Answers to Prayer

1 Twenty years of war, diplomatic isolation and economic disasters have brought both a lowering of prejudices to the gospel among Muslims and an openness to witnessing and to reading the Scriptures

2 The Christian community has suffered even more than the general population and in its pain nearly every denomination has experienced some renewal, revival and hunger for God's Word

3 A genuine Kurdish Church is now a reality

Challenges for Prayer

1 A broken and demoralized society is the fruit of the harsh dictatorship

2 The international community has made Iraq a pariah among nations

a) Wisdom for the UN and world leaders in balancing retribution and humanitarian needs and in application of sanctions

b) A viable, indigenous alternative government to arise that unites and rebuilds the shattered country

c) Adequate material and social help for the million or more refugees in Iran (150,000), Jordan (350,000), Turkey and the West

d) The provision of the needs of children and young people

3 The Christian community is largely Assyrian with some Armenians

4 Most Assyrians are members of the Catholic-linked Chaldean Church and some became Evangelicals through the activity of foreign missionaries in the past 150 years

Geography

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Area 438,317 sq.km. Fertile plains of the Tigris and Euphrates, high mountains to the north and Syrian desert in southwest.

Population (2000) 23,114,884 +2.84%AGR

Capital Baghdad 4,850,000.

Peoples

Arabs 70.2%; Kurds 19%; Turkic 6.1%; Christian minorities 2.5%; Other 2.2%.

Literacy 58%. Official languages Arabic; Kurdish in the KAR. All languages 23. Languages with Scriptures 3Bi 2NT 1por 4w.i.p.

Economy

Oil-based economy – since Genesis 11! Profits used to industrialize and build a powerful army. HDI 0.586; 125^th/174. Public debt 174% of GNP. Income/person $540 (2% of USA). It was $6,600 in 1980.

Politics

Monarchy overthrown in a violent revolution in 1958.

Religion

Pan-Arab socialism rather than Islam is the ideology of the Baathist regime.

Churches in Iraq

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