RELEASE INTERNATIONAL PRAYER REQUESTS

[LoricaLady]

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June 10, 2015SRI LANKA: Pastor abducted and attacked after fake plea for prayer

A pastor from Gampaha district was abducted and assaulted after being duped by someone requesting prayer for a sick relative.

The Assemblies of God pastor, who is from Sapugaskanda, was kidnapped by a man who persuaded him to visit his ailing mother with him.

Instead, the pastor was driven to a nearby worship site where, he was told, he would have to kneel and ask forgiveness of religious leaders, on pain of death.

However, when they arrived at the site, a ceremony was in progress so the kidnapper and his accomplice drove on to an isolated area, where they assaulted the pastor and threatened to destroy his church unless he closed it down. He was then abandoned.

Release partners report several incidents in the past two months in which pastors have been harassed, assaulted or ordered to stop church activities.

Please pray for church leaders in Sri Lanka, who appear to be a particular target for persecution. Ask God to protect and sustain them and strengthen their faith. Pray that He will give them wisdom to know how to look after their congregations and families. Pray especially for the pastor who was abducted in May.

For a country profile about Sri Lanka, click here.

(Source: Release partners)

NEWS UPDATE:

Thank God for the release of Chinese Christian Zhang Cuijuan, sister of imprisoned Pastor Zhang Shaojie of Nanle County Christian Church in central Henan province. Zhang Cuijuan was released after serving an 18-month sentence for 'gathering a crowd to disrupt public order'. She was taken into custody along with her brother and 20 other church members in November 2013; the only church member still detained is Pastor Zhang (Prayer Alert, July 8), who is serving a 12-year sentence for 'disrupting public order' and 'fraud'. (Source: China Aid)