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Published: Thursday 06 December 2007

Barnabas Christmas Appeal

Project(s): 20-710, 49-710

Country: IRAQ

Dear Christian Friend,

Good tidings of great joy for Iraqi Christians?

...Yes, there can be, with your help

Barnabas Aid is building a new community for Iraqi Christian refugees in Syria, where they can settle and re-start their lives.

Thanks to the generosity of the city authorities, a plot of land for the building project is available at a fraction of its real value. On this will be built around 350 apartments, together with facilities such as a clinic, school and community hall. At a later stage small businesses will be started to provide employment opportunities.

Will you join with us in this project, to bring comfort and joy to our Iraqi brothers and sisters?

Iraqi Christians Georgina and her baby son Marcos are refugees in Syria, just as Mary and the baby Jesus were refugees in Egypt.

Your Christmas gift can help make this a reality

The whole project will cost an estimated total of £2,850,000. The building costs for one apartment will be around £5,000. With many churches and individuals around the world all playing their part, the whole sum can be raised.

I know that you give regularly to help persecuted Christians. Thank you for your generosity and commitment. Maybe you would like to pray about whether you can give an extra gift this Christmas? If the Lord lays it on your heart to make a gift to help this project for Iraqi Christian refugees in Syria, be assured that your kindness will make a real difference. SACCD

If you would like to make a gift to this project as an alternative gift for a loved one this Christmas, Barnabas Aid will send you an attractive gift card for your friend or relative, to tell them that a donation has been made on their behalf.

Could your church take up a Christmas offering for Iraqi Christian refugees in Syria? Ask for a copy of our new 8-minute DVD “Save Iraqi Christians” to show the congregation or your home-group or women’s group.

Above all, please pray that the Prince of Peace, whose birth we shall soon be celebrating, will bring lasting peace to Iraq, and new hope for Iraq’s Christians, both those who have fled as refugees and those who still remain in their homeland. Thank you for your support for Barnabas Aid.

With Christmas blessings in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,

Dr Patrick Sookhdeo, International Director

You can help save Iraqi Christians from genocide

We are so used to hearing bad news from Iraq. We know all too well the chaos and lawlessness, and the death toll inflicted by the insurgents whom no one seems able to control. We grieve and pray over these things.

As Christians, we also pray for our fellow-believers in Iraq, who are a particular target of the insurgents. It is no exaggeration to say that Christians in Iraq are facing extermination at the hands of Islamic extremists who want to cleanse their country of any trace of Christianity. These extremists threaten Christians that they must convert to Islam, leave or be killed. It is a new genocide.

Iraqi Christians will not abandon their faith, and many of them have already been killed. Some have fled to the relatively safe Kurdish areas of Iraq and huge numbers are fleeing to neighbouring Syria. Those who have escaped the genocide need help to survive in their new locations.

Thanks to the generous donations of supporters like you, Barnabas Aid has been helping to provide food and basic needs for Iraqi Christian refugees in Syria since just after the invasion of March 2003.

But now it has become clear that the refugees will not be able to return to their homeland in the foreseeable future. A longer term solution is needed. That is why Barnabas Aid has started the new building project, which is being organised in cooperation with senior leadership of all the main Christian denominations in Iraq and Syria. Read further information ‘here’ At last some good news for Iraqi Christians!

Land where the new community for Iraqi refugees in Syria will be built, Lord willing, with your help

Donate today

If you can help, please click this link to donate online using our secure server. (Please quote project reference 20/49-710)
If you prefer to telephone, dial: 0800 587 4006 from within the UK or +44 1672 565031 from outside the UK. (Please quote project reference 20/49-710)

If you prefer to send a cheque by post: Click this link for addresses of our regional offices. (Please quote project reference 20/49-710)

Background

Syria has at least 1.5 million refugees from Iraq. According to the United Nations, Christian refugees were 5% of the population before the 2003 invasion, but make up around 20% of the refugees. (This disproportionately high figure reflects the specifically anti-Christian nature of much of the violence in Iraq.)

The recent influx of Iraqi refugees (adding to nearly half a million registered Palestinian refugees already in Syria) has sent prices spiralling upwards. Many basic foods have tripled in cost, and rents have gone up five-fold or more. Only 30% of the refugee children can go to school.

Muslim agencies are building 150,000 units of housing for Muslim refugees. But many Christians are staying in church buildings, old people’s homes and other kinds of lodging which are not appropriate for long-term family accommodation.

Iraqi Christian refugees fill the churches in Syria each Sunday. There are large numbers of women and children
amongst them. Recent arrivals are poorer than those who fled a year or two ago, and have little realistic prospect of moving on to settle in any other country. They must wait in Syria until peace is restored in Iraq.

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