B a g h d a d – Baghdad Baptists mourn the fact that an increasing number of evangelical Christians are leaving the country. The church newsletter of the 2004-founded congregation reports: Only during the past year, four evangelical pastors departed. Numerous congregations have given in to their hostile surroundings and have closed their doors. The church writes that nevertheless ‘people in Iraq are starving for the Word of God.’ ‘In disregard of the daily conflicts, Iraq is a great mission field – ripe for harvest.’ The Baghdad congregation reports that last year for the very first time a church member fell victim to a terrorist attack. After visiting a Baptist event, the man was shot and killed in front of his apartment. Yet this attack has not discouraged the congregation. Services in the church still attract 400 to 500 worshipers six-days-a-week.

It remains committed to carrying out its mandate for mission. Thirty-nine members are taking correspondence courses in theology at present; three more are students at the Arab Baptist Theology Seminary in Beirut/Lebanon. Most of them intend to keep working in Iraq in the future. The Baptist church is also planning to open a theological seminary in the north of the country, which is considered relatively safe. The government has discussed the possibility of handing over to the church without charge a piece of land measuring 4.000 m2 in the city of Duhok, 400 km north of Baghdad. Local resistance to the project is still alive and the congregation is consequently requesting prayer.

A total of 450.000 Christians live in Iraq. Ninety-five percent of the country’s 26,7 million inhabitants are Muslims.