Image: Danish European Mission donors provide self-help assistance to poor Christians in Sri Lanka. Here a poor Christian family has goats they can raise and sell
In April and May of this year alone, our partner in Sri Lanka, Evangelical Alliance, reported at least seven attacks on Christian churches, believers and pastors.
A pastor at a church in Bakamuna village in the Polonnaruwa district was subjected to corporal assault resulting in hospitalization. It was not a common criminal who attacked him, but a government official!
One afternoon around 4 o'clock, the chairman of the provincial council came and visited the pastor's property demanding that he stop all church activities and leave the village. He had previously said that in order to get a building permit for his property, the pastor had to sign a document in which he promised to cease all church activities. When the pastor refused to comply, the official physically attacked him.
The assault led to the priest being hospitalized after the attack, where he had to spend two days. He subsequently reported the incident to the police.
In addition to this incident, there has been the abduction of a pastor, vandalism of a church building, riots in front of churches, disruption of services and threats against several pastors. In Warakapola in Kegalle district, police visited a pastor at his residence and questioned him about a case that had been brought against him in court, but this case had already been settled with the judge upholding the pastor's right to practice his faith and therefore the pastor refused to be questioned further about the case. This shows that the police apparently do not always respect court rulings, but continue to try to pressure Christians to give up their worship activities.
You can help poor pastors in Sri Lanka to help themselves.
