Blythswood, Missions

Blythswood Update March 2018

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Blythswood – March Update 1  

Talita Kum

Continue to give God thanks for those in Blythswood and also their Romanian partners who are committed to working with these younger children in Talita Kum – the seeds of future Romania.

 

Many of these children would have no other opportunity to see the Christian faith being lived out on a daily basis.  So please remember those Romanians who have been called by God to pour their lives into the young.

 

Daniel Centre

Please continue to pray for Daniel Centre’s staff and volunteers.

 

It is not always easy to adapt from living on your own, or perhaps in a dysfunctional family, to living in a close community supervised by committed Christians and with other young men drawn from a variety of backgrounds.

 

Yet the potential for making a great change in your community is there.  The daily spiritual dynamic of the Centre is critical for the future of these young men.

Barnabas, Missions

Barnabas Update March 2018

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The Middle East – March Update 1

Liberated Mosul still not safe for Iraqi Christians

Barnabas Fund, 1 March 2018

The presence of Iranian-backed Shia militia in Mosul means Christian do not feels safe, more than seven months since the city was liberated from Islamic State.

The Shiites are met with a lot of distrust and not seen as allies. The city has not become safe for Assyrian Christians.

Many Christians used to live in Mosul and the nearby Nineveh Plains, but they remain very hesitant to return to their homes, many of which are damaged or destroyed.

Violence against Christians began in Mosul long before the arrival of Islamic State.

In 2008 and 2009, Christians began to be threatened, abducted and killed for their faith. A well-known priest was abducted and slaughtered. His body was found in pieces.

For Iraqi Christians considering what lies ahead, their future prospects remain bleak.

The Persecuted Church Across the World

Persecuted Church Jan 2018

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Christmas for refugees in Lebanon

 

World Watch Monitor, December 31, 2017 

 

Lebanon has absorbed more than a million refugees from conflicts in nearby Syria and Iraq, where Christians either fled general violence or direct targeting.

 

Because of Lebanon’s multi-faith make-up, many Iraqi and Syrian Christians have sought refuge there. They may not be the most materially impoverished, because the Churches there have tried hard to help them find rented accommodation.

 

At home, Iraqi Christians would go to church on Christmas Eve for a host of special events. In Beirut, where many feel scared to go out into a city they do not know, “they’ll only go to church at midnight, then go home.”

 

The Chaldean Charity Association has put on a free Christmas concert in Beirut cathedral for refugees, two Christmas parties for 1,200 children with gifts and food and animators, and is distributing food and hygiene parcels for 600 families for Christmas.

The Persecuted Church Across the World

Persecuted Church Jan 2018

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India – Hindu Extremists Disrupt Prayer Service

Morning Star News December 22, 2017 

Hindu extremists have kept hundreds of Christians from a prayer service and attacked those who managed to attend.

2,000 people were expected on Dec. 6, but only 300 Christians made it past Hindu extremist check-points.

Hindu nationalists positioned men at village entry points and asked people where they were headed.

If they said they were going to the church service, they were shooed away, and if they tried to reason with them, they were threatened and manhandled.

Christian women who objected at the check-points were disgracefully manhandled.  They were caught by their throats, and their clothes were pulled to threaten them.

When the worship service began, 700 hard-line Hindus attacked, led by members of the Hindu extremist VHP.  They struck vehicles parked outside the prayer hall with sticks and set two of them on fire.

The Persecuted Church Across the World

Persecuted Church Jan 2018

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Cuban Christmas: Silent night

 World Watch Monitor, December 31, 2017 

 Christmas in communist Cuba is a quiet affair. Catholic churches may hold a Christmas Mass, and some Evangelical churches will celebrate Christmas on their own premises but not in public spaces. Other Evangelical churches don’t hold Christmas services because of years of fierce government restrictions.

 For many Cubans, bigger than Christmas is the anniversary of the revolution, 1 January. So, on 31 December, towns come alive with street parties and dancing. Many churches sidestep these festivities by holding all-night prayer services.

 However, Christians watch what they say, even in church. For long after the revolution, Christmas couldn’t even be mentioned in a church. Nowadays such tight controls have relaxed to an extent, but “there continue to be government informants in all church services”.

