Updates on the persecuted Church – 12 September 2023
Barnabas Fund, 12th August 2023 (excerpts)
- A church minister in southern Kaduna State, Nigeria, was burned to death on 7 September by Fulani Islamist extremists. Three other men were able to escape, but he died in the blaze. “There was no reaction or support from the military forces,” said a senior church leader. Pray that security forces will be awakened to the need to protect Christians.
- A man and a woman in Nepal were attacked on the morning of 5 September for preaching Christianity. A group of extremists handed both Christians to the police. Church leaders report attacks on 7 church buildings in the last 3 weeks. Pray that the 2 arrested will not face charges despite the vague wording of a law banning “hurting religious sentiment”.
- 5 suspected jihadists have been arrested and 5 bombs discovered in Kampala, the capital of Uganda just days after the arrest of another member of the bomb plot as he attempted to enter a church service with an explosive device on Sunday 3 September. All men are linked to the Allied Democratic Forces who carried out a school massacre in June.
- A new report raises concerns that the Azerbaijani blockade of Armenian Christian enclave Nagorno-Karabakh, which began nine months ago on 12 December, represents the beginnings of a new Armenian Genocide.