Since mid-March, images of the war in Iraq and its aftermath have filled nightly television news bulletins. But behind the scenes of destruction, God’s people have continued working to help bring Christ’s light into that land. DAVID ADAMS reports...

Since the mid-Nineties, an Australian missionary couple have been working in northern Iraq helping to show the love of Christ in a land dominated by Islam.

The couple first went to north Iraq in the mid-Nineties where they discovered a village where “overnight” all the males had been slaughtered by Saddam Hussein’s troops.

“They discovered this village of just woman and children,” Richard Coombs, Australia/Asia director for Middle East Christian Outreach tells Sight.

“They then went back and started sort of cottage industries to help these women get on their feet and have an income. And it’s developed from there.”

A small church has also been planted but those who are involved can face grave - even mortal - danger. Earlier this year, one member of the church - a converted Muslim - was shot for his faith.

The Australian missionary couple, whose names we have suppressed due to the sensitive nature of their work, are now working alongside other workers from the region and split their time in north Iraq and Cairo.

Shortly before the breakout of the war, they emailed a message back to their supporters in Australia,

thanking them for their prayers and expressing their fears about what would follow if a war took place as they prepared to leave Iraq.

“No-one knows what will happen,” they wrote. “Please pray for the believers that they will have confidence that (the) Father is watching over them as the apple of His eye and that they know Christ as the friend who sticks closer than a brother.”

Middle East Christian Outreach was founded in 1976 in the United Kingdom when three small missions - the Arabic Literature Mission, the Lebanon Evangelical Mission and the Middle East General Mission - merged together, but its roots go back to the mid-1800s.

It now operates in ten countries mainly in the Middle East but also including Australia where it works with Middle Eastern immigrants. The outreach also has offices in six “home” countries where its supporters are based: the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States and South Africa.

MECO, as it’s known, is primarily an evangelistic organisation and aimed mainly at working with Arabic speaking people in the Middle East region.

“A lot of that really involves encouraging the Christians in the national churches,” says Coombs.
“Obviously direct evangelism is pretty difficult but we can encourage the local believers.”

Having said that, Coombs - a former Baptist pastor who has previously been both Australian and international chairman of MECO - notes the organisation does run a couple of schools in Lebanon where they have the permission to preach the Gospel directly and has also been involved in a hospital where they also had permission to openly preach the Gospel.

MECO is also involved in training pastors in the region and helping refugees. The organisation makes and supplies Christian videos and is the largest distributor of Christian literature in the Middle East.

There are currently 14 people from Australia working with the organisation and around 80 to 90 worldwide.
Coombs says that while a number of mission organisations these days work in the Middle East - such as Youth With a Mission (YWAM), Operation Mobilisation (OM) and Interserve - when MECO began working in the area, there were few other organisations working there.

“The need is still great,” notes Coombs. “I often quote that the little eastern region of the 10/40 window only receives five per cent of the total missionary force and only three per cent of total Christian resources.”
Coombs says being able to speak in Arabic is essential to open doors.

“To be really effective, the Arabic is important and it takes a couple of years to knuckle down and learn if you’re going to be really effective.”

Coombs, who joined came into contact with MECO 1988 after moving to Melbourne from New Zealand, first visited the Middle East about three months after the Gulf War in 1991.

“My image had been, you know, rifle shooting, machinegun toting Arabs and when I got there I discovered it’s pretty much a caricature and they’re absolutely lovely people...but still with the same need that we have down here. Most of them just want peace, a home to live in, an education for their kids and a job, but we caricature them a lot and it builds up an image of fear that I feel is not warranted.”