JERUSALEM — An anonymous Baptist source in Jerusalem pleads with Baptists across the world to pray fervently for the pastor and members of the Gaza Baptist Church.
Hanna Masaad, the church's pastor, will outline the persecutions the church has endured at the New Baptist Covenant Celebration in Atlanta in the concluding session on Friday evening. The celebration meets Jan. 30 to Feb. 2 at the Georgia World Congress Center.
Gaza Baptist Church's new six-story building.
Since the murder of one of its members at the hands of Muslim militants, the church has experienced a dramatic decline in attendance. On Oct. 6, Rami Ayaad, who ran a Christian bookstore in Gaza was seized after he closed the shop for the day. Early the next morning, his body was found with several stab and bullet wounds revealing the cause of his death.
Although church members are officially reluctant to reveal their suspicions, privately they point to death threats Ayaad had received from Muslim extremists who visited his store a week or two earlier with a warning to close permanently. Ayaad refused to be intimidated and was later abducted by several men and murdered leaving his 28-year-old pregnant wife, Pauline, and two small children.
A Baptist representative indicated that attendance at the church's Sunday evening service had fallen from 150 prior to Ayaad's murder to about 10 in recent weeks. “About 15 to 20 eventually received permission from the Israeli government to leave Gaza and go to Bethlehem. The others are simply afraid to attend.” The representative quoted one of the strongest members of the Gaza Baptist Church as saying, “We have no hope, no hope, no hope in Gaza.”
Ayaad's death was the latest of a series of tragedies the church has endured. In February and again in June of 2007, the six-story church building was occupied by the secular Fatah party's police force for use as an observation post in its conflict with the militant group Hamas.
In April of 2007, the Palestinian Bible Society Bookstore which Ayaad managed before his death, was bombed. Although no group claimed responsibility, an organization called “The Sword of Islam” had claimed responsibility for similar bombings.
“This church needs to be remembered!” emphasized a Baptist spokesperson in Jerusalem. Christians “are being squeezed by the Muslims. They are concerned for their safety and the danger is real.”
According to reports, the Gaza Baptist Church is the only evangelical congregation among Gaza's population of 1.5 million. Virginia Baptists are asked to pray for the congregation and to send notes of encouragement. These may be addressed to Gaza Baptist Church, P.O. Box 7364, Jerusalem, Israel 91072.