barnabasaid
barnabasfund.org
January/
February 2017
BARNABAS
FOR
THETHE
PERSECUTED
CHURCH
- Bringing hope to suffering Christians
BARNABASFUND
FUND- AID
- AIDAGENCY
AGENCY
FOR
PERSECUTED
CHURCH
SYRIA
Blessings in war-torn Aleppo
NIGERIA
Support for parents of the
Chibok girls
HUMANISM
Roots of the new civic religion
her future is in
his hands
What helps make Barnabas Fund distinctive from other
Christian organisations that deal with persecution?
The Barnabas Fund Distinctive
We work by:
●●directing our aid only to Christians, although its
benefits may not be exclusive to them (“As we
have opportunity, let us do good to all people,
especially to those who belong to the family
of believers.” Galatians 6:10, emphasis added)
●●aiming the majority of our aid at Christians
living in Muslim environments
●●channelling money from Christians through
Christians to Christians
●●channelling money through existing structures
in the countries where funds are sent (e.g.
local churches or Christian organisations)
●●using the money to fund projects that have
been developed by local Christians in their own
communities, countries or regions
●●considering any request, however small
●●acting as equal partners with the persecuted
Church, whose leaders often help shape our
overall direction
How to find us
International Headquarters
The Old Rectory, River Street, Pewsey,
Wiltshire SN9 5DB, UK
Telephone 01672 564938
Fax 01672 565030
From outside UK:
Telephone +44 1672 564938
Fax +44 1672 565030
Email [email protected]
UK
9 Priory Row, Coventry CV1 5EX
Telephone 024 7623 1923
Fax 024 7683 4718
From outside the UK
Telephone +44 24 7623 1923
Fax +44 24 7683 4718
Email [email protected]
Registered charity number 1092935
Company registered in England number
4029536
For a list of all trustees, please contact
Barnabas Fund UK at the Coventry
address above.
barnabasaid the magazine
of Barnabas Fund
Published by Barnabas Fund
The Old Rectory, River Street,
Pewsey, Wiltshire SN9 5DB, UK
Telephone 01672 564938
Fax 01672 565030
From outside UK:
Telephone +44 1672 564938
Fax +44 1672 565030
Email [email protected]
●●acting on behalf of the persecuted Church, to
be their voice – making their needs known to
Christians around the world and the injustice of
their persecution known to governments and
international bodies
We seek to:
●●meet both practical and spiritual needs
●●encourage, strengthen and enable the existing
local Church and Christian communities – so
they can maintain their presence and witness
rather than setting up our own structures or
sending out missionaries
●●facilitate global intercession for
the persecuted Church by providing
comprehensive prayer materials
We believe:
●●we are called to address both religious and
secular ideologies that deny full religious
liberty to Christian minorities – while
continuing to show God’s love to all people
●●in the clear Biblical teaching that Christians
should treat all people of all faiths with love
and compassion, even those who seek to
persecute them
●●tackle persecution at its root by making
●●in the power of prayer to change people’s lives
●●inform and enable Christians in the West
“Whatever you did for one of
the least of these brothers of
mine, you did for me.”
known the aspects of the Islamic faith and
other ideologies that result in injustice and
oppression of non-believers
and situations, either through grace to endure
or through deliverance from suffering
to respond to the growing challenge of
Islam to Church, society and mission in their
own countries
(Matthew 25:40)
You may contact Barnabas Fund at the following addresses
Australia
PO BOX 3527,
LOGANHOLME, QLD 4129
Telephone (07) 3806 1076
or 1300 365 799
Fax (07) 3806 4076
Email [email protected]
Germany
German supporters may send gifts for
Barnabas Fund via Hilfe für Brüder who
will provide you with a tax-deductible
receipt. Please mention that the donation
is for “SPC 20 Barnabas Fund”. If you
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project of Barnabas Fund, please inform
the Barnabas Fund office in Pewsey, UK.
Account holder: Hilfe für Brüder
International e.V.
Account number: 415 600
Bank: Evang Kreditgenossenschaft
Stuttgart
IBAN: DE89520604100000415600
BIC: GENODEF1EK1
To guard the safety of Christians in
hostile environments, names may
have been changed or omitted.
Thank you for your understanding.
Every effort has been made to
trace copyright holders and obtain
permission for stories and images
used in this publication. Barnabas
Fund apologises for any errors or
omissions and will be grateful for
any further information regarding
copyright. © Barnabas Fund 2017
USA
6731 Curran St, McLean, VA 22101
Telephone (703) 288-1681
or toll-free 1-866-936-2525
Fax (703) 288-1682
Email [email protected]
New Zealand
PO Box 27 6018, Manukau City,
Auckland, 2241
Telephone (09) 280 4385
or 0800 008 805
Email [email protected]
Northern Ireland and
Republic of Ireland
PO Box 354, Bangor, BT20 9EQ
Telephone 028 91 455 246
or 07875 539003
Email [email protected]
Singapore
Cheques in Singapore dollars payable
to “Olive Aid Trust” may be sent to:
Olives Aid Sdn Bhd, P.O. Box 03124
Subang Jaya, 47507 Selangor, MALAYSIA
Singaporian supporters may send gifts for
Barnabas Fund online via Olive Aid Trust:
Beneficiary: OLIVE AID TRUST
Bank Name: United Overseas Bank
(Malaysia) Berhad
Swift Code: UOVBMYKL
Location: KUALA LUMPUR
Account Number: 140-901-654-0
To donate by credit/debit
card, please visit the
website
www.barnabasfund.org or
phone 0800 587 4006
(from outside the UK phone
+44 24 7623 1923).
Unless otherwise stated, Scripture
quotations are taken from the
New International Version®.
The paper used in this publication
Front Cover: Every month Barnabas
Fund supports hundreds of
Christian children with food parcels
in Aleppo
a mill that has been awarded the ISO14001
© Barnabas Fund 2017. For permission
to reproduce articles from this magazine,
please contact the International
Headquarters address above.
comes from sustainable forests
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Editorial
Contents
Jesus our Consolation
Jesus ...
will come
to purify as
well as to
bring hope
Israel’s strength and consolation,
hope of all the earth thou art;
dear desire of every nation,
joy of every longing heart.
(Charles Wesley)
4
4 Feature
Ministering in the wartorn city of Aleppo
6
Feature
9
Feature
Widows of War; Angela’s
testimony
Consolation and help for the
parents of the Chibok Girls
10
Newsdesk
What the Trump presidency
could mean for persecuted Christians
Pull-out
D
uring the Christmas period we sing, “O come, O come,
Emmanuel” – a hymn that carries with it the longing for
God to come to His people who are held captive, who are in
exile, who experience loneliness, alienation and despair. It
is a cry from the heart for God to visit His people again and
to bring deliverance and help, to enclose them in His arms
and take them home to their promised rest. Emmanuel – God with us – is
God the comforter and God the consoler of His people.
In Luke’s Gospel, chapter 2, verses 25-26, we read that Simeon was
waiting for the consolation of Israel, longing for the comfort that would
bring deliverance to its captive people. Jesus is that promised consolation,
the divine Parakletos, who was to bring comfort to His captive and
alienated people.
Today the Church of Jesus Christ includes multitudes of Christians who
know no earthly home but who long for their heavenly Home. Here on earth
they are in exile, dispossessed, subjected to the whims of dictators and evil
men who seek to destroy them. Their experience is one of desolation.
In an African country, Christian leaders have written to Barnabas Fund
of the desolation that is currently afflicting their country
but coupled with consolation. The desolation is that of war
brought about by Islamic extremists, which in turn has led
to a response from militants on the ground equally vicious,
which in turn has brought in the United Nations peacekeepers
who have themselves become a problem. In the midst of this
conflict, there is a resurgence of witchcraft in which some of
the most evil practices are being performed by some who call
themselves Christians yet have turned to the spirit powers.
