The Persecuted Church Across the World

Persecuted Church Uganda 18th Oct 2017

Uganda – Father Drives Son from Home for Becoming Christian

Morning Star News October 10, 2017 

The young man did not answer after his father asked him if he had ditched Islam to become a Christian.

Magale Hamidu, 20, of Nanoko in eastern Uganda, had become a Christian seven months before. He had been failing to attend mosque prayers, and his father had learned that twice a Christian pastor had visited him at their home.

As Hamidu kept quiet, his father began beating him with a stick, sources told Morning Star News. They said other family members picked up sticks and joined in.

Hamidu’s screams on that day, Sept. 20, alerted neighbours who managed to pull the bleeding young man away. He was rushed to a community clinic in Kibuku District, where he was treated for injuries to his head and right hand and discharged, they said.

A neighbour told Morning Star News that Hamidu’s father, Kasani Mubali, said he wants to kill his son.

The Persecuted Church Across the World

Persecuted Church France 18th Oct 2017

France: Imam chants verse encouraging attacks on Christians

Barnabas Fund 5th October 2017

In France, an imam leading Friday prayers for several hundred Muslims on the street in front of a town hall at Clichy, in Paris, chanted the words from the Quran (9:36) urging jihad against non-Muslims:

“Fight the infidels without exception, as they fight you without exception, and know that Allah is with the pious.”

The Grand Mosque of Paris, built in 1926

In fact, this comes only a few verses after Q9:29,which speaks of waging jihad against Christians until they pay the jizya tax. The significance of this tax on non-Muslims was that it was a sign of subjugation, humiliation and second-class status within an Islamic state, lacking many of the rights of Muslim citizens.

The Persecuted Church Across the World

Persecuted Church Egypt18th Oct 2017

Egypt – Coptic Orthodox Bishop Killed outside Cairo

Morning Star News October 13, 2017 

A Coptic Orthodox bishop from Upper Egypt was slain outside Cairo, Egypt yesterday.

The assailant struck Bishop Samaan Shehata in the head, neck and torso with a machete on the outskirts of Cairo, according to local reports. Shehata was born in 1972.

While a security spokesman said the suspect was mentally ill, (like many accused Muslims), neighbours reportedly denied this, saying he was a Muslim who had been “radicalized” a year ago. Since then, they said, Ibrahim had begun praying in the street, shouting loudly and calling Christians infidels.

Blythswood, Missions

Blythswood Update 18th Oct 2017

Blythswood – October Update 2

 

Talita Kum

 

Continue to pray for the Romanian believers who work each week with the children now enrolled in Blythswood’s after-school programme for children from low-income homes.  They may well be the only Christians that these young people meet during their school years.

 

Pray that relationships will be formed in Talita Kum that the children will look back on and remember with love and gratitude, relationships that may extend into their adult years for the glory of God.

 

 

Daniel Centre

 

Continue to pray also for the Romanian believers who work with the young men who are currently part of the Daniel Centre.  This kind of work is costly, requiring a commitment and dedication to model the true life of Christ on a daily basis.

 

Pray for the young men who pass through the Centre that their adult lives will make an increasing impact on the Romania of the future.

Jacksons, Missions

Jackson’s Update 18th Oct 2017

Jacksons – October Update 2

 

We received our visas for South Africa on Saturday, so have booked flights to Cape Town for the 1st of November. Suddenly it all seems real!

 

Thank God for the way he continues to use InReach to change lives and attitudes in Nigeria.  Paul, a church youth leader in Jos went through InReach then started up a group some distance away, covering his own transport costs.  

 

One of the participants started to text Dawn’s colleague Toby in Jos with thoughtful questions arising from her experience of InReach. Two of her friends went through InReach with her. They were Muslim but in the 5th week of the course they accepted Christ and are now attending church regularly.

