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Please continue to pray for Esmaeil Narimanpour, another Iranian Christian from a Muslim background, who goes to the same church as Iman Golzar (see above). Esmaeil was arrested on Christmas Eve 2023 and is still in detention at the time of writing. He had previously been acquitted of “propaganda” charges in 2021. Our Lord Jesus said, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me” (Matthew 5:11). Pray that Esmaeil will experience the very real and close presence of Jesus with him in prison.
Heavenly Father, we pray for our brothers and sisters in prison because they love and serve Your Son, Jesus Christ. Help us to remember them as if we were suffering alongside them. May they experience abundantly the joy of the Lord as their strength in their time of affliction. We pray that they will draw comfort from the fact that the Word of God is not chained and the Spirit of God moves where He pleases. Will You empower them to speak graciously, gently yet boldly to their persecutors and fellow prisoners? May their testimony lead others to salvation in Jesus Christ, in whose Name we pray. (2 Timothy 2:9; John 3:8)
The Eritrean government cruelly persecutes Christians of certain denominations. Many are detained for years in horrendous conditions, where they are often beaten or tortured, starved of food and water, and forced to do hard labour. In prison they are forbidden to pray aloud, sing, preach or read religious books. Pastors and theological students are singled out for extra punishments or extended periods of detention. Pray that they will be able not only to rejoice in their persecution but even to “skip and shout for joy” (agalliasthe in the Greek) knowing that there is a great reward for them in heaven (Matthew 5:12).
Please pray for the people of Tigray, a strongly Christian area of northern Ethiopia, where people are starving to death. The fields are brown and dusty because of drought. More than half of them were not even planted last year because of continuing insecurity after the war of 2020-2022. Children are dropping out of school to search for berries and leaves to eat. The main rainy season is supposed to be June to September. Ask that our Christian brothers and sisters will not lose hope but will continue to look in faith to the Lord. Pray that food aid will be safely delivered (from Barnabas and others) and that rain will fall in the right amounts at the right times and in the right places.
A church building in Wad Madani, capital of Gezira State, Sudan, was set on fire on 12 January. Church leaders believe that the arsonists were the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group which grew out of the greatly feared Janjaweed militia. The church is the largest in the state and one of the oldest, having been built in 1939. The fire consumed the library and devastated the main hall. The RSF has been in control of Gezira State since 18 December 2023 following the withdrawal of the Sudanese army. It has been responsible for attacks on churches elsewhere in Sudan during the current conflict. Ask that, if it is the Lord’s will, violence against Christians in Sudan will cease.
“Thank you for giving my son hope and teaching him to read and write, skills he thought he might never acquire.” This grateful parent’s words refer to the education that children of impoverished Sudanese Christian refugees are receiving because of Barnabas’ support for a Christian school in Cairo. Most of the parents fled to Egypt to escape conflict and persecution in Sudan and cannot afford school fees for their children. Now, with Barnabas supporters’ donations, even the poorest refugee children can receive an education. Praise God for transforming Sudanese Christian children’s lives and pray that they will flourish in their studies and relationships. Ask for His blessing and encouragement on their parents and teachers as the children grow and learn together in a loving Christian environment.
Please pray with us at Barnabas Aid for God’s guidance for our “Opportunity Africa” initiative. The aim is to help Christian communities in Africa become more resilient as natural disasters, weather extremes and persecution pose increasing challenges. Solutions can be very simple, such as a recent project in Uganda which provided cuttings of better varieties of cassava and plantain for subsistence Christian farmers. The farming families had been living with hunger because their crop yields, from old varieties, were so low. The project also taught the farmers modern methods of cultivation. Soon, each of the 14,000 families helped will go on to help two more families, teaching them the skills they have learnt and giving them cuttings taken from their own new high-yielding plants. Pray for good harvests.
The violent terrorist onslaught against Christians and moderate Muslims in northern Mozambique had somewhat diminished, when in January ten Christians were killed in a series of attacks on Christian villages. At least 130 houses and a church building were burnt. In the following weeks, as further attacks occurred, nearly 100,000 people fled south, many of them settling in an area that was experiencing a cholera outbreak. Pray for all the innocent people of northern Mozambique, especially our fellow-Christians. Ask that they will be encouraged by remembering the words of Jesus when He warned His disciples that they would be persecuted: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
Dearest Lord Jesus, we pray for Christians in Somalia and Somaliland, whose lives are in grave danger because they love and serve You. Despite the risks they face daily, keep them in Your perfect peace, the peace that passes understanding. Please protect our Christian sisters, Hanna and Hoodo, last heard of in separate prisons, serving sentences due to run until 2027 and 2029, respectively. Thank You that You know their situations and can strengthen their faith with a strong awareness of Your loving presence with them. Bless them and all the other Somali believers, whose names are known to You though not to us.
