Supermarkets stock ‘Christian’ Easter eggs
An unlikely lobbying campaign led by bishops has paid off after Britain’s biggest supermarkets agreed to stock Easter eggs with a religious theme for the first time. Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and the Co-Op bowed to pressure after a three-year ‘pestering’ campaign by figures including the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu. Dr Sentamu used his Easter sermon in 2010 to voice alarm after research suggested that millions of children had no idea about the meaning of the main Christian festival. One poll even found that one in three children thought that it was the ‘Easter bunny’s birthday’. But now a range of fair trade eggs in which fluffy rabbits and chicks are replaced by three empty crosses is to go on sale in mainstream stores. The so-called ‘Real’ Easter eggs are made by The Meaningful Chocolate Company, a Christian fair trade group based in Manchester which donates its profits to charity.
Praise: God for this initiative and pray for it to prosper, both spiritually and financially.
Uzbekistan: Overcoming government pressure
Uzbekistan’s law severely limits all religious activities it’s one of the most restrictive countries for religious freedom in Central Asia. But repression is not stopping a Barnabas-supported congregation from flourishing. Members have found ingenious ways to meet together while remaining under the radar of government spies, getting together in cafes, or sharing their faith while driving together. Their pastor was a Muslim extremist with links to the Taliban before becoming a Christian, and their congregation has grown from 10 to 120. Now it is too dangerous for the church to come together as one so they meet in 19 separate home and family groups across the region. Many, too fearful of police raids and fines to attend home groups, learned the importance of fellowship and now relish meeting in creative ways. Two were so strong in their faith, they were able to resist pressure from security service officers to spy on the church and pastor.
Praise: God for the strength of faith he has given to his persecuted Church. May this and similar congregations continue to advance the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. (Is.32:19-20)
More: http://barnabasfund.org/US/Barnabas-Aid-magazine/
Uzbekistan: Overcoming government pressure
Uzbekistan’s law severely limits all religious activities it’s one of the most restrictive countries for religious freedom in Central Asia. But repression is not stopping a Barnabas-supported congregation from flourishing. Members have found ingenious ways to meet together while remaining under the radar of government spies, getting together in cafes, or sharing their faith while driving together. Their pastor was a Muslim extremist with links to the Taliban before becoming a Christian, and their congregation has grown from 10 to 120. Now it is too dangerous for the church to come together as one so they meet in 19 separate home and family groups across the region. Many, too fearful of police raids and fines to attend home groups, learned the importance of fellowship and now relish meeting in creative ways. Two were so strong in their faith, they were able to resist pressure from security service officers to spy on the church and pastor.
Praise: God for the strength of faith he has given to his persecuted Church. May this and similar congregations continue to advance the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. (Is.32:19-20)
More: http://barnabasfund.org/US/Barnabas-Aid-magazine/
NIGERIA: Boko Haram victims recount woes
An official and others wept in Abuja after listening to the pastor of All Saints Church recount how 17 Christians were killed for refusing to renounce Jesus Christ. People also heard from Deborah Shetima whose husband was butchered last April, that her two children (7and 9 years-old) were abducted, then Boko Haram returned three months later and killed her third child. The Minister said, ‘If we have become a nation that does not put value on human lives then we are really in a bad place. Listening to these women and seeing what they have to carry alone one feels a sense of abandonment for them. They are invisible to the rest of us - that worries me. We must figure out who we really are; and what have we become as a people and as a nation.’ Also church leaders in NE Nigeria are saying Christians are scared to leave their homes after 8pm and too afraid of Islamic extremist attacks to attend church services. See: http://www.assistnews.net/Stories/2013/s13030003.htm
Pray: for an end to bombings, killings and abductions, provisions for widows and orphans without a source of livelihood and for desperate communities to know hope, peace and restoration. (Is.54:5; Pr.2:12)
More: http://www.punchng.com/news/ezekwezili-others-weep-as-bharam-victims-recount-woes/