Similarly Islamic extremists are following occult practices, for
example to make themselves impervious to bullets.
In the midst of this desolation, Christian leaders have
looked to the consolation which Christ alone can bring and
have called upon their people to repent and to turn to prayer. They have
sought a spiritual response to the barbarity that surrounds them.
In Western countries, where freedom reigns and physical warfare is
absent, the abomination of desolation of which Jesus spoke (Mark 13:14
and Matthew 24:15, referring to the book of Daniel) is surely the paganism
that has entered into the Church. Christianity has drunk from a secular,
materialist, humanist cup, and therefore is shaped by the culture which
is anti-God. The Church now engages in practices far from what the Bible
teaches and far removed from the commandments of God. She has eyes
but does not see, ears but does not hear. The desolation of the Church in
the West is as stark as that which confronts the Church in places racked
with war, except that it is a spiritual war that is waged against the Church
of Christ and in many places is seeing her crumble.
Jesus, the consolation of Israel, will come to purify as well as to bring
hope. As we face a new year with all the uncertainties that it brings, we
live with the abomination of desolation but also with that expectation of
the Consolation of Israel who has come.
Humanism
the roots of the new civic religion
12
Testimony
14
Compassion in Action
How one Afghan met Christ
“Dream come true” for rural
Christians in Pakistan
14
16
Advocacy
How your letters can
make a difference
18
In Touch
Suffering Church
Action Week reports
4 January/February 2017 Barnabas Aid
A Channel of
Blessing for
Christians
in War-Torn
Aleppo
Barnabas Fund partners
with a compassionate and
visionary doctor
In a land that has been impacted by war – whether nearby
or on its own territory – for 14 years, Professor Dr Jany
Haddad has spearheaded visionary work among the people
of Aleppo, particularly the Christian community. He has used
his medical expertise as a surgeon, his God-given energy
and courage, and his ability to organise and inspire others
to establish ten ministries to help the weakest and most
vulnerable in the Name of Christ.
Dr Jany was born in 1954 in Iran, of Armenian parents. His
father’s forebears had fled one of the earliest Ottoman
attacks on Christians and moved to Aleppo in the 1860s; his
mother’s family fled in 1915 when the Armenian genocide
was at its height. Raised in Kuwait, he moved to Aleppo in
1990, having studied medicine at Damascus and Glasgow,
specialising in oncology.
In 2006 Dr Jany (centre)
founded the Armenian
Christian Medical
Association (ACMA),
which Barnabas Fund has
supported. He continues
to lead ACMA’s medical
mission teams on their
visits to the poorest and
neediest places where his indefatigable energy enables
him to perform so many surgical procedures each
day that he keeps two complete operating theatres
running simultaneously and never takes a break
until he finishes late at night. He was awarded the
Republic of Armenia Gold Medal “for services provided
to the homeland” at Armenia’s 25th anniversary of
independence in September 2016, as well as a gold
medal from the prime minister of Nagorno Karabakh.
Joseph Ministry
– feeding needy
Christians
In March 2003, Iraqi refugees
began arriving in Syria,
fleeing the conflict and chaos
that was about to descend
on their country after the
US-led invasion. Aleppo was
the first major city that the
refugees arrived at in their
flight. Barnabas Fund was
almost immediately involved,
helping Aleppo’s Christians
feed their needy brothers and
sisters from Iraq. In 2011, as
conflict broke out in Syria
itself, the Joseph Ministry
was expanded, with Barnabas
Fund’s help, to feed Syrian
Christians as well; at its peak,
over 21,000¹ people were
being fed through this ministry,
mainly in Aleppo itself.
¹ Through other project partners,
Barnabas Fund also feeds many
other Christians in Aleppo and
throughout Syria
St Luke’s Medical
Centre
Barnabas Fund has helped
to set up this new medical
facility in the most dangerous
part of Aleppo. Since the
clinic opened, not a single
rocket or mortar has landed in
the area!
The medical centre now
serves 30–50 patients per
day; there are 26 volunteer
Christian doctors and
dentists with 13 specialities
between them. Patients pay
just $1 for a general checkup, ECG, ultrasound and three
days’ medicine if needed. Of
the $1, the doctors get 40¢,
which gives them an income
of $25-30 a month. Barnabas
Fund contributes to the
running costs so as to enable
the clinic to charge these
nominal “fees”.
Taking care of
Aleppo’s elderly
Unable to face the rigours
of travel, many elderly
Christians remained behind
in Aleppo when their younger
relatives fled. There are
now around 6,000 people
over 75 of whom more
than 3,200 are over 80. So
St Luke’s has established
two teams to look after the
elderly: the project supports
them through regular visits,
transport to the medical
centre, free health checks
and surgery.
“I was living in darkness for
many years, and you came as a
great helper to me. In spite my
poor situation and having no
one beside me from my family,
I felt that now you are my new
family and part of you.”
“Armen” aged 82, who
had been virtually blind from
cataracts until St Luke’s
Medical Centre helped him to
get free surgery.
Barnabas Aid January/February 2017 5
An ancient city
destroyed
Isaac Ministry – wells
for fresh water
As siege conditions cut
off even the most basic
amenities in Aleppo,
including piped water, Dr
Jany sought to build wells
in the city. With help from
Barnabas Fund, Isaac
Ministry established 37 wells,
delivering 20,000–50,000
litres a day from each well,
and serving nearly 400,000
people in Aleppo.
Widows of War
programme
This programme began in
2013 with 18 Christian widows.
Sadly the need has grown and
now the project assists 92
widows and their children. All
the husbands died violently in
the current war situation, many
of them as martyrs for Christ.
(See pages 6-8)
Micro-enterprises
Five women, each from a
different family, are earning
an income for their families
with projects to make jam,
tomato paste, pepper paste
and other food stuffs. A third
of the income is reinvested in
the initiative.
Aleppo
Syria
University students
Death in Family
ministry
This ministry helps the newly
bereaved if the organisational
burden after the death of a
loved one proves too much
to cope with. It also helps
with funeral costs. Currently,
over 100 families are getting
regular help.
Post-trauma care
for children
Dr Jany has developed a
curriculum which a small
team is implementing to help
trauma victims in Aleppo,
especially children who have
been greatly disturbed by
what they have seen and
experienced during the war.
Many students in Aleppo have
had to abandon their studies
to find paid work because,
although tuition is free, travel
and study materials cost
money. Last year this ministry
supported 196 university
students in Aleppo who
are internally displaced or
orphans, and this year the
number will be increasing
to around 240 students.
The students are supported
financially to enable them to
continue with their studies,
and they also gather monthly
for prayer and fellowship.
Aleppo, Syria’s largest city
and formerly its industrial
powerhouse, has been
completely devastated by
nearly six years of war. For
many months it was under
almost complete siege,
with food very scarce and
expensive. For years, piped
water, electricity, fuel and
internet connections have
been only occasionally
available. Bombardment by
rockets and mortars became
the norm, and Dr Jany had to
dodge sniper bullets on his
daily walk to work.
During this period, Aleppo
has seen its Christian
population dwindle from over
400,000 to 35,000, 20% of
whom are aged 75+. Before
the war there were 134
private hospitals – now there
are 17; only six government
hospitals remain out of 20;
of the 4,845 doctors pre-war,
there are now only 700. Eight
major churches in Aleppo
have been destroyed. The
Syrian pound has collapsed,
and inflation has caused
prices to rise by 1,000%.