 

Pray for these two women, for Paul, the groups he runs and the witness his life is being, and for the imam who has been asking questions and meeting with Paul every week

Barnabas, Missions

Barnabas Update 18th Oct 2017

Myanmar (Burma) – October Update 2

Barnabas Fund in countries worst for press freedom

5th October 2017

The 2017 Press Freedom Index, (from Reporters without Borders), shows that Barnabas Aid is helping suffering Christians in countries which most restrict journalists from reporting what is happening there.  Countries are colour-categorised for press freedom in the map below as good (white), satisfactory (yellow), problematic (orange), bad (red), or very bad (black).

(Image by Reporters Without Borders)

The index indirectly shows the influence of a country’s Christian heritage on developing freedom. All 49 countries in the first two categories, except for Burkino Faso (42nd) and Comoros (44th), have a predominantly Christian heritage. All countries in the “very bad” category, except Burundi only just in that category, are either Muslim-majority or Communist/former Communist countries.

The Persecuted Church Across the World

Persecuted Church Nepal 4th Oct 2017

Christians in Nepal Released from Prison

Morning Star September 22, 2017 

Four Christians in Nepal sentenced to five years in prison on false charges were released today after a high court annulled their convictions.

They had been convicted of witchcraft, violence and holding a woman against her will, though she testified that she was not mistreated or captive and had been healed by the prayer.

The Federation of National Christian Nepal (FNCN) representatives had petitioned for the Christians’ release.

The four Christians were not charged for months after their arrest, according to the FNCN.  Area church leaders believe the four Christians were set up and targeted for their faith.

The arrest and conviction of the four Christians came at a time when Nepal’s Hindu majority was increasingly influencing authorities to harass Christians.

The Persecuted Church Across the World

Persecuted Church Maldives 4th Oct 2017

Maldives – Christians losing the few rights they have

Barnabas Fund 09/21/2017 17:00

The government of the Maldives is increasingly controlling the courts and simply ignoring the law, leaving Christians in an even more vulnerable state.

56 lawyers who tried to petition the Supreme Court for the rule of law to be respected have been suspended from practising by the government.

Despite being a popular tourist destination, the Maldives is one of the most difficult places in the world to be a Christian. The 2008 Maldivian constitution bans Muslims from becoming Christians.

In 1998, the government arrested 50 Maldivians suspected of having become Christians, and is thought to have tortured them. Any Maldivian even found to have a Bible in their house faces a prison sentence.

The Maldivian government appears to be pursuing a slow process of Islamisation, last year passing in effect an Islamic blasphemy law.

The Persecuted Church Across the World

Persecuted Church Australia 4th Oct 2017

Australia: Christians facing unprecedented violence

Barnabas Fund 28/09/2017

An Australian media outlet has published a shocking catalogue of violence, hate speech, discrimination and attempts to silence those opposed to the redefinition of marriage, most of whom it says are Christians. On 22 September Mercatornet stated:

“Everyone should be concerned over the growing discrimination, persecution and vilification of Christians which is occurring in Australia.”

Some of the threats and actual acts of violence include:

A meeting of four Christian groups had to be cancelled due to physical threats by LGBT activists. 

Protesters vandalized the office of a senator who supported traditional marriage and menaced his children’s school.

The Australian Christian Lobby’s headquarters was rammed last December by a vehicle filled with explosives driven by an LGBT activist who said he wanted to destroy ACL while he committed suicide.

Four weeks ago, LGBT activist and TV star Benjamin Law mused online about raping MPs opposed to same-sex marriage.

What Christians are being subjected to is very similar to some of the abuse suffered by LGBT people in the past.

Blythswood, Missions

Blythswood Update 4th Oct 2017

Blythswood – October Update 1

Talita Kum

With the new school year now underway, please continue to pray for all the children now enrolled in Blythswood’s after-school programme for children from low-income homes.

Pray particularly that their days and years in Talita Kum will be times that they will never forget as they grow up, times that will lead them to the Saviour and to adult lives that will be for the glory of God.

Daniel Centre

Continue to remember the young men who are currently part of the Daniel Centre as they learn skills that enable them to transition from secondary school to the job market.

Pray for the staff members who have the awesome responsibility and privilege of living out the reality of Christ for these young men so that their adult lives will continue to bear the influence of their time in the Centre.