Day Two – Persecution or Comfort?

I am having trouble composing this blog post. 

This is not because there is nothing to write about. Quite to the contrary – the team went to great lengths today to serve the pastor and people of the Iraqi church in Amman (where we are based). The guys spent the day visiting the homes of ten different Iraqi Christian refugee families while the ladies spoke at a women’s service and prepared for a children’s programme this evening. We then all joined together to put on a programme for over 100 children of these same refugee families. 

   No, the problem seems to be with not being able to find the words to express how this is starting to affect us all. Obviously, each person is being affected a bit differently than the next. However, we are all coming to the conclusion that the extreme persecution being suffered right now by Christians in this part of the world is actually acting to increase their faith – not the opposite. 

      

 This is not a new statement – we have all heard it before. But there is something about hearing miraculous stories of faith, joy and love from the same lips that just told you stories of fleeing a good government job and your family home at 3 in the morning with your four children and only the clothes on your back. It’s hard to make sense of it all sometimes. 

 Ed spoke to Pastor Hanna’s leadership team today and asked the question of which is more dangerous to the church, persecution (as they have in Iraq and Syria) or comfort (as we have at home). Talking to the refugee families here makes me wonder how well we even know God at all. Their faith is that humbling. 

I fear the answer to Ed’s question is comfort.