St. George's Memorial Church
Baghdad

Letter from Canon Andrew White - 20 October 2006

Dear Friends,

The news from Iraq continues to get worse but in the last few weeks the violence against Christians has also accelerated. In part this has been attributed to the statement of the Pope in his lecture in Germany. We have even seen priests decapitated following kidnap. Many Christians including some of our own members have received letters warning them to flee or be killed. Church attendance in Baghdad has rapidly fallen because people have left or are too afraid to go to church. Despite all these things we need to be very careful what we say. Saying too much just makes the situation worse, please believe us we are here. The fact is that attacks on Christians have increased but these attacks are nothing compared to the attacks on Shia and Sunni Muslims. The reality is that everybody is suffering now in Iraq, the situation is terrible but the worst tragedies are being committed against Muslims, Sunni and Shia. Their places have been bombed, blown up and destroyed in far greater numbers than any Christian place of worship. Everybody in Iraq is now targeted, everybody is at risk, including Christians, but the reality is they are targeted far less than the Muslim majority - but for them the situation is still terrible, probably the worst in the world.

Despite all these terrible things, St George’s has continued to grow. We now have over 1000 members and that number is still increasing. When we first started meeting in the Prime Ministers office people were rather afraid to enter the International Zone; now it is considered a safe place to worship.

Our services are long and have been growing in length; they always last at least five hours and often longer. We now have a break in the middle of the service for lunch, we provide lunch for everybody and this in itself has proved a great opportunity for us to spend time together. So the first half of the service is prayer, worship, sharing news and preaching. We then have lunch which is followed by the second part of the service which is Worship, prayer and Holy Communion. At a recent service I gave the blessing after five hours but the people continued singing their praise to God for a further two hours. The services are quite wonderful, the worship quite full of glory and peoples stories quite horrific.

Each week the number of widows increases and yet they still come to worship and praise God, the children still sing songs of worship filled with joy and the atmosphere is quite exceptional quite unlike any worship I have ever experienced before. All of those who have had husbands killed we have to support, and this will probably have to be long term. There is no help from the Government for those who have suffered in this way. What is more most of the Christians left in Iraq are very poor. Those who had the means to leave have gone. Those left are literally struggling to survive. What is more we now have 77% inflation so costs are rapidly rising.

Many have asked about how little Vivian is. She is the six year old girl in our congregation with aggressive bladder cancer. I attach the remarkable story about her just in case you have not seen it. She continues to be treated at the King Hussain Cancer Centre in Jordan. She has now had two courses of Chemotherapy and it is hoped that the major surgery will take place at the end of the month. This will require the removal of her bladder. Her father Hanni was struggling without his wife and she had come under increasing threat without her husband. We therefore had her and the other three Children fly to Jordan to join them this week. The gratitude from them all is quite exceptional. So please pray for Vivien as she has her bladder removed latter this month.

I have always loved the congregations I have served but these people I love like my own family. The relationship with them is so close and the children are quite exceptional.

The Mothers Union is also quite exceptional it is growing and increasing its activity all the time. It takes huge risks and still continues it work when there are curfews. Its work is steeped in prayer in true MU fashion. There has been very considerable support from the MU HQ in London and this has been so appreciated.

The Church in Baghdad is indeed a remarkable example to the Church of Christ. Every day they take up their Cross and follow Jesus. So thank you so much for your support of the Church. It is so appreciated and the Church is so grateful to you and prays for you. We attach some pictures which may be of interest to you.

Thanks, Grace and Blessings,