Persecution more intense in Pakistan than previously reported

Photos courtesy Christian Aid Mission

Pakistan (MNN) ― Recently, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom released a report detailing Pakistan's history of violence against religious freedom.

The findings are deeply troubling: in just the last 18 months, the commission documented 203 incidents of violence in the name of religion, resulting in some 1,800 casualties and more than 700 deaths. Sarla Mahara is the director for South Asia for Christian Aid Mission. She says those findings are likely the result of the use of the blasphemy law. "The perception is correct, that it's being used practically every day."

Mahara observes that while the numbers are high, they're probably not telling the whole story. The big stories--like the March attack on the Joseph Colony near Lahore--grab headlines, but the reality is, "Even common people are using this to get back at their neighbors perhaps that they have had a quarrel with, or sometimes, there's jealousy. Even business competitors will use this."

What does seem common is that small sparks provoke huge reactions. Are they as out of proportion as they seem? Mahara explains, "Sometimes their neighbors will perceive them as somebody who is spying on them.

So, there's a much deep-rooted distrust." With that kind of distrust already in play, "When they look at Christians, they look at a foreign influence. That image of Christ being foreign is very, very strong. So it's not only that they're trying to hurt their own neighbors, but their hatred really is toward Christians.

"Faith in Christ in a place like Pakistan means life and death. You do the wrong thing, or you're perceived as being forceful or something, [and] they can use it against you," says Mahara. Under that kind of pressure, it's only natural for Christians to seek redress from the law. However, in Pakistan, that's unlikely to end in justice.
Last week, International Christian Concern reported that Christians in Pakistan staged a protest in Lahore, protesting against police discrimination and inaction. According to their report, local governments do little to protect their communities against mob violence, muggings, assaults, and kidnappings. In fact, they assert that police actively intimidate the Christian community to keep them from reporting incidents of violence.

Enter: frustration. Though the constitution guarantees religious freedom, Christians increasingly suffer under Pakistan's blasphemy laws. Conviction under Section 295-C of the blasphemy law for derogatory comments about Muhammad is punishable by death or life imprisonment, which in Pakistan, is 25 years.

And yet through prayer, Mahara says God is strengthening indigenous believers who resolved to place His Word into the hands of 100,000 Pakistani people over a 20 year period. "This ministry not only gives away the Bibles, but they also do other kinds of literature. They do seminars where they do discipleship training.

They have an extensive ministry in church planting, and they run schools, so they have a lot of outreach programs."

With the antipathy in play, how does that affect local Gospel workers? Mahara admits they have to be careful. "Even when people come asking for something, they have to be very, very cautious because they don't know if it's somebody who's really genuinely inquiring about faith or if it's somebody who is spying on you." However, the intimidation campaign has not cowed the Church into silence.

"In spite of all the upheavals around us, God blessed our ministry in many ways this year," a leader reported. "The hallmark of this year's ministry was the achievement of our 20-year goal to give 100,000 Bibles into the hands of the masses in Pakistan. The Bible is the epicenter of our ministry. We believe there is no alternative to verbal proclamation of the gospel, followed by the written Word of God."

According to Christian Aid Mission, your link to indigenous missions, during the year 2012 there was an acute shortage of Bibles due to political reasons. "However, we were blessed to have an adequate stock of Scriptures for our ministry through the generosity of friends at Christian Aid," a missionary wrote. "You are a vital part of this ministry. Because of your active support, we have been able to be effective for the kingdom of God in Pakistan.

"The recent events in the Muslim world demand from us a serious reconsideration of communicating the truth in love," he added. "Jesus tells us to share the Truth. The Truth sets people free, and yet, how do we do this?

One way is to offer them a copy of Scriptures, which explain God's love. That is why, throughout the year, our dedicated evangelistic teams have been going out, in spite of the most volatile situation and immense heat. They were able to sell 406 Bibles, 139 New Testaments, and 1010 portions of Scriptures to people in various areas during a two-month trip."

