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Working with Presbyterians, the Cairo-based Arab World Evangelical Ministers Association sends representatives into Iraq three times a year. They provide training in evangelism, prayer, leadership, and ministry. The Mennonite Central Committee and the American Friends Service Committee are also doing relief and development work. The largest Presbyterian church in the Middle East, Kasr el-Dobara in Cairo, sends lay leaders to teach and pray with Iraqi church leaders in Jordan.

Tom Hoglind of the Bible Society of Lebanon says that many Iraqi Christians have experienced revival since the Gulf War and have started ministering to the disabled and other social outcasts. Alluding to Abraham, who lived in this region, Hoglind said, "If God asked me if I could find 10 righteous men in Iraq, I can assure you that they are in place. They are Iraqis who love their country and the people living there."

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For more Christianity Today article on Iraq, see our World Report.

The 2002 International Religious Freedom Report for Iraq says "the Interim Constitution provides for individual freedom of religion, provided that it does not violate 'morality and public order;' however, the Government severely limits freedom of religion in practice, represses the Shi'a religious leadership, and seeks to exploit religious differences for political purposes."

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November 18 2002, Vol. 46, No. 12