These are the cold
statistics that barely touch the
surface of the city’s human
misery and privation. In spite
of it all, Dr Jany remains a
man of unrelenting faith and
inexorable hope.
Renovation of
damaged homes
Barnabas Fund is assisting in
the funding of this initiative to
repair homes that have been
damaged in the conflict so
that they are fit to live in when
the families return. The team
of volunteers discusses with
the owners of the buildings to
make sure they are committed
to returning home before they
start work on the properties,
asking only that the homeowners contribute 10% of the
final cost of repair.
A Martyr’s Widow
Angela’s story
“My future and
my kids’ future are
100% in His hands.”
Angela, a Christian widow from
Aleppo. Her husband was killed
by Islamic State because he
would not convert to Islam
Angela’s Story
Barnabas Aid January/February 2017 7
On
8 January 2014,
Angela was at home
with her three
young children
in Aleppo, Syria,
when she received
a phone call. It was
Islamic State (IS) calling to tell her that
they had beheaded her husband, Minas,
and her father-in-law.
her to collect the bodies. A DVD with
footage of the beheadings was delivered
to her. Desperately Angela sought help to
retrieve the bodies, but no one knew how
to get them from IS in Raqqa. Then IS
phoned and said, “You would give them a
Christian burial, but we are going to give
them a Muslim burial. We will do you a
favour, however, and put them in single
graves instead of in a mass grave.”
The two men had gone out to work one hot
summer’s day in 2013 and never
came home. It was a fortnight before she
got a call telling her that IS had kidnapped
them from the ice-making factory on the
Aleppo airport road where they worked.
The caller was very frightened. He himself
had been held captive by IS
alongside Angela’s husband
and father-in-law, but
had been released after a
ransom was paid. Although
a Muslim, he had felt a bond
with his Christian fellowprisoners, and agreed to
smuggle out Angela’s phone
number and contact her to
tell her where her loved
ones were.
In February 2014 Angela joined the
Widows of War programme in Aleppo (see
overleaf), which gives both practical and
spiritual support. She had been raging
against God, asking why He had let this
happen to her godly husband, who was so
faithful in prayer, and to her father-in-law,
“Islamic State do not
need your money …
They want something
else – a penalty.”
Angela learned that a Muslim
worker at the factory had betrayed the
owners, telling IS that there was a Christian
factory in operation. The shock was even
greater because Minas and his father had
always cared for this particular worker,
buying him clothes every year and treating
him like a son. IS fighters came to the
factory and seized Minas. When his father
arrived later and saw what had happened,
he begged IS to take him instead of his son.
IS took them both.
The caller also told Angela it would
be no use offering a ransom for her
relatives. “Islamic State do not need your
money,” he said. “They want something
else – a penalty.”
Two months passed before IS themselves
began to phone Angela, threatening that
they knew where she lived and where her
children went to school. A neighbour living
in the flat below Angela’s was “one of us”,
they said, and was reporting her every
movement to IS.
Then came the call to say that her loved
ones had been beheaded and telling
who read the Bible every day despite his
failing eyesight. But the spiritual ministry
of the Widows of War programme gave
her a fresh perspective. “I got peace in my
heart,” she recalls. “I realised it was not
a punishment but the love of God to keep
me and my children in this situation.”
However IS would not leave her alone.
They resumed their threatening phone
calls, trying to get her to convert to Islam.
They threatened to rape her and her eightyear-old daughter, or to kill her children
in front of her eyes. They told her, “Your
husband was very stubborn. We could
not convince him to leave Christianity.”
No doubt Angela realised full well that
they must have tortured him. “Your
husband was buried as a Muslim,” they
said, “therefore he is now a Muslim, and
therefore you belong to us.”
Eventually Angela and her children fled
to Armenia, where they now live in safety.
“Previously I had a gloomy future,” she
says. “Now I have trust and faith that God
is with me. My future and my kids’ future
are 100% in His hands.”
Widows of War
...
8 January/February 2017 Barnabas Aid
“Look after orphans and widows in
their distress”
(James 1:27)
Consolation and aid
for Aleppo’s Christian
widows of war
K
idnapped, tortured,
killed – Christian
men are one of the
main targets of
Islamist militant
groups in Syria.
As well as those who died as martyrs
for Christ, many Syrian Christian
men have lost their lives in
other war-related violence. Each
husband and father leaves a
widow and children, not only
grieving but also bereft of their
protector and provider.
In Syria’s largest city Aleppo, now
so battle-scarred that it is virtually
unrecognisable, a Christian doctor
and his wife coordinate a programme
to help 92 young Christian widows.
All of them have lost their husbands
in the current conflict. Barnabas
Fund supplies the finance to support
these widows and their 186 children
while Professor Dr Jany Haddad
and his wife head up the programme
that brings both practical help and
spiritual consolation.
Regular help relieves
practical burdens
Every month the widows receive a
food parcel and other support. Once
a year the whole family gets new
clothes, and the children get new
shoes twice a year. The children
are also given stationery and other
school items. All this costs an
average of £50 per widow per month.
There is day-to-day support
through home visits and counselling,
and also an annual health check-up.
Hope and healing for
grieving hearts
The project has gradually developed
a sense of community among these
bereaved women and their children
as they reach out to comfort and care
for each other.
Once a month, the widows gather
for a day of prayer, teaching and
fellowship, including inspirational
stories of women in the Bible, advice
on women’s health issues, and
trauma counselling.
Barnabas helps 92 Christian widows in
Aleppo, most of whom are aged between
20 and 45.
Every year, they celebrate
Christmas, Easter and Mother’s
Day together and, from time to
time, there are special conferences
for children, young people and the
widows themselves. The healing
impact of these events can be
dramatic, as in the case of a little
girl called “Saramma” (see box),
or mother-of-three, Angela (see
pages 6–7).
Outside these meetings the
widows keep in touch with each
other. They can’t change what has
happened, but they can look ahead
and, with God’s help, find joy in the
present and hope for the future.
Eight-year-old “Saramma”
refused to leave the corner of
the room on the first day of the
conference for the fatherless
children, and would not talk to
anyone. When given a picture
to draw, she coloured the
whole piece of paper in black.
But by the last day, after the
skilled intervention of trauma
specialists, the little girl was
playing with the other children
– and she coloured her picture
with many bright colours.
Project reference 49-1307
Chibok girls
Barnabas Aid January/February 2017 9
Heart-broken parents of
kidnapped Chibok girls get
aid and trauma counselling
Anguished mothers of the Chibok girls
On
the night of
14–15 April 2014,
militant Islamist
group Boko
Haram kidnapped
at least 270 schoolgirls, mainly
Christian, and forced them to convert
to Islam and marry Boko Haram
fighters. Some escaped and some were
later released, but over 200 girls, now
aged around 16–18, are still held.
Wracked with grief, many of the
missing girls’ parents have developed
illnesses arising from stress and
sorrow since their daughters were
taken, and 17 of them have died.
The parents have also struggled to
survive economically; with Boko
Haram so active in the area, it has
been impossible for them to travel to
the fields where they had previously
grown food.
Organising the aid distribution
now work in the safety of their own
homes, instead of making the high-risk
journey to their fields, which are so
vulnerable to attack by Boko Haram.
Thirdly, six trauma counsellors
– pastors, medical workers and
psychologists – have worked with
the parents, to help ease their
emotional suffering.
“A question will come to
my mind, ‘Does Mary and
Lydia have something to
eat in the bush?’ Then tears
will flow from eyes … But,
your counsel and advice
has given confidence to
trust God for their needs.”
Triple relief
Barnabas Fund has brought relief to
the devastated parents with a threepart project, organised by church
leaders in Nigeria. Firstly, the project
provided basic food supplies, with
each family given 50kg maize, 50kg
rice, cooking oil and stock cubes.
