria and Egypt, not least because some countries (notably Saudi Arabia and Qatar) are on the same side in one of the conflicts and on opposite sides in the other. They also further jeopardise the already precarious position of Christians in the region, many of whom are caught up in the wider struggle but have little power to influence it. In this pull-out supplement we shall consider some of the most important of the divisions in order to illuminate not only recent events in Syria and Egypt, but also the developing crisis across the entire Middle East.We shall also spell out some of the implications for Christian minorities in the affected countries. The conflict between Sunni and Shia Muslims has a long and bloody history. The split originated little more than 20 years after the death of Muhammad, in a dispute over the succession to the leadership of the Muslim community. When Ali, Muhammads cousin and son-in-law, became caliph in 656, he was not universally accepted as the rightful heir, and war broke out between his supporters and his opponents. Although Ali and his sons were all killed, his followers, Shia Ali (the party of Ali), continued and became the Shia Muslims. Sunni empires and states have been the dominant force in Islam, and Sunnis have comprised the majority
population. They represent at least 80% of the worlds Muslims today and around 90% of those in the Middle East. But the Shia are a majority in Iran, Iraq and Bahrain and have significant minorities in Lebanon, Yemen and some other Gulf states. The Shia Alawite sect has also ruled Syria for decades through the current President Assad and his father, despite their being only a small minority in the country. Sunnis and Shias remain hostile to each other, and in the Middle East this hostility has intensified in recent decades since the resurgence of activist Shia Islam. That revival was seen most clearly in the Iranian revolution of 1979 and the emergence of the militant Shia group Hezbollah in Lebanon in 1982. Sectarian conflict between Sunnis and Shias broke out in Iraq following the US-led invasion of 2003 and has continued sporadically ever since, while Iran has hardly troubled to hide its intention of extending its influence in the region. Meanwhile the Sunni regimes in the Arabian Peninsula are battling to suppress their own restive Shia minorities (or in Bahrains case, majority) while supporting anti-Shia groups elsewhere. The conflict between Sunnis and Shias is becoming more complex because of outside allegiances. Some Sunnis support Hezbollah because they are opposed to Saudi Arabia. Equally, Lebanese Christians may support either Hezbollah or the Sunnis. In both Lebanon and Syria, Christians may end up supporting Sunnis, Shia, Hezbollah or Kurds depending where they find themselves, for self-preservation. The main Sunni-Shia battle is currently between the Sunni states of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf (including Qatar) and the Shia nation of Iran, with the West siding with the Gulf states against Iran and its nuclear potential. It is being played out most graphically and tragically in the cities and villages of Syria. The Alawite government is a key Iranian ally, and both Iran and Hezbollah have declared their plans to defend Syrian President Assad, even against attacks from the West. But Saudi Arabia and Qatar, eager to deprive their Iranian rival of its Shia partner, are supporting and arming the opposition forces. An opposition (Sunni) victory in Syria is likely to have a devastating effect on Iran and its Shia allies. The regime in Iran would come under increasing pressure from its own discontented population, and a new political sys-
WINDOWS ON ISLAM
ii
WINDOWS ON ISLAM
WINDOWS ON ISLAM
International responses
Conclusion
Please turn to page 12 to read about Barnabas Funds petition on behalf of Christians in Syria. A petition sheet is enclosed with this magazine.
iv
www.barnabasfund.org
The testimony of a former member of al-Shabaab, a militant Islamist group in Somalia, shows how God can change the hearts of those who persecute Christians
I was recruited to the al-Shabaab militant group when I was 17, at the Islamist school I was attending. Together with many other recruits, I was brainwashed by the leaders to believe that we must defend Islam at all costs, and that whoever sacrifices his life for the sake of Islam will go straight to heaven. Also we were promised a lot of money, which we were never given. We were sent to Saudi Arabia for vigorous training in military operations and Islamic doctrines. Then we were sent back to Somalia to strengthen al-Shabaabs operations. I was responsible for conducting a thorough search of any person passing through a certain roadblock. Guns and Christian materials such as Bibles and pamphlets were strongly prohibited. I remember that morning in early June. I was at the roadblock when a trader arrived with his cargo loaded onto a motorcycle. I stopped him and started to conduct the search. When I opened the first load, I noticed that there was a bundle of something else in with his cargo.
