Blythswood, Mission Partners of Castle Street, Missions

Blythswood Update – June 3rd 2020

by Robert MacNaughton

Daniel Centre

The lockdown restrictions have eased in Romania over the past days. Please remember the young men of the Daniel Centre in your prayers. Some have lost their jobs due to the crisis.  Some will be returning to work in the days ahead and one young man has a job interview.

Alex, himself abandoned as a child because of a crippled leg, is taking over from Titi who was cook for the Centre.

The Blythswood shop in Cluj has been declining and faces growing competition from shops selling new cheap clothing sourced from Poland and Turkey.

With financial support from the shop declining and even terminal, Blythswood are now selling land they have had for many years and redeveloping other facilities to provide ongoing financial support through rentals.

Talita Kum

Talita Kum in Jimbolia is supported by three shops which continue to receive a good supply of goods from Austria.

Because of heavy rain on June 1st, Talita Kum moved their International Children’s Day celebration to June 2nd with their outdoor barbecues and other events.

Barnabas, Mission Partners of Castle Street, Missions

Barnabas Update – June 3rd 2020

by Robert MacNaughton

“Important step” towards religious freedom 

Barnabas Fund, 2nd June 2020

Sudan’s Transitional Military Council and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North have jointly agreed to found an independent national commission and a Ministry for Peace and Human Rights.

On 21 May, the government stated, “We agreed to establish a commission for religious freedom to address all issues relating to religious freedom in order to affirm the principle of peaceful coexistence in the country.”

The Liberation Movement’s representative, Yasir Arman, highlighted the importance of the step for protecting Christians in the volatile “Two Areas” states of Blue Nile and South Kordofan, which include the Nuba Mountains, and have remained in dispute since South Sudan gained independence in 2011.

Another positive step towards greater religious freedom was made in March, when the Transitional Military Council announced a bill proposing to repeal the death penalty for apostasy from Islam and make it a criminal offence to accuse someone of apostasy.

Jacksons, Mission Partners of Castle Street, Missions

Jacksons Update – June 3rd 2020

by Robert MacNaughton

Many NetACT partner colleges have been able to source funding to cover lack of tuition fees caused by lockdowns.

Drakenstein prison has seen its first cases of covid19. One section is now a quarantine area.  Many of the men are immuno-compromised with HIV/AIDS, years of substance abuse and unhealthy living so are at greater risk of complications.

Hope Prison Ministry is delivering food parcels for released prisoners and the families of those still inside.  Pray that donations will continue to help as many as possible.

The team running InReach in Nigeria is being pursued by people (presumably from Boko Haram) trying to find their locations and arrange meetings with no good aim in heart.

South Africa is gradually easing lockdown restrictions, although Covid-19 cases are still rising.  Hugenote College is planning to open on 15th June.  Pray for those working out the logistics.  Churches have permission to re-open, though over-60s should still not come out.

Blythswood, Mission Partners of Castle Street, Missions, The Persecuted Church Across the World

Blythswood Update – May 13th 2020

by Robert MacNaughton

Daniel Centre

Romania moves from a military state of emergency to a state of alert on 15th May, with deaths still contained at under 1000 for the country.  Alix and István still work and keep to their own rooms when back at the house, but no Covid 19 testing in place poses problems for the others.   Abram is on his two-week supervision of the Centre.

Balazs and family are currently on a break from the city, the children schooling online.  This year looks to be the driest year since 1947 – the country will have to cut down on grain exports to non-EU countries.

Balazs returns to Cluj today to work on claiming government furlough subsidies for the Centre.  An offer has been made for one of the Centre’ outlying properties and Balazs will meet the potential buyer in Cluj.

Talita Kum

No updated news at the moment but Talita Kum’s teachers continue online support to children normally attending Talita Kum under regular circumstances.

Adrian supports the children, their families and elderly in the Jimbolia community with meals from Talita Kum’s soup kitchen.  This provides some relief for Talita Kum in its current cash-strapped situation.

The Talita 3 & 4 project is now in the detailed planning stage.

Barnabas, Mission Partners of Castle Street, Missions, The Persecuted Church Across the World, Whats On

Barnabas Update – May 13th 2020

by Robert MacNaughton

Saving Forgotten Lives 

Barnabas Fund, 13th May 2020

Thanks to the generous giving of our supporters, Barnabas Fund has sent £766,706 of life-saving aid to Christians in 24 countries, in desperate situations due to the lockdown. 

Many low-paid daily-wage earners have lost their meagre incomes and are locked down without food. We have sent food aid for more than 250,000 Christians.

Many live in conditions where it is impossible to keep a safe distance to avoid infection. We have provided hygiene products for more than 14,000 Christians.  

Pastors supported by the Sunday offerings of their congregations are suddenly destitute when people can no longer gather for worship. We have sent support to more than 6,400 church leaders.

On top of this, locust swarms are multiplying in East Africa and Pakistan and anti-Christian violence continues in many contexts.

