Persecuted Church - Iraq

As we, slowly, move towards the International Day of Prayer for the persecuted church (IDOP) on Nov 4, I thought I'd start to raise the awareness of some of the situations around the world where the Church is up against it to help us all prepare.

Are you sitting comfortably? Good, so let's see what what I can do to change that.

Even though the state does not legislate against Christians, the sectarian groups do!

Over the past ten years more than nine hundred Christians have been killed, more than seventy church buildings have been bombed. More than two hundred Christians have been kidnapped and ransomed.

Over two-thirds of the Christian population has left the country because of the persecution - A 1987 census put the Christian population at 1.4 million people, today there's around 400,000!

And here's why:

Leaving church, one of the families returned to their car to find an envelope containing a bullet - an indication that they had been placed on a 'death list' - the next day the family were gone, leaving everything behind as they fled for their lives.

Converts from Islam are considered legitimate targets by some, a statement made fact by accounts of the murder of eleven of the thirteen Iraqis who were baptised in 2010.

There's so much more but it's all out there (just search for 'Iraq and Christians') but as we move towards Nov 4th and IDOP can I ask you to pray for Andrew White (AKA 'the Vicar of Baghdad'), his family and his ministry with the people of Iraq:

Please pray for the Christians in Iraq and their protection:

Please pray for peace between the differing factions and sects with Islam in that nation:

Please pray for the situation in Syria - for supporting those who oppose Assad in the wrong way may well lead to increased oppression for the Iraqi Christians (and all Christians in the region).

Pax