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Sada maintains a good reputation outside Iraq. In June, Coventry Cathedral in England named Sada one of two winners of its 2003 Coventry International Prize for Peace and Reconciliation.

A cathedral spokeswoman said in a press release, "In the first Gulf War [Sada] had responsibility for prisoners of war but was eventually thrown into prison by Saddam Hussein for refusing to kill them. He is also working fervently for the rebuilding of a democratic Iraq."

Sada is scheduled to receive the prize in Coventry on November 14.

Baghdad's Christian leaders are also worried about the growth of new independent churches, potentially aggravating relations with Muslims.

Saddam forbade group meetings in private homes—a ban that applied to grassroots church meetings. The regime also prohibited building two churches of the same denomination in any one neighborhood.

Mehanni said thousands of new, small churches may open in Iraq, and "many people in America might be happy about that." But he worries that the Christian community will lose clout as it diffuses into the countryside. There are only a relative handful of official churches in the country.

"I believe it's better to support existing churches, and make them an umbrella" for Christian work, said Mazim Yousif, a John Calvin church council member. Yousif said competing for members "is like stealing other people's sheep."

Some Americans who have visited Baghdad in recent months have attended the grassroots church services that worry Christians such as Mehanni. Held in private apartments packed with joyous people, they are organized by Iraqi Christians who want something different from the established church order.

The word is spreading in ways unimaginable under Saddam. Amid the vast, decadent opulence of one of the dictator's presidential palaces, U.S. Army Chaplain Ron Prosise preached in front of a huge mural showing missiles roaring into the air and under a domed ceiling about 40 feet high.

Prosise also discussed his faith over lunch with an Iraqi Muslim who works in the Ministry of Education. He hopes many such low-key conversations will lead Muslims there to convert to Christ.

"It wasn't a planned thing," Prosise said. "We were talking about God and life and beliefs. We both really enjoyed that opportunity to exchange ideas."

Convoy of Hope's Smith, however, acknowledges that Iraqis will have to shoulder much of the evangelistic burden.

"Now, you may hear certain groups say, 'We've had some victories here, some victories there.' But in the long run, I think it's got to be Arab to Arab," Smith said.

A group of Egyptian Christians visiting Iraq on a medical relief mission said they're very hopeful about the future. One of them, Maher Fouad of the Arab World Evangelical Ministers Association, said he sees a spiritual awakening throughout the Middle East.

"I can tell you yes, for sure, the coming days will be better spiritually," Fouad said. "We are expecting a kind of spiritual revival in the coming days. There is a big spiritual vacuum in the hearts of people all over. People are looking for God.

"When people know about Jesus, they come," Fouad said. "I think for Iraq, the churches begin to awake, and move ahead."

Hermiz pointed out that Christians in Iraq have weathered many storms over the years—and will continue to do so.

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September 2003, Vol. 47, No. 9