Secondly, each family was given
either a sewing machine or a knitting
machine, to enable them to support
themselves economically. They can
Paul Pogu Lalai
Lives transformed
Lydia, mother of one of the kidnapped
girls, told how Barnabas Fund’s
trauma counselling had
transformed her. “It has been
very difficult for me to trust
people, mingle with others
freely, eat and sleep
as a normal
human
Barnabas Fund has brought
practical, emotional and spiritual
help to 215 grief-stricken families
of the girls abducted from their
school in Chibok, Nigeria in 2014.
The project has supplied them
with food, spiritual support, trauma
counselling and livelihoods.
Parents received maize, rice, cooking
oil, and stock cubes, as well as a means
of a livelihood
being, I [needed] stomach ulcer drugs
due to living with an empty stomach.
But your teachings have changed my
perspective. I now leave everything
to God.”
Paul Pogu Lalai, father of two
of the girls, explained how the
counselling had changed him, “For
the past two years it’s difficult for me
to do something for myself, I cannot
even eat to my satisfaction because
anytime I have food placed before me
as a father, a question will come to
my mind, ‘Does Mary and Lydia have
something to eat in the bush?’ Then
tears will flow from eyes and I will
just leave the food. But your counsel
and advice has given confidence to
trust God for their needs.”
Project reference 39-1286
10 Barnabas Aid January/February 2017
Behind the headlines
Donald Trump
on radical Islam,
the genocide
against Christians
and freedom
of religion
On
20 January 2017, Donald
Trump will be inaugurated
as the 45th president of the
United States. Trump’s vicepresident-elect, Mike Pence,
is well known as a Christian
conservative, who as governor
of the state of Indiana signed into law a Religious Freedom
Act, to protect individual religious freedoms from what he
described as “government overreach”. But Mr Trump’s own
views on religious freedom have been less well publicised.
During the election campaign, Trump stated clear
support for the United States’ Christian heritage:
“A week doesn’t go by where there’s not some negative
ruling on something having to do with Christianity …
I’ll be fighting on the other side much stronger than
anybody else … because I think it’s really outrageous.”
Trump has spoken out about the suffering of Christians
in the Middle East and the scandalously low percentage
of Christians among the Syrian refugees admitted to the
US by the Obama administration. From 1 October 2015
to 30 September 2016, the US admitted 10,801 Syrian
refugees of which a mere 56 were Christians, i.e. one half
of one percent.¹
In a speech on terrorism in August 2016, Trump said:
“ISIS has carried out one unthinkable atrocity after
another. Children slaughtered, girls sold into slavery,
men and women burned alive. Crucifixions, beheadings
and drownings. Ethnic minorities targeted for mass
execution. Holy sites desecrated. Christians driven from
their homes and hunted for extermination. ISIS rounding
up what it calls the ‘nation of the cross’ in a campaign of
genocide. We cannot let this evil continue.”
During a radio interview in 2015 Trump condemned
the apparent bias against Christian refugees from Syria:
“If you’re from Syria and you’re a Christian, you
cannot come into this country, and they’re the ones that
are being decimated. If you are Islamic ... it’s hard to
believe, you can come in so easily.”
Trump’s Middle East and counterterrorism advisor,
Dr Walid Phares, is an Arab Christian with extensive
experience in US government circles; one US think tank
recently said of Phares: “He understands that Islam is
“ISIS has carried out one
unthinkable atrocity after
another … rounding up what
it calls the ‘nation of the cross’
in a campaign of genocide. We
cannot let this evil continue.”
more than a religion, that it’s also an ideology and an
ideology of conquest.” Trump himself has made strong
statements condemning radical Islam:
“Nor can we let the hateful ideology of radical
Islam – its oppression of women, gays, children, and
nonbelievers – be allowed to reside or spread within
our own countries … Anyone who cannot condemn the
hatred, oppression and violence of radical Islam lacks
the moral clarity to serve as our President.”
Now is the time to pray for the new president.
¹ Syrian Christians, who comprised 10% of Syria’s population before the
outbreak of the war, are in far greater danger than the Sunni Muslims
who have formed the vast majority (99.1%) of the Syrian refugees
admitted to the US.
Pull-Out
HUMANISM
HOW DID WE GET HERE?
The new civic religion – humanism – is having a major
impact on many societies with a Christian heritage and can
lead to a rejection of traditional Christian beliefs. It may seem
that humanism is a modern, Western idea, but it has its roots
in concepts and philosophies that span the globe and date
back thousands of years.
ii January/February 2017 Barnabas Aid
Ancient Indian influences
The Lokayata system, founded in India around 1500
BC, was a materialistic philosophy that rejected the
notion of God, gods, or a creator. It developed many
variations, for example Carvaka, whose followers
believe that life must be lived to the full and humans
must pursue happiness and pleasure above all else.
Another Indian influence is Theravada Buddhism.¹
This doctrine of Buddhism rejects the concept of
a creator god or considers it irrelevant. Virtue is
considered very important, and there are many
detailed rules of conduct.
Ancient Chinese
influences
In China, a form of humanism began to emerge
through the philosopher Confucius (551–479 BC).
He stated that human values, rather than the
supernatural, should govern our lives.
Influences from ancient
Greece and Rome
(900 BC – 500 AD)
The Greek philosopher Epicurus (341–271 BC)
taught that humans can live good lives independent
of any religion or gods. He also taught that pleasure
and pain were the only measures of good and evil, so
pleasure must be pursued and pain avoided.
Stoicism, developed about 300 BC by Zeno in
ancient Greece, also gained many followers in
ancient Rome. Stoics believed in a self-controlled
and virtuous life-style, lived in accordance with
nature, which they equated with a god. They taught
that people should maintain an inner calm whatever
their external situation. Stoics held that truth is what
we come to believe because of what we feel through
our senses; they did not believe in objective truth.
Islamic influence
In Islam’s “Golden Age” (7th to 13th centuries AD),
some Muslim scholars became interested in the
humanist philosophies of the ancient Greeks and
Romans, and preserved their writings in libraries.
Meanwhile, medieval Europe lost touch with this
classical learning of the past. Eventually European
scholars became interested in the scholarly works
preserved by Muslims in Arabic, translated them,
and began to explore the humanist philosophies.
The Renaissance:
1350 – 1600
During this great reawakening of the arts and
literature in Europe, a movement began in northern
Pull-Out
Italy that was later called humanism.² Its main aim
was to communicate scholarly ideas to the general
public and turn the ideas into action.
The humanists looked back to Ancient Rome to
find out how to communicate effectively, and went
on to develop a great interest in the classical world,
both Greek and Roman, and in their ancient texts.
The next stage was the development of Biblical
humanism (also called Christian humanism), which
applied these humanist attitudes to Christianity
and looked very carefully at the Bible texts. The
Biblical humanists emphasised tolerance, Christian
love and individual moral responsibility. They tried
to understand the Bible’s real message so that
people could lead truly Christian lives, and they
promoted better education.³
The Reformation:
16th century
The Reformation created a new kind of Christianity
in Europe, which came to be called Protestantism.
This emphasised the individual and taught that
each believer could approach God directly, without
needing a priest. It also emphasised the Bible more
than church tradition and church authority. Martin
Luther, who led the Reformation in Germany, was
influenced by the Christian humanists.
The Enlightenment: mid17th – late 18th century
As science and other studies developed, Europe
moved into a time known as the Enlightenment.
Everything had to be tested by reason or it could not
be believed. Reason was supreme over revelation and
tradition. Concepts that were developed included
tolerance, the right to express beliefs, and the
separation of Church and State.
