Blythswood, Mission Partners of Castle Street, Missions, Whats On

Blythswood Update – October 3rd 2019

by Robert MacNaughton

Daniel Centre

The new resident Florin is currently in hospital to set up treatment for his mental issues.  Another new resident Alin has found work at a petrol station along with 3 former Daniel Centre residents.

Ionuz now has the keys, but not yet the contract, for his new apartment.  He is struggling in his nursing course because of having had an epileptic seizure in one of his lectures.

The young couple, the first Daniel Centre resident and his wife to have got a mortgage on a home, are now moving out of their temporary stay in the Centre into their new home.

The Christianity Explored course has started for past and current residents with an encouraging attendance of a dozen at the weekly Sunday sessions.

Missions, The Persecuted Church Across the World, Whats On

Children prompted to betray their families – October 3rd 2019

by Robert MacNaughton

Voice of the Martyrs, 30 September 2019

North Korean underground Christians do not reveal their Christian identity even to their own children until the children reach the age of fifteen. That is because North Korean schoolteachers are responsible for getting children to inadvertently reveal that their families are Christian.

They ask questions like, “Do your parents have a special book they hide in your home? Do they sing different songs to the ones we sing in school? Do they ever bow their heads or close their eyes and mumble?” More than a few children have been the cause of their own families (including themselves) ending up in concentration camps.

One woman was about seven years old when she found a Bible in her home. Without hesitation, she knew she needed to inform the police. Her parents, underground Christian leaders, tied her up in a chair to prevent her from going out. They shared the Gospel with her, and she became a Christian rather than a government informer.

North Koreans have a saying: Whenever two or three people are gathered together, one of them is a spy. This is true even in family settings, as children are taught to spy on their parents from a young age.

Barnabas, Mission Partners of Castle Street, Missions, Whats On

Barnabas Update – October 3rd 2019

by Robert MacNaughton

Persecuted turns persecutor in Bangladesh

Barnabas Fund, 24 September 2019

A tiny group of Christians amongst the 750,000 mainly-Muslim Rohingya people, who fled genocide at the hands of the Myanmar Army as refugees, are now doubly persecuted from Muslims within refugee camps in Bangladesh.

Already belonging to what some have called the “most persecuted people on earth”, the small community of Rohingya believers are now subjected to anti-Christian violence from extremist Muslim Rohingya in the camps in Cox’s Bazaar district.

In May 2019, a group of 17 families living in simple shacks were violently attacked on at least three consecutive nights by a Muslim mob of several hundred men armed with knives, swords, iron rods, stones and catapults.

No security personnel attempted to protect the Christians and there has been no investigation into the attacks.

The rise in persecution against Rohingya Christians follows on from calls by Rohingya Muslims for the Bangladeshi government to expel Christians from the camps.

Missions, The Persecuted Church Across the World, Whats On

Boko Haram Executes Two Christian Aid Workers – October 3rd 2019

by Robert MacNaughton

Morning Star News, September 30, 2019

Boko Haram released a video last week showing the execution of two Christian aid workers in Nigeria.

Lawrence Dacighir and Godfrey Shikagham, who had gone to Maiduguri to help build shelters for people displaced by Islamic extremist violence, were shot from behind.

The middle terrorist in the video says that they have vowed to kill every Christian they capture in revenge for Muslims killed in past religious conflicts in Nigeria.

Pastor Pofi, a cousin of the two executed Christians, said “Lawrence and Godfrey left for Maiduguri for the betterment of humanity and paid with their lives”.

Emmanuel Ogebe of the U.S.-Nigeria Law Group, wrote to the U.N. that workers kidnapped in July had issued a distressed plea for government help with no notable administration response.

He expressed concern that the Nigerian government did not condemn the killing of the two men even though they were helping to provide shelter for displaced Nigerians. 

“Despite these humanitarian organizations’ resilience in still serving victims, the Nigerian Government has since just last week suspended Action Against Hunger and Mercy Corp on dubious grounds.”

Missions, The Persecuted Church Across the World, Whats On

Cuban pastor accused of disobedience – October 3rd 2019

by Robert MacNaughton

Christian Solidarity Worldwide, 27 Sep 2019

Toledano Valiente, a prominent Christian leader in Cuba, was summoned to a police station on 25 September. He has received at least 17 police summons since 1 August.

A Commander ‘Lorenzo’ told him he was accused of ‘disobedience’ because of a women’s event held in his church. He had previously warned Valiente he would risk imprisonment if his church staged it. Despite the threat, the church went ahead with the event.

A formal accusation was lodged against him, but the authorities refused to give him a copy of the document.

He told CSW: “Pastors are more at risk than criminals and bandits … since I have not fled into exile, they seek to put me in prison. I committed no crime, it had to be manufactured. I cannot carry out any religious activity; that is to say they want me to stop being a pastor.”

In July, Toledano Valiente was prevented by government agents from boarding a flight to the US to attend the US Ministerial on International Religious Freedom.