“Kill them wherever you find them” is the name of the latest campaign to be launched by Islamic State (IS – also known as ISIS, ISIL and Daesh). The militant group is reported to have claimed at least 30 attacks as part of this campaign, including in Iraq, Syria, Mali, Nigeria, Mozambique, Afghanistan and the Philippines. Christians are amongst their targets. Please pray that the terrorists of IS will come to realise that what they are doing is not pleasing to God, as they think, but just the opposite. Ask that Jesus will meet with them and change their lives.
Pray with us for God’s guidance and enabling for our food.gives project which ships food and other items donated by supporters in containers sent by land and sea to suffering Christians around the world. One of the most recent containers was sent by truck from the UK to Ukraine, containing rice, lentils, chickpeas, porridge, pasta, soup and other foodstuffs as well as clothes and hygiene/medical supplies. Praise God for its safe arrival and pray for an end to the war in Ukraine which has caused so much suffering.
“Our faith in Christ has been strengthened, hope in His caring Church, and relationship with loving people of God, restored through this disaster.” The words of a grateful believer in Pakistan as Barnabas delivered a second phase of aid to 172 of the families worst affected by last year’s devastating anti-Christian riots in Jaranwala. Give thanks for the strong faith of our brothers and sisters who have stood firm in the face of persecution. Pray that their joy in the Lord will be a powerful example to all Christians that, even in the worst of times, we will never be crushed, nor despair or feel abandoned (2 Corinthians 4:8-9).
Praise God for the wonderful news that two Pakistani Christian brothers, known as Rocky and Raja, were acquitted at a court in Faisalabad on 29 February of all the charges against them. The brothers had been charged under all three of Pakistan’s “blasphemy” laws, including Section 295-C of the Penal Code which carries a mandatory death penalty. These accusations, and the arrest of the brothers on 16 August 2023, sparked the widespread anti-Christian riots in Jaranwala, during which at least 24 churches were set on fire, and the homes of more than 100 Christians were burned, looted or vandalised. A police investigation later discovered that two other individuals, also arrested at the time and still in prison, had sought to implicate the brothers in “blasphemy” charges.
Another pair of Christian brothers in Pakistan is in great need of our prayers. On 22 January 2024 Azam Masih (39) and his brother Nadeem (41) were kidnapped in Sialkot district, beaten with iron bars and threatened with death until they recited the shahada (Islamic creed). Some Muslims believe that speaking the words of the shahada, even under coercion, is an act of conversion to Islam. If the person later returns to their original religion, he or she is considered an apostate from Islam and therefore punishable with death according to Islamic law. After their release, Azam and Nadeem received hospital treatment for their many injuries. They and their families are now in hiding. Please pray for their protection.
Pakistan needs our prayers as the decades-long political, economic and security challenges show no signs of easing. Strong reservations have been expressed on the validity of the results of the General Election in February. Pray that the new national and provincial governments will bring stability to the country. Ask the Lord to guide those in authority to govern wisely and bring peace and greater prosperity to all citizens. Pray that extremists who seek to exploit political uncertainty will be thwarted and that the Lord will protect Christians and other minorities, who are often targeted in times of national insecurity.
O Lord, we praise You that You know everything. We want to pray today for Christians in Afghanistan. We do not know their individual situations, but You do. We do not know the dangers they are facing, as converts from Islam, but You do. We do not know who may be planning to attack or even kill them, but You do. We do not know the hunger and other deprivation they are enduring in a desperately impoverished country, but You do. Pour out Your blessings on them, for we ask in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, their Saviour and ours.
Ask the God of all comfort to draw close to Christians in north-eastern Burkina Faso after at least 15 worshippers were killed during an attack on a church on Sunday 26 February. Twelve died on the spot and the other three died later in hospital. Pray that the injured, survivors and bereaved may be given grace to follow Paul’s words: “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse” (Romans 12:14).
Jihadists have been waging a nine-year campaign of violence in Burkina Faso, much of it targeted against Christians and churches. They now control more than 40% of the country. An estimated two million people have fled their homes, creating one of the fastest- growing displacement crises in the world. Before the violence began, Burkina Faso was a beacon of religious harmony; its society comprised Muslims (60%), Christians (30%) and followers of African Traditional Religions (10%). Remembering that anti-Christian violence on earth is ultimately a sign of battles in the heavenly places, pray for a return to peaceful co-existence in Burkina Faso.
A Christian leader from the Gambia in West Africa wrote recently of a wave of anti-Christian persecution in this impoverished, mainly Muslim country. He said that many imams were using social media to incite violence against Christians, three Christian converts from Islam had police cases against them, and his own family were being attacked by other relatives. At the same time, Muslims were continuing to turn to Christ, including two imams. Pray that our Gambian brothers and sisters will not give way to fear and that they will rejoice to see the Lord at work in their country building His Church.
