However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed,
but praise God that you bear that name.
-- 1 Peter 4:16





Ethnic Harvest offers practical articles, demographics, and foreign language resources to help the church become more effective in community outreach with ethnic groups
                              in the U.S. and with people groups worldwide.
 

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India Hindu Militants Attack Christian Training Meeting

Another violent attack on Christians in India is raising concerns about whether the Indian government is taking appropriate action to support religious freedom.
 
The brutal attack left at least four pastors seriously injured and eight missing. It began late on the August 11 when dozens of hard-line Hindu militants from Sri Ram Sena ('Lord Ram's Army') and the youth wing of Visva Hindu Parisad ('World Hindu Council') broke into a conference facility where a "Teacher's Training Program" was being hosted by the Seva Bharath Mission India. Bangalore-based Global Council of Indian Christians, a Christian advocacy group, reports that none of the 50 male pastors or 24 young women attending the conference were safe from the terrorists violence.
 
"Even the young women...between 17-23 years...were not spared," GCIC said. "They were humiliated with verbal abuses and man-handled by the attackers. All their Bibles and mobile phones were confiscated."

Pastor Joseph Christopher escaped and attempted to get help from local police. Pastor Christopher states the police response was "indifferent" and that police only watched as the militants burned Bibles.
 
The police then detained many of the pastors after the militants accused them of "forcible conversion" and "denigrating Hindu gods." All but eight of the pastors where eventually released. The eight pastors identified as Vasant Kumar Hanoka, Simon Rathnappa, Basavaraj Rudappa, Madhan Kumar Yamanappa, Prakash Arjun Kagwadar, Jayraj Shiromani, Vijay Mayekar and Kumaraswamy Govindappa, are still missing after being charged with unlawful assembly, rioting, criminal conspiracy and "acts intended to outrage religious feelings by insulting religion or religious beliefs."
 
This comes as a devastating set-back for the Seva Bharath Mission India. The program is well known in the area for helping to promote adult literacy and education programs for all ages. The training program was organized to train the men and women attending to teach to help expand these education programs.

Islamic Militants Behead Christian Orphanage Workers For the second time in as many months, Christians in Somalia's capital of Mogadishu have been faced with violent and brutal deaths at the hand of Somalia's main Islamic insurgent group, al-Shabab.   Four Christian aid workers were beheaded after refusing to renounce their faith in Christ.   Fatima Sultan, Ali Ma'ow, Sheik Mohammed Abdi and Maaddey Diil, four Christians working for an NGO that helps orhans, were kidnapped on July 27. The members of the group were then beheaded for refusing to denounce their Christianity.   An unidentified junior al-Shabab militant notified families of the victims that the four Christians had been beheaded for apostasy. He allegedly described the Christians as promoters of "fitna," a Muslim term for religious discord. The militant, who called himself "Seiful Islam" ("the Sword of Islam"), told the families that the bodies will not be given to them "as Somalia does not have cemeteries for infidels." According to a witness of the beheading "All the four apostates were given an opportunity to return to Islam to be released but they all declined the generous offer."   Al-Shabab has also claimed responsibility for numerous attacks against Christians and U.N. backed aid organizations in Somalia. The group has declared that United Nations agencies working with the new transitional government are "enemies of Islam." This incident is the second group of Christians murdered by the group. Seven other Christians were beheaded after being accused of converting to Christianity from Islam and spying for the new government.   "Al-Shabab has once again demonstrated its utter disregard for the dignity of human life," said Jonathan Racho, International Christian Concern's Regional Manager for Africa and the Middle East. "The majority of Muslims in Somalia, who are also the victims of al-Shabab's cruelty, do not support their ideology or practices. It is high time for the international community to take robust measures to end the heinous crimes that Al-Shabab and other extremist groups are committing against the people of Somalia," Racho said.

