2 of 3

Dudley Woodberry, professor of Islamic studies at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, said Christians need to be wise. "Jesus demonstrated the importance of timing when at times he healed someone and then said not to tell anyone," Woodberry said. "Arab Muslims already distrust American motives."

The International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention is seeking the right balance between sensitivity and boldness. IMB workers are sending nearly 80,000 boxes of beans, rice, flour, and other staples. Printed in Arabic on each box are words from John 1:17: "For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ." Jim Brown, director of the SBC's World Hunger and Relief Ministries, said the verse is an appropriate expression of Christian faith to Muslims.

"Moses and Jesus are both prophets for Muslims," Brown told CT. "I don't think a Muslim would find that verse offensive."

But Brown added that the IMB plans no mass evangelism. "Freedom to share God's love in Iraq is limited to one-to-one, God-given opportunities, not man-orchestrated events."

Southern Baptists and many evangelical relief agencies are leaving verbal evangelism to local Christians by funneling relief through churches in Iraq and neighboring countries. The Jordanian Baptist Society will help American Southern Baptist volunteers distribute food. "They're there for the long haul," Brown said. "Outsiders come in for a short period of time and then leave."

World Relief is working with Christian communities in Iraq, Jordan, and Turkey to assess needs in northern Iraq, which is under the control of Kurds.

The mountainous region of 4 million Kurds also has a small contingent of evangelistically active Christians. Their leader is Yousif Matty, who heads the National Protestant Evangelical Church (NPEC). Matty is an Iraqi Arab who converted to Christ during his days as a conscript in the Gulf War. Since the Gulf War, NPEC has grown from zero to several fellowships, each with 60 to 200 believers, in four cities across northern Iraq.

But some Kurds are hostile to such conversions. Matty says Kurdish radicals have said they will kill him, and he knows it's not an idle threat. Ziwar Mohammed Ismaeel, a Kurdish Christian, was shot dead in February in Kurdistan's northernmost city, Compass Direct reported. Local authorities said Ismaeel's self-confessed murderer believed he was "fulfilling the will of Allah" by killing an apostate from Islam.

Matty prefers that relief ministry and evangelism remain separate. "We have no problems giving out Bibles without attaching any food or support," Matty said. On the relief side, Partners International will subsidize NPEC's food and medical supply distribution to Kurds.

World Vision will work with the United Nations to distribute food to 250,000 people in Mosul, northern Iraq. Bruce Wilkinson, World Vision's senior vice president of international programs (not the famous author), estimates the agency will provide $15 million to $20 million worth of relief in the first three months.

World Relief, Food for the Hungry, and Venture International are among the Western agencies working with a coalition of 11 Jordanian churches and agencies. Formed during the first Gulf War, the Jordanian Evangelical Community for Relief and Development organized camps for third-country nationals (non-Iraqis who had been living in Iraq) fleeing Iraq in 1990 and during this year's war (CT, May, p. 26). After assessing needs with Iraqi church leaders, the coalition will provide Iraq's churches with food, medicine, and school supplies.

next page... |  2 of 3

share this page

June 2003, Vol. 47, No. 6