Baptist World Alliance Head Calls for Continued Prayers for Hostages
The President of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) has called for Christians to continue their prayers for the Briton kidnapped in Iraq and for his three colleagues.
The Rev David Coffey, who is also the General Secretary of the Baptist Union of Great Britain (BUGB), expressed his call for Norman Kember after speaking to his wife Pat Kember.
“I want to encourage all our Baptist churches to stand in solidarity with Norman and Pat and the family this Christmas,” stated the Rev Coffey, after the visit.
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“I hope they will be in our prayers as there is as yet no resolution to the situation faced by Norman and his fellow-captives, who were in Iraq on a mission of peace.”
The head of the BUGB’s Faith and Unity department, the Rev Graham Sparkes, accompanied the Rev Coffey on his visit to Kember’s family. The regional team leader for the London Baptist Association, the Rev Pat Took, also joined the Rev Coffey at a service in College Road, where they met the hostage’s wife as she attended the service.
According to the BUGB, Mrs Kember told how she had been greatly moved by comments in the large number of letters and cards that she had received from well-wishers.
The Rev Coffey concluded, “The church at College Road has been deeply grateful for the hundreds of expressions of support it has received from all over the world, and I know that our Baptist family will want to uphold them too in our prayers.”
The four kidnapped Christians include British worker Norman Kember, as well as American Tom Fox, and Canadians James Loney and Harmeet Sooden – all of whom were working for the Christian Peacemakers Team when they were kidnapped on Nov. 26.
A statement posted just before the New Year on the British Foreign Office website said, “A month has passed since our loved ones – Norman, James, Harmeet and Tom – were kidnapped in Iraq.
“Many clerics and religious figures from the Arab and Muslim world have spoken over the past weeks of the good work they were doing in Iraq and what their organization has done in Palestine, and they have called for their release,” it continued.
“We appeal to you to help us ensure the safe return of our relatives.”
