Middle East Fellowship has worked directly with Middle Eastern churches of all denominations to deliver aid to Iraqi Christians suffering the greatest financial hardship. In 2008, with your help, we were able to provide emergency assistance to help over 590 Iraqi families–71 families in Jordan, 178 families in Lebanon, 92 families in Syria and 250 families in Iraq itself.

The program funds are administered by Middle East Fellowship board member Rev. Nuhad Tomeh, who also works with the Middle East Council of Churches and serves as the regional liaison for the Presbyterian Church, USA.

Like other Iraqi minority communities, Iraqi Christians have become a target of violence, and a clear pattern of church bombings has emerged in Iraq (see a partial list of targeted churches). A large number of Iraqi Christians, because of the constant threat to themselves and their loved ones, have fled to Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. Often leaving all or most of their assets behind, these refugees are unable to legally acquire work. They live off of whatever savings (if any) their family has and whatever they can receive through international assistance. No matter what life they may have once led in Iraq–as lawyers, doctors, engineers–they are now dependent on assistance from the international community to survive. Children and single mothers are among the most vulnerable and in the most urgent need of assistance.

(Above: Iraqi churches targeted by violence).

Iraq
As a minority community, Christians in Iraq are at high risk and church buildings have been a target of militant violence.

Syria
Syria has accepted a large number of Iraq refugees and has allowed Iraqi children to attend public schools. Unfortunately, Iraqis are unable to legally work in the country.

Lebanon
It is estimated that there are around 75,000 Iraqi refugees in Lebanon and that at least 6,000 of these are Christians.

Jordan
By some estimates Jordan has received a half million Iraqi refugees. Most are unable to legally work and only some Iraqi children are allowed to enroll in public schools.

A Case Study

A Story from Aleppo

A quote from a 42 year old father living as a refugee in northern Syria*:

"We came to Syria since 2001 since then life has not been easy. I can never have a full time or regular legal job. As a refugee I am not allowed to work officially, so I do small jobs here. There is no regular assistance program for Iraqis in Syria. Everything is expensive and prices of everything are going up. Rent of our small apartment** is increasing every few months. Health care is not available and though medicine is reasonable, still–where do we get money? We are hardly making it here. Some churches provide some assistance, but it is irregular, once or twice a year, we hope we can someday go back to Iraq we had a better care, free education, free medical treatment, but the security is very bad and not safe as everybody knows."

* Name withheld to protect the identity of the family.
** Most Iraqi refugees do not live in refugee camps, they have to find cheap apartments to live in. As you can imagine, without legal access to work, it is extremely difficult to live month to month with housing, food and medical expenses.

How You can Help

Give

Your support is urgently needed.

Please consider making a $35, $60 or $125 donation today.

Even a small donation can be of enormous help to an Iraqi family in need.

Donate with Paypal $

Or: Donate by Mail Mail your checks to: Middle East Fellowship Business Office PO Box 1613 Wheaton, IL 60189-1613 Be sure to put "Iraqi Christian Assistance" in the memo of your check.

Pray

Pray for comfort and assistance for all Iraqi refugees–Christians, Muslims and others–struggling to survive day to day, week to week and month to month.

Pray for the Iraqi widows and orphans.

Pray for a calming of the violence.

Pray for the continued health and safety of Middle East Fellowship staff, representatives and partners as they seek to fulfill our commitment to Iraqi families in the region.

Pray for world leaders to make Iraqi civilians and refugees a priority, and to dramatically increase their humanitarian assistance as the situation deteriorates.

See for yourself

Learn more about Middle East Fellowship's church partners. Meet with Iraqi refugee to hear their stories. Join one of our refugee response teams

The following lists have been compiled by the Middle East Fellowship. It can be used on other websites or within other published materials as long as Middle East Fellowship is credited and a link is included to our homepage. There are many ways to get your hands on these materials. You may want to see if your local library has an interlibrary loan program, which would allow you to check out any of the following books even if they are out of print and not on your own library's shelves. Many of these books are still in print and available for purchase on Amazon.com, Alibris.com, and at other book retailers. If you have any trouble locating a copy of one of the resources listed below, please contact info@middleeastfellowship.org for assistance.

by Rev. Colin Chapman
2005 Redcliffe Lectures in World Christianity, 14 March

How should Christians and the West be responding to this new phenomenon that is called 'Islamic Terrorism'? If there is a wide spectrum of opinions about the war in Iraq and the threat of terrorism at home, we probably have to admit that Christians are probably almost as divided as the rest of our society over these issues.

In this context all I can do is to present a personal opinion, as a Christian who is now living in the West but who has also lived for a number of years in the Islamic world and tried to engage seriously in the study of Islam. I will try to explain how and why I have come to this opinion and hope that this will stimulate a vigorous debate.

Pilgrimage is a spiritual tradition found in the history of nearly every major religion. Why has it been so important? Is pilgrimage still significant today for communities of faith? In this informational essay, we explore the purpose and ethos of modern pilgrimage.