The Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East

I have never worn body armour in the Church, I have always refused to.

I used to have to wear it on my journey to the church from the Green Zone but now live in the Church compound.

So many of our brothers and sisters here in Baghdad have been killed, kidnapped or tortured even in the last few months. Members of my staff have also been killed.
Just this morning I was trying to sort out after care for our former chief of security who has recently had a leg blown off.

Called to this place

How do we cope, is the question we are often asked. We cope because the Lord is always with us. When you are where the Lord wants you to be he always enables you to cope. Look at Daniel. He
was here in Iraq, and he had not planned to come here into exile in Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar. He ended up there and God provided him with all that he required. He had not intended to be an interpreter of Dreams but God gave him the knowledge to do all that he needed and God blessed him and enabled him to serve with joy. Daniel Ch2:19-23.

In the same way I had no intention of coming to Iraq but I came 13 years ago and there is nowhere in the world I would rather be. Because I am where G-d wants me to be and, just like Daniel, He will always give you joy to be where He has called you to be. He will always give you the resources to do what he has called you to do. Even in the midst of terror and persecution our Lord is with us and we have the joy of the Lord.
 

Persecution

 In Faith under Fire I talk about the persecution of our people. It is a
persecution that is far worse than anything we read in the Bible. It is just a matter of months ago that 58 people were gunned down and killed during worship at the Syrian Catholic Church just down the road from ours here in Baghdad.
What followed were several weeks of Christians being killed, including our own staff and church members.

Despite all of these atrocities we are such a happy church. Yet here we have lost everything. When you have lost everything you realise that Yesua (as we call Jesus) is all that you have left. I myself have had all the difficulties of suffering from Multiple Sclerosis. I used to always feel ill. Then one day a doctor friend who was a haematologist here in Baghdad said he wanted to make me better.

To make a very long story short he injected me with my own stem cells from my blood and within hours I was feeling totally different. I was the first person to have this treatment. Now they have treated over 3000 people, and 80% have improved.

When G-d wants you to something, he will provide you with all you need to do it. As he provided for Daniel so he has provided everything for me. The fact is that having MS played a part in getting me here and also played a part in the fact that I have had no fear about my own life.

Meeting primary needs 

In our church I have had to sit down and examine the needs of our people. Then I have to make sure that all these needs are met by our Lord. What was clear was that there were four main needs: Healthcare, Food, Education and Living Accommodation. So we have to work on the provision of all four. We have a clinic with doctors, dentists, a pharmacy and laboratory. We see over 100 patients a day. If they need surgery this is also provided at a
private Christian hospital and paid for by us.

Everybody is given a bag of groceries after services on Sunday. We have nearly finished building a large Christian school on our compound. And when people cannot afford their rent we help them to pay it. So we do provide a huge amount and can only do this with the help of the Almighty and his people. We have no reserves but we can always provide these needs each month.

In the West many of these things may be provided by the state but here we provide because that is the work of our Lord. He who has called us to this task will never fail us. This means that all who receive this help - and many are not Christians - see this as the love of the church and thus the love of G-d. A large number of people who come to our Church are not even Christian but they all know that our lord loves them.

Much of my work is peacemaking and reconciliation but even in this it is the provision of people's needs that draws them to us and changes them from people of war to peace.

Here we know that "the lord is here and His Spirit is with us" and we say this at the beginning of every service.

With every blessing,

Andrew

Canon Andrew White