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Advent Prayer - Iraq

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Published: Thursday 15 December 2011

Advent Prayer - Iraq

Project(s): 20-383, 20-246

Country: Middle East and North Africa, Iraq

No-one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known. John 1:18

Barnabas Fund supports Iraqi Christians who have fled their homes in the wake of anti-Christian violence by providing them with monthly food parcels

“The people are living behind locked doors. Threats and insults are daily occurrences... Fear rules over all situations and in all places,” wrote a Barnabas Fund partner about the desperate situation of Iraq’s beleaguered Christian community.

Since the bloody siege at a Baghdad church in October 2010 that left more than 50 people dead, more Christians have been killed and Christian neighbourhoods targeted. In August 2011, five churches were targeted with bombs in the space of three weeks; two exploded, damaging the church buildings. Less than two months later, two Christians were murdered in northern Iraq. An anonymous source in Kirkuk said, “The attacks on Christians continue and the world remains totally silent. It’s as if we’ve been swallowed up by the night.”

Iraq’s Christians have endured repeated attacks since the US-led invasion in 2003. Hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee as a result; the number of Christians has fallen from 1.5 million in 1990 to perhaps as low as 400,000 today. Barnabas Fund helps to feed needy Iraqi Christians, both those in their homeland and those who have fled to neighbouring countries as refugees.

Barnabas has also helped this year with fuel for generators for three churches, guards for two churches, hire of buses to take children to Sunday school, and support for a Christian radio station.

In July, Christians responded defiantly to the violence by opening the first new church in the country since the 2003 US-led invasion. The church and complex were built on land in Kirkuk donated by the Iraqi government and using donations, including US$10,000 from President Jalal Talabani.

Give thanks for the rare positive news of the new church in Kirkuk and for the determination of Iraqi Christians to maintain a Christian presence in their homeland, despite the daily pressure and hostility they face. Pray for protection for Iraq’s Christian community, and pray that they may stand firm and continue to affirm their faith in Christ. Pray that all those members of our Christian family who have lost loved ones in violence in Iraq will find peace and comfort in the Lord Jesus. Pray for peace and stability, law and order in Iraq and that our brothers and sisters will be able to live without fear of being targeted.