The Pentacostal Philadelphia Church in the Swedish capital Stockholm has apologised for renting its church to a Swedish-Eritrean network that supports the Eritrean regime. A regime that persecutes Pentecostals.On Tuesday, October 19th, the Philadelphia Church's stage was draped in Eritrea's red-green-blue colours, wrote Swedish daily Dagen. Around a hundred visitors were inside the church. Among them, the Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh Muhammed and staff from the Eritrean embassy. “It is with great dismay that we learned that the Eritrean Foreign Minister visited the Philadelphia Church”, wrote Niklas Piensoho, the parish director, and Sören Eskilsson, CEO of the Philadelphia Convention Center in an op-ed in Dagen. “Had we been informed in advance about the Eritrean Foreign Minister's visit, we would not have allowed this rental”. Prison When people got word of the event in the church, criticism grew towards the church. “The event was held purely to propagate for the dictatorship”, said Esaya Isaak to Dagen. He is a brother of the Swedish-Eritrean journalist and actor Dawit Isaak, who has been in an Eritrean prison since 2001 without a conviction. Esaya Isaak thinks it is “a bit ironic” that a Pentecostal church rents out its premises to a regime that persecutes Pentecostals in their country. “Either they have no idea who they rent to, or they are naive”, says Isaak. Because it is one of the world's most closed countries, it isn't easy to know precisely how many Pentecostal Christians are imprisoned for their faith. According to Isaak, it is several thousand. 
The Philadelphia Convention Centre. image Wikipedia CommoIn a reaction, the church stated that they “firmly dissociate ourselves from the Eritrean regime and the oppression to which dissidents are subjected. We are well aware of the persecution that, among other things, Pentecostals are subjected to in Eritrea, and we want to express our loyalty to our fellow believers who are living in a very difficult situation.” It was publicly known that the Eritrean Foreign Minister would visit Sweden. However, people did not know where he would appear. According to Piensoho and Eskilsson, the church was only informed of the scheduled arrival of the Minister by authorities when the event had already started. Booking According to the church, the booking of the church was arranged through a booking company they work with. “The information we received was that it concerned a group of Swedish-Eritreans, a group we could not find online.” According to Piensoho and Eskilsson, they met representatives of the group who referred to people they knew and trusted. “That gave us the impression that we could go ahead with the rental.” The church promised to tighten its background checks for future rentals. “We can only state that we have not done our research well enough this time”. The money the church received for the rental will go in full to Open Doors' work for persecuted Christians. This organisation ranks Eritrea as one of the worst countries for Christians to live in.
The Philadelphia Convention Centre. image Wikipedia CommoIn a reaction, the church stated that they “firmly dissociate ourselves from the Eritrean regime and the oppression to which dissidents are subjected. We are well aware of the persecution that, among other things, Pentecostals are subjected to in Eritrea, and we want to express our loyalty to our fellow believers who are living in a very difficult situation.” It was publicly known that the Eritrean Foreign Minister would visit Sweden. However, people did not know where he would appear. According to Piensoho and Eskilsson, the church was only informed of the scheduled arrival of the Minister by authorities when the event had already started. Booking According to the church, the booking of the church was arranged through a booking company they work with. “The information we received was that it concerned a group of Swedish-Eritreans, a group we could not find online.” According to Piensoho and Eskilsson, they met representatives of the group who referred to people they knew and trusted. “That gave us the impression that we could go ahead with the rental.” The church promised to tighten its background checks for future rentals. “We can only state that we have not done our research well enough this time”. The money the church received for the rental will go in full to Open Doors' work for persecuted Christians. This organisation ranks Eritrea as one of the worst countries for Christians to live in.
| tate-approved denominations Open Doors currently lists Eritrea as the number 6 on their World Watch List. According to the non-denominational mission, almost half of 5.4 million Eritreans are Christians. However, people who aren't from state-approved denominations face persecution. According to Persecution.com, the Eritrean government has outlawed every religion except Islam, Orthodox Christianity, Roman Catholicism and the Lutheran Church. All other religious groups are illegal, and the government maintains tight control of approved churches, including their messages. |
