The head of Barnabas Fund has appealed to Christians to help believers who are suffering this Christmas.

The charity, which supports persecuted Christians around the world, has launched a Christmas appeal to fund its food and practical assistance programmes in famine-hit Ethiopia, Zimbabwe and Orissa in India, where thousands of Christians were displaced from their homes as a result of violent attacks by extremist militants earlier in the year.

“God’s people are in dire need of our help this Christmas,” said International director of Barnabas, Dr Patrick Sookhdeo.

“Throughout the Bible God encourages us to care for the needy, to remember the widows and orphans and to share what we have with those who are worse off than we are.

“Our ministry at Barnabas Fund is to help those of God’s people who are facing hunger, deprivation, pressure and persecution, to help those who cannot help themselves.”

Barnabas Fund has spent the last year distributing food parcels to hundreds of families in Zimbabwe, where nearly 600 people have died in a cholera outbreak. In Ethiopia, the ministry is working in partnership with churches to help impoverished families, and in Orissa, staff have distributed food parcels, medicine, clothes, blankets and shelter for those worst hit by the anti-Christian violence.

Dr Sookhdeo added, “As we prepare to celebrate the greatest gift of all, God sending His only Son to earth to save us, let us send a ray of hope to those in God’s family who are struggling to keep up hope for their and their families’ future.”

He encouraged Christians to pray for persecuted believers and the ongoing work of the ministry.