Blythswood, Missions

Blythswood Update Jan 2018

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Blythswood – January Update 1

Talita Kum

Give thanks for the £1000 donation from Souter Charitable Trust for Talita Kum 2.

Daniel Centre

Pray for the young men in the Centre, that they would settle in and that their individual care programmes would work well for them.

The system of donating every month is not new to Blythswood Care.  Last year, we gave it a new name – Life Transformer – because that is what the donations do; transform lives.

The Life Transformer programme is initially a one-year commitment to partner with Blythswood Care. 

Donors will follow the story of Adrian, a young man in the Daniel Centre, whose life is gradually being transformed through his experience of the care, encouragement and support and he is receiving. 

Barnabas, Missions

Barnabas Update Jan 2018

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Syria – January Update 1

No justice for Christian genocide survivors

Barnabas Fund 21 Dec 2017

Survivors of Islamic State’s genocide against Christians are not receiving justice in government trials of militants.

Former Islamic State fighters are being tried under counter terror laws “without any distinction based on the gravity of the offences they are accused of committing.”

Authorities have made “no efforts to solicit victims’ participation in the trials,” – Christians have not been able to give evidence as witnesses.

The use of counter terror laws to secure convictions appears to be an effort to clear a large backlog of cases. But it has left victims side-lined and raises the prospect that the perpetrators of the genocide against Christians and other minorities may never be held fully accountable.

Jacksons, Missions

Jackson’s Update Jan 2018

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Jacksons – January Update 1

 Give thanks for the fortnight Dawn was able to spend with Ruth in England.

Our car has developed an unexpected fault and Fraser’s finding it hard to get the dealership to communicate. Pray that the car will be fixed in time to collect Dawn from Cape Town airport on Thursday morning. Thank God for the Church family who are ready to help if needed.

Fraser and the other NetACT staff have a meeting with one of the directors of Langham Literature next week.  Langham has a long history of supporting theological education in the developing world, including annual grants of literature to many seminaries and Bible colleges, so it is very exciting to discover how they can be involved in what NetACT is doing.

 Fraser has been suffering from an intermittent stomach upset for a few weeks.  Pray that we would be able to identify what is causing it.

The Persecuted Church Across the World

Persecuted Church Chile Dec 22nd 2017

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Why are Chile’s churches under attack?

World Watch Monitor December 15, 2017

Seven hours’ drive south of Santiago, 27 churches have been burnt down in the past couple of years.

The attackers leave messages with the demands of the Mapuches, a tribe whose land was taken from them during Chile’s colonisation by Spanish Catholics.  Many Mapuches now identify as Christian: 55% Catholic, 32% Protestant.

But for some others, Christians are still seen as invaders.

Of the 20 churches burnt down between 2015 and 2016, 12 were Catholic, 8 Protestant. In 2017, a further 7 have been torched. Many belonged to the poorest in Chile, and were attended by Mapuches themselves.

Abelino Apeleo, an Anglican bishop and ethnic Mapuche, said the primary issue is ignorance on the part of some of his fellow Mapuches.  “Those with a more radical, violent attitude blame the Church for creating the problems of the Mapuches,” he said. “This is totally wrong. And of course, we cannot support violence as a response.”

The Persecuted Church Across the World

Persecuted Church Belarus Dec 22nd 2017

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BELARUS – Christians fined for distributing religious literature

 

Barnabas Fund 14 Dec 2017

 

Lepel town police have continued to disrupt and arrest members of a church library ministry for singing and offering Christian books and magazines to passers-by at the entrance to the town market. The local court repeatedly fined one of them to the total equivalent of double his monthly wage.

 

 “I’ve been conducting the street library ministry for 16 years, offering Bibles, children’s literature and magazines for people to read and return,” said a church member. “Over the last 10 years we never had any conflicts.” The street library had not been disrupted for thirteen years until mid-October 2017.

 

A Christian sustained a facial injury during his arrest and detention by the police of Lepel town, north-eastern Belarus. He has lodged a complaint with the “Investigative Committee.”

 

The government in Belarus enforces strict regulations on Christian groups and requires all religious communities to register with the State.