Jacksons, Mission Partners of Castle Street, Missions, The Persecuted Church Across the World, Whats On

Jacksons Update – May 13th 2020

by Robert MacNaughton

Jacksons – May Update 2

InReach in Nigeria is being greatly used to help Muslims encounter Jesus. This is often not safe. A group of converts are still across Nigerian borders, being discipled and looked after in a safe place.

One of the men involved in their escape was captured by Boko Haram but recently managed to escape – he has been left extremely traumatised. Pray for his healing and continued safety. Pray for the InReach team – Boko Haram know who they are and are gathering information on them.

Please pray for wisdom for all those in authority who are having to make decisions that affect people’s lives, that their decisions will be made selflessly and with integrity, without regard to their personal aggrandisement.

Pray for the congregations that have no facilities for online services, that people will not drift into misinformation and conflict.

Dawn had many of the Covid 19 symptoms 4 weeks ago and Fraser took to bed with what looked like the same thing.  But Dawn’s strength is holding up and Fraser is gradually progressing in the right direction.

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

Blythswood Update – May 1st 2020

by Robert MacNaughton

Daniel Centre

Three of the young men at the Centre have now been allowed to go back to work; István at the supermarket, who had had pneumonia, tested negative for Covid 19.

Danny, the staff member currently doing his two weeks supervising the young men, expected to be Covid-tested before this present stint but local government did not have the facility to test him.  Balazs or another staff member will take over from Danny on 9th May, but they are concerned about the local lack of necessary testing.

There have been 11,000 confirmed cases of Corona virus and 600 deaths in Romania.

Talita Kum

Schools don’t re-open till September – older children get online classes through Zoom with their teachers but younger children get emails from teachers and parents do most of the actual teaching at home – less satisfactory.

5 Talita Kum’s teachers now offer online support to the children who normally attend Talita Kum.

Planning for Talita Kum 3 & 4 goes on and has now reached the detailed planning stage.

There was little uptake to continue the fortnightly quizzes online, so they have been dropped.

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

Barnabas Update – May 1st 2020

by Robert MacNaughton

57 murdered and church damaged in Mozambique

Barnabas Fund, 15 April

Islamist fundamentalists murdered at least 57 people, with a further five deaths unconfirmed, and smashed their way into a church in an upsurge in violence at the beginning of April in Mozambique’s northernmost province of Cabo Delgado, which is Muslim-majority.

On 10 April, militants launched a murderous attack where one person was shot, another burned alive, and three drowned as they tried to escape. About 60 people were taken hostage but released later the same day.

On 9 April, five died in an attack on the Quirimbas archipelago. The terrorists caused severe damage to the local church and destroyed homes of church missionaries.

On 7 April, at least 52 people were massacred in the same area when they refused to join the terrorist group.  “The criminals tried to recruit young people to join their ranks, but there was resistance,” said a police spokesman. “This provoked the anger of the criminals, who indiscriminately killed, cruelly and diabolically, 52 young people.”

The Bishop of Pemba said that Muslims “have, from the beginning, distanced themselves from these attacks and said that those involved are not religious, and are misusing the name of religion to do this,”

Militant Islamist organisation Ahlu Sunnah Wa-Jama have effectively gained control of an area of Cabo Delgado.

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

Jacksons Update – May 1st 2020

by Robert MacNaughton

Barnabas Fund is continuing to support NetACT partners and investigating how to help with salaries.  Pray, however,  that those colleges which are involved in teaching and proclaiming Christ would live up to their verbal profession and not take advantage of the situation by grossly inflating what they claim to be their operating costs.

 Fraser is running a one-man ‘helpdesk’ operation for Hugenote College tutors starting to try online learning tools.  Pray that the students in their homes will be able to access the courses and be able to pay for the internet data required.

 Dawn has had Covid 19 symptoms for a few weeks but is now getting better.  Some prison officials are not taking Covid19 precautions. Pray they will be responsible, especially as cases recorded in prison so far are thought to have been brought in by staff.

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

Blythswood Update – April 15th 2020

by Robert MacNaughton

Daniel Centre

The money previously assigned for the refurbishment of the large depot in Cluj has had to be temporarily re-directed to Blythswood in Deephaven to maintain essential services, including the food banks, across a wider spectrum of Blythswood projects which are currently in lockdown.

The Daniel Centre is in complete lockdown which means that all the residents have to be in isolation for 14 days and those young men who have been working will lose their jobs because of this.  Two of the lads have left the Centre for the time being, another would like to leave but this would probably have to be permanent, and seven remain with different members of staff taking turns to spend two weeks in the Centre with the young men.  The cook retires at the end of April but one of the current staffers will take his place.

The Daniel Centre has been delivering care packages to 30 homes, about 100 people, on a regular basis, but that has now to be curtailed to only the two most elderly and vulnerable people.  The Daniel Centre will transfer money regularly to the accounts of the other 28 family units till the crisis is over.

Talita Kum

The lockdown continues and the staff are now on furlough and receiving 75% of their normal salary.

Balazs has had no news of whether their fortnightly quizzes going online has been successful or not.  They may have to stop their care plan for the elderly in the current situation.