Whats inside here? I asked the trader. He replied, as if he was afraid, Those are books.
I tore the packaging and saw a beautiful illustration. Inside were copies of a comic book, The Story of Khalil, in the Somali language. I took a copy and went through it quickly. I was amazed by the beauty of the drawings and, funnily enough, I didnt notice anything offensive. In fact, I loved the comic book very much, as I thought it was about a faithful Muslim named Khalil. I asked the trader to give me a copy, which he did willingly.
I was able to liken myself to Khalil. My entire life has been unfulfilled. My heart has always been filled with bitterness and anger. I jealously admired Khalil when he accepted Jesus and got baptised; he looked fulfilled and peaceful. I told myself that that was the kind of life I had always wanted, and Islam had never given it to me. All of a sudden, a powerful impression engulfed me and I was saying to myself, I need Jesus, not al-Shabaab. I knew that if my colleagues spotted me with the comic book, Id be in serious trouble. That night, I deserted al-Shabaab. I walked for two days, hiding in shrubs. After two weeks in a new country, I met a leader of the underground church. A new Christian friend helped me to move again, and Ive now been welcomed by a local church. I have received a Somali Bible, which Im reading now, and Im happy to be baptised in the coming weeks.
I told myself that that was the kind of life I had always wanted, and Islam had never given it to me. All of a sudden, a powerful impression engulfed me and I was saying to myself, I need Jesus, not al-Shabaab
When I was free for the day, I went to a secluded corner and started to read the story. It flowed so well that it captivated my mind. Then I realized it was a Christian story. Instead of getting angry as Id usually do, I became even more interested in it. There was this strong feeling in me that assured me that what I was doing was right.
ADVOCACY
FOR SUFFERING
BARNABAS LAUNCHES PETITION
CHRISTIANS
As the long and painful trauma of Syrias beleaguered Christians drags on relentlessly, Barnabas Fund is calling on Western governments to take action on their behalf.
The sectarian war in Syria has left behind only death, destruction, poverty and displacement. Christians have been killed, their churches burnt and destroyed, and they themselves forced to convert to Islam or leave their homeland. I urgently call upon Barnabas Fund: to respond to the humanitarian needs of our churches, especially by providing Christians with basic needs to help find an end to this ungodly war in Syria by making contacts with the superpower countries, so that Christians can continue practising their faith with full freedom and maintain their Church properties.
IN SYRIA
S
yrian Christians are caught in the crossfire of the brutal civil war that has raged for more than two years between supporters and opponents of President Bashar al-Assad. But they are also being deliberately targeted by Islamists among the opposition forces because of their faith. They have suffered violent attack, kidnap, torture, sexual assault and murder; their homes and neighbourhoods have been taken over and their church buildings deliberately destroyed. Around 600,000 have fled the country, and even more are internally displaced. The future of the Church in Syria, which dates from New Testament times, is now hanging in the balance. Barnabas has launched a new petition that calls on Western governments: to recognise that the Christians of Syria are a significant but highly threatened minority in the current crisis, noting that Christians are facing unprecedented levels of violence from both the general conflict and targeted anti-Christian attacks from some factions; to put the plight of Christians and other minorities at the forefront of their humanitarian aid programmes, ensuring that there are pro-active policies in place to guarantee equitable delivery to all communities; to work towards and support only those outcomes in Syria that allow freedom, equality and justice for all without discrimination, recognising that core human rights including freedom of religion and belief are the only basis for a stable society. A copy of the petition is enclosed with this magazine. Please sign it yourself and promote it within your church and community. You can obtain additional copies by contacting your local Barnabas office (addresses on back cover) or by downloading them from www.barnabasfund.org/syriapetition. You are also welcome to photocopy the sheet.
Metropolitan Eustathius Matta Roham Syrian Orthodox Archbishop of Jazirah and Euphrates, Syria
On behalf of my community and all Christian societies in Syria, we urge Western authorities to take the measures necessary to protect our Christian civilians in the country. We ask them to shift their thoughts towards increasing financial support to our Christian societies and communities because of their dire need at this time. We ask your governments sincerely and seriously to take into account the plight of our Christian societies and communities in Syria and continue your support to hundreds of thousands of Christian refugees here and beyond the borders.
