Partner Updates

Dear Partners in Christ's mission,

It might not seem too remarkable, when, for a local church, a group of refugees from another country show up not far from your city and your congregation decides to reach out to them. But what if your own country had also been in midst of war for years, resources were thin, 75% of your congregation had immigrated and the roads to reach those refugees were dangerous…would you still feel the call? That question has been faithfully answered by the Presbyterian Church in Qamishli, Syria, after they had learned of 1,500 Yazidi families who had been driven from their homes on the Nineveh Plain in northern Iraq by ISIS. 

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Before 2003, it was the largest Presbyterian Church in Iraq with a membership of over 1,000. But a decade of deadly sectarian fighting, which has plagued the capital with “routine” car bombings, has taken its toll on the Christian population here – as elsewhere in Iraq. And emigration has brought about a significant loss of Christian presence. This reality makes it all the more remarkable that Rev. Farouk Hammo decided about five years ago to make his way back to Iraq when he learned that the Arab Presbyterian Church in Baghdad was without a pastor. It had never been his intention to stay when he traveled to Australia to pursue his second career call, preparing for ministry. But when government offices in Baghdad were destroyed in the first Gulf War with the records for many citizens like Farouk who were studying abroad, he found himself in limbo. He was unable to secure permission to return to his homeland, until persistence and special interventions paved the way a few years ago.

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Dear Partners in Christ's Mission,

ISIS has driven Christians and other minorities from their homes in the northern part of Iraq and prohibited them from taking anything with them but the clothes they are wearing. Few of us can imagine what it must be like for the thousands displaced by the actions of ISIS. But if we could imagine that, we might be praying mightily that there would be someone out there who has taken seriously our Lord’s injunction found in Matthew 25. And those prayers would have been answered if we had shown up – destitute and despairing – at the Presbyterian Church in Kirkuk.

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August 25, 2014

On June 10, ISIS entered Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq. Before 2003, Mosul was home to 35,000 Christians and one of the five Presbyterian churches in the country. The Nineveh Province, in which Mosul is found, includes the largest concentration of Christians (many in small villages), churches and monasteries (some dating back to the fourth century). Many other ethnic and religious minorities, such as the Yazidis (a special target of ISIS), also made their home in Nineveh Province.

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