Barnabas Fund - International Headquarters River Street, Pewsey, Wilthire. Phone: +44 1672 565030 Latitude: 51 deg 23 min 18 sec N Longitude: 1 deg 45 min 48 sec W .
Home
News
Archives
Lent Prayer - Colombia

Email:

Lent Prayer - Colombia

To

Email address:
Separate multiple addresses with a comma (,). Maximum of 10

From

Your name:
Your email address:
Security test:
Please enter the numbers that appear here in the box below.
 refresh captcha
CAPTCHA Image
Security code:

Details provided here will never be used in any other context

Published: 00:01 GMT Standard Time - Wednesday 29 February 2012

Lent Prayer - Colombia

Country/Region: Colombia, South America

In this fifth most violent country in the world, Christians are not only caught in the crossfire of a decades-long conflict but are also deliberately singled out and persecuted for their faith. It is estimated that approximately 200 churches are forcibly closed down and 20 to 30 church leaders assassinated every year.

colombia-4x3.jpg

An Amerindian mother and daughter in Colombia. Amerindians who become Christians can experience harassment from their indigenous leaders

Most of the problems occur in rural areas that are controlled by illegal armed groups and drug lords, who are still powerful despite the government’s success in recent years in regaining some of the territory previously lost to them. These groups target Christians because a Christian lifestyle contradicts their ideologies or agendas. Sometimes all Christian activity is forbidden; sometimes it is severely regulated and monitored. Those who resist orders, for example by holding secret prayer and Bible meetings in the jungle, risk being murdered or being forced to flee and live in a different part of the country. Entire Christian communities have been displaced as a result.

Pastors are frequently targeted for extortion, kidnapping and murder, often because of their work amongst the downtrodden. Early in 2011 a pastor and his daughter were murdered by right-wing paramilitaries outside a church where a Sunday morning service was going on. On 12 September 2011 the body of a church leader was found in his house in Capurganá covered with stab wounds, just hours after the conclusion of a “Week of Peace”. Nothing in the building had been disturbed or stolen.

Many Amerindians who find Christ have to pay a high price for their new faith. Some have reported that when they refused pressure from their indigenous leaders to reconvert to their ethnic religions they were beaten, denied access to medical care, forced to stand all day in the sun or banished from their lands. The state does little to help them.

Pray that the government will start addressing the underlying causes of the decades-long conflict, so that true peace can come to this war-torn country. Pray that illegal armed groups will continue to demobilise under a government amnesty. Pray for wisdom for pastors working in areas where armed groups are active and that God will guard them with His holy angels. Pray for the safety of members of armed groups who have become Christians and are consequently outlawed by other group members. Pray also for strength and protection for Christian children who are forced to join these armed groups as child soldiers.

This article is taken from

“Praying for the Persecuted Church in Lent 2012” -  Download .

Help us: Share this article

Email:

Lent Prayer - Colombia

To

Email address:
Separate multiple addresses with a comma (,). Maximum of 10

From

Your name:
Your email address:
Security test:
Please enter the numbers that appear here in the box below.
 refresh captcha
CAPTCHA Image
Security code:

Details provided here will never be used in any other context

christian, persecution, charity, church, persecuted, sookhdeo, Islam

Other articles

Latest Emergency

/_images_files/content/article_files/Eritrea/201305/Eritrean-Christian-refugee-torture-wounds-4X3.jpg

Follow Barnabas

or

receive news & appeal emails as they are published

From Twitter

From Twitter_icon
Read more...

Daily prayer

Daily prayer_icon

  • On 20 January 2013 the Eritrean security police raided the homes of various Christians and arrested 50 people. One of them was a lady of 85, detained for hosting an underground church in her house. They joined hundreds of other believers currently held in Eritrean prisons, some of them in appalling conditions. Many more have fled the country to escape the persecution and have ended up in prison in Egypt, where they have been subjected to rape, beatings and starvation. Pray for all those Eritrean Christians suffering for their faith in their own country and beyond, that the Lord will be their help and shield (Psalm 33:20). Pray too for a prison ministry, supported by Barnabas, that visits and helps Eritrean Christians jailed in Egypt. Subscribe to the prayer points rss feed 18 hours ago

  • Pray for the families of Abdoulaye and Abakachi, two converts from Islam to Christianity who were shot dead by Islamists in northern Cameroon. They were travelling with two other converts around Lake Chad on 19 February when their vehicle was stopped by four armed men who were looking for Abdoulaye. He was the leader of the converts from the Kotoko people group and had last year received a threat from militant Islamist group Boko Haram. The gunmen opened fire, killing Abakachi on the spot. Abdoulaye and another man were also shot; Abdoulaye later died of his injuries. He left a wife and 13 children; Abakachi left a wife and four children. Boko Haram had previously warned all Christian converts in northern Cameroon to return to Islam or “face Allah’s wrath”. Pray that the Lord will protect these vulnerable believers. Subscribe to the prayer points rss feed Thu, May 2013 00:00

  • Give thanks to the Lord for the courage and boldness of the Christians in North Korea who carry on witnessing for Christ despite the savage penalties imposed by the Communist regime. Those who share their faith or distribute Bibles risk torture and probable execution if they are caught, and their families may be dispatched to the country’s infamous labour camps to be starved or worked to death. Yet remarkably, the Church in North Korea is growing well, and some who have fled abroad and become Christians there have even gone back to share Christ with family and friends in their poverty and distress. Pray that God will keep His brave witnesses from harm and continue to add to their number (Acts 2:47). Subscribe to the prayer points rss feed Wed, May 2013 00:00

  • Mohamed Ibaouene (36), a convert from Islam to Christianity, was convicted in July 2012 of “proselytising” in Algeria. The verdict was passed in his absence and without his knowledge. He was later sentenced to a year in prison and fined 50,000 dinars (£420; US$630). Mohamed challenged the conviction, and on 13 February 2013 the appeal court rescinded the jail term but doubled his fine. A Muslim colleague had brought the accusation against Mohamed after the latter refused to renounce Christ. Pray for justice for Mohamed and that the rights of Algerians to freedom of religion will be respected both by other citizens and by the law. Subscribe to the prayer points rss feed Tue, May 2013 00:00

  • The various measures recently taken against Christian churches and institutions by the government of Sudan add up to a ruthless campaign that may be intended to eradicate Christianity from the country altogether. They were launched by a media drive against alleged “Christianisation” and have focused in particular on those involved in Christian ministry. Numerous church buildings have been demolished, and Christian literature has been seized. President al-Bashir has declared his intention of making Sudan entirely Islamic and of strengthening the place of sharia. Pray that God will frustrate the plans of the authorities and that the churches of Sudan will remain faithful in the face of intimidation. Subscribe to the prayer points rss feed Mon, May 2013 00:00

Read more...

Quick navigation

© Barnabas Fund 1997 - 2013 All rights reserved. Barnabas Fund Australia Limited, a Company Limited by Guarantee – ABN: 70 005 572 485
Barnabas Fund & Barnabas Aid are registered trade marks