Resources
Arab Christian Scholars: Trade Minority Mindset for Abundant Life
Author: Jayson Casper
Publication Date: 23/2/2022
Source: Christianity Today
A group of academic Christians in the Middle East has thrown down the gauntlet: The local church, bound in fear to its minority mindset, needs to walk afresh in the Holy Spirit.
“We must tell the truth and call for freedom,” said Souraya Bechalany, coauthor of “We Choose Abundant Life,” a document released last September that makes 20 recommendations. “We are powerful in Jesus Christ, but too often we don’t believe it.”
Christian Convert Faces Deportation to Iran from Turkey After Six Years
Publication Date: 23/2/2022
Source: Persecution - International Christian Concern
Pastor Hekmat Salimi, an Iranian Christian convert and Anglican minister, fled Iran six years ago with his wife and daughter after years of harassment and resettled in Turkey, seeking asylum. Turkey issued the family a seven-day deportation warning in mid-February to either return to Iran or face forced deportation.
Poverty, fear drive exodus from Syria’s one-time IS capital
Author: Samya Kullab
Publication Date: 22/2/2022
Source: Associated Press News
In a square that a few years ago was a grim stage for the Islamic State group’s brutal rule in the Syrian city of Raqqa, Mahmoud Dander sat deep in thought.
He wants to leave Syria, but has a problem: The 75-year-old has no money. He recalled the old days before protests and wars led to his country’s collapse and national currency crash: Syria wasn’t thriving back then, but he had work, his children had university degrees and decent futures, and food was always on the table.
UN Special Rapporteur: Tehran arrested dozens of Christians in 2021
Publication Date: 21/2/2022
Source: Asia News
The UN reports on "at least 53 arrests" made among members of the minority. And it expresses "concerns" about the "continued repression". A group of converts forced to undergo "re-education" sessions in the Islamic faith. The role of the Pasdaran in anti-Christian attacks.
Is the Church dying in the Middle East?
Publication Date: 23/2/2022
Source: The Jerusalem Post
It seems as if the generally accepted view of the church is that it’s dying in the Middle East. But that’s simply not true.
The church is growing faster now than ever before in the Middle East.
Jerusalem churches fight new settlement plan
Author: Taghreed Ali
Publication Date: 11/3/2022
Source: Al-Monitor
Church heads and officials in Jerusalem are fighting an Israeli plan to expand a national park on the Mount of Olives in east Jerusalem, where dozens of churches and Christian sites are located.
Iraq: Rebuilding churches as symbols of hope
Author: Judit Neurink
Publication Date: 9/3/2022
Source: Deutsche Welle
Amid the rubble in the graveyard of the St. George Monastery in Mosul, a freshly painted white grave with a small red cross has become a sign of hope and perseverance.
Maria, 20, killed in Erbil by relatives for converting to Christianity
Publication Date: 9/3/2022
Source: Asia News
International Women's Day in Iraqi Kurdistan was marked by reports of the murder last Sunday of a 20-year-old woman by a family member. Her only fault, if it can be called that, was her conversion from Islam to Christianity and the decision to use a new name: Maria.
