Updates on the persecuted Church – 10 October 2023
Barnabas Fund, 11th October 2023 (excerpts)
- A church leader in Algeria has been sentenced to two years’ imprisonment and a £605 fine for holding an unauthorised religious meeting in a place not permitted for religious worship. Pastor Youssef Ourahmane, of the Protestant Church of Algeria (EPA), in March 2023, supervised Christian families who stayed at a church compound including a chapel sealed by the authorities. Since closures began in 2018, 41 of 45 EPA churches have been closed, 15 of them physically sealed. Pray for Youssef’s appeal against his sentence and for the Algerian people.
- 29 were killed and 56 wounded when the Buddhist extremist Myanmar military bombed a camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Christian-majority Kachin State on 9 October. The victims had fled another IDP camp after being forced from their homes. Ask the Lord to bring an end to anti-Christian violence in Myanmar, and for peace for all people.
- 2 pastors have been targeted in separate incidents in southern Nigeria. Pastor Nicholas Omoroka escaped after gunmen shot at his house. His son Christopher, in his 20s, was killed in the attack. Pastor Agbadamashi Emmanuel and family were abducted on 6 October. May the Lord comfort Pastor Nicholas and family in their loss and for Pastor Agbadamashi and his family to be freed safe and unharmed.
- The first church building to open in the modern Muslim-majority Turkish Republic was inaugurated on Sunday 8 October in Istanbul. Church leaders and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan took part in the inauguration ceremony.