CSW have called on the Cuban government to remind the country of its obligations in regard to the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion as laid out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”

Jacksons, Mission Partners of Castle Street, Missions, Whats On

Jacksons Update – October 3rd 2019

by Robert MacNaughton

The fourth NetACT regional workshop took place in Nigeria last week.  and went well, despite Fraser’s absence (he and the other South Africans couldn’t get visas for it).  Dr Peter Gichiri, senior librarian from St Paul’s University in Kenya with a doctorate in digital repositories, did the training. 

Fraser was able to make videos of their presentations available on YouTube for the attendees to download.

Pray for the prisoners with whom Dawn is doing Bible studies at Drakenstein and Stellenbosch prisons and for the day-to-day running of restorative justice ministries.

Now that librarians from most of the partner colleges have been trained, pray that Fraser will find a cost-effective way for a final ‘catch-all’ training session for all who didn’t make it to the regional workshops.

Pray for more people to answer the call to bring restorative justice and a deeper knowledge of God into the nation’s correctional centres.

The latest RJ course began on Monday in Drakenstein prison. Pray for protection over our families and that God will be glorified through changed lives.

Whats On

Blythswood Update – September 19th 2019

by Robert MacNaughton

Daniel Centre

2 new lads have arrived.  Florin comes on the back of 20 psychiatric sessions and is already causing some conflict in the Centre.  Alin is very likeable but from a criminal family and has to be watched closely for that reason.  These are the challenges continually facing the Centre.

Two more candidates will be interviewed soon, and this will bring the Centre to full capacity if they are accepted.

Ionuz, who kept injuring himself because of his epilepsy, has much improved and hopes to resume Nursing School.  He gets the keys of a studio apartment on 19th September with the right-to-buy in two years’ time.

The Christianity Explored course started for the residents on Sunday 15th September.

 

Talita Kum

Talita Kum opened for the new school year on 16th September.  They still need a teacher for 3rd grade.

The theme of the opening ceremony was “Why should I read?”

Talita Kum 1 is only licensed for 40 children, so Adrian is transferring some of the Grade 3 and Grade 4 children to Talita Kum 2 (which can take more children) and change its licence from Grade 3 to Grade 8 in order to take more Grade 1 and Grade 2 children into Talita Kum 1.

The funds have now been found to take on a consultant and allow the application to go ahead to procure EU funding for the Talita Kum 3 and Talita Kum 4 projects.

Whats On

The Problems of Christians in Laos – September 19th 2019

by Robert MacNaughton

Christian Solidarity Worldwide, 15 September 2019

Laos’ constitution guarantees its citizens “the right to believe or not believe in religions”.  However, the document limits state protection to “lawful activities” by Buddhists and followers of other religions and provides no clarification of the term “lawful activities”.

Sadly the international community often overlooks religious freedom violations in Laos.  Christians are often targeted, as some officials consider Christianity to be a foreign religion at odds with traditional Lao culture.

Christians have reported cases of arbitrary detention, forced evictions, confiscation of land and livestock, harassment and discrimination.  Converts to Christianity often find themselves in a particularly precarious situation.

However, the religious freedom situation in Laos has seen some positive changes in recent years and the last decade has seen a reduction in the number of long-term Christian prisoners of conscience.

Whats On

Barnabas Update – September 19th 2019

by Robert MacNaughton

Christian woman starts prison sentence in Iran

Barnabas Fund, 12 September 2019

A Christian woman started a prison sentence in Iran on 31 August for “propaganda” against the government after earlier refusing pressure from judges to renounce her faith.

Fatemeh Bakhteri was told she would serve one year in prison in September 2018 after her Christian activities led to her being convicted.

In an initial appeal hearing in January 2019, she was pressured by the two judges to renounce her faith, but she refused to do so. In May 2019, her appeal was rejected. She was finally summoned to start her jail term at Evin Prison in Tehran on 31 August, a prison notorious for prolonged interrogations and the abusive treatment of inmates.

With her in court was a fellow Christian convert from Islam, Saheb Fadaie, convicted of “acting against national security” and sentenced to 18 months imprisonment and 2 years in exile. He also refused to renounce his faith and is already serving a 10-year sentence for Christian activities.

Whats On

New Era of Hostility in Nepal – September 19th 2019

by Robert MacNaughton

Morning Star News, September 16, 2019

Hindu extremist threats have driven a pastor in Nepal into hiding following a leak onto social media of an interview he gave on his journey to Christ.

Pastor Giri has received death threats and has changed his phone number, but his family and friends are also receiving threatening calls.

The Himalayan country has become increasingly radicalized and Pastor Giri, 59, has been unable to return home from ministry travels since a video of his comments hit YouTube in mid-August.

“It is the first time a Christian in Nepal has been targeted for sharing on social media about his past religion and introduction into Christianity,” according to legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom. “Hindu fundamentalist groups linked to prominent political leaders are taking interest in this video.”