Ministry Taking Place In Iraq Despite Turmoil

The following is an updated report on the situation for Christians in Iraq. Open Doors continues to minister in Iraq despite the chaos and violence. Please continue to pray for the Christians in Iraq and for the outreach of Open Doors there.

Christians Leaving Country
Although it is difficult to state how many Iraqi Christians are in the country, the number in 2003, prior to the fall of Sadam Hussein, was around 550,000. The dreadful situation lately has caused many Iraqi people, both Muslim and Christian, to leave the country. Church leaders in Iraq conservatively estimate that almost 75,000 Christians live outside Iraq in places like Syria or Jordan or in the West and that another 75,000 have fled to northern Iraq. That means only 400,000 Christians remain in mainland Iraq.

Most of the Iraqi population, Christians as well as Muslims, live under constant pressure due to insecurity. Even though the situation for Christians differs from region to region they generally are under greater pressure than the Muslim population because they face more discrimination.
 
Some say that in the past few years almost 500 Iraqi Christians, including pastors and priests, have been murdered because of their faith. Even more Christians have been killed in attacks, in fighting or kidnappings for money.

Open Doors Delivering Basics To Needy
Iraqi Christians and Muslims are on the move, fleeing from the turmoil in their country.

Some Iraqi people flee to northern Iraq. These are called Internally Displaced People (IDP). Others attempt to find refuge in Syria, Jordan or the West.

A movement considered to be the “second wave” includes most of the IDPs and refugees who have left everything behind and are living on their cash money. These people were unable to move earlier, but now must move because of the violent situation. The poorest people have been moving steadily to the Kurdish-controlled region in the north. The influx of refugees has increased unemployment and dramatically heightened the cost of living.

Christian IDPs and refugees need relief supplies, structural help and spiritual counseling. Open Doors supports them in the basics of every day life: food, housing, heating, clothes and medical care. In Syria and Jordan, Open Doors helps with similar relief for the neediest families among the refugees.

Through helping the refugees, Open Doors has the opportunity to establish a relationship of trust, which could revive the faith of nominal Christians who are frustrated with religion because they feel that their spiritual leaders did not care for them as they should.

Literature Distribution
Open Doors has had opportunities to import and distribute large quantities of literature from 2003 to the present. Bibles, leadership materials, devotionals, youth books, children’s material and more are included in the literature distribution, which reached new highs in 2005 and 2006. Open Doors became the largest distributor of Christian literature in the country during those years.

This year several setbacks were encountered, but Open Doors was still able to distribute thousands of pieces of literature by the end of September. Open Doors is noticing requests for more specific literature and seeing a decrease in the demand for “general” Christian literature. Open Doors concludes that there is still a vital demand for literature in the country. Literature distribution will continue, linked to the demand of the Iraqi church.

Bookshops Opened
Open Doors supports two bookshops in the Kurdish region, and expanded the project to include the possibility of opening a third bookshop in this region. The bookshops are not run under Open Doors’ name due to security reasons.

Training Of Youth
The depressing circumstances in which Christians live deeply affects everyday life in the Iraqi church. Imagine being an Iraqi teenager questioning the future of your country. What is in store for you and your family? Life is not easy; much courage is needed to remain in the country, and rock solid faith is needed to trust God in these situations.

In cooperation with another organization, Open Doors held three training sessions for youth and young adults in 2007. The last session was completed in mid-September. The training taught about spiritual warfare, the kingdom of God, being crucified with Christ, relationships and more.

The students showed incredible receptivity towards the teaching; some of them expressed it was the first time they heard teaching on these subjects. In response to the teaching, one participant shared: “God brought me here to teach me how the cross needs to go to the deepest part of every aspect of my life.”

It was a joy to see young people coming together from diverse backgrounds. They gathered from 11 churches representing six different denominations: the Assemblies of God, Baptist, Presbyterian, Catholic, Methodist and Pentecostal.

Iraqis Coming To Christ
Despite many who were forced to leave the country, Pastor Omran stayed to minister to his church and new believers. He witnessed Jesus reveal Himself in miraculous ways, even to terrorists.

•  "Many in our church now are new believers, and in the past four months we baptized six people.”
•  “We have a generation now in Iraq who doesn’t understand the meaning of living in peace, as they’ve only lived in wartime and in dangerous situations.”
• “But we can also testify of miracles, real miracles. Once a terrorist came to my church. I was alone in the office. I thought he would kill me. And suddenly this tough man asked me, ‘how can I get peace?’”
• “We need to love the Muslim people, because if we do not love them, we cannot evangelize them.”

---