Missionaries sell the Bibles and other Christian literature so they won't be considered as proselytizing. People buy out of their own free will. Missionaries purchase the Bibles and literature and sell them for a fraction of the cost to be legally safe.

The mission in Pakistan continuously trains new leaders for the work of evangelism. Seventy students have been discipled through the years, while 100 young people attended a recent training seminar. The ministry provides temporary housing and discipleship for believers rejected by their families because of their faith. The mission also has a flourishing Christian school for 125 children through fifth grade. And, due to the desperate plight of earthquake and flood victims, ministry leaders have established a relief and rehabilitation branch, where more than 100 shelter rooms were built for people whose houses were washed away during vast flooding.

Indigenous missionaries set goals, count the cost, and follow the Lord to the finish. Mahara notes, "Whatever form of outreach that they are doing--going door-to-door or talking to a neighbor, pray for their safety. Pray for God's special anointing for these people that they will have the wisdom."

This year they hope to raise $5000 to erect a simple building for worship in a poor area where believers now are worshiping in a makeshift tent made of plastic bags. Pray, too, that the Christian population will continue to grow. There's already a steady but significant trickle of Muslims joining churches.

Head of Open Doors USA steps down

(Photo courtesy Open Doors)

USA (ODM) ― Dr. Carl Moeller announced Tuesday that he is stepping down as president/CEO of Open Doors USA. Open Doors is an international ministry that supports and strengthens persecuted Christians in the most dangerous countries in the world.

Moeller is leaving Open Doors USA after nine years to accept the position of president and managing partner of Sequoia Global Resources, located in Irvine, California.

"It has been a joy and privilege working with my persecuted brothers and sisters around the world over the past nine years," said Moeller. "They have taught me so much about being faithful in the midst of suffering. My prayer is that more Christians in the West become informed about persecution and unite as one in supporting persecuted believers.

"It also has been my privilege to work with so many dedicated people at Open Doors. Many of them literally risk their lives to bring Bibles, conduct seminars, and bring hope and comfort to marginalized believers."

The Open Doors USA Board announced that board member Steve Ridgway has been appointed interim CEO during the transition period. Ridgway is executive director of Northwest Network Foundation, Puyallup, Washington. Northwest Network Foundation is a non-profit organization that mentors existing and emerging leaders. Ridgway has been an Open Doors USA board member for nine years.

"For the past nine years, Carl Moeller has been a voice for Christ-followers living in the midst of persecution," said Ridgway. "Through the artistry of his vision and voice, he has clearly and vividly painted a picture of what the church looks like where following Jesus is both difficult and deadly. Carl's presence will be missed, but his vision will remain."

Ridgway added: "The future of Open Doors USA will be to move forward in filling the CEO's position during this transition and to continue to support our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the world."

Open Doors International CEO Jeff Taylor stated: "Carl's passion for persecuted Christians was evident in his nine years as president of Open Doors USA. He desperately wanted the American church to be more aware of the persecution of Christians, but he also wanted the church to mobilize on behalf of our brothers and sisters suffering for their faith in Jesus Christ. I know Carl will take that same passion and desire to his new ministry role."

An estimated 100 million Christians worldwide suffer interrogation, arrest, and even death for their faith in Christ, with millions more facing discrimination and alienation. Open Doors supports and strengthens believers in the world's most difficult areas through Bible and Christian literature distribution, leadership training and assistance, Christian community development, prayer and presence ministry and advocacy on behalf of suffering believers.

Suicide bomber threatens ministry

(Photo courtesy of Freedom House)

Syria (MNN) ― [Note: The violence is growing. On average, 131 Syrians are killed each day. Assad troops continue to clash with Syrian rebel forces.

Lyndsey Gammage with Mission Network News had a chance to hear about the current situation in Syria from a representative of a ministry doing humanitarian aid work and evangelism there. Because the situation is so dangerous, we can’t name the organization, the correspondent, or go into detail about their project. But they’re doing great work for the name of Christ. Here’s the interview.]

