“In Pakistan, it is getting very difficult for Christians to live and to breathe.”

Baptists among those Killed

in Suicide Bombing IN PAKISTAN

A

t least seven Baptists died in a bombing that killed more than 70 people on Easter Sunday, March 27, in the city of Lahore in Pakistan.

According to a Baptist World Alliance source in Lahore,

74 persons, 54 of them Christian, were among those killed by a Taliban suicide bomber at a park where Christians were celebrating after attending Easter Sunday services in their respective congregations. A total of 39 children died, two of whom were Baptists. The BWA source indicated that one Baptist member, a female,

was still missing and unaccounted for. “In Pakistan, it is getting very difficult for Christians to live

and to breathe,” the source told the BWA. He accused the government of not doing enough to protect

Christians, a minority in the South Asian country, despite having known the threats they face. “Pakistan should have provided security to all minorities, but the government has failed,” he said.

Sweden: a New Path continued

Swedish Christians have traditionally been engaged in justice and international issues, and this continues in UCS. . . . “refugees and migration, human rights, violence and abuse against women and children, as well as advocacy work for peace, security and sustainability.”

“I think last year 35,000 children came with no parents,” Dernulf stated. “That’s something to handle, and the church is a big part of it, trying to meet the needs. So that’s a big thing. We’re thinking a lot about how we can be part of this in a good way and how we can help them.” “You can imagine when you have a village of 500 inhabitants

and 200 refugees are settling there, that has an impact on society,” said Gerard Willemsen, who oversees international cooperation for UCS. “All of a sudden you have one-third of the people in the village coming from another part of the world. That has an impact on the church; it has an impact on everything. If you handle it well it could be very positive but if you handle it wrongly, it can be a disaster.”

20 BAPTIST WORLD MAGAZINE

UCS has worked with its churches to help accommodate refugees, some of whom take refuge in church buildings. Congregations cooperate in helping to meet refugee needs. Four persons deployed by UCS assist congregations in their outreach efforts, including guiding them in their advocacy on the behalf of displaced persons, such as meeting and writing to politicians. UCS members engage in social activities with refugee families, playing sports with them or sharing meals. Approximately 100 congregations work with diversity issues and integration of new immigrants. UCS currently has partnerships with churches and organizations in 27 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Eurasia. The international interest and involvement is varied. UCS is involved in “all kinds of work from development work in villages in India or supporting schools and hospitals in Congo, supporting small churches in Japan, working with oppressed churches in Azerbaijan in Central Asia, working with nomadic peoples in northern Siberia,” said Willemsen, who went to Sweden 25 years ago as a missionary from the Netherlands. “It’s very diverse and I’m happy that we have a good staff with several specialists in our office.” But Europe has its issues, and UCS is concerned with recent developments on the continent, ranging from ingrained secularism to rising xenophobia to the growing refugee crisis. “Europe is a continent which needs mission,” declared Willemsen. As UCS forges its way forward, it is coming to terms with its various diversities within, and the multiple challenges without.

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desperate attempt to rescue victims of a suicide bombing in Lahore, Pakistan, on Easter Sunday

Photo

courtesy of Ary News

Pakistan, a majority-Muslim country with a

population of almost 200 million, has just over two million Christians.

Relatives of victims killed by a suicide bomber weep in Lahore, Pakistan