Dr Jany Haddad, senior Baptist church leader in Syria, Professor of Surgery, Founder and President of the Armenian Christian Medical Association, Founder and President of Living Hope for Families ministries
On behalf of Syrian Christians and other minority communities, we plead for peace in Syria, and we are ready to work through our people and churches to maintain peaceful coexistence among all peoples and faiths in the region. We entreat Western governments to alleviate the suffering of our people by providing urgent humanitarian aid, as our communities are in dire need. The majority have been displaced from their homes with hardly anything to subsist on; most are jobless, homeless, and in danger of abduction and assaults by radical militants.
Mrs Rosangela Jarjour, from Homs, Syria, General Secretary of the Fellowship of Middle East Evangelical Churches
ADVOCACY
Barnabas Fund staff bring the petition to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
he Christian Converts in Crisis Spotlight article in the July-August Barnabas Aid magazine included some critical analysis of Western governments treatment of Christian converts who seek asylum in the West to escape persecution. Following recent meetings between Barnabas Fund and the Home Office, we are pleased to report that the approach of the UK asylum authorities to Christian converts seems to be improving. Barnabas Fund is now involved, along with other partner groups, in assisting officials to evaluate their policies and re-write the guidance notes for staff. The Home Office appears to have taken on board some of the criticisms levelled against it and to have consigned to the past some of its errors, such as those highlighted in the Evangelical Alliance report All Together for Asylum Justice, mentioned in our article. Yet further mistakes are inevitable, and we are committed to ongoing engagement with their work to promote continued improvement in their dealing with converts.
A Home Office official commented to us that the Government is committed to providing protection for those individuals found to be genuinely in need, in accordance with our commitments under international law Asylum will always be granted when a claimants fear of persecution on account of their religious beliefs is considered to be wellfounded.
converts can face, especially (though not only) those who have left Islam. We have underlined the need for more sensitive and accurate analysis of convert cases. We are also making additional information available to Home Office staff who prepare the country profiles for the asylum system. Thank you to all those Barnabas supporters who have written to their MPs on this subject. We continue to pray that the UK will be a place of safety and refuge for Christians, especially converts, who are escaping violent persecution in their home countries.
Asylum will always be granted when a claimants fear of persecution on account of their religious beliefs is considered to be well-founded.
The Home Office now actively wants to engage with interested parties to help ensure that the information and guidance given to their staff is as comprehensive and as helpful as possible. Barnabas is collaborating in a review of Guidance Notes for case workers and interviews and is commenting on the Code of Conduct for translators. We have pushed strongly for greater recognition of anti-Christian persecution around the world and of the acute dangers that many Christian
NEWSDESK
This burnt-out church in Egypt was just one of many Christian targets
Egypt Supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi have subjected Christians to unprecedented violence in which at least 16 believers have been killed. One commentator observed that 14 August, the day on which the military cleared the proMorsi sit-ins, was the worst for antiChristian violence in Egypt since the 14th century. The Muslim Brotherhood is unfairly blaming Egyptian Christians for the Islamist leaders fall. At least 60 church buildings have been destroyed, as have 11 Christian schools, a Christian orphanage, a Christian hospital and countless Christian homes and businesses,
in incidents too numerous to detail. In one particularly distressing act of aggression, Islamists broke into a Christian school in Beni Suef, looted it and replaced the cross on its gate
In Minya, Christian properties were marked with black Xs to single them out for destruction and to distinguish them from Muslim ones, which were marked with red Xs that
Christian properties were marked with black Xs to single them out for destruction and to distinguish them from Muslim ones
with an al-Qaeda-style flag before setting the building on fire. Two female Christian members of staff were sexually assaulted as they tried to escape, and the Islamists paraded three nuns on the street, in the words of one of them, like prisoners of war. kept them safe. Christians in Dalga in Minya province are amongst those suffering most acutely; around 40 Christian families were forced to flee as Islamists, who took over the town on 3 July, tightened their grip. The Islamists vandalised churches and
Christian property in the town. Minya and Assiut are both Islamist strongholds and home to Egypts largest Christian communities. Wahid Jacob, a young Christian from Assiut, was kidnapped on 21 August and subsequently tortured and murdered when his impoverished family were unable to pay the exorbitant ransom demanded by his captors. Christians in the Sinai Peninsula, where the Egyptian government is already fighting a militant Islamic insurgency, have also been repeatedly attacked. Three Christians have been killed in Sinai since July.
