A church leader and his wife were attacked by a mob as they made their way home from visiting a member of their church recently. The assault involved Buddhist monks, as well as a man believed to have family connections with Sri Lanka's President. This incident underscores the rise in antagonism from Buddhist extremists, focusing on both Muslims and Christians.

Threatened with death if he continues preaching

On 9 August the Assemblies of God pastor was returning home with his wife, when their motorbike was abruptly cut off by a 4x4 vehicle, and the pastor's wife was thrown to the ground. A mob of around 40 men surrounded them, shouting "kill them!"

The men dragged the church leader along the ground and beat him, shouting abuse at his wife, and threatening to kill him unless he stopped preaching Christianity.

In South Asia, it is commonly said that converting people to Christianity is done by force or fraud. Church leaders are often accused of paying people to convert, and this is used as justification for violence against them..

Dragging the couple to the house they had visited earlier, the mob demanded to know how much the woman and her daughter who lived there had been paid to convert to Christianity.  They replied that their decision to follow Christ was entirely personal, with no money involved.

The church leader was beaten again before he managed to escape with his wife.

CSW National Conference: Pastor Lalani's life and hope after her husband's murder

This is just one of the stories we hear coming out of Sri Lanka. But another church leader, Pastor Lalani, has shown us that tragedy doesn't have to be the end of the story!

One day in 1988 two men shot her husband Lionel dead in front of her. His only 'crime' was to tell the people in his home village in Sri Lanka about Jesus.

After Lionel was killed, Lalani took it upon herself to pastor the church he'd started. It grew rapidly, and is now thriving with many church plants in the region.

Pastor Lalani will be sharing her story with us at the CSW National Conference on 10 November.