Christian Iraqi Refugees
Last week, the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) released its report on displaced persons in Iraq. Millions of Iraqis have lost their homes in the past couple of years, but perhaps the most striking aspect has been the displacement of Christians. An astronomical percentage of Iraqi Christians have been forced to flee their homes, many being forced to seek refuge in foreign nations.
And aside from being the hardest hit, these Christians are not able to go home.
Returnees mostly go to neighbourhoods/districts/ governorates where their communities represent the majority and which often are not their original homes. To date, only a few families returned to areas under control of other communities. No members of minority groups (e.g., Christians, Sabaean-Mandaeans and Yazidis) have been reported to be among the returnees.
Remember ministered to a number of these refugees last year in our Middle East Survey Trip. From their stories, it is obvious why the Christians are not returning to their homes–they can't. They cannot return without risking their lives.
This woman, for instance, is a widow that we met in Amman, Jordan. She and her four children came to know Jesus Christ, and were forced to leave their homes to avoid persecution. When living in Amman, however, the learned that three times the Jordanian authorities had refused entry to a man who was coming to the country with the intention of killing all of them for their faith. This wasn't just any man, though, not just some Islamic radical bent on violence…
It was her brother.
That is the kind of persecution faced by our brothers and sisters in Iraq. They have lost their homes, been abandoned by their families, and they often have nowhere to turn. Will you lift them up in your prayers?