Because of the uncertain security situation in Iraq, 19 representatives of that country’s beleaguered and rapidly dwindling Christian community traveled by road to Syria to meet with their American counterparts.
The unprecedented three-day meeting came only days after a deadly car bomb was detonated in the Syrian capital, Damascus. Still, the consultation went ahead as planned Oct. 4-6 at the St. Christophoros Monastery, a Greek Orthodox monastery located in Saidnaya, an ancient town with strong Biblical associations.
The encounter was organized by Marilyn Borst, director of global missions for Peachtree Church in Atlanta and Nuhad Tomeh, PC(USA) mission co-worker and regional liaison for Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and the Gulf, with assistance from a new ecumenical organization known as the Iraq Partnership Network.
“You can’t advocate for what you don’t know,” Borst said. “The members of the network needed to meet the Iraqi church, and now they’ve done that.”
The Iraq Partnership Network was started last year in an effort to provide badly needed assistance to the Iraqi Presbyterian churches. Although the vast majority of the network’s sixty or so members belong to PC(USA) congregations, the network also includes representation from the Reformed Churches of America and the United Church of Christ.
Victor Makari, PC(USA) World Mission’s area coordinator for the Middle East and Asia Minor, who was one of the participants in the consultation, said the PC(USA) encourages the creation of such ecumenical networks. “They serve as a way of helping those who would like to initiate mission work to promote common mission goals,” he said, adding that the PC (USA) presently supports more than 35 mission networks in a variety of countries throughout the world.
Conference organizers asked those reporting on the consultation or photographing the proceedings to refrain from identifying the Iraqis who attended by their full names, out of concern about possible reprisals by local militias upon their return to Iraq. At least two representatives came to the gathering from each of the four cities where the Iraqi Presbyterian churches are located — Baghdad, Basra, Kirkuk and Mosul. Two other Iraqi Presbyterian leaders came from Jordan, where they are living as refugees.
The Iraqis described in great detail the dangers and hardships that all Iraqis face, as well as the special challenges they experience as Christians living under American occupation.
Much of the intimidation and violence the Christians endure is carried out by Islamic militias, which are becoming increasingly intolerant of the miniscule Christian presence in Iraq. But several of those participating in the consultation said that Iraqi Christians are often treated roughly at the hands of U.S. troops.
According to a church leader from Kirkuk, the American troops make no distinction between Christian and Muslim Iraqis. “They insist on searching Christian homes,” he said, “even though it is common knowledge in the community that the Christians do not carry weapons or keep them in their homes.”
Several of the Iraqis said the tenuous security situation has made it difficult, if not impossible, for the churches to carry out their usual programs and ministries. They also said that a wave of church bombings and kidnappings, along with the assassination of at least one church elder, has created an ever-rising tide of emigration, which is seen by many as the biggest single threat to the Christian presence in Iraq.
Before the war Christians numbered approximately 1.5 million out of Iraq’s total population of twenty-five million. Today, as one Presbyterian from Basra put it, “It would be a miracle to find 500,000 Christians left in Iraq.” Many have emigrated to Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria while others have gone further afield, to places such as the United States and Canada.
At one point, several American participants openly apologized to the Iraqis for the American-led invasion. Choking back tears, one who wished to remain unnamed, compared the situation to the African-American experience in the U.S., for which, he said, “some feel we can never apologize enough.
Drew Smith, pastor of College Hill Church in Cincinnati and one of the participants at the conference, also addressed the Iraqis, saying, “Our preoccupation with our own needs and concerns has blinded us to the pain we have inflicted on our brothers and sisters in Christ.”
Responding to the Americans’ remarks, an Iraqi leader from Kirkuk said, “Take this message to your community. Just because Saddam is evil doesn’t mean that all Iraqis are evil. There are believers in Iraq like us. We know Jesus and we love Jesus.”
During the conference participants pinpointed steps they felt should be taken that would help to safeguard the Christian presence in Iraq while also possibly helping to slow the wave of emigration that has been accelerating alarmingly in the years since the American invasion.
First, if the churches are going to stay alive and fully functioning, the Iraqis said is to train new pastors for the future. At present four of the five Presbyterian churches in Iraq are operating without a pastor. Upon hearing this request, Mary Mikhael, the president of the Near East School of Theology in Beirut, responded by offering to reserve five places at the seminary for qualified Iraqi candidates.
Victor Makari later challenged the Iraq Partnership Network to make raising the tuition money to send the Iraqi candidates to the seminary one of its top priorities.
The Iraqis also said that they are in need of training for elders and other church leaders, including youth leaders and Sunday school teachers. It was pointed out that such training could also be carried out through the various workshops and other programs offered at the NEST.
According to Evie and Larry Richards, former Presbyterian missionaries to Iraq who are serving as coordinators for the network, its goal is to foster relationships between American and Iraqi congregations while also providing advocacy, peacemaking, refugee assistance, and financial aid for the Iraqi congregations.