Iran Detains 32 Christians In the uncertain climate surrounding the recent presidential elections in Iran, Christians are being viewed as dangerous to the regime. Since the beginning of August, dozens of Christians have been detained and at least 8 still remain imprisoned. "It seems that the Iranian government views Christians and other religious minorities as endangering the regime," said a spokesman for the Netherlands-based Open Doors, a Christian advocacy group, about the reported arrests of 32 Christians in the village of Amameh and the northern town of Rasht. "A group of 24 Christians, all of them ex-Muslims, gathered for Bible study. They were taken to their own homes and police confiscated their passports, other documents, money, compact disks, books, computers and mobile phones," Open Doors added. At least seven Christians of this group, identified as Shahnam Behjatollah and six others known only by their first names Shaheen, Maryam, Mobinaa, Mehdi, Ashraf and Nariman, remain detained. Open Doors spokesman Jan Vermeer linked the arrests to reported "divisions within the regime," following the recent disputed presidential election. "Previously people heard only one opinion in the [state-run] media, now there are discussions at the highest levels. It seems that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his supporters do everything to keep their power over the country." In its efforts, the government has cracked down on any group viewed as being in opposition to it. Christians and other religious groups are viewed as "a risk" to the future of the regime.   Open Doors said it has launched a letter campaign for Christians in Iran. "As [President] Ahmadinejad begins his second term as president, Open Doors asks him to guarantee religious freedom to all Farsi speaking Christians...and to free those detained for their faith [in Christ]."

INDIA - OUR DALIT BROTHERS AND SISTERS

We consider Jesus Christ our Saviour Redeemer, who as �Emmanuel� � God with us �
was a �cross-bearer�. He suffered unjustly to redeem his Church, which now
suffers unjustly to spread the blessings and Good News of redemption to the world.

We approach the throne of grace emboldened by the knowledge that because
He suffered and was tempted, Jesus Christ, our Great High Priest, does
sympathise with those who suffer and are tempted. So we boldly request
your promised grace andmercy be poured out upon our brothers and sisters
who are this day in great need.

For those who have, through systematic discrimination, been forced into
crippling poverty:

Lord, in your mercy, comfort them and provide them with their daily needs.

For those who are abused and intimidated by hostile state authorities, or
religious militants or zealots:

Lord in your mercy, protect, comfort and encourage them.

For those who live as refugees or as people displaced by terrorism, war
and/or persecution:

Lord, in your mercy, grant them comfort, security and peace,
and provide all their daily needs.

For those who walk daily in the valley of the shadow of death:

Lord, in your mercy, grant them courage and assurance of your
presence and faithfulness.

For those who are suffering violent persecution:

Lord, in your mercy � free the enslaved and return them to their homes;�
release the imprisoned and restore them to their families and churches;�
heal the emotional, spiritual and physical wounds of the traumatised,
grieving,disillusioned, doubting, tortured and brutalised;� restore the
soul of the faint-hearted.

We thank you for your Holy Spirit who never leaves us and is present
 with our suffering brethren, even in the darkest, mostsecret, place.
May your Spirit comfort, counsel, and restore our persecuted brethren,
including those who suffer outside our fieldof vision and beyond our reach to aid.

We pray for the leaders of nations and for all those with authority
and influence on this earth:

Lord, in your grace and mercy � convict them of guilt regarding sin,
righteousness and judgment;� turn their hearts towards righteousness,
justice and religious liberty;� and, for the sake of the world, remove
those who defiantly resist your Spirit,and replace them with leaders
raised up to be your instruments for good.

We pray these things with confidence because you have already promised
that you will do it.  You are the God who breathes life into the dead.
You are the God who redeems and sanctifies. You are the Eternal,
Supreme and Sovereign God who raises up and tears down powers
on the earth and in the heavens. You are the God who is building your
Church and filling the whole earth with your glory.

Revive your Church throughout the whole world, and by your Holy Spirit
working in and through her, do immeasurably more than we could ever
dare ask or even hope, not because we deserve it, but because you are
merciful and faithful to all your promises for your own name�s sake�
and to God be all the glory, now and forever.  Amen 

Written By Elizabeth Kendall