All of the following material has the permission of the authors to be distributed freely.
Algerian Christian leaders have asked for our prayerful support as they are being pressured in three ways.
First, there is a sustained and intense media campaign against the church. On most days in January major Algerian newspapers carried articles expressing concern about the growth of the church. The amount of detail in some articles suggests that informants have been attending some fellowships.
Second, seven fellowships are known to have been closed by the authorities. Several church leaders were told to bring an official license issued by a government committee that was established by legal decree in 2007 but has not yet been formed or held its first meeting.
The affected fellowships are in Ait Amar, Ait Djemaa, Bachloul, Boughni, Ouargla, Tiaret and Tizi Ouzou.
Third, several believers have been formally charged. There were several trials in 2007 but no Christian was convicted. On 5th February three believers accused of insulting Islam were told that they will be sentenced to three years in prison and fined 5,000 Euros. The official written sentence is expected next Tuesday (12th February).
Another believer has been told to report for a further hearing on 5th March, despite the witnesses that testified against him admitting that they don't know him. He has been told that he will be imprisoned for one year and fined heavily. In a third case another believer has been told his trial will be held on 2nd April. This date has been changed several times.
Algerian Christians request our prayers that:
a. The media attention will have a positive impact on the church, drawing more people to respond to the love and truth of Jesus
b. That the closed fellowships will be allowed to reopen
c. That all members will find worship and fellowship with others
d. That our three brothers will not be sentenced to jail
e. The brothers on trial on 5th March and 2nd April will be acquitted
f. All officials involved will hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and respond to His love.
Thank you for praying!
For a fuller story, please read below
A video clip of Youssef, one of the accused, talking about the state of the church in Algeria: http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/318193.aspx
IS THE HONEY-MOON FOR THE ALGERIAN CHURCH FINALLY OVER?
One of the Christian leaders facing trial
MEDIA PRESSURE AGAINST THE SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY
More or less every day, one of the main newspapers in Algeria devotes sections to discussing “the problem of the evangelization of Algeria”. They mostly blame foreigners (although there are only a dozen or so missionaries in the country today, most of them focusing on the church and not evangelization) From every possibly angle, they are trying to stop Algerians converting. Last month their misinforming lies reached its peak when the largest Arabic newspaper had as a main headline: “5000 euro’s for anyone who converts Muslims to Christianity”.
It is obvious that there are informants attending the churches, as several of the church planters have seen articles where their activities are discussed in detail.
Pray that there will be a positive result from the attention Christianity gets from these headlines, but not stir Muslims up to violent actions.
THE CHURCHES IN THE KABYLE MOUNTAINS FACING RESISTANCE
There are over 60 known churches in the Kabyle mountains. Many are members of the officially registered Protestant Church of Algeria (E.P.A), are quite large and have organized meeting in church buildings or converted garages for worship. Even through the decade of terrorism in the 90’s they were never a target and have enjoyed the freedom of worshiping openly and are generally respected by the local community.
A couple of months ago a pastor was brought before the authorities, accused together with his colleague of using the school where he works as a place of evangelization. Their evidence was a film produced that showed the brothers praising God in with young children from the church, some of them also his students. Unfortunately they both lost their jobs and the church was closed by the authorities.
A terrorist who visited a church a couple of times understood a certain pastor to be a evangelist. After a church meeting, four terrorists arrived but were challenged by the authorities who knew about the planned attack. Two of them were shot while two escaped. Later they found out that they did not only want to shoot the pastor, but also detonate a bomb beside the church building. The church was later closed by the authorities.
There are at least six other churches that have been closed by the authorities recently, after being told to bring an authorization from a government committee that doesn’t yet exist. At least ¾ of those church members are no longer attending meetings.
Pray that the Algerian church would be strengthened and purified through all of this, be protected from fear and find Spirit-led strategies for their churches.
MORE TEAM-MEMBERS ON TRIALS
After having passed several trials last summer without being punishment, several Christian brothers are now facing new trials or being called back, accused of evangelizing Muslims. A former Bible-school students was seduced to spy and report on Christian activities. He managed to get quite a lot of information before he was caught and has now filed a complaint against 3 Algerian leaders and 3 foreigners. The foreigners have not been called in but the 5th of February the Algerians were verbally informed that they will get 3 year prison sentences and fines of 5000 euros. The sentence is expected to be in written form the 12th of February. The brother who was held in detention for several days last summer has again been called back for trial. Although the witnesses they had brought against him confessed that they don’t know him, he was told to come back March the 5th for a trial. He was verbally told that he will be punished with a large fine and a one year prison-sentence. A fifth brother has had his court-appearance date changed twice. The latest date is April the 2nd.
Please pray urgently for these five awaiting their court-trials, for their families, lawyers and judges.
FEBRUARY 2008
The freedom that the Algerian church has experienced up to last year seems to be coming to an end with increased pressure from the government. Muslim leaders of Islamic movements have formed a committee to stop Algerians turning to Christ. Their tactics include the use of media, informants and forcing the authorities to implement the new law prohibiting evangelization. They have even suggested that there should be a new law enforced making it a crime to become a Christian.
Thank you for praying!!!
