Pakistan Church calls for an end to religious violence

Call for prayer this Sunday


The leader of the Methodist Church in Britain has welcomed moves by Church leaders in Pakistan which call on the Pakistani government to end religious violence in the country.

This year, violent attacks against Christians have left many dead and made hundreds of families homeless, as many more fear for their safety. Church leaders in Pakistan have formed a Christian Action Forum to address the problem and are lobbying their Government to act to end the violence.

The Revd Dr Martyn Atkins, General Secretary of the Methodist Church in Britain, said, “I welcome this announcement and want to add my voice to theirs in calling for serious and credible efforts from the Government to stem the violence against religious minorities. I also want to extend my sympathy to the families of those who have lost loved ones in the recent violent attacks.”

Martyn affirmed the right of all people to live in safety and worship freely, encouraging Christians to pray for the Church and people of Pakistan, especially on Sunday which is the 39th anniversary of the founding of the United Church of Pakistan.

Steve Pearce, Partnership Coordinator for Asia, is currently in Pakistan and yesterday attended a press conference given by the Moderator of the Church of Pakistan, Bishop Samuel Azariah, and the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Lahore, His Grace Lawrence John Saldanha. At the conference, Church leaders called for the repeal of laws which encourage crime and discrimination, especially the controversial blasphemy laws, which have been used to justify violence against Christians.

Steve said, “There is considerable tension in the country following indiscriminate suicide bombings and the assassination of a provincial government minister. All schools must now have armed guards, establishments where girls are educated are particularly worried and many church meetings are being cancelled. It is late in the evening now, and I can hear gunfire in nearby streets.”

Speaking after the press conference, Bishop Azariah commented, “The most important thing about the new Forum is that Christian leaders are now struggling together for the establishment of democratic values in Pakistan and fighting against the discriminatory laws being used against the religious minorities.”

Martyn also invited Methodists in Britain to lobby their representatives at the national and European parliaments to question the Pakistan government about the protection of the rights of minorities in the country. He welcomed the contribution of Pakistani Christians to the life of the Methodist Church in Britain and encouraged local congregations across Britain to offer pastoral support to them during this difficult time.


Source: Methodist News service 27/10/2009

Church calls for end to Pakistan blasphemy law

‘Outdated’ law is fuelling interreligious violence


The Methodist Church in Britain is calling on the Pakistani Government to repeal its controversial blasphemy law, and is encouraging Christians to sign an online petition.

The blasphemy law includes clauses that forbid defiling the Quran and defaming the prophet Mohammed. Under the current law, defiling the Quran merits imprisonment for life and defaming Mohammed merits death with or without a fine.

There is concern that the law is enflaming tensions between Christians and Muslims in Pakistan, and is being used to justify violence against Christians. In late July, three churches and 147 homes were burned during violent attacks against Christians that left ten dead and made more than 290 families homeless.

The President of the Methodist Conference, the Revd David Gamble, has signed the petition (available at http://pakistansignnow.petitionhost.com/#sign) and is urging others to do likewise.

David said; “The blasphemy law is being used by some to fuel violence between people of faith in Pakistan, rather than creating respect as it was once designed to do.
Atrocities such as those we have seen committed against Christians in recent days must be stopped and the Pakistani Government needs to prove its commitment to protecting religious minorities by repealing this outdated law.”

So far more than 1,600 people have signed the petition, which has been formulated by Christians and Muslims together and will be delivered to the Pakistan Government, urging them to help prevent further attacks.

Source: Methodist News Service 3/9/2009

Methodist leader ‘appalled’ at atrocities in Pakistan

Christians urged to pray for Church in Pakistan

Revd Dr Martyn Atkins, General Secretary of the Methodist Church in Britain, has expressed deep concern over violence against Christians in Pakistan.

Over the last week in Pakistan many acts of violence have been committed against Christians, including the burning of 47 homes in the village of Korian and 100 homes in Gojra City. More than 290 families have been made homeless and at least nine people have died in the violence, which has arisen as a result of religious tensions between Christians and Muslims.

Martyn said: “I am appalled at the atrocities that have taken place in recent days in Pakistan. People of all faiths have been deeply troubled by these acts, which represent personal disaster for very many families who have lost relatives, homes and livelihoods. It casts a shadow on all people of faith, both Muslim and Christian, who know that such violence should never be a part of religious life.

“I welcome the care and compassion shown by many Muslims to their Christian neighbours, taking them into their homes for safety and making efforts to rebuild peace in the communities.”

The Methodist Church in Britain has made an initial solidarity grant of £10,000 through Church World Service to provide emergency relief supplies such as food and shelter.