NEWSDESK
A winter view of Maaloula in peaceful times. The village was invaded by Islamist rebels on 4 September
NEWSDESK
A church in Kano state that was destroyed in earlier violence. Barnabas helped to rebuild ten churches in Kano last year
NEWSDESK
MP Nazir Ahmad Hanafi called for all Afghan converts to Christianity to be hanged
despite the fact that the refugees have very limited rights in India and are at risk of hostility from Afghan Muslim refugees. Mr Khawasi referred to the churchs evangelistic activities in his comments. Then, in the second debate, MP Nazir Ahmad Hanafi called for all Afghan converts to Christianity to be hanged to stop the conversions serious steps to stop the spread of Christianity. Several MPs attributed the spread of the Gospel to the 2001 US invasion, claiming that the US has a long-term plan to change the culture and religion of Afghanistan and that the conversions are part of this plan. A vitriolic campaign in the Afghan media followed these events. For ten consecutive nights, the photograph
women or from Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes (the lowest levels of hierarchical Indian society). The bill still requires a signature from the state governor before it can be enacted; it is possible that opposition from Christians and other minorities could block the law. Anti-Christian violence by Hindu
extremists has become a frequent occurrence in parts of India in recent years, and the anti-conversion laws provide a pretext for this. Seven pastors were severely injured when a group of around 50 militant Hindus attacked a prayer meeting in Hyderabad on 4 June. Armed with sticks and rods, the assailants
IN TOUCH
Your aid, for they are needy, Your strength, for they are helpless, Your hope, for they are in despair, Your deliverance, for they are in danger.
Give them:
As part of Suffering Church Action Week, Barnabas Fund is inviting believers to unite with us in prayer for our persecuted brothers and sisters on our Day of Prayer on 1 November. Suffering Church Action Week 2013-14 focuses on the needs of Christian children, and a Prayer Guide for the day, which can be ordered for free, is available on this topic. Our brothers and sisters in Syria are suffering particularly acutely (see pages 8-10 and 15). Please also pray for them at this time. You may like to use A Prayer for the Suffering Church (below), written by our International Director, Dr Patrick Sookhdeo.
de in wha Any gift you are able to give, ma difference to our suits you best, will make such a . But if you are able to persecuted brothers and sisters a regular basis, this commit to giving any amount on urgent needs, to to allows us to respond effectively e our overheads. imis plan ahead effectively and to min to give regularly. s way And theres not just one but two
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make them firm in their faith, make them joyful through hope, fill them with your love, protect them from the wiles of the devil and the conspiracies of men. So that, passing through the waters, they may come at last to the land of everlasting life, there to reign with You forever. In the Name of the allpowerful and triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
O God,
Amen
Chatham Evangelical Ch urch in Kent, UK, has fou nd a wonderful way to highlig ht the prayer needs of persecuted Christians. This display, which show s pictures from Barnabas Fund publications, provid es the congregation with ite ms for prayer and praise from around the world. The cro ss marker is used to ind ica te the country being especia lly prayed for each week : in this case Kazakhstan. Co uld such a map be a he lpful aid to prayer in your churc h?
Displaying compassion
This p included rayer is also w in bookm ith this magazin e ark form . To orde further fr r ee book marks, please c on Barnaba tact your neares s office. t
are with your frien could also be a bl ds and loved ones essing to our pers ecuted brothers an d sisters in Christ. Barnabas Fund wo rks in partnership with Just Cards Di Christian organisa rect, a tion that supports the work of Chris agencies. Just Ca tian aid rds sells handmad e cards and gifts as well as a wide from Africa range of other attra ctive products. Th purchased using ese can be the form included with this magazin justcardsdirect.com e or at www. . Barnabas Fund receives 10% of to our supporters sales made ; just select Barna bas Fund at paym ent stage.
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Please consider whether you could make a special 20th anniversary thanksgiving gift to help Christians in Syria. Or you could leave a legacy to our legacy-holding charity The Barnabas Fund (charity number 271602) to continue the work of bringing hope and aid to persecuted Christians. Yes, I would like to give a special 20th anniversary thanksgiving gift to help Christians in Syria. Here is my single gift of (please make cheques/vouchers/postal orders payable to Barnabas Fund) (00-1032). Please send me a free booklet, A Christian Guide to Making and Changing Your Will.
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