Lyndsey: Syria. Kind of a hot topic right now, and you’re updated on a lot of the issues going on there and even some humanitarian aid work. Could you just tell us a little bit about the current events and what’s going on?

*Joe: Okay, thank you for this opportunity. I just got off the phone about half an hour ago with our contact [in Syria]. The people that are working on [our] project are all scattered. As a matter of fact, all the people that we have inside this country have been taken out. They’re not in the country anymore; they’re in neighboring countries. We had to close our big distribution effort [in a strategic location]. They were threatened by suicide bombers, and so they had to close everything down. So there is no distribution going on inside the country at the moment.

But we do have distribution in neighboring countries because of the refugees. You know, there are thousands of people. As I heard this morning, it’s a continuous stream of people now crossing the border into Lebanon and Jordan. It’s a devastating situation, but it’s an opportunity for us to be able to give out food packets and medical packets to these people. So we have two huge distribution efforts going on at the moment [outside Syria].... In both situations, [we] are working with established churches. While there are advantages and disadvantages of working with a church, one [advantage] is that you have a lot of volunteers helping you, and it’s a little bit more official--especially in [unnamed city] where the people could come onto the church compound and get packets where you could freely share whatever you want with them because it’s a Christian environment. In [another area], it’s not as easy because they go door-to-door, and they offer them a packet which contains food and medical supplies and some other materials that we hope they will be able to watch and read. But there’s an opportunity to talk to the people; there’s a personal contact. Mostly what the [volunteers] do is sympathize with the situation and find out what their real needs are. And then most of the time, they would offer to pray for them. Most of these people—although they are Muslims—would accept prayer. And of course. the prayer is in the name of Jesus.

Lyndsey: When exactly did your team have to pull out of Syria?

Joe: Two days ago they had to pull everybody out. The situation is escalating at an incredibly dramatic pace. They expect that in the next month or two...the violence is just going to escalate, and we don’t know how much of that is going to spill over into Israel because, as you see in the news, there are other countries supplying weapons to the radical groups [in Syria], and their aim is to take Israel out. So the thing is really in a very volatile situation at the moment.

Lyndsey: Now what would it take for your team to be able to go back into Syria and continue the distribution?

Joe: Well, as soon as things normalize. I mean, the people who have come out of there are all nationals. They love [Syria]. Their kids are in school there. So, as soon as the situation normalizes, they will go back. For now, they’re all out of the country. [The] people that have pulled out are all nationals; there are no westerners. We don’t have westerners working in that part of the world.

Lyndsey: The suicide bombers threatening: Is that troops with Assad, or is it the rebel forces, or is it just independents?

Joe: You know, we don’t know. It could be both. It could be from either side. You know what happens: if there’s an escalation of violence against the government…the radical Muslims in the country then use that position or situation to their advantage. We find in every country, when the violence starts breaking out, the next thing that happens is they start targeting Christians and churches. They start burning down. It happened in Egypt, it happened in Libya, it happened in Indonesia, it happened in Bahrain, all over the place. The minute there’s violence against the government, the radicals use that opportunity to start persecuting the Christians. I doubt [the threats] would be from the government because they normally wouldn’t [conduct] suicide bombings. It would probably be the radicals, which I think if you scratch a little bit on the surface you’ll find out its al-Qaeda that is behind all of this. So they just use the situation normally, and they take advantage of it because it’s chaos. The more its chaos and energy, they would be able to do stuff without being opposed or stopped. Normally the government, if a church is bombed, will sort of turn a blind eye, but they would still try and warn the people not to do it. But if you have energy like this and there’s chaos, then nobody even cares about that.

Lyndsey: How is your team encouraging the church in this time?