Martyn joined with Revd Samuel Kobia, General Secretary of the World Council of Churches, in calling on the Pakistani government to take action to stem the violence. He said: “These recent riots are a matter of serious concern and it is the responsibility of the State to provide security to all its citizens and to call on all people of faith - especially local and national leaders - to focus their efforts on building peace rather than seeking reasons for further disunity.

“Our message is clear: acts of violence targeted at a religious minority are always wrong. When they do occur they must be investigated diligently and the perpetrators must be brought to justice.”

Martyn also called on Christians to pray for the Church in Pakistan over the coming weeks and commended the following prayer for use in churches and prayer meetings:

Merciful God,
Whose loving heart yearns for peace and justice to flow freely in all communities,
Be with all the people of Korian and Gojra in these difficult times,
May those who have lost relatives and friends be comforted,
Those who have lost their homes be sheltered,
Those who have lost hope find peace.
We pray for faith leaders, both Christian and Muslim,
and for national leaders in Pakistan and in Europe
May they work consistently for peace and keep justice constantly in view.
We pray for ourselves, that we may play our part in expressing
your love for the whole of creation in all we do and say this day. Amen.


Source: Methodist News Service 06/08/2009

Amazing Progress of easyBibles!

I continue to be amazed at the speed with which the easyBibles project grows as it sets up teams all over the world to work together to produce easyBibles in their local languages (using a limited vocabulary). These are invaluable for those whose reading capacity is limited for any reason and especially for Deaf people throughout the world. If you have not previously heard of this work, I urge you to check the easyBibles website regularly and join with those of us who are regularly giving our prayer support to this exciting work. I hope you will be as thrilled as I am to read the latest update from the Coordinator:-

"Dear friends - The acceleration in interest in January has increased
still further in February and March - praise God.
My travel plans for May 30th till June 18th are fixed with Ethiopia
then Malawi and possibly Zambia.

There was no Feb update - and these monthly updates will become less
frequent because several times each week, i change the website
www.easyBibles.com and particularly the 'Prayer Update' on it. So
please check this for your prayer information.

The latest big news is that with the arrival of easyIndonesian and
easyRussian, we're now encouraging work in the TOP TEN LANGUAGES OF
THE WORLD - Mandarin, English, Hindi, Spanish, Russian, Arabic,
Bengali, Portuguese, Malay - Indonesian and French. Some of these have
just started and one or two are quite weak - but we're getting there.
The majority on the next 16 languages on
http://www.soyouwanna.com/site/toptens/languages/languages.html are
also being tackled. And many important others - Swahili, Luganda,
Luo...are moving forward strongly. To date there are over 70 projects
under way.

In India, we rejoice to have the work being led by senior members of
the Friends' Missionary Prayer Band - starting with easyTamil.

>From Felix Chibesa in Zambia 'MAY GOD GREATLY BLESS YOU FOR DOING THE
WORK WE SHOULD HAVE DONE FOR OUR PEOPLE.THANK YOU SO MUCH.
SOON, I WILL PREVAIL OVER A FEW PEOPLE TO JOIN IN DOING THE OTHER
MAJOR LANGUAGES IN ZAMBIA.THESE ARE LOZI, LUVALE, LUNDA, TONGA, NYANJA
AND KAONDE.
I HOPE TO BE IN LUSAKA TO MEET SUCH FRIENDS BY THE TIME WE WILL BE
TRAVELING TO MALAWI.
ALSO I WILL VISIT A BIBLE SCHOOL AND SEE IF SOME STUDENTS CAN BUY THE
VISION. IT IS NOT EVERY ONE AM LOOKING FOR.IT IS THOSE PEOPLE WHO ARE
:
1. READY TO COMMIT THEMSELVES TO A LONG TERM VOLUTARY WORK.
2. HUMBLE, TEACHABLE,AND WITH GOOD CHARACTER, AS WELL AS GOOD
KNOWLEDGE OF THE BIBLE.
3. UNDERSTAND THE CULTURE OF THEIR PEOPLE.
4. ABLE TO PERFOM IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES.

EasyTagalog has arrived from Manila - but in blue biro - making
scanning difficult - but this good pastor and i shall get there soon.

I hope soon for easyUrdu and easyPunjabi from Pakistan and my American
friends who successfully introduced me to an easyRussian writer in the
Ukraine has mentioned friends to start easyHebrew, Farsi (Iran) and
Arabic (so far we only have some easyJuba Arabic).

More is on the web.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS,
God bless,
martin & jenny"