Barnabas, Mission Partners of Castle Street, Missions

Barnabas Update – September 30th 2020

by Robert MacNaughton

Eritrea releases 69 Christians on bail

Barnabas Fund, 22 September 2020

The Eritrean government has, at the time of writing, released 69 Christian prisoners, many in long-term detention for their faith without trial.

The authorities are continuing make conditional releases from the Mai Serwa prison, near the capital, Asmara.

According to Eritrean Christian leader, Dr Berhane Asmelash, hopes are rising for further significant releases from among the 300 or more Christians who remain incarcerated in the military jail.

Dr Berhane confirmed that most of the prisoners released so far had been in long term detention for at least a decade.  No pastors or other senior Christian leaders known to be in captivity were among those released.

“This is an answer to prayer. Thousands of Christians have been praying for this,” he added.  “Many have been in prison for a long time.  Many will be homeless with nowhere to go. There is no [state] help in Eritrea.  People have souls and minds that will need healing.”

Blythswood, Mission Partners of Castle Street, Missions

Blythswood Update – September 30th 2020

by Robert MacNaughton

Daniel Centre

Alix, with his new security company job, has improved in attitude, and is now positive about leaving the Centre in a month to rent for himself.  Cipri struggles and takes days off work, refusing treatment for his diabetes.  André lost his new job, not reporting on time to sign his contract.

Daniel has quit his job to attend school for 6 hours each day to get a diploma.  He has the intelligence for it and has also been offered part-time work doing 4 hours a day delivering food by bicycle.

The average age of young people leaving care centres is 19, compared to 28 for young people leaving a stable family setting.  65% of care centre leavers don’t feel ready to move on and 50% have had no life skills training such as is offered by the Daniel Centre.

The Daniel Centre does not qualify for any of the €1 billion EU fund to help develop the depot.

 Talita Kum

TK1 and TK2 have re-opened again with a full quota of students.  Adi reports no problems with finding teachers, possibly as home-tutoring has decreased because of the Covid-19 crisis.  Covid-19 cases are increasing again.

Adi’s application for TK3/TK4 funding was refused because of failure to include the fire safety requirements in his application.  So he has to start a new application.

Jacksons, Mission Partners of Castle Street, Missions

Jacksons Update – September 15th 2020

by Robert MacNaughton

Fraser helped facilitate an online meeting last week for over 100  Principals of Bible colleges, theological colleges and seminaries to discuss collaboration, sustainability, and the practicalities of online education, and especially to listen to the African viewpoint.

Dawn attended the first general Hope Prison Ministry meeting since lockdown in Cape Town yesterday. The prisons are still closed to visitors; pray that a way for ministry teams to return would be found.  The lockdown has imposed stresses on many relationships, including those of ex-inmates who now work for the ministry.

Edward Stoffels, the ex-Drakenstein inmate, is still trying to live faithfully in a God-honouring way but must find somewhere else to live by the end of the month.

It’s heart-breaking when people who really intend to live honest lives find themselves in situations where the temptation to fall back into criminal activities is too great for them.

Our South African visas expire at the end of October. We had planned to have the renewal process well advanced but covid19 put paid to that.  Please pray there will be no hitches in the granting of visas for the next two years.

Ruth started her new degree course this week, James’ final year begins soon as well.

Barnabas, Mission Partners of Castle Street, Missions

Barnabas Update – September 15th 2020

by Robert MacNaughton

Jihadi attacks in the DRC

Barnabas Fund, 15 September 2020

At least 58 people were killed and 17 kidnapped when Muslim militants attacked two villages in the mainly-Christian north-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo in early September. 

Twenty-three people were murdered on 8 September and another 35 were killed two days later. Large numbers of the population have since fled.

Members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an Islamist militant group active in the region for more than two decades, are thought to have carried out the atrocity. The terrorist group had entered the region to escape military action against them in neighbouring North Kivu province.

More than 700 people have been killed in Ituri province since 2017, according to the UN. The north-east region has seen a surge of violence since October 2019, when the army launched a large-scale offensive against the ADF.

Blythswood, Mission Partners of Castle Street, Missions

Blythswood Update – September 15th 2020

by Robert MacNaughton

Daniel Centre

When residents are first accepted by the Daniel Centre, they are given a 6 or 9 month contract.  These contracts are then renewed as necessary according to the needs and attitudes of the individual residents

István, Soreen and Alix are now, willingly or unwillingly, coming to the end of their time there and will only have their contracts renewed with difficulty.  André, who came in July, now has a job and is a stable addition to the Centre.

Balazs hopes that they may be able to qualify for some of the €1 billion EU fund to help develop the depot where the Blythswood Charity Shop currently stands to release more sustainable cash in future from rentals.

Talita Kum

Adi has had two good summer camps, one in relation to Talita Kum for primary school children and the other a more secular camp for artists.

TK1 and TK2 return to business in the next couple of weeks but the school situation in Romania is currently quite chaotic with teachers and pupils alike not knowing quite what to expect or what the rules are.

The rate of increase in Covid cases has now flattened.

