PHILIPPINES: CHURCH ELDER’S BRUTAL MURDER LEAVES CHILDREN ORPHANED

Naomi and her brother, Joseph, are all alone and in need of help. Their father has just been brutally murdered, leaving this 12-year-old girl and her ten-year-old brother as orphans.

Their father, Perfecto, was apparently killed for his faith and his work as a church elder. Their mother left to work abroad years ago – and never returned.

Please ask God to comfort these two children (pictured): Naomi saw her father being shot and ran to try to help him.

Perfecto was resting in a hammock at home in Sultan Kudarat in Mindanao on Sunday when two men drove up and started firing a pistol at him. Perfecto was hit seven times. A local pastor, William, rushed to his aid and took him to hospital on a tricycle but Perfecto died en route.

Local Christians have reportedly come under pressure to sell church property to Muslims who have built a mosque close by. Some Christians have fled the area because of related attacks on nearby Christian villages. In recent years, this area of the southern Philippines, Mindanao, has become a flashpoint for Islamist extremist attacks, often targeted at Christians.

Release associate ministry VOM Australia will provide financial support for these children.

Pray that God’s people will provide all the love and care Naomi and Joseph need. Ask God to strengthen them in their faith so they will build on their father’s legacy.

Pray for an end to tensions between Christians and Muslims in the Sultan Kudarat area. Pray that the land dispute will be resolved.

Pray that God’s people in the Philippines will stand strong in their faith, especially those in southern areas where persecution against Christians is mounting.

(Source: VOM Australia