“They are threatened with death, ostracised from their families, forced to move out of their communities, but they choose Jesus anyway.”
By far the most moving experience for me the last few months was listening to Samuel who has recently come back from a month in the Kurdistan region in Northern Iraq (much to their parents’ disapproval!).? He and his wife, Fiona, spent time their helping and encouraging local Christians, while Fiona was able to put her speech therapy skills to use too.
Samuel was recounting his experiences, and marvelling at the sheer attractiveness of Jesus to these people, that despite the trouble it is going to bring them, they choose Jesus anyway.? 16 years ago there was no church in Northern Iraq, but now even? Iranians are sneaking across the border just to be able to hear the? good news of Jesus.? Can you imagine what it is like being in a country where the church is literally a teenager?
“They expect that they might be killed for their faith,” he said, “It’s something they take on when they become Christians.”
Some of the stories break your heart: there are children with terrible deformities brought about by the chemical weapons attacks that Saddam Hussein’s regime inflicted on the region back in 1991 for daring to break from his iron rule.?
Perhaps the most gut-wrenching story is also the most magnificent.? It shows the immense difference Jesus makes.? One Christian man recounted how a local? Baathist leader had demanded his sister’s hand in marriage.? His refusal was met with this warning: “Your sister and mother will be killed because of this.” One night not long later,? he woke up on top of the roof (many Iraqis sleep on the flat roof of their houses on hot nights), and on either side of him was his mother and his sister, both dead with a single bullet wound to the head, courtesy of a silenced gun.
How do you deal with such anguish? Without Jesus there was no hope, but the remarkable thing is that this man when he became a Christian has forgiven the assassin and has offered to share a meal with him.? I dare, nay defy, anyone to show me a philosophy or world view that can break the cycle of despair and hatred that? seems to hold Iraq in its grip, other than Jesus.?
The visit was no one-off.? The McWhirters have been working with? Kurdish asylum seekers for years, and if? you’ve read Total Church there’s a short? section about the way their house has had an open-door policy for Kurds in Sheffield for some time.?
Check out the rest of Samuel and Fiona’s story here
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