Jacksons, Mission Partners of Castle Street, Missions

Jacksons Update – September 1st 2020

by Robert MacNaughton

Last Friday, Fraser ‘electronically hosted’ an online Zoom meeting of all the NetACT College Principals from across Africa, live-streamed it on YouTube, and facilitated various text-based discussion forums.  There were over 60 in ‘attendance’ and the afternoon went very well.

A second Zoom meeting for the Portuguese-speaking colleges, was quite a challenge for the translator who listened to the main Zoom meeting on one device and translated for the Portuguese group on a different device.

Fraser was delighted that all 50 NetACT partners sent in a response to a questionnaire regarding the post-Covid19 future of theological education in Africa. 

The next stage is a joint meeting, planned for Wednesday 9th September, with as many other Bible colleges, theological colleges, and seminaries as possible.

Prisons are working at half-numbers and were short-staffed even before covid19 hit.   Security could so easily be compromised through fatigue, burnout, temptation, and violence. The majority of wardens do their best with little appreciation under difficult circumstances.  It is especially challenging for women wardens in male prisons.

The general impression here is that many people are too important to be held to account. Pray for courage, integrity, and protection for those in a position to stand for good leadership and honesty.

Both Dawn and Fraser are still experiencing some of the after-effects of their bouts with (suspected) covid19.  Pray for their restoration to health, especially lungs and stamina.

Barnabas, Mission Partners of Castle Street, Missions

Barnabas Update – September 1st 2020

by Robert MacNaughton

Jihadi militants take 100s hostage in Nigeria

Barnabas Fund, 27 August 2020

22 trucks loaded with heavily armed jihadists thundered into a mainly-Christian town in north-eastern Nigeria, with the militants taking hundreds hostage on August 18th.

The Islamic State West Africa Province terrorist group, an off-shoot of Boko Haram, captured local people as they fled and launched an attack on a nearby military station protecting the town.

The 1,200 residents had only recently returned to their home town near the border with Lake Chad, after spending 2 years in refugee camps 120 miles to the south in the state capital.

The residents had returned full of hope to restart their lives and cultivate their farmlands “only to end up in the hands of the insurgents”.

Local government authorities had declared the town safe and ordered the residents to return under a military escort.  

In the past two years, some two million internally displaced people (IDPs) have been repatriated to towns in the north-east. But many IDPs are wary that jihadists still have a foothold and it remains unsafe for them to return.

Blythswood, Mission Partners of Castle Street, Missions

Blythswood Update – September 1st 2020

by Robert MacNaughton

Daniel Centre

Most residents come from the Child Protection services in the area around Cluj.  The Centre takes residents who are borderline emotional cases, one of the few institutions taking young people in this category.  The Centre has now had about 120 residents over its 20-year existence.  The big majority of those have left with a positive attitude towards the Centre.  Only a few, however, have been emotionally stable enough to go on to have families of their own.

István has now left the Centre to live with his aunt, but already regretting the move.  Soreen has quit his job and may also have to leave the Centre.  Alix, who has been resident since 2015, has improved in attitude and may be getting a new job as night watchman with a security company.  The new resident André who came in July, seems to be a more open-minded young man.

Progress in developing the depot for renting and in selling the property by the airport is quite slow.

Talita Kum

Adi is coming towards the end of his summer camp with 30 children ranging in age from Primary 1 to Primary 8.

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

Jacksons Update – August 19th 2020

by Robert MacNaughton

NetACT hope to have the first issue of their African Theological Journal for Church and Society online by early September. 

 The NetACT office staff are discussing how to capitalise on the enthusiasm raised by the Barnabas Fund conference on Online Theological Education a couple of weeks ago.  Pray that attendees will see how to creatively use what they learned.  Fraser meets with the Hugenote College admin to discuss how to progress with their online learning platform.

Recently Boko Haram threats have greatly increased in severity and detail in Nigeria. Pray for the Nigerians who facilitate InReach: that Boko Haram would not find them, that their evil schemes would be thwarted and that they would encounter Jesus in a powerful and life-changing way.

As ministry inside the prisons is not permitted at the moment, Dawn has contacted a local initiative giving the unemployed opportunities and opening their eyes to the value they have in God’s sight. From first impressions it could be a good fit.

Our internet access has been very poor for a while but give thanks that the internet is working properly again.

Barnabas, Mission Partners of Castle Street, Missions

Barnabas Update – August 19th 2020

by Robert MacNaughton

Pakistani Christian arrested for “blasphemy”

Barnabas Fund, 14 August 2020

An angry Muslim mob forced its way into a Pakistan police station on 5 August after a Christian man was arrested for alleged “blasphemy” in Punjab province.

Sohail Masih was accused by a local Muslim leader of insulting Islam in a Facebook post.

A crowd gathered outside the police station became enraged when they heard that a case had not been registered against Sohail, and some forced their way inside.

Sohail was later charged with “defiling the name” of Muhammad, which carries the death penalty.

Even when accused Christians have been cleared of blasphemy of “blasphemy” allegations, it may never be safe for them to return home because of the threat from the local Muslim community.

To date no one has been executed under the “blasphemy” law, but a number of Christians and others have received death sentences.