Methodist Church sends funds to Pakistan following suicide bomb attack

Pakistani Christian women pray for victims of suicide attack on a church in Peshawar, during a protest near the Parliament in Islamabad, Pakistan, Monday, September 23, 2013. (AP)

The Methodist Church in Britain has sent the Diocese of Peshawar in Pakistan £5000 following the suicide bomb attack on a church last month.

The money has been made available by the World Mission Fund to help the victims of the attack on All Saints Church on September 22, killing 81 people and leaving 120 injured.

The bomb attack was one of the worst attacks on Pakistan's minority Christian group.

The Methodist Church's solidarity grant will be used to provide victims in the Diocese of Peshawar with physical and psychological support.

Steve Pearce, Partnership Coordinator for Asia and the Pacific, who will be in Pakistan from the 14 to 20 October.

He said: "Christians and Muslims live in harmony in many communities in Pakistan, but atrocities like the bomb blasts at All Saints Church in Peshawar raise a level of fear among the Christians, who form less than two per cent of the population.

"It is important that the Christian community knows that we are remembering them in prayer and that we have made the effort to send money to help those who are injured and those who have lost their family breadwinner.

"This grant has been made possible by the generosity of the Methodist people who have donated to the World Mission Fund."

News
MP calls for emergency meeting to end case against suspended Christian nurse
MP calls for emergency meeting to end case against suspended Christian nurse

Shadow equalities minister, Claire Coutinho MP, has called for an end to the case against Christian nurse Jennifer Melle, who is facing disciplinary proceedings for misgendering a convicted paedophile.

Hundreds of churches in Germany being targeted with vandalism and theft
Hundreds of churches in Germany being targeted with vandalism and theft

The cost of the damage to both churches and chapels runs into hundreds of thousands of euros.

Nigerian authorities secure release of 100 kidnapped Catholic school children
Nigerian authorities secure release of 100 kidnapped Catholic school children

The fate of more than 160 other students and staff members abducted in the same attack remains unknown.

EU urged to combat violations of religious freedom in South Asia
EU urged to combat violations of religious freedom in South Asia

Citing a dramatic escalation of targeted attacks against Christians and other minorities in their countries, human rights advocates from South Asia called for stronger EU engagement on freedom of religion or belief at a conference in Brussels on December 4.