Does your church offer effective support to bereaved people? And do you know where to access bereavement support if needed?
AtaLossa Christian bereavement charity have been contacting churches to find out how they are supporting bereaved people. They offer help by providing training and resources some of which are free. They would love to hear from those churches in the British Asian Christian Association’s network around the UK about how you have been supporting bereaved people. With this in mind they have asked us to share a post about their work (click here). Please note they have a webinar that will be repeated over two dates at only £10 per session you can learn more (here). The first date is for November 16th 2022 and you still have time to book!
Their timely request has also given us the chance to reshare links from our previous newsletter. We raised just over £1000 from our last appeals and we thank every donor that contributed. However the current yield will make it very difficult to meet the needs of several projects. We are hoping that some of you will reassess what you might be able to offer towards our work, so we again share links to our previous articles with hope that more can be raised.
As a group we have always strived to meet the needs of all those that have sought our assistance and we hope to continue in that vein. We are all going through a difficult economy and many of us are feeling the pinch. However cheerful generosity will bring a harvest, although we should understand that the reaping may have to wait until the world to come
"6. The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." 2 Corinthians 9:6–7
The Bible tells us that giving to the needy carries a reward.
"So that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." Matthew 6:4
God does not guarantee that we will be wealthy in this world. However, he does say he will meet our needs, give us peace, joy and life everlasting, if we seek His Kingdom first and His righteousness. I can't think of anything more rewarding.
So with the above in mind we have listed all our current appeals here:
We still need to raise a further £4000 for the new solicitor appointed for Zafar Bhatti to finalise his invoice. If you are moved to help You can donate (here).
Help is also being sought from any supporters who are willing to help us with writing articles. We need commitments from people that can spare the time to write and research and have passion for the work that we do. If you are interested please email juliet@britishasianchristians.org or call 020 3488 5316.
We are seeking old computers and mobile phones that are no longer required to share with deprived communities in Pakistan and India. If you have items that you would like to donate please contact us as we are able to collect them from locations within or around London. If you have items you'd like to donate please email juliet@britishasianchristians.org or call 020 3488 5316. You can alternatively post them
to British Asian Christian Association, Unit 74934, PO Box 6945, London, W1A 6US. We thank you for those of you who have already responded to this request.
Blessings
Hannah Chowdhry
We include a list of all the articles listed last week, feel free to read only those that interest you. If any of the links above and below do not work you can read all our international articles (here) and all our local UK community news (here).
Does your church offer effective support to bereaved people? And do you know where to access bereavement support if needed?
Through my work with Loss and HOPE for the Christian bereavement charity AtaLoss, I have been contacting churches to find out how they are supporting bereaved people, and how we can offer help through providing training and resources. We would love to hear from those churches in the British Asian Christian Association’s network around the UK about how you have been supporting bereaved people. We have much to learn, but we also have much to share.
Though not ideal, Pastor Vasilev has been able to continue his services in Ukraine by using extension leads and a petrol generator.
Attempts by Russia to end Ukrainian resistance through targeted attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure have reduced output by 30%. However, this has had little effect on diminishing Ukrainian morale as children take dance classes in the dark. The BBC reports that families have got used to blackouts and living with reduced energy consumption – few if any have called for a quicker end to the war (click here).
Vitaliy Klitschko Mayor of Kyiv has said that people may have to prepare for evacuation if more of the city’s energy infrastructure is destroyed.
A Christian college student from Pakpattan, Pakistan was filmed being forcefully raped, and was then blackmailed into undergoing further rapes by 8 Muslim sexual predators in the area.
Despite evidence to the contrary local police have declared 7 of the rapists innocent in an investigation report.
The family of the victim are the only Christian family in the area and are receiving daily threats from influential people demanding they drop the case.
Willow Chowdhry (12 yrs) has been serving homeless people regularly since October 2020. Our young volunteer has enjoyed serving hot meals and drinks to up to 45 people a day and setting up and distributing a food bank.
