Blythswood, Mission Partners of Castle Street, Missions

Blythswood Update – June 3rd 2020

by Robert MacNaughton

Daniel Centre

The lockdown restrictions have eased in Romania over the past days. Please remember the young men of the Daniel Centre in your prayers. Some have lost their jobs due to the crisis.  Some will be returning to work in the days ahead and one young man has a job interview.

Alex, himself abandoned as a child because of a crippled leg, is taking over from Titi who was cook for the Centre.

The Blythswood shop in Cluj has been declining and faces growing competition from shops selling new cheap clothing sourced from Poland and Turkey.

With financial support from the shop declining and even terminal, Blythswood are now selling land they have had for many years and redeveloping other facilities to provide ongoing financial support through rentals.

Talita Kum

Talita Kum in Jimbolia is supported by three shops which continue to receive a good supply of goods from Austria.

Because of heavy rain on June 1st, Talita Kum moved their International Children’s Day celebration to June 2nd with their outdoor barbecues and other events.

Missions, The Persecuted Church Across the World

Why are Christians persecuted in Syria? – June 3rd 2020

by Robert MacNaughton

Open Doors, 28 May 2020

744,000 Christians live in Syria, about 70,000 fewer than in 2019, many having fled because of the risk of being displaced by persecution and hardship.

Conflict has abated in parts of Syria, but radical Islamic groups still control areas.  Church leaders are particularly vulnerable to abduction. Muslim Background Believers face pressure from families and communities – leaving Islam is seen as a huge source of shame.

Believers in north east Syria are vulnerable to attacks from Islamic militants among the Turkish army.

Jina’s husband Rober was kidnapped for his faith in 2013. She and her young son, Abraham, are still waiting for him to come home.  Another man, kidnapped and later released, told Jina that Rober refused to convert to Islam: “Rober refused and said, ‘I have my God and that’s it.’”  Christians are kidnapped for ransom across Syria.

Despite continuing challenges, Christians are shining a light in the darkness of Syria.  Centres of Hope are providing vital short-term aid for thousands of vulnerable families and also offer long-term support, including trauma care and business microloans.

Barnabas, Mission Partners of Castle Street, Missions

Barnabas Update – June 3rd 2020

by Robert MacNaughton

“Important step” towards religious freedom 

Barnabas Fund, 2nd June 2020

Sudan’s Transitional Military Council and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North have jointly agreed to found an independent national commission and a Ministry for Peace and Human Rights.

On 21 May, the government stated, “We agreed to establish a commission for religious freedom to address all issues relating to religious freedom in order to affirm the principle of peaceful coexistence in the country.”

The Liberation Movement’s representative, Yasir Arman, highlighted the importance of the step for protecting Christians in the volatile “Two Areas” states of Blue Nile and South Kordofan, which include the Nuba Mountains, and have remained in dispute since South Sudan gained independence in 2011.

Another positive step towards greater religious freedom was made in March, when the Transitional Military Council announced a bill proposing to repeal the death penalty for apostasy from Islam and make it a criminal offence to accuse someone of apostasy.

Missions, The Persecuted Church Across the World

Death Toll Mounts In Nigeria ‘Jihad’ – June 3rd 2020

by Robert MacNaughton

Release International, 26 May 2020

A new report from Nigerian NGO, International Society for Civil Liberties & Rule of Law, claims attacks by Fulani militants have killed 620 Christians in the first five months of 2020, supporting claims by Release International that the attacks are growing and have the characteristics of an undeclared jihad against Christians.

The report claims 32,000 Christians have been killed by Islamist militants since 2009, the UN puts the figure at 27,000 and the Stefanos Foundation estimates 30,000 have died in the continuing violence.

In a recent attack on the Christian village of Gonan Rogo, armed Fulani militants waited until around midnight on May 12 until the villagers, including babies, were asleep then set upon them with guns and knives.

‘The Nigerian government is at best ineffective, at worst reluctant, to prevent these attacks,’ says Release CEO Paul Robinson.  ‘Our message to Nigeria and the international community is intervene and stop this now – before it is too late.’

Fulani militants have killed three times as many Nigerians as Boko Haram since the start of 2020.

Missions, The Persecuted Church Across the World

Kazakhstan: Fined for leading community – June 3rd 2020

by Robert MacNaughton

Forum 18, 28 May 2020

The Council of Churches Baptist congregation in the north-eastern city of Pavlodar – led by the 65-year-old Pastor Isak Neiman – meets for worship on private premises.  It chooses not to seek state permission to be allowed to exist and meet.

About seven police officers raided the congregation during its Sunday morning meeting for worship on 29 March, claiming to be checking anti-coronavirus health measures. About 300 church members were present, according to the subsequent court decision. Officers told church members they had to disperse, which they did.

At the hearing, the following day, at Pavlodar’s Specialised Administrative Court, Judge Musabayev found Pastor Neiman guilty of violating anti-coronavirus health measures and issued him with a warning, but then fined him nearly two months’ average wages for leading an unregistered religious community meeting for worship without state permission.

