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From seeds planted in the fertile ground of war and turmoil, Iraq’s northern region of Kurdistan has a thriving evangelical church. After the war, that church stands poised to bring hope and relief to the entire broken land because of a network that a United States-based agency has helped build over recent years throughout Iraq.

The Kurds, called Medes in the Bible, have been Muslims for centuries. With Kurds numbering between 30 million and 45 million, they’re also among the world’s largest unreached people groups without a country.

After World War I, Kurdistan was divided between Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria. Today, some 4 million Kurds live in Northern Iraq in “Kurdistan,” or the Kurdish Autonomous Region, perhaps best known outside the area as Iraq’s northern “No-Fly Zone.”

Now the Kurds have a church, the National Protestant Evangelical Church (NPEC). Steven Downey, vice-president of communications for the Spokane, Washington-based indigenous support ministry, Partners International (www.partnersintl. org), says that the Kurds may be the Middle East’s most receptive group to the gospel. Since the first Gulf War the local body has grown from zero to several active fellowships each with 60 to 200 believers, in four cities across Kurdistan. While newspaper headlines scream that Iraq teeters on the edge of a humanitarian disaster, for six years, Partners International has been laying the groundwork for outreach in such a time as this.

Risks abound for Kurdish believers. It’s more dangerous to be a Christian in Kurdistan than in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, where Christianity is generally tolerated. The dangers of following Christ in Kurdistan are similar to those of any other strongly Islamic state, Downey says. In February, for example, Kurdish Christian Ziwar Mohammed Ismaeel was shot dead in Kurdistan’s northernmost city, Compass Direct reported. Local authorities said that Ismaeel’s self-confessed murderer believed he was “fulfilling the will of Allah” by killing an apostate from Islam. But because Islamic law calls for the execution of those who forsake Islam, some expect his release.

Still, NPEC’s leaders are moved by the can’t-wait nature of relieving physical suffering and sharing the good news of Christ. That’s why NPEC, with help from Partners International, sought and secured government permission to initiate holistic community projects. Paul-Gordon Chandler, Partners’ president, met recently with Baghdad pastors. Their overriding concern was bringing humanitarian aid to Iraq’s suffering people in Christ’s name. “Each of us covenanted to do all we can to help the Christians and people of Iraq,” Chandler said.

NPEC’s senior leader is Yousif Matty, who himself served compulsory military duty in Saddam’s army during the first Gulf War and in the Iran-Iraq war. That’s when Matty’s brother-in-law came to Christ. The brother-in-law shared his faith with Matty and gave him a Bible. Matty, too, got saved. Soon he felt God’s call to help the Kurds, which Saddam’s army was trying to drive north. Matty passed out Bibles to Kurds and later moved his family north to plant a church on a site of a massacre.

Almost from its start, NPEC had been meeting needs. After the first Gulf War, Kurdistan suffered additional grief. War took its toll on roads, communications and electric plants, but Saddam also had tried to wipe out Iraq’s Kurds with chemical weapons, killing and disabling thousands. Saddam’s troops brutally suppressed a Kurdish uprising. In addition, the United Nations-imposed embargo, designed to pressure Saddam into complying with resolutions to disarm, forced students to attend classes in shifts and share the few available books.

To counter the exodus of Kurds emigrating to the West, NPEC started a Christian elementary school. The local government approved the project and donated land for its first three schools. Government officials even enrolled their own children to attend. Matty’s wife, Alia, is principal.

“Through all that time, the Lord was not just saving souls and strengthening [our] faith, but also preparing us and the ministry to go forward, to be ready,” Matty said, “not just for Kurdistan but to do our job in the south—in Baghdad, the Tigris and Euphrates, Nineveh of Jonah, Babylon of Abraham, Alcosh of Nahum, and Kirkuk of Daniel. I believe what the Lord started in us, he will continue through… prayers, partnership and support.”

NPEC’s ministry includes training the disabled, helping widows and orphans and offering basic medical care. It operates five Christian bookstores, and its three Christian radio stations in three cities broadcast eight hours daily. Each station’s estimated listening audience is 1 million. NPEC is constructing churches. Its printing presses produce Christian literature and a monthly magazine, The Voice of the Holy Bible. NPEC shows and distributes the Jesus film, and has hosted numerous seminars attended by as many as 1,500.

This witness has brought tremendous growth to northern Iraq’s church, Chandler said. And in the south, Partners International has laid the foundation through training seminars and scholarships for Iraqi pastors to get a theological education outside the country. Graduates have returned to Iraq, where they are serving their fellow citizens through churches in Baghdad and beyond.

Now the church wants to provide desperately needed relief: food, blankets, clothing, medicine, shelter and the gospel, which will help rebuild Iraqis’ broken lives.

Matty knows the road ahead is hard. Some Muslim converts to Christianity were arrested for accepting Christ. Others lost their jobs. One boy was kidnapped because his father converted. The Arabic news network Al Jazeera accused the Kurdish government of letting evangelical organizations convert people to Christianity and accused Matty’s group of heading such activities, “then added other lies,” he said.

In a March 17 e-mail, just prior to the start of war, Matty said that he expected Islamic militants or anti-Americans to attack his church because of its relationship with British and American supporters. He is concerned about the ministries’ facilities, equipment and tens of thousands of books and Bibles. Most of all, he is concerned about church members and leaders’ safety and has instructed them to seek shelter in rural villages.

“The brothers still meet in groups, and the schools still open; we do not want the kids to stay with their parents and listen to the war news,” Matty said. “We need your prayers that the situation be corrected quickly. I am sure that the Lord will not just get the ministry back to normal but expand his kingdom to go forward.

Former World Pulse guest editor Deann Alford is a journalist based in Austin, Tex.

Print publication date 4/25/03