Willow generally only volunteers on Saturdays but has participated a few times after school, as she has to travel with her mother Juliet Chowdhry when her coach arrives late from the grammar school she attends over 30 miles away from her home.
British Asian Christian Association has been running our ‘Meals for the Needy’ project since 23rd January 2020 (click here).
The project initially began as table-seated event and at our peak we had over 21 people attending within 2 months of beginning our project (click here).
Many homeless, however believe our outreach began much earlier when we conducted a series of monthly community events under the title of Redbridge Festival in Ilford Town Centre (click here). The events united many local churches of varying denominations in a programme of
community action and prayer (click here). The events ensured monthly healings took place in Ilford town centre and most months people were saved and gave their life to Christ. Some of the events had an interfaith harmony aspect as we sought to improve local community peace (click here) .
Frail Nawab Bibi was taken to hospital for treatment
We wrote recently about our success in appointing Pakistan’s most successful blasphemy Law solicitor for Zafar Bhatti (click here).
Saif-ul- Malook has filed an application for bail for Zafar Bhatti:
In a detailed meeting with Saif Ul Malook at his office on 24th September, Mr Malook informed our Operations Manager that he has obtained the list books of the case, two large volumes to be exact. Mr Malook has studied every bit of the case notes and has now filed a bail application at the office of the court registrar in Rawalpindi and he now expects that a date for an appeal hearing for Zafar Bhatti will be fixed before December. Mr Malook, said:
“It’s the first time in my career that I am declaring even before prosecuting a case in court that Zafar will be released very soon”
“All I am waiting is a date to be fixed for a hearing – we have a very strong case.”
We have shared this good news with Zafar Bhatti during our last visit to Adiala jail on 20th October.
Zafar Bhatti was happy to hear this news. He said,
“I have been very impressed during my meetings with Saif-ul-Malook.
“He is more confodent and seems more knowledgeable about the law than any of the previous solicitors that have advocated for me.
“British Asian Christian Association have brought me such good news and I believe God will free me from my shackles just as he set Paul free.
“I have always known God loves me and I have always believed that He has never forsaken me”
Record breaking floods wreaked havoc across Pakistan killing over 1300 people and destroying the homes of 3 million people in from June to September 2022.
BACA reached out and provided help with tents, food and Mosquito nets to 13 Christian villages (click here) and (here).
We have also installed two clean water pumps (click here) and (here) while a third is to be installed.
We have now began a series of medical camps to curb the waterborne infections that have brought these communities to their knees.
Floods have ravaged Thailand where thousands of Pakistani Christians fleeing persecution have been seeking refuge or hoping to transition to a hospitable nation in the West.
The floods are the worst to hit Thailand for many years. Thai Authorities reported that more than 70,000 homes were inundated, 13,000 people have been displaced, and six people killed (click here).
Bangkok based Pak-Christians are illegal in a nation that has not endorsed UN conventions for Asylum.
No flood support is available to them, so they face a huge uphill struggle to survive as the price of food and household goods increases due large swathes of crop destruction, travel restrictions and commercial loss – contributing to inflated prices.
Almost 16 Christian families near starvation have become the 11th community served food by British Asian Christian Association, since the terrible record-breaking floods of 2022.
The community resided in a tiny hamlet named Dariya Khan Chandio and were finally visited by our group on 27th September 2022.
Until BACA arrived the community had not been met by any aid agency and were near starvation. No Government or other rescue agency offered any support to these Christians.
BACA have now provided food, mosquito nets and installed a new water pump to help this suffering community. PLEASE WATCH VIDEO BELOW:
https://youtu.be/8m7R93M38Bg
On 16th September, BACA received a call from Harlal Masih a local villager who sought help for the small community.
Our volunteer Evangelist Danayal Masih travelled almost 60 Km from Berani, to meet Harlal and other Christian families and ascertain what support was needed. Danyal had already prepared 16 food bags one for each of the families living in the hamlet. Some of the travel was extremely difficult as roads were blocked, bridges were still broken and areas were still flooded, but Danayal got through.
