By Aaron Sseruyigo
A Church in Namasuba, a suburb about 6 Km south of Kampala, has been forced to close following months of attacks by Islamists who stoned members of the congregation and knocked the pastor unconscious, UG Christian News has learnt.
Pastor Moreen Sanyu of Greater Love Church, Para Zone, Wakiso district told journalists that she was hit in the head by a rock that smashed through the windows of the church on Aug. 4.
“I fell down and became unconscious. When I woke up, there were only a few members who surrounded me — the rest of the church members had fled in different directions,” she told Christian persecution watchdog and aid organization Morning Star News.
“The throwing of stones broke glass windows and destroyed a solar panel, and as well as there was the uttering of abusive and threatening words to me and my church members,” Pastor Sanyu said.
A local sheikh, who wasn’t named by the news outlet, claimed that the church has been converting Muslim children to the Christian faith.
“We cannot watch our children joining infidels’ church,” the man said, according to Morning Star News.
“We have not persuaded the Christians to join our faith, hence why should the church keep on stealing our members?” he added.
Morning Star News reports that Sanyu was treated for two days in a hospital in Namasuba, but when she returned for worship service on Aug. 11, there were no congregants.
The church, which had only formed in May 2017, had swelled to 400 people, but constant pelting with rocks for months had driven away hundreds of believers.
“I am not ready to lose my life by attending the church,” one church member who requested anonymity told Morning Star News.
With church members saying it’s too dangerous for them to continue gathering in the Muslim-majority area, the church has been forced to close, the Christian Post wrote.
“I need prayers and material support to relocate to another area at this trying moment, lest I lose all my members, and therefore I will have labored in vain for the Kingdom of God,” Sanyu told media.
“I just shared the gospel of Christ and his love for humanity with my Muslim neighbors, and they freely accepted the Christian faith, especially when many sick people that I prayed for got healed,” she said. “I did not persuade them nor steal them to join my church.”
