MessageMay 2003

From NCEASL – Religious Liberty Commission

Methodist Church Minneriya mobbed Minneriya is a city located in the Polonnaruwa district in the North Central Province of Sri Lanka. It is a predominately Buddhist city. The Polonnaruwa area was once the capital of Sri Lanka during the times of the kings. At that time it was the duty of the king to protect and promote Buddhism in the country. Therefore even today this area is littered with numerous Buddhist temples and other religious relics. The inhabitants of the area take great pride of this fact and that Polonnaruwa district is still a Buddhist stronghold, statistically.

It is in this context that the Minneriya Methodist Church has been functioning and growing during its existence of more than a decade. The Local Worker of the Minneriya Methodist Church is Bro. Oscar Fernando. On the 28th of April, 2003, an angry mob lead by the local monks recently gathered outside the Minneriya Methodist Church, and threatened that they will not allow the construction of the new Church building. During this incident, some of the mobsters tried to physically harass Bro. Oscar. The new Church was to be constructed on a land that belongs to the Church. But mob threatened to destroy any construction that was going to be done and threatened to do physical harm to Bro. Oscar. This incident was reported to the local Police and on Wednesday a court issued a restraining order to the Monks and the other members of the mob, ordering them not to hinder / obstruct the construction work of the new Church or the activities of the existing Church.

On Saturday 3rd May, 2003, Bro. Oscar was warned by the monks, that should the believers gather together for Sunday worship they will be physically assaulted. Upon hearing this Bro. Oscar and the believers started praying and they boldly conducted the Sunday service at Church as usual. Praise God!! No one came to assault or even to verbally harass the believer during the service or thereafter. We gratefully request you to uphold Bro. Oscar Fernando and the believers at the Methodist Church, Minneriya.

National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka

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