Middle Eastern Missionaries Reaching Out to Neighbors in Iraq
by Allie Martin
January 8, 2004
(AgapePress) - Christian missionaries from the Middle East are making a big impact in war-torn Iraq. The vice president of one Christian missions agency says some of the best missionaries are from neighboring countries like Jordan and Egypt.Recently some Western missionaries have pulled out of Iraq because of security concerns. But Ted Esler of Pioneers-USA says missionaries from countries like Jordan and Egypt are having an effective ministry among Iraqis.
"Even since we were there, some groups have pulled out -- there's a handful of Western missionaries," he says. "But the exciting thing is the small Church in the Middle East is already sending its own missionaries from places like Jordan and Egypt and these other countries, and they are in there doing the job quite effectively."
Iraq is a challenging mission field, Esler says, adding that the security situation makes it that much more difficult. But he says there is also a very high level of "spiritual interest" in the Muslim nation. Esler says that during a recent trip to Iraq, he visited a church that had only been open for six weeks -- and already about 350 people were attending its services.
Pioneers was founded in 1979 by Ted Fletcher, who at the time was a national sales manager for the Wall Street Journal. The organization sent missionaries to Nigeria and Papua New Guinea that first year. It now reaches 116 people groups around the world through a network of 92 mission teams in 51 countries.