“Anna”, a teenage Christian in the Gambia, is often punished severely by her schoolteachers because of her Christian faith. This is in addition to bullying by her classmates. There are many other young Christians around the world, in places where Christians are a despised minority, who suffer like Anna every day when they go to school. Pray that, although young in years, they will be mature in their Christian faith and able to suffer for the Lord with joy.
A presidential election is scheduled in Mauritania for tomorrow, 22 June. The strongly Islamic nation is one of the few countries in the world where apostasy from Islam is officially punishable by death, although no known executions in recent years have been carried out for leaving Islam. At the time of writing President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani is expected to stand for another five-year term. Pray that whatever the outcome of the election, Mauritania’s government will allow greater freedom for its citizens to choose their faith. Pray that the tiny minority of Christian converts will grow in knowledge and love of the Lord, despite the severe restrictions they live with.
A group of Christians had gathered to worship in a private home in Kaleum Vangke village in Laos on the morning of Sunday 4 February, when village leaders and residents interrupted and began tearing down the house. They also burned Bibles. The law in Laos gives Christians the right to conduct worship services, but it is not well enforced in rural parts of the country. Pray that the Christians of Kaleum Vangke may be comforted by Jesus’s promise: “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:10).
O Lord Jesus, Prince of Peace, we pray that You will act in power in Myanmar, where for six decades the military have persecuted ethnic and religious minorities. Please bring the violence to an end. We pray especially for many thousands of Christians in the Chin, Kachin and Karen ethnic groups, who have fled attacks on their villages to seek safety in the jungle or in camps for displaced people. Please give them food and shelter. Comfort those who mourn for loved ones killed in the violence. Be their unchanging Rock of hope when nothing else stays the same.
Barnabas is funding the transportation of 94,000 Bibles to Christians in Myanmar, part of a project to deliver a total of 200,000 Bibles. The books include hymnals of Christian songs as well as the Scriptures and are being delivered to Karen Christians in impoverished parts of Myanmar. At the time of writing, the first shipment of 50,000 Bibles is underway. Pray for protection for those carrying out the distribution of the Bibles in Myanmar. Only the most elderly Karen believers can now remember what it was like to live without persecution by their country’s military. Pray that God’s Word will bring hope and encouragement.
Anti-Christian hostility varies from place to place across Indonesia. It is greatest in the far west, where the semi-autonomous province of Aceh is the only part of the nation governed by sharia (Islamic law). Papua, the easternmost province, has for a long time been Christian-majority, but the government is encouraging Muslims to settle there so as to create a Muslim majority. Papua is very poor and underdeveloped, despite being mineral-rich, and the Christian population are frequently attacked by the Indonesian military. Pray that they will be strong in the Lord and know His leading in their difficult and changing circumstances.
Pastor M is church-planting on a volcano in Java, Indonesia. The Islam of the local area is mixed with a lot of superstition, occultism, animism and ancestor worship. Already Pastor M has established two worshipping communities, including many new converts. One gave his life to Christ after he had been healed of paralysis when Pastor M prayed for him. Pray for the protection of Pastor M and his wife (who are supported by Barnabas Aid) and all the local believers, as they live boldly for Christ amidst so much spiritual opposition.
The government of Saudi Arabia has for many years been active in propagating Islam around the world. They also support efforts to convert non-Muslims living within Saudi Arabia and have recently announced about 350,000 conversions to Islam in Saudi Arabia during the five-year period 2019-2023. Of these, 163,319 converted during 2023. There are about a million Christians among the country’s large population of expatriate workers, many of them suffering difficult working and living conditions. Pray that they will cling to the Lord Jesus, resisting all attempts to make them embrace Islam.
Fifty-two Algerian Christians have been sentenced in court to punishments including fines and prison sentences, ranging from two months to five years. These figures cover the period October 2019 to February 2024. Please pray for all affected, that the Lord will provide for them. The majority of church buildings in Algeria have been forced to close and believers now meet in small groups in homes. Pray that this period of increasing pressure from the authorities will be matched by growing perseverance from Algerian believers.
Christian converts from Islam in a strongly Muslim country in North Africa are often thrown out by their families and harassed by society because of their decision to follow Christ. They must follow their new faith discreetly or, for some, in complete secrecy. A ministry, supported by Barnabas, disciples new converts and encourages them in their faith. The small team provides telephone guidance, organises fellowship meetings and supports ostracised new believers. Give thanks for the work of the ministry team and pray that our new brothers and sisters in Christ will fix their eyes on Jesus and hold firm in their confidence in Him (Hebrews 3:1,6).
O God of love and peace, we pray for Libya, a country of hatred and violence, with two rival governments and dozens of armed groups. Please protect our Christian brothers and sisters in the midst of this, who have come from many African countries, seeking work or trying to reach the safety of Europe. We pray also for the small number of Libyan believers, some of them in prison facing a death sentence, because they have chosen to follow Your Son Jesus. In His Name we ask: please act in power and might to save Your faithful people in Libya.
