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2017-12-21

  • Church Targeted in Terrorist Attack
    The scene of a church bombing in 2013
    A scene at a previous church bombing (in Peshawar, Pakistan) that took place in September 2013. The ministry's Medical Fund provided greatly needed assistance to surviving (injured) victims of the attack.

    On the Sunday morning of December 17th, four Islamic terrorists attacked the Bethel Memorial Methodist Church in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan's Baluchistan Province. Some 400 Christians were participating in the "Sunday School Christmas Program" when gunfire erupted outside. Two gunmen had shot dead the church's gatekeeper, George Masih, paving the way for two suicide bombers to invade. Security guards stationed around the perimeter of the church and on the roof returned fire -- killing one bomber, wounding the other, and forcing the remaining two gunmen to flee.
  • Increase of Violence in Plateau State
    Children opening a Christmas Blessing package
    A previous "Christmas Blessing" project brought much joy to persecuted Christians and their families in Nigeria.

    After a period of relative calm, violence has resumed in Plateau state -- resulting in the deadliest sectarian violence in Nigeria's recent history. The fatalities were perpetrated by Fulani herdsmen who have been primarily targeting Christian farmers in the country's Middle Belt. In fact, many experts now report that the attacks of this militant Muslim group have killed more people than those committed previously by the notorious Boko Haram terrorists.
  • Christmas Blessing Gives Hope to Persecuted Families
    Christmas Blessing 2017
    This year's "Christmas Blessing" outreach is providing ministry to many suffering Christian families in Egypt.

    More than 40 people died and countless others were injured in this year's deadly Palm Sunday attack in the Nile Delta, the deadliest since the December 2016 attack on St. Mark's cathedral in Cairo. Incidents such as these reveal an ever-growing antagonism that is continuing to threaten the general security and safety of the church in Egypt.

    This year, VOMC aims to bless 3,000 Christian families in nine villages throughout Egypt with a Christmas Blessing package. These families live with the daily pressures of persecution while seeking to live out their faith in a hostile environment. The Christmas Blessing project is a means of conveying our solidarity with persecuted Christian brothers and sisters facing severe challenges for their faith, and prayerfully providing them help, hope and encouragement.