The Swiss-born French philosopher JeanJacques Rousseau (1712–1778) wrote an essay
entitled Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of
Inequality among Men, which said that society is the
cause of the evils afflicting humankind. He argued
that when humans long ago had lived in an isolated
state of nature they had been perfectly content and
happy, like God. Rousseau recommended that people
should cut themselves off as much as they could
from relationships with other members of society.
In particular he wanted to abolish the family, leaving
only individuals and the State.
“The Long Nineteenth
Century”: 1789 – 1914
During this time there was rapid progress in
scientific discovery. Reason and intellect were
held in high regard. Education became more
widespread, and encouraged questioning and
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Barnabas Aid January/February 2017 iii
scepticism. Ideas about human equality were popular
and led to discussions about a perfect world or Utopia.
Advances in science led to the Industrial
Revolution. The rural poor moved to the cities
to find work in the new factories but working
conditions were often dreadful. Men, women and
children were required to work long hours for low
pay in dangerous and unhealthy conditions.
Numerous ethical and charitable societies and
other civic institutions were created in the Americas
and Europe promoting the human rights of these
workers and other marginalised groups in society.
Many of these societies were Christian but some were
atheist and humanist. Some humanists believed that
religion promoted helplessness, was evil, and should
be fought against to free people.
Karl Marx (1818–1883), a German activist, held
that religion produced an unjust society because
people placed their faith and hope in a future salvation
or a better place called heaven, and therefore did little
to fight the injustices of the present. Marx did not
believe that people had any “inward nature” or could
reason or had the freewill to make choices. He wanted
to abolish religion.
In 1859 Charles Darwin published On the Origin
of Species, which described how natural selection had
gradually produced the different species of animals
and plants. This was widely promoted by humanists
as proof that there was no creator God or purposefully
ordered natural law. It led to a crisis of faith for many
people who became either atheists or agnostics.
In 1860 the term “humanist” was used in print
for the first time. Humanist societies began to be
established across the world, such as the National
Secular Society which was founded in Britain in
1866. In 1896 the various ethical societies in Britain
came together to form the Union of Ethical Societies.
The American Ethical Union, established in 1886,
went on to found the International Humanist and
Ethical Union in 1952, which is now the umbrella
organisation for the global humanist movement.
economic reform. These governments rejected
Marxism and international socialism, the core tenets
of the humanist movement, and instead promoted
National Socialism, where the State controlled the
infrastructure and resources of the country. Most
Fascist governments were led by strong leaders or
dictators, such as Mussolini and Hitler. All of these
global factors hindered the spread of humanist ideas.
Early 20th century:
humanism wanes
Humanism is stronger now than it has ever been,
and is spreading fast. The New Atheism movement,
led by Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion
and patron of the British Humanist Association, is
actively attacking religions, in particular Christianity.
Humanist beliefs are firmly entrenched in most
Western educational and legal systems.
One effect of this is the decline of Christianity in
Europe. Many people are humanists without even
realising it. They may not belong to any humanist
organisation or even recognise the term “humanism”,
but because of their exposure to a humanist-based
society and their humanist education, their belief
system and worldview are significantly humanist.
A society immersed in a humanist ideology has
influenced and impacted the Church. Not only
has morality slipped within the Church, but also
some parts of the Church are now taking an active
role in promoting and propagating this humanist
The spread of humanism slowed down in the
period between the two world wars. The ideals of
a Utopian society had been dashed by the realities
and atrocities of the First World War. Governments
became much more authoritarian. A communist
totalitarian regime was established in the Soviet
Union. In America the stock market crash of 1929
and the Great Depression that followed, brought
unemployment, hunger and enormous suffering. A
more conservative lifestyle, where there was little
questioning of authority, was promoted.
Europe’s economy had been severely affected by
the First World War and then by the Great Depression.
Fascist governments started to emerge in countries
such as Italy, Germany, Poland, Greece, Hungary,
Romania and Yugoslavia, seeking to bring about
Humanism intensifies
efforts to spread and
begins to thrive
Humanists blamed capitalism and greed for
the economic collapse that resulted in the Great
Depression. In 1933 Roy Wood Sellars and Raymond
Bragg published a document entitled A Humanist
Manifesto.⁴ The document was signed by a number
of notable scholars, politicians and thinkers of
the time. It was strongly socialist and promoted
humanism as a replacement to Christianity.
One of the most significant results of the manifesto
was the formalisation of humanist belief, its aims
and objectives as a movement, and a call to action.
A number of new humanist organisations began to
be created in Europe and America in the late 1940s.
Towards the end of the Second World War
and into the 1950s and 1960s, humanism grew in
popularity. After the horrors of war and the Nazi
death camps, people were looking for morality and
ethics to guide future human behaviour. Humanism
enabled societies of different religious stances to
unite in common causes such as the protection of
human rights. This paved the way for organisations
such as the United Nations (where several humanists
took senior roles) and the creation of human rights
charters, many based on humanist beliefs.
Humanism and
the Church today
Pull-Out
iv January/February 2017 Barnabas Aid
worldview. One small example of this is the growing
use – in society at large and amongst Christians
too – of the word “partner” instead of “husband”
or “wife”. Using this term conceals whether the
couple are married or unmarried, man and woman
or same-sex, and sends the message that such
differences are of no significance.
Return of Pelagianism
The belief that humans are inherently good has been
one of the recurring heresies within the Church
throughout the ages. It accords with humanist ideas
of the innate goodness of all human beings. The heresy
is called Pelagianism, after a 5th-century British monk
called Pelagius (rejected as heresy by the Synod of
Carthage, c. 418 AD).
Pelagius taught that human nature is essentially
good and Christians can therefore choose to obey
God and thus be saved. He rejected the Christian
teaching on original sin and the doctrine that
people can only be saved by God’s grace because it
is impossible for them to obey God perfectly. Adolf
von Harnack wrote in 1899 of Pelagianism “that in
its deepest roots it is godless, that it knows, and seeks
to know, nothing of redemption”.⁵
This doctrine is shaping large sections of
contemporary Christianity. According to the
theologian Michael S. Horton, 77% of evangelical
Christians in 1994 held this belief without realising
it was a heresy.6
One implication of denying original sin and
affirming the primacy of free will is the belief that
we humans can be masters of our destiny and of the
world. Another implication is the belief that our social
structures do not need renewal and neither do human
beings. The emphasis on love – without boundaries
– can become an emphasis on fulfilling our selfish
desires, so that pleasure becomes a goal in itself.
The “Emerging Church”
(Emergent Church)
This is a group of Christians, mainly young, who
are trying to make the Gospel message relevant
to a humanist and unbelieving world. They also
have a great concern to alleviate poverty and social
deprivation. These aims are good, but the Emerging
Church movement believes that Christianity and
the Church have been too exclusive in the past, and
that there may be other ways of discovering God and
Jesus. They claim that anyone who does good can be
considered a follower of Christ and that they ignore
any parts of the Bible which do not fit their worldview.
Relationship with other religions
Many Christian leaders have been active in
promoting a humanist civic religion. The Swiss
theologian Hans Küng believes that a global ethical
code can be found when the morals and values of all
religions are reduced to a common denominator. He
also drafted “A Declaration Toward a Global Ethic”
which was supported by a number of prominent
Christian leaders as well as leaders from other
religions. This Declaration has been used to justify
the promotion of civic religion by governments.
Summary
The Renaissance humanist emphasis on classical
education, the Reformation emphasis on the
individual, and the Enlightenment emphasis on
reason – all good things in themselves – combined
to set the stage for a rejection of traditional
Christian beliefs.
