St. George's Memorial Church
Baghdad

Report as at January 2007
 

Introduction
St George’s Baghdad continues to grow as an all-Iraqi Church amidst escalating crisis and tragedy. It is the only growing church now in Baghdad; this itself is seen as a problem. The reality is that one of the main reasons people start coming to the church is because things are so dangerous that they cannot travel distances. We have therefore continued to arrange several buses to church each Sunday.  Many of the men in the church have been killed; the Church is therefore predominantly women and children. Despite the continued violence the church has continued to grow and now has over 1300 members.

Relief
A huge amount of relief is now given from the church - this amounts to over $8,000 per month. This includes supporting the families where the father has been killed, providing food and clothing.

Programme
The Church has a very full programme with events happening at the church on a daily basis. Apart from three services a week the Church also has a very active Mothers Union that meets three times a week, an Alpha Course and an active Children’s Church.  As all of our children have now had their schools destroyed none of them go to school, we are therefore looking at ways to hold regular school at Church.

Funding
The Funding of the Church has had to increase dramatically. This has been due to inflation of 77% and a 25% fall in the value of the dollar against the Iraqi Dinar. The Diocese is giving the Church $5000 every month. The monthly budget of the Church excluding relief is now $6700 per month. As already stated the monthly relief figure is in the region of $8,000. This funding comes from three sources. Churches and Chaplaincies in the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf, Anglican Parishes in the UK and a variety of Churches and individuals in the USA many of these are non-ECUSA churches. In addition to the support of the Anglican Church in Iraq we are also helping other established churches in Iraq including the Chaldean, Syrian Catholic and Syrian Orthodox communities.

Effect of Violence
The violence is now so terrible and things are so awful it is very difficult to practically continue the programme but the trust of the people in our Lord is quite outstanding. Worship is incredible and faith outstanding. Whilst we baptise children every month we do have considerable problems with a large number of people wanting to become Anglicans.  This we have not allowed.

Church Issues
Whilst the Prime Minister has actively supported our Church being registered, the Ministry of Religion has not yet finalised this, saying that as far back as the 80’s the Church was not registered. This has very much worried the people because the issue of Marriages is important, but of greater importance is the need for a burial site because people are being told by the other churches that they cannot be buried in the traditional Christian cemeteries if they continue coming to St George’s.

Another thing we urgently need is a van to take people to church at the moment we are spending a considerable amount each month just to hire vehicles to bring people to Church. There is now a strong possibility of this being donated.