January 16, 2019, World Watch Monitor 

In its survey of how difficult it is to live as a Christian in 150 countries, the trend in the 2019 World Watch List is that almost half (73) showed extreme, very high or high levels of persecution. A year earlier, it was 58 countries.

New laws in China and Vietnam seek to control all expression of religion.  In China, it’s the worst religious repression there’s been in more than a decade.

In Nigeria, 3,700 Christians were killed for their faith.

Hindu and Buddhist governments of India and Myanmar continue to deny freedom of religion to their Christian minorities.

Persecution comes from radical Islamic militias in Egypt, Libya, Somalia and other sub-Saharan countries. In Indonesia, 3 churches were attacked by suicide bombers.

In Mexico and Colombia, persecution comes when church leaders challenge corruption and cartels.

Globally, Christian women and girls face more persecution in family and social spheres; men and boys from the authorities or militias.

Open Doors estimates that 245 million Christians now experience ‘high’ levels of persecution in 73 countries – up from 215 million in 58 countries last year.

NZ offers no sanctuary to any Christian refugees

Barnabas Fund, 22 January 2019

Government figures released to Barnabas Fund show that no Christians from Syria, Afghanistan or Iraq were granted the right to resettle in New Zealand last year.

In the 12 months up to 31 October 2018, the country gave sanctuary to 1,019 refugees. Of the 389 from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, all were Muslims.

Figures for previous years, obtained by Barnabas under the Official Information Act, are equally bleak. In 2016, only 6 of the 377 Syrians granted sanctuary were Christians, and in the 5 weeks up to 10 February 2017 none of the 45 Syrians allowed to settle were Christians. Yet Christians made up 10% of Syria’s population before the war.

A spokesman for the NZ Labour government said refugees were considered for resettlement on the basis of “their protection needs and not religious affiliation”.

The UK government also faces “embarrassment” over the tiny minority of Christian Syrians offered sanctuary here.

Barnabas Fund, 28 January 2019

The attack on the island of Jolo, the capital of Sulu province, came 6 days after Sulu voted to reject inclusion in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of the southern Philippines.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but police suspect it was the work of Abu Sayyaf, an IS-linked militant group active in the area for decades.

The Bangsamoro Basic Law agreement, voted for by 85% of the mainly-Muslim Mindanao island group, has created an Islamic sub-state within a secular, pluralistic and mainly Christian country. When first proposed in 2008, but ruled unconstitutional, Muslim armed groups responded violently against Christians, killing some and displacing others.

The recent referendum vote, approving the formal creation of this Autonomous Region, will permit further Islamisation and brings serious concerns about its negative impact on non-Muslims there.

Morning Star News, January 15, 2019

Police in Upper Egypt evicted Coptic priests and shuttered their church building after an Islamist mob converged on the site over the weekend.

Muslim villagers in Minya Governorate, attacked the church on Friday, Jan. 11, after mosque noon prayers, according to the Bishop General of Minya, Anba Makarios.

The next day, about 1,000 Muslim villagers descended upon the church building, demanding that it be closed.

Police pacified the mob by giving into their demands. They evicted two priests and closed the building, which brought an elated response from the crowd.

“It appears to indicate that extremists now hold the upper hand,” Makarios said in the statement, “and appeasing them is the way out of problems.”This latest closure is especially disappointing in the wake of claims by high-ranking government officials that they support freedom of religion in the country.

Fraser and Dawn were due to move into the college house on Wednesday 30th January and another group will move into the Jacksons’ current house as soon as possible.  They were praying that there would be no more hitches and no large flying cockroaches or their eggs in the furniture they were taking when they moved.

Dawn and Maxwell started a Bible study at Stellenbosch prison this past week and had ten prisoners attend.  Abie could see no discrepancy between being a member of the 28 gang in prison and wanting to witness to Christ.  Next week Dawn will be leading the session alone as Maxwell will be at a training session.

Pray for Brian, recently released from prison, whom we suspect has given in to the temptation to use crystal meth.

Fraser is thankful that he has worked out a system for the data wrangling he’s having to do at the moment. He continues to pray for wisdom in balancing the demands of NetAct, Hugenote College, preaching on Sunday and, as church treasurer, sorting out the end of year accounts.Please pray for clarity and joy for Ruth as she considers what her future route should be, and also for good health and safety on our roads.

Talita Kum & Daniel Centre

Pray for the ongoing impact of the shoe-boxes which have gone into Rumania in the past month.

It is highly likely that the families of the children who have benefitted from attending Talita Kum this school year will also have been recipients of these boxes.

Pray for the combined impact of Talita Kum and the shoe-boxes on these families and the young ones.

Continue to remember the young men in the Daniel Centre and the potential of lives transformed there to have a major influence on the future of the land of Romania beyond our wildest hopes and dreams.

Morning Star News, December 31, 2018

Christians in India who previously experienced little or no opposition reported that Hindu extremists stoned, slashed and terrorized them this Christmas season.

At least 18 incidents against Christians were reported and verified during the Christmas season, according to the Religious Liberty Commission (RLC). Of those incidents, 10 were reported from Uttar Pradesh state, three from Uttarakhand state, three from Tamil Nadu state and two from Maharashtra state. 

“Both the frequency of the attacks and their intensity has increased in the past few years,” said the Rev. Vijayesh Lal, national director of the RLC.

Young Uzbek Christians and police persecutors

Barnabas Fund, 18 December 2018

Christian converts offered to pray for their persecutors who threatened them as they worshipped secretly in Uzbekistan.

18 people thought to be police officers in civilian clothes entered the church where they were holding a youth prayer meeting in secret on 1 December and tried to film them on a mobile phone.

But the police stopped filming when a female worshipper asked the other young people to pray for those in authority i.e. for those who had come to persecute them.

The officers, shouting threats, then tried to force the believers to make written statements incriminating others. When the group refused, they were taken to a police station where their identities were checked. They were released after about 40 minutes.

Barnabas Fund, 18 December 2018

The pastor of a church near Colombo, travelling home on his motorbike, was abducted, tortured and left unconscious after he was flagged down by a policeman.

When he stopped, he was grabbed from behind, loaded into a vehicle, and his mouth covered with a piece of cloth.  His attackers took him to an unknown location and tortured him with electric shocks until the following day.

He was left unconscious and then dumped by his attackers. A passer-by came to his aid and he was admitted to hospital. It is not currently known who the perpetrators were.

Christians make up eight percent of the population of Sri Lanka and face frequent persecution and opposition. Police often collude with or refuse to act against the perpetrators.

Morning Star News December 26, 2018

Five Christians in Algeria were acquitted on Dec. 25 of the charge of inciting a Muslim to change her religion, sources said.

A judge at the court of Bouira acquitted Rachid Ouali, whose wife had filed the charges against him.  Ouali, his friend Ali Laarchi, Laarchi’s wife and daughter, and a Christian identified only as Mohand were acquitted, Ouali’s attorney said.

Laarchi told Morning Star News by phone that he was happy and grateful for his lawyer, a practicing Muslim.

“My family and I, and our beloved brothers Mohand and Rachid, are very happy to see this mishap come to an end,” he said. “We are happy that everything ends so well. The Lord is good.”