¹ Mahayana Buddhism is theistic, unlike Theravada Buddhism.
² The term “humanism” is used to describe this Renaissance
movement interested in classical studies and education as
well as the very different movement that began in the 19th
century and continues today.
³ The term “Christian humanism” is used in two very different
ways: (1) the Renaissance group described here (2) modern
Christian humanists who have different beliefs, placing less
emphasis on the authority of the Bible and seeing morality
as more relative.
⁴ Two further humanist manifestos were published in 1973
and 2003.
5
von Harnack, Adolf History of Dogma vol. V. (1899)
Translated by Neil Buchanan. Boston: Little, Brown &
Co., p. 203.
6
Horton, Michael S. “Heresy” in Modern Reformation 3:1
(Jan/Feb 1994) pp. 26-32.
Barnabas fund hope and aid for the persecuted church
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© Barnabas Fund 2017
In Brief
Barnabas Aid January/February 2017 11
Convert loses
appeal against
Facebook
“blasphemy”
conviction
Algeria
Slimane Bouhafs, a 49-year-old Algerian
Christian convert from Islam, was sentenced
to three years’ prison on 6 September 2016
for “offending the Prophet [Muhammad]”
and “denigrating the creed and precepts of
Islam”. Mr Bouhafs, who suffers from ill
health, posted on Facebook in July 2016
that “Jesus overcomes the lies of Islam”.
Uncertain future
in CAR following
escalation in
violence
Central African Republic
The Christian-majority Central African
Republic (CAR) saw a marked escalation
in violence last year. In one attack, up to
26 Christians were murdered by Muslim
Seleka militants in Ndomete on 16
September, in their ongoing bid to seize
power. Also of concern is the threat of
a military coup to oust newly installed
President Touadera.
New department
to help persecuted
Christians in
Middle East
Hungary
The Hungarian government has
announced the creation of a new
department to help persecuted Christians,
focusing initially on humanitarian work in
the Middle East. “[We] will do everything
in our power to improve the circumstances
of Christians living in the Middle Eastern
region,” said Zoltan Balog, Hungary’s
Minister for Human Resources.
Eighteen
Christians
killed in two alShabaab attacks
Leader of
convert church
falsely accused
Kyrgyzstan
Kenya
Twelve Christians were killed in the town
of Mandera, north-east Kenya, on 25
October 2016, when al-Shabaab Islamist
militants attacked a guesthouse. Earlier
in the month, on 6 October, another alShabaab attack in the same town killed
six Christians in a residential compound.
Our contact told Barnabas Fund,
“We the Christian community in the
region are living in fear of attack. The
security forces appear to be unable to
protect us from these targeted attacks,
two in a month.”
Aasia Bibi
appeal against
death sentence
postponed
Pakistan
Marat Nizalyiev with his family
Marat Nizalyiev, a Kyrgyzstan church
leader, was arrested on 6 October
2016 on the trumped-up charge of
attempting to rape an eight-year-old
girl. Marat started a small home church
in 2011 that now has 40 members, all
from a Muslim background. He was
under increasing pressure from the
authorities and local Muslim leaders.
Christian
abducted and
severely beaten
for distributing
Christian
literature
India
Aasia Bibi’s husband, here with two
of their children, is very grateful for
Barnabas Fund’s support of the family
Aasia Bibi’s appeal in Pakistan’s
Supreme Court against her death
penalty for “blasphemy” was adjourned
moments after it had started, on 13
October 2016, when one of the three
judges excused himself. A date has yet
to be re-set for the appeal. Her appeal
to the High Court was postponed five
times before eventually being heard,
and rejected, in October 2014.
A 45-year-old Christian was abducted
and severely beaten on 16 September
2016 for distributing Christian literature
in Kharghar and Taloja, near Mumbai.
Prashant Bhatnagar was handing out
material with a married couple and
their four-year-old son when he was
hijacked by armed thugs. At gunpoint,
he was severely beaten and threatened
with immolation.
To view our most current news
scan this with your device
12 January/February 2017 Barnabas Aid
Through anguish,
strife and war
the story of how the Holy Spirit led one
Afghan to Christ
My
name used to be Gilane Abdul
Jamil, but now I am known as
Jamil Abraham. I was born in the
Ningarhar province of Afghanistan.
Before I accepted the Lord I was
considered a Muslim scholar – I
have two Masters degrees, in
Islamic studies and in the Pashto language.
I married my wife, who was a teacher, in 1990. When the
civil war started in Afghanistan in 1992, we went to Pakistan.
There, my wife converted to Christianity through the witness
of a Pakistani missionary. We returned to Afghanistan in 1995
and my wife gave birth to two beautiful daughters. Since the
Taliban regime was against girls’ education, my wife started
an underground home-school for girls in Kabul. She was also
sharing the Gospel with her students through these classes.
She had received many threats from the Taliban that she
should shut the school, but she had not paid any attention.
Then, in 1999, the Taliban abducted my wife and killed her.
That was the reason I and my two daughters left our country
to go back to Pakistan.
Since I was an Islamic scholar, I had always had a question
about the person of the Holy Spirit. In the Quran, the Holy
Spirit is known as the Angel Gabriel, but I was not happy with
that teaching and I used to discuss about it with believers.
During that time I had a dream about Jesus Christ. One
night, He came to me, opened His arms and told me, “Come
to me, I am the Holy Spirit.” Despite the dream I still did not
believe in Him.
But it was then I started spending time comparing Islam
with Christianity. While doing that I had another dream about
Jesus. As He came to me, He opened His arms and told me,
“Come to me, I am the Holy Spirit.” I had already started going
to church and after having the same dream for the second
time, I shared my dream with the pastor of the church. He said
to me, “Congratulations! God has invited you to believe and
accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour.” I agreed and
gave my heart to Jesus. I got baptised in Rawalpindi, Pakistan,
in the year 2000.
But it was then that the Pakistani mullah of the area heard
about my conversion to Christianity. He and his followers tried
to kill me, so I had to leave Pakistan and return to my country
Barnabas Aid January/February 2017 13
in 2004. Later, I got married again to a woman named Dunya
who is still my wife and now the mother of my three kids from
our marriage and two daughters from my previous marriage.
After a year she learnt that I was a Christian and after a while
she also accepted the Lord. This is how she came to the Lord.
She had many dreams that I
was washing her feet. When
she shared those dreams
with me, I told her that I was
a Christian. I shared some
parts of the Gospel with her
and I invited and encouraged
her to accept the Lord Jesus as
her personal Lord and Saviour.
She said, “If your faith teaches you that kind of humility that
you wash my feet, then why shouldn’t I accept the Christian
faith and wash your feet too?”
As I used to work with a security agency in Afghanistan, I
received many threats from the Taliban. Once they attacked
my house. Not only that but I was also threatened and harassed
by people who knew about my faith. I did not have freedom
of religion in Afghanistan and I wanted to freely worship and
have fellowship with other believers. Therefore I decided to
take my family to India and live there. Here in India, we are
under the UNHCR refugee mandate/shelter. I serve with
the church here, my job is to translate the New Testament
into Pashto; I have already
translated 70% of it. I also
write, compose and produce
Pashto worship songs. I am
a servant of the Lord Jesus
Christ and I serve with the
Afghan Church of New Delhi
and its partners in different
ways, according to my ability
and the gifts that Holy Spirit has given to me. Please pray for
me and my family.
He came to me, opened His
arms and told me, “Come to me”
Barnabas Fund assists the community of Afghan Christians
in India to which Jamil belongs.
how barnabas is helping
Life-saving winter
aid, including coal
and food, to Ukraine
“I do not know whose joy was greater,
the joy of the refugees or the joy
of those who helped them,” said a
Ukrainian church leader. He added
that, working through churches and
individual Christians, Barnabas
Fund’s support has “had life-saving
importance for many people” affected
by the civil war.
