Jacksons, Mission Partners of Castle Street, Missions

Jacksons Update – June 1st 2022

by Robert MacNaughton

Give thanks that Fraser had a very good meeting yesterday with representatives from Mukhanyo Theological College.  It now seems definite that Fraser will be supporting them with the provision of an online library catalogue across all their campuses and also their sister colleges throughout South Africa.  The latest issue of the NetACT journal was published today, and Fraser is now in the process of finalising details for his trip in July with staff from the Namibia Evangelical Theological Seminary.

The RJ follow up sessions Dawn leads on Mondays are going well.  This week we discussed anger, which led onto fear.  The teaching on anger at Pardeberg prison was used to defuse a potentially violent situation in one of the rooms.  Pray for Ebrahim in Drakenstein Maximum to be fully released from the temptation to suicide.  Decades ago he was in contact with satanists.  Now he’s a firm follower of Jesus and has seen many answers to prayer.

Pray for the communities where drug taking and crime are increasing exponentially.  The men worry about the dangers that face their children outside.  Pray the men’s altered lives would be part of the change and they would be able to trust God enough for their families.

Zebulun church in Wellington is planning an outreach soup lunch on Thursday.  Pray that they continue to make a positive impact in their gang-ridden area of Wellington.

Recognising individual talents, weaknesses and misfits is very important.  Pray especially that the leadership of the prison ministry will be aware of this.

Please pray as we gather documents to apply for a renewal of our visas to stay in South Africa.

Blythswood, Mission Partners of Castle Street, Missions

Blythswood Update – May 18th 2022

by Robert MacNaughton

Daniel Centre

Development work at the Depot has gone well and is almost ready.

Luisa has now contacted Alex, Soreen & Ovidio in prison and is working on getting food parcels to them as prison food is minimal.  Luisa continues to be very effective in getting the lads more co-operative in the Centre which, with a new arrival expected, will be back up to capacity.

The Ukrainian refugees who were in the Daniel Centre apartment have now returned to the Ukraine and a new family has come to replace them.

Balazs, along with Finlay MacKenzie, Blythswood’s Elpis Foundation in Romania and churches in Ukraine, is now building up a team to handle the money channelled through Christian Aid and Blythswood for reconstruction and for internally displaced persons in Ukraine.

Talita Kum

TK1 and TK2 are now working normally again, have added extra-curricular activities and are preparing their children’s fair for the town onsite at TK1 on June 1st this year.  Adi is also preparing a summer camp and an HIV camp and possibly a children’s outing in Austria.

Barnabas, Mission Partners of Castle Street, Missions

Barnabas Update – May 18th 2022

by Robert MacNaughton

(excerpts)

Iranian-Armenian pastor – 10 years’ imprisonment

Barnabas Fund – 10 May 2022

An Iranian-Armenian pastor has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for running a “house church” in Tehran.  Anooshavan Avedian was also sentenced to 10 years of “deprivation of social rights” – restrictions on his employment, for example – on his release from prison.

Two church members, Abbas Soori and Maryam Mohammadi, both converts from Islam, were also sentenced to 10 years’ deprivation of rights and a 2-year ban on travelling abroad or joining any social group, 2-year exile from Tehran province, and fined £1,400.

Anooshavan was convicted of, “establishing and leading an illegal group aimed to disrupt the security of the country through educational and propaganda activities contrary to and disturbing to the holy religion of Islam”.

The three were arrested after a raid on the house church in August 2020, held in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison, and subjected to solitary confinement and interrogation.

Other church members were forced to sign documents promising not to attend further house church meetings or make contact with any other Christians.

Farsi-speaking Christians are converts from Islam – that is, apostates – and punishable according to Islamic law.

Jacksons, Mission Partners of Castle Street, Missions

Jacksons Update – May 18th 2022

by Robert MacNaughton

(excerpts)

The NetACT journal editorial board came up with good ideas on going forward.  Some of Fraser’s trips, including  one to Namibia from 10th to 13th July, are firming up.  He will also help some non-NetACT theological colleges with online library catalogues.  Funding is also available to conduct an information-gathering exercise on all the partner colleges this year. 