Joe: We help them like we are doing right now, channeling as much as we can in there to get them at least humanitarian aid as far as possible, to relieve the need. We try and uplift the people by praying with them, helping them. A lot of times we would evacuate people out of the refugee camp or where they are and take them to a hospital because they don’t have transportation. We could take children and people that are wounded or sick and help them get medical treatment.

Lyndsey: And how can other Christians be praying?

Joe: Our staff has a huge prayer network going on all over the world and is praying for the situation.

Lyndsey: Well, thank you so much for talking with us today about this. Is there anything you wanted to add, anything that I missed?

Joe: No, this is the information I have at the moment.... I think from what I’ve said now, it should be okay. We mentioned cities and names of places, but it shouldn’t be a problem as long as we do not connect it with people, names, or with the specific product.... That’s a huge security risk.

Lyndsey: Will do. I’m Lyndsey Gammage with Mission Network News.

*Correspondent’s name changed for security reasons.

Muslim government leaders play their hand

Egypt (MNN) ― Egypt is on a difficult path to change. 

Parliament spent its first week trying to settle in with challenges and riots taking place just outside the main chambers. The Muslim Brotherhood is expected to reveal the names of a coalition government as soon as it's asked to form a new leadership.

That move alone is causing some Christians concern. While in Egypt, we spoke with a community development ministry leader who was involved with a meeting last week with the Ministers of the new government.

For security reasons, we'll call him "Khalid." What he witnessed changed his optimistic view of what the new Egypt will look like for Christians. He says, "The Minister himself is a very Muslim guy with a thick beard and a stamp on his face, and two or three men with the same beard, and four or five veiled ladies. He was holding in his hands a necklace counting the names of God while he is leading the conversation between us."

Not only that, but "the General Assembly of the Parliament [wears] full beards. The president of the Parliament stopped one of the audiences because this guy tried to read the Quran in the Parliament." Khalid went on to say that "there is a verse in the Quran that says, 'If someone reads the Quran, leave him until he finishes the verse.' So he has to leave him...and another guy asked for (Muslim) prayer for the whole [assembly]."   

Never before has a Muslim call to prayer been answered inside the Parliament building during a session. "For the first time in Egypt, we see this. Because of this, we know that lots of suffering will come from this--especially because the leadership says [they will begin using Sharia] to rule the country."

When asked when Sharia was likely to be implemented, Khalid wryly noted, "Now, there are lots of poor people [who steal to eat]. They can't cut the hands off of millions of people, so they said that when we [recover more economically], they will [implement Sharia]."

For community development groups that are noted for their open Gospel content, what will the future hold? It could become very difficult for their teams. With the government narrowing focus on Non-Government Organizations, it's possible they're already under scrutiny. However, that won't stop them. Khalid says, "The Bible said the Spirit inside us will lead us to pray. I think we will ask the Lord to give us wisdom and to give us [strength] and to help us."

Report warns unrest could spread in Congo

(In Focus screen grab from Congo protest)

Congo-Kinshasa (MNN) ―The electoral commission in the Democratic Republic of Congo has called for backup.

In the chaos following the presidential and parliamentary vote, they're waiting for help from the United States and Britain before resuming the  ballot count in the parliamentary elections.  

Accusations of ballot-rigging have plagued the presidential election, and with roughly 19 000 candidates vying for one of the 500 seats in the National Assembly, the commission is taking no chances. The results of the parliamentary polls are due to be announced on January 13.

A cloud of doubt remains over the announced results from the presidential election. Both the European Union and the U.S. State Department have also expressed severe reservations about the vote's legitimacy, although the country's Supreme Court validated the results.

With that green light, Joseph Kabila was sworn in for another term in office as president of DR Congo eight days ago. In his first week in office, he's faced a public relations nightmare. A Human Rights Watch report lays blame for the deaths of at least 24 people on Congolese security forces. 

Even as he reportedly promised to safeguard national unity, tanks were to prevent protests. Meanwhile, Opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi maintains he won the poll and had himself sworn in December 23. As a result, there were concerns that post-election violence could spread.