Jacksons, Mission Partners of Castle Street, Missions

Jacksons Update – June 3rd 2020

by Robert MacNaughton

Many NetACT partner colleges have been able to source funding to cover lack of tuition fees caused by lockdowns.

Drakenstein prison has seen its first cases of covid19. One section is now a quarantine area.  Many of the men are immuno-compromised with HIV/AIDS, years of substance abuse and unhealthy living so are at greater risk of complications.

Hope Prison Ministry is delivering food parcels for released prisoners and the families of those still inside.  Pray that donations will continue to help as many as possible.

The team running InReach in Nigeria is being pursued by people (presumably from Boko Haram) trying to find their locations and arrange meetings with no good aim in heart.

South Africa is gradually easing lockdown restrictions, although Covid-19 cases are still rising.  Hugenote College is planning to open on 15th June.  Pray for those working out the logistics.  Churches have permission to re-open, though over-60s should still not come out.

Blythswood, Mission Partners of Castle Street, Missions, The Persecuted Church Across the World

Blythswood Update – May 13th 2020

by Robert MacNaughton

Daniel Centre

Romania moves from a military state of emergency to a state of alert on 15th May, with deaths still contained at under 1000 for the country.  Alix and István still work and keep to their own rooms when back at the house, but no Covid 19 testing in place poses problems for the others.   Abram is on his two-week supervision of the Centre.

Balazs and family are currently on a break from the city, the children schooling online.  This year looks to be the driest year since 1947 – the country will have to cut down on grain exports to non-EU countries.

Balazs returns to Cluj today to work on claiming government furlough subsidies for the Centre.  An offer has been made for one of the Centre’ outlying properties and Balazs will meet the potential buyer in Cluj.

Talita Kum

No updated news at the moment but Talita Kum’s teachers continue online support to children normally attending Talita Kum under regular circumstances.

Adrian supports the children, their families and elderly in the Jimbolia community with meals from Talita Kum’s soup kitchen.  This provides some relief for Talita Kum in its current cash-strapped situation.

The Talita 3 & 4 project is now in the detailed planning stage.

Missions, The Persecuted Church Across the World, Whats On

Christians Threatened with Loss of Land – May 13th 2020

by Robert MacNaughton

Morning Star News, 11 May 2020

Animists in central India last week told five Christian families they would lose their harvest lands unless they returned to their tribal religion. The Christians had forbidden an animist leader to perform tribal worship on their land.

The village leaders told the Christians, ‘You are not partaking in our tribal rituals, and so we cannot allow you to profit from your agricultural lands.’

The Christians said, “We follow our faith but have never been a burden on this village or to our kinsmen – you cannot snatch away our lands.”

Even before they spoke any word further, the elders began beating two of the Christians, and a mob of 60 people soon gathered around them clamouring for them to renounce their faith in Christ.

The tribal animists had threatened to expel the Christian families and seize their land for more than a year.

Barnabas, Mission Partners of Castle Street, Missions, The Persecuted Church Across the World, Whats On

Barnabas Update – May 13th 2020

by Robert MacNaughton

Saving Forgotten Lives 

Barnabas Fund, 13th May 2020

Thanks to the generous giving of our supporters, Barnabas Fund has sent £766,706 of life-saving aid to Christians in 24 countries, in desperate situations due to the lockdown. 

Many low-paid daily-wage earners have lost their meagre incomes and are locked down without food. We have sent food aid for more than 250,000 Christians.

Many live in conditions where it is impossible to keep a safe distance to avoid infection. We have provided hygiene products for more than 14,000 Christians.  

Pastors supported by the Sunday offerings of their congregations are suddenly destitute when people can no longer gather for worship. We have sent support to more than 6,400 church leaders.

On top of this, locust swarms are multiplying in East Africa and Pakistan and anti-Christian violence continues in many contexts.

Missions, The Persecuted Church Across the World, Whats On

Special Rapporteur on Eritrea – May 13th 2020

by Robert MacNaughton

Christian Solidarity Worldwide, 7 May 2020

For the past 17 years CSW, along with other NGOs, have organised a protest vigil outside the Eritrean Embassy in London in May to mark the anniversary of the Eritrean government’s outlawing of religious practices not affiliated with the Catholic, Evangelical Lutheran and Orthodox Christian denominations or Sunni Islam in May 2002, and the  campaign of arrests, which at its peak saw at least 3000 Christians of all denominations detained arbitrarily.

CSW has now joined 23 other NGOs in signing an open letter to member and observer states of the United Nations Human Right Council, calling for the renewal of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea.

The Special Rapporteur’s reports are a key means of monitoring the human rights situation in Eritrea, where officials are deemed to have committed violations amounting to crimes against humanity since 1991.  However, the Eritrean government has refused to cooperate with successive mandate holders, and the country’s human rights situation continues to deteriorate. The current mandate is due to expire at the 44th session of the HRC, which is currently scheduled to begin in June 2020.