Sharp-End Christianity

Iraq is steeped in history. It is the site of the Garden of Eden, of the Great Flood and the birthplace of Abraham. Tread lightly there.’ With these words, Colonel Tim Collins sent the 1st Battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment into battle in 2003. Eleven bloody years later, some parts of the cradle of civilisation are struggling to retain civility.

Earlier this month, Canon Andrew White, the Vicar of Baghdad, appeared on 'Newsnight' to describe the plight of minorities in the north of the country. He told viewers that his church was regularly a centre of worship, relief and medical care to a range of minorities - Sunni, Mandaeans, Yazidis and Christians. He also said that he and his co-religionists were in the north of Iraq to help those suffering at the hands of Islamist extremists. ‘Despite us being Christian, we are there for everybody. Everybody is being massacred and slaughtered,’ he said. ‘What they are experiencing is worse than you can imagine.’

Just days later, Canon White reported via Twitter that a five-year-old Christian boy was slaughtered during an attack by the Islamic State on the Christian town of Qara Qosh. ‘I’ve just had somebody in my room whose little child was cut in half,’ he said. ‘I baptised his child in my church in Baghdad. This little boy, they named him after me - he was called Andrew.’

In the comfort of Andrew White’s English homeland, where the only bombardment faced is of news reports and images, it is easy to feel helpless. It is easy to give up - mentally to abandon these people and others like them in the world’s troubled regions.

We can, though, give money to humanitarian relief efforts. And we can pray. Andrew White says that he and his congregation pray for protection, provision and perseverance. 'The War Cry' invites readers to join in those prayers.

UK & Ireland War Cry August 2014