Although the region is one of the biggest and oldest fields for Grace Ministries International, Sam Vinton says so far, they've not been disrupted. "I think that in the Eastern Congo area, where we work from the main cities, I've heard of no real conflict. We've had no communications of any adverse effect on our ministries."

As for the warning of spreading violence, Vinton says it's unlikely to spread to the area where they're working. "A lot of the people in the area where most of our churches are located were probably pro-president (Kabila). But I think in the area of central Congo, where the main opposition is located, I can see that area being in torment and a lot of trouble."

The upheaval has had very little negative impact on their latest evangelistic outreach. In fact,  "It's just amazing how the response continues. We've run out of the 'Book of Hope,' and yet we're showing the DVD of the 'GodMan' and also working in the actual schools. The last report is that close to 4000 students have trusted Christ as their Savior."

4,000 more students coming to Christ, needing discipleship, and a local church body. The GMI team is scrambling to keep up with the demand, because they've run out of everything, and they're trying to get the local churches ready for the onslaught of new believers.

God's hand is all over this project which started with a goal of hoping to see 1000 accept Christ. A year down the road, God has answered beyond their wildest imaginations. "The responsiveness of the students is a remarkable thing when we look back a number of years when it wasn't there. We're pushing forward. We have a team of nine men who are doing this work, and we're just trying to get more funding so that we can keep them going."

It's clear that despite the bullhorns of the rallies and the political jockeying going on, that the voice being heard loudest is the Still Small One.   

Communism Can't Stop Christ in Cuba

The spread of the Gospel is
 advanced when pastors are freed up
 financially to focus on their ministry.
 Vision Beyond Borders sponsorship
 program does just that.

Cuba (MNN) ― Like a piece of gold needs pressure and heat to become pure and refined, the church is experiencing incredible growth and maturity in the midst of communist oppression. This growth is partially due to Cuban pastors' increased ability to minister to more people. Financial sponsorships have given them that ability.

Vision Beyond Borders is actively involved in the lives of pastors leading Christians in Cuba. With the help of the Christian community, they are currently sponsoring 75 pastors. These pastors have responded with how the support has helped them in times of difficulty.

One Cuban pastor reports, ""After many trials with the construction of the church building, we prayed and fasted on many occasions. And finally they gave us permission to continue. This is only possible because God opened doors."

Another pastor says, "Those saved from the first and second trimester of the year is more than 8,000. The local church has more than 4,000 members, and we continue discipling and baptizing. Thank you for supporting us and praying for us."

None of this could have been done without the financial support of Vision Beyond Borders' sponsorship program. The needs of pastors, especially in Cuba, are great. A pastor in rural Cuba will make an average of $9.60 a month. A pastor in urban Cuba will make up to $20 per month. Most pastors end up having to work multiple jobs to support themselves and their families.

We as the church are called to "bear each other's burdens. "For those of us who have so much to give, God calls us to help our brothers and sisters who are struggling. The unique and compassionate love of Christ allows us to show this love to each other as well.

To help these pastors, Vision Beyond Borders states, "We hope that we would be able to ease the financial stress for the pastor to have the freedom to build their congregation, develop new ministry outlets, and focus on their community needs."

And the community needs are great indeed. The religion accepted by most Cubans is a combination of Catholicism and witchcraft. Many are closed off to the true message of the Gospel.

Sponsorship of a pastor not only encourages them, but also lets them expand their ministry and reach more of these people for Christ. God directly uses the sponsorship of pastors to expand the message of the Gospel and draw more people into His kingdom.

The evangelism opportunities in Cuba are ripe and the harvest is ready. But the need for more sponsorships is still there. Although Vision Beyond Borders already sponsors 75 pastors, there are four times as many pastors still needing financial support.

Please pray that the church in Cuba would continue to experience growth and maturity. Pray also for the pastors needing sponsorships to have patience and rest in God's provision. If you are interested in sponsoring a pastor in Cuba for just $25 a month, you can click here.