Prayer update: Wife of killed student “carries on the vision of her husband;” ongoing Sri Lanka violence claims four more lives

Last March, OC reported that a young church planter/pastor, Paul*, was shot and killed at his home by two anti-Christian assailants. His wife, also shot, was unconscious in intensive care. Paul was a Lanka Bible College and Seminary (LBCS) extension student in Sri Lanka at the time, and the couple's ministry work was reaching people in one of the most remote and least reached regions of eastern Sri Lanka. The country was (and continues to be) engaged in an ongoing civil war between the government and ethnic Tamil separatists, with extreme violence, arson and Christian martyrdom a daily occurrence.

Update: Today, Paul’s wife, Rebekah*, is back on her feet. She and her son were temporarily living with close friends and ministry partners of the family, one of whom is a Lecturer at Colombo Theological Seminary (CTS), Sri Lanka, and had been pastoring the church that Paul and Rebekah planted in Ampara since last February. Joyfully, he handed the ministry back over to Rebekah when she and her son returned home to conduct the first Christmas service since Paul’s death. She preached for the first time last fall and spoke to students in CTS’ “Theology of Persecution” class as well. Despite an injured leg and hand, along with a bullet still lodged in her spine, CTS says, “Rebekah is determined to carry on the vision of her husband.”

Please join OC in prayer for:

• Continued physical and emotional healing for Rebekah and her son
• God’s blessing and protection on her and her ministry
• The Lord’s divine intervention for religious freedom in Sri Lanka

Click here to read the original article from last March.

*Names have been changed for security purposes.

Ongoing Sri Lanka violence claims four more lives
Related civil war news – Four church workers were indiscriminately killed from heavy shelling recently. The men worked for Zion Church in Jaffna, the capital of the Northern Province in Sri Lanka. Each church worker leaves behind a wife and child, and the families earnestly covet prayer support during this difficult time.

About the civil war – Since 1983, the ongoing, off-and-on civil war in Sri Lanka has been predominately between the government and Tamil separatist rebels who are fighting to establish an independent homeland/state for the country’s Tamil minority. Current news reports indicate that 50,000 to 100,000 civilians are trapped in a “Tamil rebel-held no-fire zone” and have set up makeshift camps, while thousands have been killed or wounded in the fighting. Several countries, along with the United Nations, have reportedly called on the government and the rebels to let civilians evacuate safely.