Last winter the Ukrainian church that
had taken in hundreds of refugees,
exhausted their supplies. In prayer,
they told God that they could not help
the refugees any longer: the following
day aid arrived from Barnabas Fund.
Barnabas has sent further aid for
winter 2016/17, focusing particularly
on the “Grey Zone” – between the
Russian-backed separatists’ territory
in the east and the Ukrainiancontrolled west – where the fighting
is now concentrated. Many have fled
the area but others, like widows and
the elderly, cannot.
Bible studies
and leadership
training equip
church leaders in
Kyrgyzstan
Seventy-six Christians have
completed a year-long programme
studying John’s Gospel and training
to lead small isolated churches in six
districts of Kyrgyzstan.
Many Kyrgyz Muslims are coming
to Christ, and isolated congregations
of new believers are coming into
being. The impoverished leaders of
these small groups have often had
little opportunity for training to
equip them for the challenging task
of discipling new Christians in a
hostile environment. There can be
pressures from both the local Muslim
community and from the authorities.
Some of those who have completed
the training have already gone on to
plant new churches. “We are believers
of a village that needed this training
very much,” said one of the attendees.
Fuel is desperately needed in winter, when
temperatures can plunge to -28°C or
-18°F. Many Christians, with their homes
destroyed, have sought refuge in churches.
Christians during a Bible study
£170,000 for coal, food,
medicines and other aid for
needy Christians in Ukraine
($211,700; €198,200)
£3,370 for leadership training
for isolated church leaders in
Kyrgyzstan
($5,260; €4,800)
Project reference 96-1196
Project reference 26-1099
“God and your
gifts lift us up”
“While we have suffered great losses,
you have consoled and upheld us in
the whirlwind that is the sect of Boko
Haram ... Even though we are in
danger, we are moved to joy because
God and your gifts lift us up.” –
Pastor Pierre Deva in Cameroon
A grant from Barnabas Fund has
provided aid to 229 Christian families
whose homes were looted and burnt
by Boko Haram. The families come
from three villages in northern
Cameroon, a region regularly targeted
by the Islamist militants.
The aid included blankets, soap and
millet, as well as bags containing
items specifically for women and
children. Young men in one village
composed a song of joy after they
received motor-pumps to assist with
irrigating their fields so they can
generate some much-needed income.
These motor-pumps will enable
Cameroonian Christians to grow crops
and support themselves more effectively
following recent attacks by Boko Haram
£30,380 for aid to
Cameroonian Christian
victims of violence
($43,150; €38,310)
Project reference 00-345,
Victims of Violence fund
Strengthened and encouraged. This is what we often hear from Christians
who have received support from Barnabas Fund. Thank you for making this
possible. The following pages are just a few examples of the many ways
we have recently helped persecuted and pressurised Christians.
Rescuing widows
and orphans in
conflict-ridden
South Sudan
“It has helped individual Christian
families to begin life again after the
crisis,” writes a church leader in
Juba, South Sudan. “The project has
rescued lives.”
Barnabas Fund is helping bring hope
and aid to Christians affected by the
ongoing conflict in South Sudan that
began in 2013 and has resulted in
a widespread humanitarian crisis.
Following a spike in violence in July
2016, funds were sent to church
partners in Juba, the capital, to
provide maize, beans, oil and salt
to 3,150 of the most vulnerable
Christians displaced by the conflict,
including widows, orphans, and
families who have lost their homes.
One mother said, “Thanks be to God
today that my children are going
to taste food after going three days
without food. Today I know that the
Church cares for its people.”
Internally displaced Christians in Juba
receiving aid provided by Barnabas Fund
£10,000 to provide lifesaving aid for Christians in
South Sudan
($12,860; €11,600)
Project reference 48-1171
Brighter future for
young Myanmar
Christians
“I am really blessed … I knew nothing
about hotels and now I am working
in an international 5-star hotel. I
know my future is very clear,” says
Sa Steven, a young Christian in
Myanmar (Burma).
Barnabas Fund contributes towards
providing a brighter future for poor,
young Pwo Karen Christians in
Myanmar by supporting a vocational
training centre that trains students to
work in hotels and restaurants.
Christians in Myanmar can face
discrimination both for their religion
and for their ethnicity. Many of
Myanmar’s young Christians are
forced to work as lowly paid field
workers just to survive. Schools are
often too far away to attend, and
without training it is difficult for them
to break out of the cycle of poverty,
debt and inequity.
Barnabas Aid January/February 2017 15
"This school is like
a dream come true"
“My community won’t die uneducated
now,” says a grandmother at one of 13
Christian schools opened in 2014/15
in Sindh, Pakistan. “Every day when
I pray, I pray that God gives health
and strength to this team who have
reached out to our remote village to
open up a school.”
Barnabas Fund assists with the
running costs of the 13 schools that
currently serve 728 mostly Christian
children aged between five and twelve.
In all, Barnabas Fund supports 77
Christian schools throughout Pakistan,
as well as six hostels and an orphanage.
Parents are grateful that decent,
accessible schooling is available to both
girls and boys in places where it can
be difficult for Christian families to
get their children educated because of
issues such as poverty, isolation and
anti-Christian discrimination.
“For poverty-stricken people like us,
this [school] is like a dream come true,”
said one mother and father.
Barnabas Fund’s support covers the
students’ meals and accommodation:
there are five training courses a year;
each course lasts two months and
trains 30 students.
A proud graduate, Sa Steven, in his smart
waiter’s uniform
The grandmother (left) with staff and
students of one of the 13 schools;
children have displayed stronger social
skills, increased confidence, improved
hygiene and better behaviour since the
schools opened
£13,700 to help up to 150
young Pwo Karen Christians
receive vocational training
($20,000; €17,840)
£33,360 towards supporting
13 Christian schools in
Sindh, Pakistan
($47,810; €43,360)
Project reference 75-1296
Project reference 41-1237
16 January/February 2017 Barnabas Aid
From dismay
to delight
how an Australian supporters’
campaign brought Syrian
Christian refugees to a new
home one year on
It
was discouraging to
be sure: a Barnabas
Fund breakfast
meeting where only
nine folk turned
up to hear our
international guests
present their recent report on aid to
the persecuted church and the plight
of refugees from war-ravaged areas.
But opportunity beckoned.
Sat around a table, we decided
the moment was ripe for action and
penned a statement to go out to our
thousands of Australian Barnabas
Fund supporters. Within hours there
was a sleek flyer, with the Barnabas
logo, reaching across our nation
stating the desperate position of
Syrian refugees and the need for
a safe haven for them. I emailed it
to more friends in different states
and a helpful member of my own
church ran off a great pile of copies
to be handed out that coming
Sunday. To each I stapled the names,
addresses and contact details of the
MPs of surrounding districts. Our
suggestion: Ring them up! Send
emails! Go and visit to discuss our
concerns about the refugees with our
government members!
And that’s just what people did,
everywhere. I myself went to visit our
local MP with a feisty 90-year-old
friend from church. Disappointingly,
the MP had been called away to
another meeting, no doubt more
pressing than our own, yet the
attention we received from her staff
couldn’t have been more polite and
receptive. We talked for an hour
about the desperate needs of so many
Christians facing genocide. The MP’s
office deputy rang others, even the
Shadow Minister for Immigration, I
recall. We feel sure, too, that our pleas
were passed on to the highest echelons,
because soon afterwards, the very last
Their joy and delight
is obvious as they
come to begin new
lives with us
thing that Prime Minister Tony Abbott
did before leaving office in September
2015 was to affirm publicly that
Christians would make up a significant
number of the promised new intake
of 12,000 Syrian and Iraqi refugees
seeking asylum in our country. It was
also stated loud and clear on the front
pages of our national newspaper, The
Australian, as well.