Thank God for the 6 men in Obiqua Correctional Centre whom Dawn meets fortnightly and who are still committed to changing their lives.  Pray for Jonathan at Drakenstein Maximum to be equipped with patience to listen without losing his temper as he phones his recently divorced wife and their 12 and 13 year old daughter and son. 

Pray for both James and Ruth as they discern what to do next as both their courses finish this summer.

Both Henry and Asanda in Drakenstein Maximum have said how they have been changed in prison and having the time to dedicate to the Lord.  Many of the men I meet are tired of the way they’ve been living and so amazed and overwhelmed by the way a relationship with God does change their lives.  Thank God for both these men who are determined to be changed.

A short-staffed Medium A didn’t have the required officer to supervise the Bible study, so it had to be cancelled.

Pray for guidance for Dawn about helping at a Restorative Justice course a long way from Wellington.  Dawn has been down with a winter bug this week.

Blythswood, Mission Partners of Castle Street, Missions

Blythswood Update – May 4th 2022

by Robert MacNaughton

Daniel Centre

Development work continues at the Depot.

Luisa is still seeking with contact Alex, Soreen & Ovidio in prison and André, with his own case still under investigation, is now proud to be working at Carrefour.  Cipri is having tensions in his work at H & M.

The Ukrainian refugees are still in the Daniel Centre apartment, and 3 more – a severely traumatised grandmother, mother and 13-year-old daughter – are now in an apartment owned by Balazs’s wife Agnes.

Danny and night worker Sergiu are well again.

Balazs has been approached by Christian Aid to use their DEC (Disaster Emergency Committee) aid for the Ukraine.  He has to draw up plans for using this funding in partnership with Ukrainian churches for reconstruction and helping internally displaced people there – an even more complicated project than applying for EU funding.

Talita Kum

Adi has shut one of their supporting shops in Jimboliya, has had no update on their EU funding but continues to run the Talita Kum houses as normal.

Barnabas, Mission Partners of Castle Street, Missions

Barnabas Update – May 4th 2022

by Robert MacNaughton

(excerpts)

Afghan Christians at risk of death for apostasy

Barnabas Fund, 26 April 2022

The annual report of the US Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has argued that Christians in Afghanistan are still at risk.

Since the August 2021 US withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban takeover, the threat to Christians – all considered apostates from Islam – has increased.

USCIRF has recommended that the US Government designate Afghanistan a “Country of Particular Concern” saying “Christian converts are among those who practice their faith in hiding due to fear of reprisal and threats from the Taliban and separately from the Islamic State-Khorasan Province (ISIS-K).”

Taliban have gone door-to-door searching for Christians.

“One leader of a house church network received a threatening letter in August from Taliban militants.”

Taliban rule also places believers at greater risk of violence and death at the hands of their neighbours, including even friends and family.

Since mid-2021 the Taliban have said that Christians must leave, re-convert to Islam, or face death.

Western governments have also largely failed in assisting Christians who have fled for their lives from Afghanistan and need safe places to re-settle.

Jacksons, Mission Partners of Castle Street, Missions

Jacksons Update – May 4th 2022

by Robert MacNaughton

(excerpts)

Fraser has just received a tentative contact from someone in Scotland wishing to discuss passing books on to colleges of theology in Africa.  Thank God for the opportunity and pray that this would work out practically.

The Editorial Board meeting for the NetACT journal will now be on 13th May.  May the articles be useful and thought-provoking and the technicalities run smoothly.

Dawn turned up at Obiqua prison to start the Restorative Justice follow-up but no one knew she was coming.  Thank God for helpful staff there and for the good session she had with the six men who’d done RJ.  They’re still supporting each other and keen to make the right decisions in the right way. Pray that this would continue.

Dawn was able lead a Restorative Justice follow-up session at Pardeberg prison for the six men there.  Their thoughts and attitudes are being changed by what they’re learning and they’re determined to continue on the right way.  Pray that the follow-up sessions will be applicable, challenging and helpful.

