Monday, June 30, 2014

Sudan Refuses Pastor’s Appeal, Demolishes Church of Christ in North Khartoum

Our brethren need our prayers here.

A 600-Congregant Church in North Khartoum has been Demolished and Several Members Injured by Sudanese Authorities

06/30/2014 Washington, D.C. (International Christian Concern) - International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that the Church of Christ in Bahri (north Khartoum) was demolished this morning by Sudanese authorities. Authorities ignored an appeal by the church's pastor, which plead for the demolition to be stayed until after the rainy season. Meanwhile, a neighboring mosque remains untouched.

According to ICC sources, the Church of Christ in Bahri, Sudan’s third-largest city, was highly attended and “one of [the] big local churches in the area.” The reason provided for the church’s demolition is that “it was built on [a] square that belongs to [the] government for public services.” For 20 years, the church had peacefully shared space on that square with its counterpart, the Bahri Mosque, which, after the Church’s state-sanctioned demolition this morning, remains unharmed.
In an email to ICC this morning, a Church of Christ pastor in Khartoum wrote, “The people who used to attend service are about 600 people and they will not have place at moment to worship, even though the pastor in charge appealed to Authorities to give him time until after rain season but they refused.”

According to a former Sudanese pastor now living and working in the United States, members of the congregation were injured in a conflict with authorities while protesting the demolition(Source).