One year later, our Christian
brothers and sisters are arriving.
Their joy and delight is obvious as
they come to begin new lives with
us. How wonderful that through
Barnabas Fund’s project, Operation
Safe Havens, our faithful supporters
have been part of their arrival and
their financial support. Surely the
Lord is delighted too.
Anne Willett
Melbourne, Australia
Olive, with Ai Len, her neighbour. Both are
very strong supporters of Barnabas
At the time of going to
press, 620 Syrian and Iraqi
Christians had been enabled
to settle in Australia, thanks to
the generosity of the Australian
government in providing visas
and the generosity of Barnabas
Fund supporters in providing
donations to cover their airfares.
Out of the 6,000 Syrian and
Iraqi refugees who have so far
arrived in Australia, more than
10% have been supported by
Barnabas Fund.
Barnabas Aid January/February 2017 17
How to
persuade members of
parliament to support
persecuted Christians
One of the best ways to make change
happen is to influence the
government, and one of the best way
s to do that is by writing to
your elected representative. Many take
up issues about persecuted
Christians precisely because their con
stituents ask them.
Here are our top ten tips for
effective communication with
your elected representative:
1
Pray about which issues to raise, what to say, and
then pray that God will use your words.
2
Only contact your own elected representative (the
MP for the constituency where you live). Protocols
require that they normally only deal with voters
in their own constituency, so it is a waste of time
writing to other MPs unless they are government
ministers with relevant portfolios.
3
4
5
State your case briefly and politely. Using numbers
or bullet points can make the issues clear and easy
to grasp. Remember the MP may have a thousand
other letters and emails to deal with that week.
Leave party politics out of communications
about persecuted Christians. If you want to write
to your MP about party political topics, send a
separate letter.
Remember that your MP is a fallible human being
– just like you! They could be working incredibly
long hours, separated from their family for
most of the week. MPs suffer huge amounts of
criticism and hostility. There is a culture in many
Western countries that regards it as legitimate
to question the motives of all politicians and
treat them with cynicism and suspicion. This is
very unhelpful, and Christians should make sure
that their letters instead reflect the values of
the Kingdom of God. A good test is to read your
letter back and think how you would react if you
received a similar letter.
6
Even if your MP disagrees with you, still be
courteous. MPs and their staff can very easily
develop negative views of Christians because of
the tone of many letters they get.
7
Say thank you if your MP takes up the issues and
especially if they speak in a debate. Sometimes
when Barnabas Fund has sent a “thank you” email
to MPs they have responded by thanking us for
thanking them – which shows how few people
bother to thank politicians.
8
Build a positive relationship with your MP. If the
MP is at an event in the constituency, go and
speak to them, perhaps thanking them for their
hard work.
9
Members of parliament are generally open to
invitations to attend a question-and-answer session
at a local church. Take care around election times to
be even-handed and invite all the candidates.
10
If you are involved in politics yourself, MPs will
generally take more notice. If you are a local
councillor, your MP is more likely to respond
personally when you write, even if you are a
member of a different party.
Su Ne
f
w
Ac feri s f
tio ng rom
n W Ch
ee urc
k h
In Touch
Christians gather at Cloverhill, Republic of
Ireland to hear international Barnabas speakers
Barnabas Fund
International Day
of Prayer for the
Persecuted Church
s
The Day of Prayer is one of the highlight
y
Man
k.
Wee
on
Acti
rch
Chu
g
of Sufferin
ts.
churches around the world organised even
Jenny Summersby, a supporter from Holy
of
Trinity Church, Spital, in the north-west
t:
England, writes about her church’s even
ion
“Shocked as we had been at the persecut
of Christians in far-off lands, we were
own
ashamed that this could happen in our
,
sain
Hus
ar
Niss
from
ned
lear
We
country.
a convert from Islam, how Muslims who
and
convert to Jesus are labelled apostates
ity.
mun
com
own
r
thei
by
targeted
his
“After a hate campaign against Nissar and
life
family, one serious attempt on Nissar’s
to
and
life
his
to
ats
thre
ible
cred
and further
his family’s safety, the police advised them
g in
to leave Bradford for good. Disappointin
all of this was the lack of support and love
ort
from the local church leaders! With supp
e
from Barnabas Fund, the family have sinc
relocated to another part of the country.
During Suffering
Church Action Week
each year, churches
around the world hold
special events and
services focusing on the
persecuted Church.
For 2016 a tour with three internat
ional speakers,
covering the Republic of Ireland, Nor
thern Ireland and
Scotland, brought home the sufferin
g of Christians
through first-hand accounts from Pro
fessor Dr Jany
Haddad from Syria, Pastor Umar Mul
inde from
Uganda and Wilson Saraj from Pak
istan.
You can read about Dr Jany’s work
among the
“poorest of the poor” Christians in
war-torn
Aleppo on pages 4-5 in this issue of
Barnabas
Aid; Pastor Umar has had twelve atte
mpts made
on his life, including a brutal acid atta
ck, because
of his conversion from Islam; “In the
midst of my
sufferings”, he says,” I got this vision”
- which is to
protect, disciple and empower othe
r converts from
Islam. We will be reporting on this
in our next issue.
Wilson Saraj spoke about Barnabas
Fund’s work in
Pakistan and other parts of the wor
ld: how Barnabas
Fund combats the effects of the pers
ecution,
marginalisation and impoverishmen
t of Christians in
many ways such as feeding program
mes, education,
theological training and support for
church leaders
– “bringing the joy and peace of Chr
ist through
practical help”.
On their travels the intrepid team
encountered
driving snow in the Cairngorms of
Scotland, but
wherever they went they enjoyed a
warm reception at
journey’s end.
d
“Finally, Chris Martin from Barnabas Fun
gave us a clear, challenging and inspiring
overview of the work of Barnabas Fund,
making us all the more determined to
On
support Barnabas in every possible way.
of
the day, we raised £900 towards the work
Barnabas Fund.”
Nissar Hussain addressing over 100 Christians
at
Holy Trinity Church
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Breaking through
the Barriers
Leading muslims to Christ
Rosemary Sookhdeo
£8
How can we understand our Muslim friends and neighbours
so that we can share the Gospel effectively with them? This
book discusses their religion, culture and practices to find
the points of contact that will help Muslims respond to the
Christian Gospel. The author deals with the crucial differences
between Islam and Christianity and answers important
questions, such as: Is the God of the Bible the same as Allah?
Is the Muslim Jesus or Isa, the same as the Jesus we know
in the Gospels?
(includes P&
P)
ISBN: 978-0-9825218-1-6 Number of Pages: 160 Cover: Paperback
Why Christian Women
convert to Islam
Rosemary Sookhdeo
Why are increasing numbers of Western women
converting to Islam? The author explores the reasons
for this and illustrates the problems facing those who
convert by conviction or by marriage by describing
true life stories of women who have become Muslims.
She unfolds the long term implications of conversion
and examines the particular issues relating to such
marriages. The author prepares parents and church
leaders to guide women who are contemplating
conversion or marriage with Muslims.
ISBN: 978-0-9967245-2-4 Number of Pages: 144
Cover: Paperback
To order these books, visit
www.barnabasfund.org/shop. Alternatively,
please contact your nearest Barnabas Fund office
(addresses on inside front cover). Cheques for the
UK should be made payable to “Barnabas Books”.
[email protected]
barnabasfund.org
£7
(includes P&
P)