The Bible studies at Drakenstein had to be cancelled today as the chapels were being used for Ramadan services.  Pray that Jesus’ followers will reach out in love to their Muslim neighbours.

Ruth was able to stay with us for two weeks and now flies back to Glasgow for the start of her final term.  Please pray we’d all settle back into life on different continents again.

Blythswood, Mission Partners of Castle Street, Missions

Blythswood Update – April 20th 2022

by Robert MacNaughton

Daniel Centre

Development work is now progressing more quickly at the Depot.

Three of the Centre lads – Alex, Soreen & Ovidio –  are now in prison for past crimes, particularly disappointing for the latter two as they had been getting their act together more recently at the Centre with the counsellor, Luisa.  A fourth lad, André, is still being investigated for his role in the vandalising of a vending machine and could also face prison, but also preparing to work at Carrefour.  Cipri has also found work at H & M, so of the current 6 residents, only Danutz who is physically handicapped is without work.

The Ukrainian refugees at the apartment, 3 ladies (1 a grandmother) and 3 children are currently settled.  The father in Ukraine has now returned to their home town.

Balazs’ deputy Danny and their night worker Sergiu have both been off sick, but Luisa has been a really good addition to the Centre staff.

Talita Kum

No new update from Talita Kum this month.

Barnabas, Mission Partners of Castle Street, Missions

Barnabas Update – April 20th 2022

by Robert MacNaughton

Algerian church forced to close

Barnabas Fund, 19 April 2022 (excerpts)

A church in the port city of Béjaïa, Algeria, has been closed with immediate effect.

The provincial governor issued an administrative closure order on 21 March, communicated to the Aouchiche church leaders on 6 April, to stop worship meetings.

The church has more than 300 members and belongs to the officially recognised group of Protestant churches in Algeria.

Aouchiche is the seventeenth such church to be closed by the authorities since November 2017.

A 2006 ordinance stipulates that permission must be obtained before a building is used for non-Muslim worship. 

Several churches have been closed under this ordinance in recent years.  The licensing commission established at the time has yet to grant a single licence.

On 2 February, the governor of Tizi Ouzou province filed a case against the pastor of the church in Ait Atteli with the aim of closing the church.

No date for a court hearing has been scheduled yet.

Pray for Algerian church leaders to persevere in the face of increasing threats to churches.  Ask that the campaign of church closures will cease, for those churches closed to be re-opened, and that Christians are able to live in peace and freedom.

Jacksons, Mission Partners of Castle Street, Missions

Jacksons Update – April 20th 2022

by Robert MacNaughton

Ebrahim in Maximum had found that his guitar had been deliberately broken and started to hate the culprit.  He later heard God tell him that if he wanted God to come through for him he would have to forgive the culprit.  He decided to forgive.  The next day someone gave him a guitar, better than the broken one.  He told the others that if you don’t forgive, there’s no point coming to this class.  They now have four guitars for music classes.  God provides many creative ways for us to be involved with him.

Many of the men are keen to serve the Lord and enjoy being in a “brothers’ room”.  But some new believers, like Jetro in Medium A, are alone in a gang room.  He suspects that some of his roommates are interested in Christianity but are too afraid of the senior gangsters to express their interest.  May the men think seriously about whether they are in the right room and ask to move if God leads them.

Theswin in Medium A has found out that his young nephew has been shot in the neck and paralysed. Last Sunday, he stepped in at the last moment when the preacher didn’t turn up and said he’d never felt the Holy Spirit work through him as powerfully as when he spoke to the men that day.  Derick in Medium A who is being troubled by issues from his past.

Fraser has had a good meeting with representatives of NETS in Namibia and some new ideas for streamlining the NetACT internet portal, making it easier to administer and solving some technical problems he’s been struggling with.  A technology he uses has had a major upgrade.  He has to work out the implications and be able to upgrade the various NetACT sites which use it.

Ruth is able to come and spend time with us over Easter.