If you’ve taken a look at this site’s Campaigns Hub and signed petitions or sent emails then I’d like to personally thank you.  It is such a valuable use of a few minutes of your time and can bring about tangible results.  If you haven’t explored it yet, why not take a look?  There are some fantastic Christian organisations doing vital work around the world and they need your support.

I’ve now added a couple of updates to the Campaigns Hub:

Barnabas Fund has now been added to the Hub.  This is long overdue, so I’m very sorry for the delay.  The mission of Barnabas Fund is to support Christians where they are in a minority and suffer discrimination, oppression and persecution as a consequence of their faith.  Their goal is to strengthen Christian individuals, churches and their communities by providing material and spiritual support in response to needs identified by local Christian leaders.

Barnabas Fund’s 2012 campaign is entitled ‘Proclaim Freedom’ and seeks to raise the profile of the persecuted Church around the world. It has two specific aims:

• to press governments to be active in promoting human rights in other countries for all minorities, but especially religious freedom for the roughly 200 million Christians living under the shadow of persecution, discrimination and disadvantage
• to press governments to work to ensure that other countries bring to justice citizens who either incite anti-Christian hatred or engage in anti-Christian violence

Please visit their site and sign the petition if you haven’t done so already.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) last week brought news that the Cuban authorities are denying a Christian family’s request to leave the country.  These are the details:

‘Preventing someone from leaving their country is not allowed.  The Universal Declaration of Human Rights specifically prohibits it.  Yet this is exactly what’s happening to Omar Gude Perez and his family.   Even though the USA has offered the whole family asylum, the Cuban authorities are only allowing Omar’s wife, Kenia, and their children, Keila and Daniel, to leave Cuba.

‘Naturally, the family do not want to be separated.  They fear what will happen if Kenia and the children are allowed to leave Cuba but Omar is forced to stay behind.

‘As a free citizen, the only reason the authorities would deny permission for Omar to leave is because they think he will speak more freely about religious persecution once outside the country.
But this is certainly not legal by international standards.’

CSW have asked that we write to the Cuban embassy respectfully asking them to honour international law on this matter.  Ask them to issue exit visas for the whole family, not just Omar’s wife Kenia and their children.

Their site has an email form you can fill in that will be sent to the Cuban Embassy once you have completed it.

James’ book in the Bible says that faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.  These campaigns and others are easy ways for us to get involved in the work of God’s kingdom and bless many people around the world through them.

Categories: Campaigning, Christian organisations, Persecution

Tags: Bible, Cuba